thanksgiving 2021

 Hard to believe another year has passed!  Seems like it was just the start of summer and now we're planning for Christmas!!  Time is going by so fast!  Bob turns 82 in December and I turn 75 in January!  Now I know why Bob is always saying "enjoy today because you don't know when your time is coming".  

So, I did enjoy our Thanksgiving dinner with Darrin, Kris, Kris' mom and Amber.  Nick and Braylon did stop by but they were having dinner with her family.  Dawn and Jeff always go to Jeff's sisters house for Thanksgiving, which is nice.  Dawn makes the turkey and other fixings to take over. 

I decided Amber gets her photogenic abilities from her Grandma Nancy!  I dislike getting my picture taken and never do take a good one.  But I just want some memories and the past few years I keep forgetting to take pics of the family!    So this post is more for me than for my readers!  HA  Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving too! 

My lemon and pumpkin pies...only problem, duh, I tried a new pie crust recipe that was suppose to help keep it from being soggy...well, the darn crust was so hard you could barely cut it with a knife!  Oh well, my lemon filling still tasted great!

The kids always purchase their fresh turkey from a farm in their town.  I have to say it was delicious!!!!

This is the smallest table Kris has every set for Thanksgiving!!!   Kris is so good at entertaining and cooking!!!  Food was delicious, as usual.  So much work for her!!  Thank you, Kris!!!!

A.J. always sits up on Bob's shoulder.  He was pawing at Bob's leg and crying for Bob to pick him up!

Amber is a sweetheart!  Hard to believe she is a senior at Siena Heights this year!!!!So thoughtful...so beautiful.

She is so photogenic!!!  I don't think I've ever seen a bad picture of her!

Nancy is the same way.  She is Kris' mom, and always photographs so well!  Kris' dad is in a rehab center right now...so we did miss him this year...but he also got a care package Nancy was taking to him.

And our own chef, Kris!  She's also a beauty and such a wonderful daughter-in-law!  Now you know where Amber gets her thoughtfulness...both Darrin and Kris always think of family and others.  They are wonderful examples for their kids!

Yep, my baby, Darrin!  He's a wonderful friend, husband, son and father!  So proud of Darrin and Dawn and how they have turned out as adults!  They were always good kids but as adults they are both super!  Yes, I'm proud of my kids and I can brag on them all I want...HA

And hubby and I!!!  Bob is doing well after the cancer/treatment.  His chest scan came back showing 3 nodules on his lungs BUT they are stable, didn't 'glow' on the both PET scans!!!  So since no growth we can suspect it's from years of smoking but they'll continue to watch! 

I finished my Christmas cards on Saturday so just need to think about getting out Christmas tree and decorations!!!  At least with not going to Florida, I can put the tree up when I want and take it down when I want!  HA  Gotta look at the plus side of things....but I still miss our winters in Florida!

Spending the kids inheritance!

 

So late this summer, Bob and I made a decision that we were going to get a whole house generator.  Too many outages over the past few years; waste of good food in our frig/freezer when the outage goes into a long period of time, etc.  Also, Bob wanted to make sure if something happens to him that I won't have to worry about trying to get our little propane gas generator out - although, it is a snap to use and I could get it started....but I appreciate Bob's thought.  And we appreciate that the kids will understand their inheritance has been spent on something good for us old folks!  We are getting older (Bob turn 82 and I turn 75 in a few months) and if one of us ends up being a caregiver, having power out can be a hazard.  As well as when we're "gone", resale of our house should be increased having this as an added feature!  So maybe the kids will get their inheritance back!  

I have to say, Davison Heating - folks who installed the generator, were SO professional!  Wow..there were 4 men here working and each was so polite, knowledgeable in each of their area(s) to install, run gas lines, add electrical outlet, etc.  

Bob was quite nervous in the a.m. - ok, a tad edgy!!!  Just talking/worrying about everything that had to be done, how they were going to do it, how can they do it, etc.  You name it and he was worrying about it.  SOOOOOOOOOOO  guess who took the dogs and left the house!  HA  I had errands to run in town so really it worked out well for me.  The dogs got 3 walks, ran my errands, visited with my friend, Donna and then spent quality/productive time with my friend, Amy, from the Friends Volunteer at our library.  Actually, Amy and I got more work done today!!!  Woohoo!  And we got to chat, which is always nice too!  

