Here I go again!!!

I have to admit to being a tad on the obsessive side and sometimes I can't let things go.  The desire to get another old sewing machine wouldn't go away even after the last disaster.  However I am also very frugal so cost is a big factor in any purchase I make.

So......when I saw this little beauty fall from $75 to $50 then to $25 my interest was very piqued!    

This was the photo they put up:-

It is not a Singer, it is a 1953 Standard 1500 made in Japan.  It is based off the Singer 15-91

I asked the seller if it worked, he assured me it did and he would let it go for $20 so I went to look at it on Sunday.

It is in excellent condition and yes, everything works on it.  The cabinet needs repairing that's why it has a chunk of wood in the photo.  But I am going to put it in my existing cabinet in my sewing room which doesn't have a machine in it.  I have just used it for years to put a portable machine on. I really do not have room for another cabinet in my room.

The cabinet I am using is the one with the white machine on it.

I have to do some modifications to the cabinet to get it to fit and then I have to clean and oil the machine. it has a little dried oil on the workings but not much so I should be able to remove it easily and the paint and metal facings are in are really nice condition. The electrics have to be put in the cabinet too.  I took them out of the one it came in.  So still quite a bit of work to do.

It is a good sturdy machine and it has a knob you can turn to drop the feed dogs for quilting.  Never done patterned quilting before but now I will be able to give it a try.

I am happy and I believe I will stop looking for another machine now.

Photos will follow when all the work is done and it is up and running......

Catastrophic failure!

 I have had to stop with the sewing machine.  I did all the things that I had seen in videos and people had advised. I did get a bit of movement but one of the metal arms inside broke in 2 places. Then I had full movement but the needle and bobbin do not work in tandem. It broke at the junction where these two processes initiate.

I am pretty distraught.

I do not have the ability to strip all the inside parts out, find a replacement part and re assemble. Other than that it would not be cost effective. So for now I have put it away upstairs until I decide whether to sell the parts or I find another one that works and I will have lots of spare parts.

Over the past few months we have been sort of prepping and in the past couple of weeks we have stepped up the pace. Not sure what the next months will bring after this election.

I have also done a bit of therapeutic knitting. A couple of Christmas tree decorations. I needed the distraction.

 Doing this on tablet so if it doesn't come out very well, I apologise.

I have hit a rather large snag!

I cleaned up the machine and gave it a good oiling inside and out.  I freed up the presser foot lever mechanism, the forward and reverse and stitch size and the bobbin winder but for the life of me I can't free up the rest of the mechanics.

I have taken off the motor and foot pedal.  I got a power cord for it and the motor and foot pedal both work.

But unless I can free up the mechanism it is pretty useless.

Today I moved it all out to the workshop where I have more space to work on it.

I have watch a few videos and have some ideas.

Fingers crosses I can get it moving.

Welcome to the home for sad looking sewing machines

Does anyone remember the song, "A sewing machine, a sewing machine, a girl's best friend?"

It is pretty old, from a 1949 movie.  I never knew all the words, just the first couple of lines and I sing it every time I get out one of my machines.

I have been obsessed with sewing machines since I was a young girl.  I have always had one or two. Now in my dotage I indulge in my passion a bit more.

In the past couple of weeks I have serviced and cleaned all of my machines.  I ordered new belts for two of them.

My treadle machine I noticed has never sat right, it dipped when it was set up and sometimes it would catch lifting the lid to raise it into the working position. I realised that the back of the cabinet was not straight when I re arranged my sewing room.  This machine and cabinet are pretty old, over 100 years and it was in bad shape when I rescued and bought it.  I worked on the machine and spruced up the cabinet but I never worked on how it didn't sit right until this past week.

Upon close inspection I could see that the joints had come apart in the back of the cabinet.  I cleaned them up and glued them then put some metal brackets on the bottom to hold the joints together.

Now it raises up and down with no problems and it sits nice and flat. No sagging!

You can see how it was sagging before in this picture from a previous post.

I am really so happy that I fixed this.  I blogged about the original restoring of this machine in 2017 if anyone is interested in seeing the original condition of it. This is the first post and there are posts throughout the process of the restoration.

https://ilikeknittingandsewing.blogspot.com/2017/02/a-bit-of-excitement-yesterday-and-today.html

Now to my my next project:-

I saw this sad looking baby in our local Facebook Marketplace.

As you can see she is in sad shape.  They had it advertised for $50.  I offered $20 and they countered with $25. I accepted their counter. Big time negotiater me!

It doesn't have a power cord and the wheel doesn't turn so I have no idea if I can get it running but I will jolly well try. Power cords are available for it.  If the motor doesn't work after I get the cord I will buy a conversion handle for it and make it a hand crank machine. This machine is approx 70 years old.

Will update as progress is made.  We have been pretty busy these past few weeks as it has cooled down and we are catching up with outside work so aside from washing off the cobwebs and grime I haven't done any more to it yet.

Finally finished the baby hoodie

 A different font today, nice to have the options.

I finished the baby hoodie, finally, and it has been passed onto my neighbour's grandson for their new baby. They thought it was lovely.  I said I thought it might be too big but the grandson said that at the rate the baby was growing he would soon be too big for it. I hope he gets some wear out of it.

What a lotta fonts

 One of the blogs I read said they were trying different fonts.

I thought I would try the one she used but when I went to find it I found a gazillion different ones.

Such joy!

I am easily pleased, what can I say? 

A great bargain and photos of my revamped sewing room

I have been ordering my groceries online for quite a while and this week when I went to pick up my order I needed to go in to go to the optical shop to get my glasses adjusted. 

I saw they had some summer clothes on sale so I took a look. The store wasn't crowded and almost everyone was wearing a mask so I didn't think it was too risky.

I found 2 skirts that had been reduced from $18 each to $3 each. It would have probably cost at least that to purchase the buttons on them so it was a no brainer. They jumped right into the shopping trolley.

One is shown here and the other is black with fine stripes.

