2009 in Review

Looking back at 2009, it had it's good times and it's bad times, but all in all it wasn't a bad year. We all (David, Cathy, Janice and Chad) still have are jobs and aren't worried about their future.

In January, Janice, Kyleigh and I got to attend my nephew's wedding in Arcata, CA and visit with David's family.

In March, we celebrated Kyleigh's first birthday--we've watched her learn to walk, take swimming lessons, learn to communicate and use lots of words (some of which we can understand). We've had opportunities to spend time with her both with and without mommy and daddy and she even spent the night several times.

We celebrated Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas with Chad's family, always with good food and great company.

In August, I had my right knee replaced and my recovery went better than anyone anticipated. I'm looking forward to having the left one replaced in February, 2010. I also started using insulin to control my diabetes.

In November/December I helped with the sign ups, collection and sorting of gifts for the Giving Tree at our church.

We moved into the 21st century and got wifi and new cell phones (which I'm still learning to use). I also got a Wii and Wii Fit Plus for Christmas.

We had to get rid of our cat because she had a bad habit of lashing out at people with her claws and got Kyleigh in the face.

David got a 1993 Chevy G20 van to replace the 1977 Chevy G20 van that's been sitting in our driveway for years waiting for him to repair it. He's had to do a lot of work on the new one and has been moving parts from one van to the other, but hopefully we'll be able to get rid of the old one soon.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of things that didn't get done. I didn't lose all the weight I wanted. My blood pressure and sugars still aren't in good control. The house still needs a lot of TLC and my office/craft room still looks like a bomb went off in it and I have a lot of "deskwork" that still needs to be completed.

I have done a lot of stitching this year, most of it for charity, but after joining the yahoo group, Fellowship Crossings, I've started to stitch several projects for me and have plans to do more. I also blogged more than the year before, but there were still long periods of time without an entry.

So the year was mostly good, but there are still areas where it could have been better. As it comes to a close, I'm looking forward to 2010. and really hope that at the end of next year, I can "brag" about all I've accomplished rather than lamenting about what I haven't.

2009 in Pictures

March - Kyleigh celebrated her first birthday with a cupcake!

This ride on Pooh train is one of her favorite toys. It was given to us by a neighbor, but it was in really bad shape so grandpa spent several hours cleaning/repairing it.

April - Kyleigh participated in her first Easter Egg Hunt.

May - We celebrated Mother's Day by having brunch at Goofy's Kitchen.

July - We celebrated July 4th at Chad's grandparents house. Here Kyleigh is excited by Amber's dog's antics.

August - Kyleigh started swimming lessons. She loves the water, but hates to float on her back.

Janice and Kyleigh particpated in the Light the Night walk at Angels Stadium. I joined them for the pre-walk party.

October - Kyleigh was a very cute Tinkerbell for Halloween. Here she is showing daddy her costume.

November -We spent Thanksgiving at Chad's grandparents. Kyleigh is multitasking--drinking some milk and talking on the "phone" (in reality it's the remote control for the chair she's sitting in).

December - We exchanged presents on Christmas Eve and spent Christmas Day with Chad's family. This is the picture on the Christmas card Janice sent to friends and relatives.

First Hair Cut

Kyleigh had her first haircut today and she did a lot better than we expected. She sat very still and didn't say a word. We took her to a kids' salon and the stylist was very patient and experienced at working with young children. Grandma had to stay very close, though.

She definitely didn't think it was a lot of fun, but the only time she fussed at all was when they used the hairdryer--she didn't like the noise.

This is the finished product. There's a tiny elastic band with a couple of flowers in her hair. Janice also received a certificate commemorating her first haircut and a lock of the hair.

After the haircut, we went to Sprouts and since I hadn't gotten a good picture of her at the salon, I took one of her in the basket at Sprouts. The string is attached to the pink balloon she received at the salon.

This afternoon I pulled the floss for Margaret Sherry's 12 Days of Christmas which I'm planning to start on Tuesday (December 1). I'm planning to do one square a month so that it will be completed by next Christmas.

Black Friday

Today is Chad's 28th birthday. Happy Birthday, Chad!

Kyleigh decided it was time to get up about 5:00, but after some cuddling and some milk, she and I both went back to sleep. Unfortunately, the phone woke us at 6:05 when Janice called to say she was in line at Target and that she'd spent three hours at Toys R Us, but she did get the things she'd wanted. She also stopped at Kohls before going to Target. Janice is very organized and plans her shopping ahead of time. I've never done the Black Friday thing, but she seems to enjoy it.

Since it was going to be a couple of hours before she was done, Kyleigh and I decided to take a walk. Unfortunately, she didn't want to take the stroller and the route I take is probably a little less than 1/2 mile. She did very well, though it did take longer than usual since she had to investigate the leaves and anything else she found on the ground. There's a bus bench at the halfway point so we spent a few minutes there to rest up for the next part of the walk.

