Home Sweet Home

I'm HOME!!! Yippee! Yahoo! Oh it was so good to sleep in my own bed last night with hubby by my side. I've missed that very much. But...I do miss my little Piper a whole bunch. We had heavy rain when we left Portland yesterday for the first three hours of the drive. It changed to drizzle for awhile and then we actually had dry pavement for about half an hour. Then it was into the heavy snow coming down. I felt so blessed and thankful for good neighbors when we got home and found our driveway and sidewalks all snowblowed for us. I was thinking about trudging through snow to unpack the car and it was wonderful to find it all done. It's been flurrying all day today but no accumulation. I took Craig and Addie, (the lovely neighbors), two knitted dishcloths and Addie was overjoyed. She loves when I give her handmade things, especially dishcloths. She said Craig did the snow removal but she's happy to take the dishcloths! :-)

Following are few pictures that were on the camera when I got home. Miss Piper LOVES to be read to. She follows the pictures in the books and has definite favorites already. Mandy reads to her every single night and has since her first day home. Our family are all a bunch of bookworms. You should have heard our movers when we moved from Nebraska!

Here is the picture of Gracie, Teresa and Taci when we had lunch together two weeks ago while I was in Portland. All are bloggers that live in the Portland area and it's fun to get together when I visit. The three of them lunch together quite often and I'm jealous!

The last picture is of Polly and Chloe. Notice the same exact pose!!! They are always in the same position as the other. If one is curled up in a ball, the other is too. Chloe is really missing Polly today and Mandy say's Polly is acting lonely too. So sad.

I've spent the morning catching up on desk work and cleaning some. A busy day but it's really good to be home and around all that's familiar.

Sorry this is short. Lots to do when you've been gone a long time! Have a wonderful day.

Blessings,

Betsy

Sunshine Saturday

Hello everyone! I'm sorry I've been away so long. I'm still trying to decipher the picture mystery on Blogger. I think in order to post pictures, I'm going to either have to delete some old ones or pay. I think I'll begin with deleting a few and see what happens. But that will be next week when I have more time.

I've been busy traveling the past week. We went to our son's in Montana for Easter weekend. Three egg hunts with the grandbabies on Sunday and a WONDERFUL resurrection Sunday service. It was a grand fun-filled time. Hubby took Monday off work so we were able to stay an extra day. We drove home Monday and then Tuesday morning I travelled alone to Portland, OR to see our daughter. She is expecting her first baby and asked me to go the the doctors visit with her so I could hear the heartbeat. Oh that little one was kicking up a storm in there. I just can't wait to meet this little person sometime in September! I drove back home yesterday and finally relaxed a bit today. Almost 1800 miles driven in 7 days! My car definitely needs an oil change.

While in Portland I took a side trip on Thursday to Multnomah Falls to see a blog friend Teresa. She is also in the Lucy group on Ravelry. It was so good to meet her in person. She volunteers at Multnomah Falls and is a wonderful person. I'll have to figure out how to add links to others blogs on here. I know you would all love it. She posts beautiful pictures of the Columbia Gorge and her farm. And she is a much more regular poster than I am!

My new ipad just decided to quit working while in Montana so hubby and I took it to the geeks at Best Buy this morning. They did what they called a hard reset and it was just like new. Literally. All my information was gone and I had to start all over. Very frustrating. They said sometimes the software has a "little hiccup" and this happens. So I've been trying to reinstall all of my apps etc. this afternoon.

Hubby and I decided to put our little pop up camper on Craigslist today. We have one man interested and he's driving over from Walla Walla tomorrow to look at it. Yes, there is really a town called Walla Walla, Washington! Sounds funny doesn't it?

I'm hoping to be better about blogging, but with so much illness this year, I just haven't had the energy. Hopefully with spring arriving, it will be easier!

Have a wonderfully fabulous weekend.

Blessings,

Betsy

Snow Again?

Good morning friends!

I apologize for my absence yet again, but I've certainly been struggling with illness. I ended up at the doctor over the past weekend for antibiotics and cough medicine. Bronchitis this time around. Now hubby is sick too! What in the world is happening this year? We've never been this sick in 34 years of being married! I'm a bit better, still coughing somewhat, but that will probably last awhile. Hubby is in the midst of it, but still going to work every day-even with a fever. I worry about him very much and pray for a quick return to health.