They were both a little on the large size waist wise so I put some elastic through the waist bands and they fit perfectly with plenty of gather.

My sewing room now looks like this:-

We have our own little brew station set up in here to make tea and coffee. My crafting/cut out table is now free and clear of manuscripts. The two skirts were on it waiting to have the elastic sewn into the waist. My knitting machines sit underneath and can be set up on the craft table when I go into one of my knitting machine phases.

You can see my husband's studio/office through the door in the picture above.

The treadle machine was under the window previously, where the organ now sits. The pathway is between the organ and the treadle machine but as I only ever play the organ when I am alone (as I am not good at all) my husband walking through is no longer a problem.  I can sit in my little enclave and sew to my heart's content without disturbance on whatever machine I choose.

Oh such bliss!!!

I really am quite child like when it comes to my sewing and knitting machines.  I just love to play!

Re-arranging my sewing room

As my knee is so much better now I am way more active.  The hot weather has kept me inside more than I would like but I can't do the heat and humidity very well so I am better off indoors.  Hopefully the cooling down will start soon.

My husband had (with my approval) moved a lot of his stuff into my sewing room in a bid to sort out his office/studio.  He is not the tidiest person in the world and he always seem to be in the midst of a crisis of some sort.  The latest being his Mac computer and hard drive issues.  This has lasted a month but thankfully it seems to be settling down now.  But I digress, he had a lot of his manuscripts scattered over my working table and had set up a computer on my desk.

I needed to work on my treadle sewing machine as last time I used it it was not stitching properly.  Well, I was working away and he needed to get past me to go to the bathroom.  (His office is a room off my sewing room and he needs to walk through my room to get to the bathroom).

The way my room was set out meant that I had to get up to let him past.  I thought this was not really a good arrangement so I decided to revamp my sewing room.

I moved my work table to be at right angles to my desk and I moved my treadle machine at right angles to the work table.  I moved my other sewing cabinet to right angles at my desk on the other side and my office chair sits right in the middle and I can get to my table, my treadle machine, my sewing machine cabinet  and the desk without having to get up.  There is a space for me to get into my little enclave and the route through my room to the bathroom is free for my husband to pass back and forth as often as he wants without disturbing me.

I cleared some shelves for all his manuscripts so they are off my work table and the leaves on my sewing  cabinet can now open fully for me to sew.  Before I just used to sit the sewing machine on top without opening up the leaves of it as there was not room to do that.

I am a happy camper now and I worked on my treadle machine and got it stitching correctly again.

That coupled with some new glasses, well overdue as I had been wearing the same pair for 10 years, has cheered me up.

Still working on getting my husband's health issued sorted.  We saw his new primary care physician last week and she is young and dynamic.  She is getting him a ct scan done on the area in his chest where he has a port implanted as he has been having a lot of pain in the area.  Once we know for sure his port is OK she will pursue his neurologist about getting him some treatment asap.  He needs the port to be functional to administer the infusions or plasmatheresis.

Pictures to follow in the next blog.

Time is going by so fast!

Things have been a tad hectic here.  My husband is not doing too well and is in dire need of some treatment, either plasmatheresis or an infusion of the drug that kills off his immune system.  (His immune system attacks his central nervous system and kills of his nerves). Neither option is good as it involves travel and hospitals which increases his and my risk of exposure to Covid 19.  But he has to get something done or he will deteriorate to the point that he will not be able to recover what he is losing. I expect that has already happened and even with the treatment he will not recover much but further deterioration should stop for a while.

He has been working on getting his studio set up some more but has had horrendous computer problems which has not helped at all.  I try to help as much as I am able but as he says "Mercury must be in retrograde."  I think that is his catch all phrase when he gets computer problems lol.

I have emailed his neurologist again and asked him to set up asap some treatment for him, hope we hear back soon.  

We are still in the dog days of summer here, I hope it starts to cool down in a few weeks so I can get outside more.

That all said, time is flying by. My knee is fine, I am really happy how it has turned out. 

I am still knitting the baby hoodie.  Back, front and sleeves are done and I am working on the hood now.  No rush as it is for age 6-12 months.

I have the urge to sew but my sewing room is in disarray, it is full of stuff from my husband's studio.  When he gets his room sorted I will work on mine then I will sew.

Covid has impacted everyone's life, I wonder if things will ever be the same again.  We are fortunate to live in an isolated place so going outside is not a problem when the weather is cooler, we do not see anyone other than the delivery driver from Amazon when we order anything.  Another impact of Covid, online shopping.  We even order our groceries online and just drive to the parking lot and they load it into the back of the van.  Now that is one thing I actually like.  Even when Covid isn't a threat anymore I will continue to do that but I will go inside for fresh produce and bread.  

Stay safe everyone!

Facebook avators

Someone asked how I got my icon. I mistakenly called it an icon but it is an avatar.  I couldn't remember how I did it.  I do know at the time I had to ask how to do it and I think I had to do it on my phone.

I googled it today and found this link.

https://heavy.com/entertainment/2020/05/how-to-make-facebook-avatar/

I hope it helps and I would love to see any that anyone makes.

Icon - v - the real thing

Here is a selfie I took today.

The icon is above in the title.

My FB icon

This is my FB icon, I like it.  I only wish though that my teeth were as nice. The rest is pretty accurate except my legs are not that nice either lol.  But the dress style is perfect.

8 and a bit weeks post surgery

The time since surgery has flown by.  I am surprised how quickly it has.  It was a horrible experience but the bad memories are  fading quickly and I am now glad I had the total knee replacement surgery.

There is still numbness on the knee cap and a little around it and it still swells up some days but it is certainly better now than it was before the surgery and it will continue to improve.

I can sleep on either side now and it doesn't consume me every minute of the day any more.  I still take one Aleve every morning and night and I do rub in Blue Emu cream every day.  I believe the cream has been very beneficial to the process.

As for making things:-  Well, the baby hoodie cardigan is progressing well, the back and two fronts are done and I am working on the sleeves.

