Huge News!

We are putting our house on the market later this week! Who would have thought we would be doing this just a week ago? For reasons too numerous to list here, we have decided to put our house on the market and see what happens. We are planning to live at the lake for the rest of the summer and then move our trailer into an RV park close to town and live in it for the winter. That should be an adventure with the kind of winters we have! I am desperately trying to look on this as an adventure and a huge leap of faith. We came home yesterday after watching the live stream of our church while at the lake and started packing things. We completely tore our house apart in less than three hours yesterday afternoon.  We took four loads to the Goodwill yesterday and I mean loads! It is packed to the brim and in every nook and cranny of the vehicle. I have another load to take this morning and there will definitely be more this afternoon.

Alicia and the boys are coming today to help me get it ready and stage it. It has been a definite whirlwind. Another house on our block went up for sale last Thursday afternoon and by the end of the evening it had multiple offers and was sold for well over the listing price. Since we are planning to move back to Nebraska after Dennis retires in a year or two anyway, we thought maybe we should take advantage of the market now. Who knows what will be happening in another two years. Our trailer is like a small apartment and I haven’t been home in over a month anyway. If our weather was milder we wouldn’t even have a second thought about doing this. Our severe winters have caused hesitation, but other people have done it and we will survive for one or two winters. 

It’s actually fairly exciting and very freeing to get rid of things that have been sitting around. The hardest thing to get rid of is some of my yarn. Mainly it’s just been the old red heart acrylics that have been donated to me from peoples basements, but even that has been hard for me to part with. Ha!

I took this photo at the lake Saturday. It’s another mystery flower to me. It is gorgeous.

I’m also trying to sell this and will end up giving it away if it doesn’t sell. I have absolutely no place to put it. This is probably the thing that tugs at my heart more than anything else. I love Hoosier  cabinets and it took me years to find one.

Ah well. Life is full of changes and we are beginning a new adventure. We have lived in this house the longest of any place in my life. Almost 20 years. It’s amazing what you can collect in 20 years!.

I hope you are all well and I will try to keep up on blog’s, but this week will be incredibly crazy. 

Wishing you all a wonderful day. 

Blessings, Betsy

Burying my head?

I feel like these days that I’m staying at the lake I am like that, an ostrich, burying my head in the sand.  I am avoiding Facebook, the news, most of the Internet with the exception of your blogs.  I found my blood pressure kept rising and I can’t do anything about any of the issues the world is facing right now anyway except pray. Believe me, I’m doing a whole lot of that.

I hope you are enjoying your summer time, or for my friends down under, your early winter. We spent last weekend at our smaller trailer that has been stored at Alicia and Jeremy’s house. They have 10 acres about halfway up Mount Spokane. We didn’t have much cell or Internet service so I wasn’t able to check blogs. Although I tried to catch up when we got back it was just too much so I started afresh.

I took a walk along the lake this morning and it’s a beautiful day. I thought I would share a few photos with you.

Do you see the heron on the swimming dock?

Such gorgeous blue skies today.

The bath changing house at the beach. There were two eagles sitting up in the trees right above the bath house but I couldn’t get a picture for you.

I finished the baby blanket for donation. It’s the corner to corner crochet pattern using Bernat baby yarn. I think it’s called ice cream sherbet, but I’m not sure. I’ve had it in my stash for a while.  I haven’t washed it yet, so it’s fairly wrinkled.

I made up the border just a simple chain stitch and I’m not sure how much I like it but I think it will do.  I have a stack of about 10 baby blankets, several blankets for the veterans home and a bag full of baby hats to deliver once places are accepting donations again. Dennis says I’ll have to rent a storage unit if I can’t start delivering things again soon. Ha!

Alicia and Jeremy have been so good to us. They let us store our smaller trailer at their place and go camping there on their 10 acres anytime we want. They have full hook ups for us! She really likes the scrubby’s and dish cloths I make and actually asked for a new scrubby last weekend, so I’ve made her a few things to give her next time we see each other.

Mandy got Dennis two books for Father’s Day. It’s an author that they both enjoy. I believe they are all murder mysteries. Can you tell it was a bit chilly on Sunday? Today the high is supposed to be 88°F. A big change. can you see Chloe photo bombing on the grass?

We found a place that we were thinking of moving to and selling our house while the market is so hot here. It’s in a senior retirement village for 55+. They always sell quickly in those places around here and so we thought that would be a wiser move for us because it’s much less expensive than our home, which is much bigger than we need.  Our friend who is a realtor, called last night and told us about one that just came on the market. I called this morning to ask the management about pets and they said absolutely not to our Chloe. 10 pounds and under only. Honestly? Although I love little dogs too, all of them I know tend to be barkers. We had Chloe for six months before we ever heard her bark and that was just to protect me from another dog that was running at us. I don’t want to live somewhere like that anyway, because there is no way we are going to get rid of our Chloe.

We’re trying very hard these days to rely on the Lord and verses like the one below. He will direct our paths when the time comes for retirement.

Wishing you all a wonderful Tuesday.

Many blessings, 

Betsy

Glorious Sunshine

Happy Wednesday everyone. After 4 1/2 straight days of constant rain I woke up this morning to blue, blue skies and a promise of almost 70° today. Since it’s been in the 50s for the last four days that would be very welcome.

The socks are finished and are almost exactly matching. That turquoise stripe in the middle of the heel turn made things a little wonky, but I don’t think anyone will notice. 

I started a corner to corner blanket yesterday. The yarn I’m using is lion brand, ice cream big scoop, in the strawberry colorway.

This morning on my walk with Chloe I spotted a blooming peony bush.  If you look closely you will be able to see four bees busily working inside the bloom. I guess since they’ve been inside for four days because of the rain they have to be extra busy today and share the blossoms!

