Year in Review 2024

 It was a year!  Why is it as we age time seems to go by faster and faster?

Our oldest daughter Trica lives in Duluth Minnesota, we saw her one time this past year and that was at Paige's wedding. 

Our youngest daughter Jen and husband Andy still live in East Grand Forks Minnesota and we spend the Winter months with them.  They have a Golden Retriever named Sadie.  Jen teaches at Northland Community College and Andy teaches at the University of North Dakota.

Savannah is doing well with her Lash business in Bemidji, Minnesota.  She has two dogs Chewy and Kalila.

Maddie is a Dental Assistant, her husband Brenton works at Bobcat. They live in Grand Forks, North Dakota and they have "The Greats"  Hey Mikey, Cee Cee and Peach.  With a new baby due in June!  They have a very busy household...two dogs Sam and Koda and a cat named Doug. 

Paige married Cole in October.  Paige is a Dental Hygienist and Cole works for a Irrigation Company. They live in Bemidji Minnesota. They have a dog named Rosie.

Noah lives in Grand Forks, North Dakota and works at Simplot, he supervises the cleaning of all the machines and the chemicals used.  Simplot processes potatoes.  Noah has a dog named Aurora. 

Adam moved to Dickinson, North Dakota. He works at Menards in the plumbing department and will attend Dickinson State University this next semester.  Adam's gal Courtney is also a student at Dickinson State University, if all goes well they will graduate about the same time. (2 years from now) Adam has a cat named Phoebe. 

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No births this year or new pet additions. 

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Deaths...we had a few. 

Far Guy's Cousin Bill Weeks  January 25  age 78

High School Friend Cyndi 

My Mother Madeline February 11 age 94

Neighbor Cheryl  July 13 age 70

My Cousin Diane August 13  age 68

My Cousin Patsy September 15 age 72

Far Guy's Cousin Tom's wife Linda October 4  age 78

My Cousin Kathy October 11  age 75 

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One of our bestest Winter friends Little Elvis died September 27, 2004 he was almost 15 years old.  He had a good life.  I miss him sleeping on his bed near the foot of my bed and as old habits are hard to break I look for him automatically when I get up during the night.  I miss him.

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Far Guy keeps busy; he woodcarves, fixes on his old car and occasionally he goes to a car show.  He is my best sous chef and helps readily in the kitchen.  His lung function is about 19% so we limit our activities to outdoor gatherings as much as possible.  He rarely goes into a store because of perfumes, aftershave and cleaning products that people/stores use. 

I keep busy, I have many crochet/craft projects in the works at all times.  I am still struggling with pain from all my ritises  I do daily exercises and should have bought stock in whoever makes Tylenol.  One day at a time. 

There you have it the big wrap up for 2024.

What will 2025 bring us?  A new Great, time spent with those we love...both humans and dogs!

Happy New Years Eve!  We have not stayed up late enough to ring in the New Year for a number of years.

Far Side

Cute cards

 Christmas Cards and letters...I enjoy them all.

This is a card I unearthed from last years Christmas cards it was too cute to recycle.  It is a card from My Nephew Jacob and his family...they live in Japan.  

I have a very talented friend that made this card!  It is a piece of fabric that is stitched around on the card...batting on the back makes the card a bit puffy and the sequins make it sparkle a bit.  

Another card that was recycled...someone put a lot of work into this card and I enjoyed it too!

And a Sadie look alike!

Son In Law Andy thought perhaps he should get a red truck so Sadie could have her photo taken! 

It is almost the New Year...seems like the days just fly by!

Far Side

17 years

 My blog is still a teenager.  I have been blogging for 17 years, I began in late December of 2007.  Those real early blogs were on another blogging platform that is now defunct.  However I have those blogs as hard copies and I may revisit a few of them on this blog next Summer...especially the ones with family history.  ( So that is now on my to do list.)

My Grandson Adam asked me ...when do you blog Grandma?  I usually blog in the afternoon or the evening and then set it to auto publish at 3 AM.  If I know I am going to be really busy I will schedule a couple ahead of time.   Yes I could be dead and still blogging...technically! 

Flowers last Summer.  I love primary colors in a pot of flowers. 

We are doing okay Up North, there was a mix up with Far Guy's Infusion, the Doctor even tried to straighten it out....with no luck.  Back home Tiff and Lynn gave him Zemaira at the Infusion Center.  Here he gets Aralast that makes him very short of breath.  The Pharmacy up here says they cannot get Zemaira. Far Guy will contact the Pharmaceutical Company himself.  Far Guy gets infusions every week to protect his lungs, he has a genetic defect...rare disorder called Alpha One Antitrypsin Deficiency. 

