Hazy Monday

Well, the weather app on my phone says it’s sunny but this is my view as I’m sitting at the lake right now. It’s a bit hazy and I’m not sure why. There are probably fires burning not too far away, but I haven’t watched the news in days. I must say I don’t miss it either!

The flowers are doing wonderfully here this summer.

It has just started getting hot though, so will have to be sure and keep up on the watering.

Yesterday the park was crazy busy when we got here after church. I think everyone had their entire families out for barbecues for Father’s Day. Today though, it’s just me and about 10 other people in the park. I’m loving the quiet. Dennis has a meeting late this evening so Chloe and I will be staying here by ourselves tonight. And I need to go home tomorrow. We’re having a tree taken down on Thursday.  It breaks my heart to have to do it because it’s a beautiful tree, but although we have it pruned almost every year it has still grown too big for the area. The landscapers that planted it were not very wise in their placement.  I will try to take a picture of it when I go home tomorrow if I remember.

Look what our friend Paul gave me yesterday. His stepfather just passed away a few months ago and they are cleaning out his basement. These four knitting magazines were in the garbage bin and he pulled them out thinking I would like them. They were published in 1943 and 1944!  I had so much fun looking through them. I will definitely be adding them to my collection. Everything is still very much the same, except for the brands of yarn that are recommended.

Now this is a terrible picture of me and I didn’t even know it was being taken at the time, but I just had to share with you what I got to do one day last week.   Meet Luke!

One of the new Mom’s from our church was in our area running errands when the baby decided he needed fed. Right now! She called to see if I was home and asked if she could come over to feed and change the baby. She does not like using public bathrooms if it all possible. I said of course, as long as I get to have my chance at holding him. This is little Luke. He was adopted by Mike and Kim. I even got to feed him his bottle. 

Do you know what is amazing to me?  Even though little Luke is adopted, he has only had two bottles of formula in his seven weeks of life. Kim gets breast milk that is donated to a co-op here. He has had the same mothers milk since the day after he was born! This particular mother also has a four-month-old of her own and she produces a lot of milk. I think this is wonderful. We all know that breastmilk is so much better for these little ones and now even adopted babies are able to have this little boost in life.

I loved rocking him and feeding him. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to snuggle with a little newborn.  I think it’s a Grandma thing. Kim couldn’t believe how he snuggled right down as if he belonged there.  I like knowing that people realize they are always welcome at our house no matter what time of the day or night and they can always call and come right over.

These are the chairs I ended up buying for under our deck last week. After going to six different stores I found these at the “Home Store.”  Dennis and I went back that evening so he could look at them and bring them home in his truck.  As you can see they have footstools and the backs recline way back. The little end table came with them too. We had a good time putting them together Monday evening.  Mine has pillows but Dennis didn’t want any.

Tuesday we invited Neal and Jenny over for dinner after work and I grilled pork chops and made potato salad and deviled eggs and a big green salad with apple pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert. We ate outside and then sat on these chairs and relaxed. Well Jenny and I got the recliners and the guys sat in the other chairs! Dennis also strung rope lights up under the deck so it’s very cozy in the evenings.

I finished one sock and have another one done through the heel flap. I plan to get the rest of the heel turning done this afternoon and then it won’t take long at all to finish.

I’m using Knit Picks Felici yarn in the Dockside colorway. I’m also using the free Hermione pattern.

Here’s our precious Miss Piper all ready for her dress rehearsal for her dance recital which was at the Orpheum Theater on Saturday morning. It broke my heart to miss it, but maybe I will be able to be at the next one.

The neurologists office called me on Friday and scheduled me for my next Botox shot in the middle of August. Unless the spasms return, the plan is to do the shots every three months. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am with the results of the first one. I even set up my sewing machine on Thursday and sewed a new dress for the first time in almost 3 years!  I am hoping to start doing some flying to visit family soon, but first we need to get some of these medical bills paid off. This is been a very expensive endeavor let me tell you.  

Alex FaceTimed with us for a couple of hours on Saturday and he’s going to be able to be home for Thanksgiving this year. He already has his plane tickets! We will have all of our children home together for the first time in six years! Can I just tell you how happy that makes this Mama‘s heart? Oh, how I miss having us all together in one place. Where I can actually touch them and not just see their pictures on my phone or iPad. I think it’s a Mom thing!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Monday and I think I’m all caught up on your blog posts now. I hope I haven’t missed any of you.

“I lift my eyes to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. He will not let your foot slip-He who watches over you will not slumber.”  Psalm 121:1-3

I have shared this verse with you before, but it was my mothers favorite verse and for some reason today my heart wants to share it again. Love to you all. 

Blessings, Betsy