Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year

Obviously I have not been posting on a regular basis this year.  I'm hoping to change that soon.  I'm in negotiations with this guy for a computer for home.  Only problem is that I live so far out in the country there is no cable.  I also can't get DSL and most other Internet services.  The market across the interstate has WiFi though, so I may start spending my weekends in their lounge so I can log on!  Guess I need to start developing a relationship with their management!  I wouldn't go hungry while there.  They have a Dunkin Donuts, a Backyard Burger and a soda fountain on site.

About the computer negotiations - I've never owned a Mac, but I'm leaning in that direction.  I know several people that own Mac Books and they seem very pleased with them.  I like the fact that they supposedly are only susceptible to a few viruses as compared to PCs.  And that they don't become obsolete as quickly as a Dell, which I've always worked on.  I love the photo program that comes with them, at least I loved it when the salesman demonstrated it to me.  I've got a whole bookcase filled with photos from my family and that of My Handyman's - we are the "family historians", that he assured me I could scan into it from the scanner that he said he would make me a great deal on!

How about it?  Any of you have/use a Mac?  Do you know of any good deals on them that I should know about?  How about photo scanner/printers?  Help me make a good investment -PLEASE!

Maybe once the negotiations are final I can get everything together and post regularly AND open an Etsy shop!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.  AND A WONDERFUL 2011!!!

This Is Our New Front Door

Installed! Isn't it beautiful?  

You can't tell from this picture, but the glass is beveled all around the edges.  When we ordered it we ordered fir, but the fir doors were back-ordered for 3 months!  So Lowe's offered us the same door in MAHOGANY FOR THE SAME PRICE! 

And it was available immediately!

So My Handyman pulled off the siding and took out the old doors (left), covered the space with plywood and put the new door in place.  I don't know how he did it by himself because, if you know anything about mahogany, IT IS HEAVY!



Getting a mahogany door instead of a fir door presented us with a new dilemma!



To paint or not to paint?

The original plan was to paint, that's why we ordered fir.

In the end, hard as it was, we decided to paint it.  I LOVE a red door and felt like a stained door, as pretty as it would be, wouldn't be enough of a contrast for me.

Looks like we're getting ready for Christmas, doesn't it?!  Won't it be pretty with a beautiful wreath!

My Handyman painted the plywood around the door to match the siding and to protect it from the weather until the replacement siding can be installed, which won't happen until the kitchen windows to the left of the door are replaced. And, as you can see, the trim was painted the same green as the trim on the rest of the house.  Kinda reminds me of the old Lincoln Logs that my brother and I played with as kids.

Don't you just love how one project ALWAYS leads to another!?!

My New Front Deck

I tried to find an actual BEFORE picture of this area, but it must be on my jump drive instead of my computer. Just picture some awkward, curved rock steps with a huge rock planter next to them, where nothing ever grew but weeds. WE (My sweet Handyman) knocked out the steps and planter and this is what it looked like before the building began. That pink string you can barely see is to help us keep everything nice and level.  Please ignore the lounge chair you see sitting out in the sun to the left.  That was my "taking a break" chair that I used while My Handyman was working on the details!

This is actually the side of our house, but we now use it as the "front door" because we closed in the front porch and eliminated the "real" front door. Besides, the driveway and garage are closer to this door and visitors can park on the drive and get to it without having to walk across the grass. Confession: We NEVER used the "real" front door anyway because you had to walk around the house, through the grass and up the porch steps to get to it.

This  (below) is the view from the drive as you approach the garage.  See that little square window to the left of the door?  It's gone now, but that was the corner of my new pantry peeking out the window.  If you are a professional building contractor, please look away!

Oh, and those red doors aren't there anymore either.  We have a new, more beautiful door now.  But that's for another post!  (Dear Gail: Is that the type of teaser you were referring to?)

Please excuse the quality of the following picture. It was taken with my phone and it was still a little dark outside.  However, this is the deck with the steps and flooring done and the support posts for the roof in place.

And here it is with the rafters and railing in place, but the roof wasn't on yet. That blue foot stool you see is for the king of the property.  Our Jack Russell Terrorist - Buster Brown.  He likes a nice soft place to rule over his territory!  It doesn't get to stay, but it's good for now.

