Mid February

This is me with the first scarf I made. It was so easy, that I've made several more and bought more yarn. 

Wednesday was my 60th birthday! Once upon a time, that sounded so old! Ralph got me candy and 2 dozen beautiful roses, for my birthday and Valentine's Day. Manda and Ben and Baby Bell Pepper Briles sent me Godiva chocolates, and Steph and Dan gave me a King Cake. 

I took the King Cake to work yesterday, to share with the staff, and I gave my mom a piece. It's like a huge Danish! It's a Mardi Gras tradition, so it's only available this time of year. Another staffer brought apple cake, another brought little cinnamon rolls, and another brought soft pretzels, so we nibbled all day. 

And today is a trifecta- Friday, payday, and a three day weekend! yay! And it was 60 today, tho it will be in the 30's over the weekend. I came home and took my Friday afternoon nap, and when Barbara called me at 6, I had to ask if it was a.m. or p.m.! 

And the beat goes on!
Holly

It's February!

Baby Joey is almost three weeks old already! Check out that head of hair! 

We got some snow last night, about 3 inches for us. North Jersey and New England got a lot more from Winter Storm Nemo. 

My school went on a field trip yesterday, to the Wells Fargo Center in Philly to see the Wings Lacrosse team play. I knew the basics of the game, and it was interesting- it moved really fast. The kids seemed to enjoy it, especially the part about eating while watching the game. 

I've made six  no crochet sashay scarves so far, and just bought more yarn. They're so pretty, and work up so fast! 

I just read the first three books of a new series by Brenda Novak, called the Whiskey Creek series. Each book is about a different one of a group of friends, and the other friends are supporting characters. I read the second book in the series, "When Snow Falls" first, and liked it the most. Cheyanne, the main character, has always felt different than her low life mother and her sister. Cheyanne has what may be early memories of a different family. Her dying mother, Anita, says Cheyanne just thinks she's better than anyone else. Anita can't remember where Cheyanne was born, and there's no birth certificate available. Then a private detective comes around. A really good book, and highly recommended. 

I also just finished Shadow Woman by Linda Howard, one of my favorite authors. Lizzette wakes up one morning, looks in the mirror, and doesn't recognize the face in the mirror. She also has a two year memory gap. Memories start to come back, and her life is in danger. Another really good book. 

We had dinner Thursday night at Bertucci's with Steph and Dan. Steph is in her final semester of getting her master's degree from St. Joe's, and Dan has gone back to school to take IT classes. We had a nice evening of visiting with them. Even tho they only live 2 miles from us, we don't see a lot of them- we're all so busy. 

Manda and Ben's best man and groomswoman, Kyle and Danielle, had their baby boy this week. Zach is a cutie! 

And tonight we'll see the Garemore side of the family, at Sharon's house for her Zach's 12th birthday party. 

And the beat goes on!
Holly

Sunday evening

I'm finally getting the hang of posting pix from other than easy share! This was at David and Juliette's wedding reception. Ralph, me, Ed, Heather, Manda and Ben in the back, and Steph and Dan in front. We had a really nice time- it was at a  B&B in W. Va. 

New grandpop Mike says baby Joseph is shaped like a bowling ball and opens one eye like Popeye! 

We got a couple of inches of snow Friday night, and it's been cold enough that there hasn't been a lot of melting going on. But by Wednesday it's supposed to be back up in the 50's! 

Sandra, one of my internet group, has gotten me hooked on the TV show Castle. TNT runs reruns of it Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and I've been DVRing them. It's quite addicting. 

I'm working on a ruffly scarf from sashay yarn. Kinda sorta crocheted, and easy enough to make. 

I'm in between sewing projects, have to figure out what I want to make next. Ralph has the closet of the guest room ripped apart, removing the damaged sheetrock, and a lot of my stash bins are in the dining room. The dining room looked like an actual dining room for about five minutes. 

And tomorrow is Monday again.
Holly

Babies and more babies!

Joseph holding Joseph. Look at the head of hair the kid has! Such a cutie.

And Manda and Ben have gone public with their announcement of Baby Briles!
2013 looks like the Year of the Baby! Niece Britt is also having a baby boy this summer, and Kyle and Danielle (best man and groomswoman from Manda and Ben's wedding) are having a baby boy next month.
We're all thrilled about all these babies coming!

And it's COLD! 19 this morning, with a windchill of 5! January is showing it's teeth!

Brrrr!
Holly

Happy Birth Day!

Welcome to Joseph Michael Oehrl, born today shortly after midnight. He weighed in at 8 lbs, 9 oz, and his proud grandparents are walking on air.

Halfway thru January!

I have a bunch of blogs that I read regularly, and enjoy. Some of these women just quilt up a storm, and they make me feel like such a slacker. But then I stop to think. The most prolific quilters (and bloggers) are not employed outside the home, which means they have the time to quilt, not to mention blog every day with lots of pictures. 

I'm jealous of their time, but not their lives. They do a lot of community service, which I don't do. But as I've always told my children, you can have time, or you can have money. You can't have both. So for now I'll settle for money (not a huge amount, but enough to get by), and enjoy the knowledge that I'm contributing to a pension and social security, so I won't be eating cat food when I'm an old lady. 

My mojo is doing well! I bound a quilt that has been hanging around for quite a while. It's a belated retirement gift for a friend, and once it's given I'll try to post a pic. I have my wonderful new camera, and I have to sit down with Ralph and try to figure out how to post to here. It can't be that hard- I hope. 

I've been an active participant on the HGTV message boards for years- since July 2003, which is when I started learning to quilt. Every Friday I start a thread called Sew & Tell, where people tell us what they've finished, and what they're working on, and post pictures. Two weeks ago I started posting a companion thread called What are your crafty/quilty goals this week. It's turned out to be very popular, with people posting goals, then coming back and telling the rest of us if they met the goals. 

After a week of unseasonably warm temps, the weather is now rainy and chilly and raw. January reminding us who's boss here. 

And the beat goes on!
Holly

A new year just begun

I have been thru a whole saga with my glasses. At the end of the summer, my eyes were bothering me. I went to my usual eye doc, and he was on vacation and I saw his young associate. Long story short, I'm on my 4th set of lenses, and my eyes still hurt. I went there tonight, and the latest set that just came in made my right eye blurry. They had me see the eye doc, and in two minutes he figured out that there had been a transposition in the original order! He assures me that the order that goes out tomorrow will be correct, and he will have them put a rush on it. The moral is, don't see associates, stick with the doc that you know. 

I got a letter from Aetna that they are no longer affiliated with Kennedy, the hospital that I go to for everything, and where I planned to get my other knee done! And my ortho only operates out of Kennedy! Aetna states that they are still negotiating with Kennedy, so hopefully they'll resolve their issues. 

We have birthdays in January- nephew Jim, great nephew Zachary, and my late friend Linda. The anniversary of Linda's passing is also in January. 

Tomorrow is Heather and Ed's 11th anniversary! They are so good together, and such good parents to Eddie and Julianna. 

Mom Mary Jane, Steph and Dan have all been sick for over a week. Mom is going to the doctor tomorrow to see if it's viral or if she needs meds. 

When Sam passed, I kept all her jeans, about 15 pairs. They've been sitting in a pile on the laundry room table for 14 months, and this week I finally sat and cut them up the side seams and around the center seams, which gave me a big pile. Now I'm cutting up the jeans into 6 inch squares. Eventually when I need a denim quilt, I'll have the denim ready. And a stack or two of 6 inch squares will take up a lot less room that a stack of jeans. 

It's cold! It was 25 when I was on the way to work this morning, and only went up to maybe 35. 

And so starts 2013!
Holly