Lots of pictures!

I’m sorry it has been a week since I posted, so now I have way too many photos to share with you. I will try to keep the words few so you can enjoy the yarn and the fall photos!  

Sophie has come to stay while her mom and dad are gone for two weeks on a Caribbean cruise. She sits on my lap and keeps me company while I knit and watch yarny podcasts.  The one you see on the television now is “little drops of wonderful.”  That is Allie and she lives in the UK with her husband and two daughters.  Many of my favorite podcasters have been putting up videos every day for the month of October. It has been wonderful!

We had to make a trip up to the lake last weekend to finish winterizing a few things we had forgotten on the new trailer. It’s a whole new learning curve when you get a different trailer!  The trees were absolutely stunning although the skies were gray.

There was some beautiful crimson color on the still green grass.

Gorgeous, and one of my favorite places on earth.

Tiny little Johnny jump-ups were still trying to bloom even in the almost 0° weather.

Everything looks sad and forlorn with the trailers all closed up for the winter and Pine-needles everywhere from the wind.

Then, the next morning we went from bright sunny skies on one side of the house to this happening on the other side. Completely unpredicted.

The rhubarb was trying to send up some new leaves before the cold weather hit again! Happily the snow didn’t last long this time and was gone within an hour.

I took the next three photos last night from the Hobby Lobby parking lot. An absolutely stunning sunset!

Now for the knitting. I made eight more pairs of mittens for next fall. I am ahead of my self-imposed goals for each week with 10 pair already finished.

I found some of my favorite dishcloth cotton at Hobby Lobby. That looks like a taupe color in front, but it is actually gray. The light is not very good this morning. These are the last two Christmas gifts I need to make and then we are all done with Christmas shopping! Hurrah!

I also bought this scrubby yarn yesterday. These will also go in a Christmas gift. I can’t decide if I like the poofier scrubby‘s better or the flat one. The flat one is double thickness although it doesn’t look like it. Which do you prefer?  By the way, all of Hobby Lobby‘s yarn is on sale this week for 30% off if anyone out there NEEDS more yarn!

These were the other two colors I purchased.

I have also started a new baby blanket. This is actually a lavender yarn, although the light makes it look pink.

I also finished one of my lace socks, although I have put them aside to finish some things that were more time oriented.

Whew!  That was a lot wasn’t it? I always think I don’t have anything to share with you and my life is boring and then when I start looking at my photos I discover I have more than I thought. Please forgive me for the photo overload but I didn’t know what to leave out.

Dennis’s sister Karen is supposed to be able to go home today after almost 2 weeks in the hospital. She will have to return in about a month for a very serious and involved surgery. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

I did receive 17 more Botox injections in my back yesterday. Time will tell if they help. Thank you for all of your good thoughts about that too.  Right now my back is very tender and sore today so I’m going to take it a bit easy.

Wishing you all a lovely, lovely day. I appreciate each and everyone of you very much and I thank you for hanging in here this long with all of these photos.

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.”  1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Blessings,

Betsy 

A few finishes and a start...

I delivered a big bag full of mittens to the school on Tuesday and they were completely thrilled to get them.  In fact, one of the secretaries began crying!  Oh, that made my heart feel very good.  I didn’t have as many as in past years, only 76 pair, plus Sherries amazing gift of 10 pair, so 86 in all.  I have worked out a plan and written it in my day planner, yes, I actually use one of those, to make 2 pair per week for the next year.  That’s doable isn’t it?  That way there shouldn’t be a huge rush to try to make as many mittens as possible like there was this year.  Fingers crossed that I stick with the plan.

Here are my two “seed” pair that I made yesterday.  I really don’t like the orange and multicolored ones, but was trying something different and using up some scraps.  I’m guessing a first grader may actually like them.

I also finished a baby set for the couple at church that I told you about.

I also won a wonderful book of patterns from my friend Kim at “Naturally Kim’s Knitting” Utube channel.  I’m looking forward to trying some new baby knits from this book.  The babies photos alone are worth buying it.  Such precious faces.  Look at those eyes!!!

