No, we didn't get quite this much snow, but our trees are frosted. I just cleared about 4 inches of wet snow off half of our 30 foot driveway. I'll let Duane do the rest this afternoon. He is off the hill for a SAR meeting and should be back mid-afternoon. The hardest part of shoveling was the berm (what the snowplow throws up along the side of the road including in front of our driveway). It was 9-12 inches of heavy, wet, packed snow.
Here is what Duane did with our sketch. He has a program that smooths out the bumpy rough edges that i left. I've not ordered the stamp yet, but i have uploaded it and am ready to do so. I wanted to order it 3x3 (inches) but i think that is a bit too big for many of my cards. The next option is 2x2, which seems a little small to me, but those are my choices.
I know i've not been writing much and i have plenty to say, but i'm pretty exhausted from shoveling, so i'll keep this short. Duane and i were both sick this week, but strangely, with different things. He had a cold and a couple of days later i had just a sore throat and a lot of weakness. I took a lot of olive leaf extract because someone i know swears it cures her colds. I can't know what would have happened had i not taken it, of course, but the sore throat passed pretty quickly.
Right now the sky is blue, but the temp is 25F with wind chill. This is suppose to be the break in the storm with more coming. Someone told me yesterday that we are suppose to have 7 days of storm. The weather service doesn't say that, and it is hard for me to imagine that here because storms normally pass quickly and we are left with the beautiful (if chilly) weather like we have today. Guess we will see.
I've so much to do in the house, but i think i've worn myself out. I'll try to do some. :)
What do you have planned for your weekend? Did you do anything fun for Valentine's Day?
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It is a beautiful day in Big Bear. It is 52F out, tho our low was 12. There is not a cloud in our deep blue sky, tho snow is predicted later this week.
I need to go out soon and run some errands.
My grandmother died on Wednesday morning. I am not grieving, i think. We were not close. I had only seen her 4 times since i was 19, and that was largely because of that visit when i was 19. However, she did an honorable job of raising 8 children during hard circumstances and deprivation. She was 93 and had lived a very full life.
Duane has had a sketch that he draws. I think, before he met me, he used to sign birthday cards to friends and family with a funny sketch.
This is one he did in 2005. But we kind of got out of the habit of doing it. I wasn't very good about sending cards for a while. But it is my intent to keep up with birthday cards this year.
So, since i'm doing this more, and he's drawing it more, i thought i might have it made into a rubber stamp. Occasionally i have to send things out (may have forgotten until the last minute) and don't have time to track him down to do this for me. I took one of his drawings and traced it for the above image. He may make some changes to it to make it more authentic and his own, but i think i'd like a rubber stamp.
That is what i've spent the last hour or so doing. Duane and i don't celebrate things like Valentine's Day really, and of course for us we don't celebrate Mothers'/Fathers' days. But we do have our own fun rituals like his funny signature image, and we do a number of different things too.
How is your weekend? Do you feel like spring is on its way? Do you have any rituals that make your life complete?
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I've not made cards in so long! I used to be friends with someone long ago. She would have "card making" parties at her house. We would stamp & emboss/thermo & works ourselves ragged but have fun doing it too. (Some of her friends would do scrapbook pages rather than cards.) We would pool our stamps & have lots more options than when we worked alone.
Unfortunately, that friend disappeared from my life. I have never known why. Because she had more room at her house, i'd stored most of my stamps there, & my other supplies. When she disappeared, i didn't care all that much. I wasn't going to do it alone. What i had left i sent to my mom.
Making cards is so much easier now! I doubt if it is much more expensive. Many of the things we used to spend so much time on: Embossing, glitter, cutting out detailed tiny bits of paper, etc, are now done for us & all ready to stick on a card. Yesterday i bought a packet of cards for $1 at Michaels. I spent much more than that on the stickers. I've some notes i need to write, & i wanted something different than run of the mill cards. Here is what i did:
The gold foil embossing in the card was there already. I thought i was buying blank ones, but i was wrong! The others i made i covered this up, but for this one i left it alone.
Now, i know these aren't particularly extra special, but i sure had fun doing it. Now i need to write the letters!
Oh, calligraphy has been one of my special joys. I had fun addressing these letters. Of course, you don't really get the full effect for privacy sake, but they turned out ok.
It is quite a debate these days of which is more expensive: Store bought (nice) cards which can run $5 each, or ones you make yourself with expensive materials. Of course, usually you can find some fairly nice ones without spending too much. I found some embossed with a "D" (our last name, i couldn't find "K"), 8 for $1.
What do you like to do for creative sake?
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Mac, making himself comfortable on our unmade bed.
I wrote of our time at the Art Festival & how tired i was. When i laid down, this was my view.
Multi-million dollar houses on the hill across the street from the Festival of the Arts.
