Today I am home doing nothing (which is not my normal mode) I got some stsrange flu bug - really terrible cough that hurts like crazy now because my muscles are so sore from coughing, sneezing, blowing and wheezing. I think I am on the mend...one good thing is that I don't feel like eating, so have just been drinking my spinach drink. I even lost 2 lbs, but I am sure when I feel better, I will put it right back on....I am going to try hard not to....I need to loose 5 more to get under a certain weight that I have not seen for years....we won't mention the number, but let's put it this way - it is about 5 or l0 lbs. more than I weighed when I delivered Meredith!!! I have a long ways to go. I do not know why in the aging process our metabolism does such dirty tricks to us....I just don't get it. Enough of this "weight blues"

Let me think - what has happened since the last time I wrote on my blog. Just lots of felting classes, trying to clean up the basement workshop a little, only to have it look like "heck" 2 days later. It seems that felting and quilting do not contribute to neatness. Our little store is still plugging along. Go to SeasonsofHome.com - we have a web site and one can order quilting kits.
I just have so much fun felting, and I do want to quilt as well, but felting seems to take precedence. I even bought a "felting" sewing machine" At first I thot it wouldn't be very useful and that I would end up sending it back, but now I am finding many uses for it, so guess I will keep it. It is very fast and really felts the roving and yarns in very tight on what you are making. I still promise some pictures, but haven't taken any yet.

Well, now that it is 2 o'clock in the afternoon and I am still in my PJ's, I either need to get up and get moving or go back to bed. I am thinking that a nap sounds mighty fine right now.

We had to cancel our Easter dinner celebration yesterday - due to the fact that I was sick...sorry about that. This is the first time I have been sick for some time.

More later...and hopefully some pictures...

I have been very delinquent writing on my blogspot. Maybe it is because I never have time...I am always too busy flitting about and going to work in our little store - Seasons of Home and then the other reason is that I don't have any pictures to put on because I can't find the cord to my camera....It could be missing in the abyss in the basement, but who knows. I have a very large pile of odds and ends that I want to sell on Ebay. I am slowly (very slowly) trying to get my house cleaned out. I must do it one of these first days. I have lots of good junque....

We had a wonderful Christmas w/ visits from all family members who live far away....The Mark and Andrea Austin Family and their 3 children, Sarah, Andrew and Spencer, and the Spencer and Andrea Jones family who have recently moved to Calif (last June) and their 2 lovely daughters, Kate and Anna. It was fun to get together w/ the whole family. Everyone is growing faster than weeds, and Jerry and I are getting older faster than we want to.

Jerry is very busy working at Midway City Offices. He works very hard and has turned it into a full-time job. Nancy on the other hand is sometimes lazy - sleeping in until at least 9:00 a.m. but staying up well past midnight. She is still felting up a storm and has even made a couple of quilts lately. Tomorrow I am going to learn to use a long arm quilter and so very excited to see how they work and how hard they are to work....maybe I will have to make room for one of those in the basement. Competing w/ all the wool, yarn, roving, wool blankets and 100's of wool sweaters....not sure where I could put it.

Today I had a great time w/ my niece Jennifer and her daughter Emma and my sister Carolyn who drove all the way from Provo (45 min.) - First we went to the fun St. Lawrence Thrift store where we happened on a great sale -- all clothing was $1.00 as well as shoes, purses, etc. I was able to find 1 more wool sweater - unfortunatley by the time we got there it was all picked over, so no real bargains for us. We came home and went down into the "dungeon" of unorganization and disaster, but we managed to find room. Jennifer made a stunning, adorable, felted purse embellished w/ felted flowers...so cute....We wanted Carolyn to try her hand and she worked up a very cute sock monkey out of a sweater sleeve....so nice to use things that have had a life before and now can be turned into something "useful" like a "sock monkey". I will promise to put pics on asap/ Emma who is about 10 made a very fun lady doll w/ yellow hair , a blue bow and great sweater dress w/ tights....after she ran out of stuff to do, headed immediately for the wii upstairs and really had a good time entertaining herself and keeping physically fit.

I have had fun making sock monkey magnets (boy I have turned into a sock monkey type of gal) I think they are scarry looking but rather fun too. I just adore making them and Have myi next one all planned out!

Just one side note about securing wool....the little gal I get it from in Wallsburg, Ut...she usually cleans it for me, but this last time her dad didn't want her to clean it in their sinks inside as the lanolin in the wool is not at all good for plumbing pipes...(Ihave had experience w/ that). Any how, I needed some for my pin cushions...by the way if you go to www.shepherdsbush.com and click on their blog and scroll down, they do have pictures of my pin cushions and felted hearts on there...since I have no pictures, please go there so you can see the fascinating creations!

