What is it?

Can you guess what this is? Those of you who live in my neck of the woods, this may be difficult for you all to remember. But do try! I took this and a few other photo's outside today. Amazingly enough, my other photo's came out pretty well too. Considering that I can't take a decent picture to save my life. But, with this thing in the sky, it made my photo's come out looking half way decent. So, what this is is.....Sunlight! Seriously, we have not had a decent amount of this stuff in weeks!

I have to admit, I sort of liked all those foggy days. It reminded me of living out in California. Well, the part of California that I spent most of my "U.S." stays anyhow. In Travis A.F.B., California, there are lot's of mornings when I'd be standing outside waiting for the bus to come. The other kids (teenagers) would be out there and we'd see how much of our names we could cut into the fog. THAT'S how foggy it would get at times. I liked the fog. It let gave me the sense of being out there by myself. It sort of wrapped you up and softened all the sounds around you. It was kind of dreamy in a good way. At least, I thought so. Evidently many people find fog to be creepy. Hmph, what do they know.

So, today we got a whole day of sun! The snow is melting but not too much since it's still pretty darn cold out there. But it sure is nice to see shadows on the ground and the light in the sky!

I am finished with the little boy's hat that I talked about a few days ago. It's a simple knit hat you make it into t tube and then you close up the top and it has four sections. (not good at descriptions and not good at photographing the thing either. But I got great sunlight!) And if you can tell, I'm working on a scarf to go with it. The mess of yarn is where I took the original scarf apart and started over again because my honey innocently asked "you don't think that's too wide for the boy do you?" Which is what I was thinking too but I'd already had about a foot of the scarf done and thought maybe it would be okay. But once my darling honey said something... well, I just had to rip it all out and begin anew. Because if "he" thought it was too wide... then, it is too wide! But it's all good because now that it's more narrow, it's going like gangbuster!

So, this is the other item that I'm still working on. I have to re-felt it down to the right size. It's still too big so... I hope to be done with this by the end of the week! Seriously! AND THEN, I want to make some felted slippers for me! I got a new pattern and I was directed to it by a super, duper wonderful woman I've met through blog land. Queen of Kafooster, aka, Chellebelle is a marvelously talented woman with a heart of gold! I saw on her blog (which btw ya'll really need to visit!) that she had made a pair of felted slippers and they are the style that I am loving! The ones I made are darling, and will look great on lot's of people. But, Chellebelle's is perfect for me! So I went to the site that she sent me to and I downloaded the pattern. BUT, I must stop and tell you all this. The pattern I downloaded is NOT the exact pattern that she uses. SHE, talented lady that she is, altered hers and now hers are way cuter than the original pattern! And, I should mention this, when I've made my slippers, and I show ya'll on this site, don't be thinking it's going to look like hers on her site. I am NOT talented enough to be able to make it look like hers. In fact, I'll be lucky if it looks like it's supposed to on the original pattern. (Just saying...)

So, I've got projects that need completing and I've got projects waiting to be started. Now, if I can only find the time to sit down long enough to complete something!

Ya'll be good and be productive! ;-)

Friends...

We all have friends. Some of our friends know us pretty well. Others not so much. I Know lot's of people. I've moved around ALOT in my lifetime and I've met really fabulous people. Some I have kept in contact with and others have become "Christmas Friends". You know, those people you used to hang out with all the time and then moved away and now rarely talk to except at Christmas when you send a letter with the card telling them all about what's been going on the past year. One of the things I've learned is that things change. No matter how much you want things to stay the same, if you move, things change even more. Like your relationship with people you call friends. You may even still consider yourselves friends but the relationship changes because you are no longer physically in close proximity with each other. And, I suppose that's normal. I don't like it, but I accept it.

So having said that. I received an award from a long time friend and now also a blogger friend. She is a friend that tends to see only the good in me. Although, she has to work pretty hard sometimes to ignore my uglies! Anyhow, this is the award it is

The Lemonade Stand Award

This award is given out for bloggers that show attitude and gratitude. This award was given to corinnea' from Dee both of these ladies have great blogs and for those of you who have not been to visit them... you should! So these are the rules that come with the Award.

