Snow!

We don't get much of the white stuff around here. The snow is pretty but the ice underneath is dangerous which means things pretty much shut down. Never got above freezing yesterday and had an overnight low of 10 so everything is still pretty much shut down. We should start to thaw out tomorrow afternoon. (the sun is out right now!)

I stepped out on the porches and took a few pictures yesterday.

 View from back porch

 View from side porch

 View from front porch.

I watched several cars go up that hill. There is a stop sign there and the ones that actually came to a full stop had to back down the hill and start over. Thankfully the cross road gets little traffic.

I stayed inside all day except for getting out long enough to take Nicholas out - he refused to get out in the yard where the snow was so I had to walk him on the sidewalks (nearly busted my backside more than once). It took three different trips before he finally took care of business.

Hubby, on the other hand, had to go to work and took this picture while he was warming up the car enough to get the ice off the windshield.

I've got the Christmas decor put away and I'm trying to at least dust while getting the 'regular fluff' back out.

I hope all of you are staying nice and warm!

Christmas 2017

A few last photos from 2017

Brittany & Brian, Timothy, Ashley & Jason

 Scheduling this year was tricky. We managed to have all the 'kids' together for about 7 hours on Christmas Eve. We had a lot to cram into those precious few hours. After eating and gift giving we headed out to take a few pictures of the kiddos while we still had a little daylight. There is a big, decorated tree in this shopping center but the lights were not turned on and it was quite muddy so we opted for the benches. It was cold and super windy so we snapped and ran quickly.

 My guys. I'm very blessed to have these men in my life.

After photos we came home to visit awhile longer before Brian and Brittany headed back to Houston.

 I made these two ornaments for friends and they were finally delivered this past weekend. My hands are finally healed enough to stitch again but finding time isn't easy. I'm still putting Christmas decor away. I finally got all the ornaments off the tree last night but they are all over the table. All the hangers get removed and any ornaments that have a box go back in their boxes. Everything else gets wrapped in tissue before being put away. (I admit to a little OCD when it comes to my ornaments) There were two fatalities from the other trees - glass ornaments don't fare well when dropped on concrete floors and one injury from the big tree. I have a leg to try to repair - we will see how well that works. 

Each of the boys have a box of ornaments that have been collected since their first Christmas. Brian finally took some of his with him this year to put on his own tree.

Baby boy's bride brought me an ornament to add to my collection this year. (I didn't get any new ornaments made for myself this year) I haven't decided if I will pack it away or find a place to hang it in my sewing room to enjoy during the year.

Hope your 2018 is going well so far. Things have been extremely busy here and getting this Christmas stuff put away is going slower than I would like but it will get done. Haven't decided if I will put the Valentine decor out as I put this away or wait a few weeks. 

Totally useless

My fingers are dry and cracked. My thumbs are raw and totally useless. I can't stitch with bandaids on them and can't touch anything without them on. Just using my phone is a challenge (typing this isn't exactly fun either)

I look like I have been holding hands with Edward Scissorhands.

 I stitched this little ornament for a gift exchange before Christmas. It is from the 2017 JCS ornament issue. I can't put my hands on it right now, (none of my Christmas stuff has been put away yet) but it was made into a little purse ornament in the magazine. I left off the top part and just mad this ornament out of it.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas at our house. 

 Ashley - baby boy's bride

 Timothy - the middle kidlet

 Brian - the oldest and his girlfriend, Brittany

 Jason - my baby boy

 and the hubby. There were only 6 Christmas crackers so I sacrificed and let the others have them. Cute aren't they /

I have only had one day that I could stitch since Christmas. Once the weather turned cold out my hands got super dry and I started getting cracks on my fingers. I used to always have this problem but it went away when we moved to Houston. They would get dry and rough but not the cracks and bleeding. Last winter we had a mild winter here and I didn't have a problem but it is making up for it this year. 

The one day I did stitch I made a boo-boo. Had to take out that over one stitching.

I'm keeping ointment and bandaids on the worst places and hand cream on the rest so hopefully I can be back to stitching soon.

I have a few more Christmas pictures I can show if I don't get any stitching in soon.

Hope your 2018 is starting out great!