There isn’t a lot happening here.  I’ve still been sitting with Jenny a lot. Her progress isn’t what she or her PT want and neither can  figure out why.  We’re re-watching the last season of Downton Abbey together  in preparation of seeing the movie very soon.

I haven’t felt “up to snuff” since my flu shot last Tuesday.  I have had a weird humming in my ears that just won’t  stop, along with a general run down feeling.  I’m sure it will right itself soon.  Next Tuesday is my next scheduled botox injection in my back. Yikes!

Most importantly I would like to ask you for prayers for Dennis’s younger sister, Karen.  She has been in the hospital for a week now with some VERY serious issues.  I don’t want to go into any detail right now, but we really would covet your prayers for her right now.

And now, I’m off to Jennys’s.  Take care everyone.

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”  Hebrews 10:23

Blessings,

Betsy

Sunny or Cloudy?

From where I sit in my recliner as I type this I see sunshine out the windows facing west and I see big black clouds out the patio door facing east! I wonder which it will be today?  When we lived in the Midwest our weather almost always came from the southwest. If you looked that direction, you pretty much knew what was in store for you. Here though, I have learned that the weather can come from any direction at all. Since we live in a valley between mountain ranges, we kind of create our own little weather climate. Anyway, it’s always a surprise what will happen. I’m hoping for the sunshine myself!

This sweet package arrived early this morning from Sherri in Nevada. I love how she decorated the box. :-) I have removed her address for privacy reasons.

Inside were these two Christmas wrapped rolls.  And inside of those were.....

10 beautiful pairs of mittens for the school children! Sherri, they are perfect and thank you so much.

She also included a little surprise gift for me. Bath elixir, temple balm, hand cream and soap along with the prettiest crocheted wash cloth.  Sherri, this was so sweet of you. I appreciate all of your hard work on the mittens and the gift is beautiful.  Lavender is my favorite color! 

I started a new baby blanket yesterday. We have a couple at our church who have been married for many years and have never been able to have a baby. They have adopted four siblings from the foster system. One is a set of twins and then, as the mother had two more babies over several years, they also were placed with this couple and adopted. She was shocked and overjoyed to discover that she is now pregnant herself!  There is a baby shower planned at church the first week in November. As you can see, it’s a boy! I also want to try to make her a sweater, hat and sock set to match if I have time.

My carry along project has been this sock. I am truly enjoying this pattern. The chart is so simple that even I can read it!

Our sweet Chloe has been falling down the stairs over the past couple of weeks. She did this last autumn too with the arrival of the damp cooler weather. I think it is her arthritis that is causing the falls as she goes down the stairs. I tried putting throw rugs at the top and the bottom of the stairs but she still slipped on the stairs themselves. We ordered these treads from Amazon and they arrived last night. As you can tell, they still have to relax from being in the box. Honestly, I don’t like them at all but if they make it easier for her to navigate the stairs I will get used to them.

I’m heading to Jennys in a little while to help her with her exercises. Apparently the physical therapist gave her some new exercises yesterday that she can’t do by herself. We are enjoying all of our chatting time and I know that when she goes back to work I will barely be able to see her.

I hope you’re all having a great week and have exciting fall plans for the weekend.  I’m not sure yet what We’re going to be up to. It’s supposed to be rainy and cool so we may just hunker down at home.

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 2:5

“Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.“   Colossians 3:12

Blessings,

Betsy 

Another week gone by,

Hello again.  Has it been a week since I posted?  My goodness! Where does the time go?  I have been spending most of every day during the week with Jenny and our weekend was jam-packed. I have not been able to take pictures of what I have been working on almost constantly, because they are going to be Christmas gifts. Suffice it to say I have been cross stitching for the first time in a while. I’ve really been enjoying it too.  I did finish these socks.

These are knit in the Hermione pattern with Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in the Forest Heather colorway.  I really like how they turned out.

