December

I hope you are all doing well.   Can you believe we are well in to December?  Are you prepared for the holidays?  We aren't getting together with the whole family this year and DD#2 isn't permitted to come home for Christmas.  

Although we didn't all gather together for Thanksgiving, we were able to prepare and provide a full dinner for my mom and my in-laws.  We packaged everything up and delivered it to their doorsteps.

I haven't been stitching or crafting much, so I have nothing to show.  I need to get in gear and get my annual ornaments stitched and mailed.  At least I've managed to get the Christmas cards mailed already.

Since I'm working from home 90% of the time, I've been watching Baby L several days a week.  What a blessing it has been to babysit him.   He is such a joy and a happy little man!  He turns 11 months old this month and is "almost" walking.  I say "almost" walking because he can and does walk, but he hasn't realized what he's doing yet.     

  

Baby L loves to get in the cabinets.  They all have locks on them now though.

Lunch time became play time when Baby L figured out how to "flick" food off the tray.  That is Hazel's nose in this picture.  The dogs loved catching the flying food and Little Man's giggles were adorable.  It was all I could do to keep from giggling too.

Hollie and Baby L are best friends.   She watches for him to come in the mornings and is always by his side during the day.  Hollie even lays outside the bedroom while Baby L naps.

Hubby spent October and November working on an outside house maintenance project.  It was one of those projects that was only supposed to take a weekend or two.  I had to take a photo of the grill because it became his temporary tool box while he was working on the project, lol.  

From our family to yours,  

Happy Holidays!

Summer is Gone

Hello Friends,

Yikes! How has it been three months since I've posted?  What happened to summer?  

Honestly, I've been struggling.  I push myself to keep going and keep up with everything, but anxiety is contributing to a continuous migraine that I haven't been able to break. 

My area, along with many other areas in the midwest, had severe weather on Monday, August 10.  This photo was taken from my front window just as the storm was ending.  

I had the most terrifying experience during this storm as I was walking home when it hit.  I was about halfway home and decided to run for home instead of turning around.  Tree limbs were flying and falling everywhere and I struggled to stay upright in the strong wind.  I got hit with one limb and fell, but was able to narrowly dodge a falling tree.  It occurred to me that I might not make it home.  That one block felt like it was the longest block in the world.   The scariest thing wasn't the flying and falling trees and limbs or the wind; it was the sound.  I have never heard such a sound in my life and I can only describe it as a large, loud train being whirled and whipped around in the sky above me.  It took hours for me to stop shaking.  

After the storm ended and we all emerged from our houses, we discovered just how bad we were hit.  Shingles and debris everywhere, twisted trees toppled every which way, damaged vehicles, and many houses with roof damage or trees on top of them.  

We haven't had any weather service surveys done here, but trained spotters who live in town or have relatives that live in town, have said the twisted trees are indicative of a tornado.  We were without power for over 72 hours and our village water system was down for over 24 hours.   

Almost two months later, our area is still recovering from the damage and we still have utility poles and wires down.  Remarkably, there were no serious injuries in our area.

The pups love the new fan we bought for our deck.  It is amazing how much air it moves and how well it keeps the evening mosquitoes away.

DD#1 and Super Son-in-law celebrated their 6th wedding anniversary on September 6.  This is their homecoming photo from their freshman year of high school.  It feels like their freshman homecoming was just last fall...they both turned 29 this year!

I'm pretty sure the photographer that took Baby L's six month photos took this one just for me so I could share it with you all.  Actually, I think it was taken like this just to show off how cute his Carhartt overalls.  Can you believe Baby L is going to be nine months old?  He is crawling, climbing and pulling himself up.  I won't be surprised if he is an early walker.  He always wants to be standing and walking when he's holding on to something.  

I've been babysitting 2-3 days a week since DD#1 returned to remote teaching in August.  What a joy it is to have this time with Baby L.  Some of my favorite times of the day are when I go in to his room to get him up from his nap. He is so genuinely happy to see me and his huge smile warms my heart.   

In early August, DD#2 and Callie (the sleeping pup) were finally able to travel to Virginia for her Captain's training.  DD#2 says they probably won't be able to travel for the holidays because they would be required to self-quarantine for 14 days when they return to base.  The tentative plan is for graduation on Friday, Feb 5, 2021 with DD#2 required to report back to Texas by Monday, Feb 8. 

Long time readers will remember that DD#2 adopted Hollie while she was still in college and Hollie has lived with Hubby and I most of the past three years.  Last Christmas when DD#2 came home, her intention was to take Hollie back to Texas with her.  When DD#2 saw how close Hollie and Hubby have become, she decided not to take Hollie.  

