An Ode to My Van

Today is the season finale of my van... It has gotten us through many tough spots and events, all beginning with my father-in-law's last days on earth. Hence.. my van story...

In November, 2003 we were on our way out of town to visit my FIL who was gravely ill. I proceeded to hit a deer on the way with my Ford, had the county sheriff come and pick us up, haul us into the next town where a dealership had a used van sitting and warming up for us to continue our journey. We ended up buying that van to use at our business for deliveries. We lost Bill's dad November 15th. Since we had the extra vehicle now, our son was going to buy the '67 Ford from us and wanted it repaired. The weekend he took it to be repaired, we lent him one of our vehicles. That was the weekend that Tyler was killed in an auto accident - just two weeks after losing Bill's dad. The van kept running tho, even though the poor thing was old and had nearly 200,000 miles on it. It was nice to have something that just kept on going, even when we had pretty much just stopped living. But times change, people heal and go on as best as they can. Vans have different stories. They can't last forever, even though you'd sure like for that to happen. Our van took us through the loss of many, and the loss of much. It stood by us through thick and thin, it let itself be made fun of and degraded, it always did it's job, it got old and rusty, but never wanted to give up - it was kind of like the story "The Giving Tree" only substitute my van for that dear tree.

He's off to maybe help some other of his kind work better, look better, feel better.... and to give other owners maybe some peace of mind at finding local parts.

I know, this all probably sounds pretty soppy and silly, but this van has seen a lot and been through even more. He's been our best friend through it all.

I will miss you - now it's time for you to go help others...........

Mother's Day 2010

I have to say that almost 80% of this Mother's Day weekend was the best ever. Nothing is ever perfect, so I had to shave something off that 100% goal. But all in all, it was one of the best weekends I've been able to enjoy in a very long time.

I miss my dear little mother. Her last years were some of the most precious ones to me. I still strive (maybe a little obsessively) to please her, do what she would have expected of me, and love to think on her life as MY mother and be thankful for all she ever did for, and how much she loved me.

.... on the weekend note, I was able to finish a project all the way to the very end! Even got all the Snapfish photos in the mail Saturday so the scrapbook journal of my projects is done except for little captions. There are notes and cards stuck in this scrapbook, too. I love to see my friends' handwriting and re-read their wishes. It's a good chance to stop and pray for each one as I touch, open and read each one. I know I have notes and cards stashed in other places, and when those are located, they'll go in there, too.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy your Monday's out there in blog-land.

Psalm 45:6-7

With an endeavor to reconnect, get back to the basics of my life, I decided to pick up a study book, and told myself whichever one I find first, THAT is the one I will work on. Wasn't sure what I'd find since we moved and I had downsized my library by about 90%. Well, right there in a drawer I never open in my nightstand, was a Beth Moore "Stepping Up" study. Need I say more. A workbook and study in the Psalms. What a great place for me to start. In just the first 6 pages of reading and studying, I was overwhelmed at what I'd learned in such a short span.

For those of you who are feeling a little on the unconnected or disconnected side, do yourself a favor and read through Psalm 45:6-7 today. (That wasn't in the study, my Bible just fell open to that one this morning, and for good reason.)

So step up your life's journey soon, if not TODAY! There is peace to be found and enjoyed.

^6-7 "Your throne is God's throne,
ever and always;
The scepter of your royal rule
measures right living.
You love the right
and hate the wrong.
And that is why God, your very own God,
poured fragrant oil on your head,
Marking you out as king
from among your dear companions." The Message

Life's Rollercoaster

Got to thinking today about the cycle of life; life's roller coaster; swinging door; or however you want to look at it. The perfect order of how things work always seems to amaze me.

It came to mind today as two co-workers were dealing with family things during the afternoon; one with a very ill grandfather who needed his family beside him, and another who was alerted her grandson may be born very soon which would call for family gathering also.

Life's passages. Where one life may end, another does begin. Each instance bearing great emotion, and in both there is great love. There is celebration to beginnings and endings - if we LOOK for it. It's there. God doesn't leave us to deal with joy or grief alone.

It was such a great reminder that every day is a gift, whether it is the first OR possibly the last.

Ever Just Sit Back?

Do any of you out there ever just sit back and contemplate what's happening around you? Your life, your circumstances, your family or why you look at things the way you do? If I could write everything that has passed through my head this week on this one post, I'm thinking it could be a mile long......

One of these days, my husband and I will have our lives back. Yes, that's a selfish thought, but we are on the back end of life and we truly wish we could just enjoy each other. One evening out this week, to a meaningful event, has only solidified our feelings.

Watching, watching, waiting, waiting.....

One day, and we pray soon, my true love will be out fishing again - enjoying his time and his friends and family; getting involved more deeply in the things he knows are important to his life. Along side that will be having a house back in order. A poor home, but one with heat, light, and creativity once again.