My new sock project is also knit with Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in Persimmon Heather.

This is a new to me pattern that is in a box of sock patterns I’ve had for years but not used.  The pattern is written using charts only and I much prefer a written pattern. This one is fairly simple and is teaching me the patience of reading charts.

Michaels had a great sale this past Monday only. Loops and Threads Impeccable yarn was on sale for $1.99 a skein. I stocked up. This photo was from my first trip in the morning and then I decided to go back in the afternoon since this is the absolute cheapest I have ever seen this yarn. I ended up buying 26 skeins. I should have plenty for the mitten project for next year. I can get three pair of mittens out of each skein with a little ball left over. I use those leftovers to make the stripes, so nothing goes to waste.

I also received a package in the mail from Debra who is “Araignee” over on my side bar. She is such a generous person. She makes soaps every season and then gives them away to anyone who would like some. She included a lotion bar and a sweet card that she made. She never writes in the cards so that you can reuse them yourself. Isn’t that just the sweetest thing? You should smell this soap. It’s wonderful!  Thank you so much Debra.

And look at the inside of the card.

And I couldn’t leave without sharing a picture of sweet Piper at the pumpkin patch last weekend. It looks like it might have been a bit chilly and windy there since she has her winter coat on.

I hope you are all enjoying the fall weather, or spring if you’re down under. I got my flu shot today and boy oh boy, is my arm sore! Mandy got hers yesterday and said hers was pretty sore too. Dennis got his at the same time as I got mine and he said he’s fine. I sure hope it keeps me from getting the flu this year.  Do you get a flu shot? I think they are becoming quite controversial.  A few years ago it seemed like everybody got their flu shot every year. I know that Mandy sure recommends them, especially now that she’s working in an urgent care.

I hope you all have a wonderful day.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.”  Philippians 4:8

Blessings,

Betsy 

Snow!?

Oh my friends! I dread to think of what this winter is going to bring if we have had snow twice already this year. Look what I woke up to this morning.  3.3 inches of the white stuff! Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.

Power is out all over the city and schools are canceled. No, it wasn’t a huge amount, only a little over 3 inches, but all of the trees still have their leaves on them and so live power lines are down all over the city.

Our neighbors tree fell on our fence and into our yard. Dennis will have a mess to clean up when he gets off of work tonight.  You can see where the trunk just snapped off.

This is a photo that I just took of the TV news.  It is beautiful but the roads are a mess.  The next two are live shots at 8:15 this morning.  See how the traffic is backed up on the bridge? Apparently the roads are just a sheet of ice right now.

Wow!  So pretty!  This is downtown Spokane.

This is another photo that I just snapped off of the TV news. Trees, trees, trees down everywhere.  It looks like a hurricane went through and brought snow with it!

Fall is what we are supposed to be experiencing right now. Summer just ended a couple of weeks ago! So I’m going to show you a few of my fall decorations like I had originally planned to post today before our surprise snowstorm. :-)

We didn’t have nearly as much snow as some people though. Montana is still in a winter storm warning. Our sweet little granddaughter Kyleigh texted me last night that she was playing her last soccer game of the season for school in the middle of a blizzard.

Lots of shadows today because of the clouds and the snow but here is my Hoosier cabinet.

Here is a better photo of the top of the cabinet.

Goodness it’s dark isn’t it?

The kitchen island. I love these little leaves that I crocheted several years ago.

And the little table by the front door.

Well, I need to get ready and go tackle the roads and see if I can make it to Neal and Jenny’s house. She’s doing very well.  Yesterday I drove her to physical therapy and he was very pleased with her progress. However, she still can’t be left alone for at least another week because of the fall risk. We had dinner with them again last night. I think we’re going to have Bible study at their house Thursday night. We are planning on taking dinner to them again that night and then it will be pizza night on Friday with them. I think they will be very tired of our company by the time she’s up and about again!

