A Great Day!

Christmas day was a blast!  Lots of food, family and friends-noisy with lots of good smells.  And all the gifts I made were loved, yay!

Millie was happy to get her Montana State colored fleece blanket.

Syd got a stuffed spleen from Uncle Dave in Texas.

Dog photobombing.

One reason for the good smells.

The other reason for the good smells, Christmas smells.

Some of us took the dogs for a walk and got in on a fantastic Christmas sunset.

Happy birthday, Jesus

I think she liked her pillow bed!

Today I called in tired, I'm glad I have a job like that.  I'll work a little longer tomorrow.  Right now I feel like I got beat up, didn't sleep much Christmas Eve-had a food reaction that kept me up way too late, then lots of work yesterday.  Fun work, but I was dozing in my chair watching the kids play a game.  I feel blessed that I have so many great people to share the day with.

Merry Christmas to All!

Here is a small sample of why I haven't been posting lately. That and I've just been slacking.

These are pillow beds, kind of a long quadruple pillowcase, just right for sleepovers or movie watching. The three youngest grands are getting these.

PJs for the older grands and the adults.

Made a bunch of these and filled them with tiny candy canes and kisses to give to friends.

Made a few of these, some are a gift for my new friend Sherry.

My health is great, trying to stay warm. It's not as bad as it was a couple of weeks ago. On my birthday it was colder in Montana than it was at the South Pole!  But Montanans are tough, we still went out to dinner and to a local production of "White Christmas."

I'll post more pics after gift opening. Gracie and I made something special for her mom-actually I made it, she got distracted by all the fabric in my sewing room so pretty soon it turned into a sewing lesson for three kids. I ended up teaching them how to sew on fleece and they made little scarves for their stuffed animals. Grace even put "To Rosetta from Mom" on the gift tag. Too precious!

Bats!

Son Dave's girlfriend asked me to make her a bat purse for Halloween.  I suspect it's partly because they live in Austin, Texas, the city of the bats.  She sent me a picture she found on the Internet.  I hunted for quite a while to find a pattern, but I finally just drew it freehand.  It was pretty fun to make!

If you look closely at the lower left hand of the picture you can see Chloe photobombing.  That girl is such a ham!

Freedom! And 45 Years.

I am finally off my blood pressure medication!  It took two months, but it was very much worth it.  I've increased my walking distance to 1 3/4 miles, my lungs are so very much happier, the pounding in my heart has pretty much gone away, and the tinnitus is lessening.  When I first started walking I couldn't walk a block without wheezing and struggling for air.  Now I can buzz out almost a mile each way!  I cough a little, but I haven't had to stop to catch my breath is many weeks.  I am so grateful to the folks at Gesundheit, my favorite wellness store; my acupuncturist; and my God for getting me through this!  Bonus is, I'm really starting to trim up-no pounds lost yet, but my jeans are baggy-a definite sign.  I expect if I keep up the walking one morning I'll wake up to a stunning weight loss.

I have so much more energy.  I didn't think I was depressed or tired on the Bystolic, but as the dose was decreased, my desire to do things and my stamina improved.  Talking to my son tonight he thought it might have been a very mild depression.  Funny how you don't realize things until you're looking back at them!

My walking companions.  If they think it's time for a walk, they follow me around the house alternating staring at me, sniffing my feet to see if I have the right shoes on, and going to the garage door to hopefully get me to go out and get the leashes.  They are addicted to it.  I'm getting to the point where I get the itch to go out too-the only way one can continue an exercise program is to really enjoy it.

The other good thing about today is that it's our 45th anniversary.  I can't believe that many years have passed-I don't feel any different than I did back then, other than hopefully being a little wiser!  We went to a barbecue place for supper, then tomorrow we'll go to a steakhouse and a movie.  We're hoping to see "The Butler."

Ma and Pa in Mazatlan a couple years ago.

The Rest of the Pictures

Here are the rest of the pics we took the other night.

"Soldier Hill," Kris' group.  Notice they're pinching their vocal cords in order to get the high notes.

This gentleman is 87 years old.  He is carrying the eagle staff and led the procession of flags for the grand entry.  He then gave the invocation, "The Seven Directions."

Procession of the flags.

Two boys watching the drum-they gather around the group and listen, sometimes a big crowd.

L to R-Kris, Stan, me, and Amanda.  Yep, she was ready to pop!

Amanda made these for me while she sat watching the dancers.  Gorgeous!

This drum came all the way from Texas.

Amanda said this particular pow wow was a little different than the ones they have on the reservations.  Montana State University has a spring pow wow every April and it was different than this one, too.  Amanda called the group here "Urban Indians."

Whatever, it was a blast, and we felt so honored to sit with them and to be gifted with the earrings.  On Facebook later Kris said we are his forever adopted family and our son Steve is his brother forever.  It means a lot coming from an Indian.  Can't wait to see little Crazy Bear!

Delivered!

The couple that I made the blanket for were in Helena last weekend for a pow wow, so Stan and I made a little road trip to bring them the gift.  We had a blast at the pow wow and were so honored to sit with the dancers. Kris' drum group was the host drum so they played for almost every dance.  Made for a late night, Helena is about an hour and a half from here, but well worth it.

Amanda was due on October 8 but the drive back to Poplar (about eight hours) must have started things, she had the baby last night! Mahto Witko "Crazy Bear" weighed in at six pounds thirteen ounces and is beautiful!

I ran out of the multi colored yarn and it's been discontinued, so I edged it with the teal. I like it and so did they.

I'm on my Kindle and my other photos of the pow wow are on my laptop, so hopefully I'll share them later.

Baby vs Blanket

Working hard to get this done. The new parents will be in Helena Saturday for a pow wow. I want to meet them there and give them the blanket. She will be induced on the 8th, not sure I'd want to be so far from home, but there are hospitals all along the way. They'll be about 7 hours from home.

This is my first post from my new Kindle Fire HD. I couldn't post at all on my old Fire, so this is very cool!