Checking In…

The festivities are about to begin.  There will be some SERIOUS food indulgences… Weight Watchers will take a back seat in my eating today, then back on the plan tomorrow.  There will also be lots of laughter, visiting, busy children and catching up with siblings.  Thanksgiving at my Mom’s & Dad’s house will be absolutely CRAZY!  That’s because by the time all 5 of us children plus spouses, plus our children, plus grandchildren (and often a few non-family members added into the mix) get there we will have close to 30 people crammed into her house trying to get a reasonable serving of her homemade dressing before it is gone.

There will be tons of other food, but I’ll probably skip dessert for the most part and get 2nds on dressing if there is any left.  All this is written to tell you, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

And much in keeping with the traditions we were taught about the first Thanksgiving, DH killed a nice deer this morning. It won’t make it to the feast, but it will go into the freezer and I will be very thankful for it all year long!

I apologize for my great absence from the blog and also inform you that there won’t be much blogging between now and the new year.  Life is busy!  I am sure we can ALL use that excuse right now.  Yes, I have things to blog about but difficulty finding making time to do it.  Please bear with me!

The new laptop has a learning curve getting things set up where it is convenient to do the things I did so quickly on the old one… but I am slowly getting there.  There is an unbelievable difference in XP and Windows 7… I am SOOOO glad I opted NOT to get W8!!  That would be so beyond me at this point since the only thing I know about “smart” phone-type browsing is I don’t have a smart phone, and I don’t want one.  And then there is this thing where the cursor just jumps to places I don’t want it to go while I am in the midst of typing… anyone out there got a fix for THAT?  It is seriously causing me angst!  I guess you can’t (easily) teach an old(er) dog new (computer) tricks!

Enough dribble…. I’m off to eat, visit, and watch football.  I wish you and yours a wonderful day of counting blessings.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, Y’ALL!!

KAT

I’m Back!

Did you miss me?  I REALLY missed all of you!!  You might be wondering where I have been.  The following poem will explain…

ODE TO MY DEAD LAPTOP (By Kathy Ellzey)

My very useful friend for the last 5 years…

Your untimely demise brought me to tears.

File clean-up?  So sorry… that took too much time.

Organize all my files? It will all be just fine!

Regularly make back-ups? I’ll get to that some day.

I now apologize for all my negligent ways!

Printing business invoices?  I no longer can do them.

No more surfing; no more Face Book on a momentary whim.

Finding phone numbers, weekly blogging…  Oops! No more for me!

Solitaire? Mahjong?… just a sad, sad memory.

My loyalties are now split between you and another…

Because this week I purchased your bigger, faster brother.

So welcome home, new laptop.  I’m loving you already!

You rescued my rear end, and made my world so steady.

So now you know!  It will take a while to get things all organized and set up for uploading pictures and such, but at least I am now back on-line.  I have lots of posts planned and lots of photos to rescue from the camera.  Hopefully by the end of the week I will have this new OS figured out.  Stay tuned… good things are to come!

KAT

Lost…

I’ve lost it!  I can’t seem to find it anywhere.  Several times I thought I was getting close, but it was not so.  I’ve lost my blogging incentive.  Several things have happened and I would think, “I ought to do a blog post about this.”  But I never followed through.  I know you don’t want a list of excuses so I offer none.

Distractions… perhaps I am just distracted by other things going on right now.  Life things, fun things, sewing things, knitting things, other things… so many distractions!

As quickly as it left, it is likely to reappear, so I am not overly concerned about this happening.  Stuff HAS been happening around me, a few pictures have been taken, and so I’ll post  these meager offerings in hope of keeping you with me…

The Stack and Whack donation quilt.

 

The quilting design is “Honeysuckle”, one of my favorite leaf and vine designs.

 

I had another quilt also, but managed to “oops” the pictures while transferring from camera to computer.  I REALLY must go change my recycle bin settings where things are kept there for a while so I can retrieve my mistakes!

I have been getting lots of knitting done.  The Reader’s Wrap is so near completion.  Just a few more inches and I’ll be ready to work on the pockets.  It is at that gangly, difficult-to-photo stage, but I hope you get the idea.

 

I think you will get a better view of the color on this photo.

