Twinkling Like Stars

I finally got some time to play with a new set of pens from Jen and Andy.  I was waiting to get my desk cleared off to start this project!

They are glitter pens…Copic Spica Glitter Pens that are Twinkling Like Stars!

 

I stamped some snowmen cards and played away.  I love the bright colors that sparkle.

In fact I got a little carried away with my stamping…so my work box is full again.  I cut up a bunch of heavy watercolor paper and stamped away!  Yes… I have a small box of other glittery “stuff”  you can never have too much glitter.

We had a beautiful day here in Minnesota yesterday it was 29F…it felt awsome and warm!!  It gave us hope that winter will end someday.

Disclaimer: I have not been paid for or accepted any Copic markers in exchange for this review…but if they want to send me some to try out I would welcome them!

Don’t touch anything

The TV in the living room croaked.  It had sound but no picture. We measured and made a trip to town and bought a new one.  The old one went to the garage, it might be just one small part that can be replaced when it is warmer and then we will have a spare TV.  Repairmen charge one arm and two legs to repair anything nowadays.   The service call for repair would have been almost as much as a new TV.

My other baby brother and I have been trying to go to Bingo one night a week with our Dad.  Dad enjoys Bingo very much and it is good for him to get out.  For years my Dad had a friend named Darrell who was blind and had special Bingo cards…Dad would pick him up every week to go to bingo.   Dad would see that he got back into his home safely after bingo. Now we are trying to do the same for our Dad.

I came home from bingo last week and it is my custom to walk Chance since I have my parka on.   The walk went fine, Chance did his duty and then when I went to open the screen/storm door the door handle broke…it was only –19F that night….it had endured colder weather.   I jiggled and pulled, jiggled and pushed…it was really broken.  Luckily Far Guy heard the jiggling and came to our rescue…but once we shut the storm door again we were now locked inside.  Far Guy got out a screwdriver and took off the latch so at least we could exit the house if need be.  We need a new door handle or a whole new screen/storm door…whatever.

Far Guy said “What ever you do don’t touch me.”   It is our experience that things break in threes and we wonder what/who is next?

Flowers last summer at my cousin Chuckies home.

Ongoing Projects

Every day or two I pick a project to FINISH.  My desk is cleared off now…so more projects will accumulate there.

Can you guess what this is?

I designed this pattern last year.  No it is not a winter bikini top for a skinny minnie with no boobs.   I used a heavy chenille yarn that is very soft. 

The sleigh bell Christmas ornament project is completed.  Well ahead of the 2018 Christmas deadline. I hope I don’t forget about them.

I contacted a “bell expert”  who said that these bells on a brass stand were most likely used on a dinner table and maybe the guests used them to ring in the new year.  Since I wasn’t planning any such dinner in the future the bells were taken apart.

There was a screw that held the base onto the bell.  Far Guy removed all the bases and ribbons were attached at the point where the screw attached and then the screw was replaced holding the ribbon firmly in place…it worked perfectly…the extra brass “stands” are now in the button jar along with one small bell without a dinger.   It was a fun project but I am glad it is done.

Still guessing what I crocheted?

No… not a bank robbers mask.  It is a face mask that people with breathing problems can use in the winter…the yarn is heavy enough to keep out the cold and the way it is designed air can be warmed up before you breathe it in.  This one serves a dual purpose as it is soft enough that Far Guy can wear it next to the right side of his face where his Trigeminal Neuralgia resides.  When he puts his parka on you only see his eyes.

We have a fellow at woodcarving that complained about breathing in the cold air…so I made him a mask also.

We struggled for years to find something that worked for Far Guy…we have a whole collection of face masks…that were either too tight, too loose, too cold…this one is just right.   One skein of bulky chenille yarn from wallyworld makes two facemasks. 

Ongoing Project: Sleigh Bells

Christmas gift from long ago…probably about 5 years.

 

It was a bunch of sleigh bells from Jen, Andy and the boys.   I put the bells in this wooden container and put them up on a shelf in the kitchen…twice a year when I would clean off that shelf I would think…I need to clean up those bells.

I started this project before Christmas.  I soaked them for a few days and then polished them…and polished…and polished.

Most of them still need their throats cleaned…but I could not stand the suspense of what one might look like? They were laying out on the counter drying.

