Surprise 25th Anniversary Celebration!

Our five kids did the sweetest thing for us today. Wednesday the 25th was our 25th wedding anniversary. We celebrated quietly.
All week our kids were bugging us for pictures, and other wierd things. We knew they were up to something, but we didn't know what.
A couple of days ago, Matt & Katie wanted to know if they could give us some 'alone time' and have Nicki stay with them for a few days. But wanted us to pick her up on Saturday (today) at 1 o'clock. No later.
So we showed up at 1 o'clock, and all of our kids were there...
our oldest son had cooked a meal of Chicken Alfredo (which was delicious) and broccoli, and toasted french bread. Our DIL Katie, had baked and decorated two cakes. Our sons, Matt & Joey, and their wives, and our daughters Kim and her husband, James, and our other daughter Nicki, had put together a video with all the pictures set to music, that was beautiful. Hubby and I were both in tears. (good thing) And they invited our best friends, Nancy and Charlie too.
We had a wonderful meal, and then watched the video they had made. They all thanked us for being good parents. (I know, I know, I was shocked too!) Then we had cake...they wanted us to cut it, and to know if we were going to 'behave' when we did...well, of course...after that question...we couldn't - so hubby and I each ended up wearing some yummy chocolate cake.
What fun!
We were very touched that they planned this out...geez, maybe the kids didn't turn out too bad after all...actually, I think they are pretty great.

This is what happens...

Here's a news flash for the day...I did something dumb...lol

We were getting ready to leave this morning, and hubby came in and said that I left a can of the soda in the car yesterday, and he was going out to clean it up. I told him no way, I drank all of it and the can was empty. He said, no...you didn't... I didn't understand he was trying to tell me that the can he was referring to was a full, unopened can. Apparently, I forgot that one in the car, and the temperature dropped below freezing last night.

So...here's why you should never leave an unopened can of soda where it will freeze......note the frozen soda all over the dash...it was also on the roof, the inside of the windshield...etc. And I did not cut the can open...that was from exploding. Luckily, because it was frozen - it wasn't too hard to clean up. Lesson learned...
DUH

unofficial tourism committee

I think I will pretend I am the "unofficial local tourism committee" this morning....

so, do you like snow? Lots of it, you say? Have we got the place for you!!!! So come on up nort' - have we got da snow fer yous!

Just look at all the pretty, pristine, white snow...

makes ya wanna move right in now, doesn't it? Don't forget ta bring lozza dem der snow shuvels....cuz ur gonna need em!!!!





Plenty of parking spaces... you just have to dig them out!!!!




Have a nice picnic with your friends...maybe even a cook out!



Don't forget - it's time to plant those cold weather garden plants... (or so my gardening magazine tells me.) You just have to try and remember where the garden IS.

My calendar tells me it is only 22 more days until spring...I sure hope it can be trusted!

I love snow??????

We are having one heck of a snowstorm tonight! Can I say 'oh joy.'
I am so sick of snow. and ice. and cold weather. Blech.

The snowstorm is named 'Snowstorm Julia'. Around here people must get so bored that they name snowstorms ...whatever. Personally, I think they need to get a life... Snow is snow...and we are supposed to get about 10" of the lovely white stuff tonight. I am. so thrilled. I will try to contain my enthusiasm.
(it's really quite easy to)

Oh, and this snowstorm woke me up from a nice nap. (stooooopid storm) A big boom of thunder, and then lightning (in a snowstorm...only in Wisconsin) woke me right up!!!!

DH had to work in Menasha today, which is about a little over an hour south of us. They sent him home early in the afternoon, because the snow had started and it was coming down heavy. DH said he could barely see the road in front, or tell where the lanes were on the highway. He saw numerous cars in the ditch. It took him almost 2 hours to make the drive home.

It is nasty out there. I am glad I don't have anywhere to go.

So...we are going to stay in and stay warm and safe.

so...what's everyone else doing?

"Lissa Needs..."

Ok, I am playing along with my friend Char, at PawsN2Stamp
This is how this little game works. Go to Google, type (your first name) needs" keep the quotation marks like it shows. Then, list the first ten things that come up.

So here are mine:

1. Lissa needs an injection of SOMETHING... (you mean there's an injection to cure insanity???)

2. 'Princess' Lissa needs our help... (that's got a lot of truth to it, really!!)

3. Lissa - explains it all... (I think one of my kids told me I knew it 'all' just the other day, in fact...)

4. Lissa needs ...a student representative... (but if I do that, then I won't 'know it all'...)

5. Lissa needs...you.... ( gosh, I sound like Uncle Sam!!!!)

6. Lissa needs... to be set up as a Federal Advisory Committee... (wow...let's do that. I'll tell you who to send some Stimulus funding to...)

7. Lissa needs some buddies... (so I can have someone to 'explain it all' to! :0)

8. Lissa needs... a shoulder to cry on. (sometimes I do. But I usually have a hard time finding a shoulder that's available.)

