Still Alive after All This Time

It’s been so long since I’ve posted on anything like a regular basis, that I don’t know where to start.  Maybe it’s best to go ahead from here and plug in previous events as I remember them.

This has been a strange winter:  Usually we can’t count on any rain until mid-November at the earliest but, after having an inch in September and another in October, we have been dry as a bone since.  This morning we had a bit, not enough to register on the rain gauge but enough to dampen the ground.  However it did energize me and I bought a couple of six packs of sugar snap peas at OSH today as well as onion sets -  red, white and yellow.  I’ll try to get the peas and some of the onions planted tomorrow.  I couldn’t find any English peas so will have to plant those from seeds.

When we were in Gilroy today I stopped at Grocery Outlet and found one-ounce bottles of red food coloring for 79 cents each.  I made a Red Velvet cake for Christmas and the food coloring cost me $6 for the 2 ounces required.  $1.60 sounds a lot better to me and I think I’ll make one for Valentine’s Day.

I used the original boiled frosting instead of the current cream cheese frosting.  Sure was good.

1-1-11

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our family and friends.

All things considered, 2010 was not a bad year.  But I am hopeful that 2011 will be better.  I have some plans (as I always do on January first) but they are still somewhat nebulous, so I won’t list them at this time.  However, one definite plan is to blog more often.

A lot has happened since the last time I posted but most of it is lost because it wasn’t written down.  Like all the big winter storms (how much rain did we get?) and the date of the first frost (early but I’m not sure just when).

The one thing I do remember vividly is the date of Mr. B’s “big break” – December 11 at 4:30 pm.  He fell in the front yard and broke his left hip.  After surgery and a couple of days in the local hospital, he is home and progressing well. He was healthy going into this and his doctor predicts a complete recovery.  But this year our Christmas rush revolved around Mr. B with his walker and Mom with her Hugo (a rolling walker) competing for first rights to the front bathroom.  We also have two wheelchairs at the dining room table.

Mom has been with us since just before Thanksgiving.  She is doing well and, to her credit, she hasn’t started lecturing Mr. B about the importance of exercising.  He was relentless with her when she broke her hip in 2001 and again in 2008 when she broke the other one.  Some good news is that Smokey Joe has finally accepted Mom and spends quite a lot of time in her lap.

Before the BB, I started Bonnie Hunter’s new mystery quilt, Roll Roll Cotton Boll.  I was able to keep up with steps one and two but got behind with step three. 

Then came the BB and no sewing has been done since then.  I haven’t even been able to find the time to make a caddy for Mr. B’s walker.  Mom goes home on Monday, so I should have a little more time after that.  Meanwhile, step seven was posted yesterday, so I’m way behind now.

If not now, when?

My new mantra, still in beta.

I found this when I was unpacking the Christmas decorations. Someone gave it to me at the office a couple of years ago and I've never used it. What am I saving it for? So this weekend it goes into the bathroom soapdish and we will use it for its intended purpose until it disappears in a flash of bubbles. Actually, I do know what I've been saving it for.....the grandchildren will love it.