Days of the Walking Dead

Well, we had a nice visit with family during the week, except the unwanted visitors who stowed away on board two of the visitors. See if you can guess which two people in this photo had just come down with a serious respiratory virus (not Covid). Hint: Dusty doesn't count.

We postponed our Thanksgiving dinner until Friday. On Wednesday, Charlie came down with what I suspect is a respiratory flu, unless it is the Head Cold from Hell, the virus brought to us by loving family members. I started feeling sick on Thanksgiving Day. We had had our flu shots, but this probably wasn’t included in the cocktail. We’re still recovering. We both tested negative for Covid. I even tested myself twice, because someone at the bazaar on Saturday a week ago had later tested positive. We got lucky again, if you can call what we got "lucky." Our dinner was easy to fix, because we already had everything cooked for the day before. (One person in this photo was not feeling as well as he looks.)

The cucumber salad was delightful, as usual.

The cranberry sauce was also quite tasty.

The sweet potatoes were similar to the roasted ones I've made recently, except with more herbs, and was a delicious recipe. We had the usual stuffing, rutabaga casserole and turkey (faux chicken, in my case). Dessert was pumpkin pie. We have stuff left over.

Dusty really enjoyed the early morning walks/runs with Louis and one or both of Louis' "parents."

Soren and I did a lot of reading. He always wants me to read him several of my stories. Johan helped me take the photos for the week's story. One of his dolls participated. His Lily is the one in the green shirt. She needs help on the stairs, because her knees don't bend.

I managed to work in a little knitting. I CO my Talvinen sweater. Alexa and I are both making it. I decided to make mine a cardigan. That meant I had to switch the BOR from the center back to the center front and place a marker at the "pretend" BOR in the center back, so I would have it to refer to when following the pattern.

Since I was unable to go to the LYS on Saturday for Shop Small, I ordered from them online for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery KAL. This was what I picked for the MC….

and for the CC….

Then, on Sunday, just because we weren't completely out of energy and hadn't died, "we" decided the tarp needed to go over the trailer, because it was supposed to snow. There was a lot of bad language and gnashing of teeth involved. It's never easy, but this time it seemed impossible. The tarp is longer than wide, and the longer side has to go the length of the trailer, or it won't do any good, and of course, it was the wrong way first. Trying to rotate it after you open it is never easy. It's heavy, and it catches on the protrusions on the roof. It was cold and starting to rain (not snow) by the time we got it on, about two hours later, and Charlie was ready to attach the shock cord. 

Now I should go lie down again. Everyone stay well.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our other books, Emil and Mariah, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Hinterland Pullover (some more progress made) and the EmPower People Kerchief (hibernating), Pauly's Wonderland Turtle and the Talvinen.

What's on my loom, sewing machine, hoop: Same as last week, although the sewing machine got some use fixing one of Son Peter's pants pockets.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: A Dolls' Thanksgiving. The dolls got to experience Thanksgiving dinner with us, although at different times, because of the plague. Jolena had taken photos of everything we were eating, so she showed them to the other dolls, so they could pretend to eat them.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to Plan for the Worst by Jodi Taylor

What's in my wine glass: Cough medicine. I didn't check the label for vintage.

What's my tip of the week: Any head cabbage will last a long time in the fridge if you carefully remove leaves and chop them up, rather than cutting into it. The cut edges get brown and will eventually get moldy. You can cut off that part, but by just harvesting the outer leaves, you can avoid having too many broken/cut edges. Of course, this wouldn't work if you were going to stuff the leaves.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 

Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is available from BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. The stories are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The three stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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Into the Closet

The cedar closet is almost finished.

The old wood, which we have carried around since we did another closet in about 1986 or so, is on the two side walls. The new wood is on the back wall. We will have shelves where we can store our knitted things.

I donated some of my books to the church bazaar and had my first book signing. It was a fun day.

I took Pauly's turtleneck sweater to work on during the bazaar. I'm ready for the bottom ribbing.

