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

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

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

Good Morning Week!

AHHH!  I feel like I might be on the mend.  Finally!  My fever has been gone for an entire day now.  My spots have all started the first steps to disappearing.  I think the anti-viral medication the Dr. gave me was the turning point.  Hubby and I had a very lazy weekend, full of knitting, (for me), and movies on the television.

Just as we were falling asleep last night the phone rang.  We've learned not to panic when it rings after 10:00 p.m., it's usually Alex in Japan.  And it was.  He was calling to tell us all about the apartment he's found in Tokyo.  It's about a 15 minute walk to the university he'll be working at.  I was appalled at the price but he assures us that it's very reasonable for Tokyo.  He can see the Tokyo Tower, (Looks like the Eiffel Tower) from the street outside his door.  Now I have a fairly good idea of the part of town he's in since I've been to the tower a couple of times.  He begins his new job on February 1 and his emotions are torn.  He absolutely loves the people in northern Japan, but his girlfriend lives in Tokyo.  The jobs are in Tokyo.  You could just hear the excitement in his voice about new beginnings.

Here's a picture of Anri, (Alex's girlfriend), and me in September.

 And here's Alex, Anri and her dog during the same visit.

Now a few ta-da moments for you of different projects I managed to finish up while laying around all week.  Enjoy!  I also made 4 pink hats that I forgot to photograph.  These were boxed up this morning to send to the "Lil Troopers" charity.  It's a group that provides baby items for miliary families.  I just found this pattern and I love it.  A hat takes about 1 1/2 hours to knit so it's a fast, satisfying knit.  You can change the size just by adjusting your needle size.  Very easy.

 This will be a hat for our local hospital.  I was trying out a new crochet pattern and it looked huge so I tried it on a doll I have that is newborn size and it fits perfectly!

 This blanket is one I wasn't really happy with the end product, but too much work went into it for me to rip it out.  It was boxed up this morning too, for the ongoing baby shower at Pine Ridge Reservation, another charity group I'm in.  It's the feather and fan pattern.

 I think you'll be able to see the pattern better here.

There is another box to mail with two scarves and two hats for the "Outreach to Appalachia" charity group I'm in.  I forgot to take pictures of those items for you.

I finally finished the queen size crocheted blanket for the wedding shower I have later this month.  It seemed to take forever, but maybe that's because I was sick.  In actuality, it was only 9 days.

 A close up of one of the squares for you to see.  I love the pineapple detailing.

So apparentlybeing sick was a productive time for me!  Three boxes off to different charities and the wedding blanket done.  Now I can relax a bit and plan my next projects besides the ongoing baby hats.

I collect angels and my best friend gave me this one for my birthday last year.  She hangs on the wall right next to the bed.  Isn't she beautiful?

 And, of course, my Chloe baby.  She's been right next to me on the sofa the entire week.  How I love this dog.  She's such a great companion and so gentle.  She acts so shy when I take her picture!  Just like a girl!

I hope I'm well enough tomorrow to take all my boxes to the post office. I really want to beat the rate increase.  Now I need to get started on more hats for the local hospital.  My needles sure seem to keep busy. 

What are you up to today?  The sun is shining here.  How about where you live?  Have a wonderful Monday everyone!

Blessings,

Betsy

Happy Tuesday!

Good morning friends.  Well, I'm still sick but determined to do a few things today.  This is the third day of temp over 101F.  But, I still think it's just a "bug" that has to run it's course.  And my knitting group meets this morning.  :-(  I was really looking forward to that since I haven't been there since the first week in December.

Well, with no further ado, here are my last Christmas 2011 pictures  This was our annual Bible Study Christmas gift exchange and potluck.  These are some of our closest friends in the world.  And before I'm asked, yes, this is at my house!

Some of the "spread" of food.  What is it that is said about church potlucks?  It's the best home cooking in the world!  Roast with all the "fixins", chicken enchiladas, fried chicken, deviled eggs, two kinds of potatoes, homemade salsa.  Yum.

