Last Day of Stay-Cation

After such a low-key week I am totally not prepared to wake up to an alarm in the morning and get back to work!

One of my friends at church commented, "You know what your vacation sounded like? Retirement!" Oh, god. Now I want that. NOW.

I didn't get a ton accomplished but I am OK with that. The important thing is that I did not think about work. At all. That's a true victory for me.

Of course tomorrow morning might be a startling reality. But I'll deal. 

Today was pretty laid back. Church and some Mr. Deck Chair time and then baseball.

It happened that both my Twins and hubby's Reds were featured "squares" on the MLB Network. Yay, Twins, for beating the Yankees!

After that I was just lazing about, doing some crocheting and listening to an audio book. I really got used to that. Help me acclimate to real life tomorrow, please!

Hope all of you found time to relax over the holiday weekend. I'll never take if for granted again, I swear!

Dad's Day

Well I was off the hook to provide any type of Father's Day entertainment since hubby was still off on his weekend golf trip with the guys.

So I did what we probably would've done anyway. Sat and watched the exciting final round of the U.S. Open while crocheting a baby blanket.

Finished it with just a few holes to go so I headed into town and watched the rest of it with my father-in-law. That was nice.

It's still so weird (and lonely) even after 13 years to not have Dad to call on Father's Day. One of those things where you start to say in your mind, "Oh I have to get a card for Dad..." then remember. Good thing he instilled so much of his charm, humor, and know-it-all attitude in me that sometimes when I open my mouth, he really does come out!

Trust me, my siblings and I have no qualms about calling out each other as LeRoy 1, LeRoy 2, etc. We mean it endearingly, of course, but it's obvious none of us apples (or nuts) fall far from the tree!

Hope all you dads our there realize the great power you have to influence the next generation! Think what you want to be remembered for. 

Unrelated, hugs to all my friends coping with your first Father's Day without your dad. If you're feeling a hole in your heart, remind yourself that means he must have been a pretty special father!

Happy Father's Day!

Well That Was Fun

I could dub thee Sarcastic Sunday. Because some parts were not that fun.

Take church choir for example. There were 4 us. Not a fancy barbershop quartet. Just 2 men, 2 women. Not the strongest singers. Myself included in that. And our director sang with us to bring it up to 5. Yes, it was just the melody for On Eagle's Wings. But still. Cringe. 

But then it got fun. 

Ran up to Herrschners for some baby blanket yarn (bless them for Sunday hours) and worked on blanket #3 (boy them #2) while watching golf.

I love watching The Masters – especially on Augusta Sunday. And frankly, I want it to be a close competition. And today delivered big time. So many lead changes and people climbing the leaderboard. In the end Rory repeated for a back-to-back win, but he tried to blow it on the last hole – driving it into the woods!

I noticed his daughter Poppy is getting big. Yes, I do "know" some of the kids. I just wonder if they understand what the big deal is when Dad always wins things! You know?

And as the leaderboard was heating up, so too were the temperatures. The windows in the house and the screen door were letting in fresh air! Also, maybe something related to pollen. Not pollen yet, but I sneezed no less than 20 times this afternoon/evening. Grrr.

Did get out for a jaunt around the neighborhood after golf concluded. 

There was a hen party going on around the bend but since I just saw 5 out of 6 sisters the other day, I kept on walking. C'mon, that's funny, right?

Ok. Break time is over. Time to get back to hookin' something! Hope you had real FUN at some point today!

Weekend Yarns

 

Long before I became acquainted with yarn I though a yarn was a story or a tale, especially one that is incredible and probably made up.

But then a couple of years ago my friend Julie introduced me to crocheting and what the magic of yarn can do.

For awhile after that I was obsessed with making scarves of all kinds. But since then... baby blankets.

So we have 2 sets of young adults in our life who are expecting babies next month. Contrary to popular pre-parenting practices, neither is finding out the sex of their child.

With my self-imposed deadline looming, I commenced to hooking today. With a 50-50 chance I said, let me start with girly colors. Well that didn't last long because my stupid skein was somehow messed up and in knots. So, not that it will effect the outcome, I switched to some typically boyish blues. 

Got a good start... but do you know baseball is on TV now (yay, Twins) in addition to March Madness hoops? Yup. This might take me a day or two. Good thing it was cold and windy with no forecast of me doing anything outside today!

Baby Border Hopping

With a wake-up temp below zero, I hit the road at 7:30 a.m. with one destination: SOUTH.