1. You have to put the Lemonade logo on your blog or within your post.

2 Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.

3. Link the nominees within your post.

4 Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

There is no obligation to continue this if you'd rather not. No pressure. Just fun and sharing.

I think it's fun to get to meet new people even in blog land. I read several blogs and I don't always comment on all of them but I enjoy each and every one. I've learned through all my travels that there are so many wonderful people out there and even if I'm not moving around any more I still get to meet people through this blog environment. The best thing is... I continue to make new friends through the blog AND keep in contact with my old friends too! How fabulous is that!

Alas, I don't have 10 bloggers I can share this with. I have 4 that I would love to extend this special award to. And then there are three more that have already been taken by Ms. Chaos herself. And even with those, I am still sadly left with 8 people that I could have shared with. So. There you have it. A stunted attempt at sharing this wonderful award. Perhaps in another year or so, I will have 10 people who will read my post's off and on and comment every now and then. But until then... I'll just say my thank you to my good friend Corinnea.

Thank you.

Blah with a twist

Okay, so today is a nothing sort of day. Not, as in, nothing to do, sort of day, 'cuz there is plenty of stuff I need to do. More like a "it's yucky outside and I'm not feeling motivated to do anything creative or energetic" kind of day. Ever have one of these days?

So, instead of doing any of the gazzillion thing's that I should do, I am going to go to my friend Ann's house and I am going to soak in her hot tub with her on this dreary, chilly, misty morning! She has made me her hot tub buddy! I mentioned one time about how I used to go to the spa in Wiesbaden, Germany and I especially loved going to their mineral pool! Part of the pool was inside the building and then you could swim through a tunnel and come out to the outside. The best thing about this was on a winter afternoon when the snow was falling and the sun was trying to peak out behind clouds, you could laze around in the warm mineral pool and watch the snow falling down around you. That was awesome! Anyhow, she has invited me ever since to hot tub with her on cold chilly nights and in the mornings after a work out. We still haven't managed to hot tub when it's snowing outside. But I'm sure that will happen someday. This morning it'll be just what I need. A good bubbly soak with a good bubbly friend! Actually, she's more of a calm, soothing type. Not so much "bubbly". Although, she does have her moments... But, I digress.

Today, I go and hot tub. Then come home and do all those things that need doing. Or at least, attempt it. ;-)

Hope your day is more.... more. (sorry, couldn't think of anything else.) ;-/

Holy Mackeral!

Where has the time gone? It's already into the middle of January and I feel as if I've gotten nothing done at all!

We have driven to Wichita for Uncle Ernie's funeral. It was sad but happy too. He was such a good man. Fun loving, and always friendly to everyone! He was very easy to be around and he and Aunt Betty were so good to me. And the very first time I met them I was engaged to their nephew and they welcomed me into their home and they made me feel like part of the family right away. Aunt Betty seems to be holding up really well. But then, Uncle Ernie is now happy and whole with our Lord. And she is pleased that he is no longer is suffering. His funeral was an opportunity for all the family to get together and celebrate his life and all that he's accomplished while here on earth. And he accomplished much! But the best thing was his family. His children and grandchildren are healthy, happy caring people.

that's due to his and Aunt Betty's dedication to them. It was wonderful to be able to visit with them. We ended up staying in Wichita an extra day because of the weather. As it was, it was pretty sktchy in places! This was taken towards the end of our trip back. The night before this road was closed. Imagine how bad it was that night?! The drifts were working their way across the street very quickly. We were very glad to make it home.

Last weekend we drove down to Manhattan. My honey went to help paint the staircase at his parents house. We also were able to visit baby girl and her fiance. And while my honey was painting, I went to the yarn shop and bought some yarn. And... no, I didn't "need" more yarn. But I bought it anyway!

