FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Hoping 2023 brings us all healing, good health and much better luck.

Ha ha!

This is Xmas morning at my daughter Danielle's home.

From left to right,

Jim, myself, ex Inars, Nicole, Zach and Dani

Missing in this picture is Nicole's dad Nick who came down with Covid,

and Dani's boyfriend Aaron who had to work.

2022 was a rough year for all of us.

We lost our dear Mary in May after so many years of her fighting cancer.

Isn't she beautiful?

This is April 2019 with her daughter Nicole

 at Zach and Nicole's Wedding in Kona, Hawaii.

You would never know she was suffering from cancer in this pix.

I can't even begin to tell you how deeply her loss was felt 

during this Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I miss her so much...

My ex husband who is still a very big part of our lives

 here with Bogie...

and cooking for all of us for a Xmas breakfast a couple years ago.

Inars had a heart arrest on the golf course recently 

and his two buddies saved his life because they both knew CPR.

He was without a heartbeat and oxygen for 30 mins.

Inars with our two children several Xmas Eve's ago

Thankfully he is back home now and continues to work on his recovery.

His long term memory stayed intact 

but he is still struggling a bit with his short term memory.

He is also waiting on his heart doctor to install a permanent defibrillator.

Right now he is the prisoner of a temporary one

 that he wears either over his shoulder or strapped around his waist. 

A 24/7 device that is heavy and causing him back and shoulder problems,

attached by a wire to a shoulder/back bra with 8 sensors 

that is highly uncomfortable.

You can see his defibrillator strapped around his waist this Xmas.

He is still going to the gym everyday

 to try to build up his body weight and muscle mass that he lost while hospitalized.

And now to update you on my love,

my husband Jim.

This is my honey in May

 up in the mountains waiting to play live music with his band.

Before the jeep accident.

And here he was on Xmas Day with Inars 

(did I mention they are buddies)

with his hair growing back in.

His leg wound is completely healed over now 

and continues to shrink and sort of look better.

He also lost a lot of his body weight and muscle mass,

so for Xmas I gave him the present of our favorite trainer,

Gelissa.

Right now she is working on stabilizing his core and doing a lot of stretches.

Sadly he continues to have severe back spasms and sleepless nites.

He has many appts coming up to try to figure out the causes and fix these things.

Oh,

 and here is me laid up for the past two weeks with a swollen ankle and foot.

I have always been a klutz,

and as I've aged I've taken several spills as I trip over everything.

Two weeks ago,

 as I was wrapping presents,

 I missed a step going into my workshop in my little house garage.

It was a bad one this time.

My foot completely buckled under me

 as my entire body weight landed on top of it.

Incredibly painful.

I stayed down for several minutes 

 scared to death to know how much damage I'd done.

More then usual.

Ouch!

Iced it and put it up for 3 days taking lots of Ibuprofen.

After a week my middle toes and both sides of my heels 

turned several shades of purple.

It's much better now and I'm able to walk on it with not a lot of pain,

but this week I will go have an x-ray,

just in case I fractured something.

We are thrilled to be starting a new year

and have a lot of hope that 2023 will be kinder and gentler.

HAVE A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR ALL!

 I hope it brings you many blessings. 

TALK TO THE PAW

 by Casapinka on Ravelry

is a wonderfully fast, asymmetrical cowl scarf,

knit almost entirely in garter stich.

 And a few yarn overs at the side for a lace edging.

Trying to remember where I first saw this pattern/kit 

and I 'm pretty it was on Knit Stars Newsletter from their store in Tulsa, Ok.

I honestly don't remember when I started or finished it

but my guess would be at the beginning of 2022

and done by March 2022.

The yarn the kit came with is a lovely and soft single ply with a slight halo.

And the Cat Paw Stitch was fun to learn 

then incorporate in between the color shifts.

After I completed the piece I realized I got the colors out of order.

Not the first time I've goofed up a pattern,

but I still loved it.

I sent it thru the mail to my son's dear mother in law, Mary.

I had seen her a month earlier and she had lost so much weight and it was chilly.

I noticed she was bundled up even in the house,

 so I thought she might enjoy the scarf around her neck.

Her daughter Nicole told me she wore it everyday until she passed in May.

It was meant to be.

Nicole wanted to give me the scarf back the day Mary left us 

but I wanted her to keep it for herself.

I haven't been brave enough to ask Nicole what she did with it.

I was so hoping she put it around her mothers neck to be buried in.

One of these days I may ask.

But right now at the Holidays it's just too soon and we are missing Mary too much.

But I know Mary has hooked up with my Mom

 and they are working their magic to watch over us all.

I'm sure that's why my ex and my husband Jim

 are recovering from their terrible ordeals.

More to come on that topic on another post.

EASTER ARTS & CRAFTS WITH THE FAMILY

I saw this Natural Dye Easter Egg craft on Facebook recently 

and decided that Easter Sunday with the kids would be the perfect opportunity to give it a try.

The eggs above turned out pretty good,

but the ones below could have been much better.

And we learned what worked and what didn't.

We began by going out into my son's neighborhood

and picking leaves and flowers that might have possible dye properties.

And got yelled at by the next door neighbors.  ha ha ha

We came back and dumped our findings on the table and everyone shared.

I brought nylons to bind the plants as closely to the eggs as possible.

Then we gently put them into either the onion skins or the red cabbage baths.

I brought the baths to a gentle boil and hard boiled the eggs, 

then turned off the burner and let them steep for about an hour.

I had just the right amount of onion skins to water,

but I should have used more cabbage than I did for the amount of water I put in the pan.

The cabbage dye was just way too weak.

Also,

I might add a splash of vinegar next time,

see what happens.

I was so pleased that my son volunteered to host Easter this year.

He recently bought his first home with his girlfriend Nicole out in the San Fernando Valley,

more speciacally,

Canoga Park,

a suberb of L.A.

Nicole's mom Mary cooked a traditional Easter dinner,

and Nicole made a decadent chocolate trifle.

Nicole's dad Nick was suck at home sick in his bed with that terrible virus that was going around.

They just moved in a couple of weeks ago

and are in the process of redoing the home.

Pictures to come.

Mary and I both brought flowers from our homes to share with the kids.

And Zach and Nicole had an Easter egg project for us a well.

They bought wooden eggs and acrylic paints 

and we decorated them to look like "Space" eggs.

So much fun and a bit competitive as well  LOL

Our painted wooden eggs

A family tradition is to take a group pix

so above is my ex Inars,

daughter Dani,

myself and son Zach.

Zach has been growing his hair out for a man-bun 

but none of us had any idea how long it had become,

so my daughter made him take it out so we could see.

It was as long as hers which made her very unhappy. 

 hee hee

They have always been competitive even though they are 5 years apart.

And this is what clean-up time looked like.

Huh, you guys need something???

Typical  :)

It's got to be that generation.

My son was in the kitchen leading the clean-up brigade.

I am so blessed that my ex Inars and current husband Jim get on so well.

We are able to celebrate all the birthdays and holidays together.

And sometimes they just hang out together.

Here's to a wonderful rain filled spring.