Well, back to the wool...I was desperate so I told her I would take some dirty wool and wash it myself. You cannot wash it like you wash clothes in the washing machine...You have to soak it and soak it and soak it....and then rinse, rinse, rinse a million times...We live in snowy parts and I could not get to the sprinkler bib to get it soaking w/ out stepping in 4 or 5 feet (maybe more) of snow, so I tried to squeeze myself between the house and the shrubs where the overhang of the house protected it from having huge snowdrifts...I just wore my regular shoes not realizing that it was very muddy , w all those icecicles dripping off and causing a terrible mud problem...After I sunk in a few feet, I decided to get my golashes on to go soak this wool...what a mess...when I went back to try to drain it, the wool was frozen and stuck to the ice....I was able to pry some of it away and try to dry it on the patio table...(ha ha) It blew away and was now stuck to the drifts of snow...maybe in the spring I will be able to retrieve it. My shoes are still outside - ruined I think...the golasshes are covered w/ mud...I will have to wait until spring to see what I can do with them...So much for my washisng of wool. I will stick to the clean kind once Amy gets rolling again and can wash it outside...If only winter would go away. We still have lots of snow on the ground but haven't had a new snow storm for a few weeks now.

Returning from Tripping, Cruising & TimeShare Shopping --

Since I have no followers to this blogspot, I should not worry that I am delinquent in writing ---Hey I have been gone for over 3 weeks and I just got back to beautiful Midway today. Here is where I have been --(in case anyone even cares - boo hoo) I went to Alexandria,Va to my daughter Andrea's cute little house on Cameron Mills Rd. She and Mark and their 3 children are moving to Peru very soon, so they went to look for a casa to live in. I left on Nov. 11 and today is Dec. 3 and I am just returning. The house looked great by my standards (which are not too high in the housekeeping department). My daughter Meredith and her husband's family used our house for Thanksgiving so they had lots of fun cooking here. (and a big thanks to Mere and James and any others who cleaned out my fridge - thank you thank you thank you!) I was so glad they could use it, but felt badly that I didn't have more time to make it look a little less cluttered...Oh well, those who know me, know about my clutter habits. At age 69, I am not trying to impress anyone and must make sure that my craft/felting/wreathmaking/pincushion/santas/nativities/ . making, etc. etc. is messy at all times. How else can one work if one doesn't have their "stuff" out every waking minute. I am so lucky to have this basement where I don't have to be too neat!!! Thank you Jerry for letting me put in a basement.

Well, I am rambling - Got home from Andrea's on Thur, Nov. 20th...picked up by my kind sister, Susie Cannon....then to her house for repacking of the suitcases and stealing most of her fancy clothes for our cruise....That night we had a fun time at the J>Smith memorial building for my long time friend (since birth) seventieth b-day dinner...It was so grand and Mary Jayne looked radiant and adorable as she always does and didn't look a day over 49. Then it was back to the Cannon house to sleep and have Susie take us to the airport (by this time Jerry had come to meet me) On the way home, we stopped for gas which I pumped, then on to the drug store to get some eye drops for my poor swollen allergy eyes (that is another story - every time I go to the Austin's house my eyes to this wicked thing) In the mean time, I forgot to put my wallet back in my purse (it is a very thin little thing) then I drop it in the parking lot of the drug store, so when I get in to buy the eye drops, I have no money. The store is getting ready to close so I run to the car and can't find the darn wallet. This nice man pays for my eye drops because he feels sorry for me I am sure he sees how pathetic I look and knows how badly I need eye drops....So when the wallet was no where to be found, we rush back to the gas station....not there - no one has seen it or turned it in. Now we go back to the drug store which is all closed. We remember that Jerry has moved the car so we thiink I could have dropped it on the ground by the first place we parked....not there....we are sad...flying out early the next morning so we have to cancel all the credit cards....ugh what a mess.... no sign of the wallet. Luckily we have our passports so we are still able to get on the plane. Receive message the next morning that the wallet was found by an honest employee who turns it in...they call the next morning, but we are gone and the credit cards have already been cancelled...Oh well, such is life.

