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

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

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

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

Whew! It's Monday!

Hello everyone!  I made it through the weekend in one piece.  I think.  It was the complete whirlwind I had been expecting, but it all turned out very well.

Friday afternoon our college kids arrived.  They were the most polite, curteous teenagers that we've hosted in recent years.  They even made their beds both days!  For some reason I think it's funny when guests make their beds the day they leave.  It's like they believe they're preparing for the next people to stay in that room.  Do they not realize I wash all the bedding between each person who stays here?!  Just a thought that popped into my little mind!

Saturday morning ten ladies from church came to the craft morning, plus the three teenagers.  The boy was the only one who crafted of the teens.  He used my round loom and made a knitted hat in about 3 hours!  The girls were very cordial though and visited with everyone.

Three of our friends then spent the afternoon with us just eating pizza and visiting.  I hadn't seen my young friend from Oklahoma in almost 3 years so it was wonderful to catch up with her.  Their little family wants desperately to move back to the Northwest somewhere to be closer to family, but no job has been found yet.  She stays at home with their 3 & 4 year olds and loves it but misses having family close.  My hubby performed the wedding ceremonies for her and her husband and our other young friends that also visited with us on Saturday afternoon.  We had a wonderful time remembering how much fun we used to have together.  We met with both couples weekly for Bible study as they were all new Christians.  Our own faith grew and was strengthened by studying with them since we were seeing the Bible with the eyes of people who had never read it before.

Saturday evening hubby and I had a nice "date night" at the Spokane symphony.  The featured "soloists" were a brother team that we had seen in Hawaii on several occasions.  It was fantastic.  I couldn't fathom how Hawaiian slack guitar sounds could meld with the symphony orchestra but they did it in a beautiful sound.  We had front row seats and sat directly in front of the harpist!  I spent the evening just watching her hands.  Amazing!

Sunday was just as busy.  Church in the morning, bridal shower in the afternoon and then evening services.  After evening service we went to Arby's for dinner with about 10 other people and had a nice hour or so just visiting and relaxing.  Can you believe Arby's was out of roast beef!?  We had a laugh over that and then ordered chicken, fish or ham!

So----that was my weekend.  Almost no computer time at all.  I did read emails but didn't answer any until late last night.  Since I last posted pictures I've been so busy that not much knitting has been accomplished.  Only two little pictures to show you.

I finished another baby sweater set.  The sweater was almost finished when I last blogged, so it probably shouldn't count!  So really I made two hats, 1 pair of blue socks and one solitary pink sockie.  The other pink sock is on the needles right now.  I must admit I'm tiring of these sets but I still have 3 babies on the way and I'm not sure of the gender of any of them.  I'm making 3 of each color just to be prepared!  Any sets I don't need can always be donated to one of the many charity groups I'm in.  A friend also keeps buying them almost as fast as I've made each set.  She has bought 3 rainbow blankets and 3 sweater sets in the past 6 weeks for new babies in her life.  She pays me well and it helps purchase more yarn so I'm not complaining.  I just need to get busy with more sets before I lose my motivation!

This is a picture of our gray skies this morning.  That's Mt. Spokane in the background!  Ha!  This morning when I woke up it was beautiful.  Covered in fresh snow and blue skies.  Something happened in the past couple of hours.  Clouds have appeared.  Just north of us about 30 miles or so and up to the Canadian border recieved 8 to 14 inches of snow Saturday night, including Mt. Spokane.  We woke up to about 1/8 of an inch yesterday.  By the time church was over everything was melted away and that's just the way I like it.  Snow in the mountains but not here.

I've spent a lot of time at my sewing machine recently sewing bandana's for myself.  After much prayer and study, I have come to the conclusion that I do need to start covering my head for prayer and worship at the minimum as it tells in 1 Corinthians 11.  I just can't find the cultural argument no matter how much I tried.  And believe me I tried.  Remember me?  I'm the one who dyed my hair for the first time about two weeks ago and cut a lot of it off three weeks ago.  I've been fighting this for all I'm worth, but what I've discovered is this.  If we discount this as a cultural thing, what else are we going to deem cultural and thus stop following that Paul and others taught?  It's a slippery slope we find ourselves on.  I'm not trying to be legalistic and I definitely am NOT trying to put my beliefs on anyone else but I have to follow where I believe the Lord is convicting me in my heart. 

Okay, enough preaching.  That's not what this blog is all about, but it is about my life and that's an important part of my heart.  So, I've been sewing and it's been fun.  I haven't sewn much in years but I'm enjoying my time behind the machine.  Do any of you sew?   I used to make all of my daughters clothes and a lot of mine when she was small.  The price of patterns, material and notions became so expensive though that it was less expensive to buy things and so my machine was brought out for repairs or quilting, etc.

