Flu Shots, Catching Up and Feelin' Groovy

Trying to catch up here....

First of all, we went for the very first time and got our first ever flu shots!  My old pulmonologist was always telling me no no no to not get it. My immune system is so low as it is, and not to get the shot and bring on more to the immune system to deal with.  Okayyyyyy   That pulmonologist is now long gone and passed away, and my new one says "go for it?"

So we did. 

And yes, we both got sick within the week.  

I know all the blah blah blah about it not being a live vaccine, but we both got the shot on the same day, then we both got sick with the flu together on the same day 5 days later.  Coincidence? We rarely get sick at the same time, it's usually one of us first and we give it to the other one... sharing is caring, right?

We were both so sick with the flu, we missed out on a special fundraising benefit up in the UP of Michigan.  My sister and her husband got in a motorcycle accident.  They hit a deer!  They will both be off work for a while, with contusions, some broken bones, brain swelling and lots of road rash.  We are SO thankful to God that they are both ALIVE!  That is all that matters!

But, their budget will be strained by not being able to work for a while.  Friends and family put together a big benefit with a spaghetti dinner and raffle prizes to raise funds to help out with medical costs, travelling and things insurance doesn't cover.  I donated a bunch of of my handmade items, including this quilt that I sewed on morning noon and night to finish in time to send up with my brother two weeks before the event.  Good thing I did, because we were both way too sick to attend.

Before we knew we would be getting sick, the day after the shot we went up to visit Steve's dad, in Door County.  We had "projects" to work on for Pops!    He has these three barstools that one needed to be covered. Steve found him some brown vinyl at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and I set to work covering the stools (without any sewing machine at hand).

I cut out 3 big circles, 

needle basted around the perimeter with thick carpet warp,

and gathered it around the existing stool seat.

I pulled the vinyl around underneath the stool, and stapled it down to the base with my handy dandy staple gun. A few tap tap taps with a hammer and it was done!

I finished up the other two stools in no time, 

once I figured out what I was doing. 

Now they all match. 

While I was doing that, Steve and his brother Pete were working under the direction of the Lead Boss Supervisor.  He had a bunch of projects and things to get done.  He had the sons assemble a wonderful wood box, and they did it without even reading the directions!  (of course)

Their dad did have to run to town for the proper hardware, as the original bolts and nuts were missing.  The guys got the whole layout figured and assembled.  This will make a nice interior wood box setting next to the woodstove this winter.

Of course, both of the sons had to haul some firewood now to fill the box, and fill the rack on the outside of the patio door. The easy way to haul from the woodpile is using the tractor.  How cool is that?

While the guys were busy with the wood hauling,

our dogs were visiting with their pal, Millie. 

By Tuesday or Wednesday we were both starting to slow down and feeling punkish. By Thursday we were both struggling and by Friday it was the full blown flu.  ARGGHHH!!!!!

