DONE !!

 The 100 post cards are done.. addressed, stamped and copy written!

" Trump's tariffs hike prices. When families are struggling with healthcare, housing and child care, raising costs is the last thing we need! " 

When we stamped the cards we found we had missed some... the leftover stamps told us! So we went back through and found  we were still missing one... so back through again!  Success at last.

Rubber banded all 100 and we are now waiting for April 15th... the mailing date!! 

 Now I can get back to the white cat I'm working on... a special order!! 

Bob has ordered a new dishwasher.. from Home Depot. The one we want is out of stock until April but we can manage the leaking problem till then. If the problem get really worse we will not use it and do dishes by hand....

 

Still busy

Yesterday meant a trip to Aldi, post card writing and working on a new CAT! Bob made an Irish Soda bread... from a Christmas present mix. We wondered how it would taste but it was good especially with loads of butter or Aldi's chicken, cranberries and almond sandwich spread!! 

Today I came downstairs to the sounds of large equipment parked on the street behind... even a large crane....Didn't have any idea what the workers had in mind but soon found out as large tree tops and branches came down. Not all from the same property which was surprising  . Bob mentioned taking a walk to check things out but changed his mind when he saw all that they were doing.

More postcards with my morning cup of Irish Breakfast tea! 

We've been watching the "tree guys" from our kitchen windows. The crane has lifted huge parts over another tree to get to the grinder!  The arm of the crane reaches over 40 feet high!! Two big ones down... what's next? I hear the grinder still working away!

We  tried the RO  (?) spaghetti sauce for dinner. I had seen a competition where this one won... and when I saw it at Aldi's I decided to try it. When I looked at my receipt later on I found I had spent $7.44 on the jar! Shock... Well the sauce is good but not $7.44 good!  

 

 

 

Today is busier than expected

Bob took off this morning for the car's oil change appointment, a stop at the QT gas station and a hair cut which he really needed! He goes to an "old men" barbershop  which was evidently full today!  LOL

I stayed at home finish up the latest bear,  do his picture taking session and do postcard "stuff' - addressing and writing the message. My hands get tired and the postcards are supposed to be hand printed which makes it a little more time consuming.  We are almost halfway there.... Bob is looking into buying postcard stamps online.... deadline for this all is April 15th ... tax day...

We are up to 59 F  this afternoon... 

My teacher /daughter told us about a goose nest very close to her school. It was not noticed until eggs had been laid and the geese are not happy being visited by school children.  They can be very aggressive about eggs, babies etc. Our daughter is trying hard to keep her students away... and why!

 

Trip to Walmart

 I needed a few things so left Bob behind and headed to Walmart...three very different replies from asking for help. One barely acknowledged my asking where the Worchestershire sauce was... a second told me which aisle! But the best was the man I asked if he could get down a bag of Crafter's Choice from the top shelf... he had to jump!! But jump he did even though he was almost as old as I am!!

The regular checkout worker was delighted to have customer (me)... everyone else was going to the self-checkouts! 

MO DOT is adding a third lane on I70 both east and west of Blue Springs.... it seems like there is an accident almost daily.  Today cars were backed up for over an hour due to a bad accident... bet someone was speeding ( construction areas are 55) or not paying enough attention when entering the highway!

Finished the bear... served(?) Moocho leftovers for dinner... and then we settled down for some Antique Roadshow on PBS. 

Get together

 Bob and I are still fiddling around... me with bear making... him with computer stuff.

BUT.. yesterday's UPS delivered our batch of political postcards. They are to be addressed and a short message added. So we set up a place at one end of the dining room table and I have started! As I go past I do a couple. The sum total will be 100 ! They are to be stamped and mailed  as a batch in April.

We will be meeting our daughters for dinner at MooCho in Oak Grove tonight... The four of us haven't gotten together since Bob and I became ill. So looking forward to it!! 

Dinner was fun and we were all stuffed and took home "to go" boxes. 

While "All Creatures Great and Small" was on PBS/tv and managed to get my bear's head stuffed! I just need to add eyes, a nose and ears... and assemble him and he will be " fini " !

 

AS MS. MOON SAID ...25 th amendment.... time for the 25th amendment?

 

 

Little of this little of that

Spent the morning yesterday working on a bear and his outfit. Bob was fiddling on his computer...

I had an appointment with my podiatrist but then the office called... It was not busy and could I come earlier. Fine by me.. and the visit went well.

Bob spent the time while I was seeing the doctor on his cell phone with his younger brother in Rochester ... Jamie was trying to call his pizza place and ended up on the cell phone with Bob.. No one can figure out how that happened.

