Hot Sunday

Happy Sunday everyone. It’s been a good day. After Sunday school and church, my sister and I came back to the house and had lunch together and visited for a while. After Melanie left, I went out to Mandy & Brad’s house. We girls wanted to do a little bit of shopping and then Piper wanted me to watch a movie with her. We watched the new Disney movie “Raya and the last Dragon.” It was really good. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I enjoyed it. Probably the best part was lying on the couch with Piper cuddled up next to me and both of us covered with a blanket. The blanket sounds ridiculous since it was hot today, but it felt good with the air conditioning and sitting under the ceiling fan. Moments like this make the move worth it every time. Afterwards I came home and spent a couple of hours with Mom. I have two more days before I fly away to Spokane. I hope we don’t have any of those people you see on the news who get in fights with the flight attendants over masks!

I thought I would share a few photos of our new living room furniture. I finally remembered to take pictures during the daylight hours.

To my eyes it looks a bit crowded but then again, I was used to it with no furniture at all. My sister really likes the loveseats and might order two of them. Mandy says they’re the most comfortable couches she has ever sat on! I have to agree.

Dennis and I found the rug at Costco the day before he went back to Spokane. We had an electrician put the ceiling fan in before we got here. We know how important ceiling fans are in the summertime here. We’re going to replace the light on the far right by the front door.

The photos really don’t show just how well the colors all match. There’s a blue pattern in both of the chairs that matches the rug perfectly and the grays in the curtains match everything. Even though they weren’t bought together, it seems to work.  

This is the light that we’re thinking about getting to hang by the door.

Here’s a better picture of the shape on the box, however this photo makes it look like bronze and it’s really brushed nickel.
I finished two more pair of mittens in the last couple of days and I’m still working on the border of Piper‘s blanket.

I posted this on Facebook, but thought I would share it here too. I thought it was hilarious because it is so true.

I hope you all have a wonderful Monday and always remember who to thank for all of the many blessings that we have. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Love and blessings, 

Betsy

This and That and Some Travel Too!

I bet you can’t guess where I’m flying off to next week? If you guessed Spokane, you would be right. I’m flying in on Wednesday afternoon so I can drive back with Dennis on Saturday and Sunday. He’s done that drive too many times by himself and it will also give me a chance to say goodbye again to some friends. I want to make the drive with him, but I do not want to say goodbye again. Goodbyes are very hard!

Is anyone up for a tour of my utility room/pantry? Oh,it is so exciting! So elegant. Ha! First up is Kleenex, toilet paper and paper towels. Would you believe I had all of this long before Covid hit? I usually try to keep a stock of all three on hand and in the RV we could not use this kind of toilet paper. We kept it in storage and it’s coming in handy now. Apparently that bucket hanging from the handle is used when the sprinkler system is drained in the fall. Mustn’t misplace that.😀

On the opposite wall is where I keep the canned and dry goods. This is all that is left from what I had before we moved into the trailer. I have purchased a few things since we’ve been here like the boxes of Suddenly Salad on top along with a few other items, but the rest came from Washington with me and also in the U-Haul.

The house came with an extra refrigerator and freezer. The freezer is not turned on yet, but we’re making good use of the refrigerator. That rolled up paper on the top of the refrigerator is the original abstract of the house that we found way in the back of a cabinet. We thought it may be fun to look it over sometime when we have a few minutes or hours.

And a throne! Mind you, it is just the toilet. There is no sink and no place to wash your hands. Who puts a toilet somewhere with no place to clean your hands? Once Dennis is here, he’s going to try to figure out some thing, but with the furnace and water heater also in this tiny room, we’re not sure what we’ll do. Did you notice that the toilet paper holder on the floor is an overturned metal bucket? We are really fancy in this house! No plastic buckets for us!😂

I think I’ve already shown you the China cabinet the previous owners left us and I’ve probably already shown you my grandmothers China, but I just love this. I think it’s my favorite piece of furniture that they left behind. The table and chairs are nice too.

Remember my little $.25 dead ivy plant that I got from Walmart? That is it there in the center. It has just grown and grown and grown. I think it was a pretty good use of $.25!

I finished a pair of mittens while over at Mom’s house today. I also made the first one of another pair and have barely cast on for the second mitten.

The mittens are laying on the blanket that I’m making for Piper. It doesn’t look like it, but it is about the size of a double bed. I have just started the border. This color isn’t showing as the true color.

A close-up of the stitches. I’m using a size J crochet hook and Loops and Threads Soft and Shiny yarn, in the turquoise colorway.

This next picture shows the color as it truly is. It is also showing you the cool ties that I bought from Amazon. I was going to make my own, but by the time I bought the little beads that go inside I could have bought a dozen of these ties! I don’t think I need that many. I’m told I just have to soak them in water for about 20 minutes and they last around your neck for 4 1/2 to 5 hours. On the back of the package are the directions. They are all in a foreign language with not one word of English. I sent a picture of the directions to Alex, because although I knew it wasn’t Japanese, it did resemble Chinese to me. He wrote back to me this morning laughing and said it’s actually Korean!

