Church and Ice Wreaths

I am going to church today. I am not even sure which one but I know it is Baptist. Randy has been going and really likes it. From what he has told me about it, I will love it too. We are making Noah go. He needs to meet new people. He needs to evolve and stretch his wings instead of making computers, wii and his DS his best friends. Randy tells me there is a rock band that plays the music so maybe he will enjoy that more than the piano and organ back home.

I also made a snow wreath yesterday. It is rather plan and when I get some fake berries, more leaves and nice ribbon I will make a better one. For now it will do. I had nothing crafty here so I had to do something to fancy up the patio.

I am loving living out here. Randy thought the apartment was too small but I think it is just right. Once I get all the man cooties out of here and get some cleaning done, we will have us a nice little home. Randy wants to buy a house, I do not. I like having others worry about snow removal, taxes, garbage pick up etc.

My Fireplace Mantel

We have a little silver box sitting on our mantel. It was the first thing I unpacked. I love it. My family gave it to me as a going away gift.

It is engraved inside. It says “Never Far From Home“

It contains something from each of them.

~Nicole & Ralph gave us a St. Christopher’s travel coin ‘to keep us safe on our travels’.

~Debbie & Timmy gave us  fog flower that Deb made of beads to remind us that ‘when put together, small things are beautiful. Like family’.

~Phoebe gave us  a quarter to ‘always be able to call home’ and ‘a penny to share our thoughts’.

~Jade gave us  a piece of Hunter’s hospital birth bracelet. ‘To remind us of the long roots we have planted back on the island’.

~Floyd & Daisy gave us a tea candle to ‘always light our way’.

~ Kelly gave us an angel pin, a Canada pin  and a fortune from a fortune cookie that reads ‘Your dreams will bring you into a profitable venture’

I am so excited to start this new adventure but I also want to feel as close as possible to my loved ones back home. I love you all so much. I pray for you and thank God that he has blessed me so richly.

10 more days…

…and I leave Cape Island. I will be about 5000 miles west and 700 miles north of Cape Sable Island.

I am taking my boy, my hubby, skype (to talk to my girls and grandbabies),  my Bible, some yarn and some needles. I think I will be okay.

I hope to return to the island and find things improving. This place is a gem. We hoped to stay here forever but the Lord has other plans for us; for now. I will be praying that the lobster fishing improves, that the tourism trade continues to promote the island way of life and that the young people keep the older ones young at heart. I hope some innovative, talented young writer records and publishes all the wonderful stories this island holds. The many storms our brave fisherman have survived, the hard times and the good times. They should all be written for the world to read.

I,  for one, know the value of the island people who care and are willing to help. They helped me and I shall never forget that. I will return as often as possible. However I also love the Lord and promised on my wedding day that Randy and I would keep Him in our marriage, a promise neither of us have ever regretted. He has new roads for us to travel for awhile.

I will try to keep my blog up to date for my family and anyone else who cares. Of course you might have to read about knitting and church but that won’t kill any of you.

Remember this:

Life is a roller coaster. You can either scream every time you hit a bump or you can throw your hands up in the air and enjoy it.

I Have Discovered The Motherload…

…of craft patterns. A neverending supply!

Of course I will share it. Crafty people always blab.

Google ’stumble’.  Choose the subjects you are interested in. (These can be edited at any time.) If you chose hobbies, then you can choose a more specific type of hobby like knitting, sewing etc. Download the ‘Stumble Upon’ toolbar and VOILA! you have a neverending supply of ideas.

I have been making MaryJane slippers since yesterday. There are sooo many patterns that I am having trouble choosing what to make. I am in dork heaven!

Overwhelmed and scared.

I have such a huge responsibility in front of me and I want to do a good job. I want to sell the house and join Randy. I want to make sure my girls are ok and my grandbabies are ok before I go. My brain has been on overload for the last week. I need a few days of quiet to make lists and sort things and get organized. I know that day won’t come this weekend because I have plans already. For today, I have been up and at’em for about 16 hours. I am headed towards the sofa to loaf. I don’t even have the energy to knit.

I will do this, and I will do it well.

God will give me the calmness and strength I need to take every step I need to along the way. He has a plan for me. I just need to be still and listen.

Thank You God for never changing and for always being there when I need, stregth, wisdom and courage.

The terriblle, horrible, very bad, no good day!

The kids had a book with that title once.

Here I sit at noon and I have nothing done. I had a glucose low last night and have been exhausted ever since. I fell asleep at about 10:15 last night and didn’t get my nightly insulin into me so today I am all screwed up. I got Noah on the bus and came home, curled up on the sofa and slept until 10: 45. I have had a shower and fixed the TV. Wow, I am really speeding along here.

Randy, I hope you are having a good day today. Sorry you didn’t get your internet or cable yesterday. I can’t wait until you do. It was lovely seeing you that one night we did get to talk.

Noah made $17 last night selling some of his toys online. He thinks he is Mr. Money bags now. He wants to buy wii points with his money. I think that is a good idea because we won’t have to pack them, they will be easy to transport to Loydminster.

I have a stack of dirty dishes and a bit of laundry to do. Please when you find us an apartment, find one with a dishwasher. You have converted me now.

Off for now to try to clean up this house before the Dirt Police come arrest me!!!

Life

Noah has invited Jaycee over after school to play wii and game cube. This is his first day off of punishment for saying rude things. Hopefully he learned a lesson.

Jade only has about 20 days left. I think I will get the car gassed up and keep it that way, just in case she goes in the middle of the night. I will take Noah with me. It will be a life experience for him.

Phoebe is doing well. Three kids is a handfull but she seems to be taking to it like a duck to water.

