All things EARTH...

[Sailor_Sally]

Congratulations Melody ! Great upgrade !

 

Margaret , I am glad you like the dress . That material washes great & lasts until you are sick of it . I love museums . My all time favorite is the Smithsonian .

Edited January 13, 2016 by Sailor_Sally

[awhfy]

I'm going by JJill this week, I may see if they have it in stock (green for me)

[laurspag]

Melody, good for you! Upgrades are great. I'm off today and I'm at the hospital while my sister has her hip replacement surgery. We got here at 9 and they just took her in to surgery! She was laughing and smiling until they went to wheel her in to pre-op. Then she looked really scared. I felt so bad.

 

We had some awful weather to drive in, but it is clear now.

 

I will have to check out JJill sometime. It is at the mall but whenever I go by there, the colors seem very cool. It's time to go in and really look around.

 

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

[MJC]

Laurie, keep us posted on how your sister is doing. Our thoughts are with both of you. My guess is she's out of surgery by now, hope everything went well for her.

[awhfy]

Laurie, hope your sister does well. She's so lucky to have you there for support. Melody

[Joby]

Melody, good for you! Upgrades are great. I'm off today and I'm at the hospital while my sister has her hip replacement surgery. We got here at 9 and they just took her in to surgery! She was laughing and smiling until they went to wheel her in to pre-op. Then she looked really scared. I felt so bad.

 

We had some awful weather to drive in, but it is clear now.

 

I will have to check out JJill sometime. It is at the mall but whenever I go by there, the colors seem very cool. It's time to go in and really look around.

 

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

 

Hope all went well, Laurie.

[awhfy]

Hoes your sister doing Laurie?

[laurspag]

Hello all! My sister did really well yesterday with her surgery. She will be moving into rehab tomorrow already! They wanted her to be in rehab instead of at home because she lives alone. I can help along with others, but she would still end up alone a lot due to my work schedule. I spoke to her three times today by text, because I wanted to make sure she was okay while I was at work. She had PT twice and is feeling very positive despite the pain.

 

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

[awhfy]

Laurie that's great news. She'll get more or in rehab than she will at home also. This is a win win

[awhfy]

That was supposed to say she'll get more pt in rehab! Darn autocorrect! Melody

[Sailor_Sally]

Laurie , I am so glad your sister is doing so well.

[Anita Latte]

Glad to read that all is going well with your sister Laurie!

 

Congrats on your upgrade Melody! The weather has really taken a turn for the cold here. We were enjoying an outrageously warm November and December (it was 75 degrees on Christmas Day) and the weather people all said to enjoy it while you can because January and February should be among the coldest on record.

 

I'm already tired of the cold.

 

This year, one thing that I am going to do is work my way through my fabric stash. I think I mentioned this already. Hancock Fabrics is having a sale here...Simplicity Patterns are 99 cents each (limit 10). So I purchased some patterns with specific fabric in mind today.

 

Then I went straight to work and made myself a pair of fingerless gloves out of a rather large, but still leftover, piece of fleece. Kim, they match my new tan/gold hat...which I think I shared before:

 

http://www.amazon.com/ScarvesMe-Trendy-Chunky-Stretch-Slouchy/dp/B015PCFCA0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452894668&sr=8-1&keywords=cc+beanie+navy

 

My hat is the Metallic Gold one.

 

Here are my new gloves:

 

 

 

They coordinate very well with my hat. I think they'll be great for driving around. Sometimes fleece gloves are too slippy on the steering wheel for my liking...

 

Also...I share because I know of the animal lovers all y'all are...meet Grace, our new kitty as of a month ago:

 

 

She was found pregnant in the county next door. She was brought into foster care. I was able to talk to her foster "Dad" and get the lowdown on her and her history. She had been with that family for 3-4 months. She is estimated to be about 1.5 years old.

 

We had our mourning period for Toby kitty...and DH and I had been discussing the idea of another cat, but neither of us really wanted to deal with a kitten. We needed a more mature animal...but that can be rough, depending on their history and what they have gone through.

 

Well, it was Providence for me to find Grace. I even love her name. She is a sweet heart and she keeps me company:

 

 

I'm quite excited to be sewing again. My sewing room is still a pit from some dumping that happened around the holidays...but I use such excuses too often to procrastinate. If you have never sewn with fleece before...it is so forgiving! So easy to work with. These are good projects to get back into the swing of sewing.

[awhfy]

Anita your Grace Kitty looks like she's always been with you. Lucky cat. Melody

[MJC]

Laurie, it's so good to hear that your sister is doing well. I'm glad she's in rehab. DH needed someone almost constantly when he came home. He was still on opiates and needed assistance with so many routine tasks. He was feeling pretty good but he didn't have good judgment about what he could and could not do. :)

 

We had the six week follow-up with his surgeon yesterday. His doctor is so pleased with how well the "appliance" is situated and the xray showed very healthy, strong bone. So, he was released from the motion restrictions and allowed to return to normal activities, though he will continue with PT for another month. It is also not recommended that he do weights at the gym yet. We may see if he can get into our car this weekend. If not, we'll just continue with taxis for a while longer.