I’ve spent some time with Mandy, Piper, Mom, my sister, niece and nephew this week. It has been wonderful being around family. I drove around my hometown for awhile Monday afternoon. I stopped for quite a while and looked at the house I grew up in.  It looks so small compared to what I remember! I remember the yard being huge and the driveway really long as we were shoveling it in the winter. The house itself even looks much smaller. Oh the memories that came flooding back as I drove up and down the streets. I remember walks to school and playing with friends on the siren house porch. We would cover our ears when the siren went off at 6:00 every night and everyone would run home because we knew it was dinner time. The innocent times of years ago. That same siren goes off when there’s a tornado warning.

It’s hard to believe that by next weekend all of our belongings will be here in Nebraska and Dennis and I will be on our way driving. The POD has been picked up and will be delivered here next week. We have a week to empty it before they retrieve it.

It’s been very warm here and it’s supposed to be even hotter and more humid by the weekend. Piper is in a parade with her 4H club on Saturday and I’m looking forward to going to see her. Tomorrow I will be going to buy some sunscreen!

I hope you are all having a good week and being thankful for the blessings that we have. I know I am thankful that Covid seems to be waning, at least in our area. I’m still praying for Teresa‘s family every day, as I can’t imagine what they’re going through this year. Teresa loved the summer months and enjoying all of her flowers and the farm yard. It has to be especially difficult for Dayle during this time of year. I miss her blog posts and her texts to me. Please remember Dayle, Travis, Shawn and Amy along with the rest of the family in your prayers.

Much love and blessings to you all,

Betsy

Last Day of School

Happy Saturday to you all! I tried to do this post yesterday, but Blogger would not let me upload any photos and as you will find out, this is a very photo heavy post. Guess who had their last day of school? If you guessed Piper, you would be right! Thursday was her last day of second grade. This is the poster that her teacher made for her.

And here she is heading out the door for her last day of school.

I was there to pick her up right after school got out and she came home to stay with me Thursday night and Friday night since Mandy had to work.  Mandy came over to mow our yards this morning and stole my little girl back! Oh, we had a grand time. As you’ll see by the photo below, she painted my fingernails. I think it was only her second time ever painting nails and she did a great job. After some shopping Friday morning, Great-grandma came over Friday afternoon and we played several games of Rummikub. For dinner I made spaghetti and meatballs and the three of us enjoyed laughing our way through dinner together.

On Friday afternoon our pod was delivered to Larry and Nita‘s driveway in Spokane. Look at this contraption that the driver used a remote control with, to maneuver it into place. Pretty nifty.

Here’s Larry inside to give you an idea of how big it is. You would never guess that he just had brain surgery on Monday would you? He’s doing very well.

The moving crew showed up this morning at our storage unit and within an hour had everything moved over to the pod and packed! An hour!! You can sure tell that this crew has worked together before!

Here’s the entire crew from left to right. Hayden, Jeremy, Alicia. The back row from the left is Kale, Paul, Dennis and Neal.  Paul, Dennis and Neal used to be on the moving crew for church. I can’t even begin to tell you how many people we have moved. These guys are almost professional packers. They literally cleaned out our 12 x 20‘ storage unit and packed it into this pod in one hour with room to spare. The pod will arrive here on June 8. Guess who gets to unpack it? I’m sure I can get my sister Melanie and Mandy to help me.

While these guys were working their fingers to the bone, guess what Miss Piper and I were doing this morning? We went with Melanie and Chaela to get our toes done! Silly me did not get pictures of Piper‘s completed toes. She had watermelon’s painted on them! Every other toe was green and red. Her big toe had a slice of watermelon complete with seeds and the rind. They were so cute. She was thrilled to be able to sit in the big girl chair.

I was surprised this week with a package in the mail from Amanda, who has the CraftyInTheMed blog over on my side bar. Amanda lives in Alicante, Spain and she sent me this beautiful, beautiful medallion as a housewarming gift.  It is a reminder of the ocean that she sees from her home. It has many of my favorite colors on it and the cutest little fish and beads at the bottom.

I wish I could get a clearer picture of the fish with my camera, but he has the cutest little face. I have this beautiful gift hanging in my craft area. As soon as I have the area cleaned up a little bit once I get the rest of my things, I will take you on a tour. Amanda, I can’t thank you enough for your thoughtful generosity. This fits perfectly in our new home. Thank you so much.

I did get the furniture for the living room this week so my next post I will have pictures of that to show you. It is so comfortable and I’m so happy we got it.

I hope you are all doing well. Although I am missing all of our friends in Spokane so much that my heart literally hurts sometimes, I also am absolutely loving being close to Piper and her mommy and the rest of our family. Have you ever felt like your heart was being pulled in two directions at once? That would be me.

I saw this picture on Facebook late one night when I couldn’t sleep and I wanted to share it with you. These are some of my favorite all-time hymns and I sure miss the fact that most churches don’t sing them anymore. Have a wonderful week everyone.

Blessings and love, 

Betsy