My daughter has asked for another set of leather coasters for her Christmas present so that has inspired me to think about leather work again.  Right now it is too hot to work in the workshop but I checked my leather supplies.  I gave her options of what I could make.

She chose the 3rd one with the 2 rounds.  I do not have enough of the smaller rounds but I managed to find a die to cut them out on sale at Tandy leather.  Of course, after I ordered this and paid for it I found that another retailer we used to buy from supplies the pre-cut shapes.  Oh well, I now have another leather tool lol.

I love working with tooling leather and making the patterns.  She wants dragon flies and I had bought a new dragonfly stamp awhile ago so it is perfect. I already have one but the new one is more detailed.  Of course, to justify the postage for the Tandy order I bought a miniature one too.

This is the last set of coasters I made her, I have improved my skills since then.  At least I hope I have, it has been awhile since I did any leather work.

As I have plenty of time I will make 6 this time as now my grand daughters have boyfriends there are 6 of them when they all get together.

It is good to be back in the creative mindset.

Yay me!

It is now almost 6 weeks since the surgery. The past couple of weeks have shown a lot of progress for which I am very grateful.

First thing, this week I managed to cycle forwards on the recumbent bike.  After weeks of trying, I finally made it.

The PT are happy with me, they were going to dismiss me but we talked about it and decided to wait until I saw the Doc on the 6th July, so just one visit from them next week then one after the doc visit.

I am mostly walking unaided.  I do take a stick with me if we go away from the house but in and around the house it is all unaided.

I can now get up from a chair just using my legs, no pushing up with my arms.

And the icing on the cake was this morning, whilst listening to oldies, I started to dance and was in time to the music!  Nothing drastic but definitely both legs were in action.

Most of the swelling has gone but there is still some numbness but it is usual so nothing to worry about.

I am now glad I got it done but I am certainly not considering getting the other one done any time soon lol.

There may be hope for me yet!

Today I ordered some baby yarn to knit a little cardigan for my good friend and neighbour's soon expected great grandson.  She raised her grandson so is very close to him. We have known him since he was quite young so we are close to him too.

We attended his wedding last year and now their son is due next month.

I found a nice pattern online for a baby hoodie and printed it up and now eagerly await the yarn so I can start.

It is so good to think of something other than my knee. Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel!

26 days post surgery

Things are improving every day.  It still hurts but most of the swelling has gone down.  The scar is ugly but that too will improve with time.

The physio is getting harder but definitely helps.  The knee  bending machine is due to go back any day, just waiting on a call from them to say they are coming to get it.

We bought a recumbent bike, we had to assemble it.  I say we but my husband actually put it all together, I sat nearby and read out the instructions and passed him the nuts and bolts, he did all the hard work.  I can't do a full turn yet so I just go back and forth as far as I can. Hopefully soon I will be able to do a full rotation.

The tightness in and around the knee is easing but it has not gone away fully yet.

Friday and Saturday I felt a bit down, feel a bit better today.

I am now able to lie on both my left and right sides but it isn't comfortable enough to sleep so still sleeping on my back.

I know that I wouldn't want to go through this again but I can see that eventually I will be glad I did. Not quite there yet.

I am back to doing some chores, my husband is doing more than me still in the house plus the outside stuff. I am trying to do as much as I can to lighten his load. Each day I can do a little more.

Our dishwasher quit. What timing eh! I need to research before getting a new one because we need one that can cope with low water pressure and flow. I have taken on all the dishwashing duties and do most of the cooking now.

My husband has been an absolute trooper, I could not have gone through this without his help, love and support. I am truly blessed.

12 days post surgery

I am writing this whilst doing my first of two sessions today on the knee bending machine. 2 hours each session makes for a lot of time on the machine we have nick named 'The Rack"

It sits on the bed and my left leg is strapped in and the machine just keeps bending it back and forth. I started of at a range of motion of 60. I have been gradually increasing it daily and am up to 85. I need to get past 90. Slow baby steps! I have this machine for three weeks so am making the most of it.

I am able to get around more but have to use the walker. I have been able to do a little to help my husband out.

Still very uncomfortable and sore but it is improving slowly and for that I am grateful. The swelling isn't going down very fast though.

So, still nowhere near the "I am so glad I got this done" stage of the proceedings but feeling like progress is being made.

The doc did say the first two weeks would be totally miserable. He was not wrong lol.

Seven days on from surgery

I wish I could say it has been easy but it has not. After the nerve block wore off it has been horrible.

The amount of pain and disability has been a shock even though I knew it was going to be bad.  At least now I can get in and out of bed myself and in and out of my chair and on and off the toilet.  My poor husband who is not in good health at all has had to do everything. I did have the option to go into a nursing home but to be truthful I was afraid to when you hear of all the folks getting covid19 in them.  It would have been much easier had the risk not been there.

I have not been able to make it upstairs to the bathroom yet for a shower. Wipes have been my best friends. My hair is horrid though and the dry shampoo isn't helping at all.

It has been a miserable time.

I know it will slowly get better and things will improve. Already there has been some.

I know in time it will be worth all the pain and discomfort.

I just needed to document how it has been and currently is.

Not looking for sympathy, it was ultimately my choice to make to get it done.

Will probably look back at this one day and think how wussy I was but for now I am allowing myself a little self pity.

Please no sympathy, snap out of it or motivational comments.  I have already said all that to myself. Just allow me and forgive this self indulgence for this one time.

Hoping for more positive things to come and having undying love and thanks for my wonderful husband.

In the hospital

I had my total left knee replacement yesterday. I will be going home tomorrow and will have physio and nurse come in. Physio will be for several weeks.

After the surgery I was totally out of things and couldn't keep anything down. That wore off overnight and today I have been totally with it. I have enjoyed having meals provided and the food has been very good. I was ready for a few days of not putting three meals a day on the table.

The pain hasn't been as bad as I expected but they did do a nerve block before the surgery which helped enormously. That should wear off tomorrow and they say the third day is the worst.

