Hi – remember me!!!

I want to start out by saying a huge sorry for not being around visiting your blogs lately – or even posting here.
Our home life has been a whirlwind the past month or so.
There has been lots going on that has taken my time and energy but somehow we just keep plodding along don’t we?

I have some of my Christmas decorating done – it’s a slow process this year.  I do it in spurts as I find the time and the energy like most things I do these days.

I will start by saying our kitty LOLA is very sick.  She has a huge inoperable tumor in her abdomen area and it’s pushing out her sides.  We took her to the vet a week ago Friday and could have euthanized her then but I needed more time with her and she wasn’t suffering.  We were going to do it last Monday but she was still full of energy.
I was beside myself with sadness and a dear blog friend ‘Betty’ from ‘Through My Back Door’, was a huge supporter in my sadness.  I still haven’t mentioned to her that I didn’t have the heart to put Lola down yet.  
The Vet said she had a couple more good weeks left in her.
She is on Metamucil and Miralax for her bowels – imagine giving a tiny animal that!  But it worked.  The tumor is pushing all her organs out of place and she has a potty problem.
BUT I ASSURE YOU ALL…she is not suffering right now and will not suffer – the Vet said we will know from Lola herself when its time…and so I hang on to my sweet little Lola.
All of us who have pets understand the sadness we feel when it’s their time to leave us.
Lola is my baby – she was a rescue kitty and found love here.  She has been my shadow since the moment she was brought home.  Our other cats were not as loveable…Lola LOVES to be touched and needs to touch my arm or leg when she sits next to me.  Breaks my heart!
This is sweet Lola this past week.
 

 

As of late she has taken up sleeping in the bottom of my cupboard when she’s not on the love seat by me when I’m sewing.
Although she needs to be put up on the sofa and put down as her tummy gets too jarred when she jumps that far and she basically cant….so I do a lot of picking her up and putting her places.  Sometimes I even have to lead her into the potty.

 
Sorry to lay that on you but I think you all know how Lola is into my heart!

Guess I had better mention this as it has taken up our time as well.
Our youngest son Brett had back surgery in June…well he had more problems and had surgery again on Monday for a disc and he also had 3 Titanium rods put in the SI joint. He’s doing well although he can’t put pressure on his left leg so he’s on crutches and walker.  So young to have these kinds of problems.

And then our oldest son Darren had surgery on Friday – he’s still in the hospital. He may get out today depending on his lungs as they were filling and he had a difficult time breathing this weekend.
We were there for 7 hours waiting on Friday.  4 hours in surgery and 3 in recovery.
This dr. had good hopes of re-doing the mess the original dr. did 3 years ago which left Darren with very little use of his arms.  This past year his right arm went numb and he had pain in the neck area.  This dr. removed all the original hardware and replaced it with new and also fixed the bad disc and pinched nerves which was caused by improper placement of the hardware.  He said the nerves should come back now. 

Please say a few prayers for our sons.
We stayed just long enough to see him back in his room Friday and then left but not before getting a picture.

Today I see the Neurologist for my back…I’m finally going to have the surgery I have been dreading.  But my quality of life has taken a nose dive as well – the pain is too much to handle anymore and the shots are not helping, although I do get an injection tomorrow just to get me through the next couple weeks.
I still do what I need to do – but it’s a slower process and it is getting to me more and more of late and it even leaves me with no desire to be ‘chatty’.
So how about that for cheery news…lol

OKAY ON WITH SOME GOOD STUFF!!!

I did get a bit of decorating done this week in between hospital visits, funeral for my nephew Mark and the pain.

Before I put those picture on though I did get a bit of rug hooking done while sitting resting.
This rug will get finished I promised myself that.  I will not start any other project till it’s done but this is the progress thus far.

Got a few pictures of the decorating – the rest will come next week when it’s finished. 
I used a lot of greens to decorate with'.

 

That’s it so far…just the dining room and kitchen have been worked on.
The outside is finished but no pictures yet.
I would like to have it all finished by Thursday because I’m having a Christmas lunch here for the group of ladies I used to work with – if you remember we get together about every 6 weeks or so for lunch. The Christmas one is always at our house.

