Crocheting, Concert, Weather & Family Pictures...

Monday, January 23rd, we received our Complete Series of The Mentalist on DVD. I simply told our children we would be busy for a while. In truth, they are running The Mentalist on television right now. Claude has them set to record. We get about two a day during the week. This is what spurred us to go ahead and order the series. We know most are giving up their DVD's and DVD players. We are not. Not yet anyway. 

Tuesday, January 24th, Katelyn wanted to sent us Raelyn's first grade school picture for this year. She took the time to take picture of Emelia and Joel so we would have a full set. That is very thoughtful. First is Emelia. Don't mess with this girl. Next is Joel, our Potato, and a little brute. Last is Raelyn Jay Roper in first grade!! Cannot believe she is growing up so fast. Now I will get these printed and replace the pictures on our fridge with recent one. 

Wednesday, January 25th, Claude went to see Dr. Slabaugh in the morning and got a clean bill of health. I set to work crocheting more frog eyes. I sent this one to Jake and asked if he could even guess what it might be. No idea. I would need 64 of these eyes for 32 frogs. Ugh!

We had a very windy day. Very windy. Our little Amish windmill was really spinning at points. It completely turned around one time when Claude was watching it. I put a video clip of it. I shared with our family and Jake reminded me that, if it was Amish (which it is), why was I taking its picture. Oops!!

Thursday, January 26th, we planned to be inside all day. The forecast was for some possibility of snow. The roads were to be awful and the wind was still really bad. The first picture is of the snow actually falling. The second picture is the 'lack' of accumulation. It was a nice day inside. Claude made soup and rolls and I crocheted. 

Andie sent me picture of Bailey being inducted into the Beta Club. Yeah Bailey!!

Friday, January 27th, woke up to see alerts on my cellphone. There was ice on the roads and schools had closed in Scott County and Fayette County. Parts of the Interstate and main roads in our area were shut down. Had no idea this was even a possibility when we went to bed. Very surprised when we got up and looked out the front window. The sidewalks and drive were covered in crunchy ice. 

In the evening, we had tickets to a Black Jacket Symphony concert at the Lexington Opera House. They would play the entire "Rumours" Album of Fleetwood Mac during the first half of the program. After a little intermission, they played other hits of Fleetwood Mac. The girl that sang Stevie Nicks songs was spot on. Very enjoyable evening. They came back for an encore. I enjoyed watching the father and son in the last picture singing and moving to the music. So sweet. 

Saturday, January 28th, my goal was to finish the frog eyes. I was trying to do 16 each day. I did and that took four days to complete. Friday, I had a General Conference Issue of the Liahona to finish. I would read a talk and then crochet two frog eyes. I finished all but the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference. Saturday, I sat down and read all the talks in that session. They I set to work and managed to finish all 16 eyes. My poor thumb. It was a throbbing. But, my heart felt good and what I completed at this point. Now, I have to sew those eyes on the 32 frog bodies.

Sunday, January 29th, has been a rainy day. Sacrament meeting was good. It being a 5th Sunday, the adults have one class and the youth had another class. Our Primary presidency covers classes so that our teachers can attend this adult session. I found myself wrestling Charlie though that hour. Love his heart, he wanted to run. I can't run. Charlie had cancer and was never supposed to walk. He is three years old and wears braces on his legs that allow him to walk and even run. He sat still some but mostly it was wrangle this wonderful three year old for most of an hour. 

We went to Panera for lunch and to Franks for donuts for dessert. Claude is napping and I have labeled pictures and done my Blog. My evening will be spent sewing eyes on frogs!!

This is humorous from Facebook: 

I had finished Claude red plain flannel pajamas. Then this picture came up on my Facebook Newsfeed. Cracked me up. 

I shared this with out family. I especially wanted those who work in the teaching area to get a kick out of it. Andie shared this about her teaching experience: "That's right up there with when I teach the /ch/ sound and inevitably someone messes up and says sh*t." Oh My!!

This is instructive from Facebook: 

Facebook is alive with memes about the price of eggs. Apparently, they have increased way more that last year. Claude and I don't eat a lot of eggs. We are not big breakfast eaters. I don't bake for just the two of us hardly ever. So, the price of eggs isn't something we have paid tons of attention to. However, it is a problem for families that consume a lot of eggs. I thought this egg substitute chart was a good help. Haven't tried any of them, so I can't say they work. Just think it is a clever idea to share.

Ever on the lookout for a neat trip to take. This map came across my Facebook newsfeed. It is a Circle Tour of National Parks. I have been to all of these at some point. We will get to the grand Canyon and Petrified Forest in February. Neither of these has Claude been to before. Should be a treat. I think this would be an awesome trip to take sometime and will save it for Claude and me to use in the future.

