Out With 2021--- In With 2022

Well, here it is. The last day of 2021.

I suppose I could sit here and reflect back on the past year. I should give some insightful comments regarding what to do in the new year. 

Basically this past year was pretty rough on me emotionally. Losing my mom in such a horrible car accident was one of the hardest things that I think I had to face during the year. Add to that the beginning of the year with losing our sweet little dog Finnegan to cancer, both have made things rather depressing. Of course with all of the pressures with covid piled on top of that. 

We tried to keep an upbeat attitude, and we've always been the "glass half-full" type of people. We've surged ahead with new projects and we've tried to keep ourselves active and out and about. We got in some camping and we got some things done on the house. I look back over the blog over the past year it seem like we really accomplished a lot. But honestly, sometimes I felt like I was just treading water in one spot trying to keep my head above above the edge and not sink. Not give up. 

So as we sit here this morning, sipping a bit more coffee and looking out the windows, we have to look ahead to 2022. It's all we have. So we better look ahead. Looking back can hurt too much.

On the brighter side, we did get some more snow again this week. It was so beautiful coming down and it has covered everything with a glimmering white coat again. Things don't look as dull or bleak when there's fresh snow on the ground.

Starting each day looking out our new bedroom window has been a treat. The first thing Steve does when he gets out of bed is to open up the slatted venetian blind and look out to see what kind of day it is going to be.

I suppose that each day you wake up 

and you're not six feet under,

 it is a pretty good day?

We have been being careful though as far as covid, which has reared its ugly head to such proportional levels. We do get out and about but do some curbside pickups plus we are fully masked and gloved when we go into a store. We've been trying to arrange our shopping trips all at once early enough in the morning get everything and get back home. It's the best we can do until we get past this next phase of the covid omicron mess.

Since it was Christmas vacation for the school kids, we chose a day to bring over a couple of them to hang out for the day. I had wanted to try making the little pecan Snowball Cookies. So the kids came and helped. The girls baked the cookies while Clayton helped fill the birdfeeders and accompany Grandpa haul things to the recycling center.

Here is the recipe, we made a double batch which gave us approximately four dozen larger cookies.  Next time we might make them smaller. 

This was Chelsea's idea of using a spaghetti noodle scooper ladle with the slits in it for lifting them up after rolling them in the powdered sugar.  It worked great! 

Here are the Little Baker Girls, with their newest racks full of Christmas Snowball treats. Since we are getting together on New Year's Day with our children and grandchildren, this will help round out the tray of Christmas cookies (because we've managed to deplete quite a few of the sugar cut-out cookies that we made last week). These will fill in the gaps!

When we were done baking, Clayton jumped at the chance to man the vacuum cleaner. Any machine that goes or rolls or makes noise is a lot of fun in his nine-year-old head. So he very willingly runs around with the vacuum cleaner to suck up any mess that we left behind.

The kids had a treat after lunch. I let them each choose a candy cane off the Christmas tree to stir their mugs of hot cocoa. It's a nice reward for a morning of hard work for Clayton.

