Second Thoughts

I would never phone a friend to whom I hadn't spoken in a long time, and say, "Hi, I'm alive and well, and busy. Goodbye." and hang up. And that's exactly what I did in the earlier post. So, I hurried through my work and made it a point to show you what I have been doing.

Renovations: That sort of went on hold over Christmas, but right after Christmas, I did the suspended ceiling in my basement kitchen, while waiting for the plumber and electrician.

Behold:
It was really easy, took only a couple of hours. After I had completed it, and one of the flourescent lights went out, I realized that I hadn't dropped it low enough to work on the lights easily, so, this is what I did. (Remember, the ceiling grid is suspended by wires, and supported around the edges by an L-shaped track) I drew a line all around the edges, 1" below the track. Then I lifted up the panels and released the screws and rescrewed them along the new lines. Then I released the wires and lowered it to the right depth. Voilà, 30 min. later, the ceiling is in its new place. Light changed. Fini.

The cabinets are coming in on Monday. I bought more of the same wall tiles as upstairs, since I had to open a new box of grout to use only 1 out of 10 lbs. I love those tiles. Will post later about upstairs.

Knitting/Crocheting/Embroidery

Madli's Shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia, for my cousin's wife (Germany) who sent me a batch of lovely sock yarn for Christmas. I will be making a pair of socks for him, too.

Rainbow Baby Shawl. Although crocheting is not my favorite pasttime, I love making this shawl. Two evenings of work. It's for a very special young lady who is expecting at the end of February, it will be blessed at church--it is a joyful prayer shawl.

Cross-stitch Christmas Tree Skirt: before I retired, I made up my mind to give each of the kids a Christmas tree skirt. While I still had a paycheck, I assembled the materials. So far I have one all finished, and have been working on this one in 2010. I want them all finished by the next Christmas. I also want to have a cross-stitch Christmas Stocking for everyone. The four grandkids got theirs last Christmas. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures.

Wedding Update: The wedding plans had been all finalized for Labor Day Weekend, then my daughter got the news that the groom's mom, who is a radio announcer in Fiji, could not get the time off work, due to some special event for the Muslim population. So we tried August 14--the caterer wasn't available; Aug 7-- the hall wasn't available; July 31--Maid of honor can't get time off work; Aug 24--no caterers available, local town's 100th anniversary; so now everything is (I think) all set for July 17. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Till next time: You can't wrap love in a box, but you can wrap a person in a hug. (Author unknown)