no Whooping

Well the good news is that Cory doesn't have whooping cough just this terrible cold that is making the rounds. Bill's flu is getting better and he is happy that he has lost some weight.

I am madly knitting for Christmas................... nothing new ................... right.

We had to change our location for the Wednesday night knitters as the Pool hall has closed and is going to reopen as a restaurant.  Doris found us a new place to go "The Wired Monk" coffee shop in Surrey.

They reserved us a spot and waited on us rather than having us go to the counter like the rest of the customers. We were really treated like Royalty. Needless to say we are going to go back to the place.

Stranger things have happened but not many

well today I managed to put together three parcels and 4 cards.  Took them to the Post office and MAILED them.  They didn't sit on the table for a week or two ...................... they didn't travel in my purse for a month ................ they just went from being  put in envelops and mailed. I mean this all happened on the same day.
On other fronts I seem to have done a lot of baby sitting this week.  Cory has whooping cough and is off work for up to 2 months.  Bill has the flu and I am tired .................... I wonder why?????

Wednesday I received this lovely parcel in the mail.  The wee swap was that a spinner sent hand-spun yarn to their partner and received a wee hand-knit sock from said yarn in return. This is what my partner Wendy sent me.

OH OH I forgot to but the socks in one of the cards.  Will have to do that tomorrow.

A very busy visit

Now let me think.............. Friday ................. we went shopping,  met Marsha for lunch at the Legion. (They served the best clam chowder.)  Followed with more shopping.

 I bought myself a lovely cape thing in browns.   Surprise of surprises it looked good on me and after trying it on 3 times  I had to buy it.   Three times is sort of a magic number with me when it comes to buying things.  If I pick it up or try it on three times and don't buy it I am kicking myself afterwards ........ ( and that is a difficult thing to do).

My Wendy Sister french braided my hair for me which was very nice ........................ except for the actual braiding process which was a little uncomfortable because of the pulling.

Friday night we went to a party at Koren's which was fun but Janice, Wendy, Marsha and I were rather loud as we did a lot of laughing.  When we 4 left some one said there goes the fun people ...................
that's us......... the life of the party.

 I had forgotten how funny my Janice Sister is.   At the family reunion in the spring we had a dessert called "Sex in a Pan".  Janice's son, Dennis said " What is "Sex in a Pan"?  Janice replied " Very uncomfortable."   He blushed, shook his hea and said " OH
MOM" as he turned and left.

So where was I .................... Saturday  we were going to go sledding and there is frozen rain falling outside .................. I mean really ............RAIN.............. as if I don't get enough of that here at home.
Needless to say that put an end to the sledding  idea.  They even closed the Taylor Hill as it was pure ice.   So later in the day we went for a drive around Ft St John so I could see the new Hospital and some of the new housing developments.  The town is really booming,  the average age is 29 and the cost of housing is climbing.  There was one house we looked at that was $897,000,  rather unbelievable.
So now we are at Sunday.  Brother John came an picked me up to go to his house ( I posted photos of his place last year).  They made a lovely brunch .... pumpkin pancakes with special butter,  bacon, a special egg dish,  cream filled strawberries , coffee and mimosas.  Then we relaxed and digested all that wonderful meal. Later John and I, plus three miniature dachshunds went to feed the horses.   Then we went to Janice and Jim's for dinner.  Jim cooked a roast and everyone brought something for a delicious dinner. Wendy made rhubarb pie just for me ( and Mike)  mainly.   Had a lovely evening with all the family.
Monday was the day to go to Koren's to quilt.  Showed her how to use a design wall and other things to help with her quilting. Lunch was at Mr. Mikes for an early birthday celebration for me.  I ate dessert first.  The rest of them were going to have their's after the main meal but were all TOO FULL TO HAVE DESSERT.  I told them "Life is short...... eat dessert first."  Back to Koren's for more quilting and then to Wendy and Bob's for supper.  Nine am Tuesday Lorraine arrived and it was time to head home.  Went as far as Quesnel ........... rain and snow between Prince George and Quesnel.  Home by 5:00 on Wednesday.
I did take photos with my phone but can't seem to download them to my Mac.

