Christmas 2014 in Pictures

A wonderful day with family, good food, and fun times. A long game of Monopoly, Autumn cleaned up with an almost total monopoly. An entertaining game of Taboo, and a few other games. Movies, music, snacks, laughter, fun, made for a wonderful day.

Merry Christmas

Well the big day is almost upon us. The busyness of the season is now behind us, shopping is done, decorations hung, the tree selected and decorated, gifts wrapped, groceries purchased. And ahead of us the anticipation of tomorrow, the sheer pleasure of watching the little ones enjoy the magic of this wonderful time of year.
Our older two grandsons, 6 and 4, are really into Christmas this year, they have been counting down the days, they wonder if they will hear Santa land on the roof this evening, they dream of what gifts they may be getting, they are giddy with excitement, and it is so FUN to watch.
Little Charlie is two and is constantly singing Jingle Bells, the four older grandchildren are obsessed with the Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer movie, we have watched it several times. Another favorite is the Little Drummer Boy.
The fun with the advent candles, the earnest discussion at supper time over who is going to blow out the candles. The fun with advent calendars and opening a little window each day, although a few of the grandchildren got a little carried away with opening the windows and got way ahead of themselves, oh the anticipation.
Memories being made at every turn, As I watch my grandchildren enjoying this time of year I feel the magic rekindled in me from my own childhood. The excitement of my grandmother coming to stay, we called her Nanny, and aunts and uncles visiting, family walks after indulging in a scrumptious turkey dinner, working puzzles together on Boxing day, mince pies for breakfast, stuffing and turkey sandwiches for a few days after Christmas. I don't really remember many gifts, a few, some fantastical paisley pajamas from Nanny, a knitted jumper made by my mother, a curling iron, but what I do remember is the coziness, the love, the wonder, the joy of Christmas, all brought about by the adults in our life that loved us. So it is with joy that as a grandparent myself I can help create this wonder, and I see my children creating it for their children, and one day my grandchildren will be the adults and they will pass along the joy and wonder of this season too to the next generation.
So to all I wish you a Merry Christmas, wonderful memories, and the ability to feel the joy and magic of the season as you did as a child.

And Now for Some Cute Baby Pictures

As I mentioned in an earlier post we added two grandchildren to the family this year and I am now grandma to a half-dozen splendid little ones, what a blessing they are all are.

Little Peter Ray joined the family on August 8. His birth date is special for our family as he shares a birthday with our son Ben, Uncle Ben to baby Peter, and with Grandpa. Dave and I thought it was so cool when I had Ben on Dave's birthday twenty-three years ago, and to say Dave was pleased that a grandson was born on his birthday is the understatement of the year. How exciting to have three generations in our family share August 8.  You can bet in 2015 we will be celebrating big time the fifty-seventh, twenty-fourth, and first birthdays of our August eighters!!!!

Peter Ray weighed in at ten and half pounds!


And just last Wednesday evening our little half-pint, Aubrey Lee was born, she weighed in at seven pounds, six ounces and is just a beautiful little doll baby.  Aubrey was born on December 3, and three is special birthday for our family too.  Dave's mom's birthday is October 3, Alivia's (Aubrey's big sister) is November 3, Aubrey is December 3, and Dave's dad is January 3. I like that we have four birthdays in a row each exactly a month apart.

All our grandchildren are growing up fast, Henry is six and started kindergarten this year, he loves it and his favorite part of the day is riding on the school bus.  Patrick is four and he started pre-school, he has three best friends, Bam, Boone and Logan. Charlie and Alivia are two and as I watch them frequently they are BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, and get up to all sorts of shenanigans. If they are out of sight and there is a lot of giggling you better go investigate immediately! And of course the new babies, Peter is four months and loves to snuggle, and little Aubrey is a week old and just so tiny and precious and she loves to snuggle too.

Well here are grandmas brag pictures of the half-dozen splendid grandchildren:

Little Half-pint baby Aubrey

My little Dumpling Alivia

Sweet Pete, baby Peter

Charlie

Patrick

Henry

The whole gang!