I hope you all have a wonderful Monday and I'll try to be back soon.

Blessings,

Betsy

A Foggy Morning

Good Morning Friends!

It's a gray, foggy day here in Spokane but I've had a productive morning.  I caught up on my Bible reading before leaving my bed today.  Somehow I was a few chapters behind and thought I would take this day to play catch up and do some research into some scriptures that have been on my heart lately.  I'm just going to throw it out there and see if any of you have opinions on this.  1 Corinthians 11:2-16  This passage just sort of "leapt" out at me recently and I've been praying on it and asking for clarification from the Lord.  I've never really given this much thought but for some reason it keeps peeking into my brain!  Please let me know what you all think if you're comfortable sharing.

I then got up, ran to the grocery store to pick up a few necessities.  I've done laundry, vacuumed, dusted and spent a few hours on the computer doing the mundane tasks I always put off.  For example, I keep a list of all Christmas cards I send/recieve every year with all the addresses.  That makes sending the cards each December a much easier task.  No searching for the correct address, everything is in one place and handy.  For some reason, every year it's February at least, before I get myself organized enough to update the list.  It only takes half an hour or so, why do I procrastinate?

Then I did some computer stuff for our ladies ministry at church.  It's all done now and this afternoon I can knit with a clean concious.  Did I spell that right?    We did have a very busy weekend, but I toted my knitting along and finished a boy baby sweater set and started another one.

I do love these sweaters.  It's a variation of the 5 hour baby sweater, although I've NEVER finished one in close to 5 hours.  It's more like 7 or 8 hours for me if I don't have many interuptions.

I picked up a small box of Valentine Candy this morning for my elderly friend at the nursing home.  She loves chocolates but she will eat the entire box in a very short time if I take her a bigger box.  This small one should be perfect for her.

Oh!  I almost forgot to tell you about my other friend at a different nursing facility that I made the crochet blanket for.  I delivered it last Friday and I how wish I had taken my camera.  The look on her face was priceless!  She just sat there smiling and hugging that blanket the entire time I was visiting her.  It made me feel wonderful to do something so small that made her so happy.

And now, I'll leave you with a last picture of my Chloe-baby.  I'm going to try to take her on a nice long walk in a little while if the rains stops long enough.

Isn't she precious?  She is so much company for me.  But, she has spoiled us for any other dog.  Hubby is already saying that we'll never have another dog.  She's so good it would be an impossible act to follow.

Have a wonderfully blessed day everyone and I look forward to reading your comments.

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

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

It's Monday!

Hello again friends!

It's been a busy weekend and can you believe that January is almost over?  Considering that I spent the first two weeks sick and unable to do much, it was a busy month.

It was also a weekend for smashing any diet hopes that I had.  We ate four, yes four meals out at restaurants.  Admittedly, three of them were with friends that we had made plans with, but still.  Four meals out in three days?  I'm so very spoiled and my waistline is suffering.  Mexican food Friday night, breakfast on Saturday and then in the evening, pizza!  After church yesterday was lunch with a lovely bunch of friends.  I had a hot roast beef sandwich.  Yum!  Okay.  That's enough.  It's Monday and I absolutely HAVE to do better!

I did manage to finish the baby blanket that I've been knitting on for a week.  My knitting is much, much slower than crocheting and on top of that it was a lace pattern with a 20 row repeat so there was no way to memorize it.  At least not for me to memorize it!  And tah-dah!  Here it is.

Uh oh!  Now that I look at the pictures, I think I see a mistake, but since only God makes things perfect I think I will leave it alone and not rip it out as my hands are itching to do.

 And here are two up close and personal pictures to show the detail a bit better.

The pattern called for the border to be done in garter stitch, but I like the seed or moss stitch better so that's what I did.  The yarn is Caron's Simply Soft and it only took a little over a skein and a half.  So I made the blanket for less than $5.00.  Amazing!  And it's so soft and sweet.  Perfect for a special baby.

The next two pictures are of my needle case. I keep all my double pointed and interchangeables in it.  I have seen comparable cases online for upwards of $80 but I made this one in about an hour with my quilt scraps.  It rolls up into a tidy roll that fits nicely in my knitting bag and goes everywhere with me.

 A closer picture showing the pockets I sewed for each size needle and  a pocket for the interchangable cords.  See the new needle tips still in the packages.  My wonderful daughter got me duplicates of the tips I use the most for Christmas. That way I can have more than one project on the needles.  She's a knitter too and understands the necessity for being prepared when inspiration strikes!

