Good Monday morning!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a lovely weekend in spite of the news around the world. I’m trying to take my own advice and just watch a little bit of news. Just enough to keep informed but not too much so that I’m overwhelmed with it all. And then I pray and try to leave it at God’s feet. Of course the Ukraine and its people are in the back of my mind all of the time. Dennis went to the Ukraine several times on business and has many acquaintances there. He went to Romania and Croatia often and understandably, those countries are nervous as well with what’s happening. He has many friends there. I know all of you are just as concerned as I am. I will continue to lift them all up in prayer throughout the day and night as they come to mind.

All of my free moments have been spent working on this cross stitch kit. I had forgotten just how long it takes to do solid blocks of color like this. All of my respect to those of you who do a lot of  cross stitch with blocks of color. I did change the elephant from two shades of blue to the two shades of gray. The dark gray on the top of its head is actually an ear. I’m trying to change some of the blues out to make it more girly.

I still have a monkey and a giraffe to do and the baby is due in just three weeks! Oh well. We will probably just take it with us when we go visit. The visit is planned for late April. I should be able to get it done by then shouldn’t I?

My poor February socks are nowhere near being done. I still have an inch or two of the foot and the toe to do on the first sock as you can tell. I’m a bit disappointed in the yarn though. In the past I have always had plenty of yarn left after a pair of socks with Kroy yarn. You can tell by what’s left in the skein that there isn’t much there. They are exactly the same size that I always knit. I’m thinking I may need to use plain black for the toes. Otherwise, I really like the pattern that’s being made with this yarn.

I saw this blanket on Facebook this morning. The lady said she bought it from an Etsy shop. Isn’t it cute? I love those little puppy tails. I’m debating whether to buy the pattern or not. I have so many baby blanket patterns already.

Dennis got a new toy this weekend too. We ordered this pit boss from Amazon. It is for our camping trips.

We decided to go with a griddle instead of a grill. It’s portable and can sit on the table top. We also bought the adapter hose so we can use big propane tanks instead of those little one pound bottles. They go so fast and are so expensive. The grill that we had at the lake was 10 years old and it had lots of rust on it and was pretty much worn out. We used it virtually every day in the summer out there. You can cook everything on this that you do on a grill, plus more. Pancakes, bacon, grilled sandwiches, etc. can all be made on here along with the regular hamburgers, kebabs and other meats. You can buy a cover for it as well as a stand to sit on, but we’re going to wait and see if we actually need those things before we buy them. I’m excited to try it out.

Yesterday after church, we took mom for a drive to Mahoney State Park. It is between Omaha and Lincoln. We also went to Platte River State Park and Louisville State Park. They are all within about 10 miles of each other. We camped at all of these places before we moved to Spokane but haven’t been there since our move. My goodness how things have changed! Mahoney has a snowmachine and even though it was in the upper 50s yesterday, kids were out tobogganing on the hill. They have horseback rides and a tree top adventure area which I think are zip lines. There is a big swimming pool with slides and also a movie theater. There is a big lodge with a restaurant and lots and lots of cabins. It is huge compared to what it used to be. We have reservations to stay there at the middle of April. It will be our shakedown trip with our little trailer.

This is a bit later in the day now and getting posted much later than I planned. For some reason Blogger would not work for me this morning so I’m trying again. Meanwhile I went and got my oil changed. What a gorgeous day we have. It’s 71°F outside. I took my sock and I sat outside on a bench while they changed the oil and it was lovely then I came home and took Zoey for a nice long walk. Wishing you all a wonderful Monday.

Blessings,

Betsy 

Very Cold after Very Warm!

We had such a beautiful day on Sunday. It got up to 64° and after church and a quick lunch at home, Dennis and I spent several hours puttering around at the camper. He cut down the bed frame to fit the queen mattress better. The camper came with a king size mattress, but we asked them to exchange it for a queen because it was there was not much room to walk around the bed. We have always had queen size beds so that’s not a problem for us. I hung up all of the command things in the shower. Shampoo and soap holders, towel and wash cloth hooks, etc. We have put those in all of our trailers and they work wonderfully well. I also put some kitchen things away and bathroom towels. Meanwhile Dennis was hanging up the paper towel holder, my knife rack and key rack. Lots of little things, but it makes it feel more like home and much more comfortable to be in.