Pretty…this one is a B/C bell ( Must be the place it was on the harness)

I am not sure how I will use these four bells…They are attached to the base with a screw.  Historically I can find no reference to bells mounted in this fashion.  So they are mystery bells.   They are all #3  petal bells. The creative part of my brain has a few ideas how to use them as Christmas ornaments….but I am not sure how they will look. 

For now, I will finish the cleaning…attach ribbons and put name tags on them and put them in a Christmas Tin to be opened before Christmas next year.

It was turdy below that old zero mark on the trusty old thermometer yesterday morning. 

Puzzle and sunset

The last twenty pieces were pure torture.  We figured we would be short a piece or two but they were all there.  We are glad it is over.

 

Now I can do something else.  Not sure what yet.

 

Sun setting Jan 4 2018  we still have six inches of snow at the snowstick and it remains bone chilling cold here.   Too cold to snow.

Wednesday evening as I was fixing supper I noticed movement out at the bird feeders…two bunny rabbits were cleaning up bird seed.  I knew we had one from the trail cam, so I was glad to see there were two…they will probably be fox food before long…or coyote ...or wolf.

What was for supper…I made baked salmon…Far Guy made green beans with bacon …and we had pineapple and raspberries too.  Something bright and tasty in the dead of winter.  I need to explore some new recipes.   The salmon was perfect…just baked with some sea salt and ground black pepper…coved in aluminum foil. Hard to improve on perfect.

Puzzling

Christmas Eve a puzzle went on my desk.  Jen and Andy worked really hard at it…the boys even helped find a few pieces. It is still there, we wander by and put in a few pieces here and there.  It is a very difficult puzzle.  I have been tempted to throw in the box.  I would like my desk back to normal.

December 31

January 3

Almost done. It is a very pretty puzzle but a challenge…it has funky shaped pieces…and some seem as it they go in a little wonky.  It is a time burner …  Oh well it is too cold to do much else.

Wistful Wednesday: Crazy Project

I have one project that has been on my “mental list” for a number of years.   A long time ago, my friend Susan gave me a milk can that was painted to match my then blue kitchen.  What ever do you store in a milk can?

G’Day Mate, Captain, Miss Misty and Moses

We had four Sheltland Sheepdogs “Shelties”  I did all my own grooming, they got bathed in the bathtub and dried with a blow dryer…and brushed, and brushed some more the girls would help…I would wash and they would dry and brush.   One day I started collecting the fur….it ended up in the milk can.  Years later I can still smell freshly washed Shelties in that old milk can.  That fur has been waiting. 
I talked with a friend Bruce…we will card that fur soon and mix it with some roving to prepare it for spinning. 
So what was the one thing I asked for as a Christmas Gift?  Roving from Punkin’s Patch…I requested Maisie and Daniel…and got some Henri too.  Far Guy took care of all the details!

Maisie ( white with a touch of meaness), Henri ( beautiful softer grey/brown) and Daniel the (soft warm cream color)

My old spinning wheel may see some action yet.  We know it works.

I am certain that whatever I spin will not be perfect yarn…and thats okay with me…I hope to eventually make a lap robe.

Last spring a very kind neighbor brought me her dogs coat…Kodi sheds all at once…she is an Akita. I still have that fur too upstairs in an old pillowcase.

I have all the raw materials…and I look forward to a carding lesson from Bruce in the next month or two.

Downstairs Tree

We took down the downstairs tree, of course I need to go through all those Christmas totes before they are stacked away properly in their corner.

Chance was greatly relieved that the living room is back to his “normal.”  The tree really bothered him.   He hates change.

Chance got a special ornament from Miney and Little Elvis.  It is a beautiful addition to our tree.   It says Merry Christmas Chance!  Love Miney and Little Elvis.  ( It made me cry.)

Our good friend Sue from Indiana sent another beautiful ornament to me this year! I have a big popcorn tin full of Sue and Joe ornaments!  I treasure them.

The blue lights have made it another year.   It is always a little sad when the last ornament is put back in its proper place. 

Now the tree is just a memory.  As Far Guy said “In 340 days we will get it out again.”

The upstairs Shiny Brite tree will remain up for awhile…Chance doesn’t go upstairs anymore so he is not bothered by it.

Brutally cold up here, it will warm up this week but the wind will blow making it seem colder than it is.  Oh well spring is only 5 months away.