 

Anita, I love your gloves. What a clever idea. Grace is a beautiful cat! I am so biased though because she could be our Danica's sister:

 

 

The picture by the computer made me laugh. I have to leave a special pile of papers near me just for Dani to sit on while I'm working, or she drives me nuts. Grace looks very at ease and happy. I hope she's transitioning well and that you are enjoying her company. They say that gray cats are loving, which has been our experience. She is a very lucky kitty to have ended up with such a wonderful home.

 

Melody, I'm wondering if you saw that green dress at JJill. It's down in price again on the website to $29.99, so I think I have to order it and stop worrying about the color until I see it.

 

I'll be heading to Michigan again soon. I have had a nice little respite but I think that soon my presence will be required more often again. It's a challenge not to get ahead of myself and worry about things that may not come to pass.

[awhfy]

Margaret, I tried the dress on & it didn't do anything for me (I liked the color tho). Not unusual,mi don't normally like the way dresses look on me (unless they're long). Melody

[Joby]

Laurie and Margaret,

 

Glad to hear both of your loved ones are healing.

 

Anita,

 

What happened to Toby? I'm sorry to hear about him. Grace is cute! We love our Moshi--he's quite a character too. Absolutely an animal lover here :)

[MJC]

Happy news! My article was published yesterday. :)

 

More happy news... I finally got my new cell phone. Merry Christmas to me!!

 

Melody, I'm really on the fence about the green dress... what do you think about how bright it is?

[awhfy]

Margaret, congrats on the article.

 

I'm not a good one to ask about bright colors. The brighter the better. But I personally didn't think it was bright . This is bright. Melody

[laurspag]

Anita, it must feel good to be sewing again. I really like the fingerless gloves you made. The sale you mentioned on patterns is great. I remember buying them like that and it's good to hear that they still have great bargains.

 

Do you sew with a lot of knits? I am thinking that someday, I may wish to get a serger and take lessons on it. Right now though, I just don't have a lot of time to dedicate to it so I think it will be a while.

 

When my girls were little, I sewed so much. It was really neat to make them dresses and outfits for school. I would also make a lot of curtains and throw pillows.

 

We don't really have a fabric/sewing store all that close. My daughter says that there is a new Hobby Lobby in a nearby area, so I may check that out. I discovered at Christmas time that the local Walmart brought back their fabric and sewing supplies too. Although it is limited, it's nice to know that I can get thread or a new zipper just up the street if I want.

 

I'm almost afraid to sew these days, since it has been a while. I do smaller things, like hem pants and mending.

 

Margaret, congratulations! you must be thrilled. What a wonderful achievement!

 

I love the pictures of the cats. Margaret, I know you've talked about Danica before and I remember when Anita lost Toby. I'm glad you have found Grace, and have given her the gift of family.

 

I used to be strictly a cat person, despite the fact that I have a sever allergy to them. When I moved here into this house about 11 years ago, I had two cats. Whisper passed away a few years ago, and we still have Honey. We have since added two dogs. I love them all dearly. I will post pictures shortly.

 

Today, I picked up some dresses that I was having altered. I had some dresses that I really loved and didn't want to part with. Because I couldn't replace them, and it wasn't too expensive to do, I took them to a very trusted and well like tailor that I know. I told her at the time I dropped them off that there was no hurry. I know she gets a lot of people who bring things in that need or want their items back very quickly, but I was bringing items that were mostly worn on cruises, and I wouldn't need them until June.

 

With the addition of the February cruise, I got to thinking that not giving her a deadline might have been a mistake, but I had a nice selection to choose from and I have that all figured out. Now that I have these back, I'm already thinking of which will go with me in June! I am pretty certain I know what I will wear on 4 of the 7 nights already. One of them is my all time favorite red dress.

 

I've been talking to my sister multiple times a day. She must be so sick of me, lol. I will be going up to visit her either tomorrow or Monday. I was thinking Monday, since she isn't likely to have other visitors on that day, I think. Both my husband and I are off on Martin Luther King Day, so that works well. We're going to bring her lunch.

 

Margaret, you're going to think this is funny. She told me she was having issues with swelling, and her underwear being very uncomfortable. I told her about your husband needing boxer shorts. She asked me to pick her up some mens boxers. I found some knit ones by Hanes, because I know she isn't looking for some sort of long term wear item. The knit ones will be comfy, don't have a fly, and she may even be able to use them as pajama bottoms later on, lol.

 

She is determined, but things are going much slower for her than what she would like. She also has had to realize that taking pain medication is not a sign of weakness or a bad thing.

 

Anita, I know that you were on Allure for the TA cruise, so you know that it is a bit different than most RCI ships. Because the shows are so popular, they recommend booking in advance. I know that people can often get in without the reservations at times, but I had talked to my husband and decided we would go ahead and book. I was surprised to see a few days ago that I could reserve as some people said it wouldn't be until about 100 days out. So, based on our dinner time, we've got the aqua show, Mama Mia, the ice show and another show (acrobat type) all situated. I know opinions vary, but it adds to the excitement for me to be planning out some of these fun events.

