CLOSING OUT JANUARY

J A N U A R Y

OK, how is it the end of the month?  Didn't the year just start?  At least it feels that way to me.  Let's see what I can talk about today.

We had snow and cold temperatures.  Very cold temperatures.  I can't remember the last time it was in the teens for days on end.

Because it was so cold I really didn't do much this month.  I stayed in the house a lot and because I was still feeling the effects from my fall in December, I slept a lot.  I guess I was hibernating!  But now that the weather is getting better and warmer I hope to be doing more.

I took my finished temperature blanket and added a two inch white border around it instead of leaving it fringe.  It looks so much better and lays better too.  I haven't taken a picture of it because Joe uses it all the time.  But here's what it looked like before.

Here is October's section.  See the 80* pink section?  How I wish!

 The November section.  Not too bad.

 And the December section.  Now the cold hit.  Look at the end of the month with all the gray.  That stands for 19* and under.

And here's the entire thing before I added the border.

I liked doing this so much that I joined a couple of groups on facebook that do temperature blankets.  I never realized there were so many ways to do them.  So I've started another blanket for 2018.  I'm doing this one corner to corner and in garter stitch so it has a completely different look even though I am using the same colors.  Here is January's section.  It was so cold that for the first time I had to use navy since the temperatures were in the single digits.

I am so excited to see how this will turn out.

I am also working on two scarves in ivory for two of my friends who are having birthdays. I am having lunch with Donna on Saturday.  I am almost finished with the first one so I think I will be OK with that.  Chris' birthday is the 6th so I have to move with that one.  I'm glad I have the Crafters meeting on Friday so I will have 1 1/2 hours to work on them.

I hope February will be more interesting.  I know I have a few things coming up that I will take you along with.  It's just no fun to blog a boring day and there have been a lot of them because of the cold.  I'm so looking forward to being able to get out in the yard and start gardening.

So before I end you know I have to show you a picture from my Breathtaking Views calendar.  This is the lighthouse at Grand Haven, Michigan.

Enjoy your day, everyone!

Kathy

Weather in Philly:

Mostly sunny

High:  34*F     Low:  17*F

Sunrise:  7:09 a.m.     Sunset:  5:18 p.m.

10 hours and 9 minutes of daylight

A FUN SATURDAY

Another beautiful picture and as we are forecasted snow for tomorrow, it may look like this here (except for the amazingly huge Christmas tree).

On Saturday I finally got to visit my brother and sister-in-law at their house in Montgomery County.  It took me an hour each way because the traffic was so bad.  I didn't expect that.  Joe wasn't able to go with me because he hurt his back and was in a lot of pain.  He's doing much better now.  Not completely well, but better.  Backs are funny things, aren't they?

So the three of us went to one of their favorite restaurants for lunch.  It was the Restaurant at Westover Golf Club.

It was very pretty inside and the food was great.  I had a chopped steak with mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes, and cole slaw.

After we ate, we went back to Larry and Kim's house and they showed me their new camper.  It is so cute.  I asked if I could take pictures and show it to you on the blog and they said yes.

Here is their little eating area.

And their kitchen.  Small but complete.

It fits a queen sized bed and a very comfy sofa that is also a bed.  There is a curtain to separate the two spaces.

Since they have a campground space down the shore, they are decorating it with all kinds of beachy stuff.  These pillows and the ones on the bed were made for them by my mom.

I didn't take a picture of it, but there is a good sized bathroom too.  It's almost as big as in some apartments.

There is tons of storage too.  They are making it so nice and I know they will enjoy getting to go away each weekend this summer.

I stayed for awhile and we exchanged Christmas and birthday gifts.  My birthday is December 29 and Larry's is January 3. 

I actually got some good photos of their dog Schnitzel (whom I kept calling Strudel -- brain block!).  It is hard to get a picture of him.  He likes to move.

I finally left (later than I expected to) and made my way home in the dark.  Another hour back.  I would have made much better time if there weren't so many cars on the road just creeping along!

It was so much fun spending time with my family.  I hope we can do it more often than we have been.

Now on to another busy day.  I am determined to make this house look halfway decent.

Kathy

SUNDAY WITH SARAH

Hello there blog friends.  I did not desert you.  I have been living a very boring life with nothing to write about.  Hopefully that will change, but it has been great to just have that down time for awhile.

But in the meantime here is your weekly picture from Sarah.  Do you like birds?  Do you like trees?  Do you like birds in trees?