And here, from another angle. Can you see the little added "touch" that My Handyman added to the rafters?  There on the first one?

Can you see it?

How about now?

That's My Handyman's interpretation of a fish head!  He ended up cutting all of the rafters to look like this!

Sometimes I just HAVE to let him use his "creative talents" too!

I just realized I don't have a picture with the roof on that doesn't reveal my new front door!  Guess you'll have to come back to see that one :)

A PEEK AT SOME OF THE PROJECTS WE'VE BEEN DOING

For my kitchen:

For my entry:

At my front door:

For my Library/Den:

We've been busy. Come back to see what we've accomplished.

Just to Let You Know What's Up - A BIG PRAYER REQUEST

As you probably have noticed, It's been a while since I've done a decent blog post. My heart just hasn't been in it. I've thought about closing down the blog, but rethought it and just decided to wait it out and see if I can get myself back to it. Here's what's up (it's been a "challenging year").

Daddy suffered multiple strokes beginning in January and we lost him in May. He was in and out of the hospital and nursing home, but we brought him home, where he wanted to be, and he died on May 12. He was just days shy of his 82nd birthday.

I had back surgery in February to repair a compression fracture. I'm doing fine for an old woman of 54. It's hard for me not to be able to do what I want to do when I want to do it. Most of the time I do it anyway and just try to be careful. I pretty stubborn that way.

My Sister-In-Law was diagnosed with cancer when she and my brother returned to their home in Texas shortly after my Daddy's funeral. She's been going through chemo, chest tubes to drain fluid off of her lungs, blood clots, swollen legs, loss of her hair, draining fluid off of her abdomen multiple times, etc. My brother has been trying to take care of her and run a business. We haven't been able to be there to help, but all of her family live close by and have been doing all that they can. She has her third chemo treatment next week and then they will do surgery. Apparently she had cervical cancer and resulting treatments a few years ago that we were not aware of and the radiation caused massive scarring, so they can't tell from the outside exactly where the cancer is, but it doesn't sound good. I am concerned about my brother and can't stand the thought that we may loose my SIL sooner than later. It breaks my heart. But she is going to MD Anderson in Houston, for treatment. It has an AWESOME reputation, so she is in good hands.

On July 28th we welcomed a beautiful new grandson born to my husband's oldest son and his precious wife. I've known these "kids" since they were in Elementary school, even before my husband and I married 11 years ago on October 23rd, so even though they are not blood relatives, I love them just as much as if they were. They also have a beautiful little girl who is only 21 months old.

Several weeks ago, at the age of 9 weeks, this precious baby boy was diagnosed with Biliary Atrisia and has had the Kasai procedure that is mentioned in this article that I've linked to. He developed an infection and it has been determined that the Kasai was not successful. He has been put on the "short list" for a liver transplant. If he was a toddler he would be able to get a portion of an adult liver, but at this age he must have an infant liver. This means that another family's precious little baby will have to die before little Thatcher can get a liver. Not only are we broken hearted over Thatcher's health, but over the fact that he can only have an infant liver. As you can imagine, his Mommy and Daddy are taking this very hard, as is the entire family. My husband has broken down on multiple occasions at the thought of his only grandson being so ill with a life threatening condition.

Over the last week my husband as been wrestling with a kidney stone. Up until Tuesday he has been in terrible pain and on meds for pain and nausea. It started with virus like symptoms, last Wednesday, which I will not elaborate on here other than to say he was having severe abdominal and back pain. Since he had been laid off for a couple of months and had JUST gone back to work, he attempted to go without medication on Monday so he could work. MISTAKE. He showed up at my office looking green and in pain, so I took him for the second visit to the ER. He is not in pain now, but we think the stone has moved to his bladder, which the Dr. said would happen. Now we just wait for it to decide to pass. Selfishly I was REALLY glad it wasn't a virus because I would have caught it. However, I have been really concerned about him and neither of us has been getting much sleep. As I've said before, he also has a pacemaker/defibrillator and stress is NOT good for him. So of course I've been worried about that too.

