Hello, Sweetie!

Hello bright and shiny friends!  Maybe you don't feel so bright and shiny today or maybe you have something you need to do right now that you're overthinking.  I should be off to the grocery store because three grands are coming for dinner tonight and I need weird things like olive oil, cookie dough, Halloween candy, shower cleaner, ect.  I guess I don't need that much but I want to get there before the lunch crowd.  We haven't been buying near as much food lately because our kids and grands are at the "busy go, go, go" stage and we don't do as many family meals as we once did.  We're still chubby but we really don't eat as much in a day as we did when we were younger and hungrier.  It's interesting the way that happens.  I do LOVE grown up grands, though.  Noah is ten and James looks like a teenager!  They are our youngest grands and now we have TWO great grandsons who are one year old and a newborn!  Two fine boys who live up north.  The youngest is just eight days old.  JOY!

I always get itchy to decorate for Christmas about this time of year.  We're hosting a Halloween chili feed for the girls and their girls (and the hubbies) so I can't decorate yet.  Kelli is hosting Thanksgiving so I can start Christmas-ing sooner!  Hooray!  I bought a new doormat for the front door and some plastic placemats for the table below (this photo is last year when I used a mish mash of placemats on a reindeer quilt).  I gave Sophie the hutch in the corner.  Isn't it fun to give away furniture?  As much as I love rearranging furniture, I am aware that we have too much furniture.  We've lived here thirty-five years!  Our house isn't that big!  It's too full.  And then there are all the dishes. That's another story.

I am knitting two big Christmas stockings for a friend's two new grandbabies. The whole family has matching stockings and two new babies were born this year.  I won't agree to any more for future grands she welcomes, but because the grandmother who made the originals went to Heaven, I helped her this year.  I don't usually knit something big with a deadline.  Yikes! I am just starting on the second one and I've already knit so much!  Oh well.  They will be lovely.

I'm teaching high school homeschoolers one day a week.  We do writing and literature. They are absolutely wonderful individuals and they work well as a group. It does require planning and prep.  My Bible study that I do with Sondra meets every other week but prepping for that takes time, too.  I love the little circles I am honored to be a part of, so I shall carry on.

What have you been doing that is an additional responsibility?  Maybe it's running errands for someone who needs help or maybe it's paying more attention to your husband or friends because they are around more.  Maybe you are getting outdoors more and letting the morning sun shine on your eyeballs.  Are you sleeping more or less?  We are sleeping more.  I think Bill has lots of sleep to catch up on because for twenty-two years he lived with jet lag.  I think I'm catching up from years of sleeping shorter due to all the coffee I drank!  Ha!

I love the Holy Season of Advent so much.  On one hand I am festooning the house with swags, garlands, and bunting and then I remember that holy is quieter and I want to create some small altars around the house to ponder God's promises and His great GIFT of His Son.  It's all about "the people who walked in darkness have seen a great LIGHT".  So, that means candles, devotions, singing praise and worship, and cherishing the precious ones that are in our sphere.  

As soon as I finish the Christmas socks I want to try to knit a little Saint Nicholas without a pattern.  I think I can do it.

I pray YOU are experiencing supernatural peace as a free gift, not something you specifically ask for, but the Creator and Savior wants to give to you.  

I shall go upstairs, make the bed, get dressed, and scurry to the supermarket.  Thank you for popping by. You're nice.

 

All the Happy Things to Do

 

Hello blog reading friends!  I can't believe that I haven't posted since March!  I hope you are all well!  

Plum Cake is now a toe shoe ballerina and she is the one with the vibrant red hair.  It's so fun to watch her dance!  

 

Kelli, Clara, Millie and I went up to see my mom in Washington. Millie braided my hair.  I wish I could do it myself, but having braiding granddaughters is so nice! 

 

I'm making socks for our anticipated great grandson due in early October!  It's a boy!  I feel so rich to have two great grandsons! 

Guess who is ten years old?  Isn't he handsome?

I ordered this little book shelf and it's already full of books.  This was the first day just after our grandson-in-law assembled it and now it's overflowing.  How does that happen?

