Last Day of School

Happy Saturday to you all! I tried to do this post yesterday, but Blogger would not let me upload any photos and as you will find out, this is a very photo heavy post. Guess who had their last day of school? If you guessed Piper, you would be right! Thursday was her last day of second grade. This is the poster that her teacher made for her.

And here she is heading out the door for her last day of school.

I was there to pick her up right after school got out and she came home to stay with me Thursday night and Friday night since Mandy had to work.  Mandy came over to mow our yards this morning and stole my little girl back! Oh, we had a grand time. As you’ll see by the photo below, she painted my fingernails. I think it was only her second time ever painting nails and she did a great job. After some shopping Friday morning, Great-grandma came over Friday afternoon and we played several games of Rummikub. For dinner I made spaghetti and meatballs and the three of us enjoyed laughing our way through dinner together.

On Friday afternoon our pod was delivered to Larry and Nita‘s driveway in Spokane. Look at this contraption that the driver used a remote control with, to maneuver it into place. Pretty nifty.

Here’s Larry inside to give you an idea of how big it is. You would never guess that he just had brain surgery on Monday would you? He’s doing very well.

The moving crew showed up this morning at our storage unit and within an hour had everything moved over to the pod and packed! An hour!! You can sure tell that this crew has worked together before!

Here’s the entire crew from left to right. Hayden, Jeremy, Alicia. The back row from the left is Kale, Paul, Dennis and Neal.  Paul, Dennis and Neal used to be on the moving crew for church. I can’t even begin to tell you how many people we have moved. These guys are almost professional packers. They literally cleaned out our 12 x 20‘ storage unit and packed it into this pod in one hour with room to spare. The pod will arrive here on June 8. Guess who gets to unpack it? I’m sure I can get my sister Melanie and Mandy to help me.

While these guys were working their fingers to the bone, guess what Miss Piper and I were doing this morning? We went with Melanie and Chaela to get our toes done! Silly me did not get pictures of Piper‘s completed toes. She had watermelon’s painted on them! Every other toe was green and red. Her big toe had a slice of watermelon complete with seeds and the rind. They were so cute. She was thrilled to be able to sit in the big girl chair.

I was surprised this week with a package in the mail from Amanda, who has the CraftyInTheMed blog over on my side bar. Amanda lives in Alicante, Spain and she sent me this beautiful, beautiful medallion as a housewarming gift.  It is a reminder of the ocean that she sees from her home. It has many of my favorite colors on it and the cutest little fish and beads at the bottom.

I wish I could get a clearer picture of the fish with my camera, but he has the cutest little face. I have this beautiful gift hanging in my craft area. As soon as I have the area cleaned up a little bit once I get the rest of my things, I will take you on a tour. Amanda, I can’t thank you enough for your thoughtful generosity. This fits perfectly in our new home. Thank you so much.

I did get the furniture for the living room this week so my next post I will have pictures of that to show you. It is so comfortable and I’m so happy we got it.

I hope you are all doing well. Although I am missing all of our friends in Spokane so much that my heart literally hurts sometimes, I also am absolutely loving being close to Piper and her mommy and the rest of our family. Have you ever felt like your heart was being pulled in two directions at once? That would be me.

I saw this picture on Facebook late one night when I couldn’t sleep and I wanted to share it with you. These are some of my favorite all-time hymns and I sure miss the fact that most churches don’t sing them anymore. Have a wonderful week everyone.

Blessings and love, 

Betsy

Starting To Feel Like Home

Hello everyone! It is starting to feel like home here, although the heat and humidity are beginning to do me in. Dennis is back in Spokane. He left yesterday morning and drove to Columbus, Montana. He got back to Spokane around noon today.  He had snow as he was driving today. What a difference 1000 miles in one day can make. Another 500 miles today and he worked all afternoon getting the camper ready for it’s new owners next week. He’s exhausted.

I thought I would just show you a few pictures from around the house today showing a few things we’ve done that are helping it to feel more like home. It was such a busy, busy two weeks while Dennis was here. He did so many projects. He replaced lights and covered holes in the wall, replaced toilets and sinks. I can’t even begin to make a list of everything he accomplished. Plus he set up his office and even worked while he was here, (on vacation!)

I have four different flowers on the front steps and none of them match! The red geraniums in the front were my first purchase when I got here. Then Mandy gave me the hanging basket on the left for Mother’s Day. On the stairs are beautiful deep purple pansies on the left and on the right are yellow chrysanthemums that were a gift from Mandy‘s mother-in-law, Marilyn, on Mother’s Day.

This is a surprise. I think it’s a wild rose and I thought they were pink, but as they’re blooming the flowers are white. They are right next to the front stairs.