Now I have to hurry and run an errand, so will have to write the rest of this saga later, but if you go to www.justusjoneses.blogspot.com you can see pics of when we got on the boat for our cruise. They are posted by Andrea (the younger) Jones. I will be back w/ more comments when I get another min. Keep on looking. I will put some pictures on myself. I know now why I have no followers on this blog....you could follow all this nonsense and trying to figure out what is going on....I do want to tell you about our lovely cruise and our stay in Newport Beach...and how much Calif. traffic means to me! so stay tuned. Don't give up. I promise some pictures.

Ok, this is really making me crazy. I click on the dealy hopper that says image, and then I can't seem to do anything after that. I just need a servant up here to help me operate this blog. I was able to find some pictures that I want to post, but then I can't find them when I get on the blog...what is wrong here...If anyone reads this (which I doubt) then blogspot me back and tell me how to get the pictures. Since I can't get this to work, I am turning on the TV and going to do some more felting. I am very excited about my latest felting project and some ideas that may be created from it due to suggestions of friends....more later on that.

Have a good evening.

Well, Doggone - I got the wrong picture of the nativity...Although this is a very cute hand knit one that a lady in NZ makes...She charges alot, but then they are lots of work. I have ladies come to my basement every Tuesday to felt. Most of them are making nativities and they are very cute. You would not believe what the basement looks like - w/ all that wool getting spread around. I just can't seem to lick my "thrift store" habit.... Today my car just automatically drove there w/o even thinking. Luckily, I had forgotten my purse, so when I arrived and went to reach for my purse and it was not there, I was really "bummed" ...However, I remembered that I had a little money in my levi pocket, so I was able to go in anyway. I didn't even spend all the money...I got an Australian Very Wacky Man's sweater that is wool. When I was waiting in line to pay, this man in front of me saw the sweater and said, wow that is really a "rare" one. He said, "you can sell that on Ebay for a lot of $$$$. It is called a GeCcu. I think instead of shrinking it up like I usually do, I will put it on Ebay...but no time, it seems. I also got a really cool looking Ugndian woven vase like dealy hopper - I have no idea what it is , and then I got another needlepoing piece. It is a "horse one" I think it is made in China, but it is quite nice.

I am excited to be going soon to Washington,D.C. to help Mark and Andrea w/ their children while they go to Peru to find a house. I know that we will have lots of Wii bowling and boxing tournaments. I have been practicing up for those Austin Kiddos. I hope I am up to the task of being a "Mom" once again. I will probably be worn out when I get home, just in time to get to Spencer and Andrea's house in Calif. and then Jerry and I are going on a cruise to the Mexican Riveria...It will be the first time in many years that I have not cooked a Thanksgiving Dinner!!! Whoopee! I wonder if they will feed us turkey on the cruise????

I am going to see if I can put on a picture...Wish me luck. I need help tho. Why are computers so had for those of my generation (old timers!)

Hello world --- well I hope the world is not looking at my very unexciting blogspot....I couldn't remember how to post anything so haven't written lately....first of all my computer was not working, so Mere andJames, bless their little hearts took it to Provo to try it out at their place. It didn't work there either, but yesterday after getting something fixed on it, they brought it back...Long story short, thanks to them and many calls to comcast by Mere, I now have my computer back. What has been happening???? Well, work, work,work.

Saturday I had the most unsuccessful garage sale of my life.....I will not be having any more of those at this house....It is just kind of hard to wind around and find our street...hardly anyone came and it was too much work for the results gained.

The last few weeks I have used Jerry's computer and put a few things on Ebay to sell. I decided that I could clean my house and make $$$ while I was at it. I put 86 items on Ebay...only 27 sold and 59 are still with me. Seems the odds are not too good, so I will have to reconsider doing Ebay sales....That means - "No more buying stuff at the thrift stores!!!!"...it is hard to resist, but I must curb my bad habit of buying things I don't need and can't sell on Ebay. It is amazing what does sell on Ebay. This is what I discovered....needlepoint (vintage) that went well, Ski sweaters die pretty well, Vita Mix blender did very well... Next time I am going to try some fabric...Oh I did sell 3 pieces of Nifty Nurse Fabric...

I will try to find some pictures and put them on for you to see.

The exciting news in our family is that Andrea, Mark and their 3 children will be moving to Peru. They are going to be gone from 3 to 5 years.... I can't believe it, but it will be fun to visit them in Peru. I think it will be a great experience....The next exciting news is that they are buying a house in Midway so that they can have Midway their headquarters when they come home for visits! I just went to the house they have chosen and picked apples growing on 2 different trees in their front yard.

Tomorrow I am having the lady felters over for a felting session. Most of them are making Nativities for Christmas. I am trying to make some too. I will try to post a picture of what they look like.