Car Socks and Other Stuff

I actually finished these socks about a month ago, but the way my life goes these days, I'm finally posting about them.  I got the yarn from a garage sale.  There were several balls of yarn, I think I paid $5 for the whole thing.  No labels, but the girl I bought it from assured me it was all machine washable.  I think I'll err on the side of caution.   They started out intended for me, but Stan took a liking to them, plus I thought they were a little scratchy.  Stan will wear them over cotton socks when he's doing things outside.  I would have just worn them as regular socks so this is better.  I call them my car socks because they were made completely in the car-either riding or waiting to pick grandkids up from school.

I swear I had pictures of the socks half-finished, but I can't find them on my computer.  Maybe they're still in my camera.

 For the trip I started a pair for me (really).  The yarn is more of Deborah Norville Serenity sock yarn-wool, bamboo, and nylon.  This one is a girly color in a self-striping pattern.  I should be able to keep these.

Had a bit of a scare last week.  I had all my pre-op tests-blood, chest x-ray, and EKG.  Imagine my shock when my doctor calls and says I have to go right away to get a CT scan because there is a spot on the lung area on the x-ray!  Had the scan on Friday, but I'll probably have to wait til Tuesday to hear any results, Columbus day, ya know.  Sort of nervous, but I trust in God.  Years ago another doctor found a calcification in my abdomen during a kidney x-ray.  It hasn't shown up since on x-rays, but this particular technician might have been extra good and it finally showed up again.  I guess I'll find out pretty soon.  The trip is still on, and I have been cleared for the knee surgery.

Still a bit nervous about the very short layover time in Mexico City, but we're going to do everything possible to make sure things go smoothly so we can make that connection.  I will look over all their immigration forms to make sure they made no mistakes, and I'll remind them to have all their papers ready.  I think I'll talk to the flight attendants too, maybe they can radio ahead or something.  (One can wish-this is an American airline company, after all.)  We do connect with a Mexican airline and they just might wait for us-Mexican service is top-notch.

Did a bunch of baking this weekend so I can survive.  Some I will take with me, but most of the baking was just my regular food since I can't buy much.  I made a wheatless apple pie.  Very tasty but the crust didn't hold together very well.  I also made crackers, sugar cookies and my chocolate waffles.  I make a huge batch of the waffles and freeze them.  I spread the waffles with sweetened cream cheese for a yummy snack.  I always fix one to take with me when I leave the house, just in case I get hungry and can't find something else wherever I'm at.  I didn't like the cookies, the sorghum flour was a bit too pronounced-next time more coconut flour and less sorghum.  Some of the cookies really crumbled so I put them in a Ziplock and labeled it "Safe Cookie Crumbs" and will freeze them for use later in a cheesecake.

Well, pray for me and hopefully I can post a couple more times before we leave.

And We had a Birthday!

Chris, our first (but not oldest) grandchild turned 16 Friday.  I can't believe he went from this curly-headed tot:

To this curly-headed teenager in such a short time.

 

He hasn't changed much, still a heart-breaker!

Fun Saturday

Sorry I haven't been posting as often-not working as much, so I really don't have an excuse!  Unless you could say that Stan has been canning like a crazy man and of course I get roped into helping.  If I don't want to help I have to make up an excuse to leave the house early.  Can't resist him when he shines those green eyes on me and asks if I'd like to help!

We've been fairly busy otherwise, too.  Getting ready for a vacation with 13 people is a full-time job, and add getting ready for major surgery and it's no wonder I have no time left at the end of the day!  Last week I went to a "Joint Replacement Class" sponsored by the hospital.  It's designed to answer our questions, encourage us, and give us a good idea of what we will be going through.  We had one hip replacement and three knees.  (Sounds funny, doesn't it, but that's how we introduced ourselves-and that was NOT prompted by the class leader!)  I got a good idea of anesthesia choices and I think I know what to choose.

Anyway, on to fun things.  Gracie has been obsessed with horses almost since birth.  I think it's a girl thing.  We finally connected with our good friends, Wayne and Connie, and arranged for the three youngest grandkids to ride their horses Saturday morning.

