Before a new year starts

I took this picture the other day as we were seeing the most significant snowfall for this season so far. It didn't amount to much - an inch or 2, but it was pretty - if you don't have to go out in it. Even though winter just started I keep thinking spring isn't far off!!
Before the last day of the year I wanted to get in these 2 pictures from Christmas Eve. That is Jessica below showing off some of her new clothes.

Here's Tyler with probably the most appreciated present of the year - a BB gun. He is definitely his Dad's boy, loves the outdoors, always wanting to go hunting. Todd and Kris came before it got dark on Christmas Eve so there was some early present opening and a trip outside to try out the BB gun (not before BB's were spilled all over the kitchen floor though). From what I hear they have already run out of the BB's we gave him and were going to town to get the biggest box they could. Its so good when someone is so excited about something you give - don't you agree??

Christmas Eve day we spent visiting the neighbors as we all exchange homemade gifts - cookies and candy, one neighbor makes bread for all of us. All the fingerless mitts were most appreciated but one of the guys wanted to know where his were? I said next year I'll knit for the guys. I think I've got my work cut out for me.

Hope you have all enjoyed this week between the holidays and I'm wishing you a happy and healthy New Year.

I'll be back next year!!

Enjoying the days...

These last fews weeks I have been -- taking lots of walks through the snow and the woods...

making chocolate covered pretzels... (Notice the neat quilt talbe topper - that was my Christmas gift from Sara and her family. I am so enjoying it.)

walking through the snow covered fields...

knitting fingerless mitts for my neighbors (just one more pair to finish)...

decorating the tree.. (Just a little one this year - so much easier)

baking Tom's favorite cookies... (which will probably be gone tonight)

and hoping to get some of this in...

From my family to yours - Merry Christmas!!!

Thanksgiving 2009

I know - its December. I just couldn't let all the pictures that I took on Thanksgiving go to waste and not post them. Monday and Tuesday were those nightmare type days at work. In a nut shell - our boss went on vacation, quit, forgot to tell us that there were new changes to the system and if you did not upload a different program you would get "No work available," forgot to send out the instructions, lots of other things she forgot to mention before she left for her new job - or maybe just decided not to tell us. Starting last week Friday there was No Work Available every time you logged in. This went on until Tuesday when someone figured out that 100 people from our group were not typing and there was work. Then it was a mad scramble to get things downloaded - which were not working an finally by 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday I was back to work. Things seem to be getting back to normal but I did see that even yesterday some people were still not working.

Our Thanksgiving was a really great day though - a memorable one.
There was crafting of these cut gingerbread dolls. Todd's Mom brought this with her and while the guys watched football the making of these went on.

There was a lot of sampling the frosting and candy - have to make sure it tastes good before you put it permanently on that cookie.

Lots of eating.

People riding 4 wheelers (Matt and Ashley)

Lots of snacking before dinner was ready, and--

A nice long walk for me and Marley at the park. As you can see it was a gorgeous day, sunny and actually not very cold.

Today is a different story though - nice and sunny but not even 30 yet. Marley and I are off for a walk - if we can get across the creek with all the rain we have had. We are taking an alternate route today to get to the back fields. Hopefully she won't need a bath when we get back.

I will be back this weekend. I have lots of finished things to show you. I tried to take a picture of the vest that Kris made me but wasn't having much luck getting the perfect picture. This vest is way to nice for a crappy picture.

See you later........

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hope everyone enjoys today - no matter what you are doing or who you are with - we all have things to be thankful for.

The best way to start off my today - coffee with Tom, walking Marley in the park and just maybe StarBucks will be open!!

Getting ready....

Just a shot of what has been going on here today. Apples peeled for applesauce, strawberry jello salad waiting for the next layer and double layer pumpkin pie - which is actually for Tom and I for dessert tonight. You have to start the holiday off right - right??

