I’m back, for awhile.

Although I will try to do better about posting than I have been for the past few months. 

Life here at the apartment sure keeps me busy, but there is news on that front too. I've been happy here, but it IS very expensive to live here. I've enjoyed the activities and company and opportunities to help the other people here who are unable to move furniture, change light bulbs, etc. Dennis has sure done lots of those things and liked doing it too, but has missed his garage and owning our own place. We're not used to having to ask to do things to the place where we live, like a lot of you. 

Anyway, even before we moved here, we knew we would be watching for a condo to be for sale at a certain complex we like that is only about a 3-5 minute drive from Mom, depending on traffic. The only problem was, there had been no 3 bedroom condo’s for sale there for several years, so we gave up and moved here. We bid on one condo a few months ago and lost the bid. Our agent called us this morning about a condo that just came on the market today. It's a long, long story, and it's been a long, long day, but to shorten it, we bid over the asking price, in cash, and were accepted. We are supposed to close next Friday! Less than a week later! They had many offers today, but we finally won. The condo is EXACTLY what we've been wanting. Three bedroos and 2 bathrooms, (so Piper will have a room to stay in again). I can't wait to show you photos. So yes, we're moving...again and I hope for the very last time ever. Five moves in less than 2 1/2 years is terrible. Especially for a nester like myself. Before that, we had been in our house for 20 years!

So please be patient with me if I miss commenting again, I'll try very hard to keep up. I had begun to think this apartment was where we would be living for the duration of our lives, so had really settled in. Now I have to take things off the walls and pack all of my craft things back up again. *sigh* We have an indefinite time to move though, since we're under a lease here, we don't have to get out all in one day. We'll do it slower than our last move of Mom and then us. And we've had six “whole” months to rest up for to move again.😂

Before all of this though, we went camping Tuesday and Wednesday nights. We came home on Thursday and we had a wonderful time. Only one other camper was in the entire campground and it was so nice and quiet. In fact, we booked the same days two weeks from then before we left the park, not knowing we would probably be right in the middle of moving! Dennis says we're going anyway. 🤦‍♀️

I have just a couple of photos for you of our trip. Here's my little camper wall hanging. I do love being at the camper.

This was our campsite and it was nice and warm during the daytime. At night we would turn the furnace on just before we got out of bed and warm things up because it was in the mid-thirties F. We had plenty of blankets to keep us warm during the night so we didn't bother with the heater.

You can see the trees just beginning to get their leaves. It looks like velvet fuzz.  We had deer in our campground throughout the time we were there. Zoey was intrigued by them but she didn't bark or cause a ruckus. She just stared at them with intense curiousity.

Here we were all packed up and ready to leave Thursday morning.  Dennis definitely has camping "hat hair,” plus I caught him mid sentence with his mouth open! All we had left to do was pull in the slide. Zoey loves to camp. She can see both of us from anywhere in the camper. That's very important to her. She is definitely what is called a "velcro dog".  Very attached to us.

I did finish this blanket on Tuesday morning before we left town. I had to substitute three squares in the multi-colored yarn because I ran out. I did use the same brand and color, but NOT the same dye lot. You can really see the difference but I'll donate it anyway. Maybe someone will want it.

I also finished a pair of socks for me with some of the West Yorkshire Spinners yarn that I bought when I was in London. It's the Wood Pigeon colorway. I just did a plain vanilla sock pattern.

Also today, I finished this sleeping mat for the Union Gospel Mission. There are a group of us ladies here at the apartment building that meet on Tuesday mornings to crochet these mats out of mainly plastic grocery bags, but we do use other plastic bags too. They are 4 x 6 foot long. Apparently they are very welcomed by the homeless population. They put them under their sleeping blankets or bags. It keeps them warmer and dry from the ground moisture. You use a great big hook. Mine is an "N".

Gosh, it's going to be hard to leave the wonderful friends that we've made here. I know the new condo won't be like this. Most people stay inside their own units, at least when we've been there viewing them. I hope we can get to know some of our neighbors after we move in.

Tomorrow after church Mandy and I are going to go to a movie with my sister Melanie and her daughter Chaela. Mandy and Chaela have always been close cousins while growing up. I have a picture somewhere of Chaela at 2 years old, holding newborn Mandy and grinning from ear to ear. To this day, those girls giggle like teenagers whenever they're together. I love it!

I need to get ready to go to bed, but first I need to shred a pork roast I've had in the crock-pot with BBQ sauce all afternoon and evening. We can have sandwiches after church tomorrow and it will be an easy lunch. There will be enough to put into the freezer for later too.

Take care all. Chat again soon.