Happy 2018

I am not sure what the New Year will bring. ( My crystal ball is all foggy) I have finally decided on my one word intention for 2018.

I thought about lots of different words…none seemed just right.  Persue…persist…get on with it (that was three words)…

I kept coming back to one word…last year my word was ongoing…as I had many ongoing projects.  WELL I still have some of those projects and will probably add to them sometime soon….make a list and check it thrice…

My word for 2018 is EXPLORE.  That may seem adventurous to you…in my world not so much.

I need to explore all the nooks and crannies in this house and clean them out…get rid of what we don’t need.  We have way too much stuff for two people…the 19 years we have lived in this house we have just kept accumulating “stuff”.

I want to explore several new hobbies…learn something new.   I know I don’t need more hobbies…but I have one project I really want to accomplish….it has been 31 years in the making…more on that some other day.

I want to explore a few different places in Minnesota…nothing too far away.

I want to explore more family history.  I want to see the church my Great Grandfather helped to build in Annandale Minnesota.  I want to photograph my Great Great Grandmothers/Grandfathers Graves…I want to search for their obituaries.

I want to explore more area cemeteries and continue volunteer work with Find A Grave.

I need to explore more settings on my camera.  I need to make more time for that golden hour in the morning and just before sunset to take more photos.

I need to explore a few more antique shops…for Forgotten Photos…I have no shortage at the moment but some day I might…this may seem counter productive…but it is a passion of mine that I am not willing to give up at the moment.

With all that exploring…I might need to explore my eyelids every afternoon to make sure they have no holes in them.

What would be your one word intention for 2018?  Do you have one?

Here is a greeting from 1912.

Happy New Year!

2017 Year in review

Boy that year sure went fast.  Time for the updates.
Children:

Trica and her family

Trica is a Nurse Practitioner at a Clinic in Northern Minnesota. Trica’s husband Richard is in the Radio Business.  They have a Black Lab named Jade and a kitty named Bailey.  This year they moved to a home in the country.

Jen and her family

Jennifer continues to teach English at a Community College.  She is the Mayor of their little town.   Jen’s husband Andy teaches Electronic Technology and Automated Systems at a Community College.  Andy is a First Responder and very active in Vex Robotics.  They have two Shelties; Miney (12) and Little Elvis(7) and a very old cat that may outlive all of us named Chaucer.  They continue to renovate their early 1900’s foursquare craftsman home.
The Grands:

Savannah and her dog Chewy.  She also has a kitty named Luna.   Savannah works three jobs…she is a sales person at JCPenney, a personal care assistant and works at the radio station for her Dad.  Savannah is our giggly grand.

Maddie… I took this photo of Maddie twenty days before Mikey was born.   Maddie is in school to become a Dental Assistant, she would like to work in Oral Surgery…like she says she will be saving the world one tooth at a time.  She will be done with school in May and do her Internship during the summer. She has her horse of a dog Deacon and a kitty named Ziggy.  Maddie is our most easy going grand…she goes with the flow.

Paige graduated from High School.  She attended St Catherines for one semester and has now transfered to the University of Minnesota in Duluth. She would like to pursue a career in medicine. She spent Christmas in the Florida Keys.  Paige has a pot bellied pig named Sigourney for a pet.  Paige is our Grand that calls just cause she misses us.

Noah graduated from Northland Technical College with a AA degree one week and the next week he graduated from High School.  He has declared a major of Chemistry, attends the University of North Dakota and would like to do something in the medical field. (his Mom is on the faculty at Northland…so she walked for his graduation…and her students)  Noah likes college and he works part time at Noodles. He has an apartment very near the campus.  He is our most serious Grand.

Adam

Adam is a sophomore in High School.  He plays the cello and is very active in Vex Robotics.  He has his drivers license and a car…a red one.   Adam is Adam…he was delighted  at Christmas with a pair of Spock Socks and a lego keychain.  Adam is the grand that always makes us smile.  He is very tall. ( I could have used him when I was decorating that tree!)
Great Grand:
Mikey was born the end of May.  He is a happy little boy unless he is hungry.

hey Mikey!  One month old.

