Will I Get It Done?

One of my favorite barristas is having a baby in a few weeks. My friend Sherry and I are invited to her shower, which is Friday. I threw yarn and needles into my suitcase and started a sweater while we were in Mazatlan.

What better place for knitting and morning coffee?

Panting a little, but getting there. I'm doing the sleeves together, my second skein of yarn seemed to have a subtle difference in color, so I thought if wouldn't be as noticeable. So far I can't see a difference, I think it was how it was wound. The yarn is so old the labels are gone. I bet it's over 20 years old.

The yarn is a pompadour, usually I don't mind working with it, but this one likes to twist, the air is dry and the yarn sticks to my dry fingers. I'll be glad to be finished.

I'm giving her one of my hankie bonnets and some booties from my stash, too. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures when the little girl is born.

Second Home

We consider Mazatlan our second home and we are very happy to be here this week. Especially since the temps in Montana are -25°F all week!  We have a son house sitting so we can enjoy without worrying about our house or the dogs. They are having a balmy winter down here-low 80s every day. We'll take it. Not planning anything too exciting, made it to the supermarket yesterday, maybe el Centro tomorrow and dinner in town on the weekend. Mostly lots of relaxing, beach walking, eating and knitting.

The view from out patio. We prefer to be up a few floors  to see the ocean, but this was all that was left. This is very convenient anyway, a short jog to the bar, pool, and the beach. And no stairs!

One More Gift

When Stan's mom passed away I ended up with most of her sewing supplies, which included her small fabric stash.  She was a frugal soul, and if a dress wore out she would dismantle it and use it for other projects.  I'd been wanting to make something for the siblings and grandkids to remember her by, but didn't want to make 14 memory bears.  So I got the idea of making "dog bone pillows," neck pillows for napping or travel. 

They do look like a dog bone and are pretty comfy.

They don't take too long to make, but when you have a few to do...

Such a frugal soul, she made the pattern out of a newspaper.

New year's day we had a family Christmas get-together, and after all the other gifts were opened I dumped the bag of pillows out on the table and told them to pick one.  They scrambled for them, sister Norma recognized two of the fabrics that had been part of her own clothing.  They were a great hit!  Only thing was, I miscounted.  I had to make one more for the niece in Oregon.  I finished that this morning while I was waiting for some fabric to wash.  Next project is two new dress shirts for Stan-his birthday present.  I bought the fabric and gave it to him on his birthday and now I have to get cracking on shirts.

Now I should be taking down the tree but I'm getting the lazies.  I baked all morning too, and I might get supper made, but I doubt anything else is going to happen.  Maybe a little knitting while watching the British sitcoms on PBS-our Saturday night tradition.

Stay tuned, we might be zipping off to Mazatlan in the next few weeks if we can get out ducks in a row.  I am ready!  We were waiting for Irene to finish some medical things, but decided we could go in the spring with her and just the two of us could go now.  We wanted to go for our anniversary in October, but life got in the way, so we can count this as an anniversary trip.  Think we even have a house sitter!

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.