We made it!

This was me last Thursday after a full day of flying from Spokane to Seattle and then ALL the way across this big country to Washington D.C.'s Reagan Airport.  With a 2 year old, 2 cats, a yellow lab and 8 suitcases.  Mandy and I were so very glad to see Brad and his pick up truck coming to get us.

Piper was an absolute angel on both flights.  She didn't fuss once and even got her own pair of wings!  :-). Seriously, Mandy and I were both a bit worried about occupying an active toddler for so long sitting in an airplane seat but Mandy was very prepared with a surprise being pulled out of her bag every hour or so.  A sticker book, a coloring book, a video on the iPad.  She is such a good Mama.  It worked out well, but as soon as we got into the truck look what happened...

Polly, (the dog), was a nervous wreck when we arrived.  She was exhausted and very happy to see her little girl.  They both slept most of the 2 hour drive through D.C.'s rush hour traffic with Polly's head in Piper's lap.  So cute.

I got a glimpse of this as we were going down the interstate highway.  We may try to go to see the sights a bit this weekend if the weather stays nice.

Here's the new house.

A different view. Please excuse the trash cans.  Tomorrow is garbage pick up day and we have filled the bins with packing material.

Mandy has already hung a pretty fall wreath on the door and put out the welcome mat.

The view I have from my bed.  Aren't the leaves pretty?  This is a very mixed neighborhood.  Old and new houses.  Very small and humongous houses.  Houses that are like mansions too.

I've taken Piper for at least one walk every day except rainy, windy Saturday.  It's a wonderful walking neighborhood with a park and this......

.....only a block from the house.  Chesapeake Bay.  With a swimming beach.  One block from home.  This is waaaay better than my summer lake place.  :-). There is a very nice park for Piper to play at right next to this beach.

Another view.  Look at that house.  I have a bad case of the "I wants" and must remind myself to be content with my MUCH smaller but happy home. :-). The leaves are absolutely beautiful right now.

The neighbors brought this over right after the moving van left.  Wasn't that nice?  The fruit is delicious and a very welcome treat.

Little Doc McStuffins getting ready to go to a party with Daddy on Halloween while Mommy and Grandma kept unpacking boxes.

And now we find we have to repaint the entire inside of this brand new house.  No one told us that here in Maryland they just use a primer on the inside of new houses and you're to actually paint it yourself.  I wanted so badly to have the house all set up for Mandy before I go home next Thursday, but now we have to paint everything.  Walls and ceilings in a huge 4 bedroom, 3 bath house.  I've never heard of such a thing.  We've been working sun up to sun down every day to get the necessary things put away.  I'm not sure we'll get everything done in time.

Tomorrow we buy paint and maybe drive to IKEA in Baltimore to get curtain rods and drawer pulls, etc.

I'm trying to catch up on blogs in the evenings before sleep.  If I've missed yours, please forgive me, I probably fell asleep with the iPad in my face. (Seriously, it happened last night!)

Have a lovely evening my friends.

"Come let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with, music and song."  Psalm 95:1,2

Blessings,

Betsy

Monday Musings

Happy Monday everyone.  I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend.  We had ridiculously high winds Saturday night and most of yesterday, but we were warm and cozy in the house and had no damage from the wind.  We had a nice morning at church yesterday, lunch with several friends and then Larry and Nita stopped by with homemade cookies and goodbyes for Mandy and Piper.  

Mandy knitted a pair of mittens for Piper while she napped on Saturday and she's worn them almost constantly since she saw them.  Piper picked out the yarn when we went shopping a few weeks ago.  With the arrival of cold weather they were finished just in time.  Show and tell....

She also loves a character on the Disney Channel named Doc McStuffins who takes good care of and fixes all the toys in the neighorhood.  So she's going to be Doc for Halloween.  Brad will take her to a party at a friends house on Halloween while Mandy and I unpack.  We fly to DC on Thursday.  The plan is that we will sleep on the floor in the new house that night and the movers are supposed to be there with the furniture, etc. at 8:00 a.m. Friday.  Let's hope all goes as planned.

Here is our little Doc!

This morning on the way home from the grocery store we stopped at Dutch Brothers Coffee and Piper got a coconut milk hot chocolate.  She loves it.  Since she's very allergic to all dairy it's nice that they have an alternative for her.  Lots of places don't have anything she can eat or drink.  We hope she'll outgrow it someday, but it doesn't seem very likely at this point.  It's amazing how many things have dairy or whey in them.  Who would have thought a jar of spaghetti sauce would have dairy?  It's definitely been interesting learning to cook for her.  Our other two grandchildren have celiac's disease so no gluten/wheat for them.  They have had the blood tests and everything so it's not just that they are trying to avoid wheat like many people these days. They both get very sick when they eat it.  Family dinners are interesting when everyone is here!

Here's a sock I made for Mandy this weekend.  I actually had the leg of the second sock done and the heel halfway turned before I realized I was off 4 stitiches.  Bother!  I had to rip out the entire sock.  Unhappy Betsy.  :-(  I've started it again but only have about one inch of the leg done.  I bought a skein of sock yarn yesterday at Michael's with a 50% off coupon.  That pair will be for me.  I like to take socks to knit on when I'm on an airplane because they don't take up much room.  How much knitting I do with Piper as a seatmate remains to be seen.  HaHa!

