One-Twelfth Gone

Here it is the first of February.  

My poor husband is outside in 5 degree weather moving snow, in the wind.  He started out with the tractor that has no cab, but it is so cold, he went to get the skid loader that has a cab and moved snow at the shop, before coming back to do a few more neighboring driveways.

You know, he really wouldn't have to do that.  It's freezing cold out there. Yes, we get money for it, but not very much. Some of the work if for favors received.  He does this because he is a nice guy and he likes driving equipment.

After several days of 40 degree highs, then 50 degree highs, then 60 degree highs, and then a 70 degree high day.  We were loving it.  

Now we have plunged back into the arctic regions and the start of a new month.  

Going back to January, however, I have a few stories to tell.

I go take care of  the boys on Wednesdays this semester while my daughter goes to class.  She's had a few volunteer days where the little boys come to me.  

My lovely huge picture window in the front of my house is a great place to view the birds, the neighbors, the sunset and the weather.  The kids always liked to watch for Dad to come, and the grandkids like to watch the outside, too.  

However, it complicates picture taking with all the light coming in.  But, I take them anyway.  We had a table set up by the window to do puzzles on and the boys loved to be up on it.

Barry

 Christian...

...makes a really cute lump.

I know this photo was in my day by day.  This picture shows the whole yellow mirror that matches my yellow wall,  I told that story here (the last day.)

How much I love my sunrises.  We had a rainbow sunrise this morning.

I was cleaning out a closet the other day.  I was looking for my 80's prairie blouse with the side button and ruffles that was in the dress up box.  I found it, cleaned out the closet, threw out a bunch of the dress up clothes, and made room in there for some of the things lying around the basement.  

I also found this: 

There is a story behind this skirt and it is a bittersweet memory.  I was 13 years old and "everyone" was wearing long dresses to the Christmas concert that year and I wanted one.  I wanted one badly.  And I made a nuisance out of myself begging for one.  

It was the first time I made my mother cry.

(The only other time that happened,  I also wanted something really bad, and I played dirty pool on that one and it isn't a pleasant memory.)

I didn't understand then that Mom really didn't have the money to get me a new dress.  She obviously didn't even have the money to buy material to make one.  This material was some leftover in her stash.  She used a pantyhose top for the elastic and Velcro instead of a zipper.  

The sweet thing is, I loved this skirt.  I was so happy to have a long dress to fit in with the other girls in my class.  I wore it proudly to that concert with my homemade curls that soon fell out.  (My hair didn't take well to curls.) 

A good rule of thumb is to only keep things that make us feel good.  I'm not sure whether this falls in that category or not.  My mom made this for me out of the best that she had, and I loved it. 

Our garage still looks nice. (I cropped out the mess at the back of the garage since we don't have shelves in yet.)  And so does the load of wood for the fireplace. Jim went wood-cutting with the our neighbor.

The afterglow is just as pretty as the sunset sometimes.  

Day by Day--December

The Last One

I love these day by days but, it is taking an increasing amount of time to sort and crop these photos, and I don't want to take it.  

I also want to do some other things with the blog next year.  The most important being doing it.  

I've really spent the last year self-medicating with knitting and it is time to be doing some other things.  

This month some of the photos are taken for their story value and remembrances from other years.

December

7. Pearl Harbor Day--Lest we forget.

8. I've worn out these slippers, my toes are nearly poking through.  I love these little ballerina slippers, the best thing for wearing in the house, year round.

9. New baby afghan

10. My baby is a college student!  Of course, she has been one for several months.  I was really digging for a photo.

11. Kindergarten/Preschool Christmas Concert. Zane is in the lavender shirt

12 Mousetrap.  I loved this game as a kid.  It was all green plastic back then. I used to set it up in the upstairs bathroom.  I seem to remember playing a lot of games and reading comics in that bathroom. Some of those things I probably wasn't supposed to be doing.  