We will be heading to Kris and Todd's tomorrow. Two 20 pound turkeys are waiting to be deep fried - Todd will be doing that. Kris is making dressing and mashed potatoes. I'm doing the side dishes and Grandma Z is bringing the pies. Anybody else who shows up just brings something to contribute to the meal. There will be anywhere from 10 to 18 of us. There will be football watching, game playing and some searching through the adds for Black Friday. I'm supposed to work on Friday, but I'm hoping for some time off to hit a few sales.

I'm off to make a few more things - that way tomorrow will be a lazy day - for awhile at least.

Jackie

Burned out on fingerless mitts...

I was reading blogs today and seems like everyone is gearing up on their Christmas projects.

Last year I made at least a dozen pairs of fingerless mitts. I made Toast, Those Mitts and Toasty all from a-friend-to-knit-with patterns. They were great, but then I started on this last pair. They were for me. The one on the left was knit last year just a few days before Christmas and then I ran out of steam. After all those mitts I didn't even have a pair for myself. I came across them the other day and decided I need to get the right one done. After about an hour of knitting I only have a few more rows and then the thumb and I will be done. I should have nice Toasty fingers by Thanksgiving.

I decided this year there will be no marathon of knitting, actually I'm hardly knitting anything for anyone - but then - yesterday I went to the LYS and saw this really cute project. Something that all the girls in the family could use - from the youngest to the oldest so of course I hopped on the knitting marathon again. I can't give away the details because its a surprise - but hopefully I will end up with one when all the knitting is done. I should probably make mine first - what do you think??

Have a good weekend!!

Random Wednesday Thoughts

Thanks for all the comments on the dog hair situation. I actually took the pet vacuum part of my vacuum and used it on Marley the other day. It all seems to be lessening. I also bought a new rug for the living room - which seems to have helped quite a bit. The other rug was navy blue, some wool, very comfy to roll on and scratch your bag. I just went to Home Depot and bought one of their area rugs (see below). Its a low berber and covers a lot more of the room. You don't see as much of the wood floor, but I don't see as much of the hair laying on the floor.
As Tom pointed out - the hair is still there, you just don't see it. The key word being you - meaning me. What am I working on this week with Marley - not jumping on the bed the minute we leave the house. I broke her of laying on the couch when we left - by putting newspapers on it, but now she likes our bed!! Has anyone started their Christmas shopping yet?? I am moving right along and have set the goal - done by Thanksgiving!! That would be a first for me. It also helps that 2 of the grandkids are teenagers and money is always good.

Knitting is progressing although I have nothing to show. My sock did not get finished so maybe later today or tomorrow I can try to figure it out on my own. At our sock club were starting a KAL - 2 socks at one time. Good thing we are all beginner sock knitters. Ought to be interesting.

We have had some great weather for the past 2 weeks - actually better than October. In the upper 50s (which still is not 70 but better than the alternative) and sunny. So that is it for today - I'm off to mow the front yard - but I do need to find my gloves. Hopefully this is the last time we have to mow for this year. I like to mow grass but I am definitely ready for a break from that job.

Medina has their Candlelight Walk this weekend. The paper said they light 5,000 luminaries around the town. It will be great if the weather stays warm - makes all that shopping I am planning on doing a little more enjoyable because once you find a parking space that is where you walk from. I have been cutting coupons out of the paper all week for some of my favorite places - I just might get some good bargins.

Enjoy the rest of the week!!

Just some random things....

Do you know we had some snow here on Wednesday?? That is one of my early days, I get off at 10:00 a.m. My plan was to mow the grass - hopefully for the last time. The sun was shinning, it looked like I was in for a wonderful day. About 9:45 it started to darken outside and by 10 it was snowing. It didn't stick to the ground but for about an hour we had lots of flurries. I am off at 10 today, the sun is shinning, but it is supposed to be 60 today so hopefully I won't see any flakes as I'm mowing.

