Hello To Another Week

Hello......Monday afternoon and I am sitting out on the deck with my laptop writing this post.  It was a weird day...sunny/warm, cloudy/wind/cool and now sunny/warmish/windy.  I do have a sweater on.  

Here's a pic of the cuddling cats.  These guys will be a year old soon.  Alice (calico) loves being outside but Archie is a scaredy cat!  😹 (pun intended)

Got an early Mothers Day gift from Daughter2.  I was admiring her new one she posted on her instagram and then a couple of days later in my mail came this one!  I've been using it for my water...it holds 30 oz!!  Almost need two hands to hold it!  😃

This little dude.....he's growing and changing every day!  Look at that chin!  😍  Look at those cheeks!  😘

Today's mail....ordered from Along Came Quilting in Calgary.....gets here so fast!!  Darn Lori Holt keeps pumping new stuff out ALL THE TIME!!!

Hubby is on his way home from work (already) and wants to go for a walk 🏃......today was my cleaning day and I also washed/dried and put away four loads of laundry plus a load of towels.  My back is killing me because I had two dogs stuck up to me all night and I couldn't move!  I know I will go and it will feel good but I feel like a nap would be a nicer thing to do!  😴  HAHAHA!  He is home tomorrow looking at bidding a couple more projects....so I will make myself scarce...until he needs help with something on the computer.  😬  Oh I do love him but wish I could go on a trip north to visit friends and my dad....just to get away for a bit.......one day.....maybe.  

Happy Day all!

Bored

 Good Morning!  I am sitting in the sunroom watching the snow melt even though it's cloudy.  We are to get rain today....typical spring weather.  It can melt this mess we got Wednesday!

I think it snowed at least 6 inches that day (this picture was taken early).  Enough already please.  It's bad enough we are banished to our homes but can we have a little sunshine and warmth at least?????  I'd love to sit outside on the deck and breathe fresh air!!!!

So I finished this:

Called Jane's Baskets (no really....I didn't make that up!) and it was another challenge, awhile ago, on my favorite Facebook group!  I had the top done ages ago and wanted to hand quilt it.  It's hanging up in our basement now.

Random picture of our Pixie....she is represented on the bottom of that hanging because she is actually smaller than the cats!

Yesterday was our 32nd wedding anniversary.  Time flies when you are having fun!! 💕

Got these two pics this morning from Daughter1:

Smiles!!!!  😍😘😘😍

Okay, short post.....as the boredom of the day sets in.....I have a ton of things to do but no motivation. We will see what the day brings.

Happy self isolation to all!  😂

Stitching Along.....and Easter

Hey All!  Well day "one million" in this crazy pandemic(or so it feels)!  I have been finishing up some projects as I have a few Cheri quilts that were done (tops) but needed quilting and I am LOVING hand quilting these small projects.  I showed you this top last post but now it is complete.....I love this one and need to make a label for it to document when it was made and why the word "Hope".

This top was done for a bit and needed to be finished so more hand quilting and voila!

I am almost done another one...it's ready for binding....so that will have to wait for my next post.

I painted (the chair tops) and recovered my chairs to better suit the farmhouse table my Dad made for me.  I think I will get a thin piece of plexiglass for the top......it will make it smoother and more even and easier to clean up when the grand kids paint or color and if there are spills from eating.  I did put a finish on it but it needs something more.

ONE day last week I was able to enjoy some time soaking up the suns rays on the deck........it is snowing lightly today.  😩

Hubby has gone to work today........the house is soooooooo quiet!!!!!!!!!!!  He was winning electrical bidder on a small project.  Yesterday another bid had to go out and Thursday another one......praying he is successful for at least one of those too as this one he is starting today will only last a month.

My post wouldn't be complete without grand baby pictures!!!!!  Little Brody was a month old on the 10th.  Jude and his Easter pancakes....Lyla had some at her house too but I don't know where that picture is that Mommy sent.  

