From This, To This





We have finally had snow. It comes and it goes, but at least it's snow. It was snowing really hard in this picture.

After the heavy snowfall, we had this. It was really pretty. We had about 10" of fine, powdery snow on top of a sheet of ice from the last snow then rain. The weather can't seem to make up it's mind. Hmm snow, rain, snow, I wonder what I'll do today?





Well, it's rained again and this is what our front yard looks like. A nice sheet of ice with standing water on it. Needless to say, I'm not supposed to go outside.

This is the backyard. You can still see the ruts where the UPS driver thought he'd drive. The ice is surrounding the house and id continues down the driveway. I'm sure the driveway is a real mess, but since I'm not going out until this weekend, I can only imagine from past winters. Our backyard slants some, but I kept tilting the camera for the backyard shot. I guess that happens as you hang out the door. We have more rain and snow in the forecast this week. I really feel sorry for poor Jake. He hates icky feet and there is just no way for him to avoid all this mess.



Oh, The Joys Of Homeownership

   Yesterday, we had a plumbing problem and I hope not to have it again. Backed up sewage in the walk in shower. Yuck!!! Our septic tank is either full, or it's just not draining because the ground happens to frozen rock hard. It's much cheaper if the ground is frozen than if the tank is full because it will cost $300.00 to get it pumped.
   We have had rain, snow and frozen rain lately. The yard is a slippery mess. I think it's a good thing I can't go out now.
   The bears still don't have any clothes and I haven't started the others yet. I have been busy but have nothing to show for it. I did make a cute elephant I named Nelli Funt. Now, I need to make a lot more to send to Daniel to try and sell. Other critters besides Nelli Funt.

   Michaela has new toys. Small cans of Mighty Dog dog food. I have them stacked in the pantry, all 5 of them, and she likes to take them and put them in a line by the front door. Once they are all there, she carries them all back to the pantry and leaves them in front of the door. See, she didn't need toys bought for her. She also likes hot pads, egg separators and measuring spoons an cups. Oven mitts are also good.
   If it wasn't for the antics of a 13 month old, it would be really dull around here.

"Our Bears Need Clothes" Said The Grand Kids

   Well, I'm not done with bears after all. Besides making 3 19" bears for Amy, Alyssa and I, I have been informed the bears I made for the grand kids for Christmas need clothes. Ashlynn is going to ask her dad if he needs a bear, too. I don't know if the 19" bears will have clothes. I think they will probably end up with some clothes since kids will think they need some.
   Anyway, Micheal was very specific about the clothes his bear needs. A striped shirt and red and white shorts. I ask him if I could just make them any color and he told me that he really wants a striped shirt. I guess any color will do as long as it has stripes. He's still thinking of a name for his bear.
   Alix named his bear Arm Pit Bear. Don't ask me why. Probably because he's 4 almost 5. His bear needs shoes and socks.
   Ashlynn named her bear Purple bear because it's purple and it's a girl bear, so it needs girl clothes. Ashlynn also told me I made Nathan's bear a sad mouth and hers a straight face. At least all the bears were a success.
   I'm also going to make some little roly polie ball critters to send to Daniel to sell since he says he could. They are quick and easy to make. If he can sell them it will be nice. I have always planned to make things and try to sell them, but gifty type crafts take over.
   I have been cutting up jeans for the denim quilts, but that's hard on my thumb. I have only started cutting the jeans apart and not into squares. I did decide on 6" squares. My projects keep on coming.
   Seed catalogs are starting to come in, so Tim and I have been drooling over them. Our snow is still no where to be seen. If we don't get any, it's going to be a terrible wildfire year.

Happy New Year!!



    Well, the year is about over, and I'm waiting up to see the New Year in. Since I'm a wild, party person, I'm watching movies on Netflix.

   Today, Tim and I finally made it to Wolf Lodge Bay to see the Bald Eagles that come by the hundreds to eat the dying salmon after they spawn. Wolf  Lodge Bay is on Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho. I was even able to get a few pictures of the eagles. Unfortunately, I couldn't really get any of them as they were flying. We have 2-3 months yet to see them, so maybe I'll be able to get in flight pictures. I got a new camera and was having some trouble finding the eagles. I'd point the camera where they were, but I couldn't see them in the screen. New cameras mean more pictures to get more practice. I did manage to get some fairly decent photos of cooperative eagles just sitting in trees. Anyway, here are some of the pictures I took.