Got a couple more pictures of the little ones this week.
Miranda is 5 months old today.

 

Thanks so much to all of you who keep coming back here to visit even though I haven’t been around your blogs.  You do know I hope, that it’s not for lack of wanting to…but lack of ambition right now to do much of anything…but it will get better I promise you.

Blessings to all,
Karen

 

Not much to tell but a couple things to show

Hi everyone – well it has been quiet here recently and that’s perfectly fine with me from all that has been going on since the middle of October – a nice welcome.

Saturday and Sunday we went to craft shows…I really needed to take a bit of a break from sewing on orders all week so there was a Round Robin in Elkhorn and the vendors were located at 5 different locations.  Very nice but soooo much of the SAME THINGS at each location.  I honestly didn’t find a single thing to buy. Now if I was in the need of jewelry or knitted things or fleece then I would have been in heaven…but I didn’t.

Then Sunday we went to Brookfield (in Milwaukee area) at the high school – now this was a great show…it went throughout the halls and into the gym. Again lots of the same things as the last show…not many Primitives or home decor – lots of greens all decked out with glitter and glitz but not much of what we all like around here in blogland.  I would loved to have seen some nice Snowmen or Santa’s done plain but they were all gopped up!

I did manage to buy a little trinket dish with some jewels on it for a gift for one of my granddaughters but that was the extent of it there.  BUT….I did see someone some of you might know from the blogs…LEANNE from Harvest Moon By The Lake:  http://harvestmoonbythelake.blogspot.com/
Doug took the picture with his phone so it’s not too clear.

I had forgotten to take pictures of the wool I purchased when we were in PA…I don’t know if I’m going to use it on Penny Rugs or cut it in strips for rug hooking.  I bought it in Bird In Hand, PA but the label says Yankee Lane Primitives…I looked it up but they only have over dyed and solids…not plaids.  I’m so looking for LARGER pieces of plaids and checks – not little pieces.

I got a special order for six chair backers with a sheep and a year…I worked with her through e-mail with pictures as I went along to get her approval…this is the end result.
 
But now she hasn’t replied back for over 2 weeks…I’m afraid she was in the path of the storm Sandy (she never gave me her address)…I’m not worried about my sale because I will hold on to these if and when she’s ready to buy…I’m just praying she’s okay and that it’s just a matter of power and that she didn’t loose her home to the fires that destroyed so many lives.

Got new pictures of Miranda…4 months old now - she has gotten so big!

 

Okay, I said I would put pictures of ROOTS MARKET on so here they are
There are 20 of them so I left them in album form…just click on the picture box and you will see them all.

(these will open up in SkyDrive…just click on one of the pictures when it opens up to vies)

View Full Album

While sitting here sewing all last week I had Christmas music going and then I thought…hey QVC is showing their gourmet foods at 3:00 so I turned it on…well I haven’t watched QVC in YEARS!!!  But like most I got hooked…I ordered a JUNIORS CHEESE CAKE for Christmas delivery – it has a picture of Santa on it that is edible.  Most of us like cheesecake so it’s one dessert I don’t need to fuss with.
And I bought some Mrs. Prindable’s Chocolate & Sea Salt apples, and it’s all dipped in Caramel! YUMMMM.
They are to be delivered next week early so they will be here in time for Thanksgiving.

I guess that’s all I have to share this week – my brother Gene SIL Gail are coming over today and we’re going out to Dan DiPaolo’s farm because they can’t make it for his Open House on Friday and Dan is always so wonderful to let us come early and being they will be here today he said come on out!!!  Hopefully I will be able to shoot a few photos…if he’s totally set up that is…sometimes we have to worm our way through the boxes.

On my website I posted that the deadline has been met for all Christmas orders…I need time to finish what is here and then to get ready for my holiday here.

I most likely will be back one more time before Thanksgiving but if not have a wonderful Thanksgiving to all.

Karen

So much to post about…got time?