We are all set up at home for my return.

will update again after I am home and settled.

So much for my posting on a weekly basis!

I am not a good blogger when I am not making much.  I did make a couple of masks and finish the last shepherd for the nativity scene but that has been it!

My mojo has gone.

I saw my knee surgeon yesterday as my left knee has been really weak and sore for a few months now.  I am scheduled for a knee replacement in just over two weeks.  I was a tad surprised as I didn't know they were doing the surgeries but they are.  I thought I would just get added to the waiting list.

I am glad it is getting done, my left knee doesn't have many miles left in it.  He told me 18 months ago that it needed replacing but there was so much going on with my husband that it wasn't practical to get it done. I know it is going to be ghastly for a few weeks afterwards but I think long term I will be glad.  I am pretty much useless right now.  I can do a few tasks a day but it is very difficult.

Will keep you updated.  Have to do pre op stuff and have a cat scan and a covid 19 screening test where they stick the swabby things right up into the nostrils.  The nurse told me it was quite invasive but not painful.  It will be good to be screened.

My thinking is that as we are social distancing right now and will continue to do so because of my husband's high risk I might as well be home recovering from the surgery when it is warm and sunny the virus should be much less active.  He is not attending for hospital appointments for himself right now because of the risk. So the timing is good.

Happy Easter

Hope everyone is having a nice Easter.

Here is a little video something from us which will hopefully make you smile.

Enjoy! We sure had fun making it.

You have to click on the 'Happy Easter everyone' below to watch it.

Happy Easter everyone

Still OK here in the boonies

We are still doing OK.  Last night we made a dash to the gas station to fill up the vehicle with gas and get gas for the mowers.  We were very careful, we wore some old surgical masks we have for my husband, just the flimsy sort, and some disposable gloves.

We filled up the vehicle and the gas cans then disposed of the gloves in their trash can.  The gas station is on a busy highway that goes across the state so one never knows where the person who filled up before you has driven from.

Our nearest store is still taking grocery orders over the phone and City Hall delivers them. They even had salt for the water softener.  I just asked out of desperation because when I looked at Amazon the cost was astronomical for a bag of it.  We usually pay about $7 to $8 a bag for it at Walmart and the cheapest I could find on Amazon was $24. So much for free shipping!

Our land is coming alive with trees and bushes flowering and the bulbs in flower. The grass is also growing but the ground is still to wet to mow with all the rain we have had.

I picked up my knitting needles again and decided to start and knit the second shepherd for the nativity scene I worked on last year.  Also I cut out a cover for a dog crate we had stored away.  Our sweet Maggie is terrified in storms so I thought it might be a nice place for her to hide away when the storms come.  I have to get on and sew it all together now.

I took the old bread maker out of retirement.  It is a cranky old thing but it still works.  I have to set an upturned dish on top of the basket as it jumps off the thing that turns the paddle when it is kneading the mixture.  The dish rests against the top but today the glass cracked on it, probably because the dish bashed against it, in the middle of making a loaf.  I stuck a bit of painters tape over the crack. It is still in progress so will know in an hour or so if it still cooks properly.

I have sent off an SOS to my good friend and neighbour for idiot proof instructions on how to make a basic white loaf by hand.  She bakes all her own bread and always has.  She couldn't believe that I have never baked any from scratch before. 

So that's about it for now here in the middle of nowhere. Stay safe and well everyone. XXXXX

Weekly update

I am going to try and update weekly if I can discipline myself.  All still good here thankfully.

We are still able to get most of what we need delivered by the county so that is good.

Beautiful warmer day today.  We are able to go outside because there are no other properties within at least a half a mile.

My husband has COPD and he is coughing more lately but he is not running a temperature or showing any signs of infection.  He should get treatment for his autoimmune disease but all elective procedures are cancelled until further notice.

Stay safe and isolated everyone out there.
XXXXX

All is OK thus far

Just to let you know things are good here right now.  Our local County organised grocery deliveries from the local store for anyone living in their area who needed it especially seniors and people with pre existing conditions.  We qualify on both counts.  We order and pay the grocery store and the county delivers. 

Hoping everyone out there is doing OK and getting all they need.

Take care everyone and be safe.
XXXXX

Still around, just not making anything right now

It has been a weird couple of months here.  All is well so far with my husband's heart, it has stayed in regular rhythm and he feels better for that.  Now he is waiting for another Infusion to help combat the auto immune disease he has.  The only problem with that is it wipes out his immune system as it kills off all his existing antibodies. (The little boogers attack his nervous system and weaken him so they have to go).  But the Corona virus is looming large all over the world so that is a problem because if he gets infected he has no resistance.  Sort of caught between a rock and a hard place. They re-populate over time hence the ongoing infusions.  His choice to make on whether to go ahead this time or wait.  Waiting for it to get approved and scheduled before making the final decision.

To keep himself busy he is resurrecting some novels he wrote about 30 years ago.  A lengthy task. He is hoping to self publish on Kindle Publishing.  I am helping him which is taking up a lot of my time.  That is the reason for the lack of posts.

Spring is trying to make an appearance here in the boonies, bulbs are popping up everywhere and I thought I saw a hint of leaves budding on the trees. 

Hope all is well in your worlds.

Funny old weather

Today it is bitterly cold but the sun is shining.  We had a couple of very wet days followed by a dry and warmer day now it is very cold and sunny and tomorrow is going to be even colder.

My husband is doing OK.  He keeps getting feverish but it comes and goes.  They told him to take Tylenol to help.  We go back on Wednesday for a post op checkup and a visit with his cardiologist.

We set up the monitor which supposedly transmits at night when he is sleeping.  The loop recorder was implanted at the same time as the ablation procedures were done. Haven't heard that it isn't working so am assuming it is.

He isn't feeling quite as good as he first was and I have noticed his nice pink colour has gone and his lips are bluey again.  Hope it is only temporary.  They say it takes 3 months for the scar tissue to build up which should stop the errant signals causing the afib and atrial flutter.