A Very Large Project

A year or so ago I was at a church rummage sale, the kind of sale I love. The sale is run by some very elderly ladies and they price the stuff to move! Most of the stuff donated to the sale are things that people have owned for decades, someone has cleaned out their craft room and donated patterns that they intended to use one day and never did, odd ball assortments of pyrex dishes, old coffee urns, and lots of books, you know the type of stuff. At a cursory glance you may just see junk, so you have to proceed slowly, pick through the items and at some point you may hit gold.
So on a fine spring morning my husband and I stopped into the church rummage sale, we went our separate ways seeking gold. After going through several tables of books I found a wonderful Betty Crocker cookbook, Cooking for Two, from the 1960's, there are some fabulous pictures in it. Then I came to the craft table, the sweet spot of the sale, for there were tons of patterns for crochet, sewing, quilting, all kinds of dribs and drabs of left over ribbon, yarn, fabric, odd little tools, knitting needles, crochet hooks, and everything was a quarter or less, what a deal. I started going through the patterns and picked a fair number of crochet booklets and quilting booklets and was pleased with my finds. Satisfied I had found my treasures I went off to find my husband, he was at his dream table, the mans corner where all the tools and bits and bobs from cleared out garages were put, he found a very cool spot light still in the original packaging, probably dating back to the seventies. We went to pay for our treasures and the ladies told us we owed three dollars, we rounded up and made a small donation to their cause and left pleased with our findings.
Well the crochet pattern books disappeared into my sewing room and there they waited. In fact I forgot all about them until one afternoon in August when looking for something else I came across one of the pattern books for making throws with flower motifs. I liked all of the patterns but the marigold pattern stole my heart, and I had a bunch of left over yarn that could be used to get started. So a mammoth project was started, the throw was not big enough for me, I wanted the blanket to be a bedspread for our queen size bed. I ended up making one hundred and forty-four squares, each approximately six inches across, and now have a thick, heavy, super warm, colorful, one of a kind, bedspread for our bed.
So the moral of this story is be careful what you buy for a quarter because you may end up crocheting your arm off for 8 weeks making a very large project!

Very Quick Post

This evening we became grandparents for the sixth time. On August 8 we welcomed grandson number four, grandchild number five, with the arrival of Peter Ray and today we welcome granddaughter number two, grandchild number six, with the arrival of Aubrey Lee. I will post pictures in a day or two. All I can say is I am so excited and feeling very blessed.

We will go visit our newest granddaughter tomorrow, I can't wait!!

Bean

Yea! I am back in blogland. So many things have happened since my last post in April I will do a catch up post in the next day or two. I have missed my blog and missed documenting all the daily minutiae that goes into making up the minutes and hours of one's life.

Bean :)

The End of an Era

Well yesterday our youngest daughter Emily, she is nearly 21, moved out to her own place. How exciting, she and her boyfriend Skylar have been saving money, buying household items, and after a fair number of months of preparation they were ready to sign a lease and voila they now have their very own place to live, they are both so excited to finally have their own space.
It is a strange feeling, for over thirty years we have had children, and now they are all grown and out in the world. I am enjoying Emily's excitement, and remember my own, about her own home. I laughed last week when Emily burst through the front door with a large box containing her very own vacuum sweeper. The box was torn open, the sweeper assembled, and then she was off vacuuming my living room with vigor. She will have many firsts, cooking meals, grocery shopping, paying rent, cleaning, all those things that come with independence and adulthood and remain our responsibility for life. Although independence comes at a cost it is worth every penny. Everyone dreams about the day they are able to get their own place and it is exhilarating when it finally happens. And as parents our goal should be to raise children who grow up and want independence and have the skills to attain it. Dave and I are ready to embrace our empty nest, because it really isn't that empty, our children and grandchildren are over frequently, we enjoy the joyful chaos and then the peace when they go home ;)

It will perhaps be a while until I post again, as our computer has an XP operating system and yesterday Microsoft ended support for the operating system and our computer is now vulnerable to hackers and viruses. We have had this desktop computer for 9 years and it is time to upgrade.  I am going to move the computer upstairs as it still has all of our pictures on it, and I use Quicken for my check register and plan to continue using it, it will not be online though.  I am not excited about a new computer and have heard nothing good about Windows 8, but will probably have to get it. I think we are going to go with a low end lap top since we do need to use an actual keyboard from time to time. For now we can use the Kindle Fire and our phones to access the Internet. I will not be touch screen typing any blog entries though as that sounds like a nightmare.