So maybe South is a stretch but I did end up in Iowa! Remember me crocheting that "Love's Baby Soft" blanket? Well today was the day to gift that to mother-to-be Hannah down in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. Never heard of it? Me neither. Thank the lord for GPS that last half hour. Turns out we were "this close" to the Iowa border!

Spoiler alert for those who didn't have the insider intel: They're having a girl!

Random fact: Carter has lived with all three of these women – including the mom-to-be. To clarify: He and 2 other guys were roommates with Hannah (center), who is BFFs with his girlfriend Mamie, who has a friend Halayna (right) who is marrying Mamie's brother in May. Not confusing at all.

In a nutshell, they've all felt like extended family to Jim and me for years!

So it was nice to drive 3 hours to celebrate Hannah and Hunter's upcoming daughter. She loved the blanket, by the way.

 Then, after the shower, head down to Dubuque for a coffee date with Mamie, Halayna, and MY BOY!

We had coffee at Charlotte's where we had it maybe 5 years ago. Still tasty! But it was good to catch up with Carter and deliver a couple dozen cookies!

How do I get shorter every picture with him?

Anyway, I managed to get home safely before it was completely dark (encouraging) and in time to catch the "delayed" recap of Olympics coverage today. Worth it. 100%.

Love is Baby Soft

Us "girls" of a certain age remember begging for Love's Baby Soft perfumefor our birthdays and Christmas. Did I ever get it? No. Because the ads talked about how innocence is sexy. Not Mother Hedberg approved, that's for sure.

But apparently it is back on the shelves if you or your BFF want some now! 

Why was this on my mind this week? You're probably scared to find out. Don't blame you!

So I started crocheting this baby blanket the other day. Was halfway done and was not satisfied that the yarn – even though called Blanket Yarn – was soft enough for a baby. It just seemed too stiff.

So off to Herrschners I went at lunchtime on Tuesday. Love that the store is a few minutes from work. Found just the soft "Baby Blanket Frosting" yarn I needed in my life!

Now I'm cruising along with the Lilac Lounge color scheme and it IS baby soft! Sometimes it pays to make that special trip. This crocheter will be happier.

And so, I'm sure, will the baby! Cannot wait!

By the way, the perfume is allegedly available at Wal-Mart and Amazon if you're interested!

Doing My Things

Starting your Saturday with Book Club at the coffee shop sets the tone for a really nice day! Glad to see 3 of my girlfriends at least as we discussed a tough book – The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb. A really tough story but a good read. 

Ran some errands and when I got home I started organizing my scrapbooking stuff for camp – a whole 5 weeks in advance. Who am I?!

Then it was time to watch football playoffs. The Bills-Bronco was very exciting. Dang Broncos pulled it off in OT. But my win was almost finishing the rest of the blanket I'm making for a wedding shower. Based on how boring the Seattle-49ers game is so far, I might just finish by halftime.

Feels good to do MY things. And make progress!

Hope you had a good day, too. Bundle up tomorrow!

Strange Sighting

I saw something yesterday out of my office and couldn't believe my eyes. This morning, waking up to snowfall, I though I must have dreamt it. Then mid-morning, it appeared again.

Sunshine and blue skies! About time, 2026! It lasted long enough for me to smile during a few errands before coming home.

Where the snowfall has since resumed.

Guess we have to enjoy it while we can. No matter how short-lived. I guess by the end of this month, the won't set until AFTER 5 p.m., so there's some hope on the horizon!

Two of my sisters are down in Florida for a bit. Mr. Deck Chair and me are super jealous. But I am making good progress on a blanket I'm crocheting that keeps me warm as I go! I might just work on that all evening since the other football game is on Amazon Prime. We have that but I don't want to sit in my uncomfortable desk chair to watch it on my computer. I'm sure I'll hear how it goes.

Stay safe out there and enjoy the little patches of sunshine when you can!

Hookin' Away My Saturday

As soon as I woke up and was about to get up, hubby says, "You might as well stay in bed. We're at war." Say what?!

My first thought was "What did he do know?" and my second thought, as someone who avoids all news as much as possible, was "Did we know this was coming?"

No matter the answer to either, I knew I needed a day of distractions. I did watch a little news but then headed into town to Lighthouse to get a few papers for upcoming Camp Crop-a-Lot in 7 weeks since I picked up more photos yesterday and am jumpin' to go!

Then I cleaned my office "aka Oh My God Room" a bit before I earned my chance to relax.