There has been knitting going on (especially on snow days). Below is my first sweater for me. So far so good, the pattern is 28thirty by Zephyr. I knitting it out of Malabrigo, color Stonechat. It is just beautiful. The only problem is it seems a little small. Boy am I hoping it stretches or blocks out. I bet Kris and Sara are hoping its to small!


I finished a pair of socks and this pair is close to being completed. I have to get up to the heel this weekend as sock club meets next Thursday and I want to be doing the heel there in case I have problems.

Also on the needles is Juliet - again by Zephyr. I took out the lace pattern and just went with plain stockinette stitch. I ripped this out about 3 times. Its hard to do lace and watch TV. This one is either a Christmas present or BD present, depending on how soon its done. Lots of Zephyr patterns being knitted, but they are top down with very little seeming- so thats a plus.

Next I have a question for anybody who reads this blog and has a dog. Marley sheds so much - I can't even describe it. Anyone have any good ideas on how to deal with lots and lots of dog hair? I blame this on Tom. When I went to the animal shelter he said look for soft eyes, he didn't remind me about the shedding.

I have got to get moving, sunny skies and a lawn mower are awaiting me. Also Marley is looking at me very impatiently wanting to get outside. She has been in the house a lot this week due to her not feeling well. She is banished from the barn for the time being - there are to many nasty things she liked to roll in and eat down there. You think she would have learned her lesson last week, but no its been more of the same this week. Sorry girl - I'm keeping my eye on you today.

Enjoy your weekend - may it be sunny and warm - as sunny and warm as it can be for November.

Can it be November already??

Well, Halloween is over - most of the leaves are off the trees - the time has changed - it must be November!!

Last night was Trick or Treat in Medina and it was just about perfect. So much easier that they are now older and can get around by themselves. We usually go into town because its just easier- there are sidewalks, stree lights and the houses are closer together. After about an hour their bags were full and they were ready to go. It was a little cool but I can take that over the rain that we had up until about 2:oo p.m. yesterday. As you can see most of the leaves are gone off the trees in the woods. Our picnic area is cleaned up, benches stacked and were ready for what comes next.

Today is a lazy day for us. Tom and I have done a couple of things around the house, but mostly its been watching movies, football and nap taking. I'm off to do some knitting and more football watching.

Happy November!!

My Handsome Son!!

Thought you'd like to see what a handsome son I have!! This is him and his girlfriend going out to a party on Friday night. The men in Tom's family are all bald by the time their 30 usually so he must take after my side of the family, although I can't quite remember anyone being this hairy.

Its Sunday night and my knitting is calling me. Talk to you later in the week.

Jackie

What's been going on here??

Thanks to all of you for the BD wishes. Yes, I am now officially 60 - sounds old when you say it but one of my friends told me to embrace it - so I think I will try that for awhile. Tom and I both were on vacation last week. We started out our vacation by going to a steer show that Jessica and Tyler were in. It was in Medina and was quick. We were back in less than an hour. Jessica was her usual smiling self and did really good showing the calf. This was Tyler's first show but he handled it like he had been doing it all his life. He got first with his calf in the first class he ever went in!! Yeah Tyler!! They still need help from Dad and Grandpa.

On Tuesday we went to Columbus to the All American Quarter Horse Congress. We had never been there before and we were amazed to say the least. We watched some classes, saw some demonstrations, shopped and ate. We decided next year we will go for 2 days and see some of the bigger classes - like reining.

On Friday we headed to Kentucky. It was a great drive, beautiful Fall leaves and scenery. We ate out, went to the Kentucky Horse Park Farm and just did some seeing of the sites. Our favorite was a Blue Grass Driving Tour through all the thoroughbred farms. Just miles and miles of fence, big farms and horses. If you have ever seen the movie Dreamer it looked just like that.

After seeing all those beautiful farms I now want this (below) - board fence and stone walls. I think I'll be saving for awhile, but it certainly was spectacular.