Snow is forecast for the weekend! That's right, snow! When the majority of the country is having record high temperatures, we're still dealing with snow. I haven't been outside much for the past 9 days, so it hasn't mattered too much to me. :-)

Still trying to figure out the photo issues with blogspot, but since the progress on the baby blanket is VERY slow, there aren't a lot of photos to share with you anyway. I'm sure you don't want to see what I look like these days.

I have about 10 inches of the stranded baby blanket done and it looks fairly good on the front, but the back...where the ends are woven in, looks horrible. Kind of like counted cross stitch. Is it supposed to look like that? I've tried to weave them in neatly, but when there is only one stitch knitted-and you then have 2 ends to weave in, well, it looks messy. Maybe I'm not doing it right but I don't know how else to secure the ends. And there have been hundreds already. I'll just have to tell my daughter not to show anyone the back!!

Thank you for the comments and offers to help. I truly appreciate them, I just haven't felt like being on the computer much. I hope it's warming up for all of you and you are all experiencing better health than we are these days!!

Blessings,

Betsy

Hello Again!

My goodness it's been a long time since I've been here. I'm still trying to figure out the photo "thing." I really can't justifuly paying for a blog, but blogspot seems to want money to have me post pictures. Maybe I'll delete some old ones??? What have some of you done in similar circumstances?

I just returned from almost a week in Portland, Oregon visiting our daughter. She's 13 weeks along with our newest grandchild! We had a wonderful time. She's still pretty sick but seems to be getting a bit better. We went to IKEA and bought a new duvet and cover for our bedroom. I've wanted a nice duvet since we were in Paris a few years ago. They're so nice and squishy and snuggly!

We also bought yarn for a baby blanket I want to make for the new baby. I've never attempted charts but I think I'm going to try it for this blanket. It's a free ravelry pattern with sheep around the borders and the sun and moon. Hopefully it will turn out nice. I wanted my daughter to choose the colors she wanted and now I just need to muster my courage to begin knitting!

Hubby was in Indiana for business last week so on Friday he flew into Portland and had the weekend with our daughter too. We drove home together yesterday and it's a much nicer drive with company. Especially since I got to knit the entire way until it got too dark.

A friend from church that is in the military is being sent to Tokyo for temporaty duty. He leaves next week and he has offered to take Alex a care package. Since it costs around $75 each time I send a small box to him, we are eagerly taking Mike up on the offer. I have a video, book, calendar and some Easter candy for him so far. We don't want to overload our friend down but it's nice to have "free" shipping!

We hae blue sky and temps around 40F today but there is a winter storm watch for tomorrow and tomorrow night. Possible a foot of snow in the mountains and 4-6 inches down here in the valley. Blah!! I'm so ready for spring. Flowers were in bloom in Portland and it was so beautiful.

Well, I need to get my laundry going. Take care and please know that I love knowing you are all out there in blogland. Please leave a comment so I know who is there.

Blessings,

Betsy

Cloudy Monday

Good Morning Friends!

What a lovely Sunday we had in Spokane. I even took Chloe for a 1 1/2 mile walk in the afternoon. I started out with a jacket on, but that quickly became much too heavy to wear. It was a beautiful cloud-less day. This morning, however, is another story. Very dense clouds with the promise of rain in them. The forecast is for 1/2 inch of rain this afternoon and evening. But, at least we were blessed with a nice weekend.

Friday evening hubby and I saw the movie "Courageous" in Deer Park, WA. We both highly recommend it. In fact, we went out Saturday morning and bought the video to send to our son, Alex, in Japan. We both think he would enjoy it and he likes to get English videos! We also had friends over for pizza Saturday evening and we watched it with them since they were unable to go to the viewing Friday night. We laughed and we cried. Alot. The advantage of the DVD is watching the bloopers and the story behind the movie. It is produced, directed and shot mosting by a church, using members as the actors. This is their fourth movie that I'm aware of, and they just get better each time.

So, I just tried to upload a few pictures and it says I've exceeded my limit. Since I know next to nothing about computers, has anyone else experienced this with blogger.com? I guess my days of blogging will be no more if I have to purchase more space. That is definitely not in the budget!

I was going to show you a lace scarf in progress. I bought a merino/silk/tinsel blend at Paradise Fibers on Friday and started it yesterday. It will take some time to complete, because of the lace pattern. As you all know, there are no distractions allowed when kitting lace, so it will have to be worked on when I'm alone.

I also took a picture of a little burial outfit I made last night. Just the sleeves need added. It'a a beautiful lilac color.