I absolutely love this table that I found on Facebook marketplace. Mandy has given me some starts from her philodendron that I’m trying to root. The philodendron is from Dennis’s Dads funeral. Mandy has had it for over 20 years now. That plant means the world to her.

This Peace Lily is from my brother-in-law Mike’s funeral. In the last few years it has tripled in size so my sister gave one to me. I divided it in half and gave half to Mandy and kept half for myself. The leaves are a little droopy because I just transplanted it yesterday. I hope it comes out of the shock. I am enjoying having plants again since I wasn’t able to have any inside the RV. There just wasn’t room for that.

My new sink is in and working wonderfully. I just love it. It’s extra deep and I’ve already had my first “dinner party” with real dishes to wash and not paper plates. Actually I just made my homemade chicken and noodles with green beans and cranberries. My sister, niece and nephew, Mandy and Piper and Mom were all here along with Dennis and I. I love cooking for people and I have really missed it with Covid.

Dennis has his office all set up and ready to go. In fact, as I mentioned before, he’s already been working a little bit.

He hung my chime clock and now it even sounds like home. He bought the clock for me for our 15th anniversary which was almost 30 years ago. He bought it in the Amana Colonies in Iowa. As I write this, I can hear the clock upstairs chiming 8 o’clock!

Besides the clock, I think this is the only thing that we have hung up. I’m waiting to hang pictures until everything is here and I can decide where I want everything to be hung.

Do you all remember the mirrored doors on the laundry closet in the main bathroom? Dennis took the doors off for me and stored them in the shed. I bought these two shower curtains along with a matching shower curtain for the actual shower when we redo the bathroom. That may be after the first of the year because I think we’re going to have the man who did my sisters house do our bathroom. He is booked out until next year! He’s just finishing her kitchen tomorrow. He has redone her entire basement and bathroom downstairs too and it’s gorgeous. She’s having her living room, hallway and bedrooms done whenever he has time. He is a guy that goes to our church, so I’m sure we will get to know him very well.

Anyway, I like the shower curtains much, much better than the bifold doors. I can just push them off to the side and I can reach everything, which I couldn’t do with the doors on.

I’ve been fitting in a few rows most nights on Piper‘s blanket. It is taking a long time because it is very solid. It’s about 5 foot across and about 4 foot or so long right now.

I couldn’t figure out why I have been so miserable with this heat and humidity. I know I’m not used to it, but it’s ridiculous just how much I have been sweating and turning bright red. I know, ladies are supposed to glow or perspire, not sweat. But, I am SWEATING! I went shopping with Mandy and Piper yesterday to look for lights for our entry way and Mandy said it was ridiculous how red and sweaty I was. She told me it was not normal and suggested I look into my medications. Well, I did some research and lo and behold the medication that they’ve given me for my back can cause excessive sweating! At least I know I’m not completely crazy and there’s a reason for it. I just don’t know what the answer is. I’m not about to stop taking it when it’s helping so much. I guess I’m just going to have to stay inside in the air-conditioning as much as possible all summer.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are ready to begin a new week. Dennis said no one wore masks all the way back to Washington yesterday from when he left Nebraska. As of Tuesday the mask mandate expires here in Nebraska. A lot of individual stores have said they will still require them though. I guess it will be interesting to see what happens.

I’m thinking of and praying for you all.

Blessings and love, 

Betsy

It’s been a week?

Oh my goodness! We have been so, so busy. We hit the ground running in the morning and we stop in the evening. It’s amazing how much there is to do when you move. Dennis has been doing all of those little and big jobs that I haven’t been able to do. He’s installed air return grates and doorstops. He has put together lamps and an extension to his desk. He has taken off the doors to the laundry area and repaired several things that were broken during the move. And then, on top of that, we have been to Lowe’s or Home Depot every day. Yesterday we went to look for a sofa for the family room at the biggest furniture store in the state. There were several sofas that we liked, but none of them would be delivered until at least the end of September or middle of October! We came home without ordering anything.

He and Mandy have mowed both yards twice this week and that doesn’t count Mandy taking care of her own grass. The big project was changing the toilets last week and the kitchen sink on Friday night. At least I think it was Friday night, it could have been Thursday night. I have completely lost track of the days. Dennis and Tim worked for hours trying to get the garbage disposal off of the old sink so they could reuse it. Unfortunately they ended up cutting it off and making a quick trip to Home Depot to buy a new one. 

I do love my new cast-iron sink though. It has extra deep basins and the new faucet works great. The old one I believe, was original to the house and it had a constant drip

These were the two toilets that we replaced. I put them on Facebook marketplace as “free to a good home” and we had 24 people who wanted them! I had people who offered us over $100 just for the turquoise one! But, I had already promised them to a woman who was driving an hour and a half just to get them. I told her if she wanted  the turquoise one, she had to take the white one too, just as a joke and she agreed. She got them both for free.