After the podiatrist we stopped at Lowe's to look at dishwashers. Our is more that 10 years old and has started overfilling and so water leaks from under the . We put a bowl under the door for now till we can decide what brand etc. We poked and prodded on all the dishwashers on display...all prices and all different insides!  Still not  sure which ! Met another looker... turns out he installs dishwashers for $90 ( Lowe's and Home Depot are around $150 ) ... so maybe we give him the job if Bob decides not to install it himself. He's installed lots of them...including our daughters!

Today was more bear making and going to Target for the cat's prescription. 

 

Settling down

My b--i-l is out of the hospital  and back home. BUT he  was stuck with the problem of what to do about his car which had ended up in a snowbank.... 

Well... the wonderful thing is... my elder daughter here in KC fixed everything. She found where the car had been towed to (impound lot)... paid for the storage etc fees. Got a tow truck operator to take the car to Jamie's house . The tow operator did not like the smell of Jamie's car but after much grumpyess by my b-i-l managed to get him to go out to the car in the driveway and agree to the gas smell.   The tow operator will come back and tow it to a garage.... and my daughter will take care of the bill.

Long range success!! 

 

Different kind of weekend

Valentines Day started off pretty much as usual... but our daily text ( and some  earlier ones in the week) were some what weird from my b-i-l in Rochester, NY. Obviously far from Missouri. The feeling about the texts  was felt by our daughters who are part of the daily text routine.

Bob tried to reach Jamie by phone and the weird-ness was magnified...We finally reached a friend who claimed Jamie was fine but another phone call to Jamie didn't make much sense.

Yesterday was received at phone call from the ER at Strong Hosp in Rochester. Jamie had run into a snow bank and the ambulance  thought he was confused and sent him to the ER. The ER physician assistant called Bob and he gave him as much info as we had. The PA decided to keep him overnight. This morning Jamie is still in the ER and we know nothing more...

Bob is 84 and Jamie is 72... not married, no children and few friends. This makes things difficult....

 

Later he was released and of course due to HIPA we got no info from the hosp.... and when Bob called his brother .. no reply. 

no coat

 We went to our neighborhood WalMart with a shopping list but no coats. The temperature is in the high 60's !!  This Walmart is in the process of updating... and it seems like almost everything is somewhere else. Had to ask people stocking and unloading where things were.... must have been used to it because they took me to where things were with smiles on their faces and a laugh at my confusion!!  They new layout has more self-serve checkouts and more regular checkouts!

So far Friday the 13th is fine!!

 Working on my bear and trying to ignore my thumb.... leftovers from Olive Garden for dinner plus some of the red cabbage I made the other day...and a green salad.

  

Thumb still inconvenient... plus 60 years

 Yes.. .the thumb still gets in the way and hurts when I try to do bear making things... though I did manage to cut out a cat!  And take pictures for my selling page!

We are celebrating our 60th wedding anniversary today ... going out to Olive Garden - thanks to a tempting email they sent!! 60 years sounds like forever... I started thinking about the actual ceremony... St. Anthony's Church in Nanuet, NY......Seems like everybody is gone.. parents, relatives,and so on. Only Bob and I and his younger brothers ...one of whom acted as an alter boy... are left...

Dinner was fun...we talked and  remembered different things about the wedding!  

When Carolyn called on her way home ( it was a late day due to parent-teacher conferences) she told us that all the lunch ladies at her school heard her mention our 60th anniversary and were amazed and sent us warmest of good wishes!!

 

 

 

 

 

forgot to post

 Somehow I sliced the top of my right thumb from the nail down about 1/3 of an inch. Aggravating and uncomfortable so no bear making for awhile...Luckily I have a few new books on my Kindle!

Bob is quietly reading a book he picked up from the library yesterday.

Today is the anniversary of our son's death... didn't sleep well last night ...

Since I can't push pins or sew I have been decluttering a bit ( and reading)...Spent time organizing my mohair closet and getting rid of lots of wire hangers.  

Both the kitchen floor and the entry way/lobby needed cleaning... so Bob and I went at it. He even got down on the floor to clean under the stove. Things look much better... especially the lobby which gets all the dirty/ salty water from our snow shoes or boots! 

 

Off to Hallmark's card store

Leaving Bob behind..(I wanted an anniversary card  and a Valentine card.   Thursday is our 60th wedding anniversary!) I am heading to our Hallmark card store. It won't have the same cards as Price Chopper!

When I got home I managed to sneak the card bag into a hiding place. Then back to work on a bear.

Bob headed out to the library.. to return things he says... but it wouldn't surprise me if he was doing what I had done!! 

Both of us kept busy the rest of the day 

Alexa says 64F high today

 Yes, Alexa said 64 F today... but the computer says 57F high. I'll take Alexa's !! If she is right... that means a walk in Blue Springs' Rotary Park!

We didn't make it to Rotary Park but tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer so maybe??

