Saturday, November 30, 2013

Help,I've fallen and I can't get up

you may not believe it but once again I am disabled but this time with a broken arm, just above my wrist.typing with my left hand is difficult so this should be a post of a few words and maybe more pictures than you may may to see but I finally got them uploaded and am exhausted and my arm hurts.  maybe a rest is in order before going on
 well, back at it.  Tuesday started out as a great day.  I taught a class at my quilt group.  Everyone seemed to enjoy their little 'art quilt' activity.
 just a couple of the projects by my fellow quilters.
When I got home I really was not in  the mood to go on my walk but it is a new commitment to cardio and weight loss sent me out for my walk anyway.  I was almost home when I went down.  when I got home and took off my glove I decided that it was broken so I called Bud and he took me to ER where they confirmed the break, put me out to set it and sent me home with good drugs.
 My friend Kathy said I shouldn't put this pic on the blog but I decided to do it anyway,  I know I look kind of mad but probably just at Bud for taking it.  SO,  I go and post it as proof I am trying to get fit.
I couldn't miss my haircut so Bud drove me to my appointment with Mary and came back later to pick me up.  What a man.  If you are going to have broken bones that require dependence it is important to marry well.  I an always glad I found the right man.
 Thursday we got help loading furniture to take to Leo.

The strong Noble boys loaded the trailer for us.

 Bud decided to learn how to bake cookies from scratch.  They were delicious.
 We took them over to the Nobles as a football game snack.




The family and friends gathered around the table, thankful for good food and family,



 Saturday we delivered Leo;s furniture.




Enough words.  The pictures speek for themselves and I am exhausted.  Any errors?  blame it on one hand pecking.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Let's do lunch next time

WOW, Yesterday was one of those N. Michigan days.  We get 'lake effect' snow here which really means that the cold air blowing across the big lake we have outside our door makes for its own weather phenomenon.  Yesterday was a perfect example of that weather pattern.   Bud was about 15 miles south of town earlier in the day and the sun was shining.  The closer he got to town the more snow came down.  
 Anyway, the reason I posted this picture other than showing you our latest weather,  was to show you the weather we had as we were driving out of our subdivision and  heading to a birthday dinner in Big Rapids which is about an hour and a half drive south of us.  Bud was sure that we would drive right out of the snow in about 10 minutes.  WELL, that thought didn't really work for us this time.  We kept driving and the conditions were getting even worse.  It was approaching or in blizzard conditions which means you couldn't see more than a couple car lengths ahead of you in the good times and near 'white out' conditions other times.  Being the optimists and  wanting to go to the birthday celebration that I had set up, we continued.  Bud is a tough N. Michigan driver and isn't discouraged from his intended plans very often either.
FINALLY,  about 50 miles in to our trip we drove out of the snowstorm and just faced regular Michigan winter weather.  We made it to our destination on time but of course we left the house 2 hours and 15 minutes earlier and drove what should have been an hour and a half trip.  Not too bad. We only saw a couple of accidents so it wasn't too bad.  (Now I say WE drove but Bud was doing the driving this time.  Not to say that I couldn't have driven this trip because part of the difficult driving was down to Cadillac which I have driven in all kinds of conditions myself.)
 It was worth the trip in difficult weather.  Eva and Jessica (the baby's mother) arrived first.  Doesn't Eva look great for someone that just turned 65? And of course the new mother to be looks fantastic too.  
 Leo arrived at the same time as us.  Both other groups had much easier weather conditions.  I am thankful for that.  Leo is getting his hair back and it is growing in VERY soft and curly.  Jessica and I both think that he looks especially cute and hope the curly hair stays with him.  He has gained about 30 pounds (I am going to have to let out some of his pants he said) He looks much more healthy.  This is the most he has EVER weighed but it is a good weight for him.  I am thankful that this year is almost over and he is on his way to a new home and a MUCH better year.  He has been working at his new home, putting in the sump pump. There was a bit of a problem with the contractors and they didn't put it in so he needed to get in that crawl space and get it taken care of.  It is done for now and he will have to do some more work in the spring to finish it off but at least it is ready for the winter.
We still don't know for sure when he will be able to move in.  I called all the contractors last Friday and 'encouraged' them to get this done before December 1st but I am not too hopeful.  We are still going to rent a trailer this coming Friday and take down the furniture that we are giving him and help him move some of the bigger stuff.  He is going to meet with the apartment manager this week and ask for a couple day extension on his place.  They are planning to renovate his whole apartment so he doesn't need to do a lot of clean up after he leaves.  Keep your fingers crossed that all the right things happen this week even though it is a short week.
 As usual, we had to recruit our waitress to take a picture of the Michigan Lewis family.  We look pretty good for all that age.  Leo was the one that said, "Maybe next time we need to do lunch instead of a dinner in Big Rapids."  That is a good idea.  However, the next birthday is Leo's so I think we should have it at his new house, maybe kind of an Open House/birthday/cancer free party.  DON'T say anything to him though.  He isn't ready for that step yet.  He is a little 'overwhelmed' (his words) right now with this house project.  I keep gently nudging him into his new home but I too will be very happy when he is settled.
 The 'birthday girl' had to get presents too.
 When she opened it and saw the blouse and skirt she was very surprised and loved it.  NOW, she was with me when I bought it, tried it on to see if it would fit and if she liked it.  So,  SURPRISED?????  We all had a great laugh.
We were trying the newest trend, taking a 'selfie'  Did you know that that word was the Oxford Dictionary's new word of the year?  I just recently found the button on my phone that allows me to take a 'selfie' and see what I look like that is how up on technology I am.   I'm not too good at it yet because my picture didn't turn out very well.  I had to count on Bud to take this one for you.  I think my arm wasn't long enough to get all of us in the picture.

