Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Home, Sweet Home

I have been home since November 14 and I am loving it. We will have to go back to VA at least once more but I get all of last week, this week, and probably all of next week at home. I love it.
I have been busy the last two days cleaning the house and getting ready for our company Christmas party Sat night. The cleaning people are coming today, but there is so much that has just piled up since I have been gone that I have to do. I have just about got it conquered. I also have most of the decorating done. There are just a few minor things to do. I need to put the lights up around the deck, but am waiting to see if D gets an outlet put in for me or if I have to run extension cord. Where I start the lights will depend on where I can plug them in. If D gets the new outlet put in I can start at the end of the house and I will be able to turn them on and off with a wall switch in the family room. I am hoping for the new outlet, but then it was "supposed" to be in last Christmas so I am not holding out much hope. (I went and bought a timer for an extension cord.)
Just as soon as I finish my cleaning I need to go start embroidering the long-sleeve tees for the guys. These I just bought a couple of weeks ago so I am not wayyyyy behind on getting them done like I was the short-sleeve tees (I had had them for over 2 years.)
This past Sunday we had Thanksgiving at D's Moms. She started doing that when all of her boys were older and D and I were married That way the boys could be with their sweeties on Thanksgiving but she and G would also have a Thanksgiving with the kids. It works out fine.
Thursday we go to our son's house for dinner. His wife asked me several years ago if it would be OK for her to do the meal and I told her to go for it. I will fix several dishes to take down but I don't have the full meal to do or all of the cleaning, although this year it will be done anyway. But I won't have the cleanup.
Back to work.
Ta...Judy

Friday, November 7, 2008

Can you believe it?

I never thought to see gas this low again. Just over a month ago, Sept 28, we filled my van up and gas was $3.83, that is almost a $2 drop. It is nice to see the price go down but it is also scary. Time will tell.

I am still down here in VA but I have both of my dogs with me. Betsie, the smaller dog, now sleeps in Katie's old cage. Yesterday when my little friend A and her Mom and brother came to visit me A decided that she wanted to play that Betsie's bed was her house....




At one point Betsie was in there with her but I must have missed that picture. It was cute and Betsie was very careful to not hurt A.


Katie says, "Just let me lay here and keep watch."



Later in the evening Betsie got into her little hidey hole and took a nap.

That is the fireplace in my room. It is a gas one so it is just a flip of a switch and I have a nice fire. Only bad thing is that it has been too hot this week to use it. Well, D did turn it on Monday morning but it was so hot in here I could barely breathe so I had to shut it down. Looks like we will be in this room pretty much the rest of the year so I should get to use it.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Back in Virginia

We got back to VA Sunday evening. This time I have both of the dogs with me. It is so good to have Katie along. I really missed her when she was at home and I was here. She is a good dog and a good traveler. Her one big problem is that she is mouthy. She has to bark at anyone new she sees until I tell her to hush. Betsie hardly ever barks.


I got a new "toy"/work item. Here it is. Is'nt she pretty? It may not embroider as fast or as large as my commercial machine but she is portable. This way I can get all those shirts for D done that I just do not have the time to do when we are at home. Monday it took me about half of the day to figure out how to run her, how to set up the design, and which presser foot to put on so I only got 4 shirts done. Yesterday when I started I had all of that figured out so I managed to get 12 shirts done. One thing about her sewing slower is that I have time to knit a row or two between having to change shirts. (So I am getting some knitting done this week.) I have 4 more XL's to do, 17 L's, a pullover sweatshirt, a zip sweatshirt, and 11 fleece beanies. I hope to get all of that done before we go home this weekend. Then next time we come down I hope to have some longsleeve tees to do up. It makes the day go so much faster with something to do.
It is a little after 9 so it is time to go "shopping" for the day. I have to get a few things for dinner tonight and I need to find some silicon spray for my embroidery. Also, I go out at this time so Wilma can come in and clean without having to work around Katie. (Katie is too big to fit in the dog cage.)
Audrey and Marit, I mailed out your PIF packages last week. Aud, yours may be there now or in a day or so, Marit, I don't know how long it will take for you to get yours. Hope you girls like what I sent. :)
Maybe more later.....