Almost done with sock pair #8  for the year.  I’m rushing to finish these because I want to cast on…

this wonderful hand painted yarn that was gifted to me.  I had really thought about taking a break from sock knitting but have been drawn back in by this lovely.  I think I will choose some sort of rather simple pattern for this, rather than knitting my usual fast and plain stockinet.  We shall see.

Now… off to do housework, sew a little, pack for quilt club tonight, and then start gathering things for a few days of quilt retreat with friends.  Distracted… that’s exactly what I am!

Have a wonderful week!

KAT

A New Perspective

Today gives me new hope… a hope of getting better with age.  A hope of feeling better and looking better.  A hope of strengthening my relationship with my Savior.  A hope of aging with grace, and continuing to enjoy outdoor activities for many years.  A hope of a renewed outlook on relationships with others and my life.

Today I turn 56.  A lot has changed in the last year.  I have totally rewritten my life’s plan.  Perhaps I should say I have SURRENDERED   MYYYYYY plan and given in to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  It was a long battle with my will, but I am so thankful that God does not give up on us.  He has been convicting me for the last several years about my unhealthy lifestyle, but I would not listen. He has called me closer, but I would not commit the time.

Because I finally got to the place of obedience I am now much healthier and happier than I was last year at this time.  Because I have chosen to listen rather than remain in rebellion to His will, I am now almost 40 pounds lighter, feeling better than I have in years, and walking in power rather than defeat.  THANK YOU LORD!

Because I finally surrendered the time to “visit” with Him each day, I am encouraged and filled with His power, rather than struggling to change by myself.

The journey is not done, because I still have a long way to go, but the victories I have won in the last 6 months have taught me that it IS a war that is winnable… through His power, not mine.

There are rough roads in places (recurring foot and knee issues have really thrown my exercise plan for a loop), but He leads me on.  Temptation comes, but He is faithful.

Thank You, Lord, that 56 (and beyond) looks better than the last several years have been!  “I surrender all, Lord. Be glorified… I surrender all!”  (From the Terry MacAlmon song, “I Surrender All”)

Have a blessed week!

KAT

On The Needles Today…

 

I am making a little progress on the latest pair of socks.  I am working on the heel flap, and will soon do the turn.  It is going slowly because…

I have really gotten SUCKED INTO this Reader’s Wrap.  I am loving it!  It is an easy and fun knit.  I forget how quickly large needles and large yarn add up!  The color did not come across well in the above picture.  It is called “Bronze”, is a beautiful tweed with black and tan nibs works into the yarn, and has a little more golden-brown cast to it than the picture indicates.  I have about 22” done, and try to knit at least 2-3” each day.  I need 58” before I work the ending pattern and make the pockets.

Check out what others are working on at Judy’s Patchwork Times!

Have a great weekend!  I plan on spending as much time as I can sitting in my chair knitting on the Reader’s Wrap (and nursing a very painful knee).

KAT

In Praise of the Redneck!

Honestly, the picture below shows the opinion of most of the world about rednecks.  I realize this is just in jest, and I do consider it funny, too!  BUT, the poor redneck has been given a bad rap.  Today I will convince you of that!

Most folks think of rednecks as lazy, trashing up their yards with junker cars, beer guzzling, gun slinging, cussing fools.  Now WHERE would they get that idea?  From movies and reality shows, for sure.

My least favorite of the reality shows set in our area is the “My Big Redneck Vacation”.  I’ve only watched it a couple of times because that is about all of that foolishness I can stand.  We are portrayed as drinking around the clock, passing gas without any modesty, doing really stupid and even dangerous things, destroying property and not thinking twice about it, and having no class whatsoever.  Although I realize these are characteristics of MANY young people in MANY cultures, I assure you that this is NOT the way mature rednecks work.

Mature rednecks are creative and resourceful, because they may NOT have the expensive gadgets that others have.  It might well be the reason they don’t have the expensive toy is because they just choose not to spend their money that way… not that they are poor and can’t afford it.

How would YOU get to muscadines that are way too high to be reached with a ladder?  DH has it all figured out!

Take your tractor with front-end loader, securely strap this double-stacked basket apparatus (created from metal baskets purchased at the paper mill salvage yard),

climb into the top basket, then get your wife to operate the tractor and lift you up to where the muscadines are.  Ours were growing WWAAAYYYYY up in a large pine tree.