Those cheeks!!!!!  😘

Laying on the quilt his Gammy made.  💓

Easter pancakes!  💗

The Easter Bunny hopped by his house earlier in the week.🐰

Lyla Bean💖

Just wishing life would return to normal.......and we can all get together again.  In the meantime, I have a ton of projects to keep me busy and bookwork is one of them.  UGH!  Once I start it won't be so bad but it's hard getting started because here are so many other things I'd rather do!!!!! 😄LOL

Take care...be safe....and I hope you can find some sort of "normal" (I wonder what that word will mean one day??)

Surviving

Hello peeps.....Well not sure what day we are into with this proclaimed pandemic.  I get frustrated with the news (it's only on because Hubby puts it on...I usually retreat to my sewing area in the basement...where I am now) because they never show or reveal the big picture!  The number of people worldwide who have been confirmed is such a small number compared to a) people who have or had it thinking it was a cold, the flu or allergies and were never tested and B) the total world population who have never been tested.  So in retrospect, the number of deaths because of it is really miniscule.  Don't get me wrong, anyone dying from anything is tragic but does the news report how many people are dying daily from the "regular" flu?  Aids? (yep that's still a thing) Cancer? (I know that's not contagious) or other illnesses????  Nope, they don't because they want everyone to be panicked by Covid-19.  In the meantime, small business owners are stressed about whether or not they can recover from this....and these businesses are everything from restaurants to quilt shops to salons and spas and dental offices and everything in between.  All people are worried about whether or not they can pay their bills.  There is a "benefit" package available to some....they make it sound like it's for everyone but I don't think Hubby and I qualify.  It's a very scary state of affairs that our governments are deciding for us and putting us in.  Amusingly now there is no talk of climate change activists and their protests, or other disasters occurring in the world.  Trump is forbidding 3M of sending any medical supplies to Canada and has troops at our border.  WTF?????????????  The world is going crazy over this!!!!!  Yep it's a "new" virus and it mutates so the changes are confusing scientists.  I am expecting the next step will be designing a bubble for all of us to be enclosed in when we leave our homes.......it will look very space age and a few years from now people will wonder why we have no immune system.  Insanity!

Enough of that.......do I have any quilty projects I can share??  Let me look....

This was a challenge on my favourite Facebook group.  We were given the background details and some templates for flower ad basket possibilities.  Mine is very plain compared to some...there are some very creative people in this group!!  I chose to stitch Hope on my basket because of the circumstances in our world....and did some different stitches on some of the flowers.  I love the colors and have it ready for hand quilting.

This is a Cheri Payne pattern (which the above project is as well....it is a Cheri Payne group) but I had this pattern and wanted to do another quick and easy project.....I hand quilted this one too.  It is completely done!  

Finished the next Birthday Block club blocks.  I am frustrated with my sewing group because we have one member, who got ALL her blocks on her birthday in January, who hasn't sent one block to anyone.....we had two in February and one in March and the blocks above are for a gal whose birthday is April 14th.  So now I have to write a nasty post on our private FB page.....grrrrrrr.  Then one of the February gals didn't send her blocks to the other February gal until the end of March!  

What is wrong with people and why can't they fulfill their commitments?  

We have been seeing Daughter1's kiddos.  Lyla has spent some sleepovers here.  One time she insisted we make cookies first thing in the morning!!!!!  

That used up my chocolate chips, sugars and flour but I was fortunate to replenish my supply on my weekly shopping trip.

Here both kids are the last time she was here before they went home:

Is it wrong to see them?  In some peoples eyes I'm sure it is.  But whatever......they are healthy and homebound and so are we.  I went for groceries yesterday.....I hadn't been out of the house since Thursday of the week before when I got groceries.  I feel confident the grocery stores are doing what they can to diminish the spread.  I use hand sanitizer when I get back in my vehicle.  I refuse to live in that bubble.....will it kill me?  Who knows...but if that is how I am going to die and my time is up, then so be it.  Fear does nasty things to a persons mind and body...screws up the immune system.  I am trying not to live in fear.  

So stay healthy in mind and body Readers......this will be over someday and life can commence....what will that look like?  One can't predict but here is mine.....suicides, child abuse, domestic violence and bankruptcies.  Sad, sad, sad.......

