Drum roll please....

The tiny bath in the basement is finally finished -- today! 
There's a shower to the right of the sink, but don't plan on using it -- kind of a selling point for the next owners -- after I'm gone!  I hung the mirror and tp holder and towel ring myself as soon as the plumber left today!

While the plumber was working, I managed to get this quilt quilted and bound for Steve's best friend's daughter.  She was born a few days after Steve died and I never got around to making her baby quilt. She'll be three in May.  Picture's not the greatest -- I took it with my phone.

 

Next on the agenda: Nancy at church is bringing me 13 twin size quilts for the homeless to make backings for and quilt. We'd like to deliver them soon, so I hope to get three done a week, if I can. 
Until next time....blessings.

Word is Still Patience

For the most part, the basement is finished - still waiting on the pedestal sink for the bathroom that's been on back-order for weeks.  Just about ready to tell them to buy one off the floor at Home Depot!  This shot is from one end of the basement looking towards the kitchen cabinets.  I did have the antique table at the other end cleaned off, but managed to load more stuff on it today!  The quilt on the longarm was just finished -- our church is making quilts for the homeless and I quilt them, so that's what this one is.

This shot is from the other direction - also a bit messy!

This is the small room between the longarm room and the stairs - it'll be another small office after I bring the computer desk down and set up my old computer,  The door on the right goes to the big room, the one straight ahead goes to a small storage room.

This is same room from other direction.  Opening on left is to the big room; stairs are on the other side of the wall on the right, the door seen to the right goes to the furnace room and a large storage area.  The bathroom, if it ever gets finished is just on the other side of the stairs.  I managed to hang the quilt hangers, just haven't found the quilts I want to hang on them yet.  It's a work in progress!

I sincerely hope the bathroom will be finished soon -- it'll be much nicer not to have to run upstairs all the time!

Until next time....Blessings.

Patience

My word for 2014:  Patience!

The plan was that the carpet and vinyl for the bathroom and under the fridge would be installed on Saturday.  The actuality:  The carpet men arrived at 12:30 on Sunday.  The vinyl is in, but nothing else is even tacked down.  And I'm pretty sure they aren't coming back til next Saturday - nobody has called me because I'm pretty sure they know I'm not a happy camper!  The contractor can't finish until they're done with the carpet and the plumber can't finish until the contractor is finished trimming the bathroom.  So, my word for 2014:  Patience!

Until next time....blessings!

R.I.P. JR

I had to have JR put to sleep yesterday.  He was down to 9 pounds and very ill.  We've been through a lot together, but I couldn't let him suffer.  I'm actually doing okay.  I never considered it, but it has given me some freedom -- I actually used to plan things around taking care of him, so now I only have myself to take care of.
Actually drove to Wisconsin this morning to have breakfast with my daughter!

Until next time...blessings.

Moving Along

This is the cabinet the contractor added to my kitchen while I was gone:  The bottom cabinet and countertop ended with the cabinet on the right.  The microwave on the shelf just hung out there in lala land!  So they matched the cabinets and installed the double cabinet on the left -- it doesn't really take away any space in the kitchen at all, but definitely adds much needed cabinet and counter space.

This week will see the rest of the woodwork finished in the basement, including staining 6 doors and the rest of the trim.  Saturday the flooring will be installed and next week the rest of the fixtures and trim will be installed.  I'm getting really anxious to see it all done.  My plan will be to put away the stuff I have all over the house first and then unpack the boxes still in the garage!

Until next time...blessings.

Hawaii!

Hawaii was right! (The first picture was of Kona Joe Coffee plantation! - Those were coffee trees instead of grapes!).  I was at "Quilting on the Beach" in Kona, Hawaii taking classes and relaxing.  This photo is of the 9 blocks we got from the various quilt shops we visited on a shop hop tour of the big island.  This was just one shop's way of setting the blocks.  This was sponsored by the Quilt Passions Quilt Shop in Kona.  Lots of fun, met some fabulous people, took a couple of applique classes by Nancy Chong, ate a lot, took a Pearl Harbor tour one day to see the Arizona memorial, and generally left the stress behind!