While all of the above has been going on, we've caught my now 80 year old Mother climbing up on a ladder, trying to clean out the gutters on her two story home. We've also found out that she has climbed in her kitchen sink to reach the curtains at the window above it so that she could wash them. Then back up again to put them up. When I asked her, "what would have happened if you fell?!! We might not have found you for hours!" She simply said, "well, I didn't!"

So my daughter and her family decided that it might be a good idea to move in with Mom, both to help her out financially and to keep an eye on her. My daughter's husband is in construction, so he can fix all the little things that need to be fixed that my Daddy wasn't able to do the last 5 years of his life. They have rented their house to a teacher that my daughter works with and are in the process of moving in. We've cleaned out the attic and closets of Mom's house and had 2 weekends worth of yard sales. There is still LOTS of stuff left and it is all stored in 1/2 of Mom's garage. I took off work for a week to help with the cleaning and it was EXHAUSTING. But I did learn one BIG thing: I learned to be a pack rat from my parents! I don't think they ever threw ANYTHING away! As soon as things settle down I'm getting rid of everything I don't need except for everything related to my genealogy research and family heirlooms. And not my fabric and yarn stash - yet.

In the middle of the moving in with Mom, my daughter and her family went on a long planned trip to Disney World in Florida, for a week, and left all of their "stuff" scattered around my Mom's house. They've got A LOT OF ORGANIZING TO DO! Mom is used to having things in pretty good order and she was not happy!

I had a birthday on October 13th.

My daughter's oldest had her 5th birthday while they were at Disney - October 15th.

Mom had her 80th birthday on October 17th. We took her to lunch and spent most of the day with her. We wanted to have a big birthday party for her, but with everything else going on we just couldn't make it happen.

My 11th anniversary is October 23rd. I'm married to THE MOST WONDERFUL MAN I'VE EVER KNOWN! God truly blessed me when I found him. He spoils me rotten and loves me despite myself!

I've not put all this down to elicit pity. I'm pushing through, though weary of all the "drama" and could really use some decent sleep!! I know God is in control, not me. I do have to say that I have trouble with all of this being "God's will!" The God I know is a God of LOVE. I just think all of this "stuff" is just LIFE and that God loves us through it all and gives us the strength to deal with it all.

I'm asking you to pray for our family and keep praying. We've got some really tough stuff going on and it looks like it's gonna get tougher.

Pray for little Thatcher and for his Mommy and Daddy. They are not even 30 yet and having to deal with so much.

Pray for my SIL, Nancy and my brother, Christopher and their daughter Lauren, who has only recently graduated from college and started her first teaching job. CANCER SUCKS!!

Pray for my Mom, Chris, who is only 5 months past the loss of her husband of nearly 60 years.

Pray for my daughter, Amber and her husband, Vince and children Ava and Zoe as they adjust to their new living arrangements with my Mom.

Pray for my dear, sweet husband who is suffering, not only physically from his kidney stone, but emotionally as well, as he worries about his son and grandson and the rest of the family.

And pray too for my in-laws, Joe, who is 83, and Darlene who is 79. They are such loving people and this is all breaking their hearts as well. I love them like they were my own parents and Darlene thinks of me as the daughter she never had.

Thank you for "listening."

Cleaning Out the Attic

I am spending this week cleaning out my parent's attic, closets, storage shed, etc. and we will be having a garage/yard sale. I will post the "better" stuff for sale on-line, either on etsy, ebay or craigslist. And maybe some here if I get a chance.

So far I have a vintage wicker doll/baby stroller, an antique wall phone, some scales, lots of Madame Alexander Baby Dolls and some old bed springs and other items good for those repurposers that are near by. No pictures yet, but I will get to that if/when I can. Post a comment if you have questions. I will only have periodic computer access, but will check when I can.

Back to cleaning!

A Tribute to My Daddy - Part 1

I have gone back to work, which is currently the only place I have a computer. For this reason, I have not had sufficient time to sort through all of the pictures I want to post, so I have decided to do a series of posts in tribute to my Dad.