Several of you have asked how my back held up during the trip. I didn’t want to be a whiny baby about it, so I haven’t talked about it. As long as I didn’t do anything and just sat around, I was fine. As soon as I tried to do any standing or much walking, the spasms started. However, I was still able to spend time with our family and that’s what was important. Riding in the car is absolutely no problem at all at this point. I can recline the seat back while Dennis drives and everything seems to be fine.  I appreciate each and everyone of you who were praying for me. I just try not to talk about it a whole lot anymore because I don’t want to sound like a broken record.  I do have another injection scheduled for the end of October and I’m praying that this one works.

Wishing you all a wonderful day and I hope some of you are enjoying some fall, not winter, weather!

“But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.”  Psalms 59:16

Blessings,

Betsy

Monday, Monday

It is a bit of a gloomy day out there today with a lot of clouds but no rain forecast. Yesterday was a beautiful sunshiny fall day and after church we are able to accomplish quite a bit. We put all of the lawn furniture away. We packed all of the statues, hummingbird feeder’s and birdbath into the shed. Dennis shut the sprinkler system off and edged and mowed the grass.  I’m sure the grass will need mown again before winter truly sets in, but at least now we’re ready if it decides to snow again.

After all that was done, I cut Dennis‘s hair and made ham and cheese omelettes for dinner. Sometimes we like breakfast for dinner. Do any of you do that too?

Saturday was spent closing up and winterizing Larry and Nita and Paul and Lori‘s trailers. We had done ours before we left for Omaha.  We found that our sprinkler control box had cracked in the severe cold last week. Dennis has ordered another one to be ready for next spring. Paul and Lori‘s water heater froze and leaked water all over their trailer. No one ever would have expected it to get so cold and snow in September! It has never happened before as long as they’ve been keeping records in Spokane.  Here is what our cozy lake place looks like now.

This is our trailer.

Here you can see Larry and Nita‘s trailer on the far left, the gazebo with no cover on it and the chairs all gone in the middle, then our trailer and the golf cart and then Paul and Lori‘s trailer. Oh, that’s Dennis’ pride and joy sitting front and center. Men and their trucks!  We have taken six trips back-and-forth, filling up the back of the truck with the cushions, grill, lawnmower, etc.  We store it all in our shed over the winter.

Everything always looks so sad when we get it all packed up for the year. We’re already looking forward to next spring and spending the summer in our new trailer.  Here you can see Larry, Lori and Nita hanging out while Paul and Dennis finish up winterizing the golf cart. That’s sweet little Maddie laying there on the grass.

I did finish four more pair of mittens and plan to deliver them in a week or two.

My crafting will be in secret for a little while because I’m working on Christmas things. I know at least some of my family reads this blog so I can’t post photos of my projects.

Here are a couple more photos of our trip home last week. I caught this rainbow in the far west of Wyoming. I couldn’t get a photo of the entire arch but here are both ends.  Isn’t it gorgeous? It stretched from one end of the horizon to the other right in front of us. The highway ran directly under the arch of the rainbow.

Then we made our way into Utah and more barren landscape for awhile.

However, we saw lots of hints of fall as we drove through Utah and Idaho. Lots of color already!

It was a beautiful, although stressful, drive home.

I have been spending part of every weekday since we returned with Jenny and I will be on my way there in about an hour again today. She isn’t supposed to be alone for the first two weeks out of the hospital. The doctor worries about falling after hip replacement, and wants to make sure someone is there with her at all times.  It’s certainly not a hardship for me. We never run out of things to talk about. Saturday after returning home from the lake, I made homemade chicken and noodles, homemade biscuits, fresh green beans with bacon and cranberry sauce and Dennis and I took it over to Neal and Jenny’s house and had dinner with them. Yum! It really hit the spot. Another friend had made a big pan of apple crisp for them so we also picked up some vanilla ice cream and that was our dessert.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and if you’re down south, you have some relief from the extreme heat. It’s still pretty chilly up here in the northwest.  Happy Monday everyone!

“ Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself.”  Matthew 22: 37-39

Blessings,

Betsy