I am keeping busy with puzzles, reading, crocheting and petting Sadie while keeping one eye on Far Guy. No improvement in my RA pain...the injections in my back worked about ten days. I was hoping for longer...but thats life. 

I will keep blogging as long as I am able.  I enjoy reading many blogs and connecting with many people all over the world. 

 Thank you for reading!

Far Side

The Greats

 We spent some time with our Great Grandchildren better known as the Greats.

Peach are you supposed to be climbing stairs all by yourself?

Cee Cee did you know your socks don't match? 

Sisters both smiling!

All together...everyone smile. They have lots of energy...more energy than the old folks. 

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Stockings

 15 stockings were hung on the banister. 

My stocking is a little red Church in the snow and Far Guys is the Santa on a Merry Go Round Horse. 

Jen makes a pretty stockings for everyone and has extra plain ones when they forget to bring theirs.  

Maddies stocking is new this year...it is the white one with the snowman...it still needs her name.

 

Jen does not get this stitching on felt talent from me...Far Guys Maternal Grandmother ( Clara Almeada also known as Meade/Meady) loved to make Christmas Stockings.

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I love you

 The Grands each wrote I love you on a piece of paper and Jen laser cut the words out.  Each one a bit different! 

There was some discussion about the style of Noahs hair making him taller this year than his brother! 

These five light up our lives!  It was fun to spend some time with them, play some games and hear them laugh together and tell stories about each other. 

We love them too!

Far Side

Merry Christmas!

 I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Far Side

All is calm

 well maybe it is calm:)

Yes calm. 

Happy Christmas Eve Day!  All is well with us and the well loved Sadie also!  I told her yesterday that she has been in this house for two years and six days.  She is one lucky dog.

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The Cards

 Here are the Christmas cards that I made this year.  The best laid plans and all that.  I wanted a vintage looking card.  I bought the wrong cards...they were like a postcard with an envelope...oh well.  

I stamped them on the back

Then I created the front of the card on the homemade watercolor cotton paper.  

It was a process; the top card is the background, at the left trees are added and at the right I stamped Merry Christmas. 

Then it was time for the gouache...I had never used it before...but it makes great snow.  

Boy did it snow...on the cards, on the table and on me...it was a wild time. 

After the gouache was dry I glued the card to the cardstock and weighed it down...the first batch was a mess...too much glue and I had snow all over the backs of the cards....little white dots all over!  I was not happy luckily I solved that problem by using wax paper between the cards...well wouldn't you know it ...that trapped the moisture from the glue.  Trial and error...what finally worked was using less glue and wrapping each card in a Kleenex and then weighing them down.  

When you have no idea what in the world you were doing it all takes some trial and error.  

Yes all the cards are similar but different...some have more trees and some trees are tall and skinny and some are big and fat...kinda like trees in real life.  

I ordered special address labels...of get this... trees...it would be perfect.  Well those labels went back and forth stuck on a truck that kept circling between Brooklyn Park Minnesota and West Fargo North Dakota for 23 DAYS.  Go figure I finally said "enough" I will use those address labels next year and used some generic not pretty at all labels.  On the way to the Post Office to do the mailing we stopped at our mail box and guess what was there?  If you guessed my labels with trees that were ever so pretty you would be correct. 

All is well that ends well.  126 cards were mailed. 

Far Side

A smile

 This may make you smile. 

Someone was a pill when it was time to take photos.  These are our Great Grandchildren growing taller every day.  That is Peach being a pill. 

We will be seeing more of these children, by the time you read this we should be Up North for the worst of the Winter weather.   Hopefully we are all settled in by now and Sadie is keeping track of us!

This was the snow that delayed our departure by a day, the roads were crappy for traveling, and we traveled in between storms.  

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Christmas 1961

 Looking back on some old photos, this one made me smile. 

My other baby brother.  He would have been 14 months old.  I am certain he was wearing his brothers coat!  He was such a cute little guy!

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55 years

 We were married 55 years ago today.  

Here we are with our parents.  Far Guy's Mom was celebrating her 55th birthday that same day. 

It was cold...it was like -20 F  or -29 C that day.  Cold. That is what most people recall about that day. My baby brother said the other day " You remember how cold it was?  AND I had to haul gifts out of the church to the car!"

Happy Anniversary to us! 

We don't always agree, sometime we agree to disagree, but we are on the same team!

Far Side

Christmas 1952

 My Dad missed my first Christmas in 1951 because he was in Korea.  

However he was there for my second Christmas in 1952. 

Christmas 1952 the photo was taken at the farm house where I grew up. The tree was in the corner of the living room.  I am pretty sure that all that occupied that room that year was the tree and a rocking chair.  My parents purchased the farm in the Spring of 1952. 