I am somewhat of a genealogy buff, so just in case someone out there in blogland does a search for the WEBSTER family of Robertson County, TN, I want to include information here that may help them find what they are looking for. Or, if a family member of one of the people that appear in the pictures I will be posting happens to do a search, I want them to find these as well. These pictures may not be posted in chronological order, but I will put dates on them when I know them.

I'll start with Daddy's obituary as it appeared in the Robertson County Times:

"George Dorris Webster, age 81, of Springfield, passed away Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at his home. Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 15, 2010 in the chapel of the Austin & Bell Funeral Home in Springfield at 11am with Brother Martin Babb and Christopher Webster officiating. Burial will follow in the Hillcrest Cemetery. Serving as pallbearers will be Zach Webster, Evan Webster, Michael Dickey, Steve Webster, Steven Wilson and Josh Miller. Honorary pallbearers are Wayne Webster, Joe Webster, Johnny Link, Vince Hester, Jim Roberts and the Unity Sunday School Class of Springfield Baptist Church. Visitation will be held at the funeral home on Friday, May 14, 2010 from 4-8pm. Mr. Webster was born June 4, 1928 in Robertson County, the second of four sons born to George W. and Mary Adeline Dorris Webster. He attended Mt. Pleasant School in grades 1-8 and graduated from White House High School in 1949, where he was a member of the first WHHS football team. Mr. Webster was a Veteran of the US Army serving as Staff Sergeant with the 452nd Armed Field Artillery Battalion in Munich and Neckarsulm, Germany during the Korean War and was honorably discharged in 1956. Mr Webster retired from the Tennessee Gas Pipeline/Tenneco in February of 1989 after 41 years of service. He was a loving husband and father, devoted to his family and was a member of the Springfield Baptist Church. In addition to his parents, Mr. Webster is preceded in death by his brother, Samuel Estes Webster. He is survived by his wife, Christine Alsobrook Webster; son, Christopher (Nancy) Webster of Huntsville, TX; daughter, Kathy (Johnny) Link of Fairview, TN; brothers, Wayne Webster of White House and Joe (Verma) Webster of Dickson; grandchildren, Riley Dickey, Talynn Dickey, Ava Hester and Zoe Hester. Memorial contributions may be made to Willowbrook Hospice or the Springfield Baptist Church Building Fund. Both may be sent in c/o Austin & Bell."

The following picture appeared in "the Line Tennessee Gas Transmission Co., February, 1958" a publication that was (is?) put out by Tennessee Gas Transmission Company/Tennessee Gas Pipeline/Tenneco, which I think is now called El Paso Corporation. Daddy is second from left, leaning back, with his elbow resting on the table/desk behind him. The caption reads, "ON THE JOB during construction were TGT's Eddie Tarver, George Webster, Jack Overton, and Tony Richter. Not pictured are Dick Knesek, plant foreman, and Wes Saunders, Engineering."

Perhaps You've Wondered Where I've Been?

I've been staying at my Mom & Dad's for the last couple of weeks. No computer access.

Daddy had a stroke in January and a worse one in March. The March stroke took out his whole left side. He'd been having a hard time getting around for the last 5 years or so because of the severe arthritis in his back and the spinal stenosis that was pinching off the nerves to the lower part of his body. Then the strokes. The trip to the hospital, rehab, the nursing home and then home. He finally got so bad that Hospice was called to help out. Taking care of an 81 year old man who can't do anything for himself is awfully hard for an 80 year old woman. It's been really tough.

Daddy died at 1:18 a.m. May 12, 2010. Mom, my daughter, a wonderful friend and I were with him. We buried him on Saturday. It's really, really, really hard.

This is my Daddy with my daughter at her wedding, June 2004.

I'm trying to put together a better tribute to him than this, but I thought you might have wondered where I've been.

Happy 60th Birthday My Handyman

This is My Handyman.
The love of my life, though I've only known him for 11 years.

He has been such a blessing. Not only to me, as his lucky wife, but to my entire family as well.

He is the most caring man I've ever known.

He puts up with me and all my wacky ideas.

He shares in my joys as well as my sorrows.

