Foggy Friday

When I woke up this morning I couldn’t even see across the street. But that’s better than the freezing rain we had all day Tuesday. I didn’t leave the house at all that day. It’s a little better now. I can make out the windows of the house directly across from us! It’s been a quiet week. I’ve just been doing physical therapy and pretty much hibernating at home. I love to be home this time of year.  Definitely a homebody and I always have been. Just ask my sister. Melanie? I know you’re reading this. Even as a little girl I preferred staying home over going anywhere. So it is a little strange that I love to travel so much. Given the choice of shopping, taking a walk or going out to dinner, I will always choose to stay home. But if it means getting on a plane and going to London or Japan or to the Oregon coast I’m all in! Sounds crazy doesn’t it?

I just can’t get my heart into the Mystical Lanterns blanket. After talking to Dennis about it, I think I agree with him that it’s just too busy with all of the colors. He said he thinks it would be prettier with a cream color yarn and another color, like sage green. I tend to agree with him, so I’ve stopped working on that blanket and I started this one to use my scraps.

It’s just a crochet corner to corner blanket and I’m enjoying it. Very mindless crochet for me. But even that hasn’t been able to keep my interest going because I started this two days ago.

My love of cross-stitch has not diminished, I just have to use fabric with bigger squares to the inch! These old eyes don’t like those tiny squares anymore. I ordered a booklet from Amazon that has 50 Christmas designs. I had intended to use it to make some Christmas ornaments for gifts next year and get an early start on them, but when I saw the angels in the book I decided to make something for myself first. This is the center angel and I’m planning to make two on either side of her. Then maybe I will make this into a pillow. That will make it easier to store and I won’t have to find a place to hang it on the wall.  She’s not quite finished, but I have sure enjoyed working on it over the last couple of days.

This is the brochure with just some of the designs. Aren’t they the cutest?

I did start another nine patch square.  It’s easy to pick up and put down.

I received this beautiful handmade card from a dear blog friend name Shaz who lives in Australia. You can find her over on my side bar as “Calligraphy Cards-Shaz in Oz.”  She makes the most beautiful cards for all occasions. Paper crafts are not a talent that I have and I’m always a bit amazed when I see the beautiful things that she creates.  She embosses, (did I even spell that correctly?), these beautiful stars onto the card stock and makes the little sheep and colors the cut outs and makes those perforations on the borders. I have no idea how any of it’s done, but I am very happy to have received this beautiful card.  Thank you Shaz!

These are all of the beautiful Christmas cards Dennis and I received this year. I love to leave them hanging up until the end of January every year where I can look at them and enjoy them. Then I take them down and put them in a pile and every day when I do my devotion, I choose the top card in the pile and I pray for that person and their family. Then it goes under the bottom of the pile and I rotate through them throughout the year. I love doing this because then I get a chance to look at the beautiful cards several times throughout the year, and also a chance to remember each of these dear people in prayer.  So if you have sent me a card, know that I will be thinking of you and praying for you and they won’t be thrown away until a new batch comes in next year. And even then, some of the more beautiful ones get kept and put in a scrapbook or framed.

Do any of you display cards that you receive?  Dennis turned 63 on Wednesday and we like to put the cards on the table out to enjoy for a week or two after our birthdays, anniversary, etc.  That lime green one is from Miss Piper and is extra special.  It even says “Papa” on it and that’s what she calls him.

Well this is a much longer post than I intended to write so I’m going to stop there. I have some laundry to fold and some other things to get finished this afternoon. I hope you’re all having a wonderful Friday and have some fun things planned for the weekend. 

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” 1 John 5:14

Many blessings, Betsy

Soup’s On!

Happy Monday!!!  The first one of 2019!

Many of you asked for the recipe for the chicken and wild rice soup I mentioned it last week. So here it is!

I have never been able to find the Lundberg wild blend rice that she recommends in this recipe. I just use Uncle Ben’s or farmhouse brown rice mix in the box.  Whatever I find that is on sale. This is seriously some delicious soup. I had a lot of chicken so I doubled the recipe. I froze about half of it and we’ve been eating it all weekend. Yum!  I hope those of you that try it like it as much as Dennis and I do. Mandy fixes it quite often too.

I started and finished another nine patch cozy memories square over the last several days.

I take this bag with me to all of my doctors appointments with a pair of socks for Dennis in it. I need to get serious and finish them as I’ve been carrying it around for about five weeks now.   I just put a round or two on it while I’m waiting for my appointments, but never work on them at home. That needs to change.

And today I’m going to start working on my “mystical lanterns” crocheted blanket again. I want to get some of my small balls of scrap yarn used up and then this will be donated somewhere. It really is fun to crochet on, I just haven’t worked on it for a while as I’ve had other projects going. Like two sweaters for Dennis and Alex.