I found out Sunday morning that someone at the bazaar had tested positive, so I was glad I had worn a mask most of the time I was there. She was with me for only a very short time during the event, so I think I'm OK, but I decided to wear a mask at church just in case, to protect others.

Alexa came on Sunday and sang with us.

The family came for Thanksgiving and arrived after the bazaar was over. Here's Soren, reading in our daybed.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our other books, Emil and Mariah, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Besides Pauly's turtleneck, still the Hinterland Pullover (had to frog the second sleeve back to the PU, so no progress made) and the EmPower People Kerchief (hibernating).

What's on my loom: Still dust, but I still plan to make some placemats. Stay tuned!

What's on my sewing machine: Still ready for back of T-shirt quilt.

What's in my hoop: Whole Cloth quilt, still no progress..

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Too Tiny To See, a "look" at the atom.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Now listening to Plan for the Worst by Jodi Taylor

What's in my wine glass: Ebro 2019 Spanish Tempranillo. Outstanding.

What's my tip of the week: Masks are still useful, not just for Covid, but also for colds and flu.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 

Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is available from BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. The stories are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The three stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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Finishing Things

Now that the election is over, I should have a bit of time to get back to my fiber activities. I've already finished the phone tote for our veterinarian's mother. 

You may remember, I had to get measurements of her phone before I could finish it, because the lining won't stretch. Here's where I was when I had finished the knitting and fulling (felting). I found the iron-on patch actually adhered to the wool quite well. I tried sewing it on by hand, but I couldn't get the needle through the thick adhesive on the back. The patch came from Patch Collection. The pattern for the tote is my iPhone Pouch, free on Ravelry. Here's where I was before sewing in the lining.

Here's a look at the lining. I sewed it down by hand, going around once, then back the other way sewing it down a second time. I don't want her to have to do any repair on it. (The lining in my navy blue one came undone a little bit and needed repair.)

I've been meaning up update the front porch remodel in my blog. We couldn't walk on it for a couple of days. Then we had stuff in front of it, and then it snowed, leaving behind an icy sidewalk, but I finally got a photo of the new porch. Just to remind you, here's what the house looked like when we bought it. 

Then we painted the house, but not the front porch, which needed to be rebuilt. It was a big improvement, though.

The next thing was the new roof, which we appreciated over the summer, because we needed to use the AC, not wanting to open the windows at night because of the smoke from the wildfires. The new roof keeps the house comfortable, and we're finding we aren't using as much electricity and gas to cool and heat it. We had vents put in when we replaced the roof. After that, we ripped out the poor, old bushes in front of the living room windows. As you can see from the photo above, they only had leaves on the part that extended in front of the windows, leaving the stalks bare. We put in some hydrangeas, which are still quite small, but they will grow. The front steps have now been rebuilt on a new foundation. The rails were replaced with a new shape––one that's easier to grasp when you're going up or down, and there are new square-shaped finials replacing the balls that were there before, and all of them match. Finally, the steps and floor were stained sort of a redwood color, using a stain that causes moisture to bead up, rather than sink in, and the painted part of the steps and rails, and the latticework were all painted the same iron black as the trim on the house.

The closet remodel continues. the cedar paneling is now finished on both sides and partway up the back. We're thinking of using the adjustable shelving strips and brackets, like this.

Here's a look at the progress as of Sunday night.

The new boards are a different size from the old ones we carted around for 36 years, but Charlie used the old ones on the sides and the new ones on the back. None of this will show much when the shelves are up, but I still think it looks pretty, and it smells delicious. (I think he's having fun with it, too.)

Zachary has recovered from the flu bug he had. Here he is, all ready to play chess...with someone. This was grandpa's chess set, purchased in Mexico in the 1960s, a special Christmas gift for the grandson last year.

After a big weekend performing onstage with La Crosse Ballet, Daphne and her friends took part in a dance competition.

My books continue to sell a few at a time. St. Jude was sent a check for $71 and change. It isn't much, but they say every little bit does a lot of good. I'm hoping that over time, it will add up.

