A Birthday

It's Heather's birthday! Our oldest daughter has a birthday today!

Of course I can't find a good pic of her, but here's a partial one of her with Julianna. I'd just finished Jul's campfire cardigan and delivered it to her. She picked the colors, and specified the length of the sweater and the sleeves.

It's been so cold that I haven't set foot out of the house for 3 days! Yesterday I transferred birthdays and such to my new pocket calendar, and found my temperature chart. I'm going to make another temp afghan for 2018, but way smaller. My one for school year 2015-16 covers my king bed! This one will be more single size, and possibly ripple. 

We may have snow tomorrow! Yikes!

I'm still alive and kicking!

I just really got out of the habit of posting to this blog. Getting it back up and running is a goal for 2018.

2017 has been interesting, to say the least. Retirement is wonderful.

The end of the year has been bittersweet. My mother died the end of September, which is just surreal. She was 87, and hadn't been getting out of the house except to go to the doctor's. She had some chronic health issues, as do most people that age. But it was still a shock. She didn't come to any festivities last year- her choice- so it did and didn't feel like the first Xmas without her. 

This was the other day, before I ripped out half of it. It's a campfire cardigan, and I royally messed up the neckline, which meant that I spent an hour pulling out stitches. I'll get it going again today.

The gift that made me cry! We gave Heather a cricut, and she's been making amazing things! She gave us this, because her sisters live 3000 miles away. I love it so much! 

So my goal is to post almost daily. We'll see how that goes!

 

June

So here we are, it's June! Next week I'll be retired for a year- that sure flew by!

 

Winter Moon is coming along. I messed up a row on the bottom right, and had to rip out about 40 stitches, or the whole thing would have been off. 
And Sly is continuing to be a lap cat! He comes and paces til I put everything down and he jumps up. If I stop petting him, he nibbles on my arm! He's too funny.

 

We have a diner that we really like for lunch. They always have a quiche special- quiche, salad and soup for $9. This was quiche lorraine. Ralph got a western omelet sandwich and scrapple. 

My permanent tags came in, and I love them! J is for Julianna, 23 was our first street address, and who wouldn't love HUG!

A little over 3 months til our cruise! We make the final payment next week. I have to get on and look at excursions. Boston, Bar Harbor, Portland, Halifax, and one more port. A great fall itinerary! And Anthem is supposed to be an awesome ship. 

We've had a cooler than normal spring, which ended yesterday with temps in the high 80's. 90's for the next 3 days, so the AC went on this morning. 

We tried to see Wonder Woman last week, and it was sold out except for the first row- at noon on a weekday! So we'll go this week. 
Eddie graduates middle school this week- how amazing is that!

Life is good!
 

 

How can it be May?

I wasn't done with April! Or March, even! So much to do, so few hours in the day! Retirement is the best ever- I can't say that I miss work at all. I don't even miss the people- those who I was close to, I'm in contact with.

This is my big news! A 2017 Hyundai Tucson, in the color of Sedona Sunset. Going from a 2004 Caravan, it's quite a change! It does everything! Backup camera, huge sunroof, onboard navigation, satellite radio! A fob, not a key! And, it's the first car I've ever bought in my own name! Steph says that means I'm an adult now. It has the same cabin and storage size, just not the third row seating, which I don't need. It even has heated and air conditioned seats! 

My current projects! Winter Moon cross stitch, a kit I bought in Skagway- my only souvineer of my Alaska cruise. The crochet project is a lap sized afghan that will be a raffle item for the Burlington County Farm Fair. 

Sly is about 14, and has lived with us for 4 years now, along with his sister Tina. (They were named when we got them.) Suddenly after 4 years he's decided that I'm worthy of having him sit on my lap. Goofy guy!

Here's a better pic of my cross stitch. It's hard working on the dark fabric- I had to take the q snap off the frame to see it better. Yesterday we stopped at Rita's Water Ice and they have frozen sweet tea! I love it! Manda is ready to hop a plane and come and have some. 

Tina visited the living room! She usually stays in the family room, where she has her own recliner with a heating pad on it. She's not dumb! 

There's a diner fairly near us that has a quiche lunch special every day. Quiche, mixed greens, and soup for about $9! One week it was broccoli and cheese quiche, last week it was quiche Lorraine. 

I've been riding 3 miles a day on the recumbinent bike fairly consistently, about 5 days a week. I can feel the difference, it's strengthening my left leg.

And the days roll on!
Holly



 
 

Mid March

I went to bed too early- 11PM, so I've been up since about 4 a.m. Laid in bed for an hour, then got up and have been on the computer. I can't do anything else because I don't want to wake up Ralph.

Lakeside Cabin is done, framed, and up on the wall! The larger mat is actually a light yellow, it didn't photograph too well.

This is my new work in progress- Winter Moon. It's my souvenir of the Alaska cruise last year. I bought the kit in a quilt shop in Skagway. I thought it would be difficult to work on the navy aida cloth. Luckily, my various cross stitch groups had lots of hints.

I couldn't resist buying this chart of Ghosts in the Forest. I found it totally compelling. It will be huge, and I'm not sure when I'll start it, but I had to have it.

We got no snow in February, and the weather was great. March is another story! Last Friday we got some snow, just a few inches. This week we had storm Stella (cue Marlon Brando!) and it was to be a terrible northeaster. We got about half the snow the guessers called for, maybe 8 inches, with a lot of slush. I stayed in for 2 days.