We met Janice and Chad at Mimi's for breakfast and then they took her home with them.

David was able to fix the little white button so I finished up Halloween this afternoon. This is the final block in the Boo Club series from Lizzie Kate. It's stitched on 28 count Natural Lite Jobelan. I had to stitch it separately from the other blocks since for some reason the 14 x 31" piece of fabric I bought only measured 14 x 27". I had some more of the same fabric, so I went ahead and stitched it anyway and I'll figure out how to combine the two later.

Here is the completed piece, minus the Halloween block. The color is more like the picture below than the one above.

Happy Thanksgiving

I met Janice and Kyleigh at church this morning. For some reason, they started the service 15 minutes late and by that time Kyleigh was very restless. Since the nursery wasn't staffed, Janice stayed there with Kyleigh who apparently continued to be very rambunctious. Unfortunately, this meant that she missed most of the service.

After church, David made mashed potatoes and carrot and raisin salad (I helped!) and then we went to Chad's grandparents house for dinner. We had a very good meal and we always enjoy each other's company. And, this time we had a very active little one to keep us entertained.

She rode a ride on toy and posed for the camera.

She helped "load" the dishwasher.

She took a break for some milk and a "phone call". The phone is the remote control for the chair. Not the most ladylike position, though.

She sat on the dog.

And, of course had to give her a hug.

And, figured out how to work the remote and raise the chair.

She also turned a couple of somersaults, which none of us had seen her do before, but Janice told me later that she'd helped her do one a couple of days before.

Kyleigh came home with David and I so that Janice could do some Black Friday shopping starting with Toys R Us at midnight.

After she went to bed, I stitched and managed to finish the border on Halloween. I wasn't able to completely finish it because one of the buttons only had one hole in it, but David should be able to fix it tomorrow.

Ornament Finish

This is another NMI kit, but this one was stitched as intended. I've backed it with gold scrapbooking paper and it will soon be on it's way to my Fellowship Crossings AA (Anonymous Angel).

The main part of the gift is something I stitched a couple of years ago, but hadn't found a destination yet. I can't reveal the details as to why I chose this without giving too many hints as to who the recipient is, but although I kept looking through my stash for something to stitch I kept coming back to this. I hope she likes it.

Butterfly

This is an NMI Stitch 'N Hang kit. I substituted 14-count Aida for the provided 18-count which made it the perfect size. This is the third design I've stitched for the 2nd Q4OC Stitcher's Challenge and the theme for this one is Butterflies/Insects.


I have three more left to stitch with the themes of Teacups/Teapots, Animals, and Transportation. I can stitch two in one theme instead of stitching one in each theme and I have a second butterfly that I might stitch if I can't quickly find one of the other themes. All of these are due 12/31/09.

Soccer Dog

This is Margaret Sherry's Footballin' Dog from the Sports and Hobbies series in the UK Cross Stitcher magazine. This was from issue #218.

It was stitched for an eleven year old boy who will be receiving a quilt from the Benevolent Piecemakers.

Three More

I finished three more cards for soldiers today. I didn't have very much left to do on the snowman, just a few rows at the bottom and some backstitching. All three of these were Quick-stitch Motifs from Enjoy Cross Stitch at Christmas #2. The only change I made (other than changing the color of the snowman's scarf) was to use 1/4 stitches instead of full stitches at the corners.

I will mail all four pieces off to Florida in the morning to be made into cards.

Piglet

I had so little left to do on Piglet that I went ahead and finished him up this morning. This is the first square I've stitched for Binky South Dakota and I had so much fun stitching it that I signed up to do Pooh and Eeyore too.

Not the Cutest?

Back in August we accidentally ended up at a baby expo and entered Kyleigh in the cutest baby contest. She didn't win, but for entering, she received this mock magazine cover.

I had my week planned out as far as stitching goes, but it got off track fairly quickly. One of the members of FC had initiated a project to stitch cards for soldiers fighting in Afghanistan in another group and several persons had backed out at the last minute. She asked for help from FC members and I decided to stitch a couple. Since they need to be done quickly, I'm stitching them instead of the other projects I had planned. I finished the first one this afternoon.

This is a Quick-stitch motif from Enjoy Cross Stitch at Christmas #2. I left off the back stitching on the tree and used 1/4 stitches on the balls. I also used a dark red floss for backstitching them instead of the dark gray called for.

More Pictures

Janice and I went to look at preschools this morning. We saw two and both had their pluses and minuses. The first was along their commute, was a developmental program and the price wasn't much more than they're paying now. The downside was that it was in an older building and the playground needed updating.

