Christmas is almost here....

No pics today. 

I had the wild idea to make some doll baby clothes for my great-niece for Christmas.  Not a problem except that I didn't get this idea until last Sunday.  Nothing like putting pressure on yourself. 

I wasn't able to start sewing until Tuesday evening.  I have managed to make a dress and a pair of PJ's so far.  I have a coat pinned to the fabric but that is all,  I want to make the coat and at least one more dress for her.

While going through my fabrics and a tote of fabric I brought home when my beloved mother-in-law passed I found all these neat quilt patches that I suddenly had the brain storm to make into pillows for the 6 grand kids.  Then I found a few more and decided to make a pillow for each of her 3 boys and found a couple more and decided to make them for the 2 great-grand kids even though they had never had the pleasure and good fortune to know her.  So now I need to make 11 pillows on top of everything else.  I have to have the pillows done by Christmas Eve as that is when we all get together to celebrate.  I have plenty of time.  :)

So why am I on here instead of sewing?  Because I am at work (I work in the family business so this is OK).  Just as soon as I get payroll done and D or J come back I am going to the house to get busy.

I will take pics before I give the things all away. 

Joan is coming to Christmas for at least one more visit.  The year she passed and we cleaned out the house I found all kind of gifts that she had already bought for Christmas, and she left us in June!  Since I am now the oldest female of the family I gathered everything up and saved it until December and then I went through everything and made a gift bag for everyone.  We had some tears and lots of laughter.  She was missed but it made it sort of like she was still there.  Which she is still there in each of our hearts.  She was a lovely lady and very well loved.

In addition to all the sewing I still have to make sugar cookies, sugared pecans, a couple of pies, clean up the house, and put everything away after sewing.  I have to sew on my dining table as my embroidery/sewing room is a wreck and I can't even get to the counters to work.  That is going to have to be taken care of after the holidays!  I miss my sewing space.

The Chick-a-biddies

 This is the day we got the chicks back in June.  They have grown a lot since then.They are no longer little fluff balls but full grown egg laying chick-a-biddies. 

This is some of the eggs.  As you can see we get all sizes of them and quite a few colors also.  My hens that are supposed to lay brown eggs really don't lay a true brown color.  They range from a soft blush to a soft pinky-brown.  I love the colors and I love the way they look in that small bowl. 

This is what they look like now.  I just took these pictures this morning.  As a matter of fact I disturbed them while they were taking their morning bath.  They are silly things but they are all healthy.

I have a mix of Ameracaunas, Black Astrolorps, Favarols, and Light Brahmas.  I also have a few older Buff Orpingtons from last year.  They are quite a colorful bunch.

Black Astrolorp

Favarol

Ameracauna

2 Light Brahmas

A "few" pics of Lily. :)

 Just a few pics I took of Lily.  She is so pretty that I just had to share with whoever happens upon this site and decides to read it..  I am not the best photographer or even a very good one, but I enjoy taking pictures occasionally.

 This is our TV watching chairs.  They are really comfy.  They recline, rock, and swivel.  I could do without the swivel as it makes my chair turn when I do not want it to.  But I'll adjust. 

 A close up of them so you can see the nice little table between them.

 Our sofa bed for the occasional guest.  Only been out twice so we have not had any guests yet.  I did try to make the bed down once just to see it and didn't get it down quite right and also did not get it latched back into place so when we got to where we were going the bed was half way down.  Dale had to fix it since I didn't really have any idea of how to do it.

 My stove, oven and fridge.  Small but workable.  I have baked cookies in the oven both times we were out.  The range has only 3 burners, but then I am not going to be fixing a holiday meal in it so it is fine.

 My itty-bitty microwave.  And I do mean itty-bitty.  But it is big enough to get my bacon cooker in it so it is big enough.  I don't use a microwave very often.  I don't like the way it cooks food.  But it does a great job on bacon.  (Have you tried the little individual brownies and cakes that you cook in the micro in a coffee mug?  The ones I have tried are very tasty and just the right size so you don't over do.)

 Another part of the "kitchen".  storage and added counter top.  I keep my toaster and coffee maker on top of this and use it to put out food when we have company.

 My island sink.  I forgot to take the covers off of the sink.  The covers make for more counter space when I am cooking.  Love it. I you look close you can see a finger hole in the counter where one of the sink covers is.  the other is almost twice that size so a nice double sink.

I even have a ceiling fan in the living area!

 Our dining table.  It can sit 4 nicely and in a pinch and if you extend it out you could put a 5th person at the end of the table.  This RV is set up as a couples traveler.  It only will sleep 4 people.

