Update

First Thank you for your prayers. My uncle made it through surgery. Everything went well with it. He has started to move the toes on his right foot. I know this doesn't sound like much but since he hadn't moved any part of his right side except for his eyebrow in almost 3 weeks this is fantastic! We think the second aneurysm was causing the paralysis. But only time will tell.

I have been reading everyone's blogs as time allows. I finished one of the legwarmers... well it isn't sewn together yet... still need it for the length. The second one is about 3 inches. Lots more to do on it. Picky monster was in a bowling tournament and they took 3rd! She even got a medal for it. The school called me in regards to Mouthy... They are asking me to take her in for her hearing even though her hearing test at school turned out fine. She said she is having a problem hearing a soft spoken teacher. So now I have to make an appointment for that. It's always something.

Grim and I got great news we have been in our house long enough that we no longer need to pay PMI, principle mortgage insurance. It really wasn't that much but over a year or the 11 years we have been paying it, it really adds up! YEAH!

I have been so tired lately... I wish the weather would make up its mind. We are going to hit 50 today. I think mother nature is going to hit us hard in February. I drove past the farmers market yesterday, of course that got visions of the garden in my head! I am so looking forward to gardening again.

Yart

Prayers needed

My uncle has just gone into surgery for a second aneurysm on the top of his brain. The doctors are saying that it is a 3-4 hour surgery.

Yart

The past few days that I have been home have been very hard. I want to be at the hospital but I know I need to be here at home. With every piece of good news there always seems to be something else bad happening to his body. I have cried an ocean of tears over this. I have such a tension headache that the pain has started to travel into my shoulder. I feel like such an ass for even complaining when there is so much going wrong with him. 

I try very hard to look on the positive side of things. His temp is slowly coming down. His tummy is starting to work again through medical intervention. He is responsive to verbal commands such as squeeze my hand, hold up two fingers and wiggle toes, on his left side when he is not being sedated. 

But as always there is a but....

He still has the breathing tube in. He appears to be paralyzed on his right side. There are a few other things that the doctors are concerned about that I would rather not speak of on here.

Grim and I are suppose to be going away this weekend, but we may end up at the hospital instead. Just have to wait and see what the doctors have to say in the morning. This wait and see thing is not good for someone who has no patience... LOL!

I did start a new project, gave me something to do in the hospital. I got two skeins of Fisherman's Wool from Lion Brand Yarns in Nature's Brown. They will become legwarmers for me. I use to love legwarmers back in the day. I am so happy that they have come back in style. Once these are done I will probably wear them long after they go out of style again. LOL! I've got about 8 inches done on one of them. I can't wait to get one of them done.... Nope no pattern. 48 cast on and then 2k, 2p row one - 2p, 2k row two repeat to desired length. Hopefully, they fit.

Yart

I've been gone

Just wanted to let you know what is going on here. My Uncle, last Monday had an aneurysm that ruptured and subsequently had a stroke. As some of you know I am half Canadian. So this meant that I have been out of the country for the past week. I am home now. He is in stable condition. It is still very serious and he has a long way to go on his road to recovery.

The monsters and Grim did a great job keeping the home fires burning. I missed them terribly but my place was with my family at my Uncles bedside. This incident has really brought family front and center to my mind. So I will be not only making regular visits to my Uncle but also to the rest of the family. 

If you have a sec, and don't mind please say a prayer or light a candle to send healing energy to him. His name is Walter.

Yart

Is winter really here?

Nope but it has been cold enough to keep me in the house baking. This weekend I made sourdough dinner rolls, sourdough crackers, sourdough bagels and the cake batter pudding cookies. With all this baking my oven was nice and warmed up. But I guess there was a problem. Nothing baked quite right. I lost one whole tray of dinner rolls because I didn’t catch it in time and they just didn’t cook right. The crackers didn’t crisp up…. the bagels I didn’t know didn’t cook right until they were cooled and cut into. The cookies were really soft in the middle (just might have been the recipe though). With everything else I don’t know.

So we decided that it was time to check out the self cleaning button on the oven. It took like 4 hours. All I can say is wow. It did a really good job. Now hopefully it cleaned away whatever the problem was.

Grim and I went to the gym this morning. Our first day back since June of last year. I had to keep telling myself that no one ever regretted going to the gym they only regret not going. I was able to do 45 minutes on the elliptical of that 25 min. was holding on to the moving arm part. I hope to eventually get up to a full hour holding on. My fat was crying today…. I was sweating like crazy!

The monsters all went back to school today. I really hate them going. Even though it gets them gone for a few hours a day. I miss them terrible when their not here. I guess it just gives me more time to work on projects for them… LOL!

Yart

More to share

If you haven’t noticed I really have nothing else to share right now. So here are some more goodies and craft type things. Enjoy!

