The last few days have been difficult.  On last Wednesday, my Mom could no longer get up out of her chair and was in severe pain in her back.  She was admitted to the hospital and we found she had torn ligaments in her back.  On Sunday she had emergency surgery.  She is 88 years old and this was quite an undertaking.  She came through the operation after 5 l/2 hours.  Yesterday she got the tubes out and is doing very well considering all she has been through.  Today they plan to get her up for the first time.  She has had to lie completely flat for 2 days.  I will be anxious to see how she does when PT comes to get her up.

I have been anxiously working on my Tour deMadison t-shirt quilt.  First cut out the design you want to use off the shirt.  Iron on interfacing to the back of the design. My friend made me a chart on paper of what size the squares should be and how wide the striping would be between each square. After you have cut all squares, decide what size square you will use and cut all squares to the same size.  I used 12 l/2 x 14 l/2 with a 2 l/4" stripe to divide each square.  I used l/4" on all seams.  After sewn together, the square were 12"x14" and the strip was 2".

You then need to cut your strips, I cut them 2 l/2" because you will use l/4" on each side to sew to the square.  I also cut 2 l/2" strips for the sides and top and bottom.

You will then start to sew your strips and square together.  I did 5 squares across.  Always be sure the square line up together.  Use the "nesting" method and lots of pins if necessary to help hold fabric in place.

I then sewed each strip of 5 together with a strip of fabric in the middle.  I had 4 rows down.

I was now ready to add my side and top and bottom strips.

All sewing has been done.  I will be sending this quilt to a lady who has a long-arm machine and she will quilt together the top, batting and back.  I hope to have the quilting design done in shapes of bicycles.  Once it is all finished, I will post pictures.

Wow, where has this week gone.  Started off with 3 or 4 inches of snow (again) on Monday.  Wednesday the temperature went up to 59.  Now we are back to the upper 40's.  It is spring time in Virginia.  This Monday we might see more wintry mix. 

One of my dolls and I went to our first mystery dinner at a local winery.  Mystery was set in Colonial times and the actors and actresses were great.  We had to decide who committed the murder and we able to ask questions to the cast.  This was to benefit our local fair which will be held in July.  Delicious food was served by a local Menonite family.  It consisted of fried chicken and pork loin with all the trimmings.  There were about 148 people in attendance, good time had by all.

Thursday night one of our associates and a dear friend of mine passed away.  On Wednesday he was getting in some firewood and fell.  He came to work on Thursday and said his rib cage was really hurting.  I asked him if he thought he had broken any ribs, but he said he didn't think so.  They were just sore and hurting.  He worked all day and went home in the afternoon.  After dinner and a shower, he sat down to watch TV.  His mother found him in the chair and he had died.

When he didn't come in on Friday morning, I called his home and asked if he had left for work.  His mother replied that he had died last night.  I was so shocked I really didn't know what to say.  No one had called to let us know.

This man could easily have won on any of the trivia shows on TV.  He would tell me daily more "stuff" than I could ever remember.  He loved the Washington Nationals and the Washington Redskins.  He could tell you who they traded and when and how much money was involved.  He was also a history buff and loved all aspects of previous wars.  PBS was has favorite TV channel.  Many days he told me to be sure to watch some special on PBS.

He was the mailman at our office.  You could count on him to always be willing to help you.  Always a good morning to everyone he met.  We plan to plant a tree in his memory and place a cat stepping stone beside it.  He loved his old cat Frank, who passed away several years ago.  He got a new kitten and named him Leonard, after the singer Leonard Skinner.

Everyone has had a kind word about him.  A very quiet man shall be missed by a great many people.  We were his family and we shall always keep him in our hearts.

Rest in peace, Chuck!!

 

 

 

 

 

This young man lost his second tooth.  Oh what a time we had getting this one pulled.  He and I had a knock down wrestling match on the floor and finally was able to convince him to come in the bathroom and let me try to pull it out.  I was able to get it a little looser  and by the time his Mom got here, she was able to pull it out.  I think the tooth fairy will be filing a Chapter 11.  This money should pay for all baby teeth that he will lose. 

 

 

When John & I got married 37 years ago we bought this wood cook stove.  We were married in an old pre-Civil War house and it had a chimney in the kitchen.  Over the years John built us several homes and we always designed the plans for the kitchen having a place for this cook stove.  Today the power was off for 6 hours, so I got some small wood and started a fire in this baby.  I had potato soup, bacon, and corn bread for lunch.  I wouldn't take anything for this stove.  Thank you John W. Knighting for always thinking ahead.  Love ya.!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well we finally got snow.  For several months the weather man has missed his predictions.  This time he hit it right.  I think we have over 12" and were out of electricity for 6 hours.  I am thankful to God it came by on before dark.  My Mom does not have back up heat, and I was concerned for her.  I have a wood stove and it heats my home nicely. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever watched how the sky can change in seconds.  This morning as Mrs. C. and I walked, we could see the fog moving in on the track through the lights.  The fog had a "spray like mist" which made our hair become damp.  As it turned into daylight, the fog began to rise above the mountains.  Looking out my kitchen window I could not see the mountains.  Within about 10 minutes, the mountains re-appeared.  Now, that was God doing His "magic" and letting me know He is in charge of ALL things, even the fog.  Here are some pictures where I captured the fog.



Fog rising from the valley



Fog covering the mountain



Fog getting ready to disappear

Fog gone, sun out, beautiful

I will be featuring several creations from Wind & Weather catalog.  Here is a rabbit.

That silly goat wanted me to go to the track, but I opted to stay in the warm and workout with this lovely lady.  I needed that carrot after the "pump up" workout.