The North

Well I arrived home Sunday exhausted from the quilting retreat .  Late nights, lots of laughter, some tears,  a fair amount of wine and some quilting.  It was a great weekend with friends.
Monday morning I got up early, finished packing, coffee with DD and DH them DD drove me to Lorraines  and we were off. 

Rain until almost Cache Creek, a little sun,  a lot of cloud and then freezing rain and snow.  Arrived safely in Prince George for the night.  Lorraine's 2 Grand-daughters met us for dinner and came back to the hotel to visit before going back to their own places.  Tuesday morning we awoke to 4 inches of snow.  Put our things in the car after Lorraine cleared the snow away.  Then we had a good breakfast and it was my turn to drive............... Lovely clear sunny day.  Stertches of the road were clear and dry even in the PIne Pass. Arrived at Wendy Sister's home by 1:30 and she was very surprised as she wasn't expecting us until Tuesday................I have very confused sisters but my Niece-in-law had gotten the day right. 
SO I saw my Grand Niece, age 1 and her Mother,  My Janice Sister came over and we phoned Brother John.  Then my Niece Koren and her 2 boys came over followed by her DH Mike.

Yesterday JJ , age 1 was here for the day, Janice came over in the morning for coffee,  Nephew Jason came for lunch, then Navender came to get the baby .  For supper we went to Koren and Mikes with the rest of the family.  Only 10 Trick or Treaters, Koren was so disappointed.

Today John came over for coffee,  when he left Wendy and I went grocery shopping.  Home for 15 minutes before Lorraine and her Mother, Elsie, arrived.  Elsie will be 95 years old on Friday.
We had a lovely visit,  I hadn't seen her for years so it was great. Wendy made a delicious dinner and we spent some time looking at patterns on the internet. Talked to DH on the phone.
That's it for today.

Home

I am home from the quilting retreat and very tired. I am going to bed early and will get up early to finish my packing. The retreat was great fun but I didn't get a lot of quilting done, although I did do a lot of visiting.  More details at a later date.

A Surprise

I don't clean out my purse very often but last night I thought I should take some of the papers  out of my purse as it was getting full.  What do I find but a folded , stapled piece of paper that said "For your alternator" and inside was enough money to pay for the cost of the alternator.  I don't know who put the money in my purse but I have my suspicions.  THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
I am really blessed with some incredible friends.

Oh yes I hemmed another pair of pants yesterday ...............................................  that is 6 pants in 3 days  ...... absolutely amazing.

I have sort of started packing as I go on the quilting retreat tomorrow,  come home Sunday and leave for Ft St John on Monday.  I have made lists ........... for quilting projects, knitting projects and all the assorted things I think I need to take with me

Elizabeth and Jill are here and Elizabeth thought the tomatoes on the counter were balls so proceeded to toss them on the floor ................. tomatoes don't bounce.  After that she got up to the sink and dumped water all over herself and the floor.

Knitting at the Pool Hall last night, we all must have been tired as we broke up about 8:30.  Tammy bought more yarn from her stash for us to make into hats for "Loving Spoonful", so I ended up with enough to make 2 or 3 hats.

another pair

Do you believe it ................ I hemmed another pair of pants today.  Also cut out Binding for one wall hanging and borders for another.
Jill and baby came over, Lorraine came for coffee, DH  phoned 5 times.

Pants

Well I don't know about you but I hate hemming pants and I always  ................... I mean always have to hem new pants as they are tooooooo long  except for one pair of jeans I have.  Mind you  i think they were capris for a very tall person.  Now you need to sit down .................. are you sitting????
Today I hemmed 4 .......... yes four pairs of jeans.  Two of the pairs have been waiting a year.  Mind you I had to hem some of them as my favorite jeans are beginning to look like the ripped ones the teenagers wear ................ hum  wonder if I can find a teenager who would like to buy them.
After I finished hemming the 4 pairs of jeans I found two more pairs that need hemming............ Didn't even remember that I owned that many pairs. I guess I should hem these as well.
I was quilting in my sewing room but had to take a break while the iron heated up so that is why the pants got hemmed.
Finished a hat for a charity group we support and have almost finished my 'Sunflower Shawl" designed by Sue Berg

I am trying to get some projects ready to take to the quilting retreat this weekend, so more sewing tomorrow and will probably hem my pants.