So April 8th 2014 was the day our nest emptied and our computer had to be retired.  Dave and I are looking forward to having the house to ourselves it is a nice feeling. And it is a nice feeling to know that we have four great kids who are now adults and are all getting on with their lives as they should be. We feel very blessed.

And Now For Some Sewing.....

Lately I have been in the mood to do some sewing. Several weeks ago I made myself a new three tiered skirt. I did not purchase a pattern to make the skirt instead I took measurement from another three tiered skirt I purchased at the Goodwill a number of years ago.

Today Alivia and I went to JoAnne Fabrics, I have been wanting to make a vest but first needed a pattern. I looked through a bunch of pattern books before opting for Butterick B5359. I wanted a vest that was long as I think it will be nice with a skirt and dress up a t-shirt. I am going to make the green vest in the picture but in a pinstriped gray/brown linen, I think the neutral color will allow me to make good use of the vest.

Next we went off to look at plaid flannel so I can run up a new work shirt for my husband, the picture makes the colors look red and blue, but it is actually orange, brown and blue, I picked out blue buttons.

I am knitting Alivia a sweater, I am not keen on the yellow v-neck collar and will interchange the pattern with another in the book to get a crew neck instead.  With the crew neck I will position the sunshine higher up.

Last month I finished knitting myself a bag, it is lined with a cotton print material making it very functional, it is in use daily.

Soon to be Dave's new shirt

Soon to be my new vest

Alivia's soon to be spring sweater

My finished bag

Latest Knitting Project - A Ruffled Topper for Alivia

This project on first appearances seemed it would take no time at all to make up, but in fact took some time to finish. I am pleased with it, although should have checked my guage before starting as the garment is wider than it should be. I have started to knit a sunshine sweater for Alivia and checked my guage before starting and turns out I need to knit with a size 4 US needle rather than the pattern recommended size 6 US needle.

Last Friday I went to the Indianapolis Childrens Museum with my daughter, daughter-in-law, and the grandchildren, we had a very fun day together. I would like to plan another day trip for us to visit Conner Prairie which is also in Indianapolis.

Google +

I recently made the mistake of adding a google + account, and oh how I disliked it, this morning I figured out how to delete it and how to return to my old, familiar, blogger set up.

I was a little scared that my blog would get deleted, but the google + simply does not allow for any privacy whatsoever.  You can block certain things from public viewing, and be sure you do if you choose to use the application because otherwise all information required to enter to set up the account will display - YIKES!!

Another thing I did not like is that when I comment on other blogs if a person wants to click on my "name" instead of going to my blog they are taken to the rather perplexing Google + screen that takes a certain level of determination to figure out how to get to someone's blog.  In the past I have found frustration when following a blog comment author and it goes to a Google + account and it all becomes a bit bewildering.

Facebook - easy to use, privacy settings - easy to use.  Google + weird to use and I for the life of me cannot figure out the purpose of Google +. I saw a few comments that indicated that Google wants it to be the new Facebook, well they better go take a good look at Facebook and see why people like it, it is because it is super easy to use.

Well enough of my rant on Google +.

Dear Digby is doing better, the steriods and pain pills seem to working, he is eating, going potty and getting around okay. Occasionally I hear a yelp of pain, like once per day, but nothing like it was several days ago. We are thankful he is doing better and seems to be almost back to normal.

I missed church this morning, I have my grandsons today and they usually go along to Sunday school.  I didn't think there would be a children's class today as the three ladies that teach asked for prayer last Sunday for safe travels as they were all going away for spring break. Well it is just as well we didn't leave for Sunday school because as we were getting ready to leave for church service the baby pooped and one of the older boys had a rather messy bathroom accident. I had to run to Dollar General to buy a packet of boys underwear and some pajama pants, upon return the child was cleaned up and put to rights and then I scrubbed down the bathroom and gave my thanks for paper towels and Clorox Clean Up!
I hope I can go to bible study and Sunday evening service but may not as our son Ben is home from university this weekend and will be back over a little later today and I am not sure of his plans but he will probably stay for supper and if he does I obviously will stay home.