This is pretty and cool from Facebook: 

Twelve pictures of the sun, each month, same place, same time. Captured by Ciro Russo.

I tried taking pictures of my drive into Sadieville through one year. I loved the hill as you got off I-75 and turned on Hwy 32. The hill on the farm at the end of that stretch had a slight hollow in it. This hollow changed with the seasons. I believe it was the equivalent of the season clock as we drove over the hill and into the ranch in Utah. I didn't make it through the entire year. Now I don't make that drive. I appreciate the dedication to get this done. Cool.

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!!

January and I'm Already Two Weeks Behind...

I decided not to make any real New Year's resolutions. I mean really. I already have a LOT of things I want to do on my to do list. I did not need another bit of pressure. Claude and I started watching, again, the Psych television series. There are eight seasons of this show. We would spend a lot of our evenings watching said television series. 

Somehow, time has flown by and I have not updated this Blog in two weeks. Here goes the catch-up!

Sunday, January 1st, I posted this meme on our family Facebook page. Cracks me up looking at it again.

Tuesday, January 3rd, I had an appointment with Dr. Wilson. our dermatologist. He burned a pre-cancer spot off the end of my nose. He did this about 1 1/2 years ago. I told him he should have done that before Christmas so I could have been Rudolph! He also found a spot that concerned him in the middle of my back. He did a biopsy of that spot. Eventually the results came back and the spot on my back was negative. Hallelujah!

Wednesday, January 4th, I had an appointment with to Dr. Hollen, our dentist, for my cleaning and x-rays. It went quickly and all was well. I left the office and went outside to send Claude a text. He dropped me off at the dentist and then went to Lowe's for some things. I sent him a text telling him I was finished and would walk across the street and get us a table at Applebee's for lunch. I looked at the tree outside Dr. Hollen's office and saw a beautiful robin. It was a windy but good day for me. 

In the evening I received a message from Katelyn that Drew saw a list of cookies and wondered about the ones available in our area for the 2023 Girl Scout cookie tradition. You know, I had almost decided to not to do Girl Scout cookies this year. It is a lot of money and I was not sure the family was enjoying them. We have been doing this a long time and I thought maybe they were tiring of it. With this question from Drew and Katelyn, I knew some people were still enjoying the tradition. I contacted my friends in Sadieville and asked if their daughter was going to sell cookies this year. Yes, she was. I asked them to send me a list of what kind of cookies were available this year. They send me a pictures. I then sent an eMail to our family asking that they have their selection to me by Saturday so I could place our family order. They all responded. The order was placed. Whew!

While cleaning out my eMail's, I reread the announcements in the Ward Bulletin from Sunday. I am happy I did because I learned it was our weekend to clean the church! I quickly told Claude and sent an eMail to find when was the best time for the other two families in our clean-up crew. We determined Saturday at 10am was best. 

Friday, January 6th, The Marx family, well, most of them, were on the move to visit Maryland. You see, Michael's sweet Gramma, Bea, was celebrating her 100th birthday. There would be a party for Bea with her family on Saturday. Sunday, that party would extend to other people and Charlie, Bea's brother, would join her as he was turning 95 years old. All of Michael's family would be there. They would drive over on Friday and back home on Monday.

The hitch in this is that Hayden had worked real hard and auditioned for the District Band. He made it. He was to be in Shelbyville Friday and Saturday to practice with other kids in their District who made this band. This would be followed by a performance on Saturday evening for family and friends. Andie and Michael didn't want Hayden to miss this. They bought him a plane ticket for early Sunday morning. Claude and I would attend his Saturday evening performance. Then we would spend the night in LaGrange and I would take Hayden to the airport on Sunday morning so he didn't have to leave a car in that parking lot. That was the plan. Didn't quite go like we all thought.

Friday, I received a call from Andie. They were, I believe, in Nitro, West Virginia. Andie received a call from Mr. Centers, Hayden's band teacher. It seems Hayden was sick and in the nurses office. They were watching him. If was okay, he could return to practice. If not, Hayden would need to be picked up at Martha Layne Collins High School in Shelbyville. If he missed practices, he would miss out on this experience. His car was at Oldham County High School in LaGrange. They had school busses taking them back and forth to Shelbyville that day. We would be ready if needed. I sent Hayden a text telling him we were at home all day and to let us know if we needed to come quickly. 