And last but not least, was a picture of yet another blue baby sweater and sockies completed and the hat on the needles. I can work on these sets in church, in meetings, chatting with friends. The pattern is pretty much memorized so I always have a set on the needles. Many of the charities I belong to ask for baby sets so I usually have something to send them.

Tonight is dinner at church with the other Elders and wives before our monthly meetings. It's the start of another busy week for me. Next week I'm driving to Portland, OR to spend a few days with our daughter. I'm going to be a Grandma again in September, and I'm supposed to go the the Dr. with her and hear the baby's heartbeat! I'm so excited. Being a Grandma is one of God's greatest blessings.

Have a wonderful Monday.

Blessings,

Betsy

It really did snow!

On Friday in the grand saga of my life, the big question was if we should attempt to drive to Montana to visit our grandbabies.  We decided not to go, which I think was very wise.  The biggest reason however, wasn't because we were being smart at not attempting to drive through the blizzard, but was because hubby was detained at work.  That was very good for us though because look what we woke up to Saturday morning at home where snow was not even forecast!

When it was all over, hubby snowblowed about 9 inches of "flurries" off the driveway and sidewalk!  This wasn't even in the mountains!   There is another winter storm watch posted for tomorrow and Wednesday for just north of us.  (about 10 miles north and to the Canadian border is all)  We'll see how many "flurries" we get then. We've had such a mild winter until now.  That old groundhog was right after all.  Boo!

So, we stayed home and watched movies all day Saturday, snuggled in our cozy house with the fire going full blast.  I completed another blue baby set that I forgot to photograph.  After awhile they all look the same anyway, don't they?  I also started another baby blanket in a new pattern using Bernat "Pipsqueak" yarn.  I have never felt anythig so incredibly soft.  This is definitely going to be for one very special baby.

When we realized that we were going to be home for church yesterday, I came to the realization that I needed to make something for the potluck after services.  I had watched the "Pioneer Woman" on the food network on Saturday morning, so I decided to try out her meatball recipe.  Instead of her barbeque sauce, I just poured a jar of Prego over them and they were a hit!  Here are a few pictures.

First you brown them in a skillet with canola oil in batches of 8 or 9 meatballs, then...

You bake them for about 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

I ended up with 26 meatballs. My huge, enormous, stupid mistake?  I put them in the oven on cookie sheets-with NO SIDES!!!!  Can you guess what happened?  Yep.  Grease from the meatballs is now all over the bottom of the oven and the house filled up with smoke.  Yuck.  Yuck.  Yuck.  I need to wait for a halfway warm day when I can open the windows and clean the oven.  Soon.  Before I bake anything else in it.  I cannot believe I didn't even think about the fact that the grease that comes out of hamburger would have to go somewhere!   Oh well, live and learn and the meatballs were very good.  An ingredient that the Pioneer Woman used in the meatballs that I never would have thought of was milk.  It made them super moist.  Then they're dredged in flour before browning.  I think the recipe is on FoodNetwork.com/pioneer woman.  Not sure if I have that website correct but they did say the recipes from that show were available online.
Today I've vacummed, done laundry, caught up on my Bible reading and played with Chloe.  I have baby hats for the hospital in the washing machine to be delivered tomorrow.  I think I have about 45 hats done for this delivery.  This afternoon I'm going to work on my baby blanket with the wonderfully SOFT yarn.  I've got my chores done and now I can play.  A roast, potatoes, carrots and onions is bubbling away in the crock pot so my wifely chores are complete.  I love to find extra time to play with my yarn.

The skies are blue, blue, blue today so I may take my Chloe-baby for a walk in a little while.  She's been cooped up with no long walk since last Wednesday.  We could both use the exercise.

Have a wonderful Monday everyone!

Blessings,

Betsy

Snow, Snow, Snow!

Hello and happy Friday to everyone!

It's snowing again and it's NOT a welcome storm.  We were planning to go to Montana to see our grandbabies, (their parents too of course, but that's just a nice cooincidence.   :-))  Now, because of all the snow we're not sure we'll be able to go.  I have the car all packed and Chloe was excited to see her bed being loaded into the car.  Road trip!  She know's we're either going to our daughter's house or our son's house and they both have dogs that she loves to visit with.  They are just like little kids.