[awhfy]

Laurie good to hear your sis is doing well inspired on the knit boxers...she may not give them up...

[Anita Latte]

Anita,

 

What happened to Toby? I'm sorry to hear about him.

 

We had to say goodbye to Toby last fall (2014). He had bladder stones and the surgeries to remove them combined with moving from the rental down the street to this one were just too much for him at his age. He was ready to go. We had him for over 14 years.

 

I think our family is a pet family. We really enjoy having that character/personality/furry friend in the house. We were finally ready to have another one so I'm really happy to have found Grace.

 

Margaret, Danica could totally be Grace's sister/cousin! OMG!

 

Happy news! My article was published yesterday. :)

 

More happy news... I finally got my new cell phone. Merry Christmas to me!!

 

Congratulations Margaret!! How satisfying that must be to have your article published!

 

And yay for the phone too! Over Thanksgiving, we all upgraded our cell phones to smart phones for the first time. Such fun! It has been a nice diversion to get to know the new phone and put it to good use.

 

Laurie, at this point, I'd say that about 25% of my projects have been knits. BUT, more than half of the projects waiting for me involve knits. I do own a serger and I love it. I use it for much more than knits alone. It is lovely for finishing edges and having them be neater, even if I sew the seams on my sewing machine.

 

My serger machine is capable of doing a cover stitch. If you look at the hem of most any knit garment you own, any hem, lower edge, arm holes, etc., then the flat stitching that has the double lines showing on the "right side" and the looping stitching on the "wrong side" is a cover stitch. I've yet to do that and need to read up on it.

 

I'm going to tackle learning how to that stitch this year; I think that will help my garments look more professionally made.

 

I have a novelty knit fabric that I'm going to use to make an infinity scarf / neck warmer. This knit is literally more like small stitched sweater fabric, it's loose enough that you can see the knits and pearls in the fabric. This scarf should coordinate nicely with my hat and new fingerless gloves. The big question will become whether I make more accessories with this knit. A matching hat and/or matching fingerless gloves.

 

Normally I avoid, matching too much. I'm more of a coordinate kind of person.

 

BUT...just because I have the items, doesn't mean I have to wear them altogether.

 

Laurie, I agree totally that you need reservations on the Allure. We made reservations as well. Ours were just more complicated, dealing with 3 people in 2 different cabins and dealing with the numerous shows on the TA for all those nights. Also, the names of the shows in the theater were often the same "Headliner Show", even though, the performing Headliner would change, the system didn't recognize that and would say that you already have tickets to that show when you tried to make reservations for the 3 different headliners that were on the cruise.

 

Also, when Mom and Dad sailed the Oasis on the TA the year before, she spent literally hours going over the schedules, making plans for when to make dinner reservations and show reservations...only to find out that when she got on board, the schedule had changed. And the schedule changed during the cruise as well as shows were having to be canceled and rescheduled because of sea conditions, weather conditions, etc.

 

So for us, it just wasn't worth it to spend the time to try to figure it all out in advance. During embarkation, we got all the current paperwork and made all the reservations through the personnel on the ship. They have a different system and it is much easier for them to do it all in one fell swoop.

 

But the TA was a very unique situation for the Oasis class.

 

I'd have more confidence making reservations for the normally scheduled Oasis class ship cruises.

 

Today, I'm reinventing a bag that I made a long time ago. It was my first venture into making a complicated tote type handbag. It was a good bag, and I used it a lot, and so it had seen better days. And I stopped usually it because the trim was falling apart and it had gotten very dirty and was difficult to clean.

 

I've taken it somewhat apart already. I'm removing the beaten and battered trim and refashioning the organizer part to be suitable for my watercolor paint brushes! and turning that bag into a brush roll!

 

It's excited to reinvent this bag of mine and be able to show it some love again!

[MJC]

Sally, I just heard about the terrible weather in Sarasota this morning. I hope you and yours are doing ok.

[Sailor_Sally]

Sally, I just heard about the terrible weather in Sarasota this morning. I hope you and yours are doing ok.

 

We are fine . We slept through the whole tornado . Congratulations on being published . That is so exciting .

By the way I have that green color in a linen dress & at first I thought it was too much but I toned it down with a wooden necklace & got a lot of compliments .

[laurspag]

Here is our cat, Honey. I need to double check, but I think she is twelve now. She was found in the parking lot at work with a bad upper respiratory infection and a broken tail.

 

 

This is our rescue, Mason. He is estimated to be two years old. He was brought to a shelter after being found in an abandoned property weighing just 4 pounds. We are going to get him some professional training soon as he still has some issues. But he's a good boy!

 

 

And this is Harvey who is six now. He is my sunshine in each day!

 

[awhfy]

Laurie what sweet babies! We lost our golden retriever two years ago (today). She was 16, almost 17. I miss my big girl. I think I'm ready for another dog, but DH can't even think about it yet. Melody