Baby it's cold outside!!

Even with the woodstove going full blast, I am chilly. I think I need more layers. I'm wearing my Rogue tomorrow. You know, I don't have a picture of it, I'll have to remedy that. The temp. tonight is supposed to be down to 29 F. That's cold!!

I just got a call from my uncle. My grandma had another vomiting episode tonight and she aspirated, meaning it went into her lungs. She may not make it through the night. I haven't called my brother through all of this. I was going to call him today to let him know she was in the hospital and I got distracted. I called him tonight. I wish I had called him sooner. He has such a soft heart when it comes to family members who are ill. Why was I putting it off, was I trying to be the big sister? Who knows. I hope it isn't too late.

I was going to show a picture of my beautiful daughter and me, dressed up yesterday, but that's for another post.

Parties and Costumes and Illnesses

I am mostly finished with the costume.....Some trimmings to do with the scissors and some understitching to do to hide edges, but she wore it yesterday for several hours at our first party of the season. We hosted our little knitting group here yesterday afternoon. EVERYONE CAME!! You have to realize that these women are very good friends of mine, and all of our schedules are now so different that we haven't met as a knitting group in a very long time!! (We used to meet 2X month) Occassionally we will meet on a weekend morning for coffee, but not everyone can come. The kids looked great in all of their costuming, and stupid me didn't even think to get out the camera for pictures. HOWEVER, there are two parties today/tonight and I will take a picture of my daughter in her costume.

I counted up my hours of working at BMFA, and it came to almost 38 hours over the last month!! All I have to say...I am exhausted!! I fell into bed last night, read to dd for about half an hour and couldn't keep my eyes open. It was 8:30, I was on top of the bed with a cuddley blanket. At 11, when dh came back to bed, I was still there, not even in the PJ's. I tossed and turned a bit after that, but then slept straight through till 6:30 or 7:00 this morning. Still tired, but awake enough that I couldn't go back to sleep.

Incredibly blurry picture, but this is what I feel like. Hmmm, is he yawning and stretching, or his he mad?




On another note, my mom was in the ER this week. She must have had a bought with Pneumonia or something like that. They got her on antibiotics and she is feeling better. Funny thing is, she hadn't been sick before this. Then we found out that my grandma was actually admitted to the hospital this week. She lives across town from me. I try to see her about once a month. Sometimes it is less. Anyways, she has lost about 10 pounds over this last year, and her doctor wanted her weight back up. She's been trying, but as you get older, you lose your taste and smell and appetite. She apparently was very dehydrated and has a bowel obstruction. Poor thing. I think they are going to keep her until Monday, then return her to her home at assisted living. I've heard rumors that my aunt is looking for a rest home or convalescent hospital for her. I guess it would be a place where she has even more care than she is getting now, more monitoring of her food, bathroom habits, etc. Not my idea of fun!! I always told myself that I would never work in one of those places. I hated visiting them as a kid.

Happy Birthday First Born

On this day 17 years ago, I was barely 21, having my first child. He was and still is such a joy to be around. Happy Birthday John.

Love

Mom

Birthday Week

October is birthday month at our house. And in our extended family as well. We probably have 15 birthdays in dh's family alone, with a couple on my side.

We are going out for lunch today at Macaroni Grill, and my kids are taking me to the movies later. I really want to see "One Night With The King". It's about Queen Esther. I saw the trailer and it looks great!!

This quiz really isn't me. I hate yellow, well not hate, but will not wear it, or use it for any purpose, I dislike it that much. It looks a lot better as autumn leaves. And my weakness? I feel very satisfied in this time of my life!! I think I can stick to things, I'm not that bad about it. So, this quiz is a pretty bad one in my opinion.

Your Birthdate: October 23

You're not good at any one thing, and that's the problem. You're good at so much - you never know what to do. Change is in your blood, and you don't stick to much for long. You are destined for a life of travel and fun. Your strength: Your likeability Your weakness: You never feel satisfied Your power color: Bright yellow Your power symbol: Asterisk Your power month: May

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

What a weekend!!

This last weekend was never-ending!! For 8 or 9 years I have gone to The Women of Faith Conference held in Portland. It is an amazing experience to be with 10's of 1000's of Christian women, and to hear inspirational speakers and wonderful music. This year when it came time to order tickets, my daughter wanted to go. This is the first time she has shown any interest. She had a BLAST!! She wants to go back next year. YEAH!! My friend Laura went with us as well. She moved up here in January. I've known her for 13 years. She came to my home a couple of days after dd was born, when dh had to go back to school on the weekend. She brought food, did my dishes and just made my day. She doesn't remember it at all, but I sure do. Anyways, it was a great, emotional weekend.