The second location was in a newer building and seemed brighter and cleaner, but it was almost twice the price, was an academic program and I didn't like the way the teacher was yelling at the students and didn't really have control over them.

She also has a third option which we looked at early last month. This one was close to home and we really liked the looks of the classroom, but they can't take Kyleigh until September (or possibly in their summer program in June) and won't release their prices until January. Unfortunately, it will probably be more than they want to pay.

I suspect she'll end up at the first one we looked at yesterday, but they have several months to decide.

Janice sent me some more Halloween pictures this evening and I had a hard time choosing just one, so here are most of them.

I just love the smile on this one.

The full costume.

Ready to hand out candy:

Look what I got:

Trick or treating with the neighbors. That pumpkin was full of candy when they got home.

Janice is very artistic and creative and her pumpkins are always amazing. This year she took the easy way out and used a template.

TtGiD

Janice drove to church this weekend since it's just a couple of blocks from the condo, but she said she knew why the doctor didn't want her driving. When David picked me up, Kyleigh climbed into the car like she usually does, but this time she sat in the front passenger seat and immediately tried to put the seat belt on.

Fellowship Crossings has started a SAL to help people get stitching done on one or more of their UFOs (Unfinished Objects). The last weekend of each month is a "Git 'er Done" weekend and this was the first one. For my project I chose a UFO from the mid 1990's called "I Love Cats".

Before:

After:

I finished the cat and heart on the far right, the gray cat with the pink bow, the rust colored cat in the C and did some more of the C, and started a second rust colored cat and a gold cat. I really hated to put it down, but I've got a lot of other things that need to be done also. I have decided to work on this next weekend instead of waiting until the end of November.

Happy Halloween!

Since Janice didn't feel like driving today, David and I picked her and Kyleigh up and took them out to breakfast. While David waited at the restaurant, Janice and I took Kyleigh to her swimming lesson. This was her last lesson until after the first of the year and she did absolutely perfect. She went right to the teacher and didn't fuss the entire time. She'd raise her arms and then "dive" into the water and "swim" to the other platform. When it came time to float on her back, she did it perfectly and counted down on her fingers while the teacher counted to ten. When she came back to us, the teacher said it was so nice not to have to "wrestle a wolverine" for a change.

After swimming lessons, we picked up David and went to Jo Ann's so that I could get some Christmas material to make some small pillows from some quilt squares donated to WOCS. We had to wait in line quite awhile to have the material cut, but Kyleigh did real good! Janice found a cross stitch picture called Let's Bounce with Pooh and his friends that Kyleigh really liked. I'm hoping to make it for Christmas, but I'm not sure whether it will be for this year or next year.

Janice called about 7:00 to tell us that Kyleigh had been trick or treating with a couple of neighbors (mommy and daddy went too) and came home with a plastic pumpkin so full of candy that she could hardly lift it. She hasn't learned to say "trick or treat" yet, but she did say "thank you". Janice carved a pumpkin using an Elmo template this year.


We only had 25 trick or treaters at our house. We normally have 140-150 so we have lots of candy left over.

Fun with Grandma

Kyleigh slept until about 5:45 this morning which is better than I'd hoped for. Unfortunately, I don't sleep that well when she spends the night.

After breakfast out, we went to my office to show off her Halloween costume. In case you can't tell, she's Tinkerbell. This is the second year in a row that I've taken her there on Halloween. The other little girl in the picture is the daughter of a coworker. She turns two on Monday and came to go trick or treat with the children's center. She and Kyleigh will probably be classmates starting in April when Kyleigh also turns two.

I'm not sure who instigated the hug, but it was totally spontaneous on their part.

Once we got home, Kyleigh did a lot of playing, rearranging the house, etc. Here she is riding the vacuum which she's extremely afraid of when it's turned on.

She and grandpa also played with the big legos; grandpa would build a tower and Kyleigh would knock it down. It was also fun to put the legos back in the box. For some reason she got very clingy after her nap--I think she woke up too soon--and wouldn't let grandma put her down.

Janice said she missed her and wanted her to come home so we took her home about dinnertime. Since I was completely worn out, we went to dinner at Norm's where they have a $9.99 special (soup, salad, steak & shrimp, and dessert) which we really like.

Change of Plans

I had planned to spend the day on the computer catching up on email, blog reading, bill paying, laundry, etc. but that didn't happen. Janice called about 10:00 and said she woke up really dizzy and nauseated and needed a ride to the doctor. The doctor said she had vertigo and to rest and not drive and he prescribed a medication to help ease the symptoms and would make her drowsy. After filling the prescription, we went back to the condo and I packed up Kyleigh and her laundry and brought her home with me so that Janice wouldn't have to worry about her.