 Barbequed sausages were added to the dessert counter because we ran out of room on the island.  Then we had homemade Russian Creme with Raspberry sauce, cookies and a pumpkin crunch dessert.

 Presents for our swap.  Have any of you done this? Each person has a number and chooses a gift in that order.  They can either choose a new unopened gift or "steal" a gift that they liked from someone else.  The gift can only be "stolen" 3 times and then it stays with that last person.  We do this every year and it's great fun.

 This is Mark.  He was home from Boise College for Christmas.  He's been coming to our Christmas potluck and exchange for about 16 years now.  But, all good things must end.  He's graduating this year and getting married in May.  He'll probably be pastoring a church by next year.  What a sweetheart.

 This is Marks mom Ellen, (on the right) and Kim.  Ellen is our housesitter extraordinaire!  She takes such good care of our baby Chloe and the house when we're gone.  And that's Neal in the back giving them both bunny ears that they're unaware of!

 Lana, Debbie, Mark and Dean.  Lots of good things to eat!  I know, I know, it's not popular to have magnets on the refrigerator anymore,  But, we buy a new one whenever we travel and it's one of our memory makers.  I figure when I get old, it may be the only traveling I do, to look at them and remember.  Also, they hold up our grandchilrens drawings very well!

 Kevin and Lana.  Kevin was legally blind his entire life until a few years.  A miraculous surgery gave him his sight.  Now he even drives! Lana is is wife and a wonderfully spirit filled woman.

 Neal, who is Dennis' best friend.  He's a little out of it on this particular evening.  He just had two wisdom teeth pulled and was taking pain medicine.  He didn't each much!

 Here we're getting all set up for the gift stealing!!!  Oh, that's Jenny on the sofa by Neal, (the left),  She's my best friend in the world.  I tell you, that woman would do anything for me, and yet we're complete opposites in personality.  Isn't it funny how that happens?

 Here's the other side of the group!  Now you've seen my kitchen, dining room and living room.  I don't think I introduced you to Bev.  She's the lady in blue on the right side of the picture.

 And this, my friends is the most stolen gift of the evening.  It's two C.D.'s of all the old Christmas hits.  We put it in the player and listened to the songs the rest of the evening.

My handsome husband, Dennis.  He opened five gifts that night.  Everyone kept stealing them from him.

And that's it!  The last Christmas picture for the year.  We took the decorations down on Friday.  I always like to have the house back to normal by the first of the year.  I'm so happy I didn't put it off until Saturday since I've been sick every day since then. 

Dennis went back to work today and life returns to it's own rythm.  I'm really going to miss him being around all day.  I counted the days and in the last 22 days he's only worked 6!  We were in Hawaii for 8 days and then two 4 day weekends.  I don't know when we've ever had this much time together and I've loved every minute of it.  Of course, he did work on vacation and also from home several hours everyday.  (Thank you ipad and cell phone!) but at least we were together.  One night, we were walking on the beach trying to take in the sunset and his phone rang. He talked for almost 45 minutes to a man from Australia!  He kept telling him that he wasn't in the office and didn't have the information he needed.  He would call his office the next morning and have his secretary fax the information requested.  The guy just didn't "get it".  He kept talking, talking, talking.  And...Dennis missed the sunset, but I thought it was beautiful!  So....he never really gets away but he seems to be fine with that and I get to be with him so it's all okay.

Enough rambling.  I'm off to my recliner and my knitting for awhile and hope I feel better soon!  I hope you all have a wonderful day too.

Blessings,

Betsy

Knitting

Well hello again!  It's been a whole week since I last wrote to you all.  Most of it has been spent in my recliner coughing and coughing and coughing.  I didn't even feel like knitting or crocheting and you know that's bad.  I had 3 days with no voice at all and those same three days with a high fever but now it's just cough hanging on and a scratchy voice but at least I can talk.  I'm so glad this didn't happen the week before when I had to talk for the ladies day.  It seems most everyone in Spokane is down with this same crud right now so I'm in very good company.

