Rain, rain, rain

Hi everyone! It seems like a lot of the country is getting rain right now. We went quite a while without any, but the last few weeks have been rather damp. It poured constantly from about 2:00 yesterday morning until about 9:30 this morning. It is supposed to rain more this afternoon too. Everything is damp and it’s dreary out and it sure feels a lot like fall.

This is the most colorful tree in our neighborhood. It’s in Dennis’s cousins yard right across the street. Not the best picture, but it’s raining again and I wasn’t about to go stand outside to take a photo. 🍁🍂🍁We’ve also had very high winds that have blown most of the leaves that have changed, off of the trees.

Since Zoey it’s so little, she can fit under several portions of our fence. Plus, the previous owner took the gates off and they are an unusual size so we have not been able to just let her run loose in our yard. We bought this little fence and have had it just past the patio on the grass and it’s worked perfectly for her. We can move it around wherever we want it in the yard. Now, with the rain and the snow on the way, we bought this patch of pet grass. Apparently it’s not regular Astroturf, but don’t ask me the difference! We put it under the deck during the past few days of heavy rain and it’s worked a charm. We don’t have to go stand in the rain and she can go potty without getting completely soaked. Enough rain blows underneath that it washes the mat off well too.

I finished the wrist warmers for our granddaughter Kyleigh for Christmas. The pattern is “Cloudburst” by Arienne  Gray.  They were quite fun to make and very quick. Although I was worried about the chart, they also had written instructions that I haven’t noticed before. I have no idea what the yarn is. I’ve had it for years and years. They are blocking today. I like to wait to sew in the ends until after blocking.

This is the prayer shawl that I’m working on for the medical center. I just began the second skein and I think it will be big enough with just the two. If you remember, these are the two skeins I got for one dollar each at Michael’s in their clearance bin. I believe they are cakes that were pulled out and so could not be sold at the normal price. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them though. The yarn comes out just like a normal skein. Such a deal. I’ll have a 24 inch wide by 5 foot long shawl for two dollars and it’s very soft!!

I have been working on stocking our pantry since we moved into the house. I re-organized it a bit a few days ago.

When I go to the store I just buy 4 to 6 extra cans or jars of whatever I’m getting. Now that we have pretty much everything we need, I’ll just replace what we use. The hardest thing is replacing it from the back without messing everything else up! I would love to have some of those racks that you can put cans on and they just roll forward but those are ridiculously high priced and we don’t need that much food.



We finally found a new freezer. They are hard to find these days. The one that came with the house didn’t work when we plugged it in and was pretty old. I listed it on Facebook marketplace for free and someone came and picked it up within 20 minutes! The refrigerator was left at the house too and works great. I’m just used to having a freezer so I can take advantage of sales. Of course there aren’t many of those anymore are there? I’m hoping turkeys are on sale before Thanksgiving. I think we will probably have around 20 people here for dinner. 

I think that in the post where I talked about volunteering for the medical center, I wasn’t very clear. For the time being, I will just be knitting and crocheting for them. It’s very limited with the volunteers that can be around patients right now. My sister is a baby rocker in the NICU,  but she hasn’t even been allowed to be at the hospital for almost 2 years now. There is a waiting list for that volunteer position, although I would love to do it too. I’ll probably do something else when they allow volunteers back in.

It’s been a relatively quiet week. Dennis and I had our annual physicals Tuesday morning and they gave us the Covid boosters while we were there. As usual, Dennis had absolutely no reaction to it which is wonderful. But I had the same reaction I did to the original two shots. Yesterday I felt pretty icky with bodyaches, low-grade fever and headache. Today my arm just hurts. It’s good to have it over with. Now we just have the last shingles shot at the end of November.

I hope you are all doing well. Take care of yourselves and make sure you keep some food in the house. Those supply chains, at least here in the states, seem to have broken badly.

Bless and love,

Betsy

Busy Weekend

Did you all have a good weekend? We sure did. It was busy and full of fun too.  Miss Piper had no school on Friday because of teachers meetings. I picked up Lizzie, their puppy, from the vet around noon and brought her to our house. She had had her third set of shots. She and Zoey  played all afternoon. Mandy and Piper came for dinner Thursday night and then Piper and Lizzie got to spend the night with grandpa and grandma! That was fun. Piper and I did a little shopping on Friday and grandpa got to watch both of the puppies while he worked! For his sake we weren’t gone very long. 😍

Then on Saturday, Melanie, Dennis and I took a day trip to the Kansas/Nebraska state line. There is a church that was built right on the state line and that is where our grandparents on our Dad’s  side and an aunt and uncle and cousins are buried.