9. Lissa is a cyperpath (what in the world is a cyperpath? I am not admitting to it, until I know what it is. I'll have to look that up. Whoops! I guess I don't know it all..)

10. Lissa...needs to stop drinking... (Ha. Ha. and Ha. I AM NOT giving up my coffee. No Way Jose - and No One Can Make Me...LOL)

Ok, now, it's YOUR turn!!!! If you decide to play, link back to this post so I can see what you need ;-)

Lissa

Pictures of our beautiful grand baby!

We had to take some pictures of something pretty after that last post about that room... so here's more baby pictures of that sweet little granddaughter...

This pic is of Ray and I and our son, Tim (Joey) with his new little girl

This is Ray and I with Naomi

Naomi and her proud Momma...

Naomi and her Momma and Papa..

Naomi with her Aunt Nicki....


trying really hard to pay attention to Grampa...and still sleep....

Ugly Room Pictorial Update...

I thought I would post pictures of the room that we have been tearing apart for the past couple of weeks...


In this photo, you can see the old ceiling tiles...which I think were made of some kind of a fiberglass material. Not sure about that...

This is the closet we decided to tear down...




This is the plaster-over-wood lathing that was behind the panels on three walls... yuck

This is just another view of the painted panels that were on the walls, and the gaps between them...


This is the same corner of the room as the picture posted above, but after we tore off the panels, the plaster, and most of the lathing...




This is the wall on the door side, the closet used to be to the right of the door. This is before the plaster was taken off this wall...

This is looking up at the lathing on the ceiling, after we took down the ceiling tiles, and chipped away all the plaster...

and this is the other front corner of the room, with Dear Hubby working on updating the electrical wiring in the room...


and finally, this is the wall behind the door, after the panels, plaster and lathing have been removed. Right behind the door is the old chimney. That had 1" thick CEMENT on it...boy was that ever fun to chisel off.... (yeah, right... I would compare it to a root canal - minus the anesthetic....)
Now the good part will be coming...I can't wait...for the drywall!!!
When that is up, I'll post "after" shots...

Meret #2

I finished my second Meret last week...and am just getting around to posting it.

I like it even more than the first one I made! (and I LOVED the first one!)

I used Moda Dea's Vision yarn for this one (a worsted weight yarn)...it took less than a skein. The "Vision" yarn is nice to work with...soft, and it has a little bit of a sheen to it, and I loved the colorway!

I followed someone's suggestion on Ravelry, and did the brim in 1" of knitting, and 1" of a 1x1 Rib. It's nice and comfy...not too tight.



In the above picture, I tried to get a close up of some of the pretty lace pattern in Wooly Wormhead's design. I love it!

When I first got the Moda Dea Visions yarn, I didn't know what I was going to make with it, I just knew I had to get it because I loved the color so much!!! ( Many A Yarn-A-Holic's Justification For Many, Many, Important And Necessary Yarn Purchases....)

So, here is the second Meret... (and I will probably make more...the pattern is fun!)

Plaster, cement, and pry-bars...oh, my!!!!

I am possibly the sorest, and the tired-est I have ever been for a long, long, time! Maybe even in my whole life!!!!!

We are re-doing what was a bedroom in our very old house, and turning it into an office -slash- craft -slash- computer room that hubby and I are going to share. This room was like the UGLIEST room in the world... it was 10 x 12 ft with a closet on one wall, and a 10 foot high ceiling. It had really, really UGLY panels on the wall...circa 1960 something, that had been painted over with yellow, and ugly, ugly, ugly ceiling tiles. We want to have it drywalled. One guy looked at it, and said he would just drywall over all that 'stuff'. I am probably paranoid, but I kept thinking about how quickly that all would go if there were a fire or something. (I worry about stupid stuff like that sometimes....)
Another guy looked at it, and said that he thought it would be better to take out the panels, etc. and start 'fresh'.

So DH and I sat in the 'ugly room' and tried to figure out what the best way to go about making it nicer, would be.

We decided to,
a. rip off the ugly circa 1960 something panels
b. rip off the equally ugly ceiling tiles
c. tear out the closet (which made the room bigger, of course.)
d. replace the ratty carpet in there
e. after doing all the 'demolition' ourselves, letting someone 'professional' do the drywall.
Our sweet son-in-law pulled off all of the wall panels for us, and then hubby and I started tearing into the room last night. Hubby
tore out the closet, and started to rip out the ceiling tiles. I started chiseling away at the plaster that was on two walls behind the panels. Hubby found out that underneath the ceiling tiles was even more plaster (and lathing). We finished tearing off all the plaster, and found out that what must have been a part of the original exterior of the house (brick) was behind a part of one plastered wall, but the bricks didn't have plaster. It was cement.
UGH!
Anyhow to shorten this...we have it all 'stripped' down to the lathing strips, which we will rip off Thursday. Then DH will do some re-wiring in there, and we'll have the drywall done.
I can't wait till we are through with this! This is the first time I have done anything like this...and I hope it will be the last!
I found out I have horrible aim with a hammer... and I have the bruised knuckles to prove it.
And also during all this, when dear hubby was taking out the closet, a couple of old nails attacked his left hand (I think that they were avenging the death of the ugly closet)...so this morning we went to the Dr. so he could get a tetanus booster shot.
So now...at 1:45 a.m. - we are going to take our tired, and really sore bodies and go to sleep!!! I don't think either one of us will have any trouble sleeping tonight!