 

 



I was busy this month doing crafty things. Below is a picture of the rabbit I made for Michaela's 1st birthday.



Michaela's birthday rabbit





These are the bears I made for Christmas for our 5 grandchildren. At one time, I had thought about making them and selling them, but they were more work than I want to do to make and sell. The bears come with different outfits, so the grand kids will let me know what their bears want to wear.

                                               



I think I will start a denim patchwork quilt next with the stack of old jeans I have collected. I have no idea what size I will make it. The thought even crossed my mind to make several that are child size and embroider things on the squares and give them to the grand kids. I thought about making a large quilt and still embroider things on it. I guess it all depends on how many squares I can get out of the jeans.

Not that I really make New Years resolutions, but if I was going to make some they would be the usual loose weight, exercise more and fold the towels when they come out of the dryer instead of just taking a towel out of the basket when I need one. Oh, and the really big resolution would be to cut waaay back on the sugar.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year.

The Things I Get Myself Into

   Well, Christmas is getting closer and I'm still cutting out bear pieces and crocheting Michaela's bunny for her birthday. I had to take a break from it all yesterday, so I'll be extra busy today.
   Little did I know when I decided to make these bears x 5, I would be cutting out 125 pieces. I just thought, without reading the directions of course, that 11 pattern pieces isn't bad. Everything is cut 2 except for the muzzle and nose, which is just cut one, because who wants a bear with 2 muzzles and noses. The ears are cut 4.
    Anyway, I have one more bear to cut out. The first bear took the longest because I am making it striped and I had to cut it to line up the stripes. Three bears are made from dresses that no longer fit, and I wish I could honestly say they shrunk while in storage or they are now too big, but I can't.
   I see on my weather thing on my blog it's 17 with a real feel of 2. Yeah, it's cold outside. The freezing fog doesn't help matters any, either. I have to be mean and really force Jake out in the mornings. The cold hurts his 3 toed foot. Poor dog. He's acting more and more like a grumpy old man. He's around 8 or 9 years old now, but sometimes he acts so much older until he sees something to chase, and then he's off like a shot and you can't catch him.
   Both Jake and Chip are banished to our room now when Michaela eats. They really know about babies in high chairs now, and Michaela thinks it's fun to throw food at the dogs.
   Poor Michaela is still confused about what she is. Baby or dog. Yesterday, she was walking around until she got to the laundry room, having a good old time hitting the metal folding chair we have there to sit on to take off our muddy shoes, when she decided to crawl over to the dogs' water. I heard a sharp intake of breath as she stuck her face the dish to get a drink. We were all in the kitchen, but she's a sneaking fast little critter. Now, Amy tells me that she gets on her knees and begs like their dog, Sadie. Just imagine what she would do if we had lizards or snakes.
   I'm about done with my morning glass of chocolate milk, so I'd better get busy. I'll be washing clothes for fun, too. Chances are, these bears will be finished in time for Christmas, but mailed too close to Christmas to get there in time. I'll just be known and the grandmother who sends late gifts. The kids will just have more days to open things this way.
   Well, my chocolate milk is gone, so, see ya later.

The Newest Fashion Accessory

    Well, here it is, my new fashion accessory. It's actually pretty comfortable and light weight. It only weighs 1 1/2 pounds. My back even feels better since it has a 3/4 inch lift in the the heal since my leg is that much shorter than the other. Teach me to break a leg in 4 places and then get arthritis, or arthoritis as the kids used to call it.

   I have started more projects, like I don't have enough started already. I am now making 5 teddy bears of different colors for the grand kids. It's taking me a lot longer to cut all the pieces out than I thought it would, but I really should have known better. Hopefully, the sewing part goes as fast as I think it will. I will have a regular bear assembly line going. They just get the bears now and I'll make the clothes for the bears later.

   Our weather has been pretty nice, even if a tad on the cold side. Our snow has come and gone. No snow in the forecast for at least this week.

   No one has started complaining about a brown Christmas yet. We thought it was funny when we moved up here in 2006. People were complaining about a brown Christmas. We just chuckled about that, because we moved up here from the Mojave desert and we really knew what a brown Christmas looked like. The grass was even green, so we thought it was a green Christmas.