It is now a full week later, and we are finally starting to feel back to normal and even went for a mile or two walk tonight and cleaned the house a bit as well.

~~~~~~~~

Now for the next part of my blog....  it's "quilting-ish".

Steve was looking on the Facebook Marketplace and found an amazing upgrade to my quilting room projects. He found me a Hinterberg quilting frame and also a mid-arm Janome high speed industrial sewing machine (with double the throat space of my domestic Janome)

It takes up the whole wall in my sewing room... but I don't mind!  I sold off my old Handi Quilter frame to another gal... and we even delivered it for her.   I am just tickled about having this bigger frame and sturdy sewing machine to keep up with the high speed quilting I do. I was worried about burning out the motor on my domestic Janome 8077 with the long runs of free motion stitching.  This new-to-me Janome can handle it at 1,600 stitches per minute.

I have worked three quilts on it already,

and will post those in a future blog....

because there is a long story that goes with those quilts. 

When we got this Hinterberg quilting frame, it has something called "Groovy Boards" that run along the back side of the frame.  A stylus device is attached to the sewing machine, and the tip of it runs along the grooves in the boards. It then replicates the pattern from the grooves on the boards onto the stitching on the quilt.  Neat!  I have the choice of right scallops, left scallops, tulips or greek motifs. 

 But -----The boards that came with the frame were warped from standing up on end in a basement for a couple years.  Oh my!  The previous owner never used them, nor had any interest in learning to use them.  But I did!  We knew that when we bought the frame. The crazy thing is that these groovy boards are NINETY NINE DOLLARS  a set!   ACK!

 Look how warped they are,

standing face to face. 

Here is where my Groovy Husband comes into play.  He knew he could straighten up my Groovy Boards by using some angle iron.  Being thrifty and resourceful, he went into the magical stash of attic stuff and took down two old iron bed frame rails!  (left by the previous owners).   He measured and they were long enough to do the job. 

He used his grinder and took off all of the rust and flaking paint.  Then he gave them three coats of Rustoleum paint to keep them from rusting again.  He used his drill and made holes after carefully measuring the Groovy Boards' patterns.  Using a Fostner bit, he drilled down to make recessed holes into the wood.  Then he attached the rails to the boards with flat headed bolts and locking nuts that wouldn't come loose from vibration.  Smart guy!  

Look at that! 

No more warp!

 I am such a lucky wife to have such a darling husband. 

He tries so hard to fix things to help me along in my fiber pursuits. 

Here are the Groovy Boards in place, 

on the frame behind the machine carriage. 

The little stylus device isn't on yet in this pic. 

One quick project I had to whip up this week was a set of southwestern potholders.  This is some fabric I picked up the last time we were down in the desert.   These are a "camper-warming" present for someone special.

Steve's old boss,
Linda,
 is RETIRING 

from High Cliff State Park! 

Here she is on her last day.... working and working and working

right up till the end.  

She was the best boss Steve ever had

before he retired last year.

Linda bought her very first RV camping trailer, already set up on a lot in Arizona and waiting for her.  She worked on Thursday right up to the end of the day.  But she had her car loaded up to the max. She is heading out to spend the winter in Arizona!  She didn't have a lot of room, so that is why we gave her a very small sized trailer warming present, and a couple pairs of my handknit wool socks for a retirement gift. 

ARIZONA OR BUST! 

(as of her most recent post tonight, 

she made it as far as New Mexico)

Settling Into Retirement for Steve and Happy Family Holidays

The newly retired man is settling into his role... I think.

I hope.

I have kicked him out of the kitchen twice now.

Once, because he decided he needed to sort out and clean the fridge of all stinky old food containers.  The only problem is that he decided that it needed to be done WHILE I was busy baking up 12 dozen sugar cut-out cookies. Imagine this: He is walking past me back and forth with stinky containers. He is flinging germs as he shakes out stinky rotting food into the garbage next to me and rinsing in the sink and stacking in the dishwasher.  That dishwasher is right in the island that I am rolling out dough on, and have racks of cooling cookies!  He is bumping into me, getting in my way, and messing up my baking time frame.  One tray of burned cookies was the result.  I kicked him out. Enough!   Nobody said the fridge needed to be cleaned out at exactly 1:23 p.m. on that day. arggghhhhh

The second time is when he rearranged all the cabinets and fridge. Yes, he has OCD.  I love that he helps and cleans. But----- he puts things which I use the most wayyyy up on the top shelves where I can not reach them. Or he puts stuff wayyyy in the back that I use most often and I have to move five other things to get to them.  We need to do it together as a joint effort. So I kicked him out again.

And yes, he does arrange our canned goods by vegetable, soup, and sauce.... not quite alphabetical order but he does line them up in rows. HAHAHHAHA

He is also sneakily swapping out light bulbs from our old incandescent type (which I love) over to LED and CFL ones. I hate them... and I hate the light from them. I appreciate a warm golden glow, not a whitish green glare. They light up dimly and slowly get brighter after a few minutes. Irritating because he is putting them in places that I want instant light and not waiting for them to *warm up* and get brighter. So I keep swapping them back to incandescent.  Sigh.

He has a lot of other things he can do. We can get though this time of adjustment. Most couples do. Just stay outta my stuff!