Amy is a huge U of M fan and she is looking forward to the Ohio State/Michigan game today.  So is Bob but I think Amy is the biggest Michigan fan I/we know.  And she's all ready for the Ohio State/Michigan game!

So here we sit watching the U of M game while the snow is falling!!!!  Nick's girlfriend, Baylon, goes to Northern Michigan U which is in Marquette!!  8 hours aways...she leaves tomorrow a.m. with her roommate to head back.  Hope they don't have bad roads and have safe travels!  Nick heads back tomorrow as well but he's about an hour or so away...Amber also has about a two hour drive back to school!  Hate those kids driving in the snow...ok, I hate worrying about the kids driving period!  Now back to the game!!!   I may attempt some lace knitting but....maybe not!  Depends on how exciting the game is!

I'm only on row 11/chart 2!  I finished 14 rows from Chart 1...a LONG way to go!

Week of Thanksgiving!

 It will be a busy week...something different, right!  Library day, errand running another day, heating/electrical work and baking pies on Wednesday then heading to my son's for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.  Of course, it's football at our house from Saturday noon until Monday at midnight!  HA  I like to watch U of M and Lions, as well as some other NFL games so I don't mind the TV on with the games.  I can knit...well, until I get lost on what row/pattern I'm on....which does happen!  

We had a mini workshop with some of our Friends volunteers at the library last week.  Since we're doing this kid's craft project at our upcoming Downtown Christmas, we wanted to make sure adults could make a tree!  We were fortunate that our president's daughter and grandson came and they finished both their trees before some of us finished ours!   They are fun to make and a great way to use up old paperback books!  Here's a link to a website to show how to make them.  Easy!  Paperback Trees

Yep, still knitting...but it takes SO much time to knit this lace!  And to think this pattern continues to 'grow' until past my chest area!!!!  I may not finish in 2022!!!! 

I think I mentioned in my last post I had ripped out totally and restarted!!  I do love the pattern...hard to tell from this but the top part is at your neck area and the lace pattern continues......

So that's my life right now....kinda normal...we do keep busy....also, on the hubby front...we're waiting to hear results of his chest CT scan he had last week.  He's had two nodules on his lungs that have appeared on both of his PET scans this past year.  The good news, and I am sticking to this 'good' thought, the nodules didn't 'light up' on the PET scans, which cancer will.  That's not to say it's not but we're praying that these are benign nodules, which are pretty common we've found in researching.  Yes, we Google everything just like the rest of the world!  HA  

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

And I thought I was retired!

 I honestly think I am busier now than when I worked!  Days and hours go by so fast!  We're still doing some cleanup at the library after our book sale, which turned out to be pretty successful!  We made a little over $900!  Not bad at all.  But now, it's time to get rid of older fiction and reference books that just aren't going to sell.  Most folks use Google to find out  info so there's no point in keeping some older reference books that just take up storage.

  

The Friends of our library also working on a program for Downtown Christmas in December for parents/kids.  We're putting together kits for making a paperback folded Christmas tree.  What better way for us to get rid of older paperback books that haven't sold in over 10 years!

They really are fun to decorate...I didn't use much imagination on this one but I'm sure when we have our work session other ladies will decorate them a lot better.  I put together an instruction sheet that we'll include in a bag along with a section of book pages and some pom poms for the kids to start on their tree.  

Now to my knitting!  UGH....I was making great progress on my lace top but for some reason...well, I know a few reasons....I got sidetracked, lost my way on the pattern and couldn't rip out to find my mistake so...what to do but start over!

I honestly thought I 'might' be able to pick up the correct row to restart.....

I started to make a better 'stab' at it but then I just said the heck with it and ripped it all out!

So I've started over...and gave myself a treat! Actually, my neighbor made the chocolate chip cookies and I happened to have bought REAL milk to make scalloped potatoes/ham this weekend so I actually drank milk!!!!  It tasted really good!  I don't remember the last time I had a glass of real milk.  We drink almond milk...I may change that just in case we get more cookies!  Lori makes the best chocolate chip cookies!!

So now it's Sunday and we'll watch the Lions while I knit!  Yes, I'm taking my chances that I won't lose my way again!  Fingers crossed!