Yep, lots of things have been going on since my last post. As I write this I’m listing to my very first Christmas songs…that’s right…Cable TV Songs of the Season has them on – and so do I!!

First I must say I was overwhelmed with the response I received from my last post about my Niece…she thanks you as well as I do.
Over the past 4 years since I have had my blog I found there are many, many wonderful friends I have never met and most likely will never meet.  We all post comments to each other and support each other when there is a request for prayers – this just showed me what beautiful people you are…my heart is filled.  THANK YOU.

Friday she was released from the hospital to go home to heal…then she starts PT – my brother/wife basically moved in to help out until she is better. Things are working out good…Tina is the strongest 40+ person I know – she will do just fine with the love of her family and her Faith.

I didn’t put it in my post but we were in Pennsylvania when we got the call about the accident so it was cut short but that was fine as we were finished with what we went out there for.

We went to Market Square and also I had to deliver some products a lady ordered for her shop.
If you haven’t been into ‘DAYS GONE BY CREATIONS’ on Main St. in Lititz, PA, you must.
Cindy is the sweetest lady and so complimentary on my products.
We stopped in to her shop the morning after the news of the accident and no sleep the night before so the picture is not that good…but I wanted you to see Cindy!
 

I made a few purchases while in PA…now who wouldn’t – it’s Colonial/Prim country for sure!!!

Got this huge basket  – I wish I could have bought more but I really don’t have room for more…but her prices were soooo low.
I put it a few places so you can see the size better.
What I’m going to do is put some large birch twigs in it with some tall twig lights for Christmas – think it will look great!

 

And a must when I shop are Family Heirloom Weavers products…
This is a bedspread and pillow bolster covers – done with a dark Navy – I’m going to use it in the guest room.  I have enough Red going on in the house so thought Navy would work well in there.

 

And some table squares and a table cloth and a throw
Again, the Navy thing going on here too – but I liked the pattern so much and they didn’t make it in any other color.

 

The table square on the left is for a customer and the one on the right is mine.

This is the throw – but I’m going to use it for the holidays – it’s called 7 Snowballs
 

And some small pillows that may be used as gifts – done in the woven fabrics (I just now noticed the larger pillow is made of the same woven as the table square for my customer….)

So what else did I buy or do….oh I bought a double arm Whalers Lamp for the family room – they don’t give off much light but they sure do look nice at night.

So the day we got out there we didn’t really have much to do so we just took a ride in the country – saw lots of Amish out in the fields and many kids playing after school and in Bird In Hand we came across the place where they give Hot Air Balloon rides…Two were getting ready to take to the sky so we drove in and watched for a bit.
  

Oh to have the need to buy this property…what a beauty – but I bet it needs tons of work inside.  Look at that thatched roof…neat!!!

  

Oh on the way out to PA we saw they are replacing the service plazas…this one is going to be gorgeous. Done in Colonial stone – I’m so anxious to see this beauty finished. (if you click on the picture you may be able to see the stone closer)

 

Just a few random scenery photos.
This was parked at the Sideling Hill service plaza in PA.

Farmer had a 6 Mule team and had to pull off so we could get by.
 

 

 

 

 

Now I come to the end with a little lightness with Aidan and Lola…on Sunday before we left for PA the boys came over to help put the plastic on the screen room and Aidan got to play with Lola…which doesn’t happen often but Lola was not feeling well so she relented – I think she actually liked it because she never moved and let him do whatever he wanted…guess she loved being all covered up.

 

 

Before we left for PA I got out my hooked rug to work on – I’m starting to get a bit free with my time so maybe now I can work on it…been almost a year since I’ve had it – about time I got going on it!
THEN…
 
NOW…

Lots of pictures I know…but I also know you all love looking at pictures instead of huge paragraphs of words…
Next post will have some pictures from Roots Market – a must farm market to go to if you are in the Lancaster area.

Again, thank you for the outpouring for Tina…
Bless you all and watch out for the other guy please!!!  You will be missed.
My brother/wife and Tina’s family
 

 

 

Karen