~~~~~~~~

He bought a few more power tools for his workshop.  Pretty happy guy assembling them.  But in the house? In the middle of the livingroom?

Ahem.. he does have a nice propane heater to hook up in the garage for his workshop.  If he installed that heater first, he could warm it up and assemble stuff out in his shop. Gotta prioritize there, Steveio!

So far, only ONE phone call from his old work place asking a question about something from last week. That is good and not stressing him. He keeps saying he is ''on vacation'' yet because his official retirement day is on Dec 30.  For now he is burning up unused vacation days until then.

We have been trying to take a walk every day with the dogs, although today was below freezing temps and wind chills were about 4 or 5.  It was a chilly quick walk around the block and back home.

~~~~~~~~~~~

We had a GREAT family Christmas this year! 

We packed up the dogs and drove up to Green Bay on Friday morning and nabbed little Allegra and Mason on the way through. Their parents had to work late, so we grabbed them up early from the sitter for some family fun at our oldest daughter's house with the other little grandchildren.  

It was starting to snow and would be snowing all afternoon and evening.  We got up to Oconto in time before the roads got too bad. Unloading the car of kids, dogs, presents, and food... whew!  Good thing our daughter and soninlaw have a big house for family celebrations. 

I had those 12 dozen baked sugar cutout cookies (minus one dozen of burnt ones--- ahem!) and the five oldest grandkids sat down to decorate the cookies. It was such fun!  

We did this cookie decorating last year and they did good without making too much of a mess.  The dogs underfoot took care of any sprinkle spills. LOL .....

After that, we brought them over to McDonalds for a quick lunch and got them out of the parents' hair while they cooked the big meal for the evening.  We had booked a room at the local hotel, and Steve got us checked in while the kids were eating their McNugget treat. They do not get that very often, so it was a hit.  Once Steve got our hotel key, we were then herding five of the oldest grandtots into our room to dress for SWIMMING!  Yes .... we had arranged with the front desk to let us have our five grandkids come and use the pool. It was really a big deal to the kids.... and did not matter much to the staff because we had the whole hotel to ourselves!  We were the only ones there!!!  The kids could make as much noise in the pool area without bothering anyone else.  Even the desk gal came in and chatted with all of the kids for a while.  It was so pleasant.  We kept them swimming and splashing and in and out of the hottub for three hours.  

Soon we were trying to finagle five little wet haired kids back into their street clothes. One mishap: there was a mixup of three little boys underwear.... we said just put on ANY pair then! LOL.  Our younger daughter Heather had come to help and we brought them all back to the house just in time for the big meal. 

Ooooh our kids outdid themselves with cooking up a storm!  Our soninlaw Waylen had his parents visiting from Oklahoma for the holidays, so it was even more fun to have someone new to share the holiday (and share the grandkids with!) 

After the meal, while the kids were patiently, well, somewhat impatiently, waiting to open presents... I got them to gather up for a much desired pic of ALL SEVEN grandkids and ME!  Yes... this is ME in my element.  Striving to be like our Grandma Kafehl was to us kids growing up. 

The kids even serenaded us with a song! 

click on this video: 

Soon the present opening started.. 

here is a small bit of hubbub that ensued. 

 It was totally delightful! 

click on this video:

Afterwards, those singing grandtots serenaded us again! 

click on this video: 

Wheeeeee it was a wonderful evening. We had ten adults, 7 grandkids, six dogs and a lot of fun! Soon those worn out suger-high, pool-soaked, super-excited kiddos all zonked out in front of the tv watching, what else, the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, cartoon version.  That is becoming a tradition too. 

The grownups then gather around the dining table. Ahhhhh My old table from when the kids were growing up. We played cards, drank our preferred beverages and laughed the night away.  