It's so hot here that being outdoors isn't fun.  Boo!  I'm hoping the weather predictors are right and that we receive some rain very soon.  I have few flowers and our lawn is very brown. It really is a drought.  Sad.

School starts soon!  I am teaching writing and literature to a group of home schooled teenagers with four of the granddaughters in the group.  I'm excited about it. It will just be once a week so that seems like just enough.

What are you up to?  I've been reading and writing, knitting and drawing, cleaning and cooking - all that bouncy stuff!

Thank you for popping by! 

 

March and Knitting

 

Hello friends!  I'm finally here and it's already March, the blowing month!  We began our March with snow (finally!) I was beginning to feel like I was NOT getting a winter and I really LOVE winter for the most part.  I'm praying for some good spring snows up ahead.  Kelli, Bryan and I went up to Washington to see my dear mama and we enjoyed some valley views. It's not quite tulip time yet but the gardens did have some tulips for sale.  

 

 

I finished some socks for Christie, my sister in law Judy and now I am knitting a pair for Scott our son in law.  I also made a flamingo for my baby niece.   

I finally finished this blue sweater and I gave it to Jenny.  I look very sleepy in the photo below. Oh, and I knit a little gray hat for a two year old we know who is undergoing cancer treatment.
 

 

 

I found a bunny cup and a bowl on Etsy.  When I was a child we each had a bunny cup but something happened to mine so when I saw this one and the thick bowl, I ordered it.  I have new bunny dishes, but I wanted old ones, too.  Soon (in the next few years) I should weed out many of my dishes.  Have you done that?  It's amazing how many dishes we have.

Are you doing any kind of special something for Lent?  I'm sometimes listening to an app and sometimes reading Lent writings.  Maybe I'll make some sort of countdown thing so I can eagerly anticipate Easter like I want to.

When we were at my mom's I found an old cookbook from the Josephine Sunset Home.  Many church people had contributed recipes. I found a sourdough starter recipe and I shall mix some up today.  

I like going for neighborhood walks when I have some books to deposit in the Little Library up by the park, so because I have two good books to drop there, I shall go for a walk now.

Are you excited about March? Why?

I hope you are well and peaceful.  

Good January

Hello friends and happy January!  I am simmering rosemary, lemons, and vanilla on the stove and it really does smell like Williams-Sonoma (the kitchen store where you can buy all kinds of really expensive kitchen ware).  I don't like too much rosemary on my food but I do like the way it looks and smells.

Remember I said I would show you my napping nest?  I got the fuzzy big blanket for Christmas but it was delayed so it came yesterday.  Woo hoo!  I have my nest all ready for myself.  Later this afternoon I will try to take a good nap.  

We've had very sunny and warm weather (snow is supposed to come tomorrow) but we've still eaten chili.  Yummy!

I baked almond flour bread from a mix.  It was very tasty!

I wake up at around this time at night quite often (I go to bed very early) and sometimes it takes me a long time to get back to sleep.  The best thing to do is to get up and make relaxing tea, but sometimes I just stay put and pray for people.  Do you?

 Kelli has given me four cute mice.  I decided to hang them in a bunting-like manner.  Isn't this little lady cute?  Do you like her purse?

I've been painting (like a child- I don't know much about the correct way of watercolor painting).  I love art supplies so much.  Today might be the day when I move all my art supplies to a big surface and simply leave them there so that I can dabble in creative endeavors when the mood strikes.  It will take me a while to fill a sketch book, but that's okay,

This is where Tim sometimes naps.  There is a heating pad under the quilt and he stays nice and snug.  

It took me days and days to remove all of the Christmas decor but it was enjoyable.  I hung different curtains and moved quilts around.  I found new slipcovers for my old tattered wing chairs.  I decided to keep the tree decor up in the dining room because the trees are winter-y and cute.  So, everything looks cheerful and bright.

What are you up to?  How are you filling your days?  Any different than say, five years ago?

Bill and I were talking this morning about how when we try to create heaven on earth we are really just longing for our heavenly HOME.  Do you agree?  Jesus told us that in the world we would have trouble but HE has overcome the world. So, even though I get pretty consumed with my physical surroundings I want to remember that the best is yet to come.