Well its already Friday and raining. We have had several days of really nice weather which I spent entirely outside mowing, walking and generally enjoying the days (one weather forecaster said it was our Indian Summer). I do hope we get some nice weather - the joke in our house is that I have fence to paint - the board fence that we do have in that nice black color like above.

Enjoy your weekend!!

Jackie

October Wednesday

What's going on here today??

Vegetable beef soup cooking on the stove. Peach, blueberry cobbler to be made later. Some new knitting. The cropped cardigan did not work out - boy was that thing small - so rip, rip, rip and starting a new sweater - 28thirty. I think this yarn will be better suited for this sweater. Also some magazine reading and I bought some DMC thread for a little sewing project I'm going to attempt.

High wind warnings this morning, but then the sun came out so Marley and I were off for a walk. This is Tom's horse, Cooper standing at the fence. He followed us down the lane as far as he could go.

Marley enjoying running through the hay field.

One of those pictures that I uploaded and then went - Where did that come from?? Didn't know how to get rid of it either - The sun was shining, I was just aiming at the dog running through water but I don't see any of that here. Just ignore. Senior moment - I can definitely say that now, Monday I got a Golden Buckeye card - here in Ohio it gets you discounts at certain places and if you need to show proof that you are a senior you whip this card out. That was kind of depressing. They could have at least waited until after my BD.

Cooper wondering why he didn't get to go walking.

That's all I have for today. I'm off to do some knitting before I have to get back to work. Hope your having a good Wednesday!!

Socktober and selfish knitting

Hey it's October!! One of my favorite months. Before I get started my last post was about getting some better weather from Mother Nature and she did let that happen yesterday. It was a beautiful day and I managed to get half of the grass mowed. Today though is a different story - its been raining since the wee hours of this morning and hasn't stopped. If we had a creek it would be rising!!

Below is my selfish knitting. That is what I have dubbed October. Selfish knitting month - meaning knitting for me. Do you know I have knit this cropped cardigan twice and still do not have one of my own. The yarn I am using is Malabrigo Stonechat - supposedly one of their most popular colors. Its scarlet red and different shades of brown - reminds me of chocolate so its truly fun to knit. I am almost to the the body - just a few more rows to go. I hope to have it done before Tom and I go on vacation. Yes, that's right. We are going on vacation. Something we never do. As a kid my family traveled all over the United States. His family didn't. So in about 10 days were off to see some sites - our first stop is the Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus, Ohio. He wants to see the horses - I'm going for the retail experience, which I hear can be very damaging to the wallet. From there I think we will be heading to the Smoky Mountains.

Below is a another sock. These are for Sara. Should go rather quickly since she has really small feet. Its yarn from Pagewood Farms. I'm not that experienced at saying what's the best yarn but I ripped this sock out no less than 8 times and when I started over each time it was still as good as when I first started.

(Note to Kris and Sara - selfish knitting month - don't expect your socks in October.)

Hope you all have a great weekend and the sun is shining in your neck of the woods!!

Dear Mother Nature,

I just have a quick favor to ask of you. Could you possible give us a week - maybe 2 of some nice weather. You know the kind - a little sunshine, no rain, some warmer temps. We still have painting to do on the house and a couple of other projects that we would like to finish before you know what comes, you know that 4 letter word (SNOW).

That's what I'd ask for right about now. Its been raining, drizzling, cold, damp and just not very nice out now for about a week. We still continue to work on the back of the house, Tom worked on the new garage peak over the weekend when it wasn't raining. We have already had a fire in the wood stove, Marley and I have walked 2 days in the rain and tonight its supposed to frost.

I was really hoping for a little more Fall weather.

The picture above is from our walk today. We have been going further all the time. We now walk by our hay field - as a matter of fact it looks like that needs to be cut again. The people who own the property mow a path around the 7 acres of hay so its really nice for walking. The other way we usually go is getting so high its hard to see where your stepping.

Be back tomorrow with some knitting...