Can't do too much cleaning on a weekend when there are projects waiting in the wings.

I have a wedding shower coming up in the same time frame as camp. The couple has many "sage" colored things on their list so I am making them a blanket that is mostly sage with a strip of white, then multi color for a wide strip, then white again close to the top – and the rest sage. 

I'm liking it. And today I realized I could close my eyes and do a whole row without looking, just feeling. I am a Jedi Crochet Master, I guess! That also means I can head back to the livingroom now and watch a Hallmark movie AND multi-task without even blinking.

Well, I better pay a little attention. This is a gift after all!

And oh yeah, it snowed again today. Stay warm and safe, everyone!

Purely a Medical Thing

I laughed out loud when I saw this a few minutes ago because I literally dropped some serious yarn cash at Herrschners last night before a very fun golf night at SentryWorld. Then made a trip to Hobby Lobby at lunch today for an additional skein.

It's purely because I was following this scientific doctor's diagnosis from Facebook.

That and I had already planned to create a blanket for my nephew and soon to be niece-in-law (you know what I mean), but suddenly realized the clock is ticking! 

Since the bridal shower is just 2 1/2 weeks away, I am going to be doing some "speed hooking" – which I've done before but this time I have something scheduled at least 9 of those evenings in between. Backup plan is that if it's not done in time, it'll have to be for the wedding in mid-September. 

It's my own fault. I've thought about this for quite awhile and I even got their bedroom and living room color schemes a month ago. Don't you dare accuse me of putting golf before crocheting. 

Even though it's true!

Gotta go. Let's get that chain started!

Battling Bankruptcy

I sometimes wonder how a store I feel that I often single-handedly keep in business can go out of business. But for whatever reason, I couldn't save JoAnn Fabric and Crafts, who I just call JoAnn's.

There was a point in time when I learned to crochet just a few short years ago that I noticed Michael's (for you non-crafters – the other craft big box) was reducing their yarn selection. So I hopped on over to JoAnn's and was thrilled they had a good selection for my 8 out of 10 projects baby blankets.

I saw the news about many JoAnn's locations were closing and then the subsequent announcement that ALL were. My notification about the "everything up to 40% off" came on a Sunday. So I thought I was safe going on Tuesday when I was in the office and in the "not making a special trip to JoAnn's" radius.

I was a bit too late.

First of all, I noticed the yarn was only 25% off, not nearly close to 40%. Secondly, I was greeted by a lot of empty yarn bins (pictured above). My typical baby blanket yarn colors were out of stock. But I did find a few skeins to make a fun blanket for someone in the future.

I can't be too sad since there is a local spot in Stevens Point called Herrschners, who much to my marketing mind's delight now has a yarn sale. Will this be my pot of gold yarn on St. Patrick's Day? I'll let you know.

For you non-central Wisconsin folks: Where do you get your yarn??

Winter Sports of Sorts

Winter Sports are full speed ahead now that Christmas break is over. So if I miss a blog there's a 95% chance it's because I was already up way past my bedtime editing photos.

Such was the case yesterday.

I first have to report that my Extreme Hooking paid off and I finished that blanket. Yay me! I don't know if I'd push myself to get one done in just two days again. But it did prove I have the cardio stamina to do so.

After work yesterday, I shot the 7th- and 8th-grade Lady Royals basketball games. They don't have a ton of home game so I figured since the weather was OK and the roads were decent enough, I might as well check that off my Winter Sports list.

I can't believe that some of the "baby sisters" of seniors I took pictures of years ago are already in middle school. Somebody here is getting old!

Today was a busy work day. About 3 p.m. I realized it was 39 degrees out! I had no idea we were in for such a thaw before we begin a deep freeze in 48 hours. So I told hubby, "I'm going to run into town to get my car washed. I should be back in 25 minutes or so."

He's like, "You think you're the only one getting their car washed today?"

I responded that I had the upper hand since it was mid-afternoon and people had to work.

Boy was I wrong.

Since the closest Kwik Trip had a line around the building, I headed to the new on off Lincoln Street since that has 2 bays and surely the line would be quicker. Wrong again.

You can't tell but after this line goes straight, cars turn right toward the wash. My hour in the car allowed me to make a serious dent in my current audio book. And made me realize I was too hasty in a judgmental comment a few months back. So I posted:

Dear Wisconsin Rapids: I apologize that a few months back when I saw new construction I sarcastically said, "Like we need another flippin' car wash in this town?!" The answer is yes. We surely do. #WarmSpell #DontBeSalty

 Shame on me, right?