Blessings and love,
Betsy

This and That

Hello my friends. Another busy week has passed by. We had a beautiful spring-like day today and the weather is supposed to stay good until Thursday, so tomorrow Dennis is getting off work at noon and picking the camper up from storage. I'll have things packed to load in it and we're heading to the state park for a couple of nights.  I won't have my laptop, so I won't be able to comment on your blogs for a couple of days, but I'll be reading them on my phone. We are both so excited to go camping.  We know that even with all of our experience camping over the years, we'll still forget half of what we need. That's what this trip is for, to remind us of what we need for future trips this summer.

On a totally different subject, I have truly become addicted to diamond painting. The picture below is the kit I got for the spring and summer. It was so fun to work on. It's 11 x 17 inches. As I said before, I plan to use the same frame for all of the seasons and just switch them out. I also have an autumn and Christmas kits. I may start on one of those when we get home from camping. They are so fun, but I don't recommend you get one unless you really want to go down a BIG rabbit hole. So much fun!

Miss Piper loves sea turtles. In fact, she has an adopted one that she can track through a bracelet she wears. She also loves to watch them when we go to the zoo, so when I saw this pattern last week, I had to make it for her. She really likes it. Mandy had made her a few others and this one was added to the family.

My best friend Jenny in Spokane is expecting her first great-grandchild! I can't believe it. They just found out that it's a boy and she asked for a blanket for him. She chose the pattern and yarn color. The pattern called for just three rows of ducks and I crocheted four. I love it. At times it ws frustrating because I haven't done much filet crochet lately, but I enjoyed it anyway. I used Bernat Baby Yarn and the pattern was from Mary Maxim. I look forward to making one of these with yellow yarn to donate. Wouldn't yellow duckies be cute?

My peace lilly is blooming like crazy. I've never had more than two flowers on it at a time in the past, but this time it has eight so far! It must really like this window.

Look at this sweet photo that was found this week.  My three babies. Mandy was nine, Jamie was five and Alex was just a few weeks old. I love this photo and these three people. Such cute kids. Oh, how I miss these days. Life seemed much simpler then.

Take care everyone. We're heading out to the park tomorrow and to enjoy a few days in our camper. Someday maybe it will be for months at a time. A girl can dream.

Blessings and hugs,
Betsy

Stormy Weather

If I could remember, all of the words I would sing it! ! Does anybody else remember that old song? We had lots of storms last night. Thunder and lightning and rain. More storms are on the way tonight. The rain is very needed but our Zoey is terrified of the thunder and lightning. She goes under our bed when she’s afraid of anything, and she spent hours there last night.

In other news. The most wonderful news! Miss Piper was baptized Sunday morning! Her Mama and Sunday school teacher were privileged to be the ones baptizing her. She was so excited. Welcome to the Lord’s, family Piper Alice. This is a decision you’ll never regret and the most important one of your life. 👏💜👏

After church, we took a few photos of the family, then we went over to Mandy and Brad‘s house for a wonderful lunch.

Miss Piper took photos of us and Brad‘s parents. I think she does a great job. She even provides props for us to hold. 😂

Here are Dennis and Marilyn, Brad‘s parents. We get along with them so well, and I always enjoy the times we have together.

I finished the baby blanket that I showed you in the last post. I have found a pregnancy center in Fremont that may be willing to take the blankets I make. Fremont is where Dennis and Marilyn live and only about a 20 minute drive from us. The hospital says they don’t need any more baby blankets, so I need to find somewhere else to take them. With the high cost of postage I really don’t want to mail them anywhere. I can’t find a chapter of Project Linus or Warm up America close by, so I thought this would be a good option.

I think I have a new addiction. I started my second diamond painting. This is the one I’ll put in the hallway in the summertime. Once I start working on it, it’s very difficult to put down. When I made the first one, the truck and flag, the first few inches I wasn’t impressed. But then, as it progressed, I really enjoyed putting those beads on. There are ladies here that make dozens every year. But what would you do with them all? It’s so expensive to frame them. I’ll just use the same frame that I hang outside the door, and then change the picture out inside the frame with the seasons.

Speaking of frames. Dennis and I brought five big boxes of photos and framed photos to the apartment from our storage unit. I spent a day going through them and taking all of the pictures out of the frames. He took two big boxes of frames to the thrift store for donation and I ended up with a big tote full of photos. I don’t think will ever live in a place big enough to hang all of those pictures up again and we are really trying to whittle down what we have in storage. Progress is being made, but it’s very slow.

Spring is definitely here in Nebraska. The robins are here and I hear birds singing throughout the day. The terrible heat and humidity haven’t arrived yet so we’re able to have our balcony door open. We put Zoey‘s bed on the balcony and she goes outside and lays for hours, surveying her domain. She’s very good and rarely barks at anyone.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I’ll be back again soon.

Blessings,

Betsy