Yart

I have an addiction

I have become addicted to Pinterest. I love, love, love this site. When I have free time I am found pursuing the page after page of ideas. My head swims from all the pictures. So that is why I am sharing with you. Because I need to have company in this addiction… LOL!

Here are todays finds!

Yart

Yummy!

I found a great site called Chef in Training. I made a version of the Chicken Tortilla Soup that can be found here. I added green peppers, tomatoes that I canned this past summer, used turkey stock, instead of the spices I used fajita seasoning and doubled the recipe. It was very good.

But I also found Peanut Butter Fruit Dip

And I can’t forget to share Cake Batter Pudding Cookies

Then I found Baked Oatmeal at Smile Monsters

Yart

Valentine Goodies and Crafts

I know, I know, I know…. But I was at Joanne’s today and they were already putting up Valentine’s Day stuff. So that got me thinking that if I am going to make anything I really need to get started…. Or I can just make a couple goodies and be done with it…. LOL! If your interested in anything in the pictures just click on them and they will take you to the site for the recipe or the directions.

Yart

Poor is a state of mind,

but broke is a temporary situation!

This is something I think we all deal with at some point in time. The bills are paid, there is food in the house, but you don’t have a dime to your name…. Or you are willingly being frugal… Same difference.

At that point do you look around and see all that you have or do you see all that is lacking? Do you feel poor or do you know that your just broke? Do you grab your boot straps or do you whine?

Sometimes I do wish that there was more…. But then I realize that I have enough. I have enough to feed my family in the broke weeks after Christmas. I realize that we have heat because the bill was paid. I have enough yarn that I have already started on gifts for 2012 Christmas. My needs are met…. For that I am deeply thankful! Now if I could just get me wants to shut up, that would grand! LOL!

I’m not sure why I wrote all that but apparently it needed to be said!

Now for something really good. I was browsing Jamie cooks it up! She has an amazing recipe for Ham and Bean soup. Before I go any further here let me say that for years I have saved the ham bone to only later toss it because I thought ham and bean soup was one of those mystery foods that only grandmas and nasa could make. So when I found this recipe I had two ham bone sitting in the freezer just waiting. All I can say is OMG! All the monsters ate it and I have plenty leftover to freeze. Oh so GOOD!

Band monster got a sewing machine for Christmas and a gift card to Joanne’s. With the gift card she was able to take the beginner sewing class. 2 1/2 hours, and she will be putting together a little pouch with a zipper. So excited to have her teach me…. LOL! I know nothing about zippers.

Oh, and I have to share Picky made a cake from scratch. Right out of the Betty Crocker Cookbook! I’ll let you know how it tastes later. She is turning into quite the little baker.

Yart

I’m back

I told you I would see you next year…. LOL!

I stayed up till about 1 and the only reason was because the prep per in me wanted to know how many of my neighbors had guns and what type… LOL! Lets just say that there was quite a variety and they were all put to use last night. They kept it up for almost an hour. Then I slept in this morning. No point and rushing into today I have a whole year ahead to deal with…. LOL! But once I was up it was time to take down the tree. Grim was already up and he was working on taking down the lights outside.

Oh, I forgot to tell you. Noisy neighbor somehow ended up on my lawn and ripped my inflatable snow globe out of the ground. Snapped one of the guide cables, messed up the motor and the styrofoam snow was all coming out. So Grim, went over and said something. He was told that it must have been the wind. Grim said look at the tire marks on our lawn. Grim, came back in feeling better for at least having said something. A couple hours later Mrs. Noisy Neighbor came over carrying a new snow globe. They said that they felt horrible that we would think that would have done something like that and not said anything. I told her that they didn’t have to do that but she insisted. So we have a new snow globe to put up next year.

Now everything is put away till next Thanksgiving night. It is bittersweet. Grim and I both had the same thought that this might be the last Christmas here. We are very seriously talking about moving. But that all depends on finances. We are hoping that this is a better year for us, money wise. Now this week I need to move all the furniture so that I can clean under it. Well, at least in the Living and Dining rooms. I am going to be hosting a 31 party on the 15th so the house needs to be cleaned for that. Not that the house is dirty just dusty. Still needs to be done though.

It is a dark, dank type of day. It started out no so bad. Now it is raining and the wind is blowing. No snow to be seen. At least I can say that with the weather holding steady my heat bill should stay decent. I miss the snow, though. Grim and I have a trip planned for later this month. We are going north to see a real winter festival. There will be ice carving, hot chocolate stations, ice fishing and outhouse races. Can’t think of anything more winter like or backwoods then an outhouse race, can you? LOL! This trip is for our anniversary. Even though that doesn’t take place till February. We got a really good deal. Two nights and a full breakfast both mornings for $98. And the hotel has a pool and sauna. The room comes with a microwave and coffeepot. So all we need to pay for extra is dinner and I’m sure I can find some buy one get one free coupons. Maybe I can sneak Grim’s thermos, to put hot chocolate in…. LOL! All about the thrifty!

Yart