Duane sent this to me from his helitac training yesterday. (He is not in this pic.) He enjoyed it a lot & thought it was a fun day. I thought it was a 4 hour training, but it turned out to be 8+ hours.
We bought this mat for the front door today. We think it a fun thing, although i know from sad experience that it won't stay looking this bright & pretty for very long.
The art project i'm doing, in progress. It is the "Around the World" quilting pattern but made with scrapbooking paper. I'll put an image on it when this part is done. I'm being very slow because it needs to fit well. This has a lot of mistakes in it & is very imprecise. I'm finding this is much more of an energy drain for me than simply knitting.
The baby blanket i just finished. The colors aren't quite true in this pic. The lavender around the edges doesn't really match the colors inside, but it was the best i can do. This is the first baby blanket i've made in a while that i actually like. It is going to the daughter of a friend of mine. Her baby girl is due the end of October. I'm pleased with this blanket, although i don't think the border was the best choice.
Mac & Jazz. (They had wanted to sit on the baby blanket as i took a pic of it. I didn't let them.)
This is where i spend most of my time. Today we bought the wire thingy (used 2 of the shelves for something else) & i tried to straighten up my side of the bed. It is usually a mess. I don't really like this look much, but it is neater than it was.
Much of this was the mess where the wire thingy is now. I need to put this junk away!
This is where we store the sheets & the basket on top is for dirty clothes. I had 2 stacking plastic bins here with the summer or winter sheets inside (& the ones being used on top). But i found that they absorbed a plastic smell while stored & had to be washed a couple of times, which seemed a waste to me. After debating our options, we decided to put the sheets on shelves instead.
Yes, the door to our bedroom has windows in it! But it is just the two of us, & when we do have company, our bed can't be seen from outside the door.
Since i spend so much time in bed, & blog from bed, too, this is the view from there. This is fairly late afternoon, with the sun coming in.
We had a couple of really cool days here. The lows were 24F & 26. I think we broke a record on Thursday for the "lowest high" on record. I think the high that day was 61F. But it has warmed back up & the past couple of days have been in the 70s. A few of our trees are beginning to have yellowed leaves. Fall is soon to be here. We'll have winter sheets back on the bed soon. (Duane will be happy.)
Duane just rushed out the door a few minutes ago. SAR had a call-out. A hiker with a broken ankle needs to be brought in. If he actually goes (sometimes he gets to the station & is told that the team isn't needed), he will probably be gone for several hours. The call-out is in a valley at least 40 minutes from here. He does love to be part of the team.
Thank you for all the well-wishes for our anniversary. We had a lovely day.
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Well, Elsa arrived Saturday before noon. We had a lovely weekend. We went to town for lunch. We stopped in the Village because i wanted to go to the scrapbook store for some paper. She & i worked in her room (cat-free) for most of the afternoon. She's making a baby quilt for Ellen (wish i'd taken a pic of it) & i was using the paper for an art project. We later got some tamales from a restaurant we like & brought them home. Watched TV in the evening.
Sunday we went to the ELCA church. Then to our "after Church" routine of eating at Mountain Munchies. We spent some of the afternoon garage sale-ing. Came home & rested. Duane & i made dinner. We had pasta (quinoa) & Alfredo sauce, with mushrooms & broccoli. Duane & Elsa also had biscuits & blackened chicken. (I still need to clean the kitchen. Today's goal.) Watched more TV.
Oh, i also learned that Elsa does read my blog (i didn't know that) so i need to watch what i say!
She left Monday about 9 AM & i went to the knitting group. Also did a little shopping in town. Rested on Monday PM & did some on the art project.
Yesterday we went to the Farmer's Market. Also picked up some items at the hardware store. Ran a hose to water our plants more efficiently. I spent much of the afternoon resting as i was bone tired. Evening we watched TV & i worked on the art project.
(My computer quit on me today; i'm finishing this with Duane's. No telling how long mine will be out of commission.)
Today we went to the movies at noon. Then stopped for lunch. Also a couple of other errands. I'm still working on the art project, & am working at finishing the one baby blanket. Hopefully by this weekend i'll have pics of both to post.
Tomorrow i've got another knitting group. Also i might go to the cooking demo at noon. Depends on if i can find someone to join me. :) I've so many projects i want to work on this week. Colder weather is suppose to be moving in tonight & tomorrow. The high tomorrow is suppose to only be in the 50s, the low tonight &/or tomorrow night in the 20s. (I started this in the morning, but because of the computer problem, i'm finishing now at nearly 11 PM. According to the service we check, it is 49F out right now.)
Friday is our anniversary. Not sure what we'll do during the day, but in the evening (well, 5.30) we have reservations for a fairly nice place in town, The Peppercorn.
Saturday Duane is going down the hill to do helicopter training for SAR. He is excited.
Those are the plans thus far. Not sure about Sat/Sun/Mon.