I love this shot and hope you do too.  I will be back tomorrow with a regular post.  Promise.

Kathy

Weather in Philadelphia:

Cloudy

High:  54*F (12*C)    Low:  37*F (3*C)

Sunrise:  7:12 a.m.     Sunset:  5:14 p.m.

10 hours and 2 minutes of daylight.

Hurray, we've passed the 10 hour mark!

WHAT I'M READING: NOW AND ZEN (2018/3)

2018 - book 3

Now and Zen by Linda Gerber

Summary:

Nori is trading in her jeans for a silk kimono.

Tokyo , Japan, is nothing like Nori Tanaka imagined it would be.  She expected tranquil gardens and swoopy-roofed houses, not concrete and neon.  And everyone assumes that, with her traditional Japanese features, she's a native instead of a naïve American study-abroad student.  Even Erik, a gorgeous German student, mistakes Nori for Japanese and treats her like a personal tour guide.  Nori is sure that he'll like her for who she is once he gets to know her, so what harm can come of pretending to be Japanese?  It doesn't take long to realize that she has a lot to learn about Japan, and about herself, before she can pass for a native.  But after exploring the karaoke clubs in Tokyo, the peaceful temples in Kyoto and the breathtaking heights of Mt. Fuji, Nori knows she has a good chance of finding the hidden Japanese sprit and Zen mindset within herself.

My review:

I discovered the S.A.S.S. (Sudents Across the Seven Seas) books when I worked at the library.  They are a series of Young Adult books.  In each stand-alone story a high-school aged student goes to study in a foreign country for one semester.  The story tells about the country, about the student, and gives a life lesson.

The lesson in this book was about being true to yourself.  Nori finds this out the hard way by pretending to be someone she is not.

I love these books.  I have another one and hopefully I can get some of the others for my Kindle.  You don't have to be a high school student to love a good story.

Kathy

Weather in Philadelphia:

High:  45*F

Low:  26*F

Sunrise:  7:15 a.m.     Sunset:  5:10 p.m.

9 hours and 55 minutes of daylight

JANUARY TOILETRIES

I love a sale, don't you?  And that's why I love going to Rite Aid because there is always a sale going on there.  Just look at the cool stuff I got.

My skin gets so dry in the winter.  I have been using a lot of hand cream.  So this was a great find for me.  It was in the after-Christmas sale for 50% off.

I have never heard of J.R. Watkins, but the hand cream is really nice.  It's made with shea butter.

Lemon Cream and Coconut Milk and Honey

Lavender Aloe and Green Tea

They smell amazing!  I am using the Lemon Cream now.  It smells like those lemon sandwich cookies.  Now I want cookies.

The other thing I bought was a collection of Burt's Bees lip balm.

Mango, Pomegranate, Vanilla Bean and Beeswax.  I like the Pomegranate best because it gives my lips a bit of color.  But getting them all at half price -- well, I'll take it.  I usually can't afford Burt's Bees products.

Not to be outdone, Joe just bought a collection from a company called Brickell.

For $6 he got a whole box of cute little samples.

Some were little jars of creams.

And some samples were in little jars.

You can see how little they are.  But they seem to have quite a bit of product inside.  Certainly enough for at least three uses.

Better still when he lifted up the cardboard that the little jars were in, underneath was a lot more sample packages that they sent for free.

After Joe uses some of these products I will let you know how they are.  

Now we are all ready to be beautiful during this winter weather.

Kathy

SUNDAY WITH SARAH

It's still winter.  It's not too late for Christmas, is it?  Even if it is a little late, I'm still in love with this picture my friend Sarah took of a Christmas tree lot.  This could be anywhere in the U.S.

Hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday.  I'll be back tomorrow with another post.

Kathy

Weather in Philly:

Cloudy

High:  51*F (10.5*C)

Low: 42*F  (5.5*C)

Sunrise:  7:17 a.m.     Sunset:  5:06 p.m.

9 hours and 49 minutes of daylight

JANUARY DECORATIONS

Hello everyone!  Welcome back to my blog.  It has been quite a day here.  Joe and I were going to go to lunch with my brother and sister-in-law, but I got sick.  I am still not feeling 100% but better than this morning.  Stomach virus?  Migraine?  I'm not sure, but it sure threw me for a loop.

