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

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

Same Old, Same Old

Hello my friends!

It's Friday morning and it has been just a normal week for me.  Knitting group and nursing home visits.  I managed to finish the cuddly baby blanket and it will have a Tah-dah!  moment soon.  I also finished a baby sweater and will work on a hat and sockies today.  One more set of pink and brown and I think I'll set aside that particular pattern for awhile.

I did take 57 hats and several burial outfits to the hospital on Tuesday morning.  The nurses oohed and aahed over all of it and asked me to please make more of the tiny things for both the burial needs and the micro-preemies that survive.  I think I'll try to work on those next week.

I also started a scarf from a "Pattern with No Name" from Ginny's blog "Small Things".  It's a beautiful simple lace pattern that is supposed to use fingerling weight yarn.  I started it with Caron Simply Soft in the Soft White colorway as that's what I had in the house and I wanted to see the pattern take shape.  I think it's a little too thick though and hope to get to the yarn shop today to find something else.  The scarf is supposed to be for me, but I usually end up giving everything away.

We've had several snow events this week.  I snow-blwed about 6 inches on Wednesday and it snowed some yesterday too.  We've had more snow in the last week than we have all winter!  That darn groundhog!   It's supposed to be near 50 degrees this weekend though and lots of that nasty white stuff will melt away.  Yippee!!!

Tonight hubby and I are going to grab dinner at some fast food place because we're going to see the movie "Courageous".  It's being shown at a sister church about 35 miles north of us at 7:00.  That doesn't leave a lot of time from when hubby gets home to get me and make the drive.  With all the snow we recieved this week, they have even more, so we want to leave lots of time.  Traffic is also very heavy on that highway in the morning/evening for commuters.  Lot's of people work in Spokane, but live in the smaller towns around here.

This is the basket I'm beginning to put together for my secret sister at church for March.  A green basket, shamrock towel, mug and socks.  I'm also going to get her a skein of green yarn since she likes to crochet.  What do you think?

 First thing, excuse the bad pictures.  I'm such a bad photographer, I don't even know why I try!  Today I'm showing you my entry-way.  It's a split-level house, so not much floor space there.  We bought this wall hanging on clearance at the Oregon coast.  I love it and the saying on it.  It's about 3 feet square, so it's pretty big.

 I had to take two pictures closer up so you could read what it says.

 Okay-this picture is really bad.  The lighting is off this morning, another cloudy day and it was the best of the batch!  I picked up the faith, friends and family plaques in Montana and my best friend gave me the cross for my birthday this year.  It has scriptures ingraved on it about worrying.  I'm a worrier and she knows it.  Under these plaques is a table I'll show you sometime.

 And here's my little Chloe baby. still sleeping away this morning!

  No huge plans this weekend.  We have to prepare the hospitality lunch at church on Sunday so I'm off to the grocery store right now.  Then I have knitting group this afternoon with some of the nicest ladies I've met in a long time.  Most are in their 70's and 80's. I've only been going to this group for about a month but I'm really enjoying visiting with them all.

Have a wonderfully blessed weekend and I'll see you all again next week.

Blessings,

Betsy

Good Morning Wednesday!

Good Morning friends! I can't believe I slept until 7:30 a.m. this morning.  That's very unusual of me and I now feel like I have lost part of my day that I can't get back.  I'm feeling a little better every day, but still very tired and sluggish.  So...I've spent my days crocheting.  I joined my first ever CAL, (crochet along) with the Lucy group on Ravelry.  That's ALL I have worked on for two days and this is all I have to show for it.