The visit with the new doc went quite well. I felt none of the red flags go up that i experienced with other docs recently. He very much "gets it" for the fatigue & other issues. I think he is reasonably familiar with the condition. There are some areas of which he may not be as aware as i'd hope, but all indications are that he is willing & interested in learning. I had a ton of blood drawn, & an appointment to see him again at the end of the month to go over those results. We did have to pay out of pocket for some of the tests as my insurance (which i rarely use) wouldn't pay for them, but Duane & i decided that it would be best to have them run. We feel that not to run tests he requests would be to tie his hands in trying to help me.
One of the tests is for food sensitivities. I'll be honest, i'm a bit concerned about that one. Frankly, it feels like my diet is already so very limited. If i have to give up eggs, cheese, dairy in general, or nightshades, it will feel like i've not much left. However, i do need to keep in mind that if it would help my functioning, then it would be worth it. Also, that a week or two will not be enough time to evaluate. I have the bad habit of not seeing a change after a short time, giving up. I'm trying to keep in mind about what Dr. Cheney said about it taking at least a year. Sigh. :) Rome wasn't built in a day, neither is good health after years of garbage. (Not recent, but certainly in my 20s & 30s.)
When i was in town yesterday, i saw 2 different families at K-Mart. Each had a child about the age our Kaylee would be. They also had a younger one & the mama was pregnant as well. I still find it hard. I think i always will find it hard. It doesn't seem to be getting any easier. Yeah, i know, life is unfair.
Then it hit me, with our anniversary coming up, we got pregnant with Kaylee right before our first anniversary. It has been 5 years. We lost her in October. Five years! It is hard for me to believe. Have had 2 other very early losses. I guess i always thought that if i was just patient, if we just "waited on the Lord" it would happen for us. It is quite clear now that it never will.
I'm late, quite late this month. But i think that this is the start of what used to be called "the change of life." When i've been pregnant before, i had very clear symptoms, particularly that my sense of smell was incredibly acute, almost super-human it seemed to me. Nope, nada. Of course, with my current functioning, i don't know how i'd even manage to carry a baby, much less take care of him. We'd have to hire nearly full-time help, & we haven't the money for that.
Hopefully in the next couple of days (my computer will be fixed!) i will have pics to post of all the projects i'm working on.
To finish with something funny, check out this blog: The Lutheran Chik Very, very funny banner she posted. You'd think a church would have a better idea! :p
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So much has happened this week. It has been very busy.
Tuesday we went down the hill as usual. But i didn't go into the office that day. I saw a new doctor (post of itself, but a good thing, i think).
Then we went to Pageant of the Masters (& Festival of Arts). This link is to the history of the event. And here is the gallery of them preparing. My FIL bought tickets for the four of us to go. Pictures are often drawn from real life into 2 dimensional representations. This event takes real people & puts them into life-size reproductions of a picture, with lighting & make-up they make it real people part of the presentation. We went the last day of the festival. I think it ran about 6 weeks.
Both Tom & Jeanet had been before, but Duane & i never had been. I didn't have the energy to peruse all the art exhibits. Honestly, if we do something like this again i will need a wheel chair. Most folks won't understand that because i can walk, but i don't have the energy to continue walking.
I'm glad we brought the binoculars. We had good seats but still were far enough away that seeing the details would have been a challenge without them. I'm also glad that a friend warned me to dress warmly & bring a blanket. My FIL didn't think we'd need it, but then he was glad we had it along. It was an outdoor theatre & it got rather nippy.
Wednesday i had a very busy day at work. I also missed going to church as i'd been scheduled into the noon hour. After work i did some quick shopping - an idea i had & Ikea made it happen.
Duane & i handle warmth & heat differently. We already had winter weight duvets on our bed, but that is simply too much for me. I wake up warm in the AM, & my skin is cool to touch, but as the day goes on i get colder & colder & can't handle either heat or cold very well. I often have to go to bed in the afternoon just to warm up. So when i first go to bed at night, i need something to help me warm. But as the night goes on & i warm back up, i need less & less covers & the winter weight duvet just about suffocates me!
Duane is just the opposite. He wakes up & is putting out heat like a blast furnace (his skin feels like it is on fire to me) but he complains about it being "cold" in the AM. As the day goes on he can handle either cold or heat just fine & in the evening he doesn't feel as cold as i do or as he did in the AM. However, he wants lots of covers to sleep under.
So, i thought that if i bought a lightweight, twin size duvet for my side of the bed, we could take out the second duvet in the big one. I can sleep under the light weight duvet, & we fold over the big one so that Duane is under "winter weight" with just the one duvet. When it starts to get colder, i'll keep the heavier duvet across both of us & switch the twin duvet to Duane's side of the bed so he'll have more. Haven't figured out really cold winter weather yet, but we tried it for the first time last night & it worked well.
