Getting Back My Blogging MoJo and Visit from Linda

I'm really sorry that I haven't been blogging lately. I think I'm disappointing all of my blogging readers! It just seems that I lost my mojo, combined with how busy we've been these last two months, that I haven't gotten a lot of time for blogging.

I am always thinking of things that I want to put in the blog, and taking pictures of things that might be interesting to put in the blog. But I just haven't been getting around to doing it.

I feel that if we're not traveling anywhere, my RVing blog readers don't find anything interesting and reading about family stuff, or my fiber arts, or seeing the umpteen million pictures of my dogs.

I'm going to try to get back into blogging almost every day if I can. I hope you folks tune back in. So many have been emailing me or messaging me asking if we are okay or if everything is all right. Yes we are, just that things got crazy busy!

I did have something great happen last week. My wonderful friend Linda traveled here from Tennessee. Her husband was gone on a mission trip to Africa, but for Christmas he gave her a plane ticket to go anywhere she wanted while he was in Africa. And believe it or not, she chose to come and visit me!

I picked her up from the airport as we were anxiously awaiting snow and wintry weather for a "Wisconsin Experience". The weather sure didn't cooperate at all. Almost all of our snow was gone.

Linda grew up in upstate New York and was used to snowy winters from her childhood. Since she moved to Tennessee they only get a small scattering of snow every now and then, which melts by the next day.  She has always teased me that she would come to visit me in Wisconsin with the fantasy of making snow angels.

The only snow we could find were crusty hard snowbanks here and there. We managed to find a halfway big one out at High Cliff State Park for her to pose with. But alas, there would be no soft fluffy snow for making snow angels. She will just have to come back again when we do have some.

Linda and I both like the same things. We love weaving, knitting, spinning or any fibery stuff. We also like hitting the thrift stores. During her week-long visit, we managed to go to 10 different thrift stores and a 24-hour rummage sale store. She found an amazing treasure of this beautiful Rowe pottery lamp. We researched it online for $195.00 She got it for the grand price of $6.99!!! She actually had to buy a second suitcase so she could get it back home!

I found a few bargains too, including four complete full brand new bolts of flannel fabric in pretty plaid colors. I can use these for backings on quilts. I paid a grand price of $3.99 a bolt! Heck, most stores don't even sell flannel for $3.99 a single yard unless it's on sale.

We had fun, gabbing and visiting and sharing stories and working on fiber projects together. We even got the dogs to model hats that Linda and I had knit.

Linda brought along a cute little wooden pot holder lap loom.  She worked on multiple matts and hot pads while the dogs looked on.

I worked on some socks as we sat in the sunshine in our family room... enjoying each other's company in person.  Otherwise, on the internet, we are part of a gabby rug weaving group and part of a trio with Rosie from Missouri. We gab back and forth many multiple times a day with chained emails, photos and messages.  We missed having Rosie alongside of us... and kept in contact with her via the internet throughout Linda's visit.

While we were gab, gab, gabbing... patient Steveio was sitting aside in the livingroom keeping out of our way.  He had some driving days for the county handicapped bus, and other days he drove us around to various thrift shops and out to eat!

We went to a few favorite local restaurants... including Hilde's Deli and Bakery in Chilton.  When I asked Linda what types of things would she like to do in our town, the only thing she wanted to do was to go and visit Hilde's. She heard about this wonderful little place many times from me over the internet and wanted to see it in person.

For the very first time, Linda got to experience string cheese. This is much different than the pre-packaged stuff you buy in the dairy department at a regular grocery store. That stuff is all dense mushy goo from the store. This stuff is fresh from the local cheese store and as you pull it apart it makes delightful little strings of tasty mozzarella. It's kind of a dry cheese and it tastes even more flavorful as you pull it apart to eat it.

Hilde's carries the string cheese from Vern's Cheese Store which is just down the street. It is bought in packages of about 8 or 10 pieces and best eaten fresh.

After we were done with their lunch at Hilde's, we went on down to Vern's Cheese Store. There Linda got to try for the very first time another Wisconsin oddity. It's called cheese curds. They are the leftover squeezings after making cheddar cheese. These little lumps of cheese, when fresh, give a squeak sound as you bite into them with your teeth. It's a really strange sensation. They are kind of salty little lumps of cheese. They only squeak when they are fresh for the first day or two. Then after that they just become lumps of plain old cheddar cheese. So it's best to get them fresh and have fun eating them.