Came home to a furnace that died (whoopee, got to replace the furnace first day back!), and the contractor had the walls up in the basement.  Should only be a couple of more weeks and the basement will be finished.  They also put in another base cabinet in my kitchen with more counter space -- yay!  Almost makes me feel like cooking now!  I'll post pictures next time!

It was a wonderful, once in a lifetime trip, and although I had to come back to more snowstorms and below freezing weather, I'm glad to be home too!
Until next time...blessings.

Another Clue

California is not right!  So here's another clue!

Until next time...blessings!

I'm Baaacck!

You didn't even know I was gone, I know!  So, guess where I was - here's a clue:

Notice there is no snow, no cold!  I got home Monday morning to a furnace that had died.  So, Tuesday I had a new furnace installed -- not exactly what I had planned, but I knew eventually I'd have to replace it -- it was 20 years old.

Anyway -- I'll post another clue next time!  I am happy to be home and the basement work is progressing.

Until next time, blessings....

Ideas

So, until the basement is finished, and I've gotten everything unpacked and put away, there's not a lot of quilting going on around here!
Before I covered the longarm in anticipation of the work being done in the basement, I was quilting a few quilts for the homeless.  My church has taken on the project of making quilts for the homeless in our area - and it's sad to say there are plenty in need and this has been a particularly cold, snowy winter besides.  There are a few quilters in the church, and the congregation has been donating fabrics as well as the quilters themselves and some of the quilt shops too.  I have a large collection of backing fabrics too that were donated.  I did manage to get 9 quilts quilted before the basement was started.  After that, I have managed to piece two more and I think the quilters have another 6 waiting for me to quilt them.

I also have (somewhere!), a lot of scraps that I intend to put to good use in making more quilts for the homeless.  With that in mind, I was playing a bit in EQ7 today and came up with a simple design for a 12" square block.  I have some jelly rolls which are 2-1/2" strips and I intend to use them to make these scrappy blocks: 

And a possible setting would be this one:  Although -- I didn't recolor the block, I would make the quilt much more scrappy -- the rail fence look of the sashing would probably get lost in the actual quilt.  I think this would be a good leader/ender project as well.

Can you tell I'm itching to get stitching?

Until next time....blessings.

Some Quilting

Not the best job by far, but done is better than perfect!  This was the latest project from Jo's Little Women's Club.  All hand appliqued - but I'm definitely out of practice.  It was fun to make it anyway.  (The pink in the bottom left corner is my slipper sock covered toe!)

We're back in the deep freeze with gusty winds and wind chill temps in the -40's.  I am so done with winter!  I can't believe it's just dragging on and on and nothing improves -- if it's not below zero, it's snowing!  Okay -- complaint done!

Until next time....blessings.

Basement Stuff

Samples of the vinyl flooring for the small bath in the basement, the carpet for the rest, and the kitchen cupboards that are going to be down there.  Just got the estimate for all that!  Whew!  I told them to order everything - I'm only going to do this once, so I want what I want.

I am getting really excited about the whole project.  They've finished roughing in everything -- next is getting the shower down there and then the electrician and the heating guys need to do their part.  Then the contractor will put up the walls and ceiling.

While I'm waiting, I cleaned out the office closet today AGAIN!  I still have some kitchen stuff in here that goes downstairs, but at least the main part of the closet has office supplies and files in it instead of blenders and whatever!  Still need to do a lot of paperwork sorting and a ton of shredding yet again.

I am so looking forward to getting everything unpacked from the basement, garage and all over the house and put away where it really belongs:  a place for everything and everything in it's place.

Until next time....Blessings.

The makeover has begun!

Both end walls are now framed in including the sump pump.  The plumber will probably be here tomorrow to start the bathroom and they should have the walls all framed by Friday.

Update on the Bacon Cheddar Chicken in the crockpot:  It was delicious.  I will fix it again - it took no time to put it together.  I put it on low for 5 hours, used only 3 frozen chicken breasts and 6 slices of bacon.  Really good!  Check out The Picky Kitchen.