Home from retreat

I promised Lynn that I would update this blog  so ................... we arrived home safe and sound from the Spinning Retreat in Cache Creek. It was great fun and I came home with a lot of treasures ............. like some spinning fibre I purchased with a gift certificate from Lynn plus the gift of a book from her,  I have Dragon Knitting Needles from Melody and some lovely soft merino/silk from the gift exchange.
The food was delicious and the company was even better.

This is it for tonight as all that fun has worn me out and I will write more tomorrow.

I said NO

Well DD asked if I would like to play with Elizabeth in the back yard while she and Shelby went shopping.........................  guess what ................ I said NO.............. YES I really said NO.  So off they went and I went out in the yard, did some weed eating around the edges so Shay can mow tomorrow. Then I thought I should really go in the back alley and weed eat there.

We had a letter from the city saying our place was not being kept up to city standards. So we phoned to see what the problem was.  Apparently the debris of ancient civilizations that is outside the back fence needs to be removed. Now as I think the fence is the boundary between city property (AKA the lane or alley) and our yard they should deal with it. ..........................  NOT .................. The city did pick up some of the debris in the alley by the fence but said the rest was too tangled in weeds. It needed to be weed eaten and the resulting discoveries hauled away to the dump..................... by US ( this usually means ME in our house)  I keep telling everyone that the worm in my pocket died so there is only ME no US.

 Now it is not like I don't have  enough to do with a handicapped Husband, a DD who comes for coffee every morning with her 2 year old DD(who makes a mess) ...................... granted she makes the coffee and does any shopping that we need done (I can shop and it is easier than dealing with a 2 year old)................. but she doesn't always pick up after the baby..................... she does her laundry here but is slow getting out of here so it is piled on chairs, tables or in bags on the floor...................... then there is the house work, meals, yard work, waiting on DH etc......................................... OH yes I almost forgot Captain Chaos,  although she has been good lately for a almost 12 year old going on 30.

This isn't enough............... I now have to clean up the debris of ancient civilizations. The stuff the other side of our fence was there when we moved in and many years before that from the looks of things .....................DARN  ................I need to trim my fingernails ................. they cause me to make more typing mistakes than usual...................... and that is a lot as I can't type.

Well I guess tomorrow I will finish the rest of the weed eating in the lane .................... of course this is not an easy thing like going out the back gate to the lane........................  DH has a Step Van backed into the yard up against the tarp garage and filling the entire driveway.   So it is a case of hauling the cord to the back fence .................. carrying the weed-eater down the block, round the corner ................. to the lane........... turn up the lane to our back fence,  find the end of the cord and plug it into the weed-eater and start mangling weeds............ so far I have uncovered a bottle, a metal thingy, a piece of metal pipe and a lot of rotting wood.

Well that is enough for today.  Have to figure out something for dinner and get ready to spin at knit night.   I did a lot of spinning during "Tour d' Fleece" but that is over and I don't have any photos yet as I couldn't find the camera and when I did find it the batteries were dead. Ravellenics starts on Friday so there will be 17 days of mad knitting.
I have committed to finishing 3 pairs of socks, knitting a hat for Shelby and knitting a beaded bracelet................ all to be done in the next 17 days.


I think I will go rest up now.

Don't write on the Grandma......

Did you ever think about the things you never thought you would have to say to a child.......................... like DON"T write on the Grandma, don't lick the garbage can and don't put rubber ducks in the sugar bin.


The Mistress of Mayhem has been here every day for at least 2 weeks while her Mother packs, and moves and cleans.  Hopefully this will be the last full day I have her as 
 are you ready for this ........................................................................
you had better sit down ......................................................................
I AM TOO OLDE FOR THIS !!!!!!!!!! 


There is definitely a reason why 60+ year olde women don't have babies.
  I know there are scientists out there who have proven that a 62 year olde woman can have a baby BUT they are definitely MALE ................. I mean what woman in her right mind would  want to have a baby at age 60+................ never mind researching the possibility? 


