The end of the year!

Wow!  I've been terrible about posting! I always get like that as the end of the year approaches.

Here's one reason why! I've been cross stitching so much!

Here's what it looked like a month ago! And a completed Pattern Keeper screen! I love that PK counts your stitches every day! I've been doing an average of 500 per day, because I want to get Quiet Time done! Originally I said by the end of the year, now I'm hoping for Valentine's Day. 

We all went to Donna's for her 60th Birthday, the old Thanksgiving crowd. We started out at the cemetery to visit Joseph, since his birthday is 2 days after Donna's. It was bitter cold, so it was a short cemetery visit. Then to Donna's for appetizers, hoagies and pizza, and dessert. She had texted me and asked me to make Joseph's Trifle, in memory of him. First I've made it since his death, and I managed not to cry over it. It was well received. Mike has Dad's hat hanging on the plant/tree from their house, and elves of Martha and Snoop hanging on the trunk.

Mike, the anti Facebook guy, had his pic on it by his company.

I got a Christmas treat for my new door, looks so festive! That and my mantle of gnomes, are our decorations. We just didn't feel like a tree.

The weather for the holiday weekend was brutal all over the country. We got torrential rains at the end of the week, and single digit temps. So Heather and I cancelled our Christmas Eve day visit, and rescheduled for Wednesday. Ralph and I opened gifts for Manda and Steph on Christmas Day, and I made the turkey breast in the crockpot, which was fabulous. And enough left for sandwiches!

Last weekend was David's 39th birthday. Such a sad loss.

And we're almost done with 2022!

Yikes!

 How did a whole month go by without me posting? I have no idea!

This has been keeping me busy! I'm 87% done, not counting the bottom row of half pages, which I'm not sure I'm doing. Pattern keeper is such a game changer! I tells me how many stitches I've done each day, and how many total I've done.

This I what the screen looks like. Best $8 investment ever!

Got my second booster, and my flu shot! Felt icky for a day or so, and a sore arm from the flu shot.

Oops, not what I meant to post. I thought it was my October reads, but that's a list of books to look for.

I read Verity, on Gordanna's recommendation. What a dark, weird book! We had a nice discussion about it, though.

The election is finally over! So I can stop seeing the PA commercials. Dr Oz sucks.

A whole month!

 A month since my last post, wow! That time sure got away from me! We went from summer to fall in that month, from using the AC to having the heat and electric blanket on!

I bought a fall wreath for my new front door, and I love the way it looks.

I bought a quilt kit from a jersey quilt store that was part of a shop hop. 

I read 11 books in September, 4 on the kindle.

I made caramel in the crockpot from a can of sweetened condensed milk!

I had a page finish on my cross stitch, and took a pic since I had to move the qsnap. I'm 83 % done after 2 years.

Yesterday we went to the Berry Basket Quilt guild's quilt show, the first show I've been to in several years. We had a good time admiring all the quilts, then went to Cracker Barrel for brunch. A nice day out.

And I downloaded a trial of Pattern Keeper, an app that lets you mark off what you've done on a cross stitch pattern on the app. There is a learning curve, but I like it.

September!

 It's finally cooling down a bit! The days are now in the mid 80's and the nights in the 60's. On the down side, it's dark by 7.30 or so. I'll miss the long summer evenings.

Not much done, I took off a couple of weeks to read, but now I'm getting back into it.

I made lasagna in the crockpot for the first time in a couple of years! It made so much! We portioned it out, and froze most of it for later.

Thirteen books read in August! Total for the year so far, 100, of which 29 were on the kindle, and the rest from the library.

Here's a bigger version of our group picture. It will be our Christmas card. The girls are already planning next year's picture.

I've been making various zucchini breads. I've made zucchini pineapple, zucchini pineapple banana, and lemon zucchini, all of which were really good. On Labor Day Heather called to ask how to grate zucchini. We ended up taking the food processor to her house and demonstrating. We left the processor there for her to borrow and try out on tomatoes for salsa. Heather and Eddie loved shredding the zucchini, she said it was oddly satisfying. She made two loaves of zucchini bread, which she said they all inhaled. This year she had 8 plants, and she's planning for more next year!