Connie introduced the kids to "Girlie" a gentle 25-year-old mare.  It didn't take Gracie long to touch the horse, but it took over 20 minutes to convince her to get on.  Sydney got on and rode around for a while just to show her how easy it was, then they tried to get her to ride with Syd, walked the horse over to a flatbed trailer so it would be easier to mount, but finally it was a threat from Mommy, "You came here to ride a horse.  If you aren't getting on, we're going home!" 

"Noooo, Mommy," she cried, screwed up her courage and got on.  Then you should have seen her face!  And of course when it was time to go we couldn't get her off!

Sydney was doing so well, Wayne put a bridle on "Smokey" and put him in the round corral.  Syd got the hang of handling a horse in a heartbeat and trotted around that corral like he'd been doing it for years.

Then Sam, who wasn't afraid, just not very interested, decided he should ride, too.  He loved it!

Wayne and Connie's grandson, Colton, has been on a horse since birth.  He'll be 3 in December and is happiest on the horses.

He wasn't too happy to share the horses-there were only two kid's saddles so they had to take turns.  That did NOT please him!  Here he is with his mom getting a talking to.

Then Gracie got on Smokey with Syd and together they  trotted around the corral.  It was such a cute sight to watch, four kids that nuts about horses, even with the fit that Colton pitched!

We spent about 2 hours there.  I'm sure Connie was exhausted from leading that horse around the yard over, and over, and over....................

Gracie and Sam are making thank you cards to send to the Speakmans.  They haven't stopped talking horses since!

After getting kids to their respective homes, cutting Syd's hair, and showering myself we went to a 50th anniversary party for another close couple.  That was really nice-they have eight kids and two of the daughters went to culinary school.  The food was fabulous, and the tribute to 50 years of devotion and good parenting was touching.  The hubby even shed tears when each kid got up and reminisced or joked about their childhood.  They still live on the same farm outside Manhattan that they bought back when they started their life together.  All three daughters have built houses on the property, and all but 2 of the boys live in the area.  One of the boys even married a cousin of Stan's.  Talk about full circle!

They held the party on the property, the third event we've attended there.  First was their oldest daughter's wedding that I had had the privilege of singing for, then the husband's 60th birthday, then so many years later their 50th.

Oh, and the daughter whose wedding I sang at?  Her kids are now grown and married.

Got Me Some Peaches!

As I was leaving town yesterday, I noticed a fruit stand at the gas station.  I called Stan and told him.  He went right up and bought a case of Washington peaches.  When he got home with them, he promptly devoured two.  When I got home from work, I made peach cobbler, and today sometime I will probably do some freezer jam.  I used this recipe from my cooking blog.  I pretty much made it the same way, except I used less water since peaches have enough juice, and I used a mixture of sorghum, tapioca and potato starch for the flour.  After he gets the applesauce (from our own tree) going, Stan will process 7 quarts of peaches just for eating this winter.  The cobbler was so good, I had to have some for breakfast!

Just look at that ice cream melting into the sweet peaches!

Just looking at the pictures makes me want to go back for more!

I Can't Believe I Did That!!

Since I have a bit more time, what with the job change and all, I've been doing some sewing for myself.  Did a nice caftan out of some fabric I've had since 1987 when I worked at Ben Franklin.  About time, eh?

I've also been making tank tops and little light shirts to go over them.  The latest is this maroon set.

Instead of using facings, I cut cross-grain strips and bound all the edges, except for the hems.  Makes for a nice finish, I think.

I cut the strips at 2 1/4" and folded and pressed them.  I sewed them on with a 3/8" seam allowance then trimmed the seams down to 1/4" to reduce bulk.  Then I turned the strips to the inside and topstitched into place.  Trying to do facings on this stretchy stuff can make for some wonky results.  I made one button loop and put a shank button on it-just enough so it wouldn't shift.

This is one of my favorite closures-you're never going to button the whole thing up, so why not just have a little something at the neck?!  That's when I discovered this, to my horror!!

