December Daily, knitting etc.

 Hello,

As I plug along with my Story Album (still working chronologically 😏) I also decided to work on my December Daily, especially since this years goodies from Ali Edwards were released recently. You can find the info here: Ali Edward's DD

Day 5

Here's a link to my previous pages from December Daily 2023 DD Days 1-4 etc.

Little miss Ensley turned 2 yesterday!! My how time is flying by! Not kidding! 

Paul got a really cool video of a cicada chirping. He said he's never seen one in action so to speak so this is pretty awesome, although I hate the sound they make..sounds like an invasion of some sort 😖. Make sure to have the sound on. 

Usually when I go upstairs to play in my craft room, I give Oreo a little treat, a chewy that will take a little while to consume to keep him busy. This time in his treat jar, the only chewy left was this. Anyway, he treated it like a REAL BONE. He took it outside to bury it, tried to bury it in several places all over the house. The final straw was when he chose it to take to bed (he always goes in his toy-box and brings a stuffy or toy to bed) and kept trying to bury it under the covers and then put it in his mouth and just sat at the bottom of the bed in a quandary. I really think it was stressing him out, so I took it and exchanged it for a stuffy and the next day when he finally wasn't paying attention to it, I tossed it. 

So, while we were in Alaska, of course I had to buy yarn in every town/city we went to. I love creating things with authentic yarn spun or hand dyed in other places. Even if it's in the US. Anyway, I started some socks with some yarn I bought in Sitka. 

I think this was the only yarn I didn't get a picture of me holding outside the yarn shop..damn! 

I joined the Summer Lee's Cuff Club #2. This is Augusts' and I'm actually past the heel and onto the leg. I'm excited to start the cabled cuff!! Cuff Club #2

I have to brag on my hubby. We've wanted landscape lighting for a while now and checked into having it done. LOTS of choices and price ranges. Started at a couple grand. So, Paul looked into it and found on Amazon he could buy all the lighting and transformers for a fraction of the cost and he thought it didn't look too difficult to install. So he did!! I'm beyond proud of him! 

 

Seriously, doesn't it look amazing?

One last thing. I subscribed to a knitting newspaper called Knit Nation. It's a monthly print and it's wonderful to sit down on a Sunday morning with a cup of coffee and look through. One month they had a contest for people to submit a photo of themselves reading it outdoors. I had Jenn take my picture and submitted it. They announce the winner-the woman in the kayak, but then when the next issue came out, there I was!! LOL! 

I'm famous!!! 

Well, I've babbled enough. Thanks for reading and as always...

thanks for stopping by. 

May 2023 moments..

Hi,

Well I managed to get all my photos from May and June uploaded to my computer, my EHD and Dropbox..yay! 

Here's some of our summer so far..

For my birthday this year Bev took me to see the play Tina. I decided to stay overnight since we also had May's Bunco. At the time Bev was staying at Sue's house on the lake and taking care of her dog while she was out of town. She graciously allowed me to stay there too. 

View of Lake Erie from the bedroom I stayed in. 

We met Lisa for lunch at The Tree House 

Ok, not gonna lie. This was my first Mimosa..never again. Not a fan! LOL 

The play was downtown Cleveland at Playhouse Square. Such an awesome place. 

It was an awesome performance! 

Oreo sure is giving Willow lots of exercise!! 

Willow & Oreo

We have a message group in the family called Wordle and 5 of us Wordle each morning and post our results. I did see someone else (I think on FB) also does this, but one person picks a starting word..that sounds fun! Anyway, Jenn got a 1!! 

Elliott helped me with the gnome garden..

 

The flowers in the garden are absolutely gorgeous! Paul does such a nice job in the yard. Our little oasis..

Unusual tulips

That's it for May..

Thanks for stopping by. 

Thankful Thursday...

 

Well, as most of you know we lost our little buddy Bentley on Saturday May 8th. We're just now (on May 20th) able to talk about him and look at some pics without crying. It's been difficult and we both miss him terribly. 

He used to sit in Paul's lap every morning while Paul worked at his computer and then when I got up, he curled up in my lap while I drank my coffee. 

At night, 95% of the time, he slept with me, crawled under the covers (have never known a dog to do that). It's hard walking in the door and he's not there to greet us.  

Here's a few pics before I go on to what I'm thankful for. 

On my lap

                                    

With his buddy, Sawyer

I'd like to say he loved playing catch but it was keep away he loved! 

He loved car rides

He loved Willow

But most of ALL, he loved his dad 💓

I'm thankful this Thursday that we have Katniss and Arya and that Arya greets us at the door when we come home. It helps. 

I'm thankful that Arya sits on Paul's lap in the mornings and tries to fill that void. 

I'm thankful I have the best friends and family anyone could ask for. 

I'm thankful that we've all been vaccinated, and no one in our family was hospitalized with Covid.

I'm thankful the country is on the mend and we now have lifted the mask and 6' mandate (although I haven't been in a store yet without my mask). 

I'm thankful I have a beautiful home to wake up to each morning. 

I'm thankful I got to spend what little time we had with Bentley. He was a goofy dog and we loved him. 

What are you thankful for? I'd love to hear. 

As always...thanks for stopping by.

February...

 Ugh! It's been months!! So, let's go back to February and try to catch up month by month. 

Our little man Ethan turned a month old on the 16th. What a sweetheart he is! 

And...after mourning my Toby for 6 months and realizing I can talk about him without balling my eyes out, I decided it was time to give love to another cat. This time we decided to get 2. When I called the shelter asking about a little boy kitten, the lady told me he wasn't great around kids. Well, that fell apart quickly. She said she had a little calico named Sparkles that was available. Well, I've always wanted a calico kitty. She mentioned that the kitten had become quite attached to another female kitten that was really shy. They thought Sparkles would help the other kitten socialize etc. 

So, Paul and I took the drive to Fenton, MI. 

We both fell in love with these 2. Took us a week or so to actually come up with names for them. As their personalities began to show, we knew the calico would be Arya, from Game Of Thrones. 

Arya

And the other little doll we named Katniss, from The Hunger Games. 

Katniss

Both are named after female bad asses 😁 This is the first time we've ever had females, cats or dogs.

We had a big concern with Bentley. He's sooo jealous and has a terrible time with anyone new entering the house. So, we set up the spare bedroom with some toys for Katniss and Arya, the connecting bathroom had their litter and food and water. We decided to keep them in there and gradually introduce them to Bentley.

Well, after just a few hours, we opened the door with a baby gate put in place hoping if the kittens needed to get away from Bentley they could easily hop the gate whereas Bentley could not. It went SURPRISINGLY well! Katniss was very reluctant but Arya was so curious about the house this long haired dude. He got pretty excited and is now best buds with Arya.

Jenn, Dan, Elliott and Ethan came over. Elliott got such a kick of playing with Arya. Katniss was hiding in my closet. 
 

My baby girl turned 36! 

I finished Paul's scarf. Yay!! 

So the girlfriend scarf now has a new home at the Goodwill 😊

FINALLY!! After almost 5 months our bed arrived. 

Before

After...YAY!! We love it! 

We got snow...boo!!! 

Looking at these pictures of snow if February makes me so happy we've already made our reservations, flight plans and everything for Imperial Velentin Riviera Maya next February...✈🌴🌞 I can't wait!! 

So, February turned out to be a busy time. I have loads of pictures and I'll leave you with a few of those special ones. Paul will probably kill me for posting a couple of these 🎀😂

He just looks so natural with a bow in his beard. 

As always...thanks for stopping by.