Here is Linda's reaction before and during her first cheese curd. She said it was interesting, but then she politely said that she didn't care for any more of them! Lol! That's okay, Steve eagerly ate up the rest of the bag that I bought.

We also went one evening to Lupita's Mexican store in Chilton. It's an interesting little place, with a Mexican grocery store in the front portion of the building. In the back are a few tables and they serve Mexican food and drinks, restaurant style.

Our young waiter was only ten years old, and he was totally adorable. He managed our order correctly and his older co-worker brought the alcoholic drinks to our table.

It's a family operation with a few little children playing around among the tables and with some toys in the back while their mothers were cooking our food.  Who needs daycare when you can bring your little ones to work with you?

Steve and Linda each had chimichangas while I opted for a taco salad bowl. A side dish of guacamole with a bunch of chips set off the rest of the meal. We love the food here and have never had a bad meal.

Our little server boy was so cute, and we tipped him well.

While Linda was visiting, we also managed
a home-baked meal of traditional Cornish pasties
imported from the U.P. of Michigan,
 a breakfast at Seven Angels restaurant in Chilton,
some ice cream at Scoops in Chilton,
and lunch at Schlotzsky's Deli in Appleton

It seems like the days just flew by. The dogs were very excited to have a "burglar" in the house. They would run barking frantically and warning us that Linda was here every time she left the room and re-entered. They forget she was here already, and they act like she is a new "burglar" every time. By the third or fourth day, even timid little Binney was hopping up near Linda, getting her ears scratched and getting petted.

While we gabbed or crafted, 

the dogs laid patiently in the family room
listening to us or taking naps.

We managed to fit in a visit to a fiber shop in Cedar Grove that had some friendly llamas on site to pet.  They were curious and seemed to like Linda more than me.  Perhaps it was the phone clicking pics that they were avoiding?  We never got to see the inside of the shop... the sign said they were open, but it was locked, and nobody came out of the nearby farmhouse to greet us. It was pretty cold, so we hopped back into the car and drove to the nearby town for lunch instead.

Too soon, all seven days had passed and it was time to bring her back to the airport. Of course just as we were on the way to the airport, it start snowing!!! We had waited all week long to get some snow, and it finally snows on the day she needs to leave. Doesn't that just figure?

Linda went outside of the airport terminal

spread her arms wide to the sky

and let some snowflakes fall on her face. 

She carefully packed her winter jacket around the precious Rowe Pottery Lamp and stowed into her new carry-on bag.  It would have a place of honor on the seat next to her for the flight home.  There weren't any seat mates on her flight.  As you can see, after she went through the HUGE long lines at the TSA agent's station, she was well on her way to the proper gate for her flight.  Gotta love small town airports?

We said our goodbyes and off she flew away back to Tennessee. I miss her so much and even the dogs were looking for her.  They would wander into our guest room with puzzled quizzical looks on their faces.  Where did our "burglar" go?

Come back again Linda, 

and stay long enough to get fluffy snow 

for some snow angels??

After Linda departed, Steve and I decided it was time to take down the rest of the Christmas decorations around the house.  We had left up all of the Christmas decorations during Linda's visit so she could see our house for the first time in all of its decked-out holiday glory.

What took so long to put up, came down so fast. The artificial tree was soon packed away in five separate bags. The Christmas village was removed from the hutch in the family room. The outside lights and garland and bows were removed from the hooks on the exterior of the house.

Everything was stowed away in tubs and totes. We put shrink wrap around the edges so no bugs get in them and stow them away up high on shelves in the garage.  I loaded things up and Steve hauled them out the door. 

Another Christmas is over, 

and we only have 11 more months

 to bring them all out 

and start decorating again!

It looks we have like we have quite a storm brewing --- coming this way to Wisconsin tonight. We are due to get 12 inches of snow and high winds of 35 miles an hour with whiteout conditions.

After that storm, the temperatures are due to drop in the twenty to thirty below zero range. With accompanying wind chills of up to fifty below. It's going to last most of the week next week so we don't see a warm-up in sight.

We will be cuddled up in our stout little house, and our furnace is now functioning correctly after replacing the last $200 part in December. Of course, if the power goes out, we still have the gas fireplace, candles, oil lamps, and the generator in the motorhome to run a few electrical powered things if we need it. We are stocked up on groceries and we can manage just fine. I guess this is just Winter in Wisconsin...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

So 2018 has come to the close and now it is 2019. Here is looking to good health and happiness and a wonderful 2019 for everyone.