13. Home is where the story begins.  A gift from a very good friend.
14. Soap in wool.  Interesting. It scrubs well, but the jury is still out on this one.
15.This is a mini meat grinder.  I remember my mom often getting hers (full size) out, clamping it to the bread board and grinding meat for sandwiches, she used it for other things, too.
16. Who wouldn't want a mug with grandchildren on it!
17. Hole reinforcers.  These are really old, from when I kept lots of stuff in binders.  I just used them to help my 27 year old cookbook, and to make cute tags.
18. This says "Auntie Shelley".  Tiny thank you cards are cuter than any other kind.
19.  New scarf pinned with a pin I made from old family buttons.
20. A frosty morning.
21. With our humongous potato crop this year, I have rediscovered hashbrowns.  I have also discovered that cooking them in an old electric skillet with a broken handle is difficult so I am retiring this very useful wedding gift, and bought a new one.
22. A sunrise is the most beautiful when there are a few clouds.
23. Lynette is home again. Complete with personal coffee pot.  I think going to college has corrupted her.
24. Venison pot pie, homemade by said daughter.
25. This really isn't a very good photo.  But, what was in the skillet was very good.  Fried potatoes and eggs was a common Sunday evening meal, one that went back a generation.
26. This was a pinterest try.  Cinnamon roll pancakes, not easy, but doable and pretty good.
27. SPAM, I know people scorn this stuff.  I remember eating and enjoying it as a kid.  Mom would slice it, spread it with pineapple and broil it. My sister-in-law says the only kind to by the spam brand.
28. Snow again.  But the colors that morning were wonderful. It was nice to see the sun after many gray weeks.
29. This is a new sudoku game with colored balls.  The warning label says, "Toy contains a small ball, Not for children under 3 years of age."
30. I've got a daughter ready for world travel.
31. Hot cocoa mix makes a great gift.  It's the way I sog up most of my treats.  Thank you SIL.

January
1. Chocolate frosted cookies.  They are little mini fudge frosted cakes.  They were also my favorite cookies of all time.  I ate more chocolate chip cookies, but they aren't as time consuming.  Sadly, they don't taste the same, but they are my dad's favorite, so I made a batch when my folks were here for a visit.
2. Lynette was getting bored--therefore lemon meringue pie.
3. Aunt Inez's doll has found her way to us.  (I made the dress long ago to match a little girl's dress)
4. Celebrating birthdays, Lorene and Zane. This present was useful and loved, albeit non-traditional.  Taco dip, complete with chips.
5. Another sunrise, but such beautiful colors!
6. These cold days I have been glad for wool slippers,  Holey ballerina slippers have been retired until spring or a new pair is found.
7. This violin has hung on the wall about my piano for about 20 years.  After my sister-in-law painted on her visit over Christmas vacation, I gave it a new home. Outside my house.
8. Crocheted kitchen towel holder.  It works, the towel doesn't fall off the stove handle.  Otherwise, it is kind of an "meh" project.  Needs refined somehow,.
9. Jim has cut a hole through the garage wall to the outside.  It's a project he's wanted to do for a long time.  The door was put in the same day.
10. The yellow mirror used to be white.  I painted it in honor of the freshly painted walls.  The doll has a story. A very long time ago, when a little girl was about 5 years old, she wanted her daddy to take her to Hobby Lobby to get a gift for mommy's birthday. They looked all over the store for a "glass doll".  She had seen one another time in that store.  They asked for help, and finally after much fruitless looking they were getting ready to take their disappointment home when they passed this doll on display.  "There it is!", my daughter yelled. It was the last one left and they took it home and gave it to me for my birthday.  I love it for all those reasons, and especially since it is a blonde, green-eyed doll.  Just like the dolly that picked it out for me.  Her name is Ivy Lynette.  Lynette chose the Lynette part, and Nathan chose the Ivy part.  I just wish I knew where his head was at that time.  It seemed such an unexpected choice.

Another Year Older

I was reading the other day how important it is to sort your digital photos often. Presumably so they don't start multiplying in the hard drive like rabbits.  

 The article gave sorting options and advice and reminded us to delete the fuzzy ones and those that are "seriously, just how many pictures do you need of that one person?"

I really do try to every month or so, to download the photos off my cameras, sort them into folders by date, rename them something besides DSC546941641321, and delete the ones that are out-of-focus and too much like the other 43 I have of that event.  