Let's be still.

Festive Stuff

The winds here have been mighty and amazing!  We don't have snow so we cannot jump in our sleighs with our friends and glide through the drifts.

Have you made candy and cookies? Do you have candy canes on your tree?

I made a hat for my dear friend Sondra!  I have two pair of socks that are almost off the needles.  I really want to snuggle into my hobbit hole and knit, knit, knit.  

Kelli and the girls and another friend and her daughter went to the castle at Glen Eyrie where the Navigators headquarters  lives.  We had tea in the castle.  The most interesting feature of the tea experience was the green tea/green pea soup!  It was very tasty.  The tea tray offerings were different, too.  No cookies, just funky little tarts and other bite size somethings. 

Yesterday some of us in our Bible study met together at my favorite chapel and read and sang together.  It was very cold in the chapel but our raised voices of song and words of scripture were lovely!  What a sweet Advent blessing!

My friend Kim taught me how to make candles and told me where to get the supplies.  I made soap and candles for my Bible study friends. They were a bit messy but next time I will do better!

I am rich in lemons.  My sweet comrade sent me lovely California fruit!  

And here is the bird gumdrop tree.  You can buy gumdrop trees with more branches and gumdrops do look like sugar plums when they are on a tree.

Yesterday I did not feel as festive as I would like, but today I do. I think I will buy some branches at the grocery store this morning, give them a fresh clip and place them around the house.  Yesterday I put fresh rosemary, a lemon, and vanilla in a pan and brought them to a simmer. It smelled very sweet.  I must bake cookies for my book group tonight.  I will put chocolate chip cookie dough in small muffin tins and when they come out of the oven I will place a small Reese's Peanut Butter cup in the middle of each one. I have made sugar cookies once and I'll make them again before Christmas Eve.  

I am waiting for my new pink eyeglasses to come.  They are taking forever!  

Thank you for checking on me!  Big HUG!

 

Curtains All Around the House

Yay for the first of December 💓 It's cheerful around here with lots of red and white.  Do you change your mind regarding Christmas decorations from year to year? 

We had a yummy Thanksgiving meal.  Kelli made the gravy and it was perfect.  Soph's husband carved the turkey and helped serve pie.  

I have been tired for five days.  Today after an eye appointment (new glasses - pink!) I came home and had leftover turkey for lunch and ice cream for dessert.  I think I'll make mac and cheese for dinner.  I was watching a YouTube vlog and the vlogger mentioned that thing in Norway (and probably Sweden) when you make 8 kinds of cookies (or is it 7 kinds?) and I thought that sounded like a nice idea.  I need more organic flour though.  I did what Granny Marigold suggested and took my French bread dough out of the bread maker before it baked.  It was very moist and floppy but it was very tasty, so that's what I will do from now on.  Anyway, will you make 8 kinds of Christmas cookies?  

This is my hot water bottle holder. It's very nice and warming.

 I found my red checked garage curtains in my Christmas boxes.  They are very faded on the side that faced the sun but the other side looks good so I hung them around the house.  I like to use tension rods and put curtains everywhere. It seems very forest-y to me, cozy.

More Christmas curtains and a quilt for a tablecloth!

I moved the weird yellow rocking chair into the kitchen.  Do you have a chair in your kitchen?

On Small Business Saturday I HAD to go to the yarn store because I don't want them to EVER close their doors.  I might make a yellow hat so I can wear sunshine on my head.

Last night Jeff's family came for Advent. We sang and read scripture.  Prayed.  It was good.  I did pull out my Advent books today and I might read them tonight if I can keep my eyes open👵

I ordered gumdrops for my gumdrop tree.  Last year I neglected to put the drops on the tree.  I am not buying lots of poinsettias this year.  I was going to, because I always do, but I don't want them after Christmas, so it seems wasteful.  

This December I want to think about how glad I am that I believe in Jesus, the Savior of the world.  I can't imagine life without Him.

I hope your December is off to a peaceful start.  

Thank you for popping in!