Covid 19

Hi All.....well, how is everyone managing with the situation the world is in right now?  It doesn't seem like there is an end in sight which has started making me feel differently.  I have always been a calm person....I never over react to these kinds of things.  My mothers illness shook my family to the core but we all pulled ourselves up and together got through it (with quiet tears shed in private...usually in the shower every night)  We survived the flood of 2013 and I stayed calm, with a good attitude and did what needed to be done. (it all seemed to hit me on the one year anniversary)  My cancer diagnosis was handled with the attitude "okay, what do we do next?" and we got through that okay.  And now the pandemic because of the corona virus.  I am sitting here feeling like I just want to cry.  This should be a dream come true for me....I LOVE being at home never having to leave for anything but groceries but hearing this might continue on for months.....well that changes the way I am feeling and my stomach is starting to be in knots...and I feel like crying.  Hubby is not working and I think that is my biggest fear.  We survived last summer when he was out of work and struggling to find anything...he got a few things here and there to sustain us and then got on with the company he had worked with before and was steady until a couple of weeks ago when the job ended.  Now he is back to bidding on projects again but the first one, the company he was bidding through didn't get the job.  Now onto projects 2 and 3.  He has yet to be successful being the winning bidder around here.......Son2 was going to college which is now shut down.  He has no work to go back to so will stay with us "until Mom kicks me out" (he said to his sister).  It's fine having him here really....it's just another change to our normal.  I should be happy too because I have a 'room' full of sewing/quilting supplies that I would never work through even if this pandemic lasted 40 years except that it being in the dark basement (yes I have great lighting but no sunshine) makes me not want to go there if it is sunny outside because I NEED the sunshine right now....more than ever!  So I have been doing alot of hand stitching BUT now my wrist/thumb is acting up.  So far I can still manage so that is good.  Hubby has spent the weekend with a couple of friends up north skidooing....I know, not social distancing but I'm sure they weren't in each others faces and were spending time outside in the fresh air.  It's good for him.  He will be home today as tomorrow he has a walk-thru at one of these jobs he wants to bid on.  Son2 has gone to get more paint as he is working on his old quad in the garage.  On Friday Daughter1 and her crew came out to visit so I got some baby Brody cuddles and squeezes from Lyla....I know, maybe that is breaking the rules but be damned if I will avoid my family during this unless I was sick in any way!

  

His Uncle got to meet him for the first time too.  

Daughter1 sent me this the other day.  He hates his baths!!!!!!!!

I finished my Spring stitchery just in time.  

Working on another challenge from my favourite Facebook group Quilts By Cheri- Friendship Group.  One of the moderators posted another challenge Friday.  My project is further along now but I won't post a picture until at least the top is finished.  My helper was NOT helpful!!  LOL

It was National Quilting Day yesterday so at least I did something.  I have friends who hung quilts on their deck rails yesterday...to cheer people up and celebrate the day.  No one would see them here.  

I really want winter to be over, spring and warm weather to arrive (and stay), green grass to come out and my deck furniture back out!  😊  Too much to ask for???  I want to world to return to normal with some good changes that are happening during all of this, the economy to boom (it will have to with all the added debt our country/provinces now have) and I hope it happens soon.  I can foresee divorces and suicides.  I can foresee manic behaviour and desperation in people who have been isolated too long or have had to do without for too long or who are financially strained.  I can foresee crime rates increasing.....and it all scares the hell out of me.  Praying it does not get to those levels and I will keep praying. 🙏  There has to be an end to this before it gets even worse.  

So thank you to the nurses and doctors 😷 who are exposed to the unknown.  Thankful for the grocery store clerks who keep working hard to fill shelves and put up with angry people daily.  Thankful for the truck drivers who deliver the food to the stores.  🚚 Thankful for the postal workers and truck drivers who still deliver the mail and any goodies one might be ordering while bored at home. 😜 (not me....really!) I will hate to think of what would happen if these stores closed.....and people couldn't get food and necessities.  Apparently now they are fining people who go out....which people I don't know!  Scary stuff.

I have continued with journal entries this year in a journal my friend Kim had got me.  I think I only missed 4 days all of last year but this year I am focused on what I am grateful for.  I hope everyone can focus on that....at least one thing daily that they are thankful for in this crazy, upside down world.  I am trying.......and I hope I can get through this feeling of wanting to just sit and cry.