Yesterday I took mom to her doctors appointment where she was put on insulin for the first time. She’s such a tiny little slip of a thing, but her pancreas is just not working as it should. Later in the day I picked up her insulin pen from the pharmacy and I went over last night to give her her first shot. I’ll go over every night for a while to make sure she understands what she has to do, but I do think she’ll do just fine giving herself the shots if she just remembers to do it. She is very frustrated that she has to have another medication. She also realizes that her memory is not doing very well at all and that frustrates her even more, which I then think makes her forget more. It’s a never ending circle. She has gotten exponentially worse with her memory in the past couple of weeks. I think it has to do with her sister being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She has just had too many bad shocks in the last couple of years.

I don’t remember if I told you last week that I broke a window in the living room when I was washing them. I couldn’t believe it. I had to be at the glass repair shop at 8:00 yesterday morning to get it repaired. They had ordered the new window from the factory and they put it in the frame for us yesterday. Thank goodness that was yesterday and not today. Yesterday I was wearing a sundress with no sweater. Today it’s 25 below zero with the windchill! As they say, if you’re in Nebraska and you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute and it will change. 🤷‍♀️

So that’s what I’ve been doing the past few days. Not a lot of time for stitching but I’ve been trying to do as much as I can, when I can. I have been enjoying the cross stitching and I even have something to share for tiny needle Tuesday! That rarely happens.

I couldn’t decide which picture to share because Zoey was so cute in both of them so I thought I would just show you both! Doesn’t she have the cutest little profile in this bottom picture? And yes, she has both Dennis and I wrapped around her little paws.

You can almost see the shape of the lion in the lower right corner. That weird blob by the lions feet will eventually be a turtle. I am having fun with this.

This is the February square for the “Jayda in Stitches” Tunisian crochet blanket along. This is called the full stitch and I did make a few little errors but it’s not too bad! It’s not too late to join in. She releases the pattern by video the first Friday of every month, so you have lots of time yet to get the January and February squares done.

I received some sweet valentines in the mail. This one is from Debra. She has the “As I See It Now” blog on my side bar. We have been blog friends for several years now. Thank you for the sweet, sweet card Debra.

And this one came from Sam. Her blog is “Self Sufficient Sam” over on my side bar. Isn’t this just the sweetest card? Sam has been feeling very ill the last few weeks and I would appreciate prayers for her to be back to herself.

Remember I mentioned at the beginning of the post how cold it is? This is where little Zoey is right now. She’s buried under all of these blankets on my lap! I wanted a dog I could have on my lap while I did stitching projects and I sure got one. She is the most affectionate and cuddly little dog we have ever had. She likes nothing better than to snuggle in nice warm blankets and cuddle up right next to you. She seems to love Dennis and I equally. That is one of the things I love about him working from home. She is used to having both of us around all of the time.

Well, I seem to of writing a news letter today. Sorry about that. I think I don’t have anything to tell you so I put off blogging and then once I start it gets very long. I apologize. I hope you are all staying nice and warm if you’re up here in the north and enjoying the warmth if you’re down south. Take care and may God bless each one of you today. 

Blessings and love, 

Betsy

It’s cold again.

Hello everyone!  How is February treating you all? The weather has been very strange here this winter. It will be very cold for a couple of days and then it will be unseasonably warm. We only had that one snowfall quite a while ago and nothing since. We’re being told possible snow flurries next week sometime, but everyone is afraid that we’re going to get lots of snow in March because we’ve been so spoiled all winter. I’ve actually worn my flip-flops quite a bit! Tuesday it was 63°F. I spent the afternoon at the new trailer putting the dishes in and making the bed. It was so much fun to putter around in there. I had the windows open and my audiobook on my phone and it felt like I was camping again, albiet in a big storage lot!

These are the mittens that I finished last week. I’m actually ahead by 2 weeks on my schedule of making them.