 And here's a picture of the new haircut.  Excuse the double chins and the weird smile.  I took the picture myself holding the camera out at arms length.  It's strange to try to look normal for a camera with no one behind it!  How do you like the cut?  I'm finding that I'm enjoying different looks.  I can still clip it back with combs or barrettes.  Or I can leave it down or with a headband.  I'm taking an opinion poll so let me know your thoughts.

I've got my housework done for the day.  The last load of laundry is in the dryer.  We're having our best friends over for dinner tonight and I'm making chicken and noodles with homemade baking powder biscuits and green beans from last summer's garden.  I make my noodles from scratch and they seem to be very popular.  I get lots of requests and it's a perfect meal for a winter day.  No dessert after the weekend I've experienced!

I'm going to work on some burial outfits this afternoon for the local hospital.  Not too many people like to make them because it's a bit depressing.  The nurses told me when I made my last hat delivery that they were out of the burial gowns and hats.  They are crocheted, usually pink, blue or white.  Sometimes the baby is actually buried in it, but sometimes the parents keep it as a keepsake.  It does serve a need and the nurses tell me that the families are always grateful.  Not as fun as hats and blankets but needed, nonetheless.

I'm off to my yarn basket.  Have a wonderful Monday and I'll see you all again soon.

Blessings,

Betsy

Projects Done!

Good Morning!

It's been a productive week around here.  I finished 6 of the rainbow baby blankets so I think I'm ready for any new little ones to arrive.  Now I need to get started on some sweater/hat/bootie sets to go along with them.  Here I have them folded up, but you can see that there are six of them.  I changed the brand of yarn for the four on top.  I can no longer get the colors to make them like the two on the bottom since it's been discontinued.  I think I like the new ones better though.  What do you think?

I also made a candle jar color out of the scraps from my Crochet Along blanket.  I love how bright and cheery it is, especially at night with the candle lit.

Isn't it wonderful?  Hubby hasn't commented on it yet so I'm not sure if he just plain hasn't noticed or he doesn't like it and doesn't want to tell me.  It's just double crochet until the top row where I decreased and then did a round in single crochet.  I got the idea from Lucy at Attic24 but adapted it a bit to fit my jar.  It slips right off when the candle is gone and I can reuse it on another!

My newest Valentine decoration is in the next photo. I had a 50% off coupon at Michaels on regular or sale priced items. This heart wreath was marked down to $4.99 because of a scratch that is on the back. You can't even see it! So, I got this gem for $2.50. It's about 16 inches across, quite large. I think that was a great deal. The new ones are $9.99 normally.

I recieved this cactus as a throwaway about 15 years ago.  It was one small leaf on a stem that I just stuck in some dirt.  It's huge now!  I still don't know what it is.  It blooms at odd times every year and never the same time.  So I don't think it's a Christmas Cactus or an Easter Casctus.  Does anyone out there know what it is?  It usually bloom about twice each year. It has one open flower right now and another bud ready to bloom.  Beautiful.

I got my hair cut yesterday and I think I'm going to like it.  IF, and that's a big IF, I can duplicate the way the hairdresser fixed it.  I've found the older I get, the thinner my hair seems to be.  I have as much of it as ever, but it doesn't seem as full.  If I can fix it decently I'll try to get a picture.  She left it long enough that I can still pull it off my neck in the summer when its hot, but short enough to make it feel thicker.

Tonight is Bible study and we have a full weekend of birthday parties and we need to find hubby some good walking shoes.  He took Chloe for a walk last night and came home with a wet foot.  When we looked at the bottom of his shoe there was a huge hole, at least an inch across is just gone from the sole.  He detests buying shoes and now he has no choice.

I'm praying that God will stop the snow and freezing rain for awhile around here.  We're supposed to go to our grandson's 5th birthday party in Montana next weekend, but the passes have been closed most of this week.  Yuck!  I'm done with winter and ready for spring.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and enjoy your lives to the fullest!

Blessings,

Betsy

The Snow Has Arrived!

It has been snowing off and on for two days now.  It hasn't turned out to be the huge storm for Spokane that was forecas,t but it came close.  A town just 30 miles away had 28 inches in 12 hours yesterday!  We ended up with about 6 inches yesterday, and it's been snowing all morning again.  We're told another 3-5 today with a chance for more every day for the next 4 days!  It seems winter has come in all of it's glory!
Here are a few pictures for you.  All taken from the INSIDE of the house in the comfort of my jammies! 

Look at all the snow on the floor of the deck.  We have a cover over it so you can see how much the wind blew inside.

This picture was taken after most of us had shoveled our driveways and walks.  They have all but disappeared again this moring with a fresh round of new snow.  I'll be back outside with the snowblower again this afternoon.