You can see Dad's Army photo high on that shelf...he must have hung up that shelf as it was pretty tall...as was my Dad. 

My Dad was 96 years old when he died in 2022, the last of 14 children when he died on the morning of December 19th what would have been his Father's 132nd birthday. 

I miss my Dad, but I have many really good memories of him!

We had a Winter Storm when he died and today we also have a Winter Storm. 

Far Side

Christmas 1965

 In December of 1965 we went on a family vacation to see my Dad's relatives; our Aunt Anna, Uncle Stanley and their children Clark and Leann in Ontario California. 

 My parents took turns driving straight through to Utah.  My other baby brother napped on a blanket in the floor boards of the front seat, my baby brother and I slept in the back seat.

I recall being impressed with Salt Lake City and the Provo Utah area where we stayed in a Motel...the first Motel I had ever stayed in. Our Mom had packed food to eat along the way...we did not eat in restaurants.  At the California border we sat at some picnic tables and ate what fruit we had because it was not allowed into California.

Leann, Carey ( my baby brother), Jody ( my other baby brother), Clark and me

We had lutefisk at Sylvia and Gusty home ( Uncle Stanley's parents), luckily there was also roast pork, potatoes and gravy!  

We went to a Candlelight Church Service on Christmas Eve.  The day after Christmas we went to Disneyland. After we left California we headed toward Houston Texas and stopped at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and someplace that had reptile gardens (I was scared nearly to death). 

Leann and Aunt Anna.

It was a good trip, the only family vacation that I can recall. 

Far Side 

A Shopper

 My baby brother is a shopper...I think he must surf the net for many unique gifts. 

He brought over a gift for me.  A divided dish that will allow me to completely separate my food because I have Brumotactillophobia...fear of food touching! Note how everything has its own space!!

I gave it a whirl and it worked perfectly for my chicken, french fries, baked carrots and a pickle.  

Ain't life grand!

Far Side

Done

I finished the remainder of the watercolor Christmas cards on Saturday.  Far Guy signed and folded the letters and tucked them inside.  I attached the address labels and wrote a few notes inside some of them and sealed them.  I have all the stamps but I am waiting for the return address labels that should have been in the mail last Friday.  

Cards in progress

Using the homemade cotton watercolor paper was a challenge as it sucked up water to beat the band and extra drying time had to be allowed.   No two cards are exactly alike...

The final count was 126.  I am not sure I will do the homemade watercolor cotton paper again...but it did make a very pretty card.  

Pain Report: Some improvement...is it enough?  Is that it?  I knew I wouldn't get complete relief, perhaps I was expecting too much.   Before the steroid injections my pain was at a six...now it is a five at times.  I am still doing the exercises and the pain at night that came on right after the injections is now gone...so at least I can rest comfortably again. 

Far Side

Christmas Ornament 2024

 Far Guy wood carved for many days last Summer.  He carved a quilted ornament.  

He carved 109 of them.  They are carved out of basswood although a few may have been carved from pine. 

I painted on them a good long time on Fall days inbetween mulching leaves in the yard. 

I used metallic paints in all different color combinations.  Here are some in progress.

I am pretty sure that no two are exactly alike. 

I gifted a number of them this year to very special people: two of my cousins that quilt and a few bloggers that are quilters.   

There were none left to give away.  But I felt good about the people that got them!

The last of the packages with ornaments have been delivered except for my sister...hers are at the Post Office awaiting her return from vacation. 

2024 marks the 30th year that we have been making some kind of homemade ornament for relatives and friends. 

Far Side

Christmas 1978

All those old Christmas photos are treasures.  I do not recall what gifts were exchanged other than the gift of Family. 

My Mother wrote on this photo the year 1978.   My sister Julie (age 12), our daughters Trica (age 6) and Jennifer (age 3)  

Not sure what my sister was telling Jen ...probably say cheese.  Looks like Trica was in first grade as she has some missing front teeth.  Jen has a Raggedy Ann doll that I do not recall at all. 

The Nativity set in the background was ceramic and I made it one year as a gift for my Mother. The tree was in the corner of the living room in my parents home on Straight Lake.  I see tinsel and satin balls. 

I am still not sure what my Mother was thinking with the choice of carpeting! Uffda high low shag.

Christmas was always celebrated the same; church on Christmas Eve, after church my Mother would disappear and begin her last minute gift wrapping...there would be knocks at the door and neighbors would join in the festivities...my Mother invited everyone for Christmas Eve.  There was food and plenty to drink...it was always terribly cold outside...Minnesota ..freeze your butt off cold.  The next morning was church and the rest of the day was spent at my Grandparents home.

Far Side

  

Ah poop

 Poop heads anyways.  