This is the 7th first day of school that I didn't have to participate in, yay! Eddie is now in his second year at Stockton University, Julianna is a sophomore at Oakcrest High School, Amary is in grade 4 and Garrett is in grade 2! And the youngest member of the extended family, Ben, started kindergarten in Virginia.

All things considered, life is good.

Heater is in!

 Our heater was about 25 years old, so we decided to replace it now, rather than wait til it goes, which would probably be on a cold winter's day. So we called our HVAC guy, and signed a contract in May. The unit came in in June, and was delivered to our basement. The company finally had a break from air conditioning emergencies, and installed it earlier this week. Another project done!

Page finish! I think the bottom left corner took as long as the rest of the page! So many colors in such a little space! I'm about 75% done at this point. I then took a couple of days off to read the new Patricia Briggs book, which was fantastic.

Just Donald in a birdbath, nothing unusual.

A morning visitor! It's mom was there, off to the left, eating my bushes and lawn.

July was a slow reading month, I spent so much time doing cross stitch and having the kids here.

Ali sent me the first couple of pix that she took, I can't wait to see the rest! 

August!

 It's been so hot and humid! Too hot to go outside unless absolutely necessary.

We had such a wonderful week with Manda and Steph and families! Manda and family got here July 18, which meant that Amary celebrated her 9th birthday here!

Of course there were 3 cakes! A Sweet Eats cake of chocolate with orange creamsicle cream, a carrot cake, and an ice cream cake. Lots of gifts and fun. 

Trips to the shore and the Aquarium with Aunt Heather and Julianna. 

And of course a big family party to celebrate our 50th anniversary and being together! 

Amary declared that she wants to spend her next birthday in jersey, but to stay two weeks! We're in for it!

The camera pix and computer are back to talking to each other, yay! Posting without pix just didn't seem right.

One week to go!

 Next Monday, Manda, Ben and the kids fly in for a week's visit! We haven't seen them since August 2019, thanks to covid. Next Tuesday is Amary's birthday, so we get to have a party for her! Then on Thursday, Steph and Dan get in. Friday night we're having a group picture done, and Saturday is a summer family party. 

Manda and family will divide their time between here and Heather's house. They haven't planned out any activities yet, other than spending time in the pool.

OK, I have pix to add, but they aren't showing up. To be continued when tech support gets home!

It's July!

 Happy July! June zipped by, like all the months have been.

ok, not the pic I wanted to insert, and can't figure out how to delete.  I'm putting my pix into folders, and now they are all confused.

I only read 10 books in June, one on the kindle. Total for the year is 80, 23 of them on the kindle. 

I finished watching Yellowstone last night. What a good series, Sopranos with cows! John's birthday is this week,  and since he can't get Comcast out in the boonies he doesn't get Peacock. I doubt if he can figure out, and know he won't pay for, streaming, so no Paramount. So I ordered him the boxed DVD set of all 4 seasons. He'll get it tomorrow, and I know he'll love it. Mike and Heather both recommended it to me. Today I want to watch the most recent Stranger Things, which just dropped yesterday.

Another week...

 another page!

This page had a lot of blue!

That is how much of one color on this page, which is why it went to fast.

A friend shared the recipe for egg bites. You make them in silicone cupcake lines. Bits of wheat bread in the bottom, then sausage crumbles and cheese, and topped with an egg and milk mixture. They freeze well, the recipe says, but we ate the whole dozen over about 3 days. 

While stitching, I binged Sweet Magnolias on Netflix, based on the books by Sherryl Woods. It had a Virgin River vibe. I watched the two seasons, and they are making a third. 

Then I read this book, which I picked up at the library. It started a little slow, but got really interesting. When I was finished, I was happy to see there are two more in the series, which I'll request. It made me think of how my life could be different if I had made different choices. I'm so lucky in that I'd do it all again. There have been bumps in the road, but it's my road.