I'm told that in Europe, each person has their own duvet, usually twin size. And that they often don't use a top sheet, but only the duvet, which is covered much like a pillow has a pillowcase. It is taken off & laundered frequently. This makes much sense to me, but we've never been able to obtain that. We use both sheets & the duvet covers are for protection & decoration only. I do think that changing the duvet cover is a pain & to do it weekly or more often to wash the sheets would be a challenge. Maybe not if we were using twin size, tho.
Thursday was another busy, busy day (for me, at least; i know i don't do as much as most people). We got home & i rested some but i worked on some projects, too.
Fall is coming!
This was our peach tree last year at the end of September.
This was our apple tree at the same time.
No fruit for us this year. The peach tree died & the apples all were killed by a late freeze.
Soon, we will be having the leaves turn, too. These were taken in early October. The signs for Oktoberfest are up. It starts in a couple of weeks & runs thru the end of October. I always thought it funny that it starts in September, but read recently that that is how it runs in Germany.
Of course, after the color comes this. Hopefully we won't have it come quite as heavy all at once as happened twice last year.
I've lots & lots to say, as usual, but i'm ready for lunch. Think i've said enough for now. Oh, my sister Elsa may come up this weekend. I hope so.
Also, my friend Amrita posted on the Spas & Massage in India. Fascinating. Check her out. She writes about so many interesting things.
We are staying home next week. (Hooray!) :) Labor Day is Monday (a holiday) but we never go down on Mondays anyway. And Friday is our anniversary. Six years now. Don't know what we'll do. Probably just dinner. Duane is going to a training on Saturday (the 11th).
Thanks for stopping by & i hope y'all have a lovely weekend.
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But that shouldn't be a surprise. I think i mentioned that Duane was supportive of having someone come in weekly when i first mentioned it to him. But when the actual cost was brought up i think it gave him pause. But he has said no more about it. I am so blessed to be with such a wonderful man.
Rebecca was here yesterday. I did almost no work at all.
I over did last week, & then didn't do strict bed rest. The result was that i dragged myself thru the week at a barely functioning level. When we got home Thursday night, i aspirated a small amount of food or liquid & coughed so that i thought i would die. I coughed until i thought my head would explode & my eyes were crying like rivers. If i had any predisposition to having a stroke or aneurysm, that would have done it. I've continued to have a deep cough (but not at that same brain-breaking level) whenever i move around much. I was totally exhausted by the time Rebecca arrived yesterday.
She made lunch for Duane & me. She made a lovely salad for me & also a poppyseed dressing to go on it. (And, again, i forgot it was Friday & had her fix Duane some Italian sausage i'd gotten for him. My fault, it wouldn't even hit her radar as she is Baptist. It didn't hit my radar either - he mentioned it to me later.) She also made a corn/potato soup, vegetarian chili, & eggplant ready to turn into eggplant parmasean. Together we made peanutbutter cookies, chicken cordon bleu, & baked chicken to use in meals for Duane in the future.
She also did or started 3 loads of laundry for me. Having someone else do my laundry (that isn't sheets or towels) is weird for me. But i'm appreciative just the same.
Duane is away for the weekend. He is doing his second weekend of SAR (Search & Rescue) training. He left about 5 AM today. He'll be home tomorrow about 5 or 6.
I'm happy that he is doing this. So glad that he has found a local group to be part of & that he so enjoys.
But his being away messes with my way of thinking. Like serving him meat yesterday. When i had Rebecca fix it i was only thinking that we needed to use up that sausage before it went bad & that he wouldn't be here on the weekend to eat it. He's only going to be away on this training one more weekend - AND i need to remember NOT to buy meat for him that week.
The other thing that is different is church issues. I've already decided that i will not attend our Lutheran Church without him. I tend to get off-balance there & he helps me to have things in perspective better. Or we comiserate & complain. But i also don't want to attend a new small church without him. If we are going to visit a new church i'd like to do it together. Also, i have to decide if i'll attend the Lutheran Church - for our traditional potluck, etc., without him. I'm not sure at this point.
Last week at church (Lutheran) they had no one to do the children's service (both the Sunday School people were ill). But we didn't have anything for the little ones (about ages 4 - 7) to do. I went into the office & got some paper & crayons for them to use. So, i've done tracings of a couple of the stained glass windows we have in our church. I'll give them to the office manager to copy so we will have them on hand for the kids.
Here is something i did to use as paper for letters Duane & i send out:
Yesterday while barely able to get out of bed & unable to do much in the house at all, i found myself wondering, "Okay, what CAN i do?" So i am searching for things to do when i'm unable to get out of bed. Of course, there are things for me to do, but i find myself wasting a lot of time on the computer. The computer can be productive, but i often use it as a time waster. I need to be more productive - for my own mental health - even if i'm bed-bound. I'm sure i'll find something.
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