 Another view of the table showing my fireplace and TV.  I actually used the fireplace last weekend when we went camping.  It was cold outside and rainy, but toasty and warm inside.

This is what happens when you are messing with you phone trying to download pictures and not paying any attention to what you are doing.

Actually we went camping 2 weekends ago (Nov 3&4).  We got there Friday and stayed until Sunday.  We had a meeting in Bellefontaine so we and a couple of friends took our RV's instead of staying in a hotel  I loved it.  I didn't get to really spend much time "glamping" but I got to take Lily out again.
That was the2nd trip and the last trip of the year,  We have winterized her and I just need to do some further cleaning and she will be ready for her long winter's nap.  I can't wait until time to take her out again.  Not sure where we will go next spring/summer but I am hoping for a lot of camp-outs. 

Our first trip out in the new camper

 

I know this is titled first trip but I had to show my little Coley.  He had been down in the cellar nosing around.  He loves to go down there and given half a chance he is there.

 This is "Lily" the evening we brought her home.  Not a great picture but I was standing in the middle of the highway trying to get this picture so I was in a hurry and didn't really try to frame it and get everything in. 

 

This was as we were leaving for our first camp out.  Not a really good pic but you get the gist of it.  The one below is better.  She really looks good behind Dale's new (to him) truck.  He didn't really want a black truck but that was pretty much all he could find and it really looks sharp pulling the 5th Wheel.  Plus, Dale loves to wash and detail out a vehicle so black is right up his alley, since they need constant cleaning. 

  

I didn't take any pics at the campground.  I am about the world's worst at taking pics now.  I used to take pictures all the time.  I have loads of them but I guess I just got tired of looking at the world through a camera lense and just quit.  That happens sometimes.  

We went to Lake Snowden which is about 35 or 40 miles away.  We had to be in Athens on Sunday evening so this was our only choice to be able to camp and go to the meeting.   We took Betsie with us and she had a great time.  She got to take walks with Daddy so she was happy.  She is definitely Dale's dog.  She loves me, but I am forgotten in a second when Dad is around, lol.

We are going out again weekend after this coming one.  Going up around Indian Lake.  Unfortunately for us by then most of the campgrounds are out of season so we can only get electric.  No full hookup and no dump station.  We will manage. 

I hope I do better this time than the last trip.  I came down with a pretty bad sinus infection which meant lots of antibiotics and then I got sick and ended up in the hospital and then I caught a cold when I got home so I have pretty much been sick since the camping trip.  If I do that again Dale has threatened to sell the camper. He better not.  I just need to get used to camping again.  :)

I have the camper mostly packed.  It is a chore packing a camper from scratch.  Pretty much all of the stuff I used to have for camping is now gone.  I didn't think I would need it so it has been given away or sold at yard sale.  Oh, well.  I enjoyed buying the stuff for her.  Besides, when we camped before we had the kids young so we didn't have nice stuff in the camper.  Now we are older and camping alone so I told Dale we are now "glamping" lol

Still need to get inside pics of Lily to show just how pretty she is inside.  Maybe I'll do that this afternoon, and maybe I won't.

What is wrong with me??

I have been to 3 doctors since last Saturday, the 8th.

I woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible pain in my upper abdomen. It felt like I had indigestion and if I could just belch I would be better.  I went downstairs and took some Tums and sat in my chair for a while but got no relief.  Around 3 I went back to bed and tried to sleep.  I did manage to doze off for a bit but then the pain got worse.  My thrashing around woke D and when he knew what was going on he wanted to take me to the emergency room.  I said no.  I will be OK.  About an hour later when I curled up in a ball on my hands and knees he asked me again and I said maybe I had better.

We got up and got dressed and D called our daughter to see if Holzer had an urgent care here in town.  Well they did but unfortunately they didn't open until 11.  So we headed to Chillicothe to the emergency room.  I wasn't too happy about that but I needed some relief.

The car trip over didn't do me any favors but I made it.  When we got there the ER was empty so I was taken right in.  (The ER is now the ED, Emergency Department)  They asked all kinds of questions and poked and prodded my belly, stuck me to take blood and start an IV.  Finally they gave me a dose of morphine and something for nausea.  The pain eventually settled down.  Then they took me to do an ultrasound on my gallbladder. 

The only thing they could find wrong in all the tests they did was my liver enzymes were elevated.  No clue as to why they were.  So they gave me two scripts and sent me on home.  Needless to say with  the dose of morphine I slept most of the day.  Still in some discomfort, not really pain, but also feeling dizzy and discombobulated.  

Sunday I was feeling fine so we went to church and out to eat after with friends.  By the time we got home I was not feeling so good so I took some meds and sat in my chair and slept.  This is getting old fast.