We're getting connected to the county sewer system. We've had septic for almost 30 years, and it was here before we were, and it was having issues. Because we're down a little hill, the county initially didn't connect this house, but the technology has improved, and it can be done. The cost is about $20K, but cheaper than a new septic, and permanent. Definitely a factor in eventually selling.  The plumber got half done, then the snowstorm. Then he got the flu, and is sick in bed. He thinks he'll be able to finish next week. We have water, which is all I care about. The big pile of dirt in the driveway keeping me from putting my car in the garage is annoying, tho.

Comcast came out and updated all our equipment yesterday. Now we have the new remotes, and can pause a show in one room, and restart it in another! And we can watch Netflix on all the TV's!

Retired life is grand!


 

March!

A brand new month! We had some strange weather in February, way warmer than normal. March is back to winter, with lows in the teens last night!

 I started Amary's poncho. It's slow going, trying to get into it. We took Lakeside Cabin to AC Moore and left it to get framed. 

Yesterday Mom turned 87 and Julianna turned 10! We went to the Amish Market and got Mom a lot of goodies. She doesn't need any more "stuff" so we get her consumables.

We went to Heather's last night for dinner to celebrate Julianna's birthday. Heather made chicken pot pies and mashed potatoes, with birthday cake for afterward. We had a really nice visit, sat around the table til after 9pm chatting. 

This morning we stopped at Perks so Ralph could get lottery tickets, went to the library, and to the diner for a late breakfast. I had scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns and toast, with iced tea. Totally yum!

And now we're in for the day, because it's cold out!
 

February is ending!

February as been so warm! We had a few nights when we slept with the windows open, then it got cold, then today it was 60! Strange!

 Lakeside Cabin is now finished! I can't get the pic of the finished project to come up in my pix. I'm taking it to AC Moore tomorrow to get it framed. 

Ralph has a terrible cold, and is trying to rest. He sounds terrible. 

I got the new JD Robb, Echoes in Death, at the library today. I also have the yarn all ready to start Amary's poncho. I ripped out the first 3 rows about ten times! And that was after watching the video! 

I've also got my next counted cross stitch project picked out. But I want to get the poncho going well, and the afghan for the farm fair started before I start another cross stitch.

I'm on several facebook groups, for quilting, cross stitch, and crocheting. Some of the people have 50+ projects started! There's no way I could do that, I'd get totally confused.

I did 3+ miles on the bike yesterday. I start the exercise playlist on the iPad, and off I go! 

So life is chugging along nicely!
 

Friday

Another week passed! Retirement is amazing. No set bedtime or rising time, no having to leave the house before it's light outside, no putting up with work people! 

A funny thing is that I'm reading less! I used to read everyday during my lunch break, and after student dismissal. At home, there are just too many fascinating things to do! I have to make an effort to read. I try to read when I go to bed, but it's now making me sleepy. 

The bottom is done! I had to take it off the frame to do the top right section- being a lefty, my left arm isn't long enough to comfortably do the top area, and my right hand isn't coordinated enough to do it. I was hoping to finish the project by March 1, but don't think that will happen. New goal is to be done by March 15. 

After this project, I want to take a month off from counted cross stitch. I have a few crochet projects I want to get going- a poncho/sweater thing for Amary, and my yearly lap afghan for the Burlington County Farm Fair. 

We had snow yesterday, which didn't stick much to the roads or walks, but was a mess coming down. Ralph swept off the steps, and I stayed in all day. Today it's really cold- 23 at 10 a.m., so I may stay in again. Another retirement benefit- I don't buy gas nearly as frequently! I go out almost every day, but rarely go more than 10 miles away. All the places we like to eat, and all the craft stores I go to, are less than 10 miles away. 

Last month we took a morning and went to Thrift stores! We skipped the local Goodwill, because it's a hot mess. We went to 2 church run stores, and a huge store. I got 2 paperbacks at one. At another I got a bunch of small counted cross stitch ornament kits in a bag for a buck! Ralph got 2 pair of pants, one looks brand new, and 2 bike helmets. We decided to make the rounds once a month, then go to lunch. 

 It only took one day for this pattern to be posted online! There's also an Alt US National Park Service pattern up, which I printed out. We live in interesting times.
 

February

I've been retired for 6 months, and have never been busier! I considered stopping the blog, but I enjoy doing it, so my goal is to post more often. Easy goal to keep!

This is one of the things keeping me busy! Lakeside Cabin, counted cross stitch. I'm enjoying it, but it's a lot of stitches!

We had a snow squall the other evening, that reduced visibility a lot, and dumped about a half inch in a half hour. 

I got bored with my plain green comforter and got this one. I had to buy more pillows for the shams, and have to take another picture. Ralph, being a guy, doesn't get the concept of shams and decorative pillows. Heather could never have this comforter, because it's asymmetrical. I think it makes a nice change.

I got Ralph an echo dot for Christmas. Alexa is very handy when we need to spell a word! She's also great for getting weather reports. 

Cookie Swap is trying to get together every month. Last month we went to the Franklinville Inn, which was very nice but pricey. This month we're going to a pizzeria to make up for it! 

I've got a lousy head cold, and I'm hoping it runs it's course soon. I have things to do!
I watched The West Wing on Netflix. Fantastic show! Now I'm watching Madame Secretary, which is also fabulous. 

So we'll see how well I do keeping up with the blog!