Relaxing

Ha! When I was typing in the post title, I accidentally typed RELAZING. And, I guess that is what I am doing today. I am relaxing and being pretty lazy. I didn't even fix lunch. Husband had an appointment in town and brought lunch home. Yay! 

I have scrolled through Facebook, checked e-mail a few times, played the two games I play on my tablet. Relaxing, being lazy.

I crocheted a couple of spool pin doilies. My quilt friend mentioned that the ladies in our group with Featherweights might enjoy these so I have made up some more. My little group, and a sister, are going on a fabric shopping trip tomorrow so I will take these with and see what they all think. I have more colors that I haven't used yet, but don't want to make a bunch and have them not be liked. I am upcycling a tin that we received candy in. I like the tins, but have a hard time finding uses for them. This one works well to hold my tiny skeins of yarn, directions, crochet hook and finished doilies.

 I also finished up another mini stocking. 

These will be gifts to my small quilt group, and a sister. One of my quilt friends got her sister interested in quilting and she has been joining us for retreats. She is also here for Christmas. She lives in Tennessee so we are happy whenever she makes it here.

I made some stockings using a lighter weight yarn so they turned out smaller.

And the multi-colored striped one was made with a different pattern and is slightly larger. It is my favorite, but not everyone likes that style which is why I made some with different patterns.

Yesterday we spent time with my family at my niece's house. This is the second year for this. It was decided after my brother died that she and my SIL needed a new tradition. It is still hard, oh so hard, without him, but we are all trying to find the joy in the season.

She has a cute little house and just got a new puppy. He is so cute and so well behaved. Very relaxed and calm. When I placed him on my dad's lap I was asked if the puppy got to go home with him! 

My dad would love to have a dog, but he is dealing with dementia and my mom would get to do all the work. She is also allergic to all animals. So puppy stayed with my niece. He got tired of all the commotion after a while and put himself to bed in his crate. Good dog!

Merry,

Happy Christmas to you!

My Christmas decorating is minimal. 

Just this fiber optic tree and 

a couple of light-up decorations. 

When it gets dark they all look very festive.

Also, notice that one of the geraniums is blooming! Again! And, they both are growing new leaves. This is the first time I have brought geraniums in for the winter and am delighted to see the blooms. I find winter sad and depressing so I am thankful for these blooms.

I have been busy knitting mini 

stockings for my quilt friends. 

We usually get together for dinner before Christmas, but this year that didn't work out. So we will gather sometime after Christmas. 

I also have been working on my sewing corner.

I got the design wall up and my husband and I put a shelf up above it yesterday. A place for two little sewing machines and some other sewing related decorations.

Then I hung a 'bulletin board' to the right. I found I was wanting a place to pin up useful instructions and other things. I am sure I will fill it up quickly.

Today I am working on my block for the Quilt Exchange.

The blocks that have been made so far.

The fabric I selected from her bag.

Her fabrics are lovely. 

She will have a beautiful quilt when finished.

Under My Needle

I haven't like doing much of anything lately. Frustrations with school and FIL are putting a damper on my creativity, I guess.

Anyway, today I am working on Bowl Buddies. 

This one is still in progress, but I will finish it today. My son and GF are hosting a Christmas Potluck party on Saturday. They have asked everyone to bring a small ($5) gift to exchange. I am not sure, but I think we may be playing a game with the gifts. I am not sure if we will even be able to go, depends on what the weather decides to do that day. And then I thought I wouldn't take a gift and not participate in whatever is planned for that. Then I remembered that my son had asked for more Bowl Buddies for themselves so whole I was cutting theirs I cut one more that can can be used as a gift. I had purchased several bowls a while back to go with the Bowl Buddies. I have a black one that will work well with this one.

My son likes nature and animals so he is getting one with horses on one side and barn siding print on the other.

GF loves - LOVES - cows so she is getting a one with a cow print on one side and the other side is a print that has ...moo...moo...moo.... on it.

We also picked up a small step stool for them, well it's more for her. She is a shorty and complains about not being able to reach things on high shelves or cabinets. They other gifts were delivered last weekend when we installed the ramp since we aren't sure if we will make to their party this weekend.

That's it. Not much going on here.

Frosty Morning

Yesterday we had heavy fog that froze on everything.

It was very pretty.

We have one of those Star Shower lights. These pictures don't show very well, but the fog makes the lights show up as - long light beams - is the best way I can think to describe it. 