Until next time...Blessings.

Finally!

I just got word this morning that the basement finishing is going to start this week! I'm really excited -- can't wait.  These are the before pictures -  The first two are one room -- this is going to be my quilt studio.  The shelves on the back wall will be moved to another area for storage.

 At the end of this part of the basement, I'm having some kitchen cabinets put in -- just for a little more cupboard space than I have upstairs for those things you only use rarely.  And a counter to put a coffee pot and a microwave! 

 This third area will be a closed off hallway with storage at the other end.  I'll probably  put my book cases and some other furniture in the hallway -- stuff I need but not every day.  It will be open to the middle of the big room.

 This last space behind the door to the upstairs is where the small bathroom will go.  I'm having them put in a shower, in case the future owners of my house use the space as a bedroom or whatever!  Might as well put it in now - even though I don't plan on using it.

Let's face it -- once it's done I don't plan on going upstairs much!

On another subject:  My nephew and niece have started a cooking blog:  The Picky Kitchen.  They have 3 boys and a few picky eaters!  Mostly it'll be crockpot recipes.  I just put the Crockpot Bacon and Cheese Chicken in my crockpot a bit ago.  I made a smaller version -- 3 chicken breasts, 6 slices bacon, and put it on low. I'll let you know!

Until next time.....Blessings.

I hate winter!

Have I mentioned lately that I hate winter?  Well, I do!  We got rain last night that immediately turned to ice.  Funny thing is that it was my daughter's birthday yesterday and on the day she was born, we had an ice storm and had to drive to the hospital on very slippery roads!  She mentioned yesterday morning that at least it wasn't icy -- I told her to wait, she wasn't born til 11:36 pm, so there was still time and right about 5 pm the rain/ice started!

Hopefully, they will come by with the salt trucks on my street soon.  I'm sure the main roads have been salted now, but there were tons of accidents last night.

This is one of the Jo's Club quilts I finally caught up on last month.  I didn't add the inner border, which I really liked, but just didn't feel like messing with!  The colors look a little washed out in the picture, but are a little richer in real life!

Yesterday I went to the place to order the cabinets and carpet for my basement.  I'm having a cabinet added to my kitchen upstairs and a set of bottom and top kitchen cabinets in the basement.  The one in the kitchen will match those already there, but the ones I ordered for the basement I really love!  Also picked out carpeting and the sink for the bath that will be built downstairs.  It was so much fun -- I could have spent hours there picking new everything for the kitchen and living room and bedrooms and baths upstairs! Can't afford it, but would have had a great time!

Until next time....blessings.

Finished!

This has been on my list to finish for the past three days.  I finally finished this hat a little bit ago.  It will be the first of many I will put aside for next year's Hat and Mitten tree at church - for elementary school kids.

Finished all my to-do list today, plus I cleaned out my kitchen cabinets.  Bad news is that my office just got filled with more "stuff"!  

The contractor is sending out the guy we're getting the new cabinets and carpet from this afternoon.  I'm having a cabinet added to my kitchen and then a set of base and wall cabinets for a spot in the basement.  The over-flow from the kitchen will go in them -- things like crockpots and dishes I only use once or twice a year.  I'll put a coffee pot and microwave in the basement too -- gotta have the essentials for my quilting studio!  When they finish the basement, I'll have it carpeted also, so the guy will measure for all that tonight. Hopefully, they'll start working on it next week.

I am woman, hear me roar....