Sadly, I usually keep about 40 of them.  

Zane turned six on the last day of the year and his mama turned another year older on the 3rd.  

So, we had a party.  He asked for angel food cake long ago for his birthday and Lorene was all for it too,  unfrosted.  There was a problem, however, how should I stick birthday candles onto an nfrosted cake.  I mean, Mamas can get by without needing to blow out a great many candles, but 6-year olds just have to, for the photo opportunities if nothing else.

So, I made a layer cake.  I used my old easy bake oven pan, (I only have one, so I had to do the layers one at a time.), frosted it, decorated it with a skate boarding Lego man and stuck in the candles.  Voila!

(In a later photo you will see an unfrosted angel food cake in the background.)

Here is where the saving of too many photos comes in.  

I don't have a very good camera.  I have one that takes pretty good still photos and has a great zoom and I have another that can be depended on to take fairly good photos of real life,  Perhaps if I left the pretty good camera on 'action' all the time the boys are around I would have better luck, but then half the time the color is off.  Even though I used my better camera in these shots, there is often a fuzzy spot, but the rest of the photo is good.  

 Zane is "reading" his card.  I like this one because he looks like such a big kid.

 Look at Zane grab the tissue out with exuberance.

I like this one because Barry is talking to his Mama. 

And this one because of the smile on Zane's face. 

And the smile on Christian's face. 

And the two boys together.  

And Zane looking over to see what Mom has, (of course, with Zane whatever he has is fuzzy.) 

And Zane's smile in this one, too. 

And Lorene's pleasure with her plate of taco dip... 

...even though her smile is better in this one. 

Watch the balloon.

It's bigger. 

We have to have the candle blowing ceremony. 

Playing games, together, 

and alone. 

That boys loves his Legos, and I love my photos.

A New Year

I like to look at a new year as a new beginning.  I'm always wanting to make resolutions and be a better person or do better things.  

Resolutions seem to be made to be broken.  I don't like making resolutions in January anyway.  In January you're still trying to figure out what happened to the last year and to remember to write the new year's date on your checks. It makes more sense to make them in February.  

I made no resolutions this year, but I thought about a few goals I would like to achieve.  

Like these: playing the piano; less knitting and more work; writing more letters and emails; and more blogging.  

I want to blog to record my life, It's a necessary thing to me, but the perfectionist in me seems to hold me back and I get anxious and then I don't want to blog at all and then I get anxious because I'm not blogging.  

I need to find a balance here. 

That would be a good goal, too.

That being said, let us start the blog.

 A new year with new things and loved traditions.

New

 I took a photo of the first sunrise of the year.

One of the things I love about our place is the east facing kitchen windows.  Every morning I look out to see the day and watch the sunrise.  It is different every morning, if not where the clouds are, then where the sun is. 

Tradition

My folks came to visit soon after the new year.  They always come to celebrate Lorene and Zane's birthdays which happen at this time.  

I didn't do any goal fulfilling things at this time, I was on vacation, and a very good one it was I enjoyed the whole time. 

We played games, we put puzzles together, We sat around visiting and reading.  We ate lemon meringue pie and chocolate frosted cookies.  It was too cold to want to go outside that week so we stayed in.  

New

 Lynette got her passport that week.  She is going to Vancouver over spring break because she worked really hard writing an essay on why she wants to study overseas and won a place for the trip.  

New

 Spaghetti squash needs to become a staple for our meals.  Not for me, but for Jim.  

New

A daughter made lemon meringue pie with no help (except advice) from mom. 

New

A photo of me for a change with a Barry-boy that will never be this age again. 

So, here is my first blog post of the new year.  Will anyone really care that Jim's loves spaghetti squash and we put together a puzzle?

Maybe they won't, but I think I will.

The Year Ends

This was a very good year.  

I am looking back on it and remembering all the things I did, some of the things I didn't do , some things I wish I had done.  

I'm glad I did my day by day posts, I'm glad I had a good garden.  I'm glad I had vacations and visits and company.  

I'm glad that I had everyday days.

I want more of them.

It has been so cold this fall heading into winter Jim hasn't done much work.  They don't work Fridays in the winter which meant long weekends at home for projects and enjoying family visits.  