We celebrated Christmas Eve by staying home alone together. Steve steamed his wonderful snow crab legs outside in the portable gas burner. That keeps the cooking smell outdoors instead of doing them on the stove top in the house.

After dinner, we curled up on the couch together and watched "It's a Wonderful Life".

Christmas morning came peacefully, and our presents to each other are basically things for the house. Steve wanted a better wider shower head with a detachable flexible hose for spraying down the walls, and himself, in the shower. He had it installed in minutes.

I wanted a better vent over the kitchen stove when I am cooking. The over the stove vent on the bottom surface of our microwave is really insufficient. Steve bought the new unit that actually has to be drilled and inserted through the wall. It's not done yet but it's on our list of projects, and has already been purchased in sitting in the garage waiting for installation.

Christmas Day morning Steve's dad Paul stopped in to visit for a while. We shared a cup of coffee and some stories and enjoyed showing him our decorations on the house. Of course his dog Millie was along and she got to visit and play with Finney and Binney.

About 11 a.m. we took off together and drove down to Belgium Wisconsin with Paul. We went to Steve sister's house where some of his siblings gathered for Christmas Day dinner. We had a nice time and it was a good visit before we headed on back home. Pops still had to drive the rest of the way by himself all the way up to Sister Bay in Door County. That's a long day for a guy who is 86 years old. Got to admire him for being able to drive, take care of himself, take care of his own house and yard, and his dog Millie too.

The rest of the week went by in a blur until Saturday. That is our special weekend with all of our kids and grandkids. We load up the car to the brim with everything we need to take along to head on up, over the river and through the woods to Oconto.
It's about 80 miles from here and we celebrate with all of our kids and grandkids at our oldest daughter Erin's house. We checked into the nearby hotel first and unloaded our things into our room.

Then we start collecting grandkids!

They all get to come and swim for a couple hours in the pool while the parents get the food and presents all ready back at the house. What fun!

We have done this hotel/swimming thing the last couple years at the hotel nearby. Erin has lots of room at her house but everybody else also stays over so nobody is really drinking and driving back to their homes far away. I am usually in pretty good shape, so I drive from her house the few blocks over to the hotel.

After all of the swimming was done, all the children opened up their first present from us in our hotel room.

They all got new jammies for Christmas. (as usual)

But they surprised Steve and I by giving US jammies too!!!

Yes, these are one piece jammies, complete with a drop flap back door behind!!!! How totally hilarious. I had to wear them or they would be sorely disappointed.

Even Grandpa put his on to try them out. But he did not want to wear them out of the hotel room in public and drive us over to the daughter's house while wearing them. Chicken!

His comes complete with a little rod attached to the hood. At the end of the rod is a little piece of mistletoe and a jingle bell. What a good sport! He even approved that I could put these pictures here on the blog and also on Facebook.

With the help of our younger daughter Heather, we got all of the kids into their jammies, bundled up their wet swimsuits and other clothes, and headed over to Erin and Waylen's house.

The kids all gathered around the dining room table to have a pizza party. We toasted in the New Year with our beverages. It's so much fun to see all seven of the grandchildren around the old dining room table that I used to own many years ago. 

We talked about what they got from Santa Claus, giggled over silly nonsense, and just had a fun time being together. I know we are making memories that will last a lifetime. I'm so glad that Erin opens up her house that we can all fit in and be together and make a huge mess.

I gathered all of the little kids into one corner to sit on the floor and opened up a big box. Inside I had gift bags for each one. The last few years I have painted little ceramic village houses for each one. They are going to collect enough to each have their own village someday because I bought a huge stash of unpainted houses a while back.

This year they also each got a little plastic bag with a piece of border fence and a little person or figurine to put in their own village as well. Along with each commercial building that they got this year, I wrote a memory of my own as a child while visiting that type of building or what that building was for. I printed their stories onto a stiff piece of cardstock. I laminated it so it will last and they can pack it away with their village each year. Now I have to catch up with their other village houses and write them for the previous years.

We took some turns reading some of the stories, but the kids were getting anxious to go open up their presents under the tree.

Daughter Heather was able to get all seven kids lined up, facing forward, and smiling! This one is a keeper. I will print this out to put on my coffee mug photo sleeve that I change every year.

(L to R: Chelsea, Claire, Allegra, Clayton, Mason, Jameson, and Whitney)

Our daughter Erin is in charge of the family stocking collection. She has added to the stocking collection every year that someone comes along. What a haul! With that many stockings it may pull the banister right off the staircase???