I bought this quilt hanger/shelf last month.  It's solid wood, so kinda heavy.  I could wait for my son-in-law to hang it for me, or my brother offered to come over and do it, but I hate to bother either of them.  I figured I'd give it a shot and if I screwed it up, they could fix it!  So, today I gave it a shot!  And, it's level too!  I bought the shelf from Country Store of Geneva - love their stuff.  Also bought an old looking medicine cabinet for the new bathroom in the basement -- when it gets built, that is!  I'll be replacing the light over the table sometime too -- it's on my list!
Yesterday we were in the deep freeze with howling winds and -18° - wind chills in the -35 to -40 range.  Nasty day.  Today it's still cold, finally reached 0° this afternoon, but no wind, so its bearable.  Poor dog just about froze every time I took him out.  I'd bring him back in and wrap him in an afghan in order to warm him up.  I got nothing done yesterday either except I baked a cake and made a loaf of bread. 
My to-do list today is partially done, but instead of finishing, I did some extra things, like hang this shelf and clean out my bathroom cabinet.  When I moved in and started to unpack, I just shoved things into cabinets and closets, so now it's time to rearrange and clean them out.  I've done my walk-in closet and the bathroom.  Hope to start on the kitchen cabinets soon.
The quilt on the shelf, btw, was a Country Threads quilt on the cover of I think American Patchwork and Quilting magazine the first year it came out.  That was basically the first applique I did, other than the first quilting class I took.

Until next time....blessings.

And, it's Sunday

My plow guys showed up a bit after nine last night.  They are so fabulous!  They plow the drive, and shovel the sidewalks - all in about 10 minutes.  'Course, the city came by again after they were gone and managed to dump a big hill of snow at the end of the drive, but I guess that's to be expected.  Better get used to it, this is going to be a long winter!

The chicken pot pie in the crockpot was delicious, which is good because there's enough left over for a few more meals!

I did manage to get everything done on my to-do list yesterday and may even be able to finish the hat today.

Only thing on today's list is to take the garbage to the road for tomorrow morning pickup!  Oh, and go to church and run the media program.  Done and done.  I do the bulletin on the big screen monitors at church -- I do the work at home and take it on a thumb drive to load onto the laptop at church.  When I finish it here, it's just the way I want it, but when I project it onto the monitors at church, there is always some little glitch!  Today it was a picture of a baby behind the words to a song - totally not what I had for a background!  But, I discovered today I can fix things on the fly if I catch them fast enough! LOL  Always exciting on Sunday morning to see what the gremlins have planned for me. 

The picture at the top is one of the Jo's Little Women's Class projects.  I was two months behind at the end of the year and managed to catch up over the holidays, so this is one of them.

Now I'm off to knit a little and nap a little, and watch some football -- too bad my Bears aren't playing, but I sure don't envy the Packers playing in this subzero cold.

Until next time....Blessings.

Someone turn the snow machine off...

This was taken out my front door a few minutes ago.  See the mailbox?  It's pretty much buried under a ton of snow that just keeps coming.  Plus we have a lot of wind today, and we've got deep freeze temperatures forecasted for another week at least.  I hate winter -- don't know why I stay in this part of the country -- other than I've lived here all my life and my family and friends live nearby! 

Only one thing winter is good for:  staying by the fire (which I don't have in the fireplace!), and quilting or knitting!  And eating good old fashioned comfort food - the Chicken pot pie is in the crockpot!  Only thing left on my to-do list today is again, knitting on the socks and the hat. 

Until next time....Blessings.

They sure don't make 'em like they used to!

I moved the 27th of September.  On the 28th, I had my new washer and dryer delivered and installed.  Which makes them just over 3 months old!  Repairman was out yesterday late afternoon.  Verdict:  Needs a new electronic board!  And...it has to be ordered through Samsung and it'll take about a week to get here.  So, next Thursday, hopefully, I'll have a working washer again.  And because I don't have enough underwear to get me to next Thursday, I had to go to the laundromat again today.  Not my idea of a fun day.  Back when I was a new wife, the first time, I had to go to the laundromat for a few years before we finally got a washer and dryer.  That was ages ago.  The one I went to way back then is long gone.  It was clean and new back then.  The one I found close enough now, is old, not all that clean, and the machines do not all work.  I only did two loads of laundry, and only washed them, since my dryer still works, thankfully.  But, I gotta tell ya, the laundry came out of the washer practically dripping -- their idea of spin dry and mine are a long ways from being close!  Okay - rant over!  Clothes are dry and put away now.

