A beginning!

How has the beginning of your year been? Mine has been busy. I have realized that I’m going to have to scale back the things that I planned to make this year because we are so busy with Mom and with activities here at the building. Yesterday I met with the ladies here who crochet sleeping mats for the homeless and we crocheted and chatted for a couple of hours. We meet every Tuesday at 1:00. After that Dennis and I went downstairs to the theater and watched “Ticket to Paradise” with George Clooney and Julia Roberts. It was really good. Today I went to craft time and although it was only supposed to be an hour or so, I ended up staying downstairs almost 3 hours! We made coasters from our Christmas cards. When I get them up to the apartment, I’ll take a photo to show you all. I’m very pleased with how they’re turning out but they weren’t quite dry when I left. The lady that does crafts is only a couple of years younger than me and we really enjoy spending time together at various activities. Her dad lives next door to us and her daughter is the activities director. Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment with Dennis‘s mom and I have a feeling it’s going to take awhile. She broke a tooth off on Monday. Every day something is going on, and where I used to be able to craft a great portion of the day, that isn’t the way it is now. The days fly by and it’s hard to believe that it’s  gone when we get ready for bed, but I’m sure having fun with everyone here. So far everybody we have met has been friendly and very helpful at “showing us the ropes.”

I thought I would show you pictures of a couple of my plants. This ivy is doing very well, even though it’s been moved around a lot the past couple of months.

And look! Even my orchid has buds on it! It bloomed for one year straight from July 2021 until August 2022. After all of the flowers fell off, I cut the stem down to about an inch, as several people advised. It was put in a fairly cool room in our apartment while the Christmas decorations were out and I was afraid that would kill it, but this happened instead! It’s back in its spot in the living room and I hope it blooms before I go on my trip so I can see the pretty flowers.

Here is the current version of our front door. Again, it’s two photos because I can’t back up the phone up to get everything in one picture.

Since I don’t have the kitchen island anymore to hang my crocheted garlands on, I thought over the door might be a fun place to hang them.

I didn’t make it in time for my Christmas socks this year, but maybe by next Christmas they’ll be done! I took them with me today to the DMV because we had to change the address on our drivers license. Would you believe I only had time to put one row on them before I was called up to the window? I guess going early in the morning pays off. I will take them to the dentist with me tomorrow and maybe get a few more rows knitted.

And with some of my Christmas money from Dennis I bought the yarn to make myself another “Portage” sweater. After I finished Mandy‘s, I decided I wanted another one too. I’ve worn my original sweater as my winter coat so far this year. It’s actually warmer than my winter coat is! This new Portage is my incentive to lose weight. I thought this yarn would look great with blue jeans and I refuse to buy any jeans until I lose weight. Do you think it will work? It is Hobby Lobby “I Love This Yarn” and the color is “Firework Show.” My first sweater was also made with the same yarn but in a different color, and it’s held up very, very well and washes and dries great.

How many of us does this apply to? I raise my hand high. It’s me! It’s me!

And here is what the living room looks like as I write this post. I’m watching a crocheting video on YouTube with my fairy lights on top of the fireplace. I decided not to put them away with the rest of the Christmas decorations. I really enjoy the little twinkling lights in the evenings when it gets dark so early.

I really hope you are all having a good week. I pray that all of you that have been sick are now on the mend. I still have a bit of a lingering cough, but it is slowly improving. The worst thing is the tiredness. I still find myself falling asleep if I sit down in the afternoon. This evening Dennis and I were going to watch a video and I slept through 3/4 of it! I never did that before I had Covid last month. Hopefully it will go away soon. 

I can’t believe the time is almost here for my trip. I haven’t even begun getting my list together of things to pack and I leave in a little over a week! Once again, I won’t be able to comment on anybody’s blogs for the entire time I’m gone because I need to leave my laptop home with Dennis. He needs it for Zoom meetings. I will be reading your blogs though, as I’ll have my phone and my iPad with me. I should be able to post on my blog too while I’m in London. Hey, if you send me your cell phone number I can even text you while I’m gone! Just kidding. I’m sure none of you are that anxious to hear from me, but I can text if you want me to. 🤣😂🤣

I pray that you all have a safe and wonderful rest of the week and stay healthy. I’ll be back soon.

Blessings and love,

Betsy