On Sunday we spent the day installing a ramp system at the house my son and GF are renting. 

It was cool, but the sun was shining and there was no wind so it really wasn't a bad day to be working outside. 

Husband did most of the work. He had assembled the separate ramps with their handrails before loading it in the trailer. We ended up having to remove the U-shaped rail handles from the ends of 3 of the ramp sections and making a few other minor adjustments, but it all worked out.

We opted for the 'expanded metal' version hoping that rain, snow, ice with fall through and not build up causing a slippery mess. 

That means it is not solid metal; there are small 'holes' in the surface which you can see in the first photo. 
You can see through it.The dog is still adjusting to it. 
My son loves it.

The landlord came over after we left and said it was acceptable and better than what he thought it would be. 
We decided on this system because it didn't require any permanent changes to the structure of the house or sidewalk/steps. If they move it can be taken apart and reconfigured and/or added to if necessary. My son has moved 3 times in the last 18 months; none of the places were accessible. We told them they had better stay where they are for a long time! Ramps are not inexpensive.

Little Bits

I finished the pink Christmas stocking 

and also another in red and white.

What color should I use next?

I have working a little on my sewing area. I will lose my design wall when the farm table gets moved to this corner of the room.

It was an office cubicle wall in a previous life. When the printing business my husband worked for many years ago closed the employees were able to take some of the items they no longer wanted. He brought home two of these and two with a shelf and light. Those are all being used upstairs. I am not sure where I will be able to move this one to so I can use it. Anyway, the corner where I moved my sewing machine to has a little bit of empty wall space so I changed it.

I used some foam board from the dollar store, 

and taped it together.

Since I had to piece it together to get the size I wanted I had to trim some of it off.

I covered it with cotton batting using a spray adhesive to attach it.
I used Command Picture Hangers to attach it to the wall.

It will be easily removed if I need to take it down. It's not as big, but I think it will work just fine.

And, a few tiny gripes I have are people standing in doorways to have conversations. Why!? And, people who are always late. I am suppose to be working with students at 12:35. As my schedule shows recess is over at 12:30. We have the students lined up in the gym for the teachers by then. You can see by my watch that it is well past 12:30 by the time I am relieved of that duty. 

That makes me late to get the students I should be working with at that time. By the time I go to their classrooms to get them I have lost at least 5 of the 20 minutes scheduled for RtI time. The next group after them starts at 12:55. There are two students in that second group who are suppose to be with the ESL teacher until 1:00, but they aren't released from him until 1:10 most days. That gives them 5 minutes with me. It bothers me that people are not respectful of the schedules of other people.

Myself and the other aide are outside 2 times a day, weather permitting. When the weather got cooler I placed a hook by the door that leads outside so I wouldn't have to go back to my work space to get my coat. That worked great for about two weeks. Here is a coat hanging on that hook. 

The problem is, that isn't my coat. I went to hang my coat up one day and ... that's not my coat. That coat belongs to the other aide. I guess I had a great idea. So great she decided to use it. 

My son recently moved into a cute little house with a nice yard. It is just the right size for him and GF and the dog loves the yard. The problem there are steps going into the house. We had ordered ramps last year for the apartment they were living in (that was an ordeal that took weeks because the ramps got lost, both times), but those ramps don't work for this house. So we ordered a new ramp system for him. The order confirmation said the system would be delivered by Fed Ex Ground and we would get an email when they shipped. Ok. Except we never got an email so I called to find out the status. The vendor said the ramps were being delivered by freight and the freight company would call that day. Two minutes later I received an email stating the ramps were being shipped with Fed Ex except when I clicked on the tracking number I got a message saying it didn't exist. Hmm. The freight company didn't call that day, which was a Thursday. They called Saturday night to say the ramps would be delivered Monday during 10:30 and 2:30. That meant Husband had to hang around to accept delivery. He has things to do that are off the farm, but he stayed around. Only part of the ramp system wasn't on the truck. He immediately called the vendor and they said they would ship it right away. We didn't hear anything for two day so Husband called and, "Oh, that hasn't shipped yet. I will check on it and call you back." No call back. The next day I called and was told it had been picked up by the freight company and would deliver the next day. Again, we got a call from a different freight company saying the would deliver between a four hour time span. They came late yesterday afternoon. 

So now the ramps are assembled as much as they can be and loaded in the livestock trailer along with some other things we will be delivering to my son. Hopefully tomorrow we can make the trip and get the ramp system installed.