So instead of pictures of our good time out, I will show you some of my January decorations.  I wanted something on my front door but not a wreath.  I found this cute sled at Rite Aid.  It was called a Christmas decoration and so was 75% off.  I thought it was just right for January.

I left my deer and the little pink trees on the shelf.

I put snowmen on my little table by the window.  The wooden trees behind them were also on the after Christmas sale for 75% off.  I love them.

It's almost time to put all of this away and get out the Valentine's Day decorations.  But until then, I'm going to enjoy my snowmen.  The kind that aren't freezing cold and don't melt.

Kathy

I WON!

What a nice thing to happen to me on a cold winter's day.  I found out that I won a calendar from Becky at grandmabeckyl.blogspot.com.  Becky is such a sweet lady and has a great blog.  Last year she did a 52-week photo challenge.  The pictures she took were all so gorgeous.  And she took 13 of them and made these great calendars.

When I opened the package not only was a calendar in there, but also a pretty dishtowel and a sweet note.

These photos are not printed on, but actual photos attached to the pages.  So nice.  Since they are Becky's photos I don't want to share each one with you, but I know I will enjoy every month the whole year through.  It is already hanging up in my kitchen.

Thank you so much, Becky.  I love everything that you sent to me.

Kathy

Weather in Philadelphia:
Hazy
High:  42*F
Low:  20*F
Sunrise:  7:18 a.m.     Sunset:  5:04 p.m.
9 hours and 46 minutes of daylight.

THE TEMPERATURE AFGHAN

I finally did it.  I finished the temperature afghan tonight.  It turned out beautiful.  I know you are anxious to see it, so here goes.  Remember, I outlined each month in white.

October:

You can see there were some beautiful pink 80*F days at the beginning of the month.

November:

Some yellow 70*F days at the beginning of the month and then a lot of light green 60*F days and dark green 50*F days.  There's some light blue 40*F days in there too.

December:

Not a lot of warmer days here and even a lot of gray 20*F days at the end of the month.

I got Joe to help me spread it out on the bed.  It still needs to be washed and blocked, but I wanted to take a look at it.  I think it's so pretty.

It sure tells a story of our year.  I never realized how warm we are in the summer and how cold in the winter until this.  And we really don't have much of a spring at all.

I really enjoyed making this.  I liked doing it so much that I joined a temperature blanket group on facebook.  What a great group of people and what a diverse amount of blankets.  People do them all sorts of ways.  Some use the high temperature of the day as I did.  Some use the high and the low.  Some will put white threads in the days that it snows and blue in the days that it rains.  People make their blankets with stripes, diagonals, blocks sewn together, blocks knit together, round, and so much more.  I'm trying to decide how to do my new afghan this year.

Kathy

WHAT I'M READING: THE LONG WINTER (2018/2)

2018 - Book 2
What do you read when it's cold -- below freezing and no end in sight?  You read Laura Ingalls Wilder's book "The Long Winter."

Summary:

The sixth book in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s treasured Little House series, and the recipient of a Newbery Honor. This edition features the classic black-and-white artwork from Garth Williams.

The fledgling town of De Smet in the Dakota Territory is hit hard by the brutal winter of 1880-1881. Laura, Pa, Ma, Mary, Carrie, and little Grace face the winter as best they can, but soon, blizzards have covered the town in snow that piles up to the rooftops, cutting the town off from supplies and trade. Food stores begin to run dangerously low. To save the town from starvation, young Almanzo Wilder and a friend brave the conditions, set off across the prairie in search of wheat, and return victorious. The town is saved, and the townspeople share in an unusual, but joyful, Christmas celebration.

My review:

I am in love with the Little House books.  And I had never heard of any of them until I was an adult.  

This weather has made us all so cold.  And as the cold crept into my house I thought of this book.  It wasn't until someone on facebook was talking about reading it that I thought -- "Why not?"  And it was as good as the first time I read it.

That is the thing with Laura Ingalls Wilder's books.  You can read them over and over and they are still fresh and a good story. 

As I finished it last night I thought, "Well, they got through a winter far worse than ours with far less supplies than I have.  I can at least get to a store and I won't starve to death or freeze to death even if I am cold.  God saw them through to the end and He will do the same for me."  And so He will.

Kathy

Weather in Philadelphia:

High:  40*F (4*C)

Low:  28*F (-2*C)

Sunrise:  7:19 a.m.     Sunset:  5:01 p.m.

9 hours and 42 minutes of daylight