Knitting and Fall

Finally, some knitting pictures. Don't those socks remind you of Fall - these are actually my birthday socks so they need to be done sometime in October. Its going to be one of those milestone birthdays you don't want to think about. Next up is a complete pair - just need to bind off but am waiting until I get to the LYS for some help. All I hear is you can make them so tight they are hard to get on - don't want that after all that work.

Don't you just love the white pumpkin?? At the end of November I throw all my pumpkins on a manure pile that we have at the back of our property that backs up against some woods. I always seem to get pumpkins from that process for the next year - some years better than others. This year I have gotten 18 pumpkins. Some better than others. I had a lot of gourds last year and I have some really funky crosses going on but they are still good, although unusual. Don't worry - over the next couple of weeks I will show you what I did with all those pumpkins.

Below are just a few photos I snapped from my walk with Marley today. My goal is to keep up with her after she stops all the initial running. I am progressing. Today I even managed to stay ahead of her at one point. Of course, the last part of the walk, as we get closer to the house we are both dragging.

Talk to you soon!!

Before Pictures/Marley

You can see by this picture what Tom did on his vacation last week. He sanded for something like 47 hours total. We spent more on sand paper than we did on paint. Just a few more things to go and the back of the house will be somewhat done. We were hoping to get a few new windows in but all this sanding took more time than he anticipated. Hopefully there will be no more peeling - or at least a minimum of peeling. This was another project from last week - 2 loads of wood delivered. Now all we need to do is stack it.

Today is one of my broken up days - I work until 10:00 a.m. and then go back from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. I can actually say I really like the break - sometimes all that typing without a long break wears you down. Marley and I have already walked the back fields. I am in the middle of making applesauce to freeze and just enjoying the day. I do have to get out and do some clean up on the back of the house - that would be my job - cleaning up all the mess that sanding created. Wait until you see the after pictures -- it has been so worth it.

Below is Marley snoozing the morning away while I type. There are lots larger spaces to lay in my office but today she managed to cram herself into this little space, almost under my chair. She tried to change positions but there was not enough room. From the amount of snoring that went on I don't think she mined being cramped one bit.

Enjoy this first full day of Fall!! Feels more like Summer around here - its almost 80 and so, so humid.

Jackie

Tidbits and fair photos, quilt results

Here is Jessica showing her cow - look at that face. She was trying not to cry - obviously cow showing is not as much fun as pig showing. Cows were at the end of the day, pigs at the beginning. She had an infectious smile all through the pig show with the judge even calling her Smiley at one point. These are the quilts Kris entered in the open show. Second on the one below- it didn't even have the wool appliques on it - think of the possibilities if it had. It Trail to Kansas.

Below is the Best of Show - pretty impressive. Kris, Sara and I several years ago got up very early once a month on Saturday mornings, took Jessica, a 1 year - 2 year old and went to the quilt shop to get our free blocks when we had completed one. Sara and I also have the same quilt.

Tyler with his eggs. No ribbons but we needed a picture nonetheless.

Tyler with is corn - the class was tallest corn in Wayne County. It was pretty dang tall.

Heres the pig show. Kris also has a few more pics on her blog - just a few!

All in all they had a great fair, but they have worked all summer at this so all that hard work did not go un noticed.

Tom is off this week. We are painting the back of the house. We are getting to many comments about the front being gray and the back yellow. Not that we have been slacking - we did put a roof on in between painting years.

Colleen you giveaway package is on the way. I hope you enjoy it!!

I said I would be back with another giveaway and I will soon. The plan that I had for the next one fell thru. Have to see what else I can come up with. There will be 2 more over the next 2 months though. Last year when I tried to do a Pay It Forward no one signed up - so instead I am doing 3 giveaways. I feel guilty that I never completed it.

Well I am off to make lunch and work in the yard. Tom will be sanding - so I'm mowing grass.

See you next week.

Jackie