At dinnertime David suggested going out to dinner to a nearby Mexican restaurant since he thought that would be easier than keeping track of her and cooking, too. Unfortunately we got a bit of a late start and by the end of the meal, Kyleigh was in meltdown mode since it was bedtime by then. She was introduced to chips and salsa (she loved dipping the chips in the salsa), lemon wedges (she made a face each time, but kept going back for more) and fish (which she really liked). The patriarch of the restaurant family came by and gave each of the kids in the restaurant--there were three--an early trick or treat (a Harry Potter coloring book with colored markers) which held Kyleigh's attention while waiting for dinner although most of the markers ended up on the floor.

Once we got home, we did her bath, read stories and drank milk, called mommy to say good night and went to bed in grandma's bed. Funny thing though, she'll wake up in her own bed in the morning.

Benevolent Piecemakers

I drove home from Vista this morning in time for my physical therapy appointment. Unfortunately, when they did the measurements, I'd lost ground. Instead of straightening to 0.00, I was at 0.05 which isn't as good. This was the first time they couldn't get me all the way to 0.00. My surgery was two months ago today.

I recently started stitching for a new group called Benevolent Piecemakers. This is the first square I've stitched for them. It's called, appropriately "Home is where the cat is" and is from the World of Cross Stitching #116. Unfortunately, there are several unintentional customizations in this project, but I think it looks okay.


I've also started a second square; actually I started this one first, but it's slow going because it's pretty much all one color; it's coming along though. This is Quaker Cat and it was an online free chart.

Still in Vista

We spent Sunday night at the museum and today we went to breakfast and then to Michaels to get some floss I needed. I also picked up a book of teddy bears. David knew of a museum (but not the address) attached to the Sherline Products plant, but we couldn't find it in the phone book so while I was at Michaels, he went on the internet and located it. When he called to get directions, it turned out that we were just down the road from them, so we went to the Joe Martin Museum of Craftsmanship.

We were the only ones there so we got a personalized tour from the docent and the museum director. The director also gave us a tour of the factory. This museum displays some models in progress as well as a lot of very detailed models of planes, trains, motors, etc. The factory makes the tools to make these models.

By the time we were finished, it was lunchtime so we drove around looking for a place to eat. We ended up at Philly Frank's Cheesesteaks and shared a really good cheesesteak sandwich. Then we just chilled out for the rest of the day.

AGSEM

This weekend was the second weekend of the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum's Fall Festival and since the Angels were in New York, we decided to go. The festival is kind of like a small country fair with exhibits, a craft fair and lots of tractors. David has adopted two rope braiding machines and our family maintains and exhibits them, making the rope into jumpropes and selling them to support the Weavers Building.

Friday:

David and I went down in the motorhome, leaving around 2:15 and arriving at 3:30. We were lucky enough to get the space next to some friends of ours who exhibit a restored tractor. We went to the Snack Shack for the free hot dog supper which provided large hot dogs, chips, drinks and homemade ice cream in various flavors. Afterwards, we went back to the RV and David digitized our antenna and upgraded our dish so that we'd be able to watch the ALCS on TV.

Saturday:

When I tried to turn on the generator to dry my hair, it wouldn't start. David did a little trouble shooting and decided to change the sparkplugs. So after breakfast, we went to AutoZone and got new sparkplugs which were installed immediately and we were good to go. Of course, the New York weather had other plans and the game was rained out.

Saturday night was the members potluck with lots of food, free rootbeer floats and a silent auction. I took a large bowl of carrot and raisin salad and came home with an empty bowl.

I used the cane for the last time today.

Sunday:

We were awakened early by my cellphone as Janice called to let me know they had just gotten off the freeway. They (she and Kyleigh) arrived while I was in the shower. We went to breakfast and helped David make up some jumpropes. (Kyleigh was very good at feeding the rope into the holes in the handles and throwing the completed rope packages into the storage box.) Then Janice, Kyleigh and I did some exploring. We went to the blacksmith's barn, the farmhouse and the gift shop where Kyleigh got a new toy. We also rode the hayride, a first for Kyleigh.

She had a lot of fun, sometimes sitting next to grandma and sometimes kneeling and looking out at the scenery. She waved at everyone she saw and said "hi!". Since she seemed to enjoy it so much, Janice took her through the parade.

The hayrides go at the beginning of the parade so they joined us for lunch afterwards. Afterwards, we played on the playground, rode the train, checked out the crafts, ran around the big grassy area and went back up to the Weavers Building to say "bye" to grandpa.

David and I have a favorite Chinese buffet in Vista that we decided to eat at tonight. As we were leaving we saw some friends who were getting ready to leave for a birthday celebration (Betty turned 85) and they invited us to join them--at a Chinese buffet. The one they had chosen was closed so we ended up at the one we were headed to in the first place!