I told Claude we might go ahead and pack and then just stay with Hayden if we needed to get him from school. Claude agreed. Sure enough, I got word from Hayden to come and pick him up. He had hurled. He was fine and was sure it was car sickness from the bus ride over. However, the school had to release him as they were not sure if he had a bug. We finished packing, loaded our car, and headed to Shelbyville. Now, we still had to figure out about cleaning the church on Saturday. 

We got to Shelbyville and I went into the school to pick up our young man. I completely forgot my nose was bright red and covered in Vaseline to keep it from scaling up. I was most pleased when one of the teachers told Hayden he was sorry he would miss this experience. But, the important things to remember, is that he qualified to be there. That was the big part of it anyway. 

When we got to the car, I turned to Hayden and asked if he could tell I had a skin cancer burned off the end of my nose. Hayden's unfiltered response, "Well, it's a little hard to miss!" Love this boy. Claude was laughing so hard I thought he might have to pull the car to the side of the road! Hayden assured us he was fine and we should go back so we could clean the church on Saturday. We left Hayden getting his car and headed back to Georgetown. 

Saturday, January 7th, we were at the church at 10am. The Friley family joined us and we made a quick job of cleaning the church. In the afternoon, we got our showers and reloaded the car. We were off to LaGrange to pick up Hayden. We would have dinner with Hayden at Cracker Barrel. The kid ate like I have never seen him eat. They brought us biscuits and cornbread, one of each of each of us. Hayden took his biscuit and slathered it in butter and then put two kinds of jelly on it. He scarfed that down followed by his cornbread. His dinner was two pancakes that were like cheesecake pancakes with bacon and eggs on the side. He downed one of the pancakes and the bacon and eggs. He took the other pancake home and ate it later in the evening. 

Andie posted these fun pictures of Bea's birthday party with just her family on Saturday. The theme was "Hat's Off to Bea". Michael had a bucket hat made with Bea's face imprinted on it. 

Andie came across this picture of Michael and his siblings when they were little. She had them recreate the picture. (Michael, Brian and Jennifer).

Katelyn posted these pictures of her Mr. Potato. He was working on naming his colors with the bottles. He has blue down pat. That is because we have some serious University of Michigan fans in this family. 

Sunday, January 8th, Hayden and I were up at O'dark 30 to get Hayden to the airport. Hayden had flown before with their family to Italy. This was his first solo flight. Michael had gone through the things he needed to do. As he had no luggage, his parents took that in the car, he only had to go through security and find the gate. He had his boarding pass on his cellphone. I went through the steps again with him. Then I told him I would drop him off at the curb, then park in the cellphone parking lot. He would text me when he got to the gate and then I would head back to LaGrange to get Claude. That way I was close if he needed anything but he still had his independence to get himself to the gate alone. He did fine. I received the text when he was at the gate. Then I received another text when he was on the plane. Michael was at the Baltimore airport when he arrived. Claude and I would head back to Georgetown after Claude finished his conference call.

This day, Bea and Charlie would share a birthday party. Bea is the older sister and Charlie is her younger brother. They live in the same Assisted Living Community. They have lunch together every day and are very close. Charlie was turning 95 and Bea was turning 100. These are pictures of Charlie and Bea.

These last two are Bea with her grandchildren. Then Bea with all her kids, grandkids and great grandkids.

This is Michael with his family around his grandmother. (Standing: Bailey, Andie, Michael, Hayden. Seated: Bea) I am so happy they were able to be there for this big occasion and be with all of Michael's family. 

Claude was thinking we needed to add a few more Christmas light around our front door. We did add a holly garland with lights. We decided we should add a solar powered lantern to the shepherd's hook. This will be there through the winter. In the summer we will have the hummingbird feeder hanging on the shepherd's hook. Cool!

Tuesday, January 10th, Claude and I would go to the Louisville Temple. We had four family names each for which we did initiatory. Then we each took one of those names through an endowment session. It was really nice to be there and do these family names. 

Wednesday, January 11th,  I wanted to get the yarn for a baby afghan for our 5th great grandmonster which should be born in April. I mentioned this to Claude and suggested I go to Lexington on Wednesday and pick the yarn out. He said he would like to drive me and had a couple of things he could do while there. Off we went. Claude dropped me at Michael's to find yarn. He went to Best Buy and found an HDMI splitter box for our television. This is the yarn and a picture of the frog afghan I will make. 

We also went to Kohl's so Claude could buy new socks. He came out amazed that they had not one pair of dress socks. You know, the kind men would wear with dress shoes that are thinner. Not one pair. Not sure if that his a supply issue or a sign of how we are dressing nowadays. 