Chelsea, the chief Baker Girl, 

enjoyed her Snowman mug of cocoa

Littlest Baker Girl Claire discovered that a candy cane stick will bend and curve in hot cocoa! She eventually bent it up to the shape of a fish hook and let us "catch" her.

~~~~~~~~~

When we brought the kids back home we did a pleasant drive through the local Winter Wonderland display. It is set up by the city of Oconto and the Chamber of Commerce in our city campground in our small town called Holtwood Park. What a perfect place to set up a Christmas display, because of the electrical outlets scattered all throughout the park. Plenty of plug-ins for all of the lit-up displays. Plus the slow winding roads in multiple loops to drive around through the array of Christmas festive light shows.

(my camera wouldn't focus good on the LED lights)

The entrance into the park is lined with very tall pine trees. In the past years, they used to decorate them with the high aerial boom lift of the city trucks. The trees keep growing taller and taller and it's become quite an obstacle to decorate them every year. This year they opted to put in smaller artificial metal ring structure trees to line the entryway. That's a pretty good alternative compared to trying to get the large trees lit up, it's different, it's a change, but it's better than nothing.

This person from AerialPicPro took the time to do an aerial view of the entire winter wonderland display with a drone, set to some pretty uplifting music, and posted it. Here is the link:

We are looking forward tonight to our New Year's Eve with babysitting a bunch of the grandchildren while both of our daughters and their spouses attend a wedding from the other side of the family. A New Year's Eve wedding in such winter festive weather should be kind of special. 

We agreed to take the grandchildren here overnight. We wonder who can make it up till midnight? Perhaps the oldest one, Jameson, the teenager? Will he just sack out on the couch? Will it be the two giggly girl cousins Whitney and Claire? They are sleeping together in the new grankids playroom we completed last month. 

Then on New Year's Day the grandkids will all help get everything ready for our own family Christmas celebration together at our house later on New Years Day!! We try to not schedule it on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve so our children and their spouses could have their own celebrations at their own homes, and try to make the rounds of some of the extended family members. 

By delaying it further down the calendar for us, it gives us our extra special time together after all the flurry and rush rush rush is done. We are looking forward to spending a relaxing New Year's Day with a nice time visiting in our home, a big meal, lots of leftovers, and just enjoying being together with the kids and grandkids.

The next day, Sunday, is going to be a very "Special Epic Day" but I can't say anything yet. It's part of the Christmas present that we are giving to the kids and the grandkids. So I will do a special blog post about Sunday later. After the fact.

That's about it for our New Years. Wrapping up 2021 we are very appreciative and happy that we made it through covid. We came down with it in September although we were both vaccinated, we have our boosters now as of December. We also probably had it back in April of 2020 when it first started, but no testing was available then. We are both doing well now, and all we can ask for is to have our health. If you don't have that, what more what do you have? 

We had our little contest this morning 

with our blood pressure cuff. 

I beat Steve. 

 

Then we also had our little contest with our O2 meter 

and we are both the same. 

Can't ask for more than that

 

As we sit here and say goodbye to 2021, we are really hoping that things in 2022 turn around for the better. We need to look ahead.

Sip a little more coffee and enjoy the view.

Day 19 - Tons of Rain But No Leaks

Yayyyyy! We are very pleased to report that Steve's attempt at taking care of the roof leak over the little porch area was entirely successful. We have had blasting amounts of pouring rain and high wind yesterday from suppertime continuing on throughout the night. The river in town has exceeded flood stage and we have huge ponds and puddles everywhere this morning.

Everything in the dining room was bone dry and perfect. I think he successfully took care of the leaks that were up there. Once the weather warms up, he is going to cover the entire metal roof of the front porch with a special bonded fibered aluminum paint meant specifically for metal roofs. Not only will it seal up any more potential leaking areas, but it would also look much nicer too.

We woke up to some ponding in the backyard, but not nearly as bad as it was while the snow was melting. We only have a little bit of snow left in the yard where it's actually on the surface of the water. Now all of the grassy areas along side of our woods and throughout the back meadow are clear. Just the middle icy patch over the standing water.

We do have a bit of a puddle along side of the driveway and garage. Good thing the motorhome is on a very firm gravel pad with multiple layers going down deep into the ground. The people that we bought the house from put in quite a few layers of various sized rocks to create a firm parking pad for their motorhome.

That was one of the criteria when we were looking to buy a house. Specifically that we would have sufficient room for a motorhome parking pad. This one had it already done and in place. How fortunate was that?

~~~~~~~

I finished up a few of my quilted hot pad orders the other day. I posted a picture on Facebook. Then I got orders for three more pairs of HotPads! What fun is that?

I really enjoy making these little hot pads because it's a good way to use up scraps. There are a lot of fun to work on and I feel successful pumping out one after another.

My hot pads are larger than most. They measure between 10 and 11 inches across. That way not only can they be used as a hot pad, but even when I take things out of the microwave or the oven, I kinda flip the pad underneath and it becomes a trivet to protect the countertop or cutting board from the heat. My hot pads have a layer of cotton batting, and also a layer of a special product called insulbrite. It's an aluminum fiber infused padding that helps with heat deflection.

Speaking of baking, yesterday our kids dropped off another care package of groceries to our house. They replenished some necessities, as well as a few bags of munchie chips for Steve's evening tv watching and snacking.  I had added brown sugar to my shopping list because I was out!  Again, we carefully unbagged and santized everything out in the garage, one item at a time.  Nothing is being brought into the house until it undergoes thorough cleaning, and staying out in the garage for a days.  The cleaned brown sugar bag was opened with a scissors and dumped directly into my canister while the bag was discarded. It may seem like overkill to some.... but OVERKILL is better than BEING KILLED, right?