I haven't been doing any knitting or quilting because I have been chasing a small child.  DH tells me he can watch her but our definition of "Watching" is not the same.  I look every few minutes and get up if she is out of sight or I don't recognize a noise she makes.   The other day he was "WATCHING" her and she went down the hall with a blue elephant and a car..............  came back with a cook book and a pen.  The problem here is that he was actually sitting in the kitchen looking down the hall "WATCHING" her.


The other day someone left the bathroom door open and she went in, climbed on to the stool I use, up on to the toilet and filled her little stool with rubber ducks from the shelf.

Photos from the reunion
My youngest brother John and my sisters Wendy and Janice. I am the Matriarch in the front ................ lol


This is all of us minus four.

Trying again

I guess I had better write about the Family reunion before I forget what we did...............  Jill, Elizabeth and I drove up in my car.  Cory took Shelby and Alesha in her car but we travelled together.

My DH just gave me a compliment.................. I think.................... he said I was" a Lady and a connoisseur of fine horses." He was buttering me up because I just got him a coffee and he may want more.

Any way ..................  the weekend.  We stopped in Hope at the liquour store for wine, cider and Vodka. Lunch was at a little drive-in in Boston Bar where we had the best burgers.

 LOON LAKE here we are about 5:00.  Only waiting for Aaron, Che and Liz to arrive.  Unpacked stuff in our cabin, Wendy and Janice walked over to tell us where everyone was.  Had a bit to eat and went to the RV area for drinks and visiting.  Arron arrived followed shortly by Che and Liz (they drove the best part of 2 days to get to the lake.) Nice evening visiting around the camp fire eating cheezies.

Saturday most of the men went fishing, it took all of them to catch one trout. They had rented one of the pontoon boats for the day and everyone had a ride at some point or other. Loon lake is a long skinny Lake, very pretty, saw ducks and loons (of course). Spent time watching the little ones and commenting on how much they had grown since last August. Janice had made up a book about Dad's family.  She had us let her know about any of the errors as she was going to have the book redone................... that reminds me I had better e-mail her and let her know I want one of the books.

 Dinner was potluck, there was enough food to feed an army so we had the leftovers for dinner on Sunday.  Again we sat by the fire and caught up on what was happening in everyone' life.  Told stories on each other and had a great time.
Sunday Aaron left at 5:00 am as he had to work that day.  Che and Liz left at lunch time (I cried) as did John and Janine, followed shortly by Jill and the girls. Cory and I had decided to stay until monday. The rest of the day was full of visiting, supper was the leftovers from Saturdays potluck for dinner The evening was spent sitting  around the fire and listening to" Janice Jokes".  We were all in gales of laughter..............   the jokes aren't funny.................... we have heard them all before but ................... Janice is funny when she tells them. She has been nick-named "the ENERGIZER BUNNY" because she NEVER SITS STILL.  Even Elizabeth has trouble wearing  her out.

During the reunion I came to the realization that I was the Matriarch of the family .................... am I OLDE enough to be a Matriarch????? What does a Matriarch do any way??

Monday was a sad day as we all left to head home. Wendy and Bob are signing papers for their new house in town, Janice and Jim are planning their next trip and everyone else but Me  had to go back to work.

Did you notice the photos in this post????...................  NO ................... that's because I forgot the camera, along with part of Che's present, fabric and pattern for Koren, and several other things.

 I didn't get John's vest finished but told him I would get it done and mail it to him.  I got this "YEAH RIGHT " look, but I am going to fool him.

Well we are back to our sort of routine. The baby knows how to open the fridge. The other morning she came into the living room with a yogurt and Charlie with a cucumber.  We are going to have to find a way to keep them out of the fridge.  Charlie tends to follow Elizabeth as he knows she drops food.

I have been spinning . All the singles are spun up for the sock yarn but I only have one good bobbin for my Wool House wheel .  That is the one I use for plying as it has bigger bobbins and it is half full of black wool.

Oh yes I forgot to take photos of Aarons quilt and Liz's quilt....................... what can I say other than it is a good thing I know where they live.

darn darn darn

I wrote about 4 paragraphs and somehow managed to delete all but the last sentence.  I will write about the weekend later when I am through being annoyed......................... annoyed ................... annoyed.

is it really Monday

Thank  goodness because I thought it was Tuesday and had started to panic about getting everything done before the weekend.
It will be so great to see most of my sibs.  I don't know how relaxing the weekend is going to be with wee ones and dogs and everything else ................... but it will definitely be fun.

