Day 365

HAND SEWING WITH THE GIRLS

and they did so well!!

American Girl Kits that make up 2 each of the panda and elephant (big one and smaller one.)

Day 364

AFTERNOON SPENT GETTING MY AUNT HOME

after two days in the hospital

I really only had a few tasks that I wanted to get done today, but my plans were interrupted with a call from my Aunt Eileen and then from her doctor telling me she was better after treating her for diverticulitis and surgically draining the large cyst on her back. She was ready to go home. Only somewhat ready. My aunt had called to let me know that I needed to stop off at her home and get some clothes, her shoes, teeth and glasses because she was taken by ambulance in her nightgown. I also remembered to get her walker so she could walk back into her assisted living facility.

It was an all afternoon affair given a mixup with insurance records in the Overlake "Walgreen's" Pharmacy, a 20 minute call to Group Health to get that straightened out, rush hour traffic and getting her situated back at her place. She got right back into her nightgown and crawled into bed, waiting for the nurse to give her an insulin injection. She is weak and tired. I forgot to snap a photo. Sigh.

One of my tasks for today was to package up the American Girl doll we got for Hailey and get it sent back, asking them to send a different one that Hailey really wanted. It doesn't have bangs and has blue eyes. What was I thinking!!?? Oops, that's what happens when you get your gifts too soon before Christmas! The problem was that I forgot to bring the box that it was shipped in home from Kyle and Kari's and UPS wanted $12 to sell me the appropriate size box. SO, here I am trying to fashion a shipping box out of a fruit box. I shall succeed. Tomorrow.

Day 363

THE YEAR IS ALMOST OVER

only 3 more days of trying to remember to take a photo

Time for the decorations to come down and be put away. I wonder if I did this photo journey in 2017 if all my photos would be pretty much the same!? 

Day 362

FUN NEW GEL NAIL COLOR

it is sparkly grey when warm and when the nails get cooler it turns turquoise

Just ran cold water very briefly over my fingers and dried my hand. It is fun to watch the color change! If it is cold outside or I rinse my hands in cold water, they will turn totally turquoise.

Day 361

IT WAS A FULL DAY OF FUN

in Bellingham with the whole family  

What a great time we had together. Opening gifts, eating prime rib with all the fixings, snacking on M&M's, playing games, eating pierogi in the early evening (burp), laughing and just enjoying an extended time together. The roads were pretty traffic-free by the time we left for home at 8:30 pm. Jason rode with us and he has to work tomorrow.

 

Grandma made Seahawks pillowcases for Saben

Beemer and Maple got along wonderfully, but Beemer still prefers sitting on a lap!

Just can't resist climbing in the box

Oooohh, look what I got!

Let's just see how many can be on their cell phones at the same time. And check out Saben's new Rubik's Cube collection.

Time for a little virtual reality

The electric bike that Kyle purchased and is testing

Shauna takes a turn with Saben's paint ball gun

Let's see how the trampoline handles us and the snow

Prepping for the delicious prime rib "lunch"

The adults played Myron's new game and then later switched to Pounce

Day 360

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

full day of fun

The girls put their dolls to bed in their new bunkbeds

Shauna served us a yummy Christmas Day brunch

Uncle Jason the game player

What a good uncle!

Learning a new game

Visit with Uncle Bob

Our fabulous hostess, Debbie

Day 359

IT HAS BEEN A QUIET CHRISTMAS EVE

before the storm of the next couple days

They should have been here. They were supposed to come. I signed us up. We saw them across the street. But they skipped us. Management had said their families would be around to sing carols to us and that all we needed to do was sign up on the clipboard in the mail room. Ah well, we waited between 11 am and 2 pm for them to show, pausing our Christmas music so we would hear them when they arrived. That was to be my photo for the day. So this is my replacement picture:

While I waited I made several small zippered fabric pouches to store teensy things in. Don't know how much use they will provide, but I already had the supplies in my stash so why not.

Day 358

SNOWMAN IS DONE

I stopped by to deliver the decorations to Hailey and Charlotte

Unfortunately I ran out of felt for the back of the snowman so I made a quick trip to JoAnn's to purchase a bit. I really wanted to finish these up so that I wouldn't have any more projects hanging over my head before Christmas. Well....I still have a knitting project, but I decided it will not be a Christmas gift so I bought some more time!