Monday when I got up I was feeling pretty rough so D took me to our doctor in town.  She examined me and looked at my test results from Sat.  She gave me something for pain and got me in to a GI doctor the next morning.  Another day spent in my chair sleeping.

Tuesday we had to be in Chillicothe at 8:30 for doctor visit.  They did more blood work and an MRI on me.  Found nothing.  Another day in the chair.

Wednesday I felt pretty good so I came on out to the office and did a bit.  Had some pain but nothing I couldn't handle.  I did not take any meds that day.  Yay!! 
We went down to look at a 5th Wheel camper that friends of ours are selling.  Not sure if we are going to buy this one or not.  We both like it but it lacks a few things we want.  More on that later. :)

Thursday morning and I am doing better.  I am here at the office.  Some discomfort but nothing major.  Maybe I just had a fluke happen and I am ok now.

Giving Blood

Friday evening Dale and I went to give blood.  This is something that Dale does on a VERY regular basis and I do less regular.  I used to give everytime along with D, but I used to have a tendency to pass out afterwards so they all made me quit giving.  I am older now and things change so I try to give about every other time now.  
I have given 2 gallon and 1 quart.  Not bad, but no where near what Dale has given.  He does the double red which I can never do since you have to be at least 5' 5" if you are a woman and I am only 5' 1".  Oh, well.

Before June ends....

I always have such good intentions to post on this blog in a somewhat regular manner and then life happens and I just forget to do it.  I really do mean to, honest.

 My cutie patootie baby boy, LeRoy.  He looks so sad in this pic, but he is really my little bundle of happy

 New baby chicks, to replace the ones that some wild critter got.  I was so sad about that, and angry also.

The little sleeping princess, oops, excuse me I mean the little QUEEN.  She is 17 years old so she can sleep any time and place that she wants to. When she was just a kitten Dale would carry her upstairs to bed each night on her throne.  It was the funniest thing to see.  Erica would just sit regally on the cat scratcher pad which we called her throne and let Dale carry her upstairs.  Silly cat and hubby.

May already?!

 My lovely wild dogwood.  It was here when we bought the property way back in 1975 so it is quite old and still quite small.  It is almost on our township road, maybe that is why it is no bigger than it it.  I am just glad it is still alive.  I love Dogwood trees.

 Grandgirls of a friend of ours.  They both love D and put up with me to see him.  lol

 D knocked over his Rtic cup and the lid came off and it spilled under my chair so he turned it up on its back to let the throw rug underneath it dry out.  Coley thought that it was a perfect place to take a nap until Mom disturbed him.

 I am knitting the Colorwash Scarf in the Mason-Dixon Kal  I thought I had chosen two yarns with enough contrast to come up with stripes.  Guess I was wrong.  The lavender cake is really a lot less vibrant than it shows here and the pinky one is more vibrant.  As you can see I am not really getting a stripe, but I still like it.   The pinky is one that was hand dyed at a yarn shop my friend had and that I ran from here for a while.  The lavender is Knit Picks Stroll Tonal Sock Yarn in Blue Violet  I think it shows better in their pic than in mine. 

The above photo is my grandson at a soccer game last Sunday evening.  It was actually a tournament.  That is him walking beside the referee..  Not a great pic but I was having trouble finding him on the field  The sun was shining in my eyes and the wind was blowing my hair in my eyes so I am just lucky to have even gotten this one.  They didn't do so well that day.  My son said it was the first game they had lost (5-2).  They didn't lose because they played badly , the other team just outplayed them.  Son said that the other team was REALLY good.  

There was a biker bar down the street from the fields and they were cooking some really good smelling food.  Among other things, it smelled as if they were frying potatoes.  Made me want to go home and fry some up myself. :)  I haven't fixed fried taters in a long time. 

Hannah"s Monday

As you can see Hannah had a really hard day on Monday.  She just couldn't find the perfect place to sleep.  She was in a few more places I just didn't have the time to keep photographing her.  I had to get some work done. lol  This is what she is VERY good at doing, that and stealing the other fur babies food.  She is the littlest doggie but she seems to eat the most.  
I tried taking her for a walk today to try to start trimming her down but she was having none of it.  We went out the back door at the office and when we made it around to the front door she was ready to go back in.  I made her keep walking and when we got back around back she tried to go in then, but mean Mommy that I am I made her make the trip around the office building again.  I made her go around twice!!  Wasn't that mean of me?  Luckily for her it was a raining day Tuesday so she didn't have to walk.  Then I was out of town on Wednesday.  Yesterday I just forgot.  Guess if it quits raining today we will have a go at it again.