As long as I had to go out in the freezing temps anyway, I ran to the bank and the grocery store too.  Also stopped at Farm & Fleet and bought myself a 4 qt. crockpot, on sale!  I have a 6 qt., but it's a bit too large for some things.  I've been going through my crockpot cookbook: 365 Slow Cooker Suppers by Stephanie O'Dea, crockpot365.blogspot.com and so far have marked four recipes I want to try.  Tomorrow I'll be trying "Classic Chicken (Crock) Pot Pie".  I love chicken pot pie, and it sounds so good!  Cooking for one is not a lot of fun - and when I make any kind of casserole, I eat it for days, which is fine, because I don't have to cook again for a few days! :-).  I thought it would help if I tried something new about once a week -- give me some variety and forces me to actually cook instead of nuking something! So that's the plan!

Only thing left on my to-do list today is knit on the socks and knit on the hat!  Dinner will be parmesan encrusted tilapia fillets and a salad!

Until next time....Blessings

Organizing the Knitting Stash

 The other day I was thinking about knitting and needles.  I wanted to try a different cast-on method than the one I use, so I grabbed a couple of straight needles and cast on (using the two needle knit cast on), this yarn for a plain jane scarf.

 I filled up the long straight needle and knitted a couple of rows.  That made me start thinking about a post I remembered Judy made awhile back: http://www.patchworktimes.com.  (I follow Judy's blog every day).  Anyway, I asked her a question and before she even had time to read it, I thought about her post.  After trying to knit on straight needles - and I've only made a few dishcloths on straight needles, I have to agree with her -- I prefer to work with the circular needles.  So, today, after cleaning out my knitting mess:

I switched the scarf over to the same size circular needle -- which I discovered in my mess!

The picture above shows that I have at least 5 sets of US 2 circular needles for socks!  Apparently, I tend to buy more because I can't find or forget what I already have.

I have a lot of sock yarn too -- which at the rate I knit will last me a lifetime.  The worsted weight I'll use mostly for hats for kids.  I also have a bit of cotton yarn for dishcloths - which I probably won't ever use.  I have a bunch of long straight needles too -- might donate them, but for now I've bagged them and put them on the bottom of the Rubbermaid container. 

Still waiting for the repairman -- sometime between 1 and 5 today, so now I'm off to spend some quality time knitting!

Two posts in one day -- how 'bout that!
Until next time....blessings.

More Resolutions

Lest you think I'm not making any progress on the socks, I am doing other knitting also!  This is the second hat I've made -- these are for the hat and mitten tree at church that we give to school children in our neighborhood.  I can't think of a better way to practice my knitting skills than to make something for needy children.  My plan is to continue to knit hats, maybe scarves and mittens, during the year so next year's tree will be full.

My daughter and I were discussing goals and quotes this morning.  Her favorite:  You are never too old to make a new goal or dream a new dream. - C.S. Lewis

One I just ran across today:  Good habits make all the difference. - Aristotle

Steph had just gotten off the treadmill and we were discussing the fact that I need to get on the treadmill, but just can't force myself to do it.  So, with Aristotle's quote in mind, I'm going to try to establish a new habit of walking on the treadmill after dinner.  The carpenter will be starting my basement work next week, so getting on the treadmill after dinner will be better for scheduling that trying to fit it in before they get here in the morning.

On today's to-do list:  wait for repairman to fix my 3 month old washer -- don't you just love all the electronics that can go wrong on our household equipment?!
I'll also be organizing my knitting supplies in addition to working on the hat above and my socks.  I know what I'm fixing for dinner and now I'm planning on walking after dinner.  Pretty light day all in all!

Until next time....blessings.

New Year's Resolutions and Goals

Happy New Year!

Although nothing really bad happened last year, I'm just as happy to see it go!
It always feels good to start anew -- fresh slate, etc.

I do make New Year's Resolutions, or Goals.  I've been thinking about them for at least a month, and probably will still be thinking about new ones the whole month of January!  I do the normal ones - lose weight, exercise more, etc.  But this year I have a few different ones.