It has been 40 years since I’ve been to the cemetery. It was February 1979 to be exact, when my grandma was buried. I knew approximately where the graves were, but thankfully this little cemetery out in the middle of nowhere has a list mounted on a little building showing you name, plot, date of birth, death and where the people were born! How wonderful for genealogists. Over 40 headstones in the cemetery had our maiden name of Saathoff on them. It is a tiny, tiny cemetery and I would say maybe a third of the headstones where our family. The first one below are my grandparents

This is my dad‘s brother and his wife. My Aunt Joyce just died a couple of years ago. Uncle Ernie, Aunt Joyce and their kids are the ones we were closest to when we were growing up.

They had two little stillborn babies, Ricky and Jay. 

Cindy was my sister Melanie‘s age and Cathy was just 11 days younger than me. We had lots of fun together growing up. 

Here is Dennis walking Zoey in front of the little church. It was a cloudy and windy day but not too cold.

I finished our grandson Caleb‘s socks. These will be part of his Christmas gift. He’s 14 and I thought a pair of wool socks would be great for when he goes snowboarding, which is quite often since they live near a ski resort. That little ball is all that was left of two skeins of Patons Woodsie. This is the first time that Patons has disappointed me. Usually I have quite a bit left over when making a pair of socks using two skeins. This time I did the heels in a black yarn because I knew there was no way I would have enough.

Now, I have barely started a pair of wrist warmers using the pattern “Cloudburst” by Arienne Grey. It’s a charted pattern and I detest charts, but I’m going to give it a try anyway. These will be for our 16-year-old granddaughter Kyleigh.

I’m still working away on the prayer shawl too, in between other projects.

I delivered the bag of mittens to a local school this morning. They were so excited! I also had five hats included in K-3rd grade size. She’s hoping I’ll continue to make them for next year.

Mandy’s going to kill me for posting this picture because she has her glasses on and her hair back but I thought I would show you that Brad really does exist. He’s just been working out of town for the past two years and only home for sporadic weekends. He was here this weekend and they took this quick picture to send to a family friend. I think it’s a great picture of all of them but of course she doesn’t like it. We never like pictures of ourselves do we?

And here’s another photo of our little Zoey sitting on Piper‘s lap when she was here last week. According to the vet there are just 2 ounces in weight difference between Lizzie and Zoey, but Zoey still looks huge next to her.

I hope you’re all having a blessed day I’m enjoying each and every moment that God has given us here on this earth. Take care of yourselves. I know many of you are in the process of getting the Covid booster and or flu shots. Make sure and get lots of rest.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

One More Day

We have one more day of beautiful sunny weather with the temperature hovering around 80°F. Beginning tomorrow we’re told there will be a drastic drop in the temperatures, so I’m enjoying today to the fullest. I have all of the windows and screen doors open and enjoying the breeze as it’s blowing through the house. I have a puppy curled up on my lap taking her nap and all is right with the world.💜

I finally finished up the socks I’ve had on the needles for almost 2 months. It’s a very simple Hermione pattern and it was knit with Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in the Lost Lake Heather colorway. I always enjoy this pattern.

Yesterday I cast on another pair of socks that will be for our grandson Caleb. This is using Patons Kroy socks in the Woodsie colorway. I am a bit disappointed and I probably should have weighed the yard before I began, but I know I don’t have enough to make one sock out of each skein of yarn. This has never been a problem when I’ve used the same yarn in the past. The socks aren’t any bigger than others I have made. They are supposed to be 100 g in each skein but there is no way they have that much yarn.

The leg is only 5 1/4 inches so far and I haven’t even begun the heel. That little ball of yarn on the right is all that’s left of one skein! I found the ball on the left in the bin of sock yarn that Debbie sent me. I don’t have any solid colors to match, which seems rather unbelievable. What do you think? Will it look all right to do the heel and toe out of the yarn on the left? I’m sure that he will use these socks while snowboarding, so they will be inside his ski boots and no one will see them, but I still would like them to look nice.

I have about 18 inches done on  the shawl that I began knitting for the hospital. Underneath the shawl is a puppy that’s taking her nap!