I'll be cleaning house this week to get ready for the Oregon grand kids, who will be coming sometime the end of this week or the beginning of next, depending on the weather.

Rocky is still hanging in there. He had the stitches out this week and got some immunizations he will need when he goes back to the groomer next week. He has been sleeping well at night, since we started giving him the vetprofen and gabapentin at bedtime.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our other books, Emil and Mariah, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Hinterland Pullover (some more progress made) and the EmPower People Kerchief (hibernating).

What's on my loom: Dust, but I still plan to make some placemats.

What's on my sewing machine: Still ready for back of T-shirt quilt.

What's in my hoop: Whole Cloth quilt, still no progress..

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In It Snowed! Pauly finds out all the fun things you can do in the snow.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to Plan for the Worst by Jodi Taylor, not very far yet, but I plan to listen while I clean house this week.

What's in my wine glass: MERF Cabernet Sauvignon from "The distinct wines of David Merfeld," Columbia Valley, 2017. Pretty good!

What's my tip of the week: Housework is often boring, so I find it a good time to listen to my audiobooks. Put on some comfortable shoes, and off we go!

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 

Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is available from BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. The stories are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The three stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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Stalled!

The closet is coming along, but we had a problem yesterday, on Sunday, with the saw. (I think it's called a hack saw or a miter saw.) Anyway, the guard came off, and we had a terrible time getting it back on. I thought that was going to be it for the closet until it was resolved, but Charlie got it back together by using a washer (which it didn't have before) with the screw. Now it works. He has one side of the closet done and the opposite side partway done. It's hard to get a photo without a wide-angle lens, but this will give you an idea. The cedar goes all the way up to the ceiling. What you're seeing is the old stuff. The new cedar boards are longer and thinner. Those will go along the back. 

Most of my time this week has been spent trying to get people out to vote or to return their ballots. We checked on our own ballots, which we turned in right before the weekend, and they were received on Monday, but not registered until Wednesday. Every ballot is important, especially in our area. This will give you an idea:

The signs closest to the camera are for Democrats. The house next door has only signs for Republicans. This is pretty typical for our neighborhood, although only a few people actually put up the signs. Regardless of your political affiliation, please vote. Our vote is our voice. If you live in Central Oregon, you might want to turn your ballot in today. Tuesday we might get more snow.

We managed to get our flu shots on Monday. I saw a witch coming out as I went in to get my shot. It was Halloween, after all, and witches and other strange beings can come and go without having anyone get frightened by them.

We had a lot more kids come trick-or-treating this year than we've had for a while. Besides candy, we handed out cards for my story blog to kids who looked like they might be the right age range. We always told them to give the card to their parents to check out the website before they went to read the stories. It's always a good idea for kids to have their parents approve of their interactions online.

Daphne performed in Marushka, a ballet with La Crosse Ballet. Here she is, warming up before the performance. 

Here's Daphne with some other cast members.

I did a lot of laundry and cooking, but no fiber fun. I hope to get back to it after the election this week. We had choir practice, too, and we watched the World Series.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our other books, Emil and Mariah, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Hinterland Pullover (no progress this week), Pauly's Wonderland Turtle and the EmPower People Kerchief (still hibernating).

What's on my loom: Still dust, but waiting for placemats.

What's on my sewing machine: Still ready for back of T-shirt quilt.

What's in my hoop: Whole Cloth quilt, still no progress..

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Mischief. Pippa is concerned about some vandalism in the neighborhood and wonders how to figure out what's wrong to do.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Now listening to Plan for the Worst by Jodi Taylor. Just barely into the story.

What's in my wine glass: Wine.

What's my tip of the week: We have a cabinet over the fridge where we keep supplies like cases of tomatoes, beans, etc., bags of flour, pasta sauce and other things that don't fit into the regular pantry. It's impossible to get into without a ladder. It's hard to see what's in there, even when you get up there. I keep a list of what's in there and cross off whatever we take out. 

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 

Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is available from BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. The stories are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The three stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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