Day One Progress

In one day this…

Turned into this…

Progress is being made. I think. It does get worse before it gets better right?

The electrician was out yesterday to scope out the work and refresh his memory from the bid that he did in June. This morning another man was out to run exhaust fans to the outside from the bathrooms. Apparently our bathroom ventilation fan was just going into the attic, which is a big no-no for mold. I haven’t looked at what’s been done so far, but there’s been a lot of hammering and sawing going on! I’m staying downstairs. 😏  Our guestroom now has a toilet, washer and dryer sitting in it! It also has all of the towels and cleaning products, etc. from the bathroom. It’s amazing the difference in one day.

This morning I took Mom for her physical and they gave her the Covid booster while we were there. Then we went and had breakfast together before going to get haircuts. We had planned to go grocery shopping, but decided to stop by Mandy‘s house because it was time for her break and we were just a few blocks away. Poor Lizzie was devastated when we went to leave without her, so we decided just to bring her home for the afternoon to play with Zoey and we’ll  take her back tonight. We’ll do the grocery store run early tomorrow morning. I think Mom had had enough for one day anyway. She was pretty tired. 

I finished the sock that I’m sending to Kathy B for her group that make socks for amputees. This was some leftover sock yarn. I remember that it’s from Knit Picks, but I don’t remember the name of the yarn. I also made up the cuff pattern and the foot is just a simple vanilla sock with a kitchener toe. Kathy, I will try to get it into the mail soon.

I began Mandy‘s Christmas socks and I’m about halfway down the calf right now. I won’t be posting a picture of them until after Christmas because I know she reads my blog.

I also got the Christmas tree out of the box and set it up. Since we had given away our tree when we moved out of the house thinking we wouldn’t have a house for several years, we had to get a new one. This one came from Lowe’s and I must say it’s the easiest tree I have ever set up and it actually looks pretty nice. I did “fluff” the branches more after I took this picture, so those gaps aren’t so noticeable. Obviously I haven’t decorated it yet. Just moving the furniture and putting the tree up took everything I had, with both of the puppies helping and all of the banging and sawing going on upstairs. Decorations will happen tonight or tomorrow. Maybe. I’m learning in my old age that not everything has to be done at one time.😍

Tomorrow is December 1! That is just crazy. This year has flown by even faster than usual. I hope all is well with you my friends and please get your booster if you haven’t so far. The omicron variant sounds like. It might be pretty nasty.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

Busy Weekend

We had such a busy weekend as I’m sure many of you did too. It was a whirlwind with Alex and Tara arriving Tuesday and leaving very early this morning. A lot was fit into those four days and we had a wonderful time with lots of family.

I did finish the baby blanket for our new little granddaughter over the weekend. This was a lot of crocheting. I am very pleased with how it turned out though.

Alex took a lots of pictures of Zoey while he was here. He is an amazing photographer. I guess it helps that she is so cute!

These two were my favorites but it was very hard to choose as they were all so good.

Jamie sent us this one of our two oldest grandchildren who went skiing yesterday in Montana. I have no idea when these two grew up.

Here are two of our nephews along with Alex and Piper. We had so much fun on Thanksgiving. We ended up having 21 people for lunch and then my brother and sister-in-law stopped by a few hours later to visit. It was so much fun after so many years of not having any family holidays. We set all of the food up the buffet style on a table in the kitchen and people sat at the dining room table and at two tables we had set up in the living room. 

Mom with the four of her grandchildren who were present. I think Alex was trying to take a photo too, so he wasn’t looking at the camera.

Look at that face! The two girls got to pull apart the wishbone and guess who got the bigger half? Miss Piper. Aria wasn’t too happy about that.🤣 My microwave went out last weekend so Dennis had the job of putting the new one in before the holiday. He had everything ready when Alex arrived so all they had to do was lift it up and secure it in place. Now I have a new, much more powerful microwave! I think the old one was one of the original microwaves that were put in over the stove. The handle was cracked when we moved in and so was the plastic around the door. It’s nice to have one that works when you turn it on.

I wrapped up all of the little advent gifts today and filled the stockings for Miss Piper‘s advent calendar. Dennis and I took it to their house this afternoon. I hope she likes all of the little gifts as she opens them. There isn’t anything expensive but I tried to find things that I thought she would like. A couple of packages were a little too big for the stockings, so I just pinned the stocking to the package with the clothes pin and then attached them to the string.

I thought I would share one last before photo with you. Tomorrow morning the bathroom will be demolished! We sure could have used a second shower this week, but it will be nice to have it in the future when people come to visit. It is supposed to take about three weeks to have this bathroom completely redone and the master bath vanity and floor replaced.

All in all it was a wonderful week. Mandy and her husband along with Piper, Alex and Tara and Dennis all went to the zoo on Friday. I was down Wednesday through Saturday with very painful back spasms.  I stayed home from the zoo because I knew there was no way I would be able to walk the distances that they would be walking. They all had a wonderful time. Then yesterday, Mandy‘s in-laws, along with my niece and nephew, were back over for the afternoon and evening. Dennis and I ordered pizza and we all had a wonderful time just chatting for one last evening before Alex and Tara left. That goodbye was certainly not easy, but I managed to contain my tears until they were safely in the airport and I was back in the car. I’m looking forward to when we will get to see them again and also our new little granddaughter.