I started a birth announcement cross-stitch for our granddaughter who is due next month. I had started a different design but then I found out the design of the nursery is a jungle theme, so I ordered a new kit and started over again!  It’s almost solid cross-stitch so it will be very time consuming. I think this is all I will be working on for a while! Of course I couldn’t find my roller bars that I use on larger Crosstitch pieces. I think they were also lost in the move. I haven’t seen them since we unpacked everything. I had to run out to Hobby Lobby this morning to buy this quilting hoop. I was trying to do it without a hoop and you can see all of the wrinkles from holding the material.

While I was out that far away from home I picked up Lizzie. She will spend tonight and Friday night with us. Miss Piper is staying at her other grandparents house tonight. There is no school and they asked before I did. lol I need to be more on the ball and get my reservation in earlier! Just kidding. I love her other Grandma and Papa too. They are wonderful people. These two girls are so happy right now. They haven’t stopped playing in the four hours we’ve been home.💜

I told you last week that I would post some pictures of our visit at the zoo. We went a week ago last Saturday and had a wonderful time with Miss Piper. 

Here we are together in front of the Penguins. It was a beautiful day that day in the upper 50s.

Our next stop was the aquarium where we spent a lot of time. These jellyfish were my favorites. I’m sure most of you can tell why. Purple!

The sea turtle was one of Piper‘s favorites and she took this photo when he swam in front of us.

There were a lot of sharks in the same tank….

along with a bunch of stingrays.



And more jellyfish!

One of our last stops was the butterfly pavilion. This was my first visit to this building and it’s absolutely magical. You have to go through an airlock system to get in or out of the display. All different types of butterflies flit and fly around you. They even land on your clothes. That’s why you have to go through the airlock in order to leave the display. They check your clothes to make sure there’s no butterflies hiding. I’m sorry this was the best picture I could get as they flew all around us.

It’s been a difficult week here. We found out that Dennis’s aunt has pancreatic cancer which is what his sister Karen died from last year. Mom is not taking it well and is very depressed. Her blood sugar is completely out of control, but I know she’s eating well because I buy all of her groceries. I’m taking her back to the doctors on Monday and I have a sneaking suspicion they may put her on insulin instead of the oral medicine she’s been taking. It is hard seeing your parents get older. We’re all worried about her living by herself in that big house with all of the stairs.

Take care of my friends. I know that God is watching out for us and loves us all more than we can imagine. That is what gets me through every day. I’ll talk to you again soon.

Blessings and love, 

Betsy

Finally done…

 Well, the house is finally almost done. The only thing left is for the contractor to come and put the replacement piece of tile underneath the shower door. (Dennis just told me that he just had a call from him and he’s coming this afternoon to put that piece of tile on.) And then it really will be done!

So today I’ll be showing you the finished floors. Whoo-Hoo! The kids came yesterday after church and moved the furniture back for us. We fed them pizza again and I count that cheap labor! My sister and Dennis‘s mom came over and had pizza with us too. I spent the afternoon cleaning up the sanding dust and putting things back in the china cabinet, etc. It feels so good to have things somewhat back to normal. And I hope we’re done!

Here is the great expanse right after they finished. It is much, much darker than we had asked for and they offered to redo the whole thing, but I was just done! And honestly, once the furniture was moved back, it didn’t look too bad. They were able to repair the few places that the wood had been damaged and also got the two water stains out. This photo was before Dennis put the quarter round back on the baseboards.

I even got all of the pictures hung back up on Saturday. Dennis had the brilliant idea of taking a picture of the photo wall before I took them down. That really made it much easier to hang them back up.

Not much of the floor actually shows once the rug and furniture is back in. Can you see my orchids on the upper right? They have been blooming since I bought the plant in June.

The dining room.

Another view of the living room. It’s a fairly large room, but the furniture is big too. I think it is the most comfortable furniture we’ve ever owned.

Yet another view.

My dear friend blog friend Cindy from the “Delighted Hands” blog over on my side bar, painted these wonderful pictures with her left hand last month after she broke her right hand. I love them. I very rudely asked her what she planned to do with them and if she was not keeping them, could I buy them from her? They are perfect in the new bathroom. I’ve already had a couple of compliments on them. Cindy, I can’t thank you enough for sharing your paintings with me. I absolutely love them.