I did manage to make four pair of mittens over the last couple of weeks. They are laying on the new 8 x 10‘ rug that we bought for the family room.

You know I always say yarny  people are the most generous people in the world. I asked Debbie, who is Araignee on my sidebar, what she did with all of the ends of the skeins of the socks that she knits. She had never mentioned, to my knowledge, any projects using the leftover sock yarn. I asked her if I could purchase any leftovers that she had, to use in my nine patch blanket. The next thing I knew, she had mailed me two boxes full of yarn. Here it is all piled in one of my metal tubs. I love these colors! Most of the yarn that I have right now to go into these blankets is plain brown, black, or gray. These colors will really brighten it up. Debbie, I can’t thank you enough. You are the best! Thank you!

I know there is a lot more that I should be telling all of you. I am just so tired I can barely stay awake. My cardiologist visit went OK last week. He is concerned that my leads may be coming unfastened because of a sound they heard when they my interrogated my pacemaker. He sent me for X-rays and I guess we should hear the outcome soon. I’m sure it is nothing serious because I feel just fine.

Tomorrow we are going to have our wills redone for Nebraska. With the money that we have paid attorneys getting wills done, our kids could’ve taken a cruise! Apparently the wills that you have in one state do not carry over into another state, so we had to have ours redone when we moved to Spokane. Now they have to be redone again.

We also both applied for our drivers licenses in Nebraska and we got my car licensed. The truck will wait until Dennis moves here permanently.  My car is in the auto body repair shop being fixed from where it was hit last week. See what I mean about it being busy?

Dennis and I attended a funeral today for an uncle in the family who passed away a few days ago. I was so glad I got to see him and talk to him two weeks ago at church. He lived a very happy and generous life, always giving to others.

Wednesday we have another funeral for a much younger family member.

I will let you read about sweet little Kara yourself.  It is a devastating blow to family and to their many friends and the medical professionals that took such good care of little Kara.

With that I’ll close. I am so glad that Jesus is my rock always. Especially when times get rough. I hope you’re all having a great week so far. I’m praying for each of you.

Blessings,

Betsy

Toilets, Sinks and Showers, Oh My!

Thank you all for your wonderfully kind words about dear Teresa. I’m sure your messages meant the world to Dayle and the rest of her family. She will be missed by so many people all over the world, but especially by the family. I thank you again for caring.

I wanted to share this table that I got for $30.00 on Facebook Marketplace. If you’re looking for almost anything, you’ll find it there. This is the cutest little table. I wish you could see the beautiful wood grain.

This one shows the true color much better.  It does have a blemish on it in the corner that Dennis intends to try to fix, but I have plans to put a plant or doily over it anyway. It was well worth the $30.00 in my opinion.

We went to dinner last Friday with Mandy, Piper, Mom, my sister Melanie, niece Chaela and her husband Tim. We had a wonderful time. We laughed and laughed and just enjoyed each other’s company as we haven’t been able to for so long. When we came out, this is what we found with my car. A hit and run. Who does that? It was such a disappointing end to an otherwise happy evening. Mandy had to crawl over the console from the other side and she drove to Tim and Chaela’s house where he was able to pop the metal out enough so I can open the door.

Dennis took it in to the body shop yesterday and they ordered the parts and scheduled it in for next Monday. It’s a relief that I will have it back before he leaves for Washington. I don’t want to be without a car in case I need to take Mom somewhere.  It’s unbelievable what repairs cost these days! Oh, and although it wasn’t a very nice welcome home, it could have been worse. I hope this person thinks about it and never does it to anyone else.

I wanted to share this little corner of the yard. I spent 4 1/2 hours weeding this little bed. It was filled with clover. I pulled it all by hand and hopefully will be able to keep it up much easier now.

Look at all of this hosta. I think I need to thin it but I’m not sure how. I’ve never had hosta before. Do I cut it back in the winter or leave it alone?

The same questions with this, which I believe is a bleeding heart. It looks very overgrown to me.

As I said before, Dennis is here! This was the moving crew that helped him load the u-haul in record time.He was loaded and on the road by 9:00 Saturday morning. All he had to pay them were donuts!😍From left to right, Kale, Jeremy, Hayden and Neal.

Ready to go!  He drove to Sheridan Wyoming the first night and on to Omaha the next day. They were LONG days of loading and driving. Then, when he got here, Mandy and Piper helped us unload the trailer.  Dennis and I unloaded the truck Monday morning after we returned the trailer. I couldn’t believe how much they put in these two vehicles. I unpacked all day and we still have boxes waiting.