I’m sorry I wasn’t online much this week. In fact I really wasn’t on at all. It was good to have a break to have concentrated time spent with our kids. Tomorrow I’m going to try to catch up with all of you. Wishing you all a wonderful week.

Blessings and hugs, 

Betsy

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, May God bless each one of you as you celebrate!

We’re having around 20 here for dinner. Plus Alex & Tara flew in last night from London. And yes, many of you guessed it. They are expecting a little girl in the spring. I may not be online much till next week. I know you will all understand. I don’t want to miss anything by being away from family.

So…..Happy Thanksgiving to each one of you. You are some the reasons I’m grateful.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

Not my favorite day….

Good morning everyone! If you’re wondering about the title of this post, I had my annual mammogram this morning. That is not my favorite thing to do by any stretch of the imagination. Especially since I received my pacemaker. But it’s done now for another year and I’m very grateful that they keep an eye on things.

We have an absolutely beautiful day today. The sun is shining but it’s very cold. We had had a series of dreary days before this so the sun is very welcome. Poor Piper didn’t have any mittens for the walk to school this morning though and Mandy said she was freezing. I finished up a new hat and mitten set for her last night and I took them to her house when I left the hospital after the mammogram. The colors aren’t quite right on this picture  but they are made with Hobby Lobby’s I Love This Yarn in the “deep sigh” color way.  The colors are actually tones of turquoise and are very pretty.  It’s my normal mitten pattern, just in a larger size for her and the hat is supposed to be a one size fits all free pattern that I found on Ravelry a while ago. I’m sorry don’t have the name anymore. I just wrote down the cast on number and the amount of rows to do. It is a super soft hat and I may make one for myself.

When I got to Mandy‘s house she was working of course, and Lizzie was in her kennel. She has to keep her in the kennel while she’s working because she is a puppy and is into everything. She feels so badly about it. I took her out of the kennel and took her outside to go potty and that puppy was just all over me. She kept kissing me and kissing me. So guess who came home with her grandma?

These two girls find any patch of sunlight they can and lay in it. Look at Lizzie standing over top of Zoey. She’s just waiting for her to drop that toy.

Stalking her like a lion stocks its prey!🤣 These two love each other so much. Zoey got her last set of shots along with her rabies shot yesterday. You wouldn’t know it by the way these two are wrestling around.

And finally, one of my favorites. This is their favorite place to be in the whole house. Laying together in the bed in the sun by the front door where they can see outside.

Most of my time besides making Piper’s hat and mittens, has been spent on these little squares. Each row is different and they are a bit fiddly, but I think they’re going to make a very pretty baby blanket. I have about half of the squares completed. I do have all of the white circles done though.

Last week Piper’s school had a Veterans Day program. This is the first school program that we have been able to attend for any of our grandchildren. This was just the third graders and my goodness where we impressed. The kids did sign language to each of the patriotic songs that they sang. Piper even had a speaking part. They all seemed to know all of the words and all of the motions. It was wonderful!

And here are both of her proud grandpa‘s. Both of them are veterans named Dennis and she was so thrilled to have both of them there, can’t you tell by that smile?

One last picture of our little demon puppy. This is one of her favorite places to sit now in the evenings. She sits on the back of Dennis‘s chair like a gargoyle, especially when he’s eating something. We don’t feed her any human food but she never stops asking for it!

And now I need to get busy crocheting. This blanket isn’t going to make itself. I still have Christmas cards to do. A few more hours in each day may be needed. 😍

Blessings and love,

Betsy

It’s getting colder!

I guess it is expected, but it is beginning to get colder here. Tomorrow night is supposed to be in the mid 20s. I’ve still been wearing my sundresses during the day, but I guess I’ll have to find some warmer clothes soon!

Tonight Piper has a Veterans Day program at school. Both of her Papa’s are veterans and they both get to attend. This is very exciting for us because we have never been able to attend any of our grand children’s school programs before. Kyleigh is a junior in high school and Caleb is a freshman and we have never been to any of their school functions. It’s a hazard of living so far away. Piper is excited to have both of her Papa’s there this time. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

It is beginning to feel like home here. We are still missing our friends that are like family to us and Spokane too. We miss our beautiful mountains and the sound of the rushing mountain streams. We’re hopeful that we will be able to go back and visit next spring. We are keeping our eyes open for a new to us camping trailer. Now we are wishing we had kept our smaller one that we sold before we moved. Who would have known it would be so difficult to find a camping trailer. We had no idea where we would be able to store it so we decided it would be better to sell it and just get a different one when we had things figured out here.

My dish cloth inventory was running rather low so I whipped up a few of those this week.



In my Christmas bag is a very exciting project.

