catching up and ending 2019

Well, I still am not posting on a regular basis, so once again this is a catch up post.

I have some photos to share

I was out checking the chickens one of the last days of November and I managed to catch this sunset.

and then a few days after that, this is what we ended up with,

Above is the aftermath of the snow storm, belowis what was going on during it.  most of our windows were coated with the snow

We have had several more storms since, but I haven't taken pictures in all of them. 

Last October before the first hard frost, I was invited to pick apples from one of Farmguy's cousins.  They are yummy apples, and I canned several varieties of apple butter, and made apple sauce, and made some fried apples, and baked several types of desserts.  One of the ones we really like is Apkple Bread Pudding

it is an old recipe from my grandmother and like many recipes from nearly 100 yrs ago, it is not exact, 

3-4 slices of bread                                    - I used 8 cups of dried bread cubes

moisten with about 1 cup milk                 - I used about 3 C milk

1 - 2 C cut up apples                                 - I used a good 6 C of cut up apples

1/2 - 3/4 C sugar depending on tartness    - I used about 1 1/2C sugar & some cinnamon & nutmeg

Dot top with butter                                    - I used about 8 tbls of butter

Bake at 350 till apples are done.  Serve warm with heavy cream (G & G milked cows) or ice cream

I did some bread baking before Christmas, both Sourdough and Julekage. 

This is about half of what i made. Some for us, some for neighbors, some for friends

 I did do some Tatting before Christmas, it is about 2" tall

This post is getting long enough and late enough in the evening.  I will end 2019 here and try to get the rest caught up in the next day or so. 

Have a really great 2020

no, I didn't drop of the earth

I didn't realize that it has been more than 2 months since I posted.

I haven't done much tatting  but my wrist is pretty well healed and I should be able to do more now this fall. or sock knitting wool yarn doesn't seem to be as easy to work with in the heat, this summer. I have done some sewing for our Priest and have more to do.

Aug 3 Farmguy and I headed to Rochester MN to Mayo Clinic.  It is a 6 hr drive for us.  well, that includes a couple stops.

He had a major surgery that involved 2 seperate surgical teams.  He got one problem fixed - the bladder - and that is good, but they were unable to reverse the colostomy.   He is not happy about that, but nothing we can do, he just needs to get used to it for the rest of his life.  We have a follow up apt back at Mayo the end of Sept.  He is healing as well as can be expected, just not a happy person about how things turned out.

I have in the past spent 4 days over the Labor Day Weekend at Rollag MN participating on Western  Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion. (http://www.rollag.com).  But I will not be able to this year. I have spent those 4 days tatting and demonstrating and teaching tatting.  This year I was going to add my sock machine as well.

The garden is doing well,  I should be canning tomatoes and freezing corn.  The chickens are good.  I actually hatched 30 chicks in an incubator this summer, something I hadn't tried successfully before.  They are growing well.

This has been my summer.

Well, I hope all of you have had a wonderful summer and that fall will be just as good for you.

PIF

 A several weeks ago, UminTsuru hosted a PIF.  For those who don't know PIF is simply Pay It Forward.  to participate, you agree to host a giveaway on your blog if you win.  For this PIF, the rules require 3 winners, and they host a giveaway for 3 winners.

I won, and WOW did I win.

 These are gorgeous.  I took them outside for a photo, and hung them on a Holly Hock. It was nearly dusk, and the colors are a bit dark. The crystals actually match the purple but look blue in this pic.  You can get another look at them on this post of  UmiNTsuru.

These earrings had a bit of difficulty in getting to me. They were wrapped very well in bubble wrap, but one of the large crystal dangles was broken during the trip.  Wendy very kindly offered to replace the broken crystal and I took her up on it as I didn't have anything that would be appropriate with this pair of earrings. Thank you Wendy for the additional service. 

Now I will be racking my brain to come up with my own PIF. Stay tuned, I should have it figured out soon.

on another note....
Arial over at Tatting Faerie has discovered she has 4 duplicate tatting books in her stash. To resolve this shocking circumstance she has decided to hold a tatting book exchange. To participate,   Go to her blog to read her post to find out what she would like in exchange.

Antique Booklet, Tatting and health

Here are the 3 pages from the Antique Booklet, pages 26, 27 & 28 that pertain to tatting.

And I have also included the medallion from that Antique Booklet that I had previously posted. I have a doily nearly finished that starts with this medallion and will post that when it is finished. I have the last half of the last row to get done.

today I had to leave work early and travel to town - half hour drive, to see the doctor. nothing too big. I also saw the Chiropractor. I knew by Sunday that I had a sinus infection again. all my allergies over the years that have caused me to have asthma, and leave me susceptible to sinus infections and bronchitis. I usually get one or the other at least once a year.

I am also hypothyroid, and discussed this with my doctor. I have had several different doctors over the past few years as 2 of them came down with cancer. This one was willing to listen to me as far as how I was feeling and is willing to consider changing my thyroid meds. she had some blood tests done today and I should find out in a few days where we go from here.
I have been on thyroid meds since I was 2 years old. For all but the last 2 years I have taken Armour Thyroid. the doctor that I saw back in 2007 said that was old fashioned, wouldn't listen to me and changed my prescription to Synthroid. I have never felt as good on Synthroid as I did with the Armour Thyroid. and I have gained weight easier these last couple of years, and also felt a bit more on the depressed side, enough so that doctor actually gave me a quiz that was supposed to show if I was depressed or not. I answered 4 out of 5 questions pointing toward depression. If I had answered the last one with the "correct" answer, he would have wanted to put me on depression meds.

I am glad that the doctor that I am seeing now is willing to discuss my thyroid, and hope that things will get back on track.

She also suggested that I try to lose 5 pounds. I was able to lose 5 after Christmas, but found them again after Easter... darn. So will try to lose them again and not leave any bread crumb trails so maybe they will stay lost this time.

I have some very good news too. My youngest sister in law has MS. They put her on a very brand new drug this past december and it has not only halted progression of the MS, but has allowed her body to start healing. This is great, she has regained some of the mobility that she had lost in the last year. The only drawback to this med, and it is a major one, is that it leaves the taker susceptable to brain infections. Thanks to God for her progress, but pray to God that she doesn't get that.

new blog

Hello all,

well, I have done it.

I have started a Blogger blog.

Now I just have to figure out how to run the thing and then see if I can transfer my tatting posts over here from yahoo 360. For now you can see what I have posted there.

http://tinyurl.com/3eds5t

Here is the bookmark that I tatted this evening. It started as Motif #24 from Patti Duff's Minitats. The thread is DMC Perle Cotton size 8

I tatted it for my sis in law. Hope she likes it.

Ladytats