Anyway 12-18 inches of snow is possible on the passes this afternoon and evening and again on Sunday when we would be coming home.  I'm waiting on a call back from hubby for a final decision.  I took him to work at 5:00 am this morning and was going to pick him up since his workplace is on our way towards Idaho.  Plan B would be that I still pick him up, but we go out to eat instead of driving 325 miles in a blizzard.  I love my grandbabies, but I personally think it's just plain silly to take our lives in our hands.  My son just called and told me to take a tranquilizer, have Dad drive and I'd be there before I woke up!  Nice plan except I don't take any medicine I don't absolutely have to so I have no tranquilizers on hand!  So I'm not sure what our weekend will have in store now.

I've done a little more sewing.  I made a couple of dresses since most of my clothes are wearing out.  I'm known in our circle of friends for wearing dresses almost all the time.  I just find them so much more comfortable than pants.  Warmer too.  You can wrap your legs up in a skirt for warmth and it's kind of like covering them with a blanket.  There's a pocket of air for insulation that isn't there with jeans or pants.  I don't know how much more sewing of clothing I will do though.  Those two plain no-frill dresses cost about $30 each for material, thread etc.  I went to Walmart this morning for a few things and saw a dress that I liked much better for $20!   I think I'll be checking out Walmart first from now on. Not the best quality but I can change my wardrobe a bit more often.

Here's a picture of Mt. Spokane this morning as the storm was moving in.  Isn't it beautiful?

 I thought you might be interested in this console/buffet table I got a few years ago from a thrift store.  I was looking for a piece of furniture for this specific spot, and just as I walked into the store this was being wheeled out from the back room.  It had just been donated from an estate sale that morning.  The guy took one look at my face, didn't even stop, just asked me where my car was and he'd load it up.  I hadn't even taken a close look at it but he said he had shopped enough with his wife to know the look on my face!  Isn't that hilarious?  The great part was I had a coupon for 50% off anything in the store, so I got this beautiful piece of heirloom quality furniture without a scratch on it for $75.00!!!!!

 I love the detailing of the wood on the doors.  I don't know what kind of wood it is but I've never seen anything like it before.  The color is off in the picture below, but you can see the details of the doors.

 And a few pictures of my cactus.  I have never seen it bloom as often as it has this past year or have as many buds.  I just counted 15 buds this morning.  I've never had more than two at a time before.

And I think that's it for today. I 'm going to go to the nursing home for a quick visit before we head for the snowy mountains if that's what hubby decides.  Personally, I'm for dinner out and a quiet weekend.  Everyone thinks we will be gone, so we can sleep in and do next to nothing tomorrow if we want.  I'll let you know next post how it all turned out.

Blessings.

Betsy

Good Morning Thursday!

I'm feeling MUCH better!  Still not 100% but other than a lingering cough, dizziness and a bit of a stuffy nose, I'm ready to join the land of the living again.  Until the next bug attacks!

At noon I'm off to get my new haircut highlighted.  I've never, ever put a drop of dye on my hair before but I'm told it will make the gray blend in more.  I'll see how it goes, it may be the first and last time I do it.  My daughter has been trying to convince me to do it, among other people, so I'm up for one time anyway.  I've had the appointment since before I got sick and I'm glad that I don't have to cancel it.  I hate to mess up other people's schedules.

I have a quick tah-dah moment for you. Last night I finally finished the blanket for my friend.  It turned out to be 46 x 56 inches.  I listened to Carol and added another row and I think now it's just about perfect.  I couldn't have done more without a trip to the yarn shop so I'm glad it worked out the way it did.  Here's a picture for you of the completed blanket.  We have snowy skies today so I turned on all the lights to capture the colors a little. Please excuse the glare.

 And a close up of the picot stitch border.  I think it looks good don't you?  The color is bright yellow but it looks cream in the picture.  All of the colors look pretty washed out for some reason.  I'm a horrible photographer!

Then I quickly made a baby sweater, hat and socks for a friend who's having her second great-grandchild next month.  She's not much older than I am!  She likes to give these sets whenever she attends a baby shower.

 And one more pair of sockies made late last night.  I'll start another sweater today.

Would you believe I have NO projects on the hook or needles?!  I finished everything before I went to bed last night.  I don't believe this has happend in a long, long time.  I always have something going.

Now, I'm off to get my hair done. Sure hope I don't regret this.  52 years with no dye and now I'm caving in to pressure.  :-)  Have a marvelous weekend everyone.  Stay warm and dry if you're in the cold climate areas and cool if you are blessed to live in a warm place.  Like Hawaii.  My dream home.  I want to move.  Soon.  Before next winter.