Monday night we had a little birthday celebration for our old neighbor's daughter who happens to have the same birthday as baby girl. And since baby girl couldn't be with us, we had a dinner party with neighbor friend and her girl. I even made paisely cake for her just as I would have for baby girl, had she been here! I made yummy home made ravioli in a creamy tomato sauce for dinner and neighbor girl said she liked it. Okay so this picture really doesn't do the dish

justice! (Pam! I wish I could take photo's like you! You'd have made this plate look positively scrumptious!) So, anyhow, it tasted really good and there was enough left over for my honey to take to work the next day. So, he was happy.

I didn't take a picture of the paisley cake. It looked wonderful, even better than the ravioli, the cake was all chocolaty with fluffy white whipped cream filling that had flecks of peppermint candy in it! When we pulled the cake out of the fridge we all got a little jumpy with excitement and I started cutting right into it! No thought of picture taking at all. I was doing good not to drool right onto the table cloth!

So, today, I finally managed to change out the sign at our church. I'm supposed to do it every Monday, but there for a while, getting to the sign meant that I had to wade through nearly thigh high snow drifts. So, I hadn't done the sign. My hone, being the sweetie that he is, blew out the drift so I could get to the sign. Well, once he did that, I had to go and do it. Didn't I? So even though the drifts have been gone for the past week. I only just today finally got it done.

Also today, I picked up my violin! It's all restrung, new bridge and other minor things done to it and it's ready to be played! Now, all I have to do is make the final arrangements to find an instructor who will be willing to teach an old woman how to play!

So, there are tons more things that I've done, like knitting and crocheting and buying a car... (yup a new car is what I'm driving now! I'll post about that another time. For now, I'm sure ya'll are about done with this post! I know I am! ;-)

I'll close for now and I hope to be back soon. Very soon! I still have photo's to show of the felted slipper.

Hope this months hasn't gone flying by for you as quickly as it seems to be going for me! Enjoy your january!

Ann's Crocheted Shrug

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I posted any needlework or crafts or food for that matter, on my blog. It's not because I'm not doing anything. Okay, so, mostly that would be the reason. But also because I forget to take pictures of what I make. Most of the time I'm so excited to have actually finished something that I forget the picture taking process and give the item away. But, this time, I was able to get a picture taken of an item I made and had already given away.

This is Ann's Shrug. I crocheted it and it turned out not so bad. Good enough that I was able to give it to the intended person, which was Ann. So first it's a shawl...

Then it's a shrug.

It turned out pretty good. I liked the fact that you can still have the use of your hands while you wear this shawl. AND, I liked the fact that it was a crochet pattern (I am better at the crochet than I am with the knitting!)

Now, I have other projects in the works. This is one of them.

I know it looks like a terrible mess, but it will be something quite cool! It will be a pair of felted slippers. It's Melynda Bernardi's pattern for French Press Felted Slippers which can be found on her Etsy shop.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/FrenchPressKnits

Sorry, I can't for the life of me figure out (right now) how to make that link up to the site. My brain is absolute mush right now.

So anyhow, I'm knitting this and I have one more flap to make and then I'll be putting it together. Hopefully I'll have it all completed by the end of the week. (We will be going to KS. for a couple of days this week and I won't have time to work on it until we get back.)

Then, I also have a little boys hat that I need to get started on. As well as a little girls cowl. I was searching high and low for a cute and fun crocheted hat for a little boy. Something I could put little jingle bells on. But I haven't found anything yet. Anyhow suggestions or help from any of ya'll would be greatly appreciated! (hint-hint) ;-)

So, that's it from me for today. Oh, by they way, we got an additional three inches of snow this morning! Woo-hoo, I say! Boo, my honey says.

What do ya'll say?

Weekend Cat Blogging

He's no fool.....

He'll sit back until the weather is more to his liking.....

This is my post for Weekend Cat blogging hosted by www.sidewalkshoes.blogspot.com.

Boy I hope I did this right.... ;-/