a few rounds of cribbage...

a few rounds of beers...

a few rounds of rumchata pudding shots....

a few rounds of Cards Against Humanity

(won by Jesse!)

By midnight, Steveio and I were fading fast and we headed out the door to the hotel.  We left our Finney and Binney there in their crate at the house to sleep for the night. No dogs allowed at the hotel. These pics happened after we went to bed.  Yes, our son and son-in-law appear to have a bromance going on when they win at cards! HAHAHA  They even have matching Team Looker shirts! The girls are thanking me for the matching Packer Hats. 

I set the alarm for 7 am to get up and head back to the house to help with breakfast.  We checked out of the hotel, and received such nice compliments on the grandkids behavior the day before from the front desk clerk. That did our hearts good.  We drove the few blocks back to the kids house to let out our dogs and get started on making breakfast for everyone.  Of course all of the kids were up and at em! 

This is becoming a breakfast tradition too... last year the oldest grandson Jameson helped me to make it.  This year we let each child of the oldest five grandkids assist.  Each one took a turn..... 

First was Biscuit Cutting Chelsea- using a big shears, she cut up three rolls of jumbo flakey biscuits into quarters and put into three glass pans with cooking spray on them. 8 rolls per pan.

Next was Egghead Cracking Jameson- missed taking a pic, but he shows up at the end with another pic..... He cracked up three dozen eggs, one dozen per pan, beaten lightly, and we poured them over the biscuits.

Third was Bacon Mason- he sprinkled real bacon bits over each tray of breakfast making sure it covered all areas. He snuck a few in his mouth too. You can use bits of ham for this part if you wish.

Fourth on deck was Cheezy Clayton- it was his job  to sprinkle shredded colby jack cheese all over the pans. And a little in his mouth too.  LOL

Fifth was the Spice Girl Allegra- it was her job to sprinkle dried onion bits and dried parsley flakes over each pan... and then some salt and pepper too.

The last step was for Jameson to come back in and supervise that it all was done correctly. Afterall, he has the recipe committed to memory now.  He helped cover each pan up with tin foil and we placed them all in the oven at one time on about 375 for 45 minutes.

We uncover them the last 10 minutes to brown up a bit. Cut apart in big squares and serve up on plates. Its eggs, meat and toasted bread all in one. Easy way to feed 16 people at one time.

While it was baking, the two littlest grandkids were in on the action. Whitney played with ''Grandma's Watch'', a pleasant past-time of all my grandkids over the years.  And we snuggled up baby Claire in the morning sunshine with our coffee.

Breakfast was wolfed down by the kids, and a bit more gingerly eaten by the hungover crowd ... heh heh.  Soon soninlaw Waylen and his dad got bundled up for heading down to Green Bay.  You see, our soninlaw bought his father surprise Packer Tickets for the game! What a treat to a visitor to the Frozen Tundra of La La La Lammmbeauuuuuu   (gotta be a Packer Fan to understand that one)

We helped clean up a bit and then packed the car up and headed on home.  I will write more about Christmas in our next blog.  This one is too long, and I am too tired to continue.  Yawnnnn 

Good Night and Sweet Dreams. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 AND 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

9,880 Days

Nine Thousand, Eight Hundred, and Eighty Days

Day in, Day out. 

Five days a week.

Week in, week out.

Fifty two weeks a year. 

Year in, year out.

Thirty eight years. 

5:30 alarm.

Up and at em.

Usually to plow things out, 

fix things up, 

make things work

 and deal with the bureaucratic junk 

of working for the government.

For the years of crazy, tumultuous, stressful,

mostly unappreciated work for the State of Wisconsin at UWGB.

Not to say it was ALL bad, but he suffered through 

many years of very low wages, huge budget cuts, 

and big deductions from paychecks that should have never happened---

due to broken contracts by our governor.

(but the last four years at High Cliff were the BEST!)

Yup..... that is what Steveio accomplished to earn this retirement.  Minus, of course, his earned vacation days.  It was time to let it all go. Time to retire.