   Christmas dinner is at my mother-in-laws house since I did Thanksgiving. Besides, if we do get snow, Tim won't have to go and get them and bring them here.

   The last week there has been some really loud explosions around here. The first on was the loudest and I thought it was some one's propane tank exploding, but it wasn't, and it was in the afternoon. Now, we hear them starting about 8:30PM for about an hour and a half. We have decided they are definitely artillery of some sort. Someone has a cannon and is firing it chasing away deer? Secret war games? Who knows, but we'd like to. We'd also like to know where they are coming from, since they sound fairly close.

   I hear bear parts calling my, so I guess I'd better get to them. Nothing like noisy bears that are in pieces.

Oops

   Have you ever had one of those days when you should just stay out of the kitchen? I should have the other night.    I thought I'd make some carrot bread. I doubled the recipe as usual. No problem there. I put everything except the carrots in my kitchen aid mixer bowl, raised the bowl up and heard a crack. I didn't see anything, so continued with the mixing. I added the carrots, mixed it all together and poured the batter in to two pans. First, things do cook much faster if you turn the oven on.
   I moved the mixer back to it's spot and found a small piece of white plastic that looks like nylon. It wasn't there when I started, so that must have been the crack. The mixer worked fine, so who knows.
   The bread baked, I took it out of the oven and turned the pans upside down to get the bread out. I did let them cool for a bit first. Most of the bottom of the first loaf stuck even though I used nonstick bread pans that I had sprayed with cooking spray just because.
   I went to pick up the loaf of bread and it was too hot and it really didn't want to be picked up, so my brilliant idea was to put another cooling rack over it and flip it over. I have done this many, many times before with no problem. Not so lucky this time. The bread slipped from between the racks, hit the edge of the kitchen island and broke. Most of the loaf landed on the floor. It's really a good thing I made two loaves. I figured I probably shouldn't do the 2 second rule, so it got tossed and then the dogs had a good snack of crumbs.
   I had Amy get the other loaf out. She did, with no problem. Amy did tell me I couldn't be perfect all the time.
   I then went on to make Tapioca pudding. I managed to burn it. The heat was on low, but it still burned. I even stood there and stirred it the whole time. I soaked and scrubbed and soaked and scrubbed the pan. It finally came clean. It's the first time I've ever done that. Such is life.
   All this is almost as bad as when I melted the plastic cutting board in the oven. I had used the cutting board, washed it and for some reason put it in the oven. Later, I fixed steaks in the broiler, wondering why the steaks smelled so funny. They tasted really odd, too. Seems the oven gets hot when the broiler is on. Duh!! Anyway, once the oven cooled down, the melted cutting board came off of the racks and the bottom of the oven with no problem.
   Unfortunately, these mishaps still don't get me out of cooking, so it's off to fix spaghetti I go. Hopefully, mishap free.

The Snow Has Come And Gone

   Our snow has come and gone, thanks to a lot of rain. I do think it would be nice to see the sun once in a while. The snow and rain has made the ground really muddy and we have been having high winds, (well, for up here they are high winds)and I worry about the pine trees blowing over since they don't have very deep roots.
   We all survived Thanksgiving, and we all over ate. The weather was actually pretty nice for most of the day, too. Family, good food, sun and blue sky, what more could you ask for?
   I have way to many in progress crochet projects going right now. Two scarves, socks, a rabbit, Jake's bed, an afghan and I'm sure there has to be one or some that I have forgotten about. The Rabbit is for Michaela's first birthday, socks for me, scarves for Myrna and Amy. Unfortunately, I'm doomed to have severely cracking fingers and thumbs on the fleshy parts, which makes crocheting painful. If anyone out there has any suggestions on haw to heal cracked fingers, please let me know.
   My favorite place to download old time radio shows is back up and running. If you like old time radio shows, Zoot Radio has a great selection, and they are all free to listen to or download, so I have been downloading them and putting them on my mp3 player to listen to. It's funny, but I don't skip any of the otr when they are on my mp3 player, but I carefully select music to put on it, and I'll skip songs, even though I put them on there because I like them. I like to listen to them as I fall asleep at night, but the downfall of this is, I have to go back and listen to them over again because I fell asleep through the show.
   I have an appointment Friday to get my leg brace. I really hope it works. I bought a new pair of tennis shoes and some socks just to wear with the thing. My walking stick is almost finished. It's getting the polyurethane coats put on it. I hate using my cane and I thought a taller, walking stick type would be nicer. I had Tim make it 40" tall and I selected a nice wooden ball for the top of it. With it being 40" tall, it will be great for uneven ground, hiking, etc. Besides that, I'm 5'10" tall and I wanted it that high.
   I'm seriously going to try to eat healthier and less. I really need to loose weight and cut way back on my sugar consumption. I know I am a sugar addict.
   Ah, well. I guess I should get up and do something. I am thinking about making some gingerbread today. We just happen to have some whipped cream in the fridge.