Oh one more thing added to this lonnnnnnng post!  I am changing the name of the blog to Ladybugs and Bumblebees (for now)  It was the name of my dayhome and I am continuing to get strange followers who all have something to do with sex in their descriptions.  I don't think they would be interested in or think Ladybugs and Bumblebees has anything to do with sex, do you? Fingers crossed it stops them from wanting to follow me.  🤞

He's HERE!!!!!!

Hello all!  Okay, what a crazy world we are living in right now.....coronavirus, toilet paper crisis, NO hockey or basketball to watch, events cancelled with attendance of 250 or more?  IT'S-THE-FLU!!!!!  I'm certain there is another reason (political??) that this is being blown so far out of proportion....but that's only my feeling.  But enough of this as it's getting far too much air time as it is!

Wednesday of last week we picked up this little girl so that her Mom could (hopefully) get delivering her baby! I had a hair appointment and this little girl needed her bangs trimmed so April was kind enough to do that for me while my color was on.  Lyla did great and sat there quite still.

Then we had a GREAT mail day as my friend Pam sent a parcel of gifts for Lyla and her baby brother (and delicious tea and a couple of goodies for me too)  Lyla immediately put on that cozy onesie (that Pam bought in England) and didn't take it off except to bathe!  I made sure it was washed before she took it home.

And we put her to work!  LOL  Wish she was here now because we have alot more snow today with more to come tomorrow!

She even "helped" me finish her baby brothers baby quilt:

I just received his other one back from Kim (the quilting is AWESOME...again!!) so I must get the binding on.

She even hung out with her uncle watching tv!!  

We took her home Sunday (still NO baby!!) and I got about finishing this table.....finally decided on white paint.  I tried several different stains but nothing said "YES!"  I still have a couple of chairs to paint....and need to find at least two more.

Still nothing on Monday so Lyla went to Daughter2s because Tuesday morning Daughter1 had to be at the hospital to be induced.  

Here is the happy couple before all the work!!

We went to Calgary after they broke her water and she was hooked up....we arrived at about 3 pm.  She had an epidural so although she was having contractions, she didn't feel anything.  HOURS later, the nurse checked her and she was still only 4 cm dilated (she came in that way!)  Soon after she was starting to feel some pressure and wasn't feeling great (nauseous) so they checked her again (not quite an hour later) and she was up to 8cm.  The dr came in and dug around (!!!) and left.  He was half hour away from leaving for the day so I guess it was around 7:30.  The nurse checked her again around 10-ish? and she was fully dilated.  Time to push!  A female Dr was now on shift and came in to introduce herself.  LONG story short.....this HUGE little man was delivered around 11:42 pm March 10th and was TEN POUNDS seven ounces and twenty one inches long.  When I saw his head delivered I knew he was a big guy!!!!!!  (yep, I had the honour of being in the room with her......my Hubby sat in the waiting area LOL and I got to cut the umbilical cord 💙) His shoulders were stuck (and he had pooped while inside) so while the dr was working on getting his shoulders out (he also had his hand up there!) he was turning a bit blue....they had a team standing in the corner by the bassinet ready to get him breathing if necessary but he did that on his own!  THEN her placenta wasn't being delivered and the anesthesiologist was called to top up her epidural because the Dr had to reach in and retrieve it...thank God she was a woman and had smaller hands!!!!!  POOR Daughter1 but she handled it soooooo well, breathing through the pain...no whining and complaining.  I was super proud of her!  She lost a litre and a half of blood but didn't need a transfusion but she is on iron pills.  She told me last night that she felt like she had been in a car accident and was achy all over!  I told her it was no wonder and to take pain meds!  

Here is Brody Ryan Frappier:

Auntie meeting Brody the day before she had to leave for Montreal to a CrossFit competition...that was cancelled AFTER they got there!!!!😠:

Poor tired, pale Mommy (she finally got to shower!):

Proud grandparents:

Miss Lyla was returned home yesterday and apparently helped with his first bath and also helped with a diaper change and was quite proud of herself for being such a good big sister!!!!  Daddy is amazing and has helped Daughter1 every step of the way!!!!!!!!!  He will be an amazing father!  