SO, maybe next time we will do lunch or at least try to find better weather.  Our trip home was much easier.  It was worth the trip to see family.  

Happy Birthday to a wonderful sister.

Friday, November 22, 2013

I'm having FUN

I am having LOTS of fun with my latest projects/activities.  

First of all I am working on a new quilt for our new living room.  We should be getting our new furniture in the next few weeks and so I am busy trying to make a new throw quilt for our use.  I am trying to convince Bud that this bright teal/turquoise color will look good with the gray sofa.  This is one of the blocks from the piece that I started this week.  I was slowed down by not having enough of the turquoise color.  I bought just one yard a few weeks ago when I was in a quilt store in Midland with Leo.  I didn't have a pattern yet so I restrained myself and just bought the one yard.  I then found this beautiful pattern and called the shop.  They are sending me the fabric I need but it is taking some time.  I had to send them a piece of my fabric so they could match it correctly.  I am hoping that the throw quilt will be so beautiful that Bud will be won over to having this color as an accent color in our new space.  (He wanted to use red instead of the turquoise.  I am not totally opposed to using red but I think the turquoise will look great too.)  I am only planning to put out a couple of pieces of the turquoise and am NOT planning to paint a wall turquoise.  (Some of you may remember that when we moved in to this house we immediately painted over one wall of the living room which was painted a southwest turquoise color.)

My second activity that is turning out to be so much fun is reading through the books that I bought for family members for Christmas.  I REALLY found some good reads.  I am on my 4th one and so far 2 of them are fantastic and the other two are really good.  I hope that family members don't mind that I am pre reading their gifts.  I hope they are just so thrilled with the quality of their 'reads' that they will forgive me.  I am doing my best to not spill anything on the gifts.

The final activity that has kept me busy is Leo's house.  I had hoped that it would be done by the first of December but that deadline seems to be slipping.  The company that sold us the home is kind of dragging their feet on the finishing touches even though I call or send them emails a couple of times a week and remind them that Leo would like to be in by the first of December.  That date is coming fast and they still have quite a bit of work to do.  He does have electricity in the house and the heat is on but he can't move in yet.  We are planning to take some furniture down to him a week from today.
I did find a nice cover for our 'mauve' love seat.  This will make the love seat look much nicer in Leo's home.  He is also getting our blue sofa which is a great sofa.  I am planning to make him a couple of pillows to go on the sofa but may take him to a store and have him pick out the fabric.  Right now he has been working to hook up the sump pump for his crawl space.  That was another disappointment, the excavator was suppose to  do that hookup but they left it up to Leo.  I think he has that project almost done.  I am going to call the company in a few minutes and see if I can 'light a fire' under them once again.  I am sure those guys are tired of hearing from me but I have a lot of trouble with people making promises and not following through.
Despite all the difficulties I have enjoyed doing this project and it is a great thing for Leo.

SO, there you have it. I am trying to keep busy in my retirement without cutting in to my afternoon nap time. I am off to light a fire and then on to school.  Every time I go there I am reminded why I am retired and just a volunteer.


Sunday, November 17, 2013

The STAR of the show

Saturday night we went to the performance of Guys and Dolls here in Traverse City put on by the students at Central High School.  It is amazing the talent we have here in our little town.  Of course the star of the show was Charlotte.  