Going to watch a couple of American football games today, these will decide who goes to the Superbowl.  I am hoping the KC Chiefs go through. Go Chiefs!

January is always a bit of a blah month for me.  I need a project.  I have been resurrecting my darning skills and darning some socks but it isn't my favourite task.  My neighbour's grandson and his wife are expecting a baby so I have been checking out yarn online.  Walmart has reduced it's stock of yarn so not much choice there.

Timer to start preparing lunch so off I go.  Stay warm everyone!

My husband's heart procedures were done yesterday

He was on the operating table for four hours. The doctor spoke with me after and said it went well but it takes 3 months before they can tell if it has worked. They implanted a loop monitor in his chest which monitors his heart all the time and records any anomalies and transmits them and an EKG every evening. Pretty nifty in my opinion.

He started with a temperature last night so he has to stay in again tonight and they will review again in the morning. He is sleeping a lot but has eaten today. Yesterday he didn't eat at all.  I can stay in the room with him, there is a chair that folds down into a bed, not the most comfortable but I am grateful to be able to stay with him.

Hoping his temperature goes down so we can leave tomorrow as the weather turns nasty on Friday and I don't want to drive the 150 miles home in the freezing rain and snow.

I have played an awful lot of practise scrabble games in the past two days.

Differing views on retirement

This is a bit of a reflective post and may not be of interest to anyone else but I wanted to get it out of my head and onto paper so I won't keep worrying about it.

My husband and I have differing views on retirement.  Both come from our upbringing.  My husband's family had a lot of farmer's in it.  To his mind you work until you drop dead as did many of his ancestor's.  My husband never went into farming but he has had several businesses over they years.  When we moved here 15 years ago there was a lot to do to reclaim the land etc. and although we have dabbled in enterprises our main focus was on our place.

My family all worked in paid employment for a living where they worked until you were 65 then retired and enjoyed what was left of their life.  I always had paid employment, never my own business except I did used to prepare tax returns for payment in tax season on top of being employed.  When we moved here I worked for about a year then retired. I was 56.

My husband was first diagnosed with heart problems shortly after moving here, he was 60 and had 3 stents placed to open up his blocked arteries.  He had already been diagnosed with central and obstructive sleep apnea and neuropathy and after that he was diagnosed with auto immune disease and diabetes.  He had two of the stents clog up again and was restented then had another stent inserted.  He got sepsis and recovered. Now over the past couple of years these other heart issues have manifested.

All in all, he is not a well man.  But will he retire as such.......No!  Even though he can not do much physically he is writing books to self publish in a bid to make some money.  He has written books before but never published them, some of them are in manuscript form and some are on floppy discs which we may never be able to recover. 

I help as much as I can by reading and reviewing and some editing but he is doing most of it.

For me, taking care of him, the dog and the house takes up pretty much most of my time and I have no will to try and earn money on top of that.  We eke out our money, pay all our bills and eat pretty well.  Actually, keeping my husband fed is almost a full time job. 😀 For all his illnesses he rarely loses his appetite.  He likes his three meals a day and usually two of them are cooked.

I doubt he will ever stop trying to earn money or work on fixing the place up and I worry that he will be like many of his ancestors and work until he drops dead.  He is 75 now and as such doesn't have a lifetime left but will he ever retire?  I doubt it.

All done and dusted

Well, that is not quite literal as no dusting has been done yet but all the Christmas stuff has been taken down and put away.  I took the time this year to reorganise my totes as things had got quite mixed up.  Now I have outside lights and the big outside ornaments plus inside lights in one, stuff that I really don't bring out anymore is in another, what I used this year for the tree is in another and all surplus tree ornaments in another in case I ever get a bigger tree. These are back in the workshop.  I have a tote full of handmade ornaments and my new nativity set which will be stored indoors.  The tree stays indoors too, it has been taken apart, wrapped in clingfilm to keep it nice and tight so it could go back in the box.

I had made much more effort this year and really enjoyed having the Christmas tree and lights etc. up. Hopefully I will feel up to it again next Christmas.

We went last week to the VA hospital for my husband to have the cardioversion (heart shocked under anaesthetic). It took 2 shocks to get his heart back into normal rhythm but alas it didn't last.  He went right back into atrial flutter the same night.

He goes for the 2 ablations on the 14th, it will be several months after before we know if it has worked because the scar tissue has to build up in his atrial chambers for it to stop the misfiring of his heart.  It isn't guaranteed but hopefully it will work.

Meanwhile, we plod on and are grateful that it is winter and the grass doesn't grow because he could not do much outside right now.  I think last year was his last hurrah for doing manual work.  He accomplished so much getting the work done on the house and landscaping.  That might have been the cause. He has had arrhythmia for quite some time but it certainly escalated last autumn (Fall) to the point that he gets so out of breath all the time now with the slightest exertion.  His sleep is interrupted with it too. He really isn't very well right now

I can do a lot of the mowing but I am not able to do any hard physical stuff as my knee gets so sore.

We are debating on putting the house up for sale again, we will know better after he has his heart procedures.

Oh the irony!

Yesterday, New Year's Eve, I made myself a treat.  Scotch eggs.  Now for my British blogger friends these are easily available in the shops and therefore probably not deemed to be anything special but here in the US you have to make them if you want them.

The first time I made them here was in October 2017 when we purchased an air fryer, it was the first thing I made in it.  The second time I made them was yesterday and the darned air fryer gave up the goat.  It made some weird noise and then quit, right in the middle of them cooking!

The irony is, Scotch eggs were the first and last thing cooked in it.

I did finish them off in the oven and they were delicious.  I made three, one for yesterday, one for today and one for tomorrow.  They should get me by for another year or so.

I will not be replacing it, it was quite big and took up a lot of worktop space.  We have since purchased a microwave combi type oven that has a convection cooking setting so I will use that in future.