He loves my daughter, who was 18 when we married and calls him Daddy, because he has been such a good one to her, in the absence of a "real" father.

He loves my son, who has sometimes been a challenge, but has grown and changed into a very good young man.

He loves to fish.

He loves being outdoors.

He loves his family-all of us, both blood and steps.

His Momma and Daddy did a REAL GOOD JOB raising this man!


He calls my children's children, his grand-punkins and he calls this little sweetie (his son's little girl), his button, 'cause she is, as he says, "cute as a button".

Her Mom & Dad are expecting a little boy at the end of July - he calls him "Beau" - as in "button & bow"!

I thank the Lord EVERY DAY for bringing him into my life.

We married after I had been a divorced, single Mom for 13 1/2 years. At our wedding, when the preacher asked if anyone had anything to say, he said, "today I consider myself the luckiest man in the world!"

Happy Birthday my darlin'. And may we share many, many, many more!

Another Finished Knitting Project

My youngest granddaughter in the Confection Baby Shrug that I made for her. Don't you just love the model's pose!?! I had to ask her Mom to take some pictures of her wearing it 'cause the ones I took were no good.



Here it is from the back.

This was a really quick knit and I'm a SLOW knitter! I used Loops & Threads Impeccable yarn (Lavender) that I got at Michael's. It was actually the remainder of a skein that I used for another sweater. If you haven't tried this yarn, you should. It's soft and washes up really well. I've used it for many, many projects.

If I can just round up my other granddaughters long enough to get their pictures in the sweaters I've made for them I'd have more FO's to share!

Finished and Nearly Finished Projects

I was lucky enough to have a 3 day weekend off so that My Handyman and I could get some projects finished. Fortunately the weather partially cooperated-it was nice and warm and sunny, but the wind refused to quit blowing. Blowing wind, as you know if you've ever tried to paint outside, is no friend to the painting process. That is, unless you LIKE little bits of grass and dust clinging to your beautiful painted finish!

My Handyman worked on this project. This is the 1923 footed tub that I bought off of Craigslist last year. Here it is when I first bought it. My Handyman got it out of the living room, by himself (don't ask how), and set it up on blocks, bottom up, so he could clean it up and get it painted. After a LOT of cleaning with sandpaper and a wire brush, he was able to paint on a beautiful new white, oil based coat of paint. He used what we thought was supposed to be a chrome spray paint on the feet, but it came out looking more like pewter. Here it is all painted with it's tennis ball shoes in place (they will make it easier to slide across the floor when we get ready to put it in the currently being remodeled bathroom). The inside is in pretty amazing shape. Not pristine, but good enough that I don't feel the need to go to the expense of having it refinished. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the inside.

And these are the finished chairs from my previous post. We got them all sanded and primed and put on a pretty new coat of black spray paint. Then I wiped on some polyurethane and let it dry really well. I recovered the seats with the latest and greatest fabric that is sweeping the Internet blog world - a canvas drop cloth from Lowe's. I paid a little over $4 for it and I still have enough to cover a couple more chairs or use for other projects. My Handyman is working on sanding and painting the triple dresser. One of the advantages of having a husband who is currently "laid off" is that he is home to do projects and he is actually willing to do them, with little or no grumbling! Love that Handyman!

More finished projects to follow.

New Old Chairs - For the Front Entry

I've been looking for a pair of chairs to use on either side of the triple dresser that I've put in our new front entry. I found this pair (actually there were 6, but I only needed 2) at the Habitat Home Store in Nashville. They aren't the exact, perfect chairs that I was looking for, but I liked them well enough to go ahead and buy them. However, when I first spotted them I realized that the price was only a week away from being slashed to 1/2.

If you aren't familiar with the pricing practices at Habitat, when an item first comes in it is given an "original" price. Then several weeks later it is marked down, then marked down again in another few weeks. If the item hasn't sold within 30 days of the last mark down, you can buy it for half of the last marked down price!

So I waited, hoping I would get to them before someone else, but knowing I wouldn't be really upset if I didn't. Well - I got lucky and bought them for half of the last price on this tag: That's $12.50 each. More than some would pay, but a good price for me. They are sturdy chairs, now that My Handyman has put the old wood glue to work on the wobbly backs.

