My Crocheting Gramma Thumb Hurts...

Monday, January 16th, this has been a crocheting week. Every time I could, I stopped and sat and crocheted. I am making a baby afghan covered in frogs for our soon-to-be great grandmonster. The baby is due in April. We will be gone a lot between now and then. This must be why I have a strong impression I need to get this one thing done before the travel begins. I posted last week a picture of the yarn I had purchased and a picture of the afghan from the instruction book. I'll post that picture again for reference sake. This week I have completed the 96 white centers with blue around the edges motifs. I have also completed the 14 blue half motifs. I am now working on the 32 frog motifs. 

You first crochet 32 little frog bodies. I was working on them while messaging with my son. I sent him this picture on Wednesday and asked if he had any idea what it might be. After a while, Jake responded that he had no idea. I explained it was the body of a frog. That is the legs on the bottom. I will have to crochet eyes and add them to each of the 32 frogs bodies as well as stitch a mouth on each of the 32 bodies. The blue yarn marks the spot where the mouth should start. Once the bodies are finished, I can stitch 96 white/blue motifs, 14 blue half motifs and 32 frog body motifs together. Then crochet a border around it. Lots of work still to do but I am really happy with the progress. 

Wednesday, January 18th, Katelyn told me she took her first temple preparation class. This is a huge deal and we are very happy for her. 

Thursday, January 19th, I left my home long enough to get a haircut!! Yippee. Felt so good to get it cut again. 

I also went in quest of another purse. I love the purse I purchased from Kohl's last year. It is a dark red leather and has just the right amount of pockets that zip shut when I am out around people with an open pocket that I keep a mask and a little tablet in. It is beginning to show a little wear. I decided I would go back to Kohl's and see if they had another. Then I would purchase it and tuck it away for when this purse wears out and I need to replace it. I was extremely disappointed in the selection of purses at Kohl's. None like the one I currently own. And pitifully few other purses. In this day and age that can mean a supply problem or the world is not selling enough ladies purses and they are going out of style. Neither of these scenarios makes me happy. 

Claude had gone out earlier in the day for things and said he was getting the Jeep washed. I really didn't want to pull my car in by a clean car and have my car feel poorly that it wasn't as spiffy as the Jeep. So I also went to the car wash. When I got home and told Claude, he was over-the-moon happy with my choice. It's the little things in life.

Friday, January 20th, after a week of being mostly at home and mostly crocheting, it was time for these retired people to get out and about. I told Claude that December stays so busy. Then comes January and the weather is particularly iffy so that you don't want to be out in it and there are not as many things to go and see or do. We decided to go for a drive in the Kentucky countryside. We drove north to Cynthiana and turned south to Paris. From Paris we got on Hwy 627 to Winchester and stayed on Hwy 627 to Halls of the River. This picture was taken on Hwy 625 outside of Winchester. I love this stretch of road. The land changes a lot in these miles. You leave this tree covered section with horse or cattle farms on either side and enter rolling grass covered hills with very few trees. It is simply beautiful to me in any season.

So happy Hall's on the River was open and ready for business. We tried this place as the pandemic was just letting up enough that you could dine-in at restaurant. Then, we had lots of rain and the Kentucky River flooded this restaurant and they had to close to clean up and repair. Now they are open for business again. Claude had a catfish po-boy. I had grilled shrimp. However, we started our meal with fried banana pepper rings as an appetizer. Friends told us they were wonderful. We definitely enjoyed them. I am not a banana pepper ring kinda girl. Not even on sandwiches. So, it was a surprise to me that I liked the fried banana pepper rings. They had cocktail sauce and ranch dressing to dip them in. My preference was ranch dressing. Claude like both. 

As we left the restaurant, I noted the glass sign hanging by the porch. If you look at the outline figure of the building in the glass, it is the restaurant that was on that bit of land that is now a parking lot. In this restaurant is where the selling of Beer Cheese got its start. The other pictures are the Kentucky River and they lay of the land as you drive along the Kentucky River. Loved the little waterfall like area that flows down the mountain to the river. 

On our way home, Claude graciously stopped at the Kohl's in Hamburg Pavilion and I checked for a purse. Alas, they only had one and it was black. I am really, really fond of my red one. I pulled out my trusty phone an searched for Kohl's on-line. They have the purse but in black, light blue, mauve and two other patterned fabrics. I also checked Penney's and they didn't have that particular style. I tried Amazon because, well, they seem to have everything. This they did not have. I decided that I really like this style of bag. It is the right size and I can zip all shut when we are out traveling or I am in a crowd. So, I purchased the black one. Whew! Such hard work for a back-up purse!

Saturday, January 21st, was one of those pass-each-other-throughout-the-day kind of days. Claude had a meeting at the church as 10am. He left the house about 9:30am. I got my shower and then sat to crochet. He got home about 12:30. We chatted briefly and then I left to go to the church to participate in a service project. The Relief Society set up for those who wanted to help make blankets for the Linus Project. 

We worked until 3:30 and then I left to come home. As I pulled in the garage, Claude was pulling out of the garage. He had a Memorial Service for a man that he worked with a Kentucky League of Cities to attend. Joseph Coleman was in he 40's. He and his husband have two sons. Joseph was taking one of his sons to a school he attended in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He had the younger son with him. They stopped for gasoline on the trip home. The youngest son went in for a soda. When he came out, Joseph was dead. Wow! It was a surprise to everyone. Claude said the service was nice and he saw several other friends from KLC at the service. Claude said the thing that impressed him was that, even though Joseph's life was comparatively short, he had a good, full life well-lived. I told Claude it would be good for us when we pass if that is what others felt about our lives. 

Our evening was spent watching documentaries on television. Claude had recorded a really good one about fat in our bodies and its importance. Excellent documentary. The other one was about Stonehenge. It was also full of interesting new things they have discovered as they continue to research and learn about this site. Yes, we would both love to see Stonehenge. On the bucket list.

Sunday January 22nd, is Raelyn's birthday. I posted this on our family Facebook page. "Time for our family to wish Raelyn Jay Roper a very Happy 7th Birthday!! Love this confident, eager to learn young Lady." Cannot believe Raelyn is 7 years old. Swish...and the time goes by! 

Church was good. I forgot to bring all the birthday cards we needed for our teachers this year. Claude when home after sacrament meeting and got them for me. Good man. Really good man. 

We went to Burger King for lunch only to find their broiler was broken and they could only sell fried foods. We left and went to Sonic for our burger and onion rings. Home and Claude took his nap while I labeled pictures and updated my Blog. 

My evening will be spent...can you guess...crocheting!!