He really gambled on chance this morning. You see, last night he didn't set his alarm clock!  Oh gasp!  I asked: ''What if you oversleep?''
He replied:  ''What is my boss gonna do? Fire me?''   bwahaahaaaa~~~~

Today I kissed him goodbye. He picked up his lunchbox for the last time and headed out the door to work.  Yup, for the last time.

The guys sure seemed to break a lot of things for him to fix on his last day. I think they wanted to make him feel like he needed to stay!  They busted the passenger mirror off the snowplow. They also plowed over the plug covering a valve (with a big rock he put on top to make sure nobody plowed over it). He even fixed a broken screen on the sliding customer service window for the drive-up at the office. That will be good for next spring. He had a full day.

Coworker Ranger Jeff surprised Steve with a very thoughtful gift!  A Stormy Kromer hat!!!  Anyone who knows anything about woolen winter headgear in Wisconsin knows about Stormy Kromers!

https://www.stormykromer.com/

and here is the 

History of the Stormy Kromer Cap

He modeled it for the office staff.

The Stormy Kromer cap is a wool hat manufactured by Stormy Kromer Mercantile.^[1] The hat is popular in the Midwestregion of the United States and with hunters and outdoorsmen.^[2][3] It is named for George "Stormy" Kromer (1876-1970),^[4] a semi-professional baseball player who later worked as a railroad engineer. Kromer lost many hats to the wind while working on trains, and in 1903 he asked his wife Ida (1877-1960) to make him a warm hat that would stay on more securely. She modified a baseball cap^[5] into what became the Stormy Kromer cap by sewing on a pair of ear flaps.^[2] A summer version, made from pillow ticking,^[6] remains in use among modern American train engineers, and variants with red or blue polka dots were formerly popular in the early 20th century.^[7]

Statue of a Stormy Kromer cap located near the factory in Ironwood, Michigan

Due to popularity with other employees of the railroad, the Kromers formed the Kromer Cap Company in 1903 to produce the caps.^[2][8] In 1919, due to ever increasing demand, the Kromers opened a factory in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.^[3]George Kromer sold the company in 1965 to Richard Grossman.^[9] In 2001, the Kromer Cap Company planned to cease production of Stormy Kromer caps.^[2][10]The rights to the caps were purchased by Bob Jacquart, owner of Jacquart Fabric Products, and production moved to Ironwood, Michigan.^[1] Stormy Kromer Mercantile was formed, increasing production to over 50,000 caps annually from the previous 3000-6000 caps.^[1][2]

The president of the Friends of High Cliff Organization, Char, stopped by with a lovely box of homemade caramels and chocolates.  One of his favorite volunteers, Ben, stopped by with a jar of homemade honey!  So many folks made time to stop and talk to him and wish him well, give him cards and say encouraging words.  It was quite a day for him. After the two surprise parties on Friday and now this. He was humbled.

After his normal 8 hour day, Steve drove on home to hang up his jacket and take off his state work shirt for the last time. He threw out his lunch box into the trash and said ''Honey, I'm Home'' for the last time.

I think the dogs knew something was up.  I hugged him tight and kissed him good and told him to get busy and start retiring now.  LOL... He hopped in the shower and we settled down with a good meal.  We cooked steaks on the grill to celebrate, and we opened a bottle of wine and toasted to the new chapter in our lives.

Not sure what we will do next. We usually eeked out a quick winter getaway vacation down south or out west while he was still working. But we are considering to stay put this winter and save the pennies. Then, come springtime, we can really leave and go west to places we have not been able to go to during the summer months. He was always needed at work so much during the summer, that the winter months were about the only time he could use up any vacation hours.

Maybe we can go see places like:

Looping around Lake Superior again - like we did on our honeymoon. 

Or maybe see the Rockies.  

Or Yellowstone.

 Or Glacier National Park.  

Or up into Canada to Banff and Lake Louise. 

Or Alaska.  

Who knows? 

But for now, I think my guy just needs to RELAX!