Snow? Fancy That

   It's that time of year again. You know, that white stuff falling from the sky, that keeps me stuck in the house. Still, it's pretty. Cold. Wet. Gray, gloomy sky. There was a very brief period of sun earlier this afternoon. Then it was blinding. I do have a good view of it all from my rocking chair by the window. Hot chocolate, crafts, something to read, TV to watch and a computer to play on and I'm all set.
   Chip is watching the snow fall. He really likes watching snow, rain and hail. Jake is curled up in Chip's bed, oozing over the sides.
   We had our first wild turkey today. Well, 3 of us had our first wild turkey today. Tim and I didn't think it was too bad, but I don't think Amy was impressed. I fixed it as a soup/stew with sage dumplings that called for partridge and not turkey. Partridge, turkey, they're both birds. Besides that, and the most important reason, is I had the ingredients the recipe called for. The breasts from the turkey are in the freezer for another meal.
   Our snow is suppose to wash away later this week with lots of rain. The usual will happen then. It will freeze and then snow on top of it and then it will be a really nice sheet of ice to slip and slide on.
   My custom made leg brace should be finished next week, so I can learn how to walk in snow with it on and with no left ankle movement.  And, because I couldn't just have a plain old boring white leg brace, I chose to have a purple one with yellow, green and orange butterflies and neon yellow velcro straps. If I have to wear a leg brace, I might as well have fun with the colors. It does have a section of tan leather that goes down the front of my leg. Could be it's because I grew up in the '70's or it could be, I'm just weird. Personally, I think a glow in the dark brace would be neat to have.
   Thanksgiving is this week, and I really hope the 21 pound turkey thaws out. There will be 6 of us and besides the turkey and the rest of the fixings, my mother-in-law is bringing a ham and a duck. Don't ask me why. I guess so we can be really stuffed. She is also bringing the desert. I hope pumpkin pie is on the menu.
   I hope everyone has a good and safe Thanksgiving. Black Friday, I will be home, I hope, but you never know.
  

It Keeps Me Out Of Trouble

   Since fall is in the air, with snow fast approaching, the California transplants are cold, so I've made some things for Amy and Michaela.

    It's really too bad the green doesn't show the true light grass green color. Even though I made these slippers small, they are still too big for Michaela. She'll just have warmer feet next year.

                                                 Here is a side view of the slippers.

                                            The other side of the slippers.

                                          The bottom of the slippers. The slippers were made from leftover yarn I had from last year when I made me some socks. I am pretty sure I will have to make me some nice, bright slippers like these. I like nice, bright colors. One of these days, I intend to make slippers like these and other styles and try to sell them at craft fairs. My problem is deciding on a price. I have made adult slippers like these and sold them for $20.00. I don't want to sell them so cheap, I don't make a profit, yet too expensive.

    Here are socks I made with self stripping yarn. I made them for me, but they turned out too small. Teach me to use different yarn and not checking the gauge. Anyway, they are Amy's socks now, even though they are a bit too big for her.

   Here is Michaela's sweater I made for her that was a gift from her Great Aunt Myrna.

                                                        I like the cute lady bug buttons.

   I am currently working on 2 scarves and another pair of socks. I finally found a book that helps me with crocheting socks. There is a sock loom that I think about getting, but if I can crochet nice socks, I guess I don't really need the sock loom. I'll take pictures of the next socks once they are finished. I wouldn't be making socks, except since I broke my leg a few years ago, I can't wear commercially made socks.

   My crochet project list isn't really getting any shorter.