This is on the other end of the mirrored wall. Isn’t she cutest little llama you’ve ever seen? I realize it’s not typical bathroom decor but I love her. Please feel free to give a suggestion for a name for her. 💜 We have decided she looks a lot like Zoey but has Lizzies ears!

This was Piper‘s valentines box for school. I love how she used the puppies to decorate her box. Isn’t she the sweetest little girl? She loves the sweaters that I make for her and wears them all of the time

Piper took this picture of Zoey after the guys got the furniture moved back. She’s quite the talented photographer.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you. I hope you all feel love today, especially from our Heavenly Father.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

Floors

Sorry I haven’t posted. Life is in an upheaval right now. Staying at Mom’s is an adventure with not a lot of time to post. Here is where we are with the floor this morning.

Everything is sanded.

Even the stairs.

Stain is down now too, but I don’t have a picture of that. The varnish is supposed to be today.

I’ll be back soon! We went to the zoo with Piper Saturday and I have some fun pictures to share with you.

Blessings and love,

Betsy

End of the week already?

My goodness! Is it just me or are the weeks flying by? I couldn’t believe it when I realized it was Friday already. There aren’t enough hours in the day to do all of the things I want to do.

We are supposed to pick up the new trailer a week from tomorrow. They are adding more solar on the roof so we can go boondocking for a longer period of time. They are also installing a backup camera. We looked around and it was only $50 more to have them do the camera install rather than us buy it and install it ourselves. We figure that is well worth the money to have it done correctly!

We have insurance in place after I talked to our agent several times this week. I have also found a place that we can store it, just a few miles from our house. That takes a big worry off of our shoulders. We knew we didn’t want to pull it up and down this hill and try to park it all of the time. When it’s missing it’s also a dead giveaway that you’re not home, to anyone who has nefarious intentions. 

I picked up Lizzie for a play date with Zoey today and she’s spending the night with us. We will take her and Zoey to Mandy & Brad’s house while we go to the zoo with Piper tomorrow. The two of them are having a wonderful time playing. It’s grandma’s spa today. I’ll give Lizzie a bath and clip her nails.  Usually they get their baths at the same time, but Zoey got so muddy on our walk the other day she had to have hers early.

They are playing tug-of-war with a chicken! Zoey looks huge in this photo but Lizzie is really just a little bit smaller.  It must be the perspective.

Their favorite places to play are in the patches of sunshine on the carpet. That thing on the floor is the doggie playpen that they roll around in. It’s the best puppy sitter!

I ended up ripping out the sweater and remaking it. I couldn’t stand that one row of three stitches being wrong! I still have to wash it and sew the buttons on the sweater. I also made a matching hat and a pair of baby mitts.  

Two pair of mittens completed and almost another pair.

A little bit of progress on the socks. I did decide to just do a plain vanilla stitch because of the pattern in the yarn.

That’s about it. It’s been a crazy busy week. I took mom and I to the doctors on Tuesday to get blood work done. Mom‘s kidneys aren’t doing very well and so I have to take her to a nephrologist next week. Her A1C was also very high. Mine hasn’t changed since November so they’re leaving me alone. Then Dennis had to go yesterday to have his bloodwork done. His A1C is still high, but it has been for 10 years. He’s been borderline diabetic all this time, but his A1C never seems to change. Oh, the joys of getting old.

The floor refinishers called and asked if they could move up the work by one week. So instead of being here a week from Monday, they will be here this coming Monday. Which means we have to get everything cleaned out of the living room and dining room and take the pictures off the walls. We’ll stay at mom‘s house for a few nights because they said we can’t stay in the house. We’re trying to figure out where Dennis will be able to work. Mom doesn’t have Internet, so he had planned to just move his computer to our basement. We’re not sure how he will do with the fumes though. After that they just have to put the door jams on the floor from the two bathrooms and I think we’ll be done with everything. Hallelujah! Brad and my nephew Tim are coming over Sunday after church to help Dennis move all of the furniture down to the garage. What a pain. I don’t think we will ever do anything like this again. Although we are so old it probably won’t need done again in our lifetime anyway.😂

I hope all is going well for all of you. Did you all survive the ice and snow?

Blessings and hugs, 

Betsy