I saw this on Facebook a couple of days ago and couldn’t stop laughing. It is SO TRUE! Don’t you think so?

Here is our little girl. She wants to be right with us every minute of the day. She went to the vet yesterday for her second set of shots. She weighs exactly 5 pounds and is in perfect health according to him. Honestly? We have no idea what we did before she came along. She has us both wrapped around her little paws. Her antics never fail to make us laugh and she and Lizzie are the best of friends. She is still having about one accident a week in the house and we have no idea why. The vet tells me that that is normal and that we can’t  expect more than that. She’s just four months old this week.

She helped me clean the shower this morning. Now that was fun! I had forgotten to shut the bathroom door and she was determined to lick up the cleaner to see what it tasted like! Yuck! Dennis to the rescue. He came and took her into his office with him while I finished that job. Then I moved on to the refrigerator where something was spilled over the weekend. I took the drawers out of the bottom so I could clean underneath and she was right there to help with that too. Then, I moved downstairs to the family room to vacuum and that chased her back into the office because she’s terrified of the vacuum cleaner! Life is certainly interesting with a puppy around.

We walked with Piper home from school on Friday trying to get Zoey used to being around children since it’s just us old people here along with seeing Piper several times a week. I know it’s important for socialization for her to be around other people and animals. My goodness that was the perfect place to go! There must have been 40-50 children petting her, picking her up and walking with us. They have so many people out in their neighborhood all of the time that it’s a good place to go and walk both Zoey and Lizzie. Our neighborhood has mainly older people, who are very rarely outside. I think I’m going to try to do that at least once a week while the weather is nice enough.

I hope all is well with each one of you. God has blessed us with some amazing weather the past couple of weeks and I am enjoying every single minute of it. I know it will end soon but I’m going to enjoy it while I can.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

Happy Birthday Mom !

Today would have been my Mom‘s 99th birthday. Although she’s been gone over 30 years, I still miss her every day of my life. Happy Birthday in Heaven mom. I know that you are singing with your beautiful alto voice along with the angel choir and waiting for us to join you. I love you.💜🎂💜🎂💜

Gorgeous Fall Days

We are having a string of some beautiful fall weather. It is supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow, but we really need it, so no complaints here. Then, more beautiful crisp days are predicted. Spring and fall are my favorite times of year.

I brought out my half finished sock yesterday and started on the foot. It looks gray in this photo, but the color is really a dark green it’s called Lost Lake Heather. I never did find the four pair of hand knit socks that were lost in the move. They were supposed to be Christmas gifts and it’s very frustrating for me.

Last night while we started watching the first season of “The Chosen,” (I know, I know, we are way behind the times,) I started a shawl. It’s really a baby blanket pattern that I got from Mandy, but I just made it narrower at about 24 inches wide. I got the yarn for one dollar a cake at Michael’s in a clearance bin. The label was gone and both of the cakes I found were half pulled out of the cake. For one dollar that isn’t a problem. I’m just hoping there’s enough yarn to make a 4 1/2 to 5 foot long shawl. 

Last Friday my sister went with me to pick up my ID from the University of Nebraska Medical Center where she volunteers rocking babies in the NICU. I’m officially a volunteer there now too. With my ID I’m actually allowed in the hospital during these strange times. I was told that Prayer Shawls are needed more than baby hats right now because so many more people are making the hats, although of course they will accept any that I bring in. With winter coming, it will be nice to give out warm shawls to people having chemotherapy, etc.

I also finished all of the Christmas ornaments for family. These two are for Caleb and Kyleigh and since I don’t think they ever look at my blog I thought I would show them to you. It only took me multiple attempts to sew these together. Three of them were sewn with the hangers inside! Now, I can see doing that the first time, but three? At least I have one gift done for each of them. At the rate I’m going this year it may be all they get!

I have 124 pairs of mittens in this bag ready to go to the elementary school here in Omaha. Zoey helped me count them and pack them all up in the bag. She is a big help as you can imagine.

I just sent Mandy a text telling her that we went for a walk a little while ago. It took a little over a half an hour just to walk around the block! It’s like walking a two year old. 🤣 Every new sight, sound or smell, it’s like, SQUIRREL!!! Then we come around the top of the hill and she sees Grandma’s house and it’s a dead run for the front door. She loves her Grandma and I think the feeling is mutual.