No problem now, because you are now located about 20 feet up in the air!

       

YUM!  These muscadines are so good!

You might be wondering why the baskets have this cammo mesh on them… This also doubles as a portable deer stand.  Secure it to a nice size tree with straps, climb up the side of the metal, and you are all set to go!

SEE… I TOLD you we were resourceful  and creative.  My DH has been blessed with great “improvising” skills!  And yes we do have what others would consider “junk” (he calls it his “innovation pile”) but it is not lying around our front yard in an unkempt manner.  He has it more or less organized down by the barn where he has easy access and it is not unsightly. 

Yes, he hunts and quite often has a gun with him, but he is not blasting things just for the fun of it…  his hunting puts meat on the table. 

Now the passing gas thing…. I’m not EVEN going there!

KAT

On the Needles Today…

Actually, this is fresh OFF the needles.  My July socks are done…

 

…and the August socks have been cast on.  Well, actually, ONE of them has been cast on.  I have once again abandoned the “2-at-a-time” method.  It just adds a layer of stress to my knitting, and this is supposed to be relaxing and fun.  Since I don’t have the dreaded “2nd sock syndrome” it is not a biggie.  I’ll keep knitting socks one at a time and enjoying it.

Also on the needles is a practice run on the Reader’s Wrap. 

I am patiently trying to be patient in waiting for my KnitPicks order to arrive.  For the last 2 days I have run to the mail box as soon as I hear the mail carrier go by… still no package.  BUMMER!  The lovely wool tweed yarn that is ordered will make such a wonderful wrap, but it is slow in appearing. 

I was so antsy to get going on this project I decided to do a trial run.  The above yarn is some acrylic Red Heart yarn I just had lying around.  I’ve made a dry run on the cast on and knitting so there will be no stress once the yarn arrives. 

Some have asked via email how we managed the storm (hurricane Isaac) and the truth is it went too far west of us to give us more than a spattering of rain.  We were surely hoping for at least a couple of inches, but only received about 5/8”.  I sure wish folks on the eastern side of LA and MS could send us some of the water that has flooded their areas.

Now, to finish off this post I MUST share the really unusual bug I found on the screen porch.

You simply MUST click on the picture to see the ridges on his back.  AMAZING!  From a distance I thought it was the average spider.  As I moved closer I thought it was a huge stink bug.  Closer still, and I was amazed at him.  God’s creation is SO wonderful!

And I also suddenly remembered that I have forgotten to finish my “Redneck” post, so that will be in the queue for sometime soon.

Have a wonderful weekend!

KAT

Knitting At the Speed Of Light

Yes, I am knitting as fast as my needles will fly.  I MUST finish the socks that have been on my needles for several weeks now.  “What is the hurry?” you might be wondering.

First, a disclaimer…. IT IS NOT MY FAULT!  (I love it when I have someone else to blame things on!)  I was merrily working on socks, minding my own business, when I ventured over to Nancy’s blog, Wyoming Breezes.  She is working on the neatest wrap! 

I have never been tempted to knit anything other than socks, so I was very surprised when this knitted wrap kept calling for me to make it.  It think it is the pockets that really drew me to this pattern.

It is NOT MY fault I now have that pattern purchased and in my hands.  It is NOT MY FAULT that I have a wonderful tweed yarn ordered from Knitpicks to make this wrap.  It will be here soon, and I know I will want to start on the wrap as soon as the yarn arrives, so I must HURRY!

I know… I’m still trying to do a little spinning with the drop spindle I recently purchased.  (And I am wondering what in the WORLD I was thinking when I ordered 400 grams of wool roving. Gee… that looks like it will be a life-time supply!)  I’m still trying to do 12 pair of socks in a year (working on pair #7).  I’m quilting like crazy on customer quilts.  And then there is the Farmer’s Wife quilt I am working on drafting paper piecing patterns for me and my friends.  And then….  You get the picture.

It’s NOT MY FAULT!  Nancy did it.  If she pipes in here and tries to deny it, do NOT listen to her.  It really is HER fault for showing such a wonderful pattern and tempting me beyond my resistance. 

THAT’S MY STORY AND I’M STICKING TO IT!

KAT