A Little of What is Going On

I have gotten some further on this sweater.  I have the body done up to where the sleeves go and I have 13" done on the two sleeves (I am knitting them like two at a time socks).  The sleeves are supposed to be 18" so it will be a little while before they are ready to be attached to the body.  I have read and reread the pattern for attaching and it really doesn't make any sense to me.  But I will follow it, word for word, and see what happens. 

Thursday I had a 9:30 appointment with my cardiologist and a 1:00 appointment with my oncologist (with lunch in-between).  And because I HATE waiting for my turn, I took my knitting with me.  I was the only one in the waiting room that was occupied.    

The The above are blocks 1 & 2 in the I Love Home BOM (only 4 blocks).  There is supposed to be fabric around the houses but I haven't really decided on what fabric I want to use so this is as far as I have gotten.  Also, I seem to have misplaced Block 1 so I am kind of at a standstill on that one.

I am also doing the same blocks in hand embroidery.  I have not done hand embroidery since I was a child so that is going slowly.  I have block 1 done and am started on block 2: they are my TV watching thing to do in the evening.

                        Sadie                                        Abby

Sherlock

The above are our three doxies.  They are the sweetest puppies, except when it is time to come in from the outside.  And this morning the bottom one, Sherlock, caught a rat on our deck.  Hubby said that he had a hard time getting it out of his mouth and by the time he got it the rat was good and dead.  I've never seen a rat here but I am really glad the dog got him. 

A few weeks ago I was feeling pretty good and we decided it was time to visit our son in NC.  They have three children and we hadn't seen the last one or the others in two years.  It was fun to watch those children running around: such energy. 

(Our daughter, who lives near here, came to stay with the doxies.  I really appreciate her for taking care of them and keeping me from worrying about them.) 

Also Eric's sister and brother in law came down from NH so there was fun all around.  Our son is Provost at the local college so we got a great tour of the campus.  It was fun to hear how proud he is of the school and students.  Our daughter in law teaches an online class and fills the rest of her time with 3 rambunctious children and a lot of country cooking.

And finally, a small look at our yard decorations.  We live on 5 acres that is mostly covered with trees.  A few months ago I had a group of trees taken down so there would be some clearing around the house.  But that left a bunch of very short tree stumps that I was afraid Eric would run over with the riding lawn mower.  About that time I saw a really cute Gnome and decided putting one on each of the stumps would attract Eric's attention and he would avoid the stumps.  They have become a "thing" here and we now have 9 Gnomes.  We still have a few unadorned stumps but the filled ones alert Eric to watch for them.

This Gnome sits on our deck railing, looking over the "flock" of Gnomes in the yard.  I see him as the head man, kind of like Poppa Smurf.

I really enjoy seeing our "flock" of Gnomes, they make me smile.

I am going to try to write a little more often.  It take me longer to get things done so frequently I don't have anything to say.  I currently am pretty healthy, still get weak occasionally, so there isn't anything to report on the health side. I am getting ready to work on some other projects and will share them when there is something to see.

Love to all,  Gari

Birthday Week

Yes, I am still knitting.  And I seem to be fixated on these slippers so here is another completed pair.  And would you believe that I have three more pair in the works.  This is primarily because I haven't found a sweater pattern I want to knit so slippers it is, for now.

And I did find time to spend time with my sewing machine.  This is a fleece throw.  I love the size, 1 yard x the width of the yardage.  It is amazing how large this makes these throws.  And they are so easy to make.  I am hoping that I can find a couple more interesting fleece pieces to make a couple more throws.

Once again, this is Birthday Month.  I have been very good and haven't expected a gift a day, like I got last year.  But there have been a couple of gifts along the way and apparently we are ending the month with a BANG.  What we are seeing here is a ceramic measuring set sent to me by my sister, I think.  It seems that Amazon sends packages but there is nothing in the box to say who sent it to you.  Anyway, I thanked her for them so I'm sure she will take credit for them no matter what.

I do appreciate that they are marked for size so they are usable as well as decorative.

My daughter gave us an Initial Banner to hang outside.  She actually gave us 2 but the other one, a Christmas decoration, is already planted outside and I am too lazy to get up and go outside to get a picture.  Maybe later.

Our SIL found this tumbler and made sure that it came home to me.  I think these little owls are so cute and will be fun to drink with.

DH is so sweet and he knew that I wanted some Gnomes. Why?, you may ask.  Well a few weeks ago I had several trees cut down because they were crowing the house.  What we were left with was several short tree stumps; not enough money to have them ground down.  DH said he was going to paint them so he could see them when mowing around them.  I suggested we glue Gnomes on them to have something fun to look at.   

And I got more than the one, I have six.  They are marked for being outdoors and then there are a lot of precautions about bring them in for different weather situations.  Well, that's not going to happen.  So the plan is to poly them with a couple coats to protect them and then they will be on their own until next year.  I think it is going to look so cute.

This was quite unexpected.  Yes, I showed DH this and told him what others had said about this appliance, but I did not suggest we get one.  So imagine my surprise when I saw the box.  I think we will try French fries to see if it works as well as advertised.

And this was a BIG surprise.  I saw this cart advertised and showed DH because I now am having difficulty bringing groceries in from the car: too heavy and too much.  He poo-pooed me and we dropped the idea.  Well, I guess he had second thoughts.  It came in a really flat box but was completely assembled and DH got to use it first.    Those six wheels make steps so easy and it just glides over our rough ground.  I think we will need to affix a basket on it but even just this way it is it works.

Even Mother Nature has gifted me with this beautiful display.  The buds just popped the day after we brought them inside (brief 30s at night).  They really make me smile.

And that's it for me.  I have another doctor appointment tomorrow, seeking some pain management that does not include drugs.  I had to fill out several pages of admission paperwork, most of which dealt with drugs, past or future.  By the time I was done I had already formed a negative impression of the group of doctors which is not going to help me tomorrow.  Tonight I am going to have to pray for a change of attitude ....... darn.   Gari