Moving Mom: Part Deux

Looks like home, doesn't it? (Click on each picture to embiggen it!) The family and kids will notice that all the important details are still present!

Moving Mom!

Mom in the empty Living Room

What could have been terribly stressful, physically demanding, and endless turned into such a pleasure this week with Mom's move to the apartment at a senior living center. A week ago, the amazing Sharon and Gail arrived at Mom's house to pack up her "pretties" and household items. I assisted by helping Mom sort through the kitchen items realistically since her new kitchen would be quite a bit smaller with less storage available.

Really, how many corning ware casseroles does one person need??? We sorted, moved cupboards, sorted more, packed and watched the girls do the bulk of the packing. It was like having our own moving fairies running through the house. I helped keep Mom out of their way but she intervened when necessary.

On Sunday we went over to the empty apartment, looked around again, and realized that it was much bigger than we remembered with lots of closet storage space. We built a storage shelf (thank you Costco) in the closet to use as the pantry and enjoyed the space, followed by a great fish taco lunch nearby. We also hit up Walmart for some basic groceries.

On Monday, I went to work as planned, Sharon went to the house, and the movers arrived. By noon, I got a call from Mom that the movers had already left the house and were on the way to the apartment, where Sharon and Gail would direct the placement of boxes and furniture. When I arrived at 4:30 pm, it nearly looked completed. The furniture had to be shifted several times by the movers to make it work, but it was all in place and looked great. Mom's friends, George and Florence who live 6 floors up in the same building, invited us for dinner, and by the time we returned to the apartment, all the boxes were broken down and in the hall, the china cabinet was beautiful filled, the bed was made and Mom's home looked ready. I set up her computer, tweaked the furniture a little bit, rearranged and plugged in some lamps. Only the pictures and large mirrors needed to be hung and the maintenance staff would take care of that.

For anyone in this position to downsize, or move their aging parents, take my advice: hire angels like these to help you out. It was worth every penny!

The view outside from the living room, her balcony and "her" trees. In the spring and summer, she will have a lovely green view.

On Sunday, I will take more photos of the new apartment with all Mom's "Pretties."

Snow in October: Urgggghhhhhh

I am definitely ready for Spring already. Although I do appreciate how beautiful the snow can be and that we need the moisture here in Colorado, what I am seeing this year is simply the back-breaking job of shoveling. We have never invested in a snow blower, and our neighbors have helped us out in the past, but Gary had always been able to tackle most of it, except for the largest storms. This year, with his COPD and the back surgery two weeks ago, it is out of the question, so the job is mine.... unless we can contract for the service for the rest of the winter. This storm was predicted, but who would have expected over 2 feet in October! This photo is from yesterday out my back door,

and this one is today. It is still snowing!!!!!! FYI, the fence is 5' and the compost bin in the corner is 36" high.

And this is looking out from my front door to the street after I have shoveled. Before I started today, the tree branches were so heavy, they were laying down on top of the snow, so I had to deal with that before I could take on the sidewalk to the street.

My arms and shoulders are so tired, that I don't know if I can even knit or spin tonight. Wine and a movie sounds good.

One more thing......I even had to climb on step stool outside to clean off the DISH receiver. Gary didn't have TV all day because the snow and ice blocked the signal.

Maybe if I close my eyes, I will wake up in June.........

GAAA- Square no. 4

Square #4 is by Julie H Levy and is still one of the squares labeled "easy". The intertwining cables are flowing nicely, and the diamonds and bobbled cables remind me of my Grandma's Aran sweaters. Unlike the previous squares, this is nearly 12"wide unblocked, so I have to be careful that it doesn't grow when I wash and block it. I am using size 7 needles on this one, as recommended, but I am starting to think that maybe I should have gone down a size in all the squares, because the yarn is on the lighter side of worsted, not a heavy dense worsted that I was hoping for. When looking it up on Ravelry, several mentioned that the Araucania Nature Wool is more like a heavy DK weight than aran worsted. All the cabling and texture will make this a warm afghan, even if not a heavy one.

And in case you were wondering if I am spinning too, here is the first bobbin of Alpaca, that I washed, picked by hand, carded and spun. There is still quite a bit of VM in it, and it feels a bit greasy, so I will give the finished yarn a good scouring when I set the twist.

It lives!

Remember this?

Well, now I have this:

It seems that when I was getting ready to throw out the whole plant after it OD'd on fertilizer, I just trimmed the top off, ran tepid water through the pot cleaning the soil as well as I could. I then put it in the front North window and forgot about it. The stem had remained green, so a small part of me had hope that something was still alive here. In the last couple of weeks a small shoot began low on the stem and now there are the signs of 3 branches forming, each with new leaves. YAY!!! I am such a dork about letting plants go..................