We started that vacation with our daughter coming back home from college.  Even if she didn't come from very far, there is a familiar coat hanging on the hooks.

Jim's sister came to visit and she has been longing to paint the living room so that was in the plan, but first we had all three boys during mom's volunteer time. 

Those lower shelves have two baskets that hold my cookie cutters and various other small tools and trinkets, and make a lovely noise when dumped and great play toys as well.

  

 I was glad for the chance to take everything off the walls and make a fresh start.  I have wanted to paint that mirror forever, and finally got around to it with the painting fever going on.

Lynette's choice for a holiday treat were these cinnamon roll pancakes that are making their way around pinterest.  They were pretty easy to make, but we had a hard time with the melted butter and cinnamon in the bag.  At first it was too hot to hold, and then after cooling was too stiff to squeeze nicely onto the pancakes.  And the taste?  Only ok.  

Jim's sister brought us Spam for a treat.  I know people make fun of it.  We ate a lot of it when I was a kid.  I know I liked it then.  She says buy the real thing or else,

(you will regret it)

I made cut-out cookies to take to Lorene's for supper on Christmas day.  I haven't made any for a few years.  They were a family tradition when I was a kid, and when my kids were little. They were raised with soft cookies and some of these must have been thinner than others.  Who wouldn't want to find this note among the cookies? 

Christmas day was a nice day.  A beautiful day for the time of year and since we've had more below freezing days than not since the middle of November.  The temperature was in the 40s so Zane got his birthday present early and had one good days of jumping before the temps plunged again.  

December 29th.  A lovely fall of snow, but after my folks got here the next day, the wind blew all that snow around.  I'm glad I have a built in snow removal system.  

Mother/Daughter lunch date with our favorite.  Lo Mein.

Day by Day--November

I love this reminder of my days.

I'm not sure I want to do it another year.  I need another idea.  

And some self-discipline.

Some of these photos are rather lame.

The photos of people this month aren't very good. The main reason it that I don't have a very good camera, another is that I could remember to put the setting on 'active', the last reason, is those boys are active.  

November

2. Lynette's first pumpkin pie, using prepared pie crust (mine), all by herself.

3. 'Family' garland that came with a crafty weekend invitation with a special friend.

4. Pretty much self-explanatory.

5. This doctor's appointment marks the start of a battle on a decade's old plantar's wart.

6. Sunrise, I know, again.  The sunrise every morning is one of my favorite things about this place.

7. This is what happens when you try to get a 3-year old and a 1-year old in the same place at the same time to look the same way to get a photo,

8. I love my big wooden spoon.  I love how water and big spoons entertain toddlers for a long time.

9. My daughter's dorm.  We pick her up there every Sunday morning.

10. A box is one of the best toys ever for pre-schoolers.

11. Snow!! It's only November!!

12. The camera is in the hands of a one-year old!

13. Painting fabric paint on the bottom of my felted slippers is supposed to keep them from wearing out.

14. 8 degrees seems so cold for November.

15. This lovely card and candy from a dear friend on our crafty weekend.  (and where are the photos from the crafty weekend?, who knows? I think I was too busy playing not clicking.)

16. Now it's -3 degrees!!!  I am not ready for January weather in November.

17. Our favorite card game. 

18. This photo really belong to the crafty weekend, but I'm scrambling for photos in a few spots. This house is as cute inside as out. And I even got to stay there and look all around.

19. Sunrise through the apple tree.  I just love to see the sky on fire.

20. I forgot to take a photo of my actual sewing machine that was deemed unfixable in the hands of the repairman.  The tension knob was broken, and the stitch length adjuster (which had never worked properly) was frozen and broke. So, it is no longer with us. It was about 50 years old.  I am saddened, this is the kind of machine I learned to sew on, mom remembers sewing my baby clothes on it.  My machine was my sister-in-laws graduation present.  It was used then.  

21. Barry is in one of those cloth bins.  

22. I love the mindless watching of these bubble thingys.  I remember when I was a kid I would watch the bubble rise in a bottle of Cornhusker Lotion. It was thick and glutinous and worked just like these things.  I wonder if either are ever around anymore.