Well at least I got done just in time to get home, grab my camera and head to the boys game with hubby. It was a close game agains Wausau Newman, but we pulled ahead in the last 5 minutes thanks to their foul trouble. So night to get another win. They're not dominating like our Lady Royals, but they are on a hot streak so we'll take it.

Of course this means I have plenty of photos to edit tonight. But guess what? No alarm tomorrow.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the mild weather before the Arctic Tundra visits!

My Cardio :: Extreme Hookin'

I know most of us have New Year's resolution for more exercise. And maybe I'll follow suit. But my cardio in the last 24 hours has been "extreme hooking."

As in buying yarn after work last night and hoping to crochet fast enough tonight to finish a blanket.

It's an ambitious goal but several co-workers decided we should put a birthday/get well basket together for a co-worker who just had back surgery and will be out several more weeks. 

Of course on Monday I said "I'll make him a nice recovery blanket." Then realized they planned to deliver this basket at the end of the week. So I had to get hookin' and double-stitchin' at maximum speed.

I probably would've have finished it after work but I was interrupted by choir practice. Now I'm home and am going to power through and hope for the best. 

Whew! What a workout! Can you tell how muscle-toned my fingers are? 

Good luck with your New Year's exercise resolutions, too!

Just Another Sun, er Snow Day

Thank God and doctors that my cough medicine I got last night helped me sleep. But unfortunately, I felt a little light-headed at church. So I sneaked out early and the rest of my day was editing hockey photos and listening to an audio book.

I also did a little crocheting to finish up a baby girl blanket for our brand new neighbor.

By then it was a bit of Wild Card action (most of you know how that turned out) and the beginning of a new book. 

Thank goodness it was Sunday and nothing is expected of any of us. Hope you had a similar experience and can go into Monday with a relaxed and energized attitude!

Pretty ... as in Pretty Cold

It was a pretty day to go golfing. But it was pretty cold. Like very cold. Like all of us were wearing long pants and jackets cold.

My friend Christine and I (and her niece and boyfriend) were a foursome for the Big Cup tournament at TriCity.

And by Big Cups, I mean we could putt all four of our balls into the hole. If we were that good. Ha.

Thankfully, it was a scramble and we had fun. Somehow managed to stay warm enough and beat the rain by 5 minutes. I guess it was more of a sprinkle. But we were glad to be done. Pretty sure we didn't win any prizes with our over-par score. But that's fine, too. I can go a day without winning something!

Tonight I labeled the last of my raffle baskets and did some hooking, er crocheting, while watching a Hallmark movie. A fall one, not Christmas. I gotta clear my DVR before I get onto the red-and-green Northern Lights-inspired ones!

But even without the brilliant colors, Mother Nature continues to impress and inspire me.

Hope you found something positive today, too!

You Wanna Piece of Me?

It's always fun to start your daily commute following a logging truck in a construction zone who just happens to kick up some big rock. Right into my windshield.

It looks like a big diamond here – and it's actually about a quarter-sized chip (er, missing piece!). Thankfully it didn't spread into a crack during the day and thankfully I should be able to get it fixed at minimum cost.

My work day didn't necessarily get better but I did have the trifecta of bee-bopping after work.

So I knew hubby was golfing and I had no plans for tonight so I just bee-bopped around Point and Plover, hitting my 3 favorite spots.

JoAnn Fabric, TJ Maxx, and Hobby Lobby!

My goal was to find something to go with this blanket I crocheted for a raffle basket...

I had a few different thoughts, but then realized I could make a "Piece-ful Night In" basket.

Yup, throw in a puzzle and a puzzle roller-upper mat. I almost want to try to win this basket since I don't have any of these things! Ha.

Either way, I've got a few places I can shop for these "essentials" if I don't win it! 

Memorial Daze

This has been a crazy week – and it's only Wednesday. Monday – a holiday – was a bit of a blur as we went to Golden Sands to watch our nephew Colin race. And the feature got rained out.

Looking at these clouds, it was obvious something was headed to the track. But they got 30 laps in for the Trickle 99 before the heavens opened up and we all bailed.

Not sure if they'll reschedule that particular race so we can pretend Colin won, right?

Memorial Day was also kind of tough because it was the 11-year anniversary of my dad's death – and it was Memorial Day that year, too! My twin sister Raylene shared this picture of Dad entertaining her while Mom fixed something on my dress on baptism day. Now that they're both in heaven together, I sure hope they aren't worried about us twinsies!