So despite all the craziness going on around us, the arrival of this precious little man is the highlight of our lives.  The crazy will pass and we will get to love on him a ton!!  

Hubby is out clearing the first pile of snow and will likely be doing the same tomorrow.  A GREAT sewing day once I get the laundry done!  

Stay safe, healthy and sane everyone!!!!!  

Dentist, Stitching and a Ceiling Fan! (tee hee)

Last week I had a very long dental appointment.  I went to stay with Son1, Jenna and Jude Thursday night and bright and early Friday morning, went with Jenna to the office she works at in Stony Plain. They fit me in on their Friday off which was very kind.  I was in that chair for 4 and a half hours!  😩  But alot was accomplished and it needed to be done. 

The best thing was getting to see this guy again:

This picture is a very good indication of his personality!  😂 Little stinker!!!!

After my appointment I drove home as there was a bunch of snow in the forecast for Saturday.  Son2 arrived later that day.  He is attending school in Red Deer for two months for sprinkler fitting.  It's the only college in Alberta that offers the program so we are lucky he can just commute from here every day.

Since becoming adults, both him and Son1 have developed allergies to cats.......Alice LOVES him (all the animals do!)!!!  He loves animals so allergy medicine it is!  He finds Flonase works great.  😝  We are trying to convince him to go to school back to back for the next year (he has enough work hours) since he is on a roll!  We will see.

One of the Facebook groups I belong to had a challenge....kind of a mystery project.  We were to make the background one day and would be given the appliqué pattern the next.  We were told that only the people participating and who posted a picture of their finished background would get the appliqué pattern.  This challenge was the day I got home from the dentist and I really did NOT feel like sewing but I didn't want to miss out so went down, dug through my scraps and made the background.  The next day she gave the pattern to everyone! 😆  I should have known she would do that!!!!  I didn't really like my background when I did it, but when I looked at it the next day I thought it was okay so proceeded with the appliqué.  Then, to challenge myself even further, I decided to hand quilt it since primitive projects don't have to be perfect!  I got a bit carried away and quilted it very heavily!  Well, I was watching baseball, basketball and hockey so kept stitching away!!!!!!   Here is the finished project:

I really like it and have to find a place to hang it....I did forget to put a hanging sleeve on this one though and I have been very good at doing that!!!

Remember the light in our sunroom I wasn't thrilled about?????  Well, I found a different one that also is a ceiling fan!!!!!  Fingers crossed it gets put up today!!!!  I think it will be awesome and to have the fan in here will be delightful!!!

(Picture of the box)

I bought some stain and sealer to see if I can finish my farmhouse table Hubby brought back with him from a skidooing weekend.  It's the perfect size....a bit rustic (uneven boards on top but hopefully with placemats the plates in those spots won't rock back and forth too much!  😜)  It was so hard deciding what to do but as my Dad said....stain first and if I don't like it I can paint but I cannot stain after I paint.  Hubby brought back two old wooden chairs but Dad isn't able to get to his stash of fence boards (what the table is made out of) to make me a bench yet so I don't know what I will do in the meantime.  With a bench I wouldn't need more chairs until we have everyone here....but then I would use my folding chairs.  Anyway, I have to get the table finished first!!

Waiting, waiting, waiting for our new grandson to be born!  He was due yesterday!  Daughter1 has a dr appointment this morning so hopefully she gets news she is starting to dilate.  She will be having a membrane sweep that I hope triggers something!  Daughter2 was supposed to be on call to stay with Lyla while Daughter1 had the new baby but now she is busy this weekend.  So I might be taking Lyla and not being in the room but that's okay......and it's supposed to snow a TON Friday and Saturday!  It's been beautiful of course!  Oh well, the little man will arrive when he should and we can't wait to meet him!!

I just came across this on Facebook last night!  I have a couple of GREAT long distance friendships and I appreciate, every day, the effort we all put into these relationships.  Unfortunately, I have lost some friendships because the distance seemed too far for some of my friends and the effort was not something they wanted to put in.  I hope this link works!!!  They take effort but I feel these relationships are much more valuable then "regular" friendships with people you see all the time.

Long distance friendships!!

Happy first week of March!