Once I got the brown sugar into the house,  I was able to bake up a nice triple batch of my most favorite white chocolate chip cookies. I got the recipe from my friend Hillary a long time ago. They come out perfect every single time.

I mix up the dough without any chips in it.  Then I add a sufficient amount of chips to each dough ball as I form them and put them on the cookie sheets. About two-thirds of the way through of making the dough balls, I ran out of the white chocolate chips. So the last batch became semi sweet chocolate chips. Those are Steve's favorite.

I like baking with parchment sheets. No more stuck cookies to the cookie sheets. It's also a lot easier for cleanup.  My oven also has three baking racks, so I can get a lot baked at one time.

While the cookies were baking, I was working on decorating these boxes for the grandkids. We miss being with them and sending over a few little goodies is a nice way to keep in touch.

After the cookies were cooled, we packed up both boxes with a couple layers of cookies, and we went about delivering them. We did not even leave the car at daughter Heather's house. Instead we just popped our trunk button and had her come out and grab the appropriate box. At daughter Erin's house we set the box quickly in the back hallway and left before the children could see that we were there. Otherwise they would be crying and wanting to come out and hug us or have us come in and spend time.

So far it's day 19 with no physical contact with anybody. We've only left the house twice, and both times we were fully protected and safe. But it feels good to be back home in our "virus free zone".  So far, there has only been one reported case in our county.  But who knows how many cases there are that are not even being tested yet. Things around the country are getting scarier and scarier.

We are pleading with our elderly parents to not leave their homes.

Steve's Dad up in Sister Bay is very secluded out in his rural home. The volunteer fire department is helping with delivering prescriptions and necessities from town. The local grocery store is doing deliveries to their homes as well. He was low on postage stamps, so I was able to order a roll and have it shipped to his address from usps.com. How nice is that?

My parents live down in Florida. They are also in a small rural setting just southeast of Gainesville. Today they are going to settle down on their porch swing, with their smartphone between them, at 11 a.m. to watch their little church's live stream service on You Tube. It's the first time they are trying it. I hope it works for them. My stepdad Lyle is a very antsy energetic guy and gets restless. It's hard to keep him in one place.  Mom said this morning he is out sorting through stuff in his storage shed and working on some projects. Good for him!

Today is our middle grandson's 8th birthday. Happy birthday Mason! It sure is hard for children to have birthday celebrations during this time of quarantine. It's hard to believe he is 8 years old already.

Seems like yesterday we were holding him in our arms at the hospital....  sigh.

Breakfast is done here, the rain has let up some, and I think it's time to get back to some sewing.  Steve is measuring and planning and figuring on some new projects.  Stay tuned to see what he is going to work on next!

Please 
Stay in.
Stay healthy. 

Stay safe

Winding up Week Two at the New House

It's hard to believe we are at the end of the second week living in our new house.

When I look around, I think of everything we have accomplished, but then I look at our second storage unit still half full of boxes and totes that need to be hauled over here. Then I think "Oh my, when is this going to be over?"

The weather has not been cooperating very well for the projects that we want to work on outside. It has been raining almost every day and night. So I jumped the order of priority and started working on some inside projects.

One small project that I wanted to do was to add matching handles and drawer pulls to our center island. The previous people had built an island to match the rest of the kitchen, but never got around to putting on the handles and drawer pulls. Fortunately, I was able to find matching ones and set about to mounting them.

Steve had to help me on a couple of the last drawers because the wood was so thick to get through. He had to create a recessed area on the back sides for the screws to completely reach the pulls. Now it's done, and I am glad that the front surface of the island matches the rest of the cabinets

We ordered a couple pull-out shelves for the back side of the island on each side of the stove. These are Rev-A-Shelf units which will each contain a trash can and a recycling can on each side of the stove. Those should be delivered on Saturday and I bet Steve will have them installed before the weekend is over.

Steve started some inside projects as well. He took off the fake beadboard paneling of the laundry room and put up sheetrock. The laundry room was the original bathroom of the home so he is going to install a toilet and sink back in where they originally were to create a half bath. By moving over the washer and dryer he can make a more workable floor plan. The drywall will look much better than the fake beadboard paneling that was in there.

Once he gets everything all taped up and mudded, I will get in there with the primer and paint. It will look spiffy in no time and we will have added a half bath to our home.

Some of the grandkids got into our home improvement projects as well. The oldest grandson Jameson came over and gave Grandpa a hand. We needed to secure the closet shelving more securely than the original fasteners from the manufacturer. The combination closet shelf and clothes hanging rail crashed down after we brought home all of our clean clothes from the laundromat!!