You know the term "letting the cat out of the bag"? On a different twist to the saying, we are the cats in that bag and when the day comes when we are released, I can only see light and joy; organization; our marriage taking the front seat again; priorities getting put back where they belong. It has been a long time. We are anxious for the next chapter in our lives to be written because we aren't ready for the epilogue yet.

The first steps have been taken.......

Keep Watching and Checking....

For those who want to keep up with the knitting side of me, and not just what's happening around here..... check out my new blog at The TygerLily. You can watch the yarn action over there.

Have a great April, y'all!

Eight Hats All In a Row

After a busy week and a brain that just did not want to function today, I did get the finishing touches on the last of the caps I had done. These are the Newsboy Hats again! Yes, you see EIGHT of them, 4 baby sizes on the top, 4 child sizes on the bottom. As I was too lazy to get my camera, take a picture, crop it, size it, make it pretty, etc. ... I opted to use my phone. Hence the dreary colors shown, when actually they are quite bright and cheerful. Four of these have owners, just looking for buyers for the others.

I did some surfing today to look at what luscious yarns are out there these days and found WAY too many - and the COLORS! Beautiful colors. I restrained myself and bought only one type in "Hawaiian" oranges. I think it could make a vibrant bag or some sort. And of course, it was on sale with free shipping - how could one go wrong with that.

Keep plugging away, everyone! Or as Bob in "What About Bob" says: baby steps, baby steps...... too funny. :)

Not Enough Hours :)

Have you ever had one of those days or weeks where there just aren't enough minutes and hours to get everything done that you want to get done? Some days there needs to be two of me, then maybe I'd make some headway. :)

Since before Christmas, I have crocheted over 30 newboy caps in all sizes, from baby to adult. I have more orders sitting here waiting to get done. I have a snowboarder hat that I am dying to try my hand at, and haven't gotten further than looking at the yarn in the bag. But at least that's done, right? :) There is also a scarf and hat comb that is nearly complete - just need to find the perfect knitted or crocheted flower pattern to put that pop of orange on the beautiful purple base.

And all the babies that are coming!!! What about them? There are 2 at work, probably more because my mind just went blank. HA! A baby shower the first part of March and I haven't even gotten a good dig on that baby blanket project but I'm going to give it a try. This is a picture of what I hope to accomplish and in the same color.

I will post pictures at some point, but where is the time to find my camera - take pictures - then having to download them onto the computer!

Just keep me in your prayers that I will find serenity and peace while working on my projects and keep Mr. Anxiety at bay. :)

May you all have a fantastic week!

Hats, Hats, Hats......

Not much to blog about other than hats hats hats..... I have made so many newsboy hats for coworkers I can just about do them in my sleep now. Here is a photo of my friend Bonnie's three granddaughters who received my hats for Christmas. Aren't these the cutest little girls? So sweet to model their new hats.

I didn't organize anything yesterday when I got home from work. Well, I organized my food into a bowl for supper but that's about it. Where did my commitment go already? sheesh

School has been canceled today again, but work still is happening. The wind is howling out there and we are already at our high for the day right now at 5:30am. By supper it will be below zero and I don't get off work until 8 tonight. Will be a chilly commute home for sure.

Happy New Year 2010

OK, so let's try writing this post a THIRD time! Every New Year's Day I struggle to keep positive, to keep pushing myself, and not beat myself up for all the problems of the last year.

Some things I had learned in 2009 were actually surprising to me.:


1. I need my friends at work. SO many have become so incredibly special to me.

2. I am more devoted to my job than I'd ever imagined I could be.

3. Organization makes life peaceful.

4. Life without hobbies, books or puzzles is just not an option.

5. Boomerang kids can be a blessing, and a curse. :)

6. Grandchildren with divorced parents need an extra calm in their life - hopefully us.

7. Creativeness CAN be stifled without the right atmosphere - space, availability, time, calm

If I were to make a resolution for the new year, one that always tops the list (of many) would be organization. (Thanks Amy B. for getting this ball rolling) If I could approach each day and look at it as ONE DAY + ONE PROJECT = PROGRESS, then I think that 2010 will be one of the most rewarding years so far.

Hope you all have a wonderful new year - may your resolutions and objectives be attainable and rewarding!

Blessings to all who stop by.

Lord, Grant Me the Serenity.......

OK, so I'm still trying to get my head a little more organized. After finding so many fun things that I could make on Sunday while surfing, I need to get my head back in the game. I think this picture to the right has a LOT of different options that could play out. In the past 2 days I have started and ripped 4 different designs/yarns/ideas that just didn't feel right. Could I be getting picky in my old-ish age? :) Probably. Anyhow, this neck wrap with button closure is just plain intriguing.