On the way to deliver these to the girls, I stopped at Marv and Merrely's to wish them a Happy 49th Anniversary and visit for a bit. It is really wonderful to live so close to our friends. Phew, I can now breathe a sigh of relief. I still have to make the pierogi dumplings tonight and then make 2 different desserts, but I'm feeling confident that it will all come together.

I gave this machine embroidered Gingerbread Man to Charlotte

The Snowman I gave to Hailey

Day 357

CHRISTMAS PARTY

and gift exchange

Of course, I forgot to actually take pictures at the Christmas celebration at the Bernina/Janome store. They had a super spread of food that deserved a photo. It was nice to just sit and talk with the other employees and meet a couple of former employees who showed up for a little while. I stayed for almost 2 1/2 hours and then when I got home I discovered that Ed was over helping Dave with a computer set-up problem. Ed said he was more moral support than help!

I received this Shimmer FizzyBody Lotion along with a quilting book from Annette at work. This is sold by Bath and Body Works. Now I'm going to sparkle for sure!

Prior to showing up at "work" for the party, I stopped at Dave's brother Bob's home to drop off gifts he had purchased with Jill's help to give to the residents and staff. We will go visit him on Christmas day but didn't want to wait until then to bring the gifts he would be giving out. Dave had to go to my Aunt Eileen's to bring her headphones back to her after working on them to try to figure out why the base stopped working. He thinks she had simply touched the wrong button and thereby changed the channel on the headset so the two parts were not on the same channel. Anyway, they are now working again for her.

Now I have some potatoes boiling and onions and butter ready to be fried up for pierogi that I will be making tomorrow. Enough busyness for today!

Onions and Butter.....lots of butter!

Day 356

SEWING LESSON WITH ANNIKA

she wanted me to help her make a new dress for Itty Bit

Granddaughter Annika is 9 years old and she has been interested in doing some sewing lately so her mom asked if I could come up to Bellingham and spend part of the day working with her. We had given her a sewing machine for her birthday and this is the first time I have been up there to give her some one-on-one time with the sewing machine.

Itty Bit is her stuffed rabbit. I gave her this rabbit when she was first born and I can't remember if this is the original one or if it is a 2nd generation rabbit. At any rate, she is a tiny bunny and I had made it a dress a few years back, but it was time for another one since the sleeve had a tear in it. Unfortunately there is not pattern for these clothes, so I just have to wing it. 

After we made the first dress, which turned out to be more like a nightgown, we stitched up a 2nd version and then I made Itty Bit a gathered skirt. We had a nice lunch which Kari prepared in the middle of our projects and then when we finished Saben, Annika and I played a card game called Rat-a-Tat-Cat. It was a fun day together and I left there at about 4 pm, arriving home at a little past 6:30. I was right in the middle of rush hour which added an additional hour to the drive. But it was worth the effort!

Annika did a fine job of working with her sewing machine

Saben entertained himself with his Rubik's Cube and the computer

Itty Bit with her new frock

Day 355

A FEW EMBROIDERY PROJECTS FINISHED

these things take a LONG time to stitch!

The larger one is for Saben and the smaller one will be for Hailey

Finally got this one done for Annika. I still need to stitch up either the tree or perhaps a snowman for Charlotte. The smaller ones are 12" long and the big gingerbread man is a couple inches bigger. Too big for the tree, but hopefully the kids can find some place to hang them.

Day 354

BIBLE STUDY DINNER

at Vince's....too bad some couldn't be there

I got a call from my aunt this morning saying that she needed to go to the doctor at 2:00 today and could I take her. She had something that broke open on her back and the nurse where she lives told her to get to the doctor today. So off we went. Turns out it was a nasty abscess and I watched as the doctor expressed bloody pus from it.....one of the reasons I could NEVER be a nurse. It just grosses me out too much. Anyway, we had to pick up an antibiotic for her and she had a pneumonia shot. She had one a couple of years ago, but as I discovered recently, we all need this new and additional injection. Back home and trying to finish up an embroidery project that I began this morning.

Then off to dinner with our Bible Study group.

Day 353

EXTENDED FAMILY GATHERING

fun day with everyone

Day 352

MAKING CHRISTMAS TREATS

plus wrapping gifts, sewing and knitting

Southern Pralines

Toffee Bars

Fudge

Lefse....why am I doing this?? It is UBER messy!

We shall see if it was worth the effort.