I am now proud to show you Sam's sister, Belle.  She is the other border collie of Mrs. C. and was very interested in checking out the goat.  The goat was embrassed, frightened, then fainted when he saw Belle.  He thought it was a WOLF!!!.  That silly goat.

When I first decided to do a blog, I wanted to talk about my daily walking with my friend Mrs. C.  We have been walking for about 4 years and since April of last year we start at 4:30 AM.  Our friend Mr. J also walks even earlier than us, but he is always there to "look after" us.  At Christmas we made him a DVD of a song about walking to the tune of Jingle Bells.  I thought he was going to cry when we presented to him.

Now with the winter weather, it is sometimes just too cold to walk.  We decided to get a DVD of excerising with Leslie. (Still at 4:30 AM) We started this about 2 weeks ago and we really enjoying working out.  Now, these workouts will get your heart racing and that is good for you.  This morning we did one called "Pump Your Body Up".  We had to use 2 pounds weights in each hand and do the workout.  Mrs. C. & I both could feel it in our waist line and biceps.  Our goal is to do this 3 times a week and walk the other days.  Hopefully this will get our bodies looking good and providing good health for us too.  I know for some ladies, especially those with small children, it is hard to get up and out so early.  But, this time of excerise does start the day off right and just makes you happy.  I never thought I could or would do this, but I am here to say it works.  And the most important aspect is the close friendship I have with Mrs. C.  We're two peas in a pod.



Goat on the track, lane 4



This goat loves to ride in the car.

He decided he wanted to bond with "real" goats.

I gave my friend, Mrs. C., this goat.  He was designed by a vendor of Wind & Weather.  There are all sorts of unique animals on this website.www.windandweather.com  Check with out, you may like one to carry around with you or display in your yard.  Laughter is the best medicine and Mrs. C. and I have laughed with this goat.

Here is my new scarf, made with a yarn called Rigoletto.  You knit with only two stitches and it makes the neatest scarf.  You can make this in one hour (with no interruptions).  There is a good tutorial on U-Tube,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NpDuvm1UaI

Last fall we had our 2nd annual Ladies Retreat.  For our activity time, the ladies each picked one of these dresses and emblished it with ribbon, buttons, bows, pockets, etc.  I made 60 of these dresses and we will be sending them to a tribe in Africa where one of our missionary family ministers to this tribe.  They are called "pillowcase dresses" and are very simple to make.  Some of the dresses will be delivered in the next several weeks.  I'll post pictures of the dear children when they receive them.

Snowman cheese ball

Snowmen made out of mashed potatoes

Bite size snowmen made by one of my dolls.

Table ready for guests

Just found a Frech Toast Casserole receipe from www.theseasonedmom.com.  I hope to have this for Valentine breakfast on Thursday, Feb. 14. 

This is the view I have from the West windows of my house.  This particular one is from my kitchen window.  I love those Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

I love when God decides to change the weather and it throws the weatherman off completely.  Today we were suppose to get sleet and/or rain.  We awoke this morning to about 3 inches of wet snow.  It was beautiful, landing on everthing it fell on.  The roads were cleared quickly and that made it nice since we all have to go to work.  We are praying for those who will affected by the blizzard to the north.

Today was the funeral for one of my favorite uncles.  He was 91 and had enjoyed life to the fullest.  He had been down since last summer, but still has his sense of humor.  He was my dad's brother and now there are only two uncles and one aunt still living.  My grandparents had eleven children.  One uncle and my aunt we able to make the trip to the funeral.  My other uncle has pneumonia and was advised by his doctor not come.  We sure did miss him and his family.  They are the ones who you can always count on to be at a family event.  I think there were close to fifty relatives who came to my home after the funeral.  What a great time we had talking about memories of our family.  Funerals are a way that families come together, even when it may be sad, but can be happy if we know those who have passed are now enjoying eternal life with our Jesus Christ.  May we take the time to visit family while they are alive.  The pastor spoke about not taking time to enjoy life and be with family.  I sure did enjoy seeing my aunt, uncle, cousins and other relatives.  My mom, who is going on 89, was happy to see everyone.  We had a blessed day.

My friend Mrs. C. has a beautiful border collie dog.  His name is Sam.  Sometimes we call him Sam-Sam.  The other day Mrs. C.' husband was painting his farm wagon.  Sam came along and his curiosity got the best of him.  He was sniffing around and take a look at what happened to Sam.  He was embarrassed and Mrs C. asked him what he had been doing.  We love this goofy dog named Sam.

This Monday started as a cold, icy morning.  Thankfully we didn't have too much, but enough that our schools were closed.  They now have missed 4 days, all within a week or so.

Our county administrator is lauching a quest to make a promise given by President Hoover in the 1930's come true.  President Hoover promised Madison County an entrance to the Shenandoah National Park.  A considerable amount of park land is in Madison County.  There was a road built to the Park, but access to the Park is restricted by a gate.  Mr. H. have begun to work on making that promise come true.  He will be talking with organizations, clubs, etc. to get this program out to the folks of Madison County.  I will be attending one of his presentations tonight.  Since my great and grandparents were neighbors to the President Hoover, I am very interested in this program.  Will be posting, hopefully, lots of information on this project.

Ok, this is my second try at creating a blog.  Thanks to my youngest doll who helped me figure out what I had done wrong I am now ready to start again.

Both of my old computers had gotten tired and once decided to slow down and one decided to crash.  So, I decided to purchase a new laptop.  This is also a learning experience, so much more technical than my older ones.  So, you might have to stick with me as I am entering into this learning about Windows 8.

With the weather forecast, we might not get our early morning walk in tomorrow.  Calling for 500 of an inch (now actually how much is that) of ice and sleet.  I would rather drive in the snow.  We'll see, I think God has been testing the weatherman and playing tricks on them.  They have had a hard time getting the forecast right.