On the home front, Bill's eyes have been getting worse again and with his regular eye guy retired now, he's been put back to the original doctor. Now tell me why this happens tho..... when he called to get an appointment, the original gal was nasty to him saying he'd not kept an appt last May and why does he think he should be able to GET an appt in the next week? He told her he knows his eyes and knows when he needs and doesn't need an appt. She huffed and connected him to the triage nurse who said basically the same thing, but in a nice voice and ended up laughing with him KNOWING he knows his eyes and when he needs in. He was SO frustrated and I'd certainly love to give the first gal a nice piece of my mind. The worse his eyes get, of course the worse his attitude. This is a bad time of year for him at work, too, so he decided next year he'd use this week as vacation time. But then he asks, "What the hell would I do for a week at home?" Then he smiles and says he'll just go fishing in Florida with my brother-in-law. Maybe someday that could happen again for him and/or us. Anyway, good news is he can get his eyes taken care of on Monday.

Need a haircut - starting to look like my dog. :D

Something dreamy....

I wish this was my design - I absolutely ADORE this one. Located it on Ravelry this afternoon since I'm finally enjoying decent computer 'work-age' and much better wi-fi. I've been surfing patterns for an hour now, but only after ironing for almost 2 hours and my knee took a beating.

I absolutely HAVE to try this one - may use someone at work as a guinea pig again. Now where does one find those cool stick pins like in the picture? Antique stores? The Oriental Market? Just putting it out there. :)

Do you know how LONG it's been since I've actually SURFED the web? It has to be longer than year, maybe more. So fun finding such pretty things out there that I can do, too.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.......

Quality Time.... and stuff

After all the snow we have received, it's going to take a few muscles to get everyone's car on the road to work tomorrow. I won't have problems, but that's because our Ford has 4-wheel drive. Just feeling for everyone else who doesn't. Careful everyone.

Was sitting here thinking about how calm the morning was yesterday before the grandkids left to go to their dad's. They had both gotten Nintendo DS' for Christmas from their mom. So they played with those for quite a while. But after a bit, they reverted back to simpler things - shocking huh? All of the sudden Dylan comes upstairs with paper and his drawing pencil, sat himself at the kitchen table and contentedly drew pictures. Raegan put her DS down and decided to snuggle up to see what I was doing (yes, I was slacking) and we decided to work two word-search puzzles together out of a PEOPLE puzzle book I'd gotten as a gift at work. Of course we had to work the 'Troy' (High School Musical) one first. But sitting there and seeing what was happening, these two kids DO know how to be busy AND quiet. Such a long shot from when they come home from visiting their dad's house. .....and then they had to leave.

I have been a little more successful in setting up the wi-fi in the house. I just plain started over. Haven't been real happen how IE works on the old computer, so am trying Mozilla and have accomplished more on the web in the past day than I can even believe!

Shawna's significant other surprised us with a gift Christmas. Out of the blue. He wasn't supposed to do this, that's why we have the mystery bag exchange every year (and yes, he's involved in that, too). He comes bringing up to us a Blu-Ray DVD player with an internet connection so we can watch Netflix on our TV! We haven't had a DVD player forever!!! Ours had broken ages ago and we just didn't afford to replace it. Now how special is THAT? I have found the wireless adapter at SamsungParts.com and hopefully soon we'll be up and flying. We watched our first movie last night on it: "Burn After Reading". Strange movie, but one I knew Bill would want to see.

I smell the coffee, and the day can now officially get underway.

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas! I haven't forgotten about blogging, just wasn't as important as some other things happening in life.

After thinking about maybe listing all the bad and good in '09 I figured that really was just still too negative. We are where we are at today because of it all - good AND bad.

After losing our house in February, we were able to move into a duplex - all of us. This included our daughter and her two children. They are still blessing us by living here and helping with expenses now that her divorce is final. Money has never been tighter.

Bill and I both found excellent jobs a little over a year ago after having to shut down our business. The pay puts a roof over our heads and food on the table, but that's about it. But there are many other rewards over and above just making ends meet - barely. Bill has excelled in his field and is in love with his job and his clients. I, too, love my job along with the people and patients I come into contact with every day. Everyone has a story - and we love to hear them.

I had my knee scoped in December and made a very rapid recovery. Bill's eyes are still giving him problems about every 6 months - it's time again to go see the specialist. It does make playing poker with him a bit challenging! But he still handles it with a great attitude, but it obviously does wear him down. But I think it would take a lot more than that to keep his attitude negative. The flu hit only one of us so far this year - me. After going nearly 13 months of perfect attendance at work, I have missed over a week now with the surgery and flu. Anyway, whatever it was - it's gone. Thank goodness!

At the company annual Holiday Party, I was surprised by an award out of nowhere. With over 100 employees, they hold vote every December in 3 employee categories - all of which are voted on by the employees anonymously. They bestowed the honor of "Most Positive Employee 2009" award clock with inscription in front of the entire crew. What a feeling THAT was. :) I can now say I have a 'major award' and it's even better than a leg lamp. Ha Ha!