 This is what my Wednesday looked like.  D had to go to Mineral Wells, WV today to get some of his continuing ed in.  I opted to go on the "road trip" with him.  I sat in the dining area of a hotel most of the day.  I did go out to eat lunch (D's was provided by the continuing ed program). 
 I went down the street to a Wendy's and had a chicken sandwich.,  Now, I am not the most confident of drivers when I am out of my comfort zone so I was being really careful of what I was doing.  I got into the center turn lane and waited for traffic to clear and then promptly turned into the Wesbanco parking lot which was beside the hotel but of course did not have a pull through. 
So, I circled the building and managed to pull out on the roadway again, stayed in the turning lane and promptly pulled right back into the Wesbanco lot AGAIN!!  Good grief!  I laughed at myself, circled the building and tried again.  This time I made it out again ok and went down the street just a tad further and pulled into the hotel parking lot.  
I was beginning to think that I was in Parkersburg, WV.  I was going to meet D and had to go through Parkersburg and I circled there 3 times before I got into the correct lane. This was 20+ years ago but D still teases me about it.  
I was going to take a walk around the outside after lunch but it had started to rain so I waited in my van until it had slowed down and then went back inside and spent the afternoon playing Farmville Country Escape and working on my blue shawl.  I am not sure if I am on the 2nd or 3rd skein of yarn.  Whatever it is I still have a ways to go before it is finished.  I think it is about 18 inches and I want it to be at least 48.   So I will be knitting on this for a while yet. 

I frogged a summer top that I started several years ago.  I was never that happy with it and when I pulled it out to finish it I finished it in another way by frogging it.  I had used too large of a needle and it was all loose and floppy.  I may do it again with a smaller needle and see how I like it.  

Easter in DC with Good Friends

We made another whirlwind trip to DC for Easter.  The Masonic body of Commandery does a beautiful sunrise service at George Washington National Masonic Memorial.  Since Dale is in Commandery we have gone to it several years.    It is a tiring trip but a fun one.  
We have gone on buses, in my Mini-van and this year we rented a 12 passenger van.  We always have a good time.  
I am about the worlds worst to take pictures.  I used to be behind the camera alll the time taking pictures of what we saw and did and then one day I just stopped doing it.  So I have a little over a dozen photos to show for the weekend.  Oh, well.  I had fun and that is what really matters.  (All those pictures that I took in the past are packed away in a bureau and I never get them out and look at them.)
Here are a few of the few I took:

 This is the Grand Commander of Ohio.  He and his wife are good friends of ours.  They are fun to be with.

 This is the Sir Knights (which is what the men of Commandery all called) that came to our laying of a wreath at the Ohio WW2 Memorial.

 This is Dale and I standing either side of the wreath.

 Some art deco jewelry at the Smithsonian.

 Now why would I take a picture of knitting?  lol 

 The Ruby Slippers from the Wizard of Oz.  I guess they are going to be taken off display soon to be cleaned, studies and stablizied.

 My tired feet at the end of the Smithsonian visit.  Saturday we walked about 8.5 miles.  We took the Metro but it was about 5 blocks from our hotel to get on it and then 3 or 4 from where we got off to the National Mall and then back to the hotel then back to the Metro to go to the Smithsonian and then back again.  We were all tired out.

 This was supposed to be a nice shot of the Ohio Knights marching up Shooters Hill but I was not tall enough to get my phone high enough and the sun was in my eyes and I was beat so this is as good as it got this year.

We made the trip home safe and sound, got all the people delivered back to where we picked them and came home ourselves and just crashed out for the night.  Dale just got back from taking the van back to the rental place so now we start to work.  (I am supposed to be working now but I have an understanding boss, my hubbie, so I'll get started when I get started. As long as I get my stuff done, it is ok.)

We are talking about taking the train to DC next year.  Since we have learned how to use the Metro we don't need a car or bus to get around.  I think it would be a really neat trip.  Of course I want to go on that cross country trip by train and hope to convince Dale of going one day.  I want to have a bedroom car but not sure that will happen.  Depends on the availability I guess. 

I did finish the knitting of my Cable and Lace Cardi and got it blocked and it went to DC with me.....in pieces, and came back home with me....in pieces.  I'll get it done up this week or I will lay it aside and forget all about it.  I know me.  

Now that I have finished the cardi knitting I need to find my next big project.  I have a few in mind but just haven't settled on one.  Right now I am knitting up a pair of socks that I only bought 1  60 gram skein of yarn for. I  don't know why I only bought one but for some reason that is all I got.  I can make a short pair of socks for myself. I think they are just going to be a 2x2 rib top, nothing fancy.