Yesterday I went into the Clinic to get my two Cimzia shots in my belly as I am supposed to have them every 28 days for my many forms of arthritis.  After reading my Doctors notes from the last injection the nurse called a Dr..he said call the prescribing Dr ( she has moved to the great city of Bismarck, ND...good luck to all who she touches there) then the nurse  attempted to call the Rheumatologist...who was busy with patients...SO...

The nurse felt that I had a significant reaction to the last injections and I should see the Doctor in Fargo.  Good thing I have an appointment with him next week. 

I was hoping to get these injections behind me as they made me really short of breath and tired for three days. I had meals prepared and laundry done up...so the three days would be easier.  

 Well so much for having my poop in a pile. 

...other people like Doctors who had 27 days to prepare and come up with a plan...do not have their poop in a pile. 

Buggers anyways. 

My Pain was worse yesterday...might be weather related as our high was -3F or -19C.  I had to run errands in town, in and out of the car multiple times.  We were in town for four hours. ( I had a list a mile long to accomplish) 

I took two Tylenol and a gummy and had a long nap after we got home so the Christmas Card count remains at 117. 

Far Side

I drew you all a pile of poop...only the last plop is a happy plop. 

Don't forget your hat

 or mittens or scarf or extra heavy parka or below zero boots and maybe even a blankie! 

The deep freeze is here.  40 BELOW zero windchills...uffda...such is life in the frozen northland.  What happened to Global Warming?  Apparently it does not apply to Minnesota.  The only good thing about the cold weather is that it is making good ice so the fishermen can get out on the lakes without drowning. 

I heard there were sundogs and saw photos on Facebook...I was not going to venture out for a photo.

Far Guy and I attended at Virtual Craft Get Together sponsored by the VA.  They mailed us supplies.

They are Gnomes...you need the cardboard from a paper towel roll or tp roll, yarn, a pine cone and something for a nose.   The yarn is measured and then cut to length and wrapped around a small ring of cardboard from the paper towel holder, turned inside out and then you tie off the pom pom add a hanger, glue on a pine cone and a nose and VIOLA you have a cute gnome.  Perfect little project on a cold Winters day. 

Christmas card report: 10 more are done drying the total is now 117.  One more productive day and I should be done...but tomorrow is filled with many appointments and errands. 

We got the Christmas letter printed out..not without some drama...upside down a couple of times as the paper was all mixed up....must have been the Christmas Elf:)

Far Side

a little snow

 It warmed up enough to gift us with some very fine snow on top of the ice.  

Thank goodness for my other baby brother, he brought over a load of sand with his skid-steer and covered the wide icy path to the garage.  Now the new snow covers the sand but at least it is not a treacherous path anymore. 

The snow is so tiny it is hard to see in the photos.  We are headed into the deep freeze for a couple of days now. 

I am making lists and checking them multiple times.  Plus the normal laundry, cleaning and all the other fun stuff around here. 

Pain: Is somewhat less at times, but still there.  

Christmas card report:  12 more on the final dry time so the total is now 107.  I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and hope it is not a train coming. 

Far Side

Cataracts and stuff

 Far Guy had an eye appointment, he has cataracts...he wants to WAIT to get them taken care of.  I couldn't wait to have my cataract surgery.  I could see so much better.  He got a new prescription for glasses. 

We are making progress selling some of some Christmas Shiny Brites and some of the old woodcarvings that were stuck in a drawer.  Less for someone else to sort through some day. 

The Shiny Brites were especially hard to get rid of...they were like treasured old friends. 

We still have one Christmas tree and lots of decorations...not sure what for.  We are not doing much for decorating around here.  

Christmas card report: 16 more were finished drying so the total is now 95.  Yeah me...I am getting tired of watercoloring!  I usually listen/watch sappy Christmas movies while I paint. 

Far Guy has completed the Christmas letter! 

Far Side

Cemetery, pain and cards

Saturday I took some red silk poinsettias to the cemetery where my parents are buried.  It was a nice day about 40 F or 5 C and the snow was melting fast.  I had been wanting to get there before it snowed...I didn't make that deadline...but finally got er done!

The flowers look nice against the snow.  I am glad that the headstone has vases on each side...it makes flower taking easier.  Needless to say we were the only people there...but a bunch of Wild Turkeys were in the area. 

Not much snow for this time of year.  Even less now as it began to rain early Sunday morning...it will be a skating rink out there with the dreaded black ice.  36 F or 3 C was our high yesterday with those rain showers.

Pain Report: Small improvement...not enough to cheer about...yet.

Christmas card report: 14 added to the previous 65 makes 79 total...I am making progress.  A rainy day helped and I skipped my nap. 

Far Side