 But, the time inside while it snows hasn't been wasted.  Oh no.  Four new baby hats and....

another baby blanket done and one more started.  I have five babies that I know of coming in this new year.  I like to wait and find out if it's a boy or a girl before adding the last color round the edge in a gender appropriate color.  I find these blankets take me 2-3 days depending on the time I can dedicate to them.

Has winter, (or summer depending on where you live), settled in at your house yet?  We've been so happy to dodge all the big storms this year that I don't feel I can complain.  And the snow is really beautiful, I just worry about people driving on the slick roads.  I'm trying to turn my worries over to God, but I don't always do a very good job of it.  After all, what does all my worrying bring to me?

Well, I'm off to vacuum and dust so I can crochet for awhile with no guilt . :-)  I'll be out with the snowblower in a few hours so I need to get my "inside" work finished this morning.

I'll chat again with you all soon my friends.

Blessings,

Betsy

Finally Snow???

Good Monday morning to everyone!  Well, our weather forecaster is saying snow is on the way and lots of it!  They have predicted this before in the past month or two and it always seems to miss us here in Spokane, although the mountains have plenty for skiing.  Just the way I like it!  I'm going to try to get all my errands done today so I don't have to venture out for the next few days if I feel like snuggling down at home and knitting/crocheting.  The prediction is for 2-4 inches tomorrow and then 12-16 inches on Wednesday!  We shall see if it comes to pass or passes us by again!

We had a wonderful 50th birthday party for our minister's wife on Saturday.  We basically took over a pizza restaurant here in town and stayed for 2 hours!  The staff seemed happy and kept the pizzas coming to the table, hot and fresh!  Lots of fun was had by all and we certainly enjoyed talking to everyone.  I especially enjoyed it after having been cooped up for a few weeks by myself.

Has anyone ever done a Secret Sister/Secret Pal sort of thing?  We do it at our church for a year at a time.  In January we have our "revealing" and then get our new "sister".  Yesterday was the revealing luncheon and I found out my "sister" was the same person I had been gifting all year.  That rarely happens and it was a lot of fun to find out that we had each other.

I finished my CAL with the Lucy group on Ravelry.  I ended up making it twice as big as the pattern because it was baby blanket size and I wanted it for the back of the loveseat.  And here it is, Tah-da! 

The colors aren't quite right in the picture, but you get the general idea. Everytime I make one of these blankets I say never again.  I find weaving all of those ends in after every round very tedious.

Have I ever shown you my yarn closet?  It's a little on the empty side since I gave six big trash bags away.  I keep cards on one shelf so I'm ready for almost any event that is card-worthy!

Carol posted some pictures last week about family furniture that had been in the family for a long time which got me to thinking of two pieces in particular that we own.  This dresser was my husbands as a baby.  It has served each of our children during their baby years and now is the perfect craft dresser.  I keep  my fabric, patterns and odds and ends in it.  The small drawer at the top was perfect for baby socks, etc. and then the drawers get progressively larger.  I keep some of my pattern books on the top.  It sits right next to my sewing machine and yarn closet.  Sorry for the tilted photo.  As I keep telling you, I'm a horrible photographer, but you get the idea.

Dear hubby refinished it when our first baby was born.  Furniture just isn't made like this anymore.  Dove-tailed drawers and a nice back on the top to hold things from falling off the back of the dresser.

 This next piece sat on my grandma's back porch all my growing up years.  It's a washstand used to hold the bowl and pitcher on top and the commode behind the door.  It was in awful shape when I got it.  Hubby replaced the top and refinished it. It was missing all of it's hardware so we found some that looked antique and now it's a prized possession.  It in the sitting room off of our bedroom with family photo's an a dresser scarf my mother embroidered when she was 9 years old.  She's been gone 22 years now and I love to have these little memories of her around the house.

 Above the washstand is a picture that a friend of our family painted for us.  It's a beautiful love story that I'll make short here and tell another time.  He grew up in France and paints beautifully.  Our "adopted" daughter is married to him now, they were pen-pals in high school.  She sent him a picture we took of a sunset at the Oregon coast and he recreated it in pastels and sent it to us.  Isn't it beautiful?  Next to it is a lamp friends gave us when we were first married.  They had it for over 45 years so it's pretty old too.  We had to replace the glass cover at the top because it was missing.

Do you have any prized possessions like this that have been passed down through the family?  I know ours aren't worth much by the world's standards but the memories they have for us are priceless.  Please tell me about your memory makers.

Have a wonderful day everyone and I'll be back soon!

Blessings,

Betsy