As I cut the blouse out, it crossed my mind to make sure the round things weren't (ahem) strategically placed and I thought I had.  I guess not......

I guess I can wear it unbuttoned...........

Plane Troubles

I was sewing yesterday when the daughter-in-law called.  She had the foresight to plug her phone number and e-mail address into the Delta itinerary.  Well, they called her-my number was messed up somehow and I am sure glad she was on the ball!  It seems that Delta has cancelled its 6:20 Sunday morning flight out of Bozeman.  They just moved us to the 9:00 flight but that would make us miss our connection in Salt Lake City by 45 minutes-therefore the dominoes would fall and we would be getting into Mazatlan sometime on Monday.  Not acceptable for several reasons, the biggest being the three youngsters that couldn't take that much layover time, but also that would leave Dave and Laura all by themselves at the resort with the reservations in my name.

First I called Hotwire-why they didn't e-mail the change to me is a mystery-Expedia always e-mails me right away!  The guy on the phone was very nice but he said their "schedule change" people would look into it and get back to me within 24 hours.  It's a good thing I didn't wait and called Delta after checking the flights out of Helena, MT and Butte, MT.  Both towns are about 65 miles from us and it wouldn't be a terrible hardship to drive there.  They both had 6:20 flights with lots of room.  (Butte, MT on a Sunday morning?  Go figure!!!)  It took a lot of effort to get the Delta lady to understand what we needed.  I had to repeat several times that all we needed changed was our departure city-nothing else.  She kept saying that the other flights were booked up-I said "Of course, we are already booked on them!"  She was very nice and was not in India or someplace like that-she was definitely English-speaking.  After about 30 minutes with her consulting her supervisor to be sure it would be OK to switch airports we got it done!  I waited while she e-mailed me the itinerary.  Then I went on the Delta site and corrected my contact information.  Whew!!!

Now the plan is to rent a 12 passenger van Saturday afternoon and pick everybody up by 3:00 AM Sunday morning.  We'll drive to Butte, turn in our van and fly away.  Heck, we can sleep on the plane!!!!

The Delta lady insisted on getting us seats all together on the Butte flight.  I told her as long as we were on the same plane we would all be happy, but she insisted.  Millie says it's probably a good thing, only family would want to sit with Sam!  Of course Gramma would always want to sit with Sam!

Oh, and Hotwire never called back.  Guess it's Expedia from now on!

Going For It!

I had a visit with my knee specialist on Friday.  He had received a report from the physical therapist that was pretty grim-the therapy was pretty useless.  So-now I get a new knee!  They will be calling in a few days to set up a time.  My only request was that it be done after October 23, which is when we get back from Mazatlan.  The doc agreed-he thought it would be foolish to travel post-surgery, too.

I already have a walker and a toilet seat raiser-compliments of my sister-in-law in Billings.  She had her knee done in February so she knows the scoop.  We helped bring her home from rehab and I had to pull her off the toilet because she didn't have enough strength to get up on her own.  It was kind of funny, but her daughter went right out and bought the seat raiser.  Now I have it-LOL!

His only concern is my many allergies.  We might have fun controlling my pain without my violently reacting to the meds.  They are forewarned and are working on it.  I don't want a fiasco like I had with my last surgery-couldn't take the meds because they made me nauseous-something I had to avoid at all costs with that particular surgery.  So I spent a long night in excruciating pain.  Not this time-we're going to be ahead of it.  I hear this surgery HURTS!

I've started exercising in earnest, so my leg muscles are in tiptop shape, hopefully that will help me rehab quickly.  Now, between the upcoming trip and getting ready for surgery, I won't have a minute free!

An update-the surgery is scheduled for November 2.  First it was scheduled for Oct. 26, but 20 minutes later they called back and said the Dr. was out that week and would I mind waiting a week?  I would have rather gotten it over with, but that actually will give me more than a week after we get home from Mazatlan to get ready-clean house, cook and freeze my "safe" foods, etc.