I took Tori to church yesterday and only noticed she had ditched her panties when we were already in the pew! We managed to get through Sunday School and Church without her flashing anybody.

We got 3 boxes to fill for Samaritan’s Purse. One for each child so I am going to get them all to work on that. Tori insists that all the stuff we put in her box is for her. Hopefully by the end of November we can convince her that she has enough and the poor kids would really enjoy the boxes.

Tons to do today, cleaning , taking the car in for repair, laundry and finding  a meal suitable for two 11 year olds.

There may be more updates if anything exciting happens but that isn’t likely.

 

The Panty Dodger

Time to Blog.

I guess it is time to start blogging again. This is mostly for you Randy.

Randy is my husband and he has moved about 5000 miles away from us to start a new life. Noah and I will follow when we have sold the house and car.

Randy and I always wanted to go on an adventure and we figured this was our chance. When we married over 27 years ago we planned to take on the big world outside of Cape Sable Island but alas we were too chicken. We both needed our loved ones near because we were young and unsure of ourselves.

We stayed home and we have raised 2 beautiful strong young women who now have homes and families of their own. We also have an 11 year old son who is being bullied here. We have prayed about this and we know this is all good with the Lord.

We are beginning our adventure. Sometimes we are scared and often we are lonely, especially Randy. I admire him so much for doing this for us. I love him more than words can say. The children and the grandchildren do also. I cannot wait to be by his side and start our new life together. In the meantime though, I have huge resposibilities to handle here before that can happen. I have to sort 25 years of living in this house. I have to sell the house and the car. Neither one of us want to drive it across Canada.

Soooo Randy, I will try to write something everyday to let you know how things are going on this end.

So far this week I have sold a few things, had the car looked at, gave away all my knitting books and made sure Noah is safe and loved. The girls miss you lots, we all do but we are coping. I have cried a bunch of tears this week but you told me you knew I was strong and you are right. I am learning to sort though things and people that need to be sorted. I need strength and support now not drama. I need to support Jade as she approaches motherhood,  give Phoebe a break when I can and be here ready to read the Red Sox scores to you at night!

So it is Saturday and tomorrow Jade and I are taking Tori and Austin to Sunday school. I will let ya know how that goes. It ought to be interesting.

NewFoundland Mitts

Newfoundland Mittens (4 needles)Large

Cuff # 10 needles Hand # 9 needles

Cast on 42 stitches

A–Main color

B–Contrasting color

With A Knit cuff to desired length (approx. 25 rows)

Purl with A increasing 2 stitches on each needle (48 stitches)

Purl around

1st Pattern Row: attatch B, knit 4 stitches, with Bslip next

2 stitches (main color ones), through back of stitch, knit 4 B, slip 2 A, around row.

Do this for 4 more times. (5 rows in all)

Pick up A again and purl 2 rows.

Next Pattern Row: knit 1 B, slip 2 main color, knit 4 B, slip 2 main color, repeat around

row.

Repeat this for 5 rows total.

Repeat these 2 pattern row until you get to the thumb (3-4 patterns)

Thumb: Take off stitches for thumb on 2nd purl row A

Purl 2 stitches and leave 7 stiches on safety pin for thumb.

Cast on 7 stitches –purl remaining row.

Repeat pattern through out mitten until length desired. (6-7 patterns)

Complete pattern,Purl 2 rows A, Knit one row then decrease…

Do end of mitten in main color.

Decrease like so: Knit 6, knit 2 together, around row.

Knit row

Next row: Knit 5, knit 2 together

Knit row

Repeat until end of mitten.

Thumb:

main color–pick up 7 stitches from the pin and as many as needed. (16 altogether). Knit

to desired length

Knit 2 together all around, pull yarn through reamining stitches.

Small

Cast on 10 on each needle

Rib for 15 rows

Work 2 patterns

Take off 5 for thumb

Work 3 more patterns

Decrease

Pick up 11 total for thumb

Work 11 rows for thumb

Medium

Cast on 12 on each needle

Rib for 20 rows

Work 3 patterns

Take off 5 for thumb

Work 4 more patterns

Decrease

Pick up 13 total for thumb

Work 13 rows for thumb

I think I Finally Got It!

I have the fingerless mitts perfected.

This pair has the right propotions for the hand but is a bit short on the wrist area. It is supposed to allow you to grip that cold steering wheel with covered hands but leave enough room for you to dig for coffee change, or sign last minute homework notebooks etc.

That fuzzy around the edges is soft. Not bulky and bunglesome.

This next picture came out a bit blurry, it is hard to take a picture of your own hand.

The demensions on this pair are just about perfect. I had another similar pair done but I gave them away already.

 

Some kind soul pointed out this next pattern to me online. I made this scarf. I took it to a party as a gift. A bottle of wine was wrapped in it. It was one of those games where you steal gifts from each other. Randy wanted the wine so he made sure that one of us got this gift back from the person who opened it.

I am not crazy about the scarf but found the pattern very intriguing. I rushed the scarf and don’t have the colors placed that well.

So I made a pillow out of the pattern.

Randy got me the 2008 knitting calander.

This flower is the first thing I made out of it.

This is a dishcloth/facecloth; whatever you chose to use it as. It is made of 100% cotton so I think it would make a nice gift maybe with some shower gel or a cake of that colored glycerin soap.

Finally, here they are. They got their picture taken with the Boston Red Sox 2007 World Series trophy. I asked Randy what it looked like. He said he was so excited to be there that he didn’t get a good look at it. He wanted pictures. He wanted to remember that moment forever!

They got interviewed on Global TV too. Jade has a copy of the interview so as soon as I get a copy I will post that too.