Happy New Year

It has been a year of ups and downs for us as I know it has been for a lot of the folks whose blogs I read so I am wishing all of us

" A very happy, healthy and love filled New Year and some wealth thrown in for good measure."
XXXXX

The third King made it just in the nick of time

King 3 showed up finally on Christmas Eve. The shepherds were off watching their flocks and never made it but they will be in attendance next year.

I wish all my blogging friends the merriest of Christmases and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

My first make with the Golden Syrup

Caramel Corn!

It has been a very long time since I had made any of this.  My husband likes it, even though he shouldn't as he is diabetic, so I thought I would give it a go.

A quick google for a recipe and after the grand opening of the Lyle's golden syrup, Voila!

I have managed to bag some of it up for later.  This was only half of what I made, the other tray was quickly eaten up by us both.

An irrational self indulgence

Last week I had the overwhelming desire for some good old fashioned English flapjack.  I know it differs from US flapjacks but not sure how as I have never had flapjacks knowingly.

Any way, I searched for recipes and they all called for Lyle's golden syrup.  Well, I could compensate, couldn't I?  What did I have to use instead.  I did not have corn syrup and have never tried it but I did have some molasses. I also had pancake syrup.

The recipes all called for quick oats too but I wanted to use up some rolled oats as I bought them and didn't like the porridge they made.

So in my infinite wisdom I made flapjack using the rolled oats, a mix of molasses and pancake syrup and the other required ingredients of brown sugar and butter (which I did have).

It smelt good but it did not taste so good and it didn't hold together.  It needed the quick oats and the Lyles golden syrup.

I went on Amazon and searched for it.

It was available at a price!  I small tin of it was nearly $10, two tins were $13 and I could have got 4 for $17.  My mind opted for the 4 tins as it was so much better value and decided against just one tin as it was way to much money.  Finally common sense prevailed, well almost lol, and I ordered 2 tins.  This was the equivalent of 10 UKP.

Yes 2 tins of golden syrup cost me ten flipping pounds!  Can any of my English blog friends tell me how much a tin costs nowadays please?

But, today, they finally arrived.  Bad weather had delayed the delivery process.  In order to justify my rashness I will be giving my good friend and neighbour one of them.

Anyway, here they are in all their glory and the tins are just the same as they were when I was a kid.  Such fond memories!

Good old English flapjack will be made for Christmas!  I have the correct oats too.

Where do the comments go???

I really enjoy writing my blogs and reading all my blog friend's blogs.  Sometimes I comment but not often and sometimes I get comments.

I always appreciate any one who has taken the time to comment and always publish them, (except the one offering escorts!).

But sometimes they just disappear!

Please know that if you have commented I have tried to publish.  The must be a far off cyber sight somewhere in the blogger sphere where these comments are hiding out.  Maybe it is somewhere near the tumble dryer lost socks place!

The nativity Scene and that cheeky Elf!

 I have not finished all the characters for the nativity scene but I have set it up anyway.  Next year it will be complete with the 3rd King and two shepherds.

Now as for that mischevious elf, he is having a whale of a time at our house.  I really think he needs his own elf on a shelf to keep an eye on him!  This morning he was found trying to hitch a lift on Santa himself!

Christmas preps are about done, cards all mailed, most of the food is bought and presents for the children are almost all bought.

Time to slow down a bit now and watch some TV and do some Christmas baking.

I succumbed

After my lamenting that I really just don't feel inclined to deck the house with Christmas things my husband and I had a chat and decided that as this may be our last Christmas in this house we should make the effort.  We decided no spending though, we would use what we had.  But, there is always a but, isn't there?  Our angel has disappeared, I couldn't find her in our Christmas totes in the workshop so I went to our localish Thrift store and got a lighted star topper for $1. It is a bit wobbly but it works.

The outside lights and big baubles went up on the front porch, even the white wire lighted reindeer made an appearance but this will be his last sadly as his lights on his head and antlers no longer work.  He has served us well over the years.

I strung the lights around the living room, hung up the sparkly stars and did some jiggery pokering and found space for the larger tree.

Elfie has been keeping a close eye on all the shenanigans and reporting back to Santa every night.  The snowman in the picture was one made by my stepson when he was little, we found it in his storage boxes after he was killed in a car crash nearly three years ago.  Although a bit worse for wear he comes out every Christmas now.

We are going to buy presents just for the children this year.  It has been a tough year financially for us and with the house sale falling through it left us a tad on the skint side.

We have lots off upcoming appointments coming up.  My husband has to have an MRI of his heart on Monday, then two days after Christmas he has to have his heart shocked (cardioversion) to try and get it back into regular rhythm to give him some short term relief.  This was supposed to be done on the 18th but they cancelled because they didn't have an anesthetist available. Then he has to go early in January for an echocardiogram chemical stress test to check for any further blockages and damage then in the middle of January he gets two ablation procedures.  Both atrial chambers are being worked on in a bid to stop the afib and the atrial flutter.  This is a four hour procedure under anaesthetic if they can get to it through his groin. They go in both sides.  If not then it will be open heart surgery.  Hoping for the former!

Then there are the usual appointments and follow ups so we will be doing a lot of travelling in the next few months.

Despite all of this we are really trying to get into the Christmas spirit this year and it is actually working.  Yay us!

Wishing the same for you all too.

King #1 is done

I have made the first of the Three Kings.  I am very happy with him, he looks quite splendid in my humble opinion.

I just love his hat.

The grey/silver yarn has a sparkly thread running through it but it doesn't show up too well on the photos.

Now a bit of an indulgence.  We got an 'elf on the shelf'.  Not the expensive $30 one, I couldn't justify that to myself but a copycat one from Amazon.  He is very cute and as Maggie our American Bulldog is the only thing resembling a child in the household she has been told the story of the elf and that he is reporting to Santa every night on whether she has been a good doggie.  So far so good!  She did get me up at 1.30am a few nights ago but that was before the elf arrived so doesn't count lol.