Then, both of the toilets needed replacing. We have been to Lowe’s several times in the past few days. Our nephew Tim, came and helped Dennis take out the old and install new ones. Not a fun job but these two did great and it was a bonding experience. 😂 Tim is standing. That’s Dennis, down on the floor. Look at that lovely teal tub!  Two contractors had appointments but only one showed up and he never gave us an estimate. So frustrating. We want to get rid of the scratched and stained tub and sinks. We’ll see if we actually find someone.  Tim is always the first one to help out and we’re very grateful to him.

Dennis also bought me a new kitchen sink and faucet which he will install soon, 

I am very blessed. I have made two pair of mittens but not much else, crafting time has been severely limited. I hope that will return soon. I miss my yarn!💜

Blessings and love for you all,

Betsy

Sad News

My friends it is late Thursday evening and this is not the post I had planned to write tonight. Instead I have very sad news to share with you all. Teresa Kasner’s husband Dayle reached out to me tonight to tell me the sad news that Teresa passed away unexpectedly today as a result of her recent illness. He asked me to reach out to her blog friends and let them know that she’s gone as he has no way of accessing her blog.

For those of you that knew Teresa, you know how much she loved her family, her flowers, her friends and her many collections, especially jadeite. She was a wonderful friend to me and I enjoyed our many visits together along with our husbands and other friends. This is just another reminder to me of how fragile life is and how we never know when our time on this earth will end.

Teresa was vibrant and full of life and none of us expected this. I was just speaking with her two days ago and she was warning me not to take NSAIDs if possible, including Aleve and ibuprofen as it caused some of her issues. I’m passing that warning along to you because I know she would want me to.

I pray that Teresa is now in the arms of our Heavenly Father and has no more pain. I know that many of you also cared for her.  Please remember her husband Dayle and their sons, Travis and Shawn and daughter Amy as well as the rest of the family in your prayers.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”  Matthew 5:4

A busy week!

My goodness the time is flying by.  I did finish the socks that have been on my needles for over a month now.  They are made with Kroy Socks in the Blue Rag colorway.  As soon as I took them off the needles, Mom put them on her feet. I barely had time to snap this photo! She loves the socks I make.💜

Miss Piper stayed with me Thursday and Friday nights. We had such a great time. She was a huge help to me in putting together some storage cubbies. Also cleaning around the house. Her allergies were acting up and we didn’t have her cough medicine here, so we went to the drugstore to get it. She saw this bag with travel size bottles and pouch in the clearance section.  It was just $5.00 and normally was $19.99. She was thrilled to get it. Excuse her bangs. The wind was blowing like crazy Friday and she had been working hard. I found her dress for last week while shopping with Mom. The photo below was taken at moms place. It has a lot more furniture than mine does.😍 The photo bomber is Mom’s cat Maple. She’s a sweetie.

Piper chose a pale yellow yarn I had in Caron Pound Of Love skein for a blanket for her baby. I just made up a simple border of single crochet, half double crochet and chain stitch.

It’s the perfect size for Piper’s baby in her little swing. The swing was one Mom was going to throw in the garbage because it doesn’t do all of the little extras anymore. It just swings. Piper loves it and it entertained her for hours. She carries a backpack everywhere with her stocked with diapers, baby wipes and extra clothes for her babies. She’s learning to be a mommy very early. The swing has found a new home at our house.

After her shower Thursday night we shared bowls of ice cream. I was in heaven. We had so much fun.

On Saturday morning five of us, Melanie, Chaela, Mandy, Piper and I went to have our toes done together.  Piper chose my toe color to match hers. I have to admit that I have never had teal toenails before, but I’ll do a lot of things for that little girl.

These are the storage cubbies she helped me put together. Not only did she hold pieces together while I put the screws in, she hammered all of the nails in for the backs all by herself. Then...she helped me lift the two on top up of the lower ones. I can’t believe how hard of a worker she is.  Those cubbies aren’t easy to put together. The yarn you see is all yarn I brought with me from Spokane, except the teal on the lower left. I bought that for Piper’s blanket.  Dennis has several, (many), more totes to bring too. I think most of those cubbies will be filled soon. I’m also sure there will be a lot of reorganization too.

Dennis is set to fill a uhaul trailer on Saturday and start his first trip here pulling it with our truck. On Memorial weekend he will be loading the POD. Then, he should be able to leave Spokane and move for good by the middle of June if he is able to sell the RV by then. He will be commuting to Spokane for a week or so each month.

Mandy has been mowing for Mom and I and her yard own too. She mowed yesterday and our grass had grown about 6 inches in a week!  I am so grateful to her. The dandelions are still prolific. 

The church here is very active with the Open Door Mission locally which supports homeless of all ages. I think a lot of my charity crafting will be going there this year and I’ll see how that goes for next year.

I hope all is well for all of you and you’re enjoying family and baby steps back into society.

Blessings,

Betsy