As for this past weekend ................... the Mistress of Mayhem was here both days and really lived up to her name on Saturday.  I don't think I got to sit still for more than 5 minutes at a time.  I think she knew I was having company for dinner and was being difficult on purpose.  She is really a little tease and not yet two years old.

My knitting is progressing slowly but it is progressing.  Have the binding and a little more quilting to do on Elizabeth's quilt and then it will be done.

These are my latest finds in the second hand shop. I the two colour one both yarns are carried through out the sweater.

Time to go and mow the grass in the front yard at least.  Hey John can you bring me a horse to do the back yard............... just for the summer of course.

Static

I have been getting static from several sources because I am not writing in my blog on a regular basis so I will try to write more frequently.

What has been keeping me so busy? Take a look at this!

Guess who the fool was that bought her the big "lego" blocks.....................................  In a moment of insanity I though they would be a good thing for her.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, right.   So I started putting blocks together and she got very annoyed with me and took them apart....................... apparently you aren't supposed to build anything with them ..............They are for scattering all over the house.  She took as many as she could carry into the kitchen and with a great grin dropped them on the floor and went to get more.  The bin is not foe blocks ....................... don't you know it is for wee ones to climb in and out. If you look very closely at the first photo you will see some of her rocks (black ones).

The dog has had diarrhea in the knit night on the living room carpet ...................... A lovely thing to wake up to in the morning.

I took myself out of "Sock Madness" as I had too many other things to do.  I finished Aaron's quilt and I would show you a photo but I forgot to take one.  I will try to remember to take photos of the next ones I finish. 

I am trying to finish my April shawl made out of my handspun.  It is a silk and merino yarn. Fibre was bought from Sharon at "Homespun Haven"

I an spinning sock yarn on my Louet and will ply it on my woolhouse wheel once I finish the third ply.

THE ROOM is a mess as usual.  I did do some quilting in there on the weekend and tidied a little. .......... it is not really noticeable as it needs to be tidied  A LOT!   I think the quilting and knitting fairies have been in there making a mess.

Then there is the rest of the house that is really getting out of control.............

Is it really APRIL

 Despite rumors about this blog being abandoned I am still here but have been rather busy.  January was "Sock Scrimmage". February and March I did a lot of child care.  The "Mistress of Mayhem" consumes most of my energy when she is here.

She leaves a trail behind her where ever she goes.  The pencil crayons get dumped on the floor as  think  she likes the sound, her books all get pulled off the shelf, cookie cutters belong on the floor, small jars are to be taken off the shelf and stacked as high as possible on the floor,  larger jars go over the baby-gate into the craft room and the rock collection gets shared around the house.  If the door to our room is open, in she goes and climbs up on the bed. Then she checks out everything on the dressers.  If she is caught in our room she promptly lies down on the pillow, pulls up the covers and pretends to read  a book.

By the time she leaves I am worn out and need a rest.

In March I joined the "Sock Madness" group on Ravelry. We are now doing sock three which is optional as it is Easter.  After Easter we start round four. At the moment there are 5 groups of 32, don't know how many will go on to round 5 but that is announced when the sock is posted.

Sock Number one - Dicey - the cable pattern was determined by a roll of the dice.

 Sock number 2- Frick an' Frack

Frick is knit from the toe up and Frack is knit from the top down.

Snow

Okay so we have had snow the last two days ........ Saturday it was heavy wet snow and last night it was dry powder snow so today we had VERY slippery conditions.

Jill and Elizabeth come every morning but today they aren't coming.  Jill is feeling terrible cold/flu thing and her car is not good in the snow.  I think Murphy told her I was taking down the rest of the Christmas stuff and would like some help. I wish Murphy had left with "NotMe" and "IDon'tKnow".

So I have boxes and paper and stuff every where.  For some reason spring cleaning occurs in January in our house hold.

I am making wee socks and working on quilts  to relax but nothing is progressing at a great rate. I am also working on a new knitted vest for my baby brother.