 The family was assembled to watch the performance.  Brittany and John came up from Chicago to attend this performance.  It was a great bonus that we were able to see the newlyweds.  I don't think we have seen them since that great wedding this summer.
 Charlotte did a fantastic job as the female star of the show.  I hadn't ever seen this show and it was a fun musical to watch.
Brittany and John shared the glow of Charlotte's performance.  She has such a beautiful voice.  It has been a pleasure to watch her grow up and become such an accomplished singer.  She is planning to pursue voice next fall when she goes off to college.  She is the last of the family to head off to college.  My, they sure grow up fast.


Sunday, November 10, 2013

My weekend alone

Bud is in Las Vegas this weekend.  I am at home with myself so i decided I would find ways to entertain myself.  I probably could have gone with him but the few conferences I have attended with him have not been that exciting. CPAs don't exactly 'paint the town red' even when they are out of town or at least that is what happens when I have gone with him.  This afternoon he did send me a picture of Elvis so maybe he IS seeing exciting things.  I have been to Vegas before so that didn't attract me either.  
Instead I found ways to entertain myself.  My friend MaryAnne was singing on Friday evening so I went to listen to her.  The show was a fundraiser for the Unitarian church where she attends and the different groups were fun.  She is a wonderful singer and sang one of my favorite songs about getting old.  
After the program they had a silent auction with items going at very reasonable prices.  I managed to find a beautiful bracelet to buy even though I didn't need to add to my collection.  It is amazing how jewelry  always seems to find its way to me.  
This nice little moonstone bracelet seems to have nice workmanship.  I am sure that some member of the Unitarian church bought it in some faraway city and decided it was a good donation to the fundraiser.  I am the lucky one that has this piece for very little donation along with a fun evening at their church.   
I spent the night at MaryAnne's house since we were getting up early (at least early for me) and driving to East Jordan for the day.  She had a booth at at craft fair where she was selling these lovely hand dyed silk scarves.  They were beautiful but I resisted buying any since I really don't need to add to my wardrobe  (jewelry doesn't count, I can never have too much jewelry)
Here we are posing in front of our booth.  I spent the day laughing and chatting with my friend and demonstrating how to tie scarves but it was not a very good selling day.  The scarves are a little more expensive than you average scarf and the audience didn't look like the expensive scarf crowd.  We only sold one scarf even though many people stopped to watch my demonstration on how to tie the scarf like the one I had around my neck.  They smiled and said thanks but didn't buy.  Lots of people 'fondled' the scarves and commented on the beauty but 'just lookers'.  It was a rainy and cold day outside so we think that the 'expensive' crowd decided to stay home and only the ones looking for small inexpensive things came.  I did manage to buy some beautiful cards, some special hand softener and some baby mittens but no jewelry.  I still enjoyed the day with my friend.  We watched people and wandered around to other booths and just had fun together.
I managed to have some time to finish the border on this wall hanging that I have just finished.  I am exploring new ways to create quilt projects.  This is my latest project.  I made this up all on my own.  As I look at the picture it seems a little 'off balance' so maybe next time I will lay it out and then take a picture and then rearrange the pieces to make it look better.  I think that it would look a little more balanced if I could put it up on a computer and look at it.  I laid this one out on the floor and it seemed good then but now I think think the bottom part should be slid over to the right a bit more.  I am learning this technique so I know I will have a few pieces that will need improvement.  It is fun to experiment and explore new ways to enjoy my quilting.  I did this piece all by myself so it only cost me the fabric cost and my time.  I will continue working on this and other art quilt techniques.   I like working without a pattern and making my own design.

I have also been trying to do as much reading as possible.  I have finished most of my Christmas book shopping and I bought books that looked interesting to me.  I am busy trying to read a few of them before I have to give them away.  (Family, I will try not to spill anything on your books but this is easier than giving you a book for Christmas and asking you if you will give it back to me to read.)  I just started a good one and haven't decided who will be the lucky one to receive this one but it is great already.  I love starting a book and knowing that it is going to be a treasure.

Today I went for a walk. Fall weather has arrived here in N. Michigan. The few yellow leaves against the gray skies and the wonderful smell of leaves, that fall smell!!  I am trying to get back into the habit of walking as a form of exercise.  It is sometimes hard to do, I am lazy and my feet don't like it but my body needs it so I am just 'sucking it up' and doing it.  At least the beauty of nature is helpful.