Grandpa showed grandson Jameson the trick of slowly moving a strong magnet on a string, dragging it back and forth across the surface of the wall. Once it hones in and reacts by sticking to a nail or screw underneath the plaster, you know that's where a stud is. Then Jameson marked the stud locations with a pencil. Now they knew where to drill the brackets into the wall to securely hold the clothing shelf and hanging rail.

They also worked on putting up two pieces of white boards on the wall between the master bathroom and bedroom door. Jameson already knew how a level works and showed Grandpa what to do. Again, they located the studs in the wall so they could secure the two white backing boards.

Once the boards were in place, the guys then installed six nice stainless steel coat hooks. These will be used for our bathrobes, extra clothes we may wish to wear again, and our jammies! When the door is open you don't see any of the clothing hanging back there.

THANKS JAMESON FOR THE HELP!

Jameson's little sister Whitney came over for a tea party this week. She shared her tea with four little doggies. We were babysitting Biscuit and Ewok grandpuppies. Our daughter Erin and husband Waylen are having a new roof put on their house. Their dogs were just going crazy with the sounds of the roofers working outside, so the grandpuppies have been spending the day times over here while the roof is being completed.

Little Whitney enjoyed the chance to bake some cookies with me while she was here for the morning. She carefully placed the little sections of dough on the parchment paper. She counted each and every one.  (we later slid them around to more uniformly spread on the parchment.)

She kept a close eye on those cookies as they baked. Something else that I am enjoying is that this new fancy-dancy stove has three wonderful roll out racks to bake 3 trays of cookies at one time!

She was very anxious to try out a cookie 

but they had to cool off first on the baking racks.

Just look at those eyes! 

They say: "I want a cookie, please?"

We shared some cookies at our little tea party and yes, 

I sat at the table with her while we had our tea.

Later when her parents came to get her, 

she even taught her Mommy and Daddy to drink tea with 

"Pinkies Out!"

When it was time for Whitney to go home, she was very proud to bring a plate full of cookies back to her family, to show them what she did at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Well, it kept on raining this week so I did another inside project that was setting on the back burner. I had bought a vintage chandelier from Facebook Marketplace but it needed to have a fresh paint touch-up. The old surface was pitted and corroded. The best thing to do was remove all of the crystals. Can you believe it, 75 crystal chains of 2 crystals each... making 150 crystals????

The imitation candle sleeve pieces were just white plastic tubes. I slid them off the light fixture and decided to give them new look.

I slid all of the tubes onto a long piece of metal rod that Steve found for me. Using this Krylon paint called Make it Stone I gave them a couple coats. Now the candle sleeves were a soft creamy color with a texture.

The light fixture itself got a new coat of silver which covered up the tarnished and pitted areas of the original surface.  I covered over each bulb socket with a square of tinfoil. It keeps paint from getting inside of the socket and causing connection problems. I used a dull silver and then a shiny chrome silver to touch up just the highlights to give it a two tone appearance.

Now it will match the big mirror 

that we are going to hang over the diningroom buffet.

I started re-assembling the light fixture piece by piece, crystal by crystal. The little delicate wires had to be squeezed into place and carefully bent over. If you bent them too many times they are sure to break.

I had previously purchased 12 of these interesting hexagonal light bulbs, of which I put some in the chandelier in the bathroom. I had eight bulbs left over to do this chandelier in the dining room. Exactly what I needed to complete the fixture.

My wonderful tall husband 

mounted it on the ceiling

 over the dining room table. 

Voila!!

We will later add a dimmer switch to create different moods. But for now the eight light bulbs really shed off a lot of light into the room.

The rain kept on and on. Thursday, even though it was raining, Steve had lawn mowing on his mind. With all of this rain, the grass is going to grow tall very fast. With 2 and 1/2 acres to mow he decided to reconsider his lawn mowing methods and invest in a bigger zero turn riding lawn mower.

He found one on Craigslist that he decided was the right mower for him. If Steveio's happy, then everyone's happy.

He was so happy, he even test-drove it in the pouring rain....

 Before loading it up and bringing it home.

It's now Friday morning. The weathermen are promising that the rain has stopped for the day. I do see some bright sky outside. Not quite sunshine, but close enough.  I have some outside projects that I would like to get started on.

So I better get off this computer and get my butt in gear.

 Starting week 3 in our National Folk Farmhouse.