I used to write to-do lists every day and actually got a lot done by following the list and crossing things off.  I never made them so long that it would take more than a day to finish.  Some things get moved to the next day, but I try to make a list that is doable.  For some reason over the past year or more, I got away from making my to-do list.  Part of it was because I thought I was being too anal about it.  But for whatever reason, I stopped making lists consistently.  But, when I have a list, I get a lot more done -- I stay focused on the task at hand.  So, first on my New Year's Resolutions is to write a to-do list every day.  Mind you, posting this blog page was not on the list today! vbg

Second on the Resolution list is finish this pair of socks.  And it is added to my to-do list every day - knit two rounds on the socks!

I started this pair last fall -- I had a pair on the two circular needles with yarn that I love, and made it all the way to the heel turn and then screwed up somehow and because I'm new at this knitting thing, I couldn't figure out how to rip back to where I started messing up, so I had to rip them up completely.  I saved the yarn and will go back and use it some day, but in the meantime, I'm going to learn how to finish this pair on the needles.  I'm a very slow knitter, but I love knitted socks, so I'll keep at it until they are finished!  So that's my second goal for the new year.  I'll share more next time!
Until next time....blessings.

Winter Wonderland

The view from my patio doors in the back of the house:

We have at least 6" of snow so far and another inch of ice under the snow.  Needless to say, I'm not going anywhere today!

The electrician is supposed to stop by tomorrow morning so the contractor can get me the final numbers on the basement finish - they are planning to start the first week of January - I can't wait.  So, yesterday I quilted the last quilt for the homeless I can do and got it bound.  Then, oiled the machine and covered it with muslin to keep as much sawdust and dirt off it as possible.  Emptied the built in shelves in the basement, so they can move them to a different area of the basement, loaded up the big table with stuff and moved a few things back upstairs.  As I moved the sewing stuff upstairs, I cleaned out all the drawers and plastic bins and sorted and organized.  Today, I'll be doing more of the same.  Good thing I cleaned out the office, because now I'll be putting stuff back in there -- but no unopened boxes and everything that does have to come upstairs for now will be cleaned out -- decluttered!  It's a project that I was going to do when I unpack the basement, but better to do it now and when the basement is finished, I can just put the things away.  No more saving stuff I don't need. 

Next spring my friend Kris is having another garage sale, so I'll put things in a garage sale pile, and my church does a household goods and clothing give-away once or twice a year, so I will have tons of stuff to donate to that too.  It will be so nice to have room to move around and no clutter to boot!

Until next time....Merry Christmas and many blessings for the New Year.

Making Progress

I'm making progress on cleaning out the office. I have now unpacked the 3 boxes I had in here, set up the computer on the computer desk and moved the laptop to the treadle machine top! Emptied out one wall and brought in the dry sink that had been in my bedroom --for lack of a better place at the time. When I take the tree down, the rocker will go back into the living room and I'll move things around a bit so it's doesn't feel too crowded.

I really prefer my laptop now, so eventually I'll clean off the pc and donate it to church - they can always use another computer!

Still need to shred papers and find places for some things, but at least I don't have to walk into a room and see boxes and stuff that doesn't belong in here!

Until next time......Blessings.

December Goals

As I'm cleaning house today I've come to the conclusion that I definitely have OCD!  I'm still living out of boxes, or more accurately, have unopened boxes all over the place and boxes that I have opened, but don't have a place for yet because the basement won't be started or finished til next year sometime.  Not having a place for everything and everything in its place is actually driving me crazy!  So - slowly but surely I'm going to start working towards cleaning out and unpacking.  First room - for December -- is the office.  This is a very tiny 3rd bedroom that immediately became the office on moving day!  These are the before pictures -- hopefully by the end of the month I will have after pictures. 

The computer desk. I had this cleaned out once! I do have a pc that is still in a box in here. Not sure where I'm going to set it up or how yet, but it will get out of the box this month!