SO, find beauty in things that you may not love to do, do things with beautiful people, and find new ways to do things that you do like to do.  My advice for the day.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Celebrations

Please forgive me but I just couldn't choose the pictures that I wanted to show so I did them ALL.  I was so excited that I wanted to share all the possible views of Leo's house.  
 But first, the birthday celebration.  We have been going out to dinner with Bud's friend Andy for many years. They were born the same year but a couple of days apart.  It was a fun evening, catching up with each other's lives and trying out a new restaurant in town.  Meal was good and the conversation was great.  Happy Birthday Bud.  He turned 59.
 I found a new sweater for him.  He is known for his great colorful sweaters and I know where to find them.  I like this one a lot.  He is smaller this year so he has been discarding his XL sweaters and just going for the L size.
 Eva bought him a new Harley shirt.  This may look familiar because he had one just like it but it was too big so he was able to get a replacement for one of his favorite Harley shirts.
 NOW, on to the house celebration and I AM celebrating.  It has been a journey but we are almost there.  I just had to go down and see it all put together so yesterday Bud took the afternoon off and we drove down to check it out.  This is a picture of the back door.  The little space on the left side is the entrance into the crawl space.  This door goes into the utility room/mud room.
 This is the side entrance We are facing east. This entrance goes into the space between the kitchen on the right and the living room on the left.  We added this door so that there would be an entrance into a possible garage that Leo may built on this end of the house in a future date.
 The door on the right is the back entrance into the mud room.  Ahead you see the place for the washer and dryer.  The door on the left goes into a bathroom   Very handy for coming in and washing up before tracking through the whole house or using the kitchen sink.
 This is the entrance into the kitchen.  It is right across from the washer dryer hook up.
 Now we are in the kitchen.  The two corner windows you can see from the outside as the small windows in the corner.  There is a corner sink which looks very nice and a good use of the space.  The gas range and refrigerator come with the house.
 This is the small bathroom right off the mud room.  That is the back door in the background.  It is small but it is just the extra bathroom and the guest bathroom.  However it does have a full tub and everything.
 A little corner sink and stool.  The tub is on the left side.  You can see a bit of it in the previous picture.
 Now we are in the Large living room.  They still have stuff on the floor because the construction people have not finished yet.  This is on the opposite side of the kitchen.  It has lots of nice windows.  The side door would be just to the left of this picture and the door behind Bud is the front door.
 A better picture of the front door with a closet behind to hang coats.  Another nice feature.  This place has a lot of closet space.
 Another living room picture.  I told you I took a lot of pictures.  The TV will probably go in this  corner.  We will need Eva to visit and help with the furniture arrangement but be are giving him a sofa, love seat and two chairs.  He already has a recliner chair that was at the farm and he hasn't used it.  It was the one that Jessica helped Mom pick out so it is a good one.  Notice that they even provided valances for the windows and there are shades under the valances.  Bud said the windows open very well and Leo thought they might tip out to clean.  I didn't try them.  It also has LOTS of plugs so that is a nice feature.
 This is the guest bedroom.  It has two closets and two windows.  One closet is behind Bud.  This room faces the front.  The entrance to the left of the closet is the hallway.
 Here we have the other closet in the guest room.  This one is a bit bigger so more storage space and again lots of plugs.
 Here we have the master bedroom.  It is on the back side and about a little bigger than the guest bedroom but not much.  Both bedrooms are large.
 Leo is standing next to the entrance to the master bath.  The openings next to Bud are the closets.  The doors aren't up in all the rooms yet.
 Master bath.  Leo wanted this shower with a seat.  It looks great.  It was one of the few 'extras' that he wanted  and I think it was a great idea.
 There is some open storage space in this bath.  I can't believe I neglected to show the sink area which is to the left of this picture.  Sorry, I will do better next time or maybe it will just give some of you a reason to go there and see it yourself.
 Back in the kitchen.  Lots of cabinet space.
 The opening to the left is into the mud room so nice use of space.  The dining room table would be in this left corner.
 I am standing in the living room looking into the kitchen so the kitchen table would go on the left side of the kitchen.
 This shot is taken from the corner of the living room looking toward the bedroom space.  So I think I have shown most of the inside angles.
 This is the front door.  Living room on the right and guest bedroom on the left.
And this is the view of the house as you drive up.  He has a good view of the woods from his kitchen and bedroom windows.

SO, there you have it.  We don't have a move in date yet but they are getting closer.  The electricity will be hooked up on Friday.  I think the water is already hooked up but I don't know about the septic yet.  The propane people were suppose to come on Friday but we will have to delay because they need power in the house and that won't happen in time for them to do the propane on Friday so it is a little chilly in the house yet.  I am shooting for a move in by December 1st and hoping it happens earlier.

I am excited and Leo is showing some excitement too.  He is just a little worried about things but I think it will all sink in and things will be great for him once he is in the house.  It will be good for him to be there and have little things to do around the place.

Thanks for sharing my excitement.