Shortly after DD#2 returned to Texas, she adopted Callie, a Texas Lacy Dog mix.  Callie and DD#2 have bonded and are inseparable.  

This Eastern Swallowtail Butterfly visited my yard in July.  With a wingspan of 6-7 inches, it is the largest butterfly I have ever seen.  It was so graceful as it fluttered around my flowers.  A couple weeks later another, slightly smaller, Eastern Swallowtail Butterfly visited my yard.  I've had smaller varieties of Swallowtails visit my yard every summer, but this is the first year that I've had the large Eastern Swallowtail butterflies.  I hope they keep coming to my yard.

While I enjoy the fall colors, I am really missing the warm, summer weather.  

We have had spectacular sunrises and sunsets.

Until next time,

Prayers that you all stay safe and healthy!

      

Summer!

Can you believe June is almost over?  Have your summer plans changed?  We've canceled the traveling we had planned to do this summer.  Hopefully, we'll get to spend more time camping instead.

If you follow me on facebook or instagram, you already know my project bag and our bag of extra shoes went missing after our Memorial Weekend camping trip.

All we can assume is that the shoes and project bag got thrown away by mistake because I remember while Hubby was loading them in the car, he said he was going to throw the garbage away at home instead of taking it to the dumpster.  I don't know if he thought he was loading the garbage in the car, or if he was thinking he still needed to get the garbage out of the camper, but when we returned to the camper the following weekend, we found the garbage still in the camper.

I'm not upset with Hubby and there certainly are worse things than losing some stuff, but I am sad that I lost my favorite shoes and my "tool" bag.  That tool bag had my entire collection of crochet hooks, scissors, needles, reading glasses, and all those other needfuls for stitching or crocheting.  There were also several crochet and cross stitch WIPs in the project bag as well.  

One particular WIP that makes me especially sad to have lost is the birth sampler I was stitching for my grandson.  The pic above is the pattern I had purchased.  I had stitched all the way down to where the name is, so didn't have too much left to stitch.  Of course, I was using the perfect hand-dyed fabric and a variety of specialty floss from my stash and all the information of what I was using was written on the pattern.  I haven't been able to bring myself to look for more fabric and floss yet.

I'm so lucky to have a friend that bakes and decorates yummy cookies for all occasions.  These cookies were made to celebrate my Mother-in-Law's 80th birthday on June 7 and they were so good!

Our garden is looking pretty good right now.  Hubby decided we need to hide the neighbor's stockade fence, so he he made the flag and cross trellis.  He's currently thinking of other things to make to fill up the rest of the area.


We've been able to visit with Baby L, DD#1 and our Son-in-Law while outside, but have not been able to hold Baby L yet. 

This little guy is so stinkin' cute!  

He has the cutest little feet and toes too!

Dottie Dog isn't doing well, but she sure is a happy dog.  

Hazel is loving the pool!

Hollie likes cooling off in the pool too, but prefers to show off how pretty she is.

Wishing you a Happy and Safe Summer 

and

July 4th Independence Day!

 

  

Ready for June

Hello Friends!

How are you doing?  I pray that you all have been safe and healthy during this virus.  We are managing the best we can.  

So much has happened since my last post!

Hubby and I are both "essential" employees and have been working outside the home throughout our state's stay-at-home order.  Hubby's company laid off 40% of its employees and gave a permanent 10-25% pay cut to the remaining employees.  For Hubby, the layoff/pay cut means he now covers the territory of 4 employees, works longer hours, and has hours of additional reporting and paperwork each day after work hours for much less pay.  

Little did I know, my grandma's words of "make do with what you have" that I posted about in my last past would become the status quo for the past 9+ weeks.  

Like sewing baby clothes from our clothes that were to be donated because everything is out of stock online.

DD#1 and I have made over 400 masks for family, friends and a local mask making group. 

For once, all that fabric and elastic stash I've had for years has been put to great use.  Between DD#1 and I, we've only had to order additional elastic, which our local Joann's was able to get for us.

Speaking of DD#1, she was planning to return to teaching after spring break, which would have been April 14.  Since our governor had closed the schools through the end of April (since then, schools were closed for the remainder of the school year) and remote learning started March 30, DD returned to teaching on March 30.  She has put in more prep and teaching hours for remote learning than she does when she's in the classroom.  At the high school level, remote learning has been frustrating for both teachers and students.  The traditional grading system is gone and all those hard working students aren't rewarded for their work, while the slackers are able to get away with not doing the work.  Cheating and parents doing the work for their kids has become much more prevalent.  