They will be part of the project that me and My Handyman will work on over the 3 day weekend.

Come back and see how they turn out.

A $12 Picture Frame

This is the 6 foot by 6 foot wood window that I bought at the Habitat Home Store for $12 a few months ago. You should have seen the look on My Handyman's face the day I brought THIS home!

After I explained to him what I had in mind, he decided it was a great idea. So one day, while I was at work he cleaned it up and put a good coat of primer on it.

The next day he painted it a nice glossy black and hung it on the wall in our new front entry, which is another work in progress. It is really heavy so he screwed in some heavy duty screw in hooks at the top of the wall and into the wall studs and attached the screw eyes into the top of the frame. I was really thrilled when I came home from work and there it was - EXACTLY like I had pictured it (pun intended)!

And here it is hanging above the FREE tripple dresser I got from my Mom - Thanks Mom! It needs some work too, but we'll get to that eventually. At first I thought I'd paint the whole thing black, but we live WAY out in the country and get A LOT of dust, so I'm not sure thats the way to go. Feel free to offer your suggestions.

My Handyman just propped some family pictures in the openings so that you could see how the plan is coming together. Now I need to make a trip to Michael's for some mat board to put in the openings and mount the pictures. I will be able to swing the frame away from the wall to change out the pictures as all the grandbabies grow and change. I think I'll add something about FAMILY using some of those great vinyl letters that you can get from so many sources these days.

What do you think? How have you used old window frames in your crafting?

The Chicks Have Arrived!

These 6 were the first to arrive. They were about 3 days old when we first brought them home. In this picture they are 2-3 wks. old. The lighter colored ones are Buff Orpingtons. The darker ones are Rhode Island Reds. All are supposed to be pullets (female).

This little cutie is one of the Buff Orpingtons. They are said to be good Moms and good egg-layers. They are also supposed to be a friendly breed. We currently have a Buff Orpington mix hen that is NOT friendly at all, she is the head hen of the current flock. Hopefully these 3 new BOs will be much sweeter. They will lay brown eggs as will the Rhode Island Reds.A week later the second 6 arrived. This little girl is a Barred Rock. She is about 1 wk old in this picture. She is currently the most friendly and least flighty of the 12 new babies. We bought 2 of these little ones and I look forward to seeing how they change as they grow and feather out. They will lay brown eggs.We bought 4 of these little ones. She is a Americauna and will lay BLUE eggs. Doesn't she look precious with her little puffy cheeks and the coloring of a chipmunk?! I can't wait for the BLUE eggs to start coming. The grand babies and my coworkers will be really surprised. They are growing and changing so fast it is amazing! I'll take new pictures of them this weekend and post them next week. The 3 Buff Orpingtons and 3 Rhode Island Reds have moved into a fenced off are in the "Big House" (Chicken Coop). The Barred Rocks and Americaunas are still living in my house in a large dog kennel. They will be there for another week or so and will then join the others in the "Big House".

That will make room for the other 12 that are coming in the next few weeks! We should end up with a very colorful flock.

Finished Objects 1, 2 & 3

I promised I'd show you some of the knitting I've been doing the last couple of months, and here is the first of several.

I had to wait to post these until they were off in the mail to the recipient. I sent them by UPS on Friday, so they should have them by now - so I think I'm safe.

My former co-worker, ZD and wife K had a beautiful baby girl a couple of weeks ago. When I first found out that they were expecting I started on these knitted items for her. Then Thanksgiving and Christmas came along, as did the knitting of 15 pr of fingerless gloves, and this project was put aside.

I pulled it out again in January, that was in the dead of winter, with snow all around! And finished them. Now we are into daylight saving time and the weather is getting warmer, so I'm not sure they will get much use, but off they went anyway, with a note promising to send some more summery gifts in the future.

These are made with Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick & Quick in one of my favorite colorways - Oatmeal - which their website describes as "natural beige with strands of chocolate and black". I like it because it looks "earthy" to me. And the Thick & Quick made the project move along pretty quickly. I also like it because it comes in worsted weight as well.