Nursing covers

My DIL had put a nursing cover on her baby registry before her shower back in December. I looked at them, and they were $30! And nothing to them... I went to the internet, and did a search to see if I could find pictures of them, to see how they were made, and I found a website with basic instructions for making your own. (I so love the internet!)

I went shopping at JoAnn's...got some fabric, the corset boning, and some D-rings....then procrastinated about making them for two months!!!!

Now that my baby grand-daughter has arrived, and her Momma is nursing her, I decided to get to work on the nursing covers. I made two for her, and I am pleased with how they turned out! I think I will make some more, and the only changes I would make, would be to make the straps wider, and perhaps put the little pocket on the inside of the cover, for a burp cloth.

You can see the boning holding the neckline open between the straps. That (for those of us that didn't know...and I was one of the ones that didn't) is so that Momma can see her baby, and baby can see her, when baby is nursing.
I made them out of cotton print fabrics, and lined the pink print one with a soft pink flannel, and the beige print one with a fine wale corduroy - all of which were on sale. And got the corset boning for the neckline at JoAnn's also.
I think the lined ones will be good until the weather gets warmer. If DIL likes them, I will make some unlined ones for her for the summer months.

I am anxious to see what she thinks of them!!!

More Grand baby pictures!!!!

I spent this afternoon making some meals and things to take over to Joey and Kate's, now that Naomi is here. I made some dishes that they could freeze, and also some homemade Oatmeal Bread...NOT in the bread machine, but the old fashioned way. :o) The bread turned out scrumptious! I forgot how good homemade bread is!!!!

I took it over to their house, and Kate had just finished nursing Naomi when I got there. The other grandparents were there too, helping out also. I told Kate to go grab something to eat while Naomi was sleeping. So I got my turn to rock and cuddle that sweet little grandbaby!!! Isn't she just a beautiful baby???
I am in love!(The blanket with the purple trim was made by my Mom, (Naomi's is her first great granddaughter)


Fed, warm and comfy!

It's true, babies are a special gift from God!!!!

Grand Baby has arrived!!!!

Our baby grand-daughter arrived on Feb 7th at 7:36 p.m., weighing in at 8 lbs. 15 oz, and 21" long...and I think she is the most beautiful baby ever! We are so excited!!!!
Naomi Adalyn is just gorgeous!!!!With her proud new Papa...2 hours old.


With Grandpa K...
And me...Grandma K (with a mask because I have a cold)...
And Naomi at 1 day old...I may be biased - but isn't she the most beautiful baby???

It's beautifully warm and sunny outside so far today...I think its in the 20's! Just about t-shirt weather in Wisconsin!
I spent yesterday with our youngest DD - they had a drywall contractor come and drywall the nursery, their master bedroom closet, and patch the living room where they took out the doorway to enlarge the MB closet. The drywall looks very nice. DD and hubby are anxiously waiting for it to dry, so we can paint the rooms, and then they can get their carpet in.
I felt like baking (I don't feel like that too often lately! ) so I made a huge batch of Nestle's TollHouse chocolate chip cookies, and an equally large batch of "Cowboy Cookies". The house smelled wonderful!!!!
I finished another 'Sweetheart Washcloth' - in pinks. I was trying to take a photo for Ravelry, and Tootsie decided to test the washcloth for softness. So now it is "doggie tested and approved".
Also went out and took some pictures of the snow for Momma. She lives where it never snows, so she thinks its neat! Ha! Tootsie was my 'model' again to show how deep it is in spots! Since it is in the 20's - he was very happy to come out and romp in the snow with me.
DH came down with a nasty head cold, and has decided to share it with me...bless his heart. We both feel rotten...and sound like a flock of congested geese! We are both taking more vitamin C, and drinking lots of juice to try and kick it.
Still no baby yet from DS and his wife. Today is their due date, but it seems that their baby is very comfortable right where she is, and isn't quite ready to come out into the world. I can't say I blame her...but Kate's parents and DH and I are so looking forward to seeing our new little granddaughter when she decides to make an entrance! We can hardly wait!
I am going to fix some meals this weekend for them, that can be frozen and then just popped into the oven to heat up, after baby arrives. I remember how tired I was when the babies were little, and how nice it would have been not to have had to cook.
Have a great weekend!!!