Speaking of stockings, this year I knit up matching socks for the entire family. That is13 pairs, all sized for each person's foot from Dan with his large size 14 foot all the way down to little two-year-old Claire!

Little Claire's fit her very well, but they do come up the leg like little knee socks. We put them on her and look at the silly goose. What better place to put her little toes than in the cup holders on the sectional couch!!!!

Both Claire and Whitney had on their matching flannel jammies. What cute little cousins. I got to spend some time reading stories to both of them. They hauled out book after book from the play room for Grandma to read. There's something special about cuddly little kids in their fuzzy jammies, crawling up onto your lap to get a story. Soon these two will be too big to sit on my lap, but I hope they will still love to hear stories.

After all of the present opening mess was cleared away, it was time to play some games at the dining table. We started out with some card games and all the little kids were running around playing with their toys in the background.

Dogs, kids, toys, noise, and a bunch of cards. What a lot of fun!!

And of course a few beverages are imbibed as well....

The kids get to stay up as late as they can manage to prop their eyelids open. 

Some don't make it.

About midnight, Steve and I slipped out the door with the dogs and headed back to the hotel. I think we should have just stayed at Erin's house after all. The hotel was very noisy, with people coming in as late as 2:30 banging and talking loudly in the hallway right outside of our door. The people above us were banging around and I swear somebody was flushing their toilet every 15 minutes all night long. The pipes came down the wall right next to the bed in our room and you could hear the swoosh and swirl each time they flushed.  The bed in our room was firm and uncomfortable, we are used to a soft memory foam mattress at home.

The dogs were uneasy, listening to all of the noises that they are not used to. Finney was on guard duty and giving low warning rumbles in his chest every time he heard strange noises. He only barked once, a single bark, and we shushed him down. Someone else had a dog a few doors down that barked quite a bit. So I don't think Finnegan's single bark bothered anyone.

By 6 a.m. people were up and about around us packing up going in and out the doors with suitcases. It was a Packer Game Day and this hotel, being only 38 miles north of the Packer stadium, was full to the hilt with game day attendees. So we got up as well and decided to pack our things and check out and head back over to Erin's house.


We have started a tradition where the kids get to help make breakfast. It's a breakfast casserole called a "breakfast bake". It's a great way to make breakfast for a large group of people that is done all at the same time.

Chelsea and Clayton were the grandkids who were helping this year. They are getting so tall they can stand right at the countertop to work on things. I recall the days when they were so little they had to stand up on step stools to reach the edge of the counter to help.

It was fun to see them use their baking skills that they have learned over the years. After washing their hands, they know they can help prepare the meal. And then have to wash their hands again when they are all done. Little Clayton even gave us a lecture on how we must wash our hands! So sometimes the things we teach them actually DO stick in their little brains....

We cover the pan with tin foil and bake it in the oven for about 25 minutes then uncover it for the last 10 or so.

This year there weren't as many left at the house who wanted breakfast so we only made one pan. Our son Dan and Heather and kids had to leave early. Son in law Jesse was heading down to Green Bay to attend the Packer game. Other years we have made three pans to be sure to have enough to go around.

Here is the recipe. But take note, we don't add the milk anymore. It seems to bake better without the milk and is less runny.

The breakfast bake was delicious and the biscuits puffed up beautifully and were flakey and crunchy on top. Steve made Bloody Marys for everyone with his super duper Bloody Mary mix from Hilde's deli and bakery in Chilton.

That Bloody Mary mix is a tad bit too spicy for me.

I brought along Tom n Jerry mix. It's a thick eggnog-like batter that is added to mugs of hot water with a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg on top. For the adults, you add a shot of brandy or rum. Of course for the kids, it's non-alcoholic. They loved it so much they said it was like drinking a marshmallow!

Here is our YouTube video clip of our weekend. The first part has a lot of the swimming and the rest of it is fun at the house with all of the kids and playing cards, and it finishes up with little Claire walking our dogs to the door on leashes so we can go home:

We hung around till about noon, but my eyelids were having a hard time staying open. Since we didn't get much sleep the night before, we decided to load up the car and toddle on home again. Once we got home we unloaded the car and threw everything in the middle of the kitchen. Then we both headed up to bed and took a nice long nap!

(the Packers lost the game)

Not sure what the New Year will bring for us in the way of travels yet. We first have to get past the property taxes and income taxes with our meager budget. Then we can decide what we are going to do as far as traveling somewhere in the motorhome.

We wish everyone a wonderful, healthy, and prosperous New Year!