When we got home, I said goodbye to our Christmas tree and decorations for this year. I really left the tree up much longer than usual. I was really enjoying the lit tree this year. Evenings in this room with the tree lit were so peaceful. Nights when I had a hard time sleeping, I would come out and sit in its light. We all want a little more peace in our lives. I will take it when it comes. 

Now, the boxes are still sitting in our dining room. The weather turned rainy, snowy, a bit of ice. Not conducive to trudging out to the shed up and down stepping stones. One of the beauties of it just being Claude and me is that we don't come unglued if these things have to wait a bit before being done. They will go to the shed this week...sometime...

Thursday, January 12th, I put my fat little foot down! I had the opportunity to be home for three days. Nothing on my calendar. I had crafting supplies in hand. Bad weather was here. I saw soup and rolls and indoors with crafting on my schedule for three days. The first day would be to work on a cross-stitch piece I wanted to complete. I got it all done except the outlining of the features in the pieces. I put that away for a bit. 

I took this video of the rain and our little windmill blowing in the wind. There would be three tornados touch down in various places in Kentucky during this storm. 

This evening Claude received a call from Simone in the Owingsville Ward. She had an opportunity to help with JustServe and wanted Claude to know about it and come participate the next day if he could. Claude would go. I was staying home for two more days. 

Friday, January 13th, was my second day home. The frog baby afghan needed 96 motifs that were white in the middle and blue crocheted around them. Let me just state that 96 is a lot of motifs. I was able to get the white centers of these 96 motifs finished this day. My right had is in a bad way. But, I shall forge on.

Claude's day was spent in Hazel Green, Kentucky with Mercy Chefs. These are his pictures from his experience and this is what he posted on the Lexington Kentucky North Stake Facebook page of his experience. "This is Dr. Ryan Quarles, Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner (on the left) and myself.  Dr. Quarles met with our Area Seventy, Elder Nathan Craig a few days ago.  As a result of that meeting Stake Communication leaders visited Hazel Green, Kentucky on Saturday to assess the food distribution event taking place there and see how we might be of assistance using our JustServe app. It is a 3-week, 7 county effort.  Yesterday, 4500 hot meals were prepared and served by Mercy Chefs.  In addition, as you can see in the photos, several thousand Kentuckians were able to pick-up a variety of foodstuffs, along with a hot meal.  We invite one and all to make themselves available to help.  It is a well organized, well run operation and deserves steady support for the next 3 weeks.  Tuesdays and Thursdays tend to be the lightest staffed in a given week.  One other noteworthy fact, most of the volunteers yesterday were "home grown", that is people serving their neighbors, including HS students from Wolfe County High School.  Dr. Quarles made a special effort to talk with, and thank, them.  It was a bit nippy out but our hearts were warm..."

I love that my hubby serves others. 

Saturday, January 14th, was my third and final day at home. I would fix my sewing machine. It gave out when trying to sew Claude pajamas for Christmas. After more cleaning and oiling, it worked like new. Hallelujah! I wasn't sure who to call to get it repaired. 

Then I set to work to finish Claude's pjs. This was his only request for a Christmas present. The fabric was purchased well ahead. I had plenty of time. I was working on them before Christmas and my sewing machine froze up. It had to wait until I had time to try to fix it. When completed Saturday afternoon, I marched into the kitchen where our resident chef was making us soup and home-baked bread and said, "Merry Christmas!!" Whew. He is cute in his Christmas PJ's!

This day was also Nissa and Todd's 11th wedding anniversary. I posted this picture and comment on our family Facebook page. "Let's start 2023 by wishing Nissa & Todd a Happy Anniversary! Married in 2012. This was the first time we met Todd. Happy Anniversary!! Love ya bunches!!"

Sunday, January 15th, has been a nice day. I was asked to attend Ward Council for Jessie Rayburn, our Primary president, this morning. It was at 8am. I was happy to help Jessie in this way. Sacrament meeting was really good. Sean and Amber Marcum spoke and gave wonderful talks about Waiting on the Lord and Constancy Amid Change. Three of the ladies in our congregation sang a musical number. It was very moving. I played the piano in Primary. Then we had a presidency meeting while the teachers taught their lessons. Claude and I got salads from Zaxby's for lunch. He took a nap while I caught up on my picture labeling and blogging. A good Sabbath day.

During this week, I also scheduled our free day in Queenstown, New Zealand. A lot of the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed in this area. I have us booked for a 9-hour tour by 4-wheeldrive vehicle to these sites. For Claude and me, this will fill a great big item on our bucket lists.

I also booked a visit to a Fiji Culture Village while we are in Fiji. This promises to be one great trip! Boy to we love to travel and learn about other places. We live in a marvelous, diverse world.