23. What I've been reading.  This is a good synopsis of the events running up to and through D-Day.  It also is a stark reminder of just how close we came to losing everything.

24. Love this scarf.  No pattern, just a picture and some measurements. One daughter's request.

25. I seriously love little boys in little mittens drinking from little mugs.

26. The boys decorated cupcakes at home for Thanksgiving while we were in Indiana.

27. Turkey, my favorite for thanksgiving. Except for the stuffing.

28. Covered bridge in Indiana.

29. Mississippi River Bridge.

30. I was getting desperate for filler.  It is too had to get state signs when you are going over rivers.  

December

1. Finished fancy knit baby afghan.  I love to work the patterns on these.

2. Me, by Barry. Ugh.

3. Scarf for my other daughter. Griffyndor. 

4. I closed out my safety deposit box, after months of wondering where on earth I put the second key.  I was resigned to pay for the missing key, but I found it by chance.  

5. Look very, very closely and you can see the fluttering hands over the keys.

6. 'Aren't you glad we're here to help you eat all these cookies you baked, Gramma?' Somewhere there is supposed to be a photo of the cookies we baked.  hmmm

Sigh, this didn't get downloaded on to the computer the first time around.  So, here it is.  Decorated by the illustrious company of Zane and Barry. 

Giving Thanks

I have just discovered it is past time for another day by day post.   '

I really wanted to tell my story about Thanksgiving first.  

Tell, not show, you'll find out why later.  

We went to Indiana to be with the Troyers for the holiday.  I like to take trips with my husband, we enjoy the visiting time and seeing new places.  

Seeing new places isn't nearly as exciting in late fall when everything is dull colored under cloudy skies.  And trips aren't nearly as exciting when driving through a state and a half with snowy wet roads at 31 degrees and visibility less than a mile.  

We got there unscathed, because we are old and cautious, not wanting to end up like some of those zipping past us that end up in the median later on in the day.  

It is lovely to be with new friends and to see new houses, new ideas for decorating, new traditions for the day, and eat lots of good food.

We had turkey there, just like we do at home.

It was stuffed--I haven't had that before.

We had mashed potatoes and gravy--check

Green beans with onions--we usually do that casserole with the fried onions on top.

Cheezy noodles--that was a new one but a keeper recipe anyhow.

Bread and buns with jelly and butter--check. 

What we didn't have:

black olives

sweet potatoes

corn.

We still stuffed ourselves beyond capacity, visited long around the table, washed the dishes (by hand, mind you, the dishwasher was broken), staggered into the living room and waited to be empty enough for pie.  

Now pie, that's tradition.  

We had pumpkin--I brought that.

And apple--brought that, too.

Cherry--yep, used to that.

Pecan pie--I've seen it, and only one bite ever has made it into my mouth.

Raisin--not sure about that one.  

I forgot to mention the table.  It was beautiful.  The lady of the house set it beautifully with a lovely set of dishes.  We had cheese cake in goblets, date pudding in pink depression glass bowls, sparkling grape juice in another goblet and a water glass.  

I had a lovely photograph of my table setting, but here is the only sadness of the whole trip.  When we were out driving around to see the country, on our way back, I got flustered and deleted all the pictures off my camera. 

 EVERY LAST ONE.  

(and I had no other battery for my other camera, it was at home)

There are no perfect pictures of one table setting with the turkey behind.  There is no photo of the longest covered bridge in the world.  There is no picture of the sunset that day.  

What I do have is not perfect, I took a few after the deletion, had a few on another camera and got a few off Jim's phone, but I was rather demoralized after all that.  

We really had a lovely time, we felt at home, these people fit in our lives just like...

well, I was going to say an old shoe, but that sounds kind of bad, or family, but you just take what you get there.  

Really, they are just our kind of folks.  

That's the best kind. 

This. Is. All, I. Have.

Dinner time

Beautiful dishes.

Madison, Indiana--tree city.  

The first tree grew out of the root itself, Now, they plant one.

We saw the cutest ever soap shop!

 Covered bridge, one of four in their county.

Over the Mississippi

We really did go out of state!