She has progressed to sleeping with us most of the night now. We had said we weren’t going to do that. Ha! She’s cold. What can I say? She is the sweetest little snuggler. She gets right underneath either my chin or Dennis’s chin and snuggles in and doesn’t move for hours. How could you possibly resist that? She always starts out in her kennel and then after her 2:00 am puppy potty break Dennis takes pity on her and puts her in bed with us.

I posted this on Facebook the other day. If the woman happens to be me it’s doubly true!

I had a dermatologist appointment this morning at 8:00. I think because I was a new patient, everyone else was taken in first. It was almost 9 before I was taken to an exam room, but I really did like the doctor when I met him. He’s very young and friendly and it’s the same doctor my sister goes to. Since skin cancer runs in our family it was one of the first things I wanted to make sure I had a doctor for. And big surprise, he took off a spot while I was there this morning. My grandmother had psoriasis all over her body and all of my siblings have it. I’ve been very lucky, living out in Washington it hasn’t bothered me at all. Coming back here I’m starting to get some spots of it though. Oh the joys of getting old!

Take care everyone. I plan to do some knitting this afternoon and then I have to try to think of something good for dinner. It’s always a challenge trying to think of something different isn’t it? stay safe and well.

Blessings and love,

Betsy 

Fall Days

The days here just seem to roll one into another. Dennis is still working from home every day and I am entertaining the puppy! We went for our first real walk this morning down the hill and back up. We’ve been walking with the leash in the house and in the backyard to practice. I think she did very well on her walk. Puppies are easily distracted! Leaves, birds, ants. They all catch her attention. And when a car drove by a few feet away on the road she ran and hid behind my legs! She is a busy little girl and much more energetic than her sister Lizzie, but we love her to pieces. 

She absolutely loves Dennis‘s mom. When she realizes we are walking over to Mom’s house she turns into a wiggly bundle of fur that I can barely hold in my arms. She gets on her lap and gives her so many kisses! Mom loves it. She is very much an animal lover. I think if it weren’t for her age she would be getting a puppy too!

This is her favorite spot on these sunny fall days. We put her bed in the only spot of sunshine in front of the front door and she’ll lay there for hours. Of course she has to have a few of her favorite toys with her too.

She still seems so small to us after Chloe.

She and Lizzie both play until they drop. They are great friends, and you can tell by this photo just how much bigger Zoey is than Lizzie. She is a tiny little thing.  They are both sharp as tacks. They learn very, very quickly. When they want to, of course.

My sister Melanie goes to a craft night every month with her in-laws. This is what the ladies made in September. She didn’t have any place to put it and so she gave it to me. So far the puppy has ignored it completely. It is one of those glass blocks that is used in showers.  I think she did a great job with it and I’m really happy she thought of me.

We have been talking ever since we moved into this house about how disappointed we were not to have a fireplace anywhere. Knowing how well the electric fireplace heated the whole camper, we decided to get one for the family/craft room. It seems to put out a lot of heat although we haven’t needed to use it yet. It has nice storage for CDs and DVDs and even can be used as a mantle piece for the stockings at Christmas. I think it will work nicely even if it isn’t a real fire. It will be nice not to have to have stacks of wood and carry it in.

We had the television sitting on the six drawer shelf below. It was turned on its side in the family room. I think it works well this way too. All but one of those drawers are empty. I should be able to fit a lot of yarn in there don’t you think? 😂

I did manage to make one more baby hat for the hospital this week.

Along with making the cross-stitch portion of the ornaments for Kyleigh and Caleb.

Some of their neighbors came over after Piper went to bed the night before her birthday and asked Mandy if it would be OK to put this up in the front yard for her so she could be surprised in the morning. They have some amazing neighbors. They all know that Brad works out of town and they go the extra mile trying to do small things for Mandy and Piper. Piper was so surprised and happy as you can see by the smile on her face. She loves her puppy. Lizzie was her birthday present, a few weeks early and she’s thrilled with her. Papa and I bought Lizzie some clothes for this winter and gave Piper a gift card so she could go shopping. How we love this little girl. We are so happy to be close to her now.

I have to cut some boxes up today to put in the recycling bin. It’s amazing how quickly they accumulate. We are still waiting to hear when the contractor can start working on the bathrooms. We are really hoping it will be done before Thanksgiving so we’ll have another shower for Alex and Tara to use and the rusty sinks will be gone! 

I hope that you are all having a wonderful October day and are staying well.

Blessings and much love,

Betsy