Here it is Christmas day, quiet in the house because of the major blizzard we are having, working on a computer that decided is didn't want to work anymore and had to go back to the factory settings with a system recovery. :( After NOT finding any of my photos, pdf files or other needed information yesterday, I proceeded to sit for an hour and have a martini and shed some tears. Thankfully, Shawna called her boyfriend (who was still working) to tell him what happened. If it weren't for him being patient and knowing how much all the work I'd done on here meant (and photos) he would not have been able to come upstairs mid-evening last night and say "Merry Christmas" Karen, I found all your pictures - they weren't gone. BEST Christmas present ever. Does that mean I can return his gift now? LOL Oh, yeah, that's right - we weren't able to get him one anyway. He and Shawna are the best at understanding how tight things are for us all.

I have made and sold over 15 newboy hats for kids and adults in the past 3 weeks and that has helped a lot in affording some holiday extras. I have more orders to complete after the holidays - pretty cool. I can't wait to pick up my 'fun' knitting though. There are babies coming next year for 5 co-workers, so there will be things to do to keep plenty busy. But then again, am I ever bored? :D

I've rambled - but now you know we are still here. Trying our best. Working hard. Trying to do the right things.

May you all have a blessed Christmas and the fullest of New Years!

Getting Back in My Groove

Here are two items I've finished and ready to gift out. It's been so long since I've been able to actually show something. Thanks for looking. :)

A cushy boucle' cream colored baby blanket.......

.....and the 'Giving Tree' baby blanket I'm in love with.

.....and life goes on

With all the celebrities that have now gone, and some too early, it HAS to make one stop..... and think, reflect, and institute some personal changes to how you live your life.

Haven't written on my blog for months and it may now be time to come back.

Even though life has thrown curves, stop signs and pile-ups at us, we are still here to tell the story. We haven't totally recovered from everything and it may be years before we do (if ever) but we have had to impliment the story "The Little Engine That Could". God hasn't called us home yet, so every day, hill and valley, challenges of all sorts are getting looked at so much differently. I totally believe that Bill and I have been through a sort of hell on earth, but life isn't over yet. So what are we going to do with all the pain of the past?

That's right! We HAVE made it through and need to rejoice that we don't have to live at the Mission, that we have two beautiful daughters and healthy grandchildren. We are employed, where some are not. We have new and different challenges, but now each one will be handled with a new attitude.

GRATITUDE

Moving Time

After 9 months on the market and many many MANY price reductions, the house has finally sold. Not for what we wanted nor needed, but it's an elephant off our back. The closing is already on the 20th of February and with the hours Bill and I work, this will be an interesting one to pull off.

We have a beautiful duplex to move to, further away from work for all of us, but it's something that just cannot be passed up. A friend and local builder has kept this open for us and is in move in condition. Only three years old and will also be perfect for just the two of us when Shawna and her kids get back on their feet and move out on their own again.

Any volunteers to help move? Yeah, that's what I thought. giggle

Thank you for all your prayers these last months....... they haven't gone unanswered.

LCS Cheerleading Camp '09

A moment in time I missed out on in person (due to working - again), but thankfully Shawna was able to catch some of the camp and get a photo of Abby and Raegan at the annual LCS Cheerleading Camp! I guess they had a SUPER time and Abby even won an award in her age group! Hope to see more pictures from Abby's mom (hint hint).

Abby, who is 8 now, is on the left with the shorter dark hair. Raegan, 6 yrs old, is on the right with the blonde pony.

Happy New Year

Hello all. Yes we are still here. Been a little tough getting into a new routine after 20 years of an old one. With the new year will come the time to reconnect with my internet friends and also some local ones who have been sorely ignored.

Hope to see you all in January - in one way or another. :)

Blessings

New Horizons

Life changes are now in full swing.

I've started my new full time job and will be in training for about two weeks - mostly getting to know their computer system and understand their expectations. This place is phenomenal in their professionalism and attitudes. The doctors I've met so far are over-the-top. I met four out of the ten yesterday, which was a suprise to my director. Whoo HOOO!!

And now that DH has my laptop re-plugged, I can now sit at this new Hy-Vee in town and surf my life away or even work for the missions group when needed, outside the home. It's perfect.

Transitioning for DH has been fairly comfortable up until yesterday. Transferring files to the new company is not going smooth and he's frustrated. I don't blame him. He's pulled back one employee for two half days this week to get this fixed. Not sure what the deal is there. I know he is stressed, too, that he can't call me whenever he wants to. I have a real job now. And it's going to be tough for him for a little while. Keep praying for him that things will smooth out.

DD#1 has an ultrasound this Thursday, so please keep them in your prayers, too.

Y'all keep safe and keep leaning on the One who will keep ya going. :)