Tuesday was the return to the office after several days. I love, love my team and co-workers but it's not always emotionally stable to receive their love in return. (Thankfully the lovely gift from my writing team was delivered on Saturday!)

I got this adorable purple "pocket hug" – which I'm going to have to rely on my hooker friends to figure out how to crochet and teach me! Such a sweet sentiment.

Speaking of purple, my Mad Town Girls (as I call them) sent me a care package through inter-office mail from our Madison office with every purple candy they could find. So sweet. Literally!

Then unrelated to any sorrow, it just happens that I finally won the Survivor pool in our department! This wonderful hand-crafted trophy plu$ $ome ca$h!

My friend Nancy wasn't thrilled to hand it over. But hey, give it 365 days and things may change! (P.S. I have yet to watch an episode!)

Last night I was disappointed that my golf outing at SentryWorld in Stevens Point was rained out. But it wasn't raining at Robinson Park in Wisconsin Rapids, so I got to see this home-run celebration as our Lady Royals softball team moves unto the sectional final Thursday!

The only bummer was that our "temporary pet" for the weekend had to return home last night. The good news is that his human momma had a successful surgery so now he can cheer her up while she recovers and conquers her next challenges.

Today ushered in a few more expressions of sympathy from work friends, but also this good news...

My sister Rachel is moving from the Surgical Care Unit to the Physical Rehabilitation area of Regions Hospital! I can't comprehend how long the past 2 months have been for her as she's gotten to this point, but she'll definitely need your prayers for strength as she tackles this serious uphill climb to return strength to all her limbs and move forward.

Thanks so much for all of you who have been praying for both my mom and sister. The power of prayer has carried our family so far. I'll admit I'm pretty weak without it. Thank you!

White Elephants and More

We had our White Elephant gift exchange for the marketing department at work today. I chose this bag because I figured if nothing else, I could use it for my gifts of crocheted blankets or a certain item that shall remain a surprise.

The ironic joke's on me since it was actually some yarn and some weird figure 8 knitting thing. So while I do like to crochet, this might be one way to finish off the project that a co-worker started some 4 years ago and didn't finish. At a minimum, I might just wrap up what she did accomplish – and turn it into a scarf fer her instead of a blanket.

Who knew White Elephants could be so inspiring?

It's 5 a.m. Somewhere

Had a great time today celebrating the upcoming birth of our friend Brenda's first granddaughter. 

Macyn, the momma-to-be, is also a classmate of Carter's. Hard to believe all these little kiddos are adulting now. She was as adorable as ever!

Since we knew ahead of time that it's a girl, I got to bring out the pink yarn again and crochet a baby blanket. Yes, it's a soft as it looks! She got a ton of great baby shower gifts and so many cute outfits. 

The picture up top is the card I gave her. Pretty appropriate for two reasons. One, babies want to drink when they want to drink and mommy better wake up and serve.

And two, I gotta leave the house at 5 a.m. tomorrow to catch a flight out to San Diego for work this week. That means this girl is off to bed for a fast sleep. 

Too bad I don't have a soft pink blanket to snuggle with!

Checking Out Books

We had a bit of a different Book Club this month. Besides discussing the current read, we also did a Bunco type book exchange. We each drew numbers and we could grab the gift bag or steal from someone else. We were pretty much too nice to steal, but it was fun. 

Each of us paired a book with some type of gift in the $20 range. Book bags included no books I've read before: The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green, The Unseen by Roy Jacobsen, Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs, Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, and Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan (accompanied by honey and a Bee Kind t-shirt).

I got some free coffee with my gift – Before the Coffee Gets Cold – and I'm looking forward to reading about people getting to go back in time – only until their coffee gets cold.

I gave away my retro copy of Ashes in the Wind by Kathleen Woodiwiss. I definitely read that at least one a decade. Ha. For my related gift, since the book takes place in the Civil war, I made a blue and gray reading blanket. 

Basically whipped that together Friday night and yesterday. I had something else in mind and that fell through so this was my last-minute idea and the recipient was appreciative. 

The exchange was a fun idea and the best part is that we'll all share our new books with each other so we can all enjoy the new stories. Now I just have to finish my current book and get started on these new ones. Cold evenings like tonight – yup, gonna get down to 57 so the mattress pad is back on – make it easier to snuggle under a blankie and read, though.

Hope you have some some fun new adventures heading your way this week, too!