First is the precious little cocoon made using this pattern, which I found for free on Ravelry. I'd seen some photos from photographers using these and thought they were adorable. And so practical IMO:

I added the pink ribbon to make it a little more girly, by just weaving the ribbon in and out of the stitches, tying a knot on the end and bringing the other end to the "V" and tying in a bow.

I had enough yarn left over to make the cute hat on the left using this pattern, also found on Ravelry for free. Then I decided it was too big for the new babe, so I found this pattern, and made one out of the worsted weight version of the Oatmeal Wool Ease yarn. My Handy Man thought it was the cutest little hat he had ever seen. Plus I have lots of yarn left to make at least one more tiny hat.

I put all 3 items in a zippered pillow cover and washed them in my washing machine using Woolite and Downey. Then I rolled them up in a bath towel and pressed the excess water out of them and laid them out on some towels until they were dry. They came out really soft and I loved the way they all looked together.

Z & K and big brother B and baby Z should have the gifts by now. I really hope they like them!

If you haven't checked out Ravelry, be sure and do it. There are lots of great free patterns and lots of great patterns that you can download for almost no $$! You do have to sign up to use the site, but it's FREE too!

I still haven't bee able to round up my little models to show you the cute little Spring sweaters I made for them. Soon as I do I'll post those pictures as well.

A Valentine's Day Surprise

Yesterday My Handy Man and I made a trip to see my Daddy. It had been 6 days since I'd seen him. When we got to his room he wasn't in it, but we looked down the hall and there he sat, all by himself in the rehab room. I was FURIOUS that they left him there by himself! He could have fallen out of the chair. There were no restraints at all.

My Handy Man and I rolled him back to his room and we met my Mom coming down the hall. She didn't seem as concerned as I was. When the therapist FINALLY came in the room, I questioned her about it. She basically blew it off as no big deal!

But, to my surprise, Daddy was sitting up straight in the chair (a new occurrence), holding his head up (new too) and full of conversation. He knew who I was, knew who My Handy Man was and then, when my daughter and her 2 girls came in, he knew them AND he knew who my daughter's BF and her husband and kids were! That was the best Valentine's surprise I could have had.

We visited with Daddy for about an hour while Mom helped him eat. We brought him his favorite DOVE DARK CHOCOLATE and he ate 2 pieces for dessert. Unfortunately, he is down to 149lbs., which is less than I weigh. And he is 6'3" - so he really is a tall drink of water! We have to figure out how to get his weight back up because his appetite isn't much good. We are trying to make sure he gets at least one Ensure every day. We have asked the staff at the nursing home to please make sure he gets some if he doesn't eat well. My appetite wouldn't be much good either if I had to eat ground up meat and veggies at every meal!

After our visit we all went to Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch. It was almost 3 before we were seated and ate, but it was worth the wait. My steak was delish! I love steak - I'm a Texas girl (raised there, not born there, but I call my self a Texan) and was raised on steak at least once a week. My Handy Man doesn't like red meat, so I don't usually fix it at home.

It was a good day. And I got more knitting done! I PROMISE TO GET PICS UP OF ALL THE KNITTING!!! SOON!!!!

My Daddy & Me

Well, I ended up having surgery on my back on February 4th. Now My Handy Man says I'm glued and screwed and he's wired! That's a reference to the screws in my hip and the glue they fixed my fracture with and the defibrillator/pacemaker that he has now. Excuse the "french", but it's HELL getting older!!!

I'm doing fine. I went back to work on Monday for half a day and was really worn out by the end of the day. Tuesday I was feeling more like myself, but still sore from the surgery. Today I'm feeling even better, but still a bit sore. The Dr. said it would be about a week before the soreness went away, so I'm not worried. I've got a follow-up appointment tomorrow morning, so I'm anxious to see what they say.

BUT - I did manage to get quite a lot of knitting done while I was recouping - pictures to follow soon - I hope. Gotta get my little models rounded up.