Mikey at seven months old.  He can sit up by himself and is beginning to show some interest in crawling.  He keeps his Mom real busy!
Births in our immediate family:  Mikey…his parents call him Kaine but his Great Grandpa and I call him hey Mikey!
Biggest Changes: We are a nursing home for an aging Border Collie…we have made adjustments to care for him properly.  He almost died the first part of December…so he is on a strict diet. I am not sure what is better, let him eat what he likes and have him live a short time or manage his diet and have him live longer but more whiney cause he is hungry.
Biggest Frustrations:   I had one major surgery and three minor ones…we have learned that only one of us can be sick/recovering at a time.  We are better off if I am not the sick and recovering one.  ( All surgeries had good outcomes except for the carpal tunnel which I am still recovering from.)  People and perfume/aftershave…Far Guy struggles to breathe with every little bit of fragrance…even someone’s fragrant shampoo….body lotion… smelly fabric softner sheets they use on their clothing.  I am tempted to ask everyone that comes into the house to shower upstairs with our soap and shampoo while I wash their clothing and then come down to visit. If you struggled to breathe and then felt like your lungs were burned for days afterwards how would you feel?   Far Guy still struggles with Trigeminal Neuralgia and with Alpha One Antitrypsin Deficiency. Unnecessary germs; Check out clerks coughing and hacking away and then handling our groceries….we stand back and watch the checkout people…and pick the healthy looking ones!   In Walmart we have learned to use the self check outs.
Deaths: Two of my Aunts died this past year.  My Aunt Kay in February she was 76 years old. She was married to my Uncle Butch (My Mothers brother) who died a number of years ago.  My Aunt Karen died in May she was 65 years old ( She is my Mother’s youngest sister.) We are still waiting for her ashes to be returned to Minnesota so we can have some kind of graveside service….it doesn’t seem right to have …nothing. 
Happiest Moments: Watching our daughters manage life events… graduations and births.  When Mikey was born safely and Maddie was okay.  Spending time with our children and grandchildren and now a great grandson too!

And of course time spent with Chance.  It is his favorite time of year…snow eating time!
That about wraps up our year. We spend much of our time quietly at home, most days we get along together just fine.  Sometimes we kinda feel like hermits…but that is okay too. 
Happy New Years Eve! We will have a nice supper…steak I think…and maybe we will share a beer…and we will most likely be asleep before the new year is ushered in.

Ongoing Project: School Days

One of my “ongoing” projects has been gathering together small school photos of the girls.  Good grief those photos were here and there and not in the right size.  Everytime I discovered a school photo it was like Christmas for me, progress was so slow I was not sure the project would ever get finished.  I eventually scanned the larger ones and found a place online that would convert my scans to whatever size I wanted.  Finally I dared to hope that I could finish the project.

Some projects take on a life of their own.  I was obsessed with finding the photos and trying to figure out what years they were from without asking the girls.  Afterall I am their Mother and I should recall.

It was a project that I started a number of years ago…like about 15 years…uffda.

It must have been about 2002/2003 or so that I made scrapbooks for both of the girls that concentrated on their school days.

It was shortly after that when I found the perfect addition to their scrapbooks.

Trica

Jennifer

I wrapped them up as Christmas gifts.  I think I got the years all correct except Jen’s 10th and 11th grade photos are reversed.

I also included a simple family tree.  I have more detailed family trees that covers many more generations but this simple one is a great addition to a scrapbook

I was happy to finish this ongoing project that never made my list last year.  It was the only “from the heart” project that I finished before Christmas.

It is really cold here.  We are safe and warm and working on various projects and napping.

 

10 years

I have been blogging ten years now. 

Last year my daughter said “Mom go for ten.”  check mark

I wanted to write about the flood of 1997.  check mark

I wanted to write Midway Memories. check mark

There are some subjects I have totally ignored.  Perhaps I will get to them in year eleven God willing and the crick don’t rise.

As is my custom…I give myself some flowers.  This time an Echinacea that is orange…with two bees and off to the side for good measure is a pesky old fly.

Blogging is a great hobby.  I am not perfect when it comes to spelling (no spell check on the software I use) or sentence structure…oh well. It is what it is.  Most times I just share what is on my mind…or something I took a photo of or something that was irritating me.  Sometimes I think Far Guy just reads my blog to find out if he is in the dog house or not…or if I am cranky.

Thank you for coming along on this blogging adventure!