Isn't this yarn pretty?  I got it at Paradise Fibers for my birthday last year.  I don't usually spend this much on sock yarn but I loved the colors.  The yarn is called "Zitron Trekking XXK" Color 480.

I'll finish these in the next few days and then have mine to work on in my spare moments at Mandy's and on the way home.

I just hung up from Verizon phone service.  My hotspot is now activated on my phone so I can use the internet for my Ipad while I'm gone.  They won't have internet yet at the new house and with my hotspot they can also use the internet with their Ipads and laptop.  We can have up to five devices at one time using the internet from my phone.  It's really convenient and it's what I use at the lake in the summer.  You can turn it on and off whenever you want and only get charged for the time you actually have it on your phone.  I'm having it turned on Thursday and turned off the day I get home so I'll only have to pay for 15 days instead of an entire month.  I know people who have been unhappy with Verizon, but we've had them for well over 10 years and never had a bit of trouble.  The lady today was actually the nicest person I've ever talked to there and very helpful.

It's a damp cold day today and a good day to stay inside and warm.  Dennis has gone back to work today and trying to play catch up.  Since he worked quite a lot while on vacation he was able to just jump right back into the fray.  Piper is lost without Papa.  When I got her out of bed this morning and took her to cuddle with me in my bed for awhile, she wasn't happy that Papa wasn't there too.  We've spent the last nine mornings cuddling and watching Mickey Mouse in the mornings and all three of us liked it that way.  Mandy brought her Dad coffee in bed every day and made us all breakfast most mornings.  Today was a rude awakening.  I refuse to even think about how quiet this house will be when I get home.

And now I'm off to read your blogs while Piper naps.  I'll be back soon.

"Therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."  Galations 6:10

Blessings

Betsy

Vacation?

Good Morning!  It's a dreary, rainy day here in Spokane, but I'm playing with my Piper and all is well with the world.  Look at this tree in our neighbors yard.  It's certainly loaded with berries.  I keep hearing conflicting reports of how severe the winter is going to be.  Because of these loaded trees and fuzzy caterpillers peoplle say it will be lots of snow and cold but then others say because of el niño, it will be warm and rainy.  I guess time will tell.  I'm ready to be cozy and curled up by the fire knitting, crocheting and reading.

Mandy and I took Piper to the playground  Sunday.  She loves to go up and down the steps and the slide.

We  were trying to get a good picture of her dress.  Brad's grandma, Pipers great-grandma, sent it to her for her birthday.  Isn't it cute with the ladybugs all over it? Piper loves it.

I finished Alex's wristwarmers....

...and started a pair for his girl friend for Christmas.  This yarn I actually a deep purple, but no matter how much I changed the saturation I couldn't get the color right.  Alex's were finished in a couple of hours, but these take much, much longer with the lace pattern. It's an 8 row repeat so not too bad but still takes lots of concentration, (and size 1.5 needles!)

Trying Mommies clothes on.  This is one of her favorite passtimes lately.

Dennis and Mandy have Polly the dog and the two cats at the veterinarian this morning to get their health certificates to fly.  Piper and I went to the post office and mailed some crochet thread to a blog friend in England while they're busy at the vet's.  When we came home, this is what I found.

Chloe was so sad.  All the other animals were gone and she was left all alone.  I really don't know what she's going to do when we take them all with us to D.C. next week.  They've been here since the 4th of July and she's gotten used to having lots of playmates.

Dennis is on vacation this week.  His anniversary date at work is this month so he had to take the vacation now or lose it.  He has worked some from home, has taken phone calls here and actually went into the office for awhile yesterday, but for the most part we're just hanging around home.  Yesterday we spent two hours at the financial planners office finding out what we need to do to prepare for retirement in a few years.  That was an eye opener for sure.  This is the first time we've ever taken a vacation and just stayed home.  Usually we camp, go visit relatives or go somewhere fun.  We've been talking and we both realize that if this week is any indication, there is no way he can do what I do.  And this is even having Miss Piper around for entertainment.  I get up early and do my housework and any errands I have and then most afternoons I'm able to knit or read.  My always busy husband will be bored out of his mind soon.  He can't just sit still.  Example-he went into the OFFICE yesterday while on vacation.  We need to figure out a hobby or part-time job or volunteering somewhere or something to preserve both of our sanities.  :-)

Mandy, Piper and I have our tickets to fly to D.C. next Thursday, October 30.  I'll come home November 13 and then Hubby and I go on vacation, an actual vacation, in December.  I'll tell you about the plans for that trip when I get back from Mandy's new house.  She wants me there to help with Piper and to help unpack the house.  Also the actual trip there with Piper, the dog, two cats and all the luggage.  I'm sure we will be quite the spectacle at the airport!  The new house is all done and Brad had the walkthrough yesterday.  He's face-timed with us and shown us the house and yard and it's a beautiful home.

And now it's time to fix lunch.  I'll be back soon!

Blessings,

Betsy