The corner with a bookcase that I literally stacked quilt books on and anything else I needed a place for. The garbage bag in front of the shredder is covering a stack of papers, etc. that need to be shredded. The boxes have the computer and binders in them. Also, have knitting needles, yarn, books, etc. in the plastic box.There's a shelf with a quilt hanger on the floor that I'm going to hang in the dining area of the kitchen.

My mother-in-law's treadle sewing machine, which I love, is in here because there is no other place for it. I'll work with it there. The dog kennel is there because ever since JR chewed up the woodwork in the old house after Bill died, I've had to put him in the kennel when I leave. Now it is no longer necessary, so I will take it out to the garage. The rocker is in here because I put up my Christmas tree where the rocker was in the living room!

I didn't take a picture of the closet, because I had started with it -- I've put shelves in there and my file cabinet, but the shelves are full and need to be cleaned out again too.

So - goal by the December 31, 2013:  make this room a pleasure to walk into and work in!

Until next time......Blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Hope your Thanksgiving will be wonderful!

Blessings

A special picture

My granddaughter, who is 15, took an art class this past summer and made several things.  One was a picture with a lot of texture on it -- I don't know for sure, but I think it was made with tissue paper that was painted.  Hard to describe and I am no artist, by any stretch of the imagination!  Anyway, I loved this picture and she gave it to me as a house warming gift the day I moved in.  I finally got it framed and picked it up today.  She'll be surprised to see it framed and hanging above my fireplace:

We are truly blessed by this girl -- she's beautiful and has a personality to match.

Thanks, Bri.

Until next time, blessings......

J.R.

J.R. is not feeling well.  He's 13 and I'm afraid he has a serious illness.  I got back from a trip to Florida last week and he had an infection in his mouth.  He had to have two teeth pulled.  He seems to have bounced back from that, but he's lost 10 pounds in the past year or so and is all skin and bones.  He's having trouble with his balance now.  I suspect he has cancer, and I'm hoping I don't have to make the decision to have him put to sleep - although I will not let him suffer.  I just took this picture -- we're in the office and you'll notice I still have boxes to unpack!

I put my big-girl panties on and drove myself to Florida.  I have an old (we've known each other since kindergarten when we were 4 years old!) friend that is living the RV life and is wintering in Florida now.  I drove down to see him.  I stayed at a great Hampton Inn on Orange Beach, AL, which was only 7 miles from his RV park in FL.  It was just what I needed -- we did nothing but relax, a little walking on the beach, a few get-togethers at the campground in the evenings around a campfire.  It was the first vacation I've taken since 2007.  I took two days to drive down and two days to drive back - about 7-1/2 hours each day.  I had no problems.  I did join AAA before I left and I had my local mechanic check out my car and change the oil, just to be on the safe side.  I proved to myself that I can do things as a single woman - and that was important to me.  Next up is a trip to Hawaii!  I'm going to "Quilting on the Beach".  I've signed up for classes with Nancy Lee Chong -- I've taken all her classes on Quilt University and can't wait to do the classes in person.  And, Hawaii has been on my bucket list for years! (Bill wouldn't take me there because he'd been there - of course it was during WWII!). 

I think I'm finally getting things organized enough that I can maybe do a blog post a little more often :-).

Blessings:
 I've been blessed with my little dog for 13 years.  He's been a treasure.
Safe travel to and from Florida.
Something to look forward to every day.

Until next time...Blessings to you.

Grandma's Goblins

Not very good pictures because I forgot my camera, as usual.    It poured down rain for most of the day, but let up just a little for the kids to get out and do some trick or treating.  They had a ball -- rain and all!

 

This first one is AJ -- he carried a scythe, so pretty much the Grim Reaper!   He's 9.

 Next is Will, 6 - he was an adorable giraffe!  And then Mikey, 3 - he was Fireman Mickey Mouse.  Can't see the Mouse ears too well in this pic.

This was the first year I actually got to go up and see them on Halloween -- I'm only an hour away now.

Until next time, Blessings...