Blessings,

Betsy

Still Sick, (Sounds like there's an echo here!)

Oh my goodness!  2012 has certainly not started well for me.  First almost three weeks with shingles and now a doozy of a cold.  Hubby had it last week, but was only sick for about four days.  I've been down for the count since Friday...what's that...five days now and no better?  My eyes hurt, my nose hurts.  Bleh!  But enough about that.  I have had valuable crocheting time while I've stayed away from other people.  I started a blanket for my friend in the nursing home.  The plan was to make various size squares in a different color in each round.  It was taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r.  I got it to about 36 inches by 18 inches and decided, nope.  If I want her to have it in the next week or so I had to change to plan B.   I'll keep that for a future baby blanket.  Now I'm making solid color squares, eight rounds each and joining as I go.  What do you think of my progress?

It's a bit puckered because it hasn't been blocked yet, but for the most part, I like the way it's looking.  If I had to do it again, I would problably make the center of each square a different color to add contrast, but I think she'll like it just fine.  I can't decide if I should just do the four squares to finish out the row or add another entire row.  What do you think?  There will be a border of some sort too, that will add some length and width.  Right now it's about 50 inches by 36 inches.

Tonight is the class hubby and I teach on Financial Peace but I think he'll be going alone.  I don't want to spread this stuff around to others.  We're having our taxes done tomorrow night.  Oh joy of joy!  I always dread that day each year.  It's always so nerve wracking.  No matter how well you try to plan and pay in advance, something new the government is doing always seems to jump out and get us.

Our church youth group is putting on a Valentine's dinner for us on Friday night.  There are over 35 couples attending and it promises to be quite lovely.  They have menus that we choose our entree from and we were told to "dress up".  I certainly hope this nasty virus is gone by then.

Well lovely friends.  On that note I'll leave you for now to go drink a cup of nice hot tea.  I'm sorry my posts have been rather dreary lately.  I can't muster up much enthusiasm these days.  Thank goodness for my yarny projects.  They're keeping me sane while I've been sick so much.

Oh, I almost forgot.  Our granddaughter went back to school yesterday!  Can you believe it?  As sick as she was last week, in school now!  Oh for the resilence of youth!  LOL  Thank you all for your prayers.  The final diagnoses was a nasty virus and pneumonia.

Now I'll leave you with a picture of my faithful companion who is very patient with her Momma.

She loves to sleep right next to me when I'm sick.  She's very much a comfort.

I hope you all have a wonderfully lovely day.

Blessings,

Betsy

Finally Friday.

Good Morning Friends!

It's been long long week at the Queen house.  Dear hubby has been fighting a really nasty cold all week.  I can't remember the last time he was sick.  Seriously.  He never gets sick.  It's been years and years.  Now me, on the other hand, I catch every bug that even comes within a city block of me.  I can already feel the first symptoms of a cold trying to attach to my body.  I've been dosing myself with zinc losenges and using the "Netti Pot" to rinse my sinuses.  People tell me both methods will fight off off a cold so I've been preparing for battle!

Our dear granddaughter has been in the hospital all week and finally got to go home last night.  She still has pneumonia and they are waiting for test results to come back for Kawasaki Disease.  Meanwhile, the doctor thought she would rest more at home where things aren't so frightening.  She didn't need the I.V. system anymore so they let her go home.  She has to go back daily to have her lungs checked and make sure she's not getting worse again.  BUT, it's a praise that she got to go home again!  God is good.  All the time.

I have managed to get a little crocheting and knitting done this week, but not a lot.  The first picture are more baby hats for the local hospital.  They are lavendar-not pink.  I'm not sure why they look pink!

 The second picture are blessing gowns and a burial bunting I made for the hospital, but I may send them to one of the charity groups I'm part of on Ravelry. I put a 12 inch ruler in with them so you can see the sizes more accurately.  One white with blue ribbons, one pink with white ribbon and a blue gown with blue ribbon.  The bunting is pink with white ribbon.

I can't make very many of these without getting depressed so I think I'm done for awhile.

I just began crocheting a blanket for a friend in a nursing facility.  She's not even 50 years old and it gets a bit depressing for her there.  I thought a colorful blanket might bring some cheer to her room.  She's hoping to make enough progress to be able to get her own apartment someday soon and the blanket would be useful there too.  I want to make it fairly large so I think it  may take me awhile.

