Good Morning!

Happy Thursday morning to you all. It's a cold, rainy day outside today.  A perfect day for snuggling in with my knitting, but I do have a few errands to run so I have to brave the elements.  We ended up getting about 7 inches of snow here at our house over the weekend. It's still on the ground, but probably not for long since it's supposed to rain for several days and be in the upper 30's.  That's okay with me as it should wash away most of the white stuff and make it less slippery when walking.

I don't have a lot of knitting to show you because it's been all knit, knit, knit on a mystery project.  Here is a sneak peak though and all you'll see for awhile.

As you can tell, it's lots and lots of stockinette stitch.  Back and forth. Back and forth.

Miss Piper joined her Mama in contracting Influenza a, but was put on Tamiflu within hours and is doing much better.  I was informed on Friday that her little hands were cold and she needed new mittens.  She wanted purple, so I made purple with darker purple stripes and they were finished that day. I had to wait for the post office to open on Monday to mail them.  She got them yesterday and sent me a picture.

They fit perfectly and she looks like she's feeling much, much better.  And look!  She lost her first tooth last week too.  Poor Mandy is still not feeling very well and they're both still coughing and sneezing, but Piper looks lots better than she did over the weekend.

Larry and Nita had a run in with a snowplow with their new car on Sunday.  Ouch. The blade caught the door and just ripped it back.  Oops!  A hazard of driving in snow and ice.  They are both fine but obviously the car has issues.  Be careful out there.

I'm still working on Dennis' socks when I'm not at home and need a small carry along project.  I'm at the heel turn now for the second sock, so we're on the home stretch!  A good thing too.  I just placed an order at Knit Picks last night.  I have more sock yarn on the way!

Chloe loves these dark and gray days.  We snuggle up in the living room and watch knitting/crochet podcasts, her on her bed and me in my chair.  I do love winter for the coziness and contentment I feel in being home.  I am blessed.

Ready for the continuing saga of me?  If not, that's okay.  I'll see you back here soon and you can skip the rest.  As you know I had my mammogram last Friday.  They called me on Tuesday afternoon and made me go back yesterday for a repeat mammogram and an ultrasound. The new 3-D machines are so sensitive they pick up everything...which is a good thing, but for me, ended up with more pain.  Of course the two spots they found were on my pacemaker side.  After an hour of  torture, seriously, it was PAINFUL, I was told it's probably nothing and to come back in 6 months for another mammogram.  Oh bother!

And on top of that, I have an endoscopy scheduled for Monday morning.  When Dennis' had his a few weeks ago, we all, (the G.I. doctors office), realized that I had never been rescheduled to have a follow-up endoscopy done after the one I had 9 years ago.  It said I had Barrett's syndrome which is a pre-cancerous condition and you're supposed to have follow-up endoscopies every 2 years.  Oh well, it's only been 9 years! :-)  I told them that if I HAVE to have one, they needed to schedule me before the end of the year because we've met our out of pocket again this year.  I'm truly hoping next year will be better...but that's what I said the year before. 

The only time we have ever met our out of pocket AND deductibles was when I had our babies.  Now, in the past three years we've met it every year, and every year it goes up.  It's a ridiculously high out of pocket we pay now, along with high premiums.  I tell you, moving to Japan after retirement and becoming Alex's dependents like he wants us to, is sounding better and better.  We would have medical provided for us as his dependents.  Just kidding, we aren't planning to move there, but something has to be done, I just don't know what.  At this rate, retirement for Dennis isn't an option.

And on that bright and happy note, I'm going to close.  I want to get my errands done early because FedEx or UPS is supposed to be delivering a package from Amazon today and I don't want it left in the rain.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Sorry for the rambling.  Life is life and I share it all with you.  The good and the bad.  That's what friends do, right?  I know that I am truly blessed and privileged to lead the life that I do.  Some of those blessings are each and every one of you who come to visit me here in my little corner of the world.

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35

Blessings always my friend,

Betsy