We ended up with about 8 inches of snow total by Friday night but yesterday a warm wind began blowing and it's all gone!  I'm not sorry to see it go and since I was sick I didn't drive in it at all.  The ski areas are doing very well, all have already opened for the season.  It's unusual that they are able to be open before Thanksgiving.

Here's a picture of my baby Chloe in her "coat of many colors" that I made for her this spring.  She didn't get to wear it much before it warmed up so she's enjoying it this winter already.  She gets very excited when I get it out of the closet, she knows a walk is in her immediate future.  Isn't she just the sweetest little girl.  She has the best disposition and just loves everyone and every animal she meets.

 This next picture is of Christmas stockings that I made for my daughter and her husband.  She asked for them right after Christmas last year and I made them right away so I wouldn't forget until it was too late to get them done.  Her kitchen/family room/dining room colors are red and this sort of lime green.  Sounds strange but looks beautiful.  They will be able to get lots of goodies in these big stockings.

I did finish two more "slouch" hats for people at church.  A teenager girl and her dad asked for matching hats!  I thought that was cute. They chose a camoflauge colored yarn and turned out very well.  Plus, they both fit!    Now I'm working on a drop stitch scarf for my "secret sister" at church.  It will be part of her revealing gift in January.  I was going to give it to her for Christmas, but I think if I give her something knitted she'll figure out the fact that it's me.  I'm thinking of making her mittens to match.

Well, I'm off to the recliner once again.  I can't believe how tired this stuff has made me.  I had a busy day today.  I had my toes done, (pedicure) for my upcoming Hawaii trip.  I don't get that done often, maybe twice a year and it's such a treat.  I did look a bit silly in my sandals afterward.  It's a bit chilly here to be wearing flip-flop sandals.

See you all again soon.

Blessings,

Betsy

Snow!

So much to tell you all.  Well, I didn't make it to my talk last Saturday.  The pass was actually closed for several hours Friday night because of an accident and I heard they got 19 inches of snow.  So...they Skyped me in!  Oh the wonders of modern technology.  I was able to attend the entire day and hear the other three speakers too!  I even ate lunch at the same time.  My DH went and bought me a hamburger and I watched the ladies eat at their tables while I ate my burger.  Amazing.  They put my face on a screen right next to the power point I had emailed them.  It all went very well and I've had several people email me asking for more information on the charities I knit/crochet for.  And...I got to sleep in my own bed.  The only downside was that I didn't get to hug my grandbabies but they skyped us later too so we got to visit with them.

The picture below was taken last Friday afternoon.  It's a view of Mt. Spokane from our back deck.  I think the ski area will be opening very soon.  Isn't it pretty with the snow just dusting the lower elevations?
We're expecting another 3-5 inches of snow today and another 5-9 inches on Friday.  It looks as if winter has truly set in.  Even the birds are trying to keep warm!  This is a picture of our neighbors house this morning.  The birds were all hundled together but by the time I retrieved my camera some of them had flown away.
I recieved this cornucopia of fresh flowers from my Secret Sister at church on Sunday.  Aren't they gorgeous?  I hope they stay looking this good until Thanksgiving next Thursday.
On the downside I'm sitting on the sofa sick with the "crud".  I have been able to get lots of knitting done this morning but otherwise I've very annoyed by it.  I have no voice at all.  Not even a whisper.  I had to call "Miss E's" mom this morning and tell her I have a temperature of 102F so she probably doesn't want me around a tiny baby.  I really HATE letting people down. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

I've started knitting a drop stitch scarf for my Secret Sisters Christmas gift.  I hope she likes it.  It's really soft and bright.  I'll post a picture when it's finished.  I knitted two slouch hats for a father and daughter yesterday.  They're excited to get them-just in time for snow!

See you all again soon-please leave a comment if you would like.  It helps to know you're out there.

Blessings,

Betsy