I want to make one of Helen Stewart’s shawls soon too.  It is called “Smowmelt” and Dennis bought the pattern for me for Mother’s Day last year. I really like her patterns and when I get around to knitting it, the shawl will be for me. However, it will take a lot of concentration and I would also like to add some beads to it.  Since it will be for me it keeps getting put on the back burner. I actually sorted out yarn for it last week and it’s all sitting on the desk now in the office, so maybe there is a chance I will actually start knitting on it soon. :-)

I have faithfully been doing the exercises the physical therapist gave me last week.  I’ve been down with back spasms more in the last four days than I have had for several months. It’s all so frustrating. By the time church was over yesterday, I was in my recliner for the rest of the day. The spasms just would not stop until sometime during the night.

I think the Sunday school class went well. I don’t think I was the children’s favorite teacher, because I actually expected them to not talk over me when I was talking and to sit quietly and listen to the story. I did have several games planned out and there was plenty of running around time for them. Is it just me, or do any of you think a lot of children aren’t expected to mind very well these days?  Oh well, time will tell on how it goes in the long run.  I appreciate those of you who were thinking of me.

And now begins the long stretch of months where Dennis doesn’t have any days off for holidays unless he takes vacation time. It’s always a rude awakening after having so many days off for Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years.  

I hope you’re all enjoying your Monday morning. We have snow showers in our backyard and sunshine in the front yard this morning.! How does that happen?

“If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 1 John 4:15

 Blessings, Betsy

2019

I’m off to a slow blogging start for the year. I had three doctors appointments this week and haven’t been able to get myself organized enough to do a blog post. I haven’t taken hardly any photos either so this will probably be a short post.

Dennis went back to work on Wednesday. After 2 four day weekends it’s going to be hard for him next week when he has to work five days in a row! I imagine there are a lot of people facing that hard fact right now.  I’m sure missing having him home. I’m looking forward to his retirement.

 I finished Alex’s sweater! It will look very familiar to you all because it is exactly like Dennis’s, just a size smaller. And I played yarn chicken and won!  Do you see this 4 inch length of yarn? This is all that I had left when I finished his sweater! Believe me, I wasn’t sure that I would make it. I don’t think I’ve ever cut anything this close. It sure made me wish I had taken a couple of rows off of the length of the sweater. Ha!

And the finished sweater after washing and blocking. Please excuse the wrinkled tablecloth.  I will be mailing this off to him shortly.  I sent him this picture and when we talked last night he was pretty excited about it. I enjoy knitting for my kids. He and Mandy are especially very verbal in their thanks for anything I knit for them. Definitely “yarn worthy” people.

Wednesday night I made a big pot of chicken and wild rice soup. I used a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and that makes the process so easy. It is very labor-intensive, but also very worth it. We will have the leftovers for dinner tonight. If anyone would like the recipe just let me know and I would be happy to post it next time.

Last night we had our annual Bible Study Christmas potluck and gift exchange. We usually wait until January to have it because people are so busy in December. I left the decorations up and I took this photo of the tree just before I went to bed last night. This morning it all came down and got packed in boxes for Dennis to drag downstairs tonight. It’s always sad to take the decorations down, but also a nice feeling to get things back to normal again.  In the past, I have always wanted to have everything put away before the new year so it felt like I was starting with a clean slate. Since we’ve had the party in January, I’ve left the decorations up by everyone’s request. It’s really no big deal since I’m home now and can take them down anytime. When I was working it was a lot harder to find the time to put them away.  Do you see my blue and white crocheted tree skirt? I love that tree skirt. I debated making it for a couple years and I’m glad I finally did it.

Monday, on New Year’s Eve, I saw the actual spine doctor that took me months and months to get an appointment with. I was so glad that Dennis was off work and able to go with me. That extra set of ears is so handy. The doctor was amazed at how much I have already done to try to make my back better. I saw the physical therapist in their office yesterday and a pain psychologist this morning. She gave me some breathing exercises to do when the pain gets severe and also recommended some natural supplements to reduce the inflammation in my back.  I can either choose to keep seeing her or not. The physical therapist gave me two exercises to do. They don’t seem to be hardly any motion at all, but boy, I can sure feel it. On the 22nd I will receive an injection in my back and will also continue with physical therapy for a month or so. They will then reevaluate where I am.

I hope you are all having a wonderful start to 2019. I am very hopeful that this will be the year I get my health under control and I can start traveling again. I want so badly to go to Japan in the spring to visit Alex for the cherry blossom festivals.  I would love to be able to go to Omaha and see Mandy and Piper and the rest of our family too. And of course, Dennis and I want to go to the coast in February or March to watch the winter storms come in off of the Pacific. Such an amazing and powerful sight to see.  We had hoped to go to Hawaii in February but that’s obviously not going to happen. Maybe next year.  It all depends on when I can fly again.

On Sunday I begin teaching the kindergarten through third grade Sunday school class every Sunday morning.  I haven’t taught Sunday school in several years and I’m both looking forward to it and dreading it. :-)  I’m not sure what to expect. Children seem to have much different expectations now than they did when our children were young. I’ll let you all know how it goes. Pray for me!

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.”  Proverbs 16:3

Many blessings, 

Betsy