Prayer Request:
Two people at my office seem to have developed chronic health issues that are causing them a lot of pain and stress at this time - please pray for healing.
A fellow blogger, Rebecca, - please pray for healing as she recovers from hip replacement surgery.
For my daughter and daughter in law that they have trouble free pregnancies and deliveries and healthy babies. Amber's baby, their fourth boy, is due in mid-August, and Traci's baby, their second, is due in late November. We will have six grandchildren by the end of the year - FEELING BLESSED.

Bean

Our Poor Doggy.....

Last Tuesday Emily called me to say that Digby, our dog, appeared to have hurt his foot, he was limping, and whimpering and seemed rather stressed. By the time I arrived home he seemed back to normal, I wondered if he had hurt is foot on the frozen ground or slipped on some ice.
Then last night I got home and let Digby out for a potty break, I got busy with some things and was alarmed to suddenly hear loud howling at the front door. I rushed to the front door and Digby came in, he was limping badly, whimpering and occasionally howling, panting, shaking and just couldn't relax. I wasn't sure what to do, I thought he might have been bumped by a car and was simply shaken up. However an hour later Digby was still pacing, seemed in extreme pain if he tried to sit as he couldn't/wouldn't put any weight on his left front leg.
My neighbor Nancy stopped in for supper and she was worried about Digby too, he was obviously distressed, Emily called the emergency after hours vet clinic and we decided to take him in. Nancy drove and Emily rode in back with Digby. We arrived at the clinic, found out Digby weighs 61 lbs, and then waited for the vet.  Eventually the vet came into the examining room, she asked us about his symptoms and then proceeded to check his back legs, we thought this odd at first. Then the diagnosis, Digby has a slipped/ruptured disk in his neck, she took him into the back to do some further neurological tests and later returned. Our poor Digby has a slipped/ruptured disk, he has to rest for six weeks, take pain pills and prednesone. Unfortunately this is not a cure, he may recover and be fine, he may not. If the pain continues the only option is surgery, and unfortunately it is not an option that fits with our income. Today he seems to be in pain, even with the meds, I hope he starts to feel better soon because I don't think I can watch him suffer for six weeks.
The other bad thing is that this can reoccur at any time, we will always have to make sure he doesn't climb the stairs, jump around, or do anything that can jar his spine and cause further injury. Paralysis is a possibility but less likely for Digby as the injury is to his neck.  Prednesone is hard on body and it can have side effects that can cause liver and kidney damage. We feel like we are in a rock and hard place and our dog is miserable.

So Many Little Things...

Names of Jesus, stitched by Michelle at Ozark Stitching.

I have been very busy with knitting and crocheting this winter and cannot believe how many things I have made. Currently I am working on a couple of projects for our granddaughter Alivia, a Ruffled Topper, and once that is finished a spring time sweater will be in the works. I recently purchased a knitting book called,  Pick the Pieces , it has a nice selection of patterns for boys and girls from six months to 6 years and gives the option to mix and match pattern pieces so you can create your own designs.

I recently celebrated my 50th birthday, my children surprised me with a party, and they really did surprise me as I had no idea anything was going on until my husband tried to pull into our driveway and there was almost no room to park. What a great evening with family and friends, and how sneaky my children are :)

I have been attending a non-Catholic church since the beginning of the year, this is a big change but one that  is good for me. I have learned so much this year and have really enjoyed the teaching, I know that I am growing in my faith and  know that I am on the right path.

Our daughter Amber and her husband Brad are expecting their fourth baby in August. The due date is on Brad's birthday, which is exciting.  This past week we found out that we are awaiting the birth of a grandson, this will make a fourth boy for B & A!!  Our little granddaughter Alivia is very outnumbered!

One of my birthday gifts was a gift card to Amazon, so I purchased some more seasons of The Waltons, and the pilot movie of the show, The Home Coming. When I knit I like to have something to listen to, and The Walton's fit the bill nicely, the slow pace of the show doesn't require that I have my eyes glued to the TV, and the gentle story unfolds and always has a lesson to impart.

I am still reading Alexander McCall Smith books, I like the Scotland Street series very much, but am not so keen on the other series. I tried the Sunday Afternoon Philosophers Club series, but found the characters to be very similar to the Scotland Street characters, and I just couldn't get into it.