It is very slow going because I'm ending each round a different color and finishing it as I go so I won't have thousands of ends to weave in when I'm finish.  It's supposed to be baby blanket size when finished, although I had intended to make it larger to use as a throw on the sofa.  However, after some pushing, hubby finally confessed that the colors aren't his preference.  Too bright.  Too Lucyish. The picture doesn't actually show how bright it is.  So, now I've lost my drive to finish it although I will push on.  It's not in my nature to leave a project unfinished.  However, it is destined to remain a baby blanket and will probably go to one of my charity groups.  I'm estimating at least 20 hours in this blanket already and at least that much more to go.  And I was very excited at the start.  However, as I worked on it, could see it's brightness, I didn't think it would fit in our home.

This is a tablecloth I made several years ago.  I've actually crocheted an identical one for my daughter-in-law.  We don't eat on it, but I leave it on the table.  With only Dennis and I, it gets folded back and we eat off of placements!  Then after dinner it get's put back in place and looks nice again!  Nothing has ever been spilled on it and I hope it stays that way.

 Layed out it all it's glory for you to see!  I measured it for you this morning.  Six feet across!  I can't believe it's so big!

 Some of the detail closer up.  The last ring of pineapples, (edging), was finished at the beach a few years ago.  We stopped at our daughters in Portland, OR on our way to the coast and I layed the last ring down on the floor to see how long it was.  It stretched from one end of her apartment to the other.  At least 30 feet!  I was astounded!

Hubby figured out that it took approximately 2000 hours to complete!  I don't think these will be sold on ebay!

A few last pictures I took today. The fist two are the full winter moon I took out of our bedroom window at 4:30 this morning!  (I got up to use the bathroom and couldn't resist).  Bear in mind, they were taken through the glass because it was 12 F outside and I was in my nighty! :-)

 I thought it was eerily beautiful.

 This is Mt. Spokane from my back deck a few minutes ago.  No snow here but the resorts are happy.  It's okay with me if it stays that way.  We've only had 9 inches of snow so far this season.  Very, very unusual but good for the City's snow removal budget!

And now, dear friends, I'm going to go crochet on that lovely little blanket some more.  My energy bursts come and go and I've been told to try to enjoy this quiet time in my life.  I'm trying but I'm not a patient person.

I'll be seeing you all soon!

Blessings,

Betsy

Hello Again!

Sorry I've been away for an entire week.  Last I post told you that my mother-in-law was sick.  Guess who got the bug next?  Yep.  It was me.  I'm still not over it.  I finally went to the Dr. today and have a sinus infection so I'm on antibiotics.  Prayers would be appreciated since I leave next Friday for Japan. I've flown before with a sinus infection and it's NOT fun!  We had a trip planned to visit our daughter and her husband in Portland, OR this past weekend and not wanting to be the wet blanket and stay home, we all piled in the car for the 6 hour drive from Spokane,  Since our daughter is a nurse, I knew I would be well taken care of and she assured me that she wanted us to come, sick or not.  Here are a few pictures of the trip.

This is my hubby, Dennis and my mother-in-law with our "baby" Chloe at Multnomah Falls in Oregon.

 The Falls are just beautiful!  See Chloe watching her "mama"?

 Here I am with Mom and Chloe.

 These two pictures are from the Vista House overlooking the mighty Columbia River, just outside of Portland. It was a bit hazy on Friday but the view was breaktaking all the same.  That's the interstate highway at the bottom of the picture above.

These are our two girls.  Chloe on the bottom and Brad and Mandy's golden lab, Polly at the top.  They sure love to play with each other.  Notice their matching bandana's.  They had to be pink, 'cause they're girls. :-)

I love to go visit my kids, but was really glad to be back home in my bed last night.  Waking up this morning with a fever of 101.2 was probably part of the reason I was so glad to be home.  Mom is flying home to Omaha tomorrow morning and then I need to start preparing for the Japan trip so I have to get better quickly.  My Japan Rail pass has arrived and I have begun packing a few things.  Those darn quart size bags for liquids really limit the things you can take since I don't check any bags.  It's too hard to carry bigger bags on all of the trains I'll be on once I arrive in Japan.

Please pray for a speedy recovery and I'll try to be back soon with an update.

Blessings,

Betsy