Do you see the hint of pink? We are going to have a new granddaughter in the springtime!!!!  Oh, what an exciting announcement to make. I’m trying to get this finished by Thanksgiving so I can give it to the new parents when they are here.💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Mandy had a washing machine disaster this week. The pump went out on her washing machine on Tuesday. Dennis and I went over after work on Tuesday but he was not able to do anything with it except help her clean up the water. She was able to schedule a repair man for yesterday and we brought Lizzie home to spend the night with Zoey and Papa and Grandma so Mandy wouldn’t have to deal with her, work and a repairman all at the same time. Oh my goodness were these girls happy! They love each other so much!

They played and played and played until they completely collapsed on my lap yesterday. Here Zoey was giving Lizzie a kiss, see that little pink tongue?

…just before they both fell asleep in my lap. There is nothing like a lap full of sleeping puppies, unless it’s a lap full of sleeping babies! These two are the sweetest puppies. They know each other‘s names and they actually know when we are going to the others’ house. When you get within two or three blocks of the house they start whimpering and pacing! I honestly believe they still know that they are siblings.  Lizzie went to the vet this morning and she was 5 lbs. 8 oz. Zoey goes next week and I know she weighs more than that. I really want her to stop growing!

Mandy and Piper came over after Mandy finished work last night to get Lizzie and they had dinner with us of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy and fresh green beans. It is so nice to be close enough that they can just come over for dinner when one of us has had a stressful day.

And yes, I have become one of those dog moms. Both of the puppies would be able to ride in here because there are two harnesses attached. It will make things much easier on my back. I think I’m going to love this thing. Of course Mandy thinks I am insane and is embarrassed by me.😂🤣😂

On Monday we had a gorgeous day. I took Zoey for a walk around Forest Lawn cemetery. It’s only a couple of blocks from our house.  We 

cleaned off Dennis’s dad’s and little sister’s graves. Also, both sets of his grandparents and then we walked up the hill to my parents graves. Their headstone is right under this tree. We sat there for quite a while and rested and it was absolutely beautiful. So quiet and peaceful. My mother always wanted to be buried under this tree and I’m so glad it hasn’t been cut down.

That’s about it. Nothing else really exciting happening. Dennis is still working every day and I find lots to keep busy with. I haven’t even begun Christmas cards yet, and I usually have them ready to mail the day after Thanksgiving. I really need to get busy on that because I need to get our new address out to people.

I hope you are all doing well and coping with all of the challenges happening in the world. I bought my Thanksgiving turkey last week. I have never paid so much for a turkey in my life. The man in the meat department said he didn’t think they would be getting anymore in though so I figured I better buy one while I could.

Blessings and love,

Betsy💜

New Beginnings

It’s a new month already! I don’t know how we’ve gotten to November already this year, but here it is. Usually by this time I’m completely done with Christmas purchases. This year I’ve barely even started.

It sounds like neighborhoods either had a lot of trick-or-treaters last night or none. We were in the big fat zero group. So disappointing. I really like to look at the costumes. I had bought quite a lot of candy so I plan to freeze most of it. That way at least it will take some thought to eat it, the rest we will take to Bible study Wednesday night.

Mandy and Brad‘s neighborhood had scads of kids. Mandy and her neighbor took the girls around the neighborhood while Brad and Jeff manned the candy bowls. They had set up the outdoor fire pit on the driveway to keep warm, as had several other neighbors that I could see by the pictures Mandy sent. Lizzie kept warm inside Brad‘s coat and everybody had an absolutely wonderful time. I wish we had gone out there and spent the evening. I guess next year I’ll know not to buy any candy at all. 

Here’s Miss Piper dressed up as Carmen Sandiego at the school parade on Friday. I think she’s beautiful.

Mandy and Piper bought matching bags for Lizzie and Zoey. 

It’s amazing how many things you have to take with you for an outing with a puppy. It’s almost like packing a diaper bag. Would you believe we ordered a dog stroller last night? We’re thinking it could come in handy in the future. We have become one of “those” people! When I showed Dennis how nicely Debbie’s dog Pup sits in the stroller he was sold. You can find Debbie’s blog, “Araignee” over on my side bar.

This is the back of the bag and of course Zoey had to come and see what I was doing when she saw that I had her bag. Any treats falling out of it Mom?

This is a horrible picture and I apologize. The lighting is so bad today. All it is is the cuff of a sock that I am making for Kathy at Compassion Knits” new charity. You just make one sock and send it to her and she will make sure that it gets to a group who distributes socks to amputees.  A very worthy cause. It also will give me a chance to use up some half skeins of sock yarn. 

Mandy really liked the wrist warmers that I made for Kyleigh so she asked if I would make a pair of them for Brad‘s assistant in Washington DC for Christmas. We bought the yarn Saturday evening and I whipped this one up in no time. Again, the lighting is terrible.

This photo is much more representative of the color yarn. This is such a fun pattern. again, it is “Cloudburst” by Arienne Gray and is free on Ravelry.

Dennis is going up to church tonight to help replace some windows. I plan to stay home and knit. Zoey and I will go for a walk in a little while when it gets a little warmer. The temperatures have plummeted quickly here. I’m hoping for a safe and wonderful week for all of you my dear friends. May God bless each and everyone of you with good health and the love of family and friends. He is our only true hope in a world that seems to be spinning out of control at times.

Blessings and love,

Betsy