Why is it that you will do anything for your child, within reason? I'm making this this week. It is ALL cut out, I did that yesterday. It is a beautiful blue (almost periwinkle or the blue gown that is in the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty) satin, with a beautiful pink, flowered brocade for the front skirt and inside sleeves. Once it is done, I will take a picture of her modeling it. My incentive came from the woman at the craft store last week. She said I could do it, so here I am. Now for a head piece to go with it. I have no ideas about that. If anyone reading here does have ideas, please let me know!!

Have a good week!! No knitting going on, maybe later today at my aunt's house.

A Little Pillow Talk

Our nephew that was up for Labor Day weekend has a birthday coming up next week. When he was here, I took him out to do errands with me one day. At the craft store, we were looking through the clearance bin of bundled fat quarters, came across this cool military/army guy type of fabric. I let him choose two, (thinking they were the same material) and I chose several as well as some other stars and stripes. Well, he forgot about them once we got home, so I thought about making him something out of them. When I opened them up the other day, I saw a Navy, USAF, and Marines, but no Army. Hmm. I wonder if they have any that are Army, so I headed back to the craft store hoping that they did. Well, they did, but it was in a package of 8 different patterns, several I already had, or in a bolt. The gal working the quilting section asked me what I was looking for, so I told her. "Do you want me to cut you a fat quarter?" Wow, I was speechless!! I didn't know she could do that for me. Needless to say, I said yes, and I will know from now on that if I don't see something in a fat quarter, I can ask for it to be cut. From there I headed over to the yarn section and met a really nice sales associate there as well!! She told me if I ran into any problems with my sewing to just come in and one of them would help me. I am so impressed with this store, and I let them know!! They aren't the big box stores at all!! Anyways, once I got back home, I finished cutting out my blocks and pieced this together over the course of several days. There's even a placket on the back so you can take it off and wash it.










As an after thought, I really hope his mom is ok with all the military guys. We have several in the family that are serving in different branches for our military now, so I think she will be.

Happy Birthday Honey

Today, 40+ years ago, my dear husband was born. I am so glad he came into my life while I was in high school.

I hope your day is a good one, honey.

Happy Birthday

September Quilt Blocks from Suzanne

The mail man delivered this to my door today. Even the cat liked them!! Suzanne, you must have a cat? Our cat went wild over the blocks and the paper they were wrapped in. He's still wandering around sniffing for them because I put it where he can't get to it.


I love the embellishments, the bow and buttons, they really make the picture whole. And the rake and leaves, it's ideal for September. I don't know if you can see it, but the rake tines are all satin stitch. The colors will go well with what I have so far. Thank you!!




These are the ones I sent to Suzanne:

Seasons

This says it all (because we've used the woodstove 2 times already this week), though I really, really like Autumn!! I keep meaning to take a picture of a tree up the street. I think it is a Vine Maple. It still has green leaves on it, but they are changing to yellow, orange and red. It is so beautiful!!

You Belong in Winter

Quiet, calm, and totally at peace... You're happy to be at home, wrapped in a blanket, completely snowed in Whether you're lighting a fire or having a snowball fight, you always feel best in the winter.

What Season Are You?

Comfort Zone

First a public service announcement: Adventurous Tom and Bel, where are you? Your blog is coming up with an error. Are you guys ok? I don't have an email for you either, so email me with the address in my profile. Thanks.

Ok, back to your normal viewing.

Doesn't this look comfortable? We spent most of the day away from home today, first with an informal fashion show, then on to quilting at auntie's house. DD was exhausted on arriving home, and asked her daddy to "please build a fire". The temp in the house was 64 F. Even with a long sleeve shirt and sweater, I was COLD. So, that wood stove behind her is fired up, we have 2 1/2 cords of wood, we are ready for (almost) anything. Yes, we did have 2 cords of wood delivered last week. It took all week and the weekend to move it and get it stacked. Amazingly enough, I hardly helped this year. The kids and dh did most of the work. They are all sore now.





Hmm, is there knitting going on around here? Yes, I was almost finished with the Cedar Creek socks, tried them on again, and ripped them back almost to the heel. They are in time out right now. I have done two and a half blocks for my 4 Seasons Throw KAL through the lys, and I started on a great gray green greasy limpopo blob. Oops, that should be a great (light neon) green blob. It is the 3rd and final Feather and Fan shawl that I am making for the (already finished) Amazing Lace. I did finish two of the shawls before the end of the game (photos in previous posts). This third one is probably the most amazing though. It will take after the Feather and Fan in "A Gathering of Lace", since it will be round. However, the center of that pattern is a beautiful flower, which dd does not like, so I am changing the pattern. It is a K and YO every 4 rows until I have enough to start the F&F pattern. I am doing a twelve stitch pattern, I think. I haven't thought it out too clearly, though I am taking notes, counting stitches and looking at charts. I did not take a photo of it though, maybe once you can see the F&F take shape.

Secret Tea Swap

Here's the package I sent out today for my secret knitter's tea swap pal.




And....



Oh, there was a box of cookies as well, that didn't get photo'd. I hope she/he enjoys it!!