I have received a couple of things in the mail from fellow bloggers. I "won" a crocheted lap blanket just for posting a comment on  Lynda 's blog, and was the recipient of a beautifully crocheted blanket that is perfect on a chilly winters evening. I chose the lap blanket pictured at the bottom of Lynda's post. I then received a beautifully cross-stitched piece from Michelle at Ozark Stitching. See picture above. I have hung the piece over the fireplace in our family room, and I love looking at it and reading all of the names we have for our Savior.

My Latest Knitting Project

I had a lot of left over yarn from various projects and a lot of light blue yarn that I though would make a lovely sweater for grandson Charlie.  I remembered a pattern that I have used to knit the older boys sweaters, except theirs were just plain, so decided to venture into knew territory and try intarsia knitting and the result is this cheerful tugboat.

The picture started out easily enough, mainly blue with just a little white here and there for waves, but by the time I was half way up the front I had so many lengths of yarn coming off of this project that I began to feel a bit overwhelmed and almost called it quits. I am glad that I persevered onward and upward as the middle was really the most intense and slowly but surely the picture simplified again and the top half went very quickly.

I will definitely do another intarsia knitting project, and I hope little Charlie is pleased with his new sweater.

How to Avoid Hiring Unlucky People!!

Throw away half of the resumes, then only the lucky ones remain ;)

HA HA - this amused me to no end!

Just my thoughts on a Thursday evening!

I work two and a half days a week, it is a nice schedule and allows me to be available to babysit my grandchildren. I wouldn't trade my time with my grandchildren for anything, we have fun together, they amuse me, and I enjoy them very much.
I like having time to myself, I like to crochet, knit, sew, read books, quilt, all rather sedentary occupations but they keep me occupied during the winter months, I feel at a bit of a loss if I don't have a project going.
I am looking forward to spring, it has been a long, snowy, very cold winter, it is cheering to think that next month we can begin planting a few things in the vegetable garden. St. Patrick's day, March 17 is a traditional day to plant peas, and that is only four weeks away, that makes me very happy to think about. Peas, potatoes, onions, can be started early, I doubt I will plant on March 17, but just the thought that I could if I wanted to is very cheering.
I am so glad we keep a big garden and preserve so much of what we grow and I am glad we raised a couple of steers and have a full freezer of beef.  We have had a tight six months, and the vegetables and fruit that we canned, the meat in the freezer, and the fresh eggs from our hens have been such a blessing and we have really been able to minimize our grocery expenses. Milk, butter, cheese, dog food, potatoes and onions seem to be the main items that appear again and again on our grocery lists. I think we save a lot cooking from scratch, as long as we have basic staples in the house we can make just about anything we want.
I feel very blessed, I see my grandchildren most days, most Sunday's all the kids, grandkids are here to eat and hang out, and at least once through the week, sometimes more we have a crowd for dinner, it is wonderful.Last night everyone was here, including my neighbor, for a big pot of chili, just the thing on a cold winters day, for desert we had yellow cake with chocolate frosting. It was a fun, noisy meal.
Tonight I got home from work, I don't work again until Monday, it always takes me a bit to unwind from the hectic pace at the office. I had a nice cup of tea, putzed around on the internet, then decided to work on the bag I am knitting. I finished the second piece to the knitted bag last night, so tonight I had to block the pieces then sew them together and then make a lining and sew it into the bag.  The house is very quite, I sat in silence at the kitchen table drinking my tea and sewing together the bag, then I went upstairs to my sewing room and again worked in silence while I put together the lining and sewed it into place. Silence is good! I feel calm, I feel myself again, I feel satisfied with a busy productive day at work, and a satisfaction in my almost completed knitting project, I still need to knit a handle for my bag, that I will do tomorrow.
I am reading another Alexander McCall Smith book, the third in the Scotland Street series, I really do enjoy AMS writing. And, I love the Kindle my kids got me for Christmas. It is so nice to borrow a book from the library via the Kindle, it might be three o' clock in the morning, I can browse the available ebooks at our library and once I find one it takes just a few seconds to download and have available to read - truly amazing. In my last post I mentioned I was reading Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys, I thought I was going to enjoy it, initially I was drawn right into the story, but several chapters later I just lost interest in the main character and I didn't really like any of the other characters, so I skipped to the end to see what happened and then returned the book to the library.
I have really been enjoying The Waltons over the past month or so, I purchased season 7 a fair number of years ago, so took a few weeks to watch all of the episodes as I knitted or crocheted away. At our work Christmas party I won a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble, so two weeks ago I used it to purchase season 4 of the Waltons, it has taken me two weeks to watch all of the episodes.  Now I want to get more seasons, but will have to wait. I do like season 7 except Grandpa is not in any of the episodes as the actor who played him, Will Geer, died between seasons 6 and 7, and Michael Learned who played the Mama left the show about two thirds of the way through the season.. John Boy is still in season 4, but I believe he left the show after season 5. I really like the episodes with Grandpa and John Boy still around. I don't care for season 8 or 9 so much, the show changed a lot, of course the children had grown up, but key characters were gone, Grandpa and Grandma were dead, John and Olivia were absent, John Boy returns but is played by a different actor. Cousin Rose comes to take care of the family, I like her character but always feel as it the Walton girls are kind of mean to her and put her down a lot. And poor Ronnie Clair, who played Cora Beth really had her work cut out as the character becomes more and more over the top. But even though Cora Beth is over the top she is still a very entertaining character, and as the seasons rolled on she became more of an eccentric rather than a somewhat mean spirited gossip she was portrayed as in the beginning of the show. A few episodes were silly, The Poltergeist being one, and another where suddenly it turns out Mary Ellen's husband, Kurt, didn't die in the war after all. But there are so many really good episodes, the Pearl Harbor attack episode is just one of them. I loved that  Ellen Corby, who played Grandma, returned to the show after her stroke and was wonderful in the show.
The Walton's was produced by Earl Hammer, he is the "real" John Boy and the show is loosely based on his books and his childhood.  I have read all of Earl Hammer's books, he is a very gifted writer, with a good sense of humor, and an eye for detail, I would highly recommend any one of his books and they are probably available at your local library.
Anyway, enough already, this post was not supposed to be all about The Waltons' but I love the show and I guess that is perhaps a bit too obvious :)