I thought I might show you the end tables on either end of the sofa in the trailer. I love having a little space to decorate with some of my favorite things.

The photo in the front below was the last family vacation we all took before the kids started moving out. It was to the Oregon coast which was our favorite place to go camping when the kids were growing up.

Yesterday Piper and I were writing back-and-forth to each other on messenger when she sent me this photo.

So I sent her this one back! We have so much fun writing to each other and she sends me little videos too.

Every year for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day we get a photo of her with this chalkboard with the appropriate caption. She came up with this pose herself for this year‘s Mother’s Day photo! Pretty smart for a seven-year-old.  When I asked her about the picture, she told me it was because of COVID-19. It’s too bad that little kids have to even know about such a thing.

I hope that you are all healthy and able to enjoy the summertime weather. So far we’ve been having more of a late winter early spring but I think it’s getting ready to change. Some years our summer doesn’t truly start here until the Fourth of July and this may be one of those years.

The above photo is the view during the day and below is sunset from Alex and Tara’s new apartment in London. Isn’t it a beautiful view? I love the houses and all of the trees. I just had a nice long visit a few minutes ago on FaceTime with him and Tara. I am so grateful for technology.

Alex is still in quarantine there for another week or so. With a view like this I could be in quarantine very easily!

I’m praying you will all have a wonderful day

Blessings, Betsy

Flowers

Good morning everyone. I thought I would share with you some of the beautiful flowers that are currently blooming here at the lake. I took Chloe on her morning walk and snapped a few photos for you.

I think the first two photos are of wild roses. I don’t know flower names very well, but I remember having these in my childhood in Iowa. My mother loved them.

Isn’t this just gorgeous?

I have no idea what this flower is. Do any of you know? I found it on a rocky hillside.

And then there is this patch of HUGE iris that has been blooming for about three weeks now. I have never seen an iris this big.  There is a baby bunny that lives under those stairs.

These are in our little camping area by Nita’s trailer.

I also have a pair of socks almost finished. The top one just needs the kitchener stitch done and the bottom one needs toe decreases done. Again. I am trying so hard to get these to be matching socks but do you see that strip of turquoise right smack in the middle of the sock? The bottom sock.  That turquoise strip is a little wider than the sock on top.  Everything else matches perfectly. I have no idea what happened there, unless during the dying process one area was dyed a little longer.  Dennis assures me that no one will ever notice if I don’t point it out. I have ripped the toe out three times trying to get them to match.  This time, however it turns out, there it will stay. I’m not doing it again.

Alex flew from Tokyo to London yesterday. This is either Narita or Haneda airport in Tokyo. Not a soul to be found. Normally both of these airports are bustling with thousands and thousands of people. Very eerie.

And look at how the flight attendants are dressed. Now that would terrify me and I would get right back off the plane. Can you imagine having to wear a hazmat suit for work every day? Especially in a small space like an airplane. If you suffer from claustrophobia that would be awful.

Chloe and I went into town this week for a couple of hours. She had to go to the vet to get weighed and they said she gained 9 pounds in the last month! They were worried that she had lost weight at her last visit so they were thrilled. Honestly? I think it was their scale. She has not gained 9 pounds in one month. She looks exactly the same to us. But the vet is happy so I guess all is well with the world! Ha! 

Then we stopped at Walmart and got the grocery pick up order. There were a couple of substitutions.  I had ordered two great value 8 oz ham steaks. They substituted two 16 ounce John Morrel ham steaks. That is a great deal! I cut them up and put them in macaroni and cheese in case any of you are wondering what I do with them. The other substitution was macaroni.  I had ordered two 8 ounce boxes of great value macaroni and they substituted two 16 ounce boxes of Mission brand macaroni. Another great deal! I kind of like this grocery pick up.

I hope you are all having a wonderful week and staying healthy.  Sometimes it feels the world is spiraling completely out of control. 2020 has been interesting so far, to say the very least. I’m sure glad that I know where my hope ultimately is. I hope you all have a wonderful relaxing weekend wherever you may be.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

Sunshine and flowers

We have had some beautiful weather here and also a very stormy weekend. Through it all I’ve been enjoying time at the lake.  I have geraniums planted and a few hanging pots.

Here is the outside of our trailer. Sorry about my car parked in the front.

Here is a view from the road between Larry and Nita‘s trailer and ours. We have the gazebo with our dining room table, which unfortunately we have not been able to use this summer because we can’t have meals together because of the nasty virus. Beyond that you can see our “living room“ furniture. We try to keep a distance between us when we’re outside sitting and visiting.

Miss Piper and Mandy went on a 7 mile bike ride the other day. This was taken right after they finished. 7 miles is a long way for those little legs and tiny tires! I’m very proud of her. And don’t you just love that helmet?  She even has a seat to take her babies along on a bike ride.

I had never before seen an iris of this color. It belongs to a friend of mine here at the lake. She has several dozen of them planted outside of her trailer. They are all gorgeous right now.

I have been working on this baby blanket since last Friday. It is so time consuming. There are so many ends to weave in, and I try to do it as I go so it’s not overwhelming when the blanket is finished. I’m crocheting the border now, so not too much longer.

These are the socks that I showed you last week. All I had done then was the cuff and I did the rest of the leg Thursday evening. I haven’t picked it up since I started working on the blanket. Hopefully I can get back to them soon. I like how the pattern is turning out.

Mandy and Piper went to the zoo this morning. Facemasks were required and only a certain number of people were being let in at a time.  They had a trail you had to strictly follow and you were not allowed inside any of the buildings. They had a great time though. Life is certainly strange now isn’t it?



Wishing you all a wonderful week.

Much love and blessings, 

Betsy