Us new grandparents are having a really difficult time not being able to hold our grandson.  We've been able to visit Baby L from 10 feet away, but it is such torture to not hold or touch him.  

For Mother's Day, I received a card with Baby L's handprints and a cement block with his footprints.  The handprint card is on my kitchen bulletin board and the footprint block is in the flowerbed at our front door, where I can see them every day.  Baby L turned 4 months old last week!  I can't believe I haven't held him for 2 months!

In my last post, I told you DD#2 was leaving Texas for Virginia.  The Army moved all of DD#2's belongings at the end of February and she still had one week of work before leaving for Virginia.  During that one week, the military put a travel ban in effect, leaving DD stuck in Texas.  All of her belongings are in storage in Virginia and DD has had to rent a furnished apartment in Texas.  At this point, she is unsure of when or if she'll be continuing Captain training in Virginia.

In the meantime, DD#2 was promoted to Captain on May 1!

I'm glad someone was able to take these photos since we weren't permitted to attend the ceremony.  We haven't seen DD#2 since Christmas and due to the travel ban, DD#2 hasn't been home to meet her nephew.  We were supposed to have Baby L's baptism, but with churches also closed, that has been postponed.

My neighbor celebrated her 100th birthday on May 12.  I made a banner and placed 100 pinwheels in her yard.  Another neighbor and I organized a card shower and parade too.  She received 109 birthday cards and we had 41 cars in addition to 3 fire trucks for her parade.  It was so fun and a great surprise for Babe.  

I made a few cards for Mother's Day and DD#2's birthday.

Until next time,

           Be Safe & 

Have a Great Weekend!

 

Spring is Coming!

Hello Friends,

What signs of spring do you look for every year?  For me, I look for robins, flowers poking up through the soil and the local ice cream shop opening.  I can confidently say, spring is coming!  The ice cream shop opened last week, the Resurrection Lilies are popping up and I saw a robin in my front yard yesterday.  WooHoo!

Can you believe my grandson, Baby L, is 7 weeks old already?  He is so perfect and so sweet.  DD#1 and her hubby are adjusting to being first time parents.  DD#1 wasn't feeling well a few weeks ago and I insisted that she call her doctor because she was so dizzy and had passed out a couple times.  She was diagnosed with anemia and put on iron supplements.  She is starting to feel a little better and has decided to wait until after spring break to return to teaching.  I'm so glad that I am close by and can help her when needed.

DD#2 is enjoying her last days in Texas.  She will be heading to Virginia next week to begin Captain's training.  She'll be in training through October and doesn't yet know where she will be going when she's done with training. 

The triplets will be celebrating their second birthday on March 16th.  My niece is just starting to venture out on her own with all four boys.  She gets panicky and flustered when they all decide to take off in different directions, so she tends to stay home.  When one starts doing something, they all start doing the same thing, like throwing all the blocks down the stairs that are double blocked with baby gates, blowing bubbles with their saliva, or taking their shirts & pants off so they can run around in just their diapers. 

Haven't been doing much crafty stuff, but I did knit a little bear hat and diaper cover for Baby L's newborn photos. 

This year, I'm trying to "use what I have" and choosing projects that can be started, worked on or finished up with the stash I already have.  As my grandma would always say, "make do with what you have."  Have you been successful at using what you have and have any tips to pass along?

I pray that you and your loved ones are healthy and safe!

Until next time,

Happy Stitchin'

January 2020!

Hey there, friends!  Happy New Year! 

I hope your holidays were great and 2020 is off to a great start.  We had several family gatherings to celebrate Christmas.  The gatherings are always such a good time, but the preparation sure is a lot of work.

I had an awesome surprise!

DD#2 made it home for Christmas!  Not sure how my girls managed to keep it a surprise, but I honestly had no clue until DD#2 walked through the door at our first family gathering.  This momma's heart was full!

These are the ornaments I finished and gave for gifts.  I used floss colors from my stash and changed some of the called for colors to traditional reds and greens.

In one of my facebook groups, a friend posted a photo of an UFO counted canvas project she had started years ago.  Her post reminded me of the UFO counted canvas project I had hiding in a closet.  She actually finished hers before Christmas.  I'm not as fond of this piece as when I purchased it so many years ago.  I'm just not sure I want to finish this as a framed piece.  What other options are there for finishing counted canvas pieces? 

The big news, what you've all been waiting for...

 
Baby Boy was born on January 14.  DD and her hubby have chosen not to share baby's information online, so I am not able to share his photo here.  He is adorable and such a sweet little bundle of joy.  Both mom and baby are doing well.

Until next time,

Happy Stitchin'