Hubby wants to take me out to dinner this weekend to celebrate my birthday.  Hopefully we'll both be healthy enough!  I don't want to spread my germs to others.  I'm thinking Applebees.  What do you think?  They have healthy options and I'm still trying to shed some pounds.  Only about 50 lbs. to go!!!!  Applebees has entrees that contain Weight Watcher points so you know what is okay to eat and what to avoid.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I thank you all for your prayers for our little granddaughter.  We're hoping she's on the road to recovery and will be up and running around again very soon.

Blessings,

Betsy

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today was my birthday.  Events of the day didn't go the way I would have chosen, but it was a day the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in in!

My 6 year old granddaughter has been in the hospital since Monday morning.  They still aren't sure what is wrong.  A spinal tap has been done to rule out meningitis.  She has pneumonia and possibly Kawasaki disease.  She's in quarantine over 4 1/2 hours away from me, her Grandma.  It's a terrible thing to be so far away from your grandbaby with they're so sick.  Dear hubby has a bad cold and it wouldn't do us any good to travel over there.  No one is getting in except Mom and Dad right now.  If you are a believer could you please keep her in your prayers?

My best friend Jenny took me out to lunch and we spent a lovely couple of hours visiting.  I've certainly been blessed by the friends in my life and I'm very grateful.

I'll be talking to you soon.

Blessings,

Betsy

Back to real Life?

Well.  Christmas is over.  I wish these few days could go on indefinitely.  It was so lovely to have our oldest, Mandy and her husband Brad here along with our son and Jamie and his two children. His wife Crystal stayed home with strep throat.  Alex was in Japan, of course, but we talked to him on both Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

Our church had a wonderful Christmas Morning service with the song service consisting of all Christmas carols.  Such a great reminder of why this day is celebrated.  Glory to God in the Highest and Peace to All Men on Earth!

We had a HUGE dinner of turkey and all the trimmings, ending with apple pie pumpkin pie, chocolate pie and pecan pie!  Our good friends Neal and Jenny came over to share pie with us in the evening.  That has become our tradition since moving to Spokane.  Our kids grew up together and loved sharing whatever had been given to them for Christmas.

A few pictures for you.  Remember---I am NOT a photographer.  I just snap the picture and run!

Here are the two cutest grandchildren in the world with the angel cookies grandma made for them.  They are so easily pleased at this age!

This is what we woke up to on Christmas Eve so they decided to help Grandpa shovel the driveway.  We didn't have three shovels, but they found brooms worked too!

Poor Jamie.  The first entire day he was here was spent updating our computer equipment.  That's what happens when you live so far away.  Things pile up and then he has lots to do, but luckily, he loves computer stuff.  Kind of like a "busman's holiday".

 Our beautiful daughter Mandy.  If you ever need a nurse in Portland, OR, she's the one to see!

 All three of our dogs!  Mandy's golden lab-Polly.  Jamie's black lab-Tucker.  And our little British Lab-Chloe.  They all love each other and are very well behaved.  The kids loved to play with them all and believe it or not, even with all the dogs and kids, nothing was broken!

 The entire family except Alex and Crystal.  Not bad, we even got the dogs in!

 The grandbabies with their Hawaiian necklaces we brought for them. Kyleigh loves her new "Old Navy" hoodie I gave her.  She even wore it to church over her pretty dress.  We got clothing in Hawaii too, but it will have to be a warmer day to model those!  Sundresses and short sets don't mix well with snow and 10F temperatures.

 These two kids absolutely love Mandy's husband," Uncle Brad".  He's a pretty fun uncle.  He even lets them look into his nose, eyes and throat with the flashlights that Santa put in their stockings!  Flashlights are the best gifts you can give little kids.  [They're eating the last two sugar cookies, I ran out just as everyone was leaving yesterday.  Perfect timing, none left for me.  :-)]

Thursday night is our Bible Study Christmas potluck and gift exchange and then the job of putting all the decorations away for another year.  I'm trying very hard not to sucumb to my usual post holiday let-down.  I had planned to go to the nursing home this morning for a visit, but woke up to 5 inches of snow.  My car gets around very well, but I hate being the target for others to slide into me if I don't HAVE to go out.  So today will be dedicated to washing mounds of sheets and towels from the weekend!  After I shovel the driveway out.  So I better get moving.  I would love to see some of your holiday pictures too.  I hope you enjoyed our family Christmas.  We're a pretty informal group.  We open gifts in our jammies and just like to be together.

See you soon.

Blessings,

Betsy