My Daddy was moved from the hospital to a "Skilled Care Facility" aka Nursing Home, on the day of my surgery. It was quite a shock that they moved him when they did. We thought he had until the 12th to stay in the hospital, but apparently NOT! Lord how I love how the insurance companies have more to say about what goes on than the doctors do! He is about the same as he was. The doctors say he probably won't get much better because of the number of strokes that he's had and the other health issues that he has. At least now he is closer to home so Mom can have an easier time getting to him and so can other members of my family. I'm an hour and 15 min. away and it seems like so very far! They say he has 100 days of coverage, so we hope to make arrangements to care for him at home before the end of that time. For those of you who have or have had aging parents, you know how hard it is to see your loved ones go down hill. I think my brother said it best - "It's hard to see him die in pieces!" AMEN TO THAT! My Daddy has always been such a sweet and loving man, I hate to see him in such awful shape.

I'm going through old pictures and looking for a place to have them scanned so that I can post them on this blog. I thought I was somewhat organized - guess not as much as I should be. I've been going to do that for a long time. Guess now is the time to follow through.

Please keep my Daddy and Mom and all the rest of us in your prayers. Pray for God's will. Although we hate to loose him, we hate it more to see him and Mom this way.

Blessings.

January 2010 Snow Fall

I took these pictures while walking around our property, checking things out. I'm not much of a photographer, but I hope you enjoy them.

It's Catch Up Time

It's been too long since my last post and a LOT has happened.

We had a really nice Christmas. My brother and his wife and daughter came from Texas, my nephew and his bride came from New York and my youngest nephew came from the Carolina's (I can never remember if it's North or South Carolina!). They all stayed at my Mom & Dad's house because it is more centrally located and easier for the rest of the gang to get to, plus it's almost twice the size of my house. My daughter and son and their families live closer to my parent's than we do, so all the holiday festivities took place at Mom & Dad's. It was great to have the whole family together AND everyone got along!

How great is that?!

I ended up knitting 15 pair of fingerless gloves before it was all said and done. All of them were similar, but I did make a few changes to accommodate the type of yarn I was using and to better suit the recipient. Most of them were made from yarn I already had, but I did purchase a few new skeins for others.

Originally I made the gloves to fit the females of the family and my female co-workers and friends. Then my brother and my oldest nephew decided they would like a pair. They put in their request for the color they wanted. I checked my yarn stash and found what I needed to make a pair for my brother (camouflage of course!).

but my nephew wanted dark grey, so I had to buy some yarn for his.

No worries though, my local Michael's was having a big sale and I got some Vanna's Choice yarn for $2.50 a skein. Plus it was a good opportunity to plump up my stash!

I rarely make myself anything, but I made a pair for me too! They have really come in handy during our latest cold spell.

So here we are already to January 21, 2010. I can hardly believe how quickly time has flown by.

January 5th was our youngest Granddaughter's first birthday. There was a party at her house on the 10th and LOTS of little ones and their Mommies and Daddies came. I think she really enjoyed her cake!

My sweet 81 year old Daddy had a stroke on January 15th. It seems to have affected both sides of his brain, hist left more than his right, but his speech doesn't seem to have been affected, thankfully. His long term memory is pretty good, but his short term memory is barely there. He is in a certified stroke center rehab hospital and seemed to be getting a little better. However, my daughter just called to let me know that the hospital called my Mother to let her know that they think he has had another one. I'll leave in a few minutes to go see how he is. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Mom too.

And as an update on the fall I took in the chicken coop back on November 17th - I had an MRI and they discovered that I have a compression fracture in my T12 vertebrae! Great - I've been walking around with a fractured spine for 2 months! No wonder my back keeps hurting!!!

I'm doing OK. Pain medicine works wonders! I'm working as usual and now sporting a fancy new back brace that makes me look like the hunch back of Notre Dame! I was given a choice of wearing the brace or having a special type of bone cement injected into the fracture to fix it - I think I made the wrong choice! This thing is driving me crazy(er) - so I've called the Dr.'s office to see about scheduling the other procedure. Wish me luck!

You know what they say - "When it rains, it pours"! I'll keep you posted on my Daddy's progress! Pray for a miracle.