I have never seen the original elf on a shelf close up so not sure how this one measures up but he works for us.  The reviews were excellent so I guess it is comparable.

I am going to see if I can insert some bendy wire into his legs and arms so I can better position him around the place.

Today is Thanksgiving here in the US so I wish all my American blogger friends a Happy Thanksgiving.

I made one sheep for the scene, won't be rushing to make another!

I knitted a sheep for the scene.  Fiddly, fiddly, fiddly!  It doesn't look that great either so won't be making any more. It involves knitting with 2 strands of yarn on thin needles for part of it and that really hurts my hands these days. Arthritis has escalated in them this year. 

I have started on one of the wise men.

Had a lot of hospital appointments lately and two more next week.  My husband sees the cardio physiologist on Tuesday to see what and if they can do anything to stop the atrial flutter and afib.  On Monday he has a colonoscopy so he will be fasting and cleansing all weekend, poor guy.

It has cooled off here which for me is quite wonderful but we have had a few days which were even too cold for me.  Thankfully, the upcoming week is not forecast to be too bad, 40's and 50's.

Today we put our purple 'No Hunting' tapes around the trees along our frontage,  I saw a strange vehicle yesterday evening creeping up our driveway. Probably out of area hunters looking for good hunting land. They will have to look elsewhere I'm afraid, we do not allow hunting on our land unless it is ourselves and my husband isn't well enough this year.

Still chasing that Christmas spirit which is very elusive this year. I miss getting all excited about Christmas, now it just seems such a chore.

Housework has also become difficult because my left knee, which badly needs to be replaced, is really hurting and walking is becoming more and more difficult.  I am wearing a knee support all day and using a cane.  We were hoping to be moved by now and living much closer to hospitals and clinics so having the surgery would be a lot easier in as much as there would not be all the travelling to and from the hospital and rehab clinic.  Also it would be easier for the nurse to come to the house for the after care.  There is always next year.....hopefully.   

Mary and the baby Jesus are done

I have got Mary, baby Jesus and the manger with straw done.  I showed a picture to my neighbour who in turn showed it to her adult grandson and he wanted to know if it was a baby corn cob in the manger.  Cheeky I say, cheeky lol.

Anyway here are the family:-

I wish I could get into the Christmas spirit, it is cold enough and I have watched some Christmas movies and have worked on the Nativity characters but no 'spirit' yet.

I even bought this years Jacquie Lawson advent calendar in readiness, which looks to be the best one yet, but still nothing!

Maybe I am a little early this year, who knows?

Our house feels like home again

Whilst the house was on the market and people were traipsing through to view it, it just didn't feel like home any more.  Once we had a prospective buyer and we started packing and has boxes and totes everywhere it was even worse.

Stuff is still packed in boxes and totes but they are behind closed doors for now in closets and cupboards.

We know we have to sell and move but for the next few months until we see if we can get my husband's heart issues sorted and Thanksgiving and Christmas done it is back to being home.

I have even started on knitting Mary!

Well that's that then!

As suspected, the buyers of our house didn't get the financing.  I am a tad annoyed (slight understatement here!)  as they were told from the get go that the house would qualify for a conventional mortgage but not a VA mortgage. They insisted on going the VA route because they didn't have the down payment for a conventional loan and of course, it was a no go.  The VA wanted a series of repairs done to grant the mortgage.  We had spent all our money on doing the other things I have been blogging about so we were not able to do them and besides we had dropped the price by $10,000 to accommodate the repairs.  The house was appraised at $20,000 more than our asking price in it's current condition but VA would not budge.

We knew this would be the case from the get go so why the buyers wasted their and our time is a mystery.  The realtor had made it really clear to them that a VA loan wouldn't work.

For now we have taken it off the market.  My husband has been diagnosed with more heart issues and has been told no more stress and no more hard physical work.  He is restricted to gentle exercise like walking until they decide if they are going to do more procedures on him.  Ablation is what they are looking at where they scar the inside of the atrial chambers to stop the atrial fib and atrial flutter he is having.

I have managed to get some unpacking done but my sewing room is still in disarray with totes everywhere.  Perhaps later this week I will get around to sorting it all out.

Prior to the past month or so's goings on I did manage to knit Joseph. Maybe I will get Mary and Jesus done in time for Christmas, I seem to have lost my mojo right now.  The rest of the characters will have to be a next year project.

Here is Joseph, I am quite happy with how he turned out and the characters are quite a bit bigger than I thought they would be,

Traumatised

It has been a roller coaster ride since my last post.  On the day we had set for taking the house off the market we got an offer.  We had reduced the price of the house and they knocked it down a bit more.  On the strength of their offer and their timing we put an offer in on a house much nearer to the VA hospital which was accepted with a contingency that our house closed on the 16th of this month.

They have not got their finance sorted yet which means it won't close for another 5 or 6 weeks at the earliest even if they do.  That seems doubtful right now.  So we will have to forfeit the house we have an offer on.

It is a horrible time, we are half packed, in a state of limbo and I am close to breaking point.

Decision made

We have decided to take the house of the market mid September until Spring next year.

The house selling season is coming to an end and hunting season will be starting.  My husband doesn't know if he will hunt or not this year but we are out of deer meat so he may.  At least he will now have the option.  It is hard for him these days, all the prep and getting back and forth to the blind in the cold winter mornings.

In hindsight, we listed too soon.  We had hoped for a quick sale as it was priced for that but it didn't happen.  We have made many improvements but most of the viewers saw it at the beginning before they were done.  We will continue with improvements as and when we can so by next Spring we will be more ready.

I couldn't take not doing any crafts any longer so on the last day of August I embarked on my knitted nativity scene.

It is quite a big project.  7 bodies and heads, 7 cloaks, 14 hands, 7 hats or headpieces, 3 gifts, a crib, a baby, a blanket and three sheep, oh and some hair and beards too.

It was supposed to be a year long project and not at all rushed but now I will have to be a tad more speedy in my endeavors but it is so good to be doing something again.  I have only made Joesph's body and head so far.