I managed to cut out three more bears... my mohair stash is getting smaller.. I've even started working on two of them.

This morning I took out a frozen container of " who knows what". It looked like cooked hamburger with some onions and garlic.but when it came time to turn it into something for dinner I found it was cooked Italian sausage. The end result was fine ( especially with a green salad) and the freezer has one less leftover something in it!

Also a little more decluttering... 

 

 

Not as warm today

 Here it is... 39 F at lunch time. Miss yesterday's 55 F !!

Trying a new recipe... creamy parsnip soup. I don't  have quite enough parsnips so I am going to shred two carrots and add them!!....It was good if a little bland. Next time more parsnips.

More bear work plus some decluttering.

My poor b-i-l who lives in Rochester, NY is having to cope with wind chill temps of -20 F. Bob says Rochester is headed for warmer temps!

 

WARMER !!!!

 At 10.40 am Friday the temp is already at 47 F.... Alexa says it will get higher!!...... and it did! Way over 50 F.

I finished my new smaller bear ... but haven't decided whether or not to accessorize him/her.. Later in the day I cut out 4 more bears.. Guess I am back to minimizing my fabric stash!

Dinner... crab cakes, baked potatoes with sour cream and/or butter and a lovely green salad! 

What a day.

 We went off this morning to CVS/Target to drop off my prescription... and decided to wait for it to be filled and to walk around Target to get some steps in!! Successful... plus found some Irish breakfast tea!!

I saw an add from UMB (bank) on FB for their Money market accounts... more interest than other banks.. so we went to the branch on 7 Hwy to open an account and deposit some of the  RMDs we had received. The bank was empty so we plus the bank person spent quite a bit if time just talking...

but when we got home I tried over and over to get into my Chase credit card account so I could check my statement.... disaster time.. the phone number on the account was our landline which does not receive texts for the Chase security code... hopefully after two help phone calls things have been changed ...was I frustrated ( and so was Bob)!  Maybe a glass of wine at dinner??

Some time was spent on my newest bear project...needs ears and to have arms, legs and head attached to the body. Once stuffed and he will be done! 

 

Tired of cooking....

Actually I don't really mind cooking especially when it has been so cold... that encourages me to try some new things. But today I actually am a little tired of cooking!

We are going to Olive Garden... soup or salad and bread sticks beckon . And there's always enough for a second go tomorrow!!

Went to my cardiologist this morning.... he forgot to sign a paper prescription and the pharmacy would not fill it.! It is signed now and I will drop it off tomorrow...btw he apologized  and I had a nice chat with his nurse practitioner!

 

Gas insert fireplace

 Last night Bob turned on our gas insert fireplace!! That made sitting and watching TV much more enjoyable!! We also ate dinner ( much to Bob's dismay since he prefers eating at the dining room table) there too!

So far the temp today is 32... not sure how much warmer it will get. But working on the newest little bear is nicer when it's warmer.

A text arrived earlier suggesting Feb 18 for the next quilting/craft group meeting... here. Everyone must be better...

On Sunday the doorbell rang... a young man running for the Jackson County legislature was ..."door knocking" . We invited him in and we all talked. According to Facebook he knocked on 74 doors that day! Great way to learn about  a candidate running for office. 

Vivien Howard of "Chef's Life" and "Kitchen Curious" talked about combining beans with rice  to make a perfect food... so I took out some chili that I had earlier, cooked rice and combined the two for dinner.... and some different spices.  Of course it will also have shredded cheese and sour cream... we'll see how the result goes.... not the best ...

The bear is all sewn together . I will probably stuff parts of it during TV time 

warmer... then colder

Today was warmer and we headed out on our errands...Target and it's CVS for catfood and pills then the second CVS for Bob's pills and the neighborhood Walmart next door to fill the holes in our fridge. Found lots of things with WalMart's yellow price reduction stickers...was that due to it being Monday?

Then home to put things away and to settle down with pieces of another bear.. smaller one this time. But... my grand daughter called! She is experimenting with bread and cinnamon rolls.... and trying to find a home for her M-I-L's last cat. She and her husband found homes for two but this one hasn't. The m-i-l is ill and has moved where she cannot have cats/pets. My grand daughter and her husband may have to release  the cat to a shelter ... they already have three cats .... currently the cat is in its own room so there won't be a problem with the other three.

Always something.. another batch of leftovers gone.. 

Heading towards warmer??

According to the local weather people we will be heading for a week of 40's! Hooray!

Spent yesterday working on a large bear!! He/she was almost finished last night when I was headed for bed  so I finished the bear  this morning!! I haven't made one this big in quite a while....a little over 14 inches tall standing....Turns out it is girl bear with a bow and flowers on the ribbon.

grilled cheese and tomato soup