Well that is all that is going on in my mind this evening.

Good Night,

Bean

Okay, this is weird, and sad. I finished this post and went to Yahoo to check my email, and on the news page up pops a picture of Ralph Waite, the actor who played the father in The Walton's. Sadly he died today at the age of 85, RIP Mr. Waite, we sure enjoyed your work and will always remember you as the Dad in The Walton's.

Knitting, Crocheting and Winter

Well we have had a very snowy winter, at least thirty-eight inches of snow for the season, and a very cold winter, we are sub-zero again and it is February!  Roll on springtime.  But the sun is shining, the snow is beautiful and the robins have returned, boy I bet they wish they had waited a little longer. The sparrows mob the suet feeders all day long, poor little things having to survive in these brutal temperatures.

I have read several books, I am on my second Alexander McCall Smith book, I read Espresso Takes from the 44 Scotland series and am now reading The Full Cupboard of Life from his #1 Ladies Detective Agency series. They are good reads, funny, AMS is good at picking up and presenting the quirkiness in people without going overboard. I read Jurassic Park, I had never read the book, it was a fast read, lots of action, but I kept feeling that the characters as supposed top experts in their scientific fields took lots of unnecessary risks and seemed to do rather foolish things, but if they didn't it would have been hard to have all the action and danger.  Another book I enjoyed immensely was The Witch Doctor's Wife by Tamar Myers, an excellent story, well written, good plot, enjoyable characters.  I am now reading Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys, a recommendation from another blogger, here , so far so good, the opening sentence pulls you right into the story and off you go, I like books that do that.

I have watched many episodes of The Walton's on DVD while knitting and crocheting and have watched several movies, I really enjoyed re-watching Signs last week. Here are some pictures of my recent crochet and knitting projects, and some pictures of winter in NE Indiana.

A knitted cell phone stand.

A good knitting book.

Crochet throw using up leftover yarn.

Spider Man throw for the grandchildren.

My neighbor Nancy wearing the scarf I made for her for Christmas.

Knitted bag I am working on.

Picture of knitted bag in knitting book.

A cold morning drive.

Four way stop in Leo.

A snowy field.

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The gas station in Grabill buried in snow.

Main Street of Leo.

The grocery store in Grabill is just behind the giant snow pile.