I found this guy I had made earlier in the year before we embarked on the house selling saga in April.  It was from the same book by Jean Greenhowe that the Nativity scene is in. I like the patterns, they are easy to follow. You can't tell from the picture, the white wool has a sparkly thread running through it so it looks like glistening snow.

We are having a couple of quite hot days today and tomorrow but I believe from thereon it will start to cool down.  There are signs of Autumn (Fall) already.  Leaves are beginning to change colour and fall and acorns are dropping.  The humming birds are still here and I found out that it doesn't hurt to keep putting out nectar, they will go when it is time regardless of the feeders still being full and sometimes others in flight home will pop down for a drink on their way. So for now I am keeping them filled up.

It will be nice to have it a bit cooler though, so I am looking forward to the next few months.

Hope everyone has had a good summer.

Home sellers fatigue syndrome

Home sellers fatigue syndrome!!!

I have it! The phrase coined by a reporter named Nancy Watkins, (according to the internet and we all know it doesn't lie, right)?

When we decided it was time to sell our property I never envisioned how frustrating it would become.

My husband, bless him, is on a mission to get all the jobs done that need doing.  Every time a potential buyer comes but doesn't buy he comes up with a new reason why they didn't and a new project to complete.

He is nearly 75 and disabled, I just had my 71st birthday and am badly in need of two new knees.  We really don't need to be doing all this stuff but he persists and out of guilt I do my best to help. It is surprising how much a person can do sitting down.  My husband's legs are very weak from the auto immune disease but he is very innovative when he wants to be so his trusty 'box' has had a lot of use these past few months.  The box is one he made from scraps of wood which he uses to sit on for outside jobs.

Today, I put my foot down and said No!  I am having a day off!  He went out and did some stuff but I stayed indoors.  We are having really hot and humid weather right now which doesn't agree with either of us.  We saw his neurologist yesterday who told us about 'Cooling vests'.  He wrote to his PCP asking him to see if the VA will provide one for him.  If not we will purchase one for $100.

I am sure that a lot of the people who come to view are just curious but do they realise how much time and effort goes in when a viewing is scheduled.  I have a checklist of 15 things that I do for a viewing.  Things like put all medications out of sight, apparently viewers are put off by such things. Move the dog beds, same thing.  Put on the bed cover, we only sleep under sheets in the summer time but the bedroom looks much nicer with the comforter on.  I won't bore you with the rest of the list but you get my drift. These are aside from all the cleaning.  My house has never been vacuumed and dusted so much in years lol.

The photos on the listing are not deceptive, unlike some listings where the photos are enhanced to make the rooms look huge, they portray the house as it is.  So if people are interested enough to come and look after seeing them they should not be disappointed as the place actually looks a lot better now than when the photos were taken.  So, I am a little disappointed and surprised that no one has made an offer yet.  The realtor did take new pictures last week when he was showing the house but so far they have not appeared on the listing.  Must call him about that.

Also, we have to be out of the house when they come and we have to take the dog so that means we can't go and get a meal or shop or anything because it is too hot to leave Maggie in the vehicle even with windows open so we have to ride round for about an hour and a half.

On the plus side though is that the jobs are getting done, albeit slowly and if we do not manage to sell we are reaping the benefits.

Our biggest job so far was to get the front wall of the workshop replaced and landscaped so as to prevent flooding.  This is a job we have ignored for years and years.  My husband was convinced that the early viewers were put off by this so we spent quite a lot of money to have a new pathway concreted and a concrete wall put in so that the water wouldn't seep into the shop.  Of course, this was well above our pay grade so we contracted the concrete guys to do it. We had to cut down the studs in the wall and splice them back in for the wall and put in framing for the windows.

My husband and I planed and tongue and grooved the cedar for the wall and re-purposed some old windows to put in and my step son spent 4 days of his vacation putting the wall up for us.  The prep took us a long time as we can't do much at a time.

The landscaping took a long time also, what would have taken us just days years ago takes us weeks and weeks now.

There is no flooding in front of the shop now even with the nastiest storms.

Here are the before and after pictures.

This was a real eyesore

Now it looks really good

My making things is on hold.  As my fellow crafters know, making things usually involves a lot of mess so I am not doing any so that the place stays tidy.  My fingers are itching to knit and sew.  I dismantled my knitting machines so the temptation is not so bad for that.  Hand knitting will be coming back out soon though, I need to be doing something and I have the nativity characters to start on.  I just need to be a bit more tidy when I do it though so I can just shove it all in a cupboard very quickly when someone wants to view. The sewing machines are calling out to me too but I have packed away all my fabrics.

Hope every one who reads my blog is having a good summer and life is as good as it can be.
XXXXX

Still no house sale but plenty getting done

So, the irony is we needed to sell our property because the upkeep was becoming too much for us.  BUT, in order to sell it we are having to do all the things that needed doing.

We love our property, we have a largish house, a huge workshop and 20 acres.  Now the land isn't flat, it is hilly and wooded.  There are about 7 acres that are cleared and have grass that we mow but it isn't farmland, just recreational.

By the time we have sold it and paid moving costs we will end up in a smaller ranch type house (bungalow) with a small (by comparison) back yard (garden) and no workshop.

But we will be much closer to the VA hospital and that is becoming very important due to the number of ER visits we have made over the past few years.

We keep plodding on, doing as much as we can and hope that someone falls in love with the place just as we did.

We have had a lot, and I mean a lot of rain this year.  The downpours would flood in front of the workshop and it would leak into part of it.  We had new sloping concrete poured in front of it and we took down and replaced one wall and put up new guttering.  It is so much better and we are very proud of ourselves.  We did get some help from my stepson when he and his family came to visit a couple of weeks ago but we did weeks of prep work before he came and have done lots since he left but his help was invaluable.  He was able to do the work that required ladders which we can't do anymore.

Thought I had better post as it had been almost two months since my last one.