QUILTING RETREAT AND MORE

This is the new quilt top I made at the quilting retreat with Donna's help. The quilt will probably not be done until after the first of the year. We have to have space to set up the quilting frame. It will give us something to do after the holidays are over. David is here now and except for a couple of trips back to Alaska, he will be here until the middle of January. Thanksgiving will be wall to wall people. It will be fun. I like living this way much better than being in an Assisted Living Center. My sister, Elsie, loves living in her Assisted Living center in Lake Stevens. Those places are made for people like her.
Now on to other happenings. We were coming back from the Quilting Retreat on Sunday, Nov.6th. I had decided we could use my new car to go to the retreat. It was dark when we were getting back and we heard a rock hit the car. It did not really sound that bad but the next morning there was a large crack in the windshield. I just bought the car in July so that was upsetting. We got the glass replaced at the Auto glass place here in Sequim. I only had a $50. deductable on my insurance. This is only the second new car I ever bought. My other new car was the Kia Rio. It was only a little over two months old when it had a mishap. In November we had a bad wind storm that year and half our roof blew off the house. I always parked the car in the garage but I had to park it in the carport because we needed the driveway to the garage for the big dumpster to put all the shingles, etc in. We had a very icy New Year's eve that year and during the night someone took out part of our chain-link fence and part of the fence fell on the side of the car. It left a huge scratch that had to be fixed. Body work is so expensive but the insurance covered most of it. Then after we moved to Merrill Gardens my Kia was parked in their parking garage and a lady backed into it. Not a lot of damage but it did have to have body work again. All the eight years I drove the Kia I did not even get one ding in my windshield though.
Donna and Laif bought an auxilary heat pump for the downstairs. The installers came yesterday. One person put the unit in and the other was the electrician who had to do all the wiring. Yesterday was a miserable, cold day. It poured rain from time to time making it worse. Anyway, the guys were supposed to be here at 8am and were not able to get here until about 10:30. When Donna ordered the unit they said it would take 3 hours to install it but it ended up taking almost 6 hours. They had problems with wiring for one. The guy who was installing the unit had to leave for awhile because he had an appointment at 1pm. The truck he had was a large and tall truck. He drove it down the driveway so he wouldn't have to carry the units so far. When he was going back up the driveway he took out some of the the trim from the house that hangs over which was a pretty good size piece. I think I saw two big pieces on top of the garbage can. Donna said he was just about a quarter of an inch from taking out the gutter. Of course, they are going to fix it. He says it will look just like new when it is done. I hope so. Donna and Laif were not too happy about it. David missed all the excitement. I was going to go with him to see one of his friends in Port Haddock but I didn't want to go because the weather was so miserable so I just let him use my car.
The happy ending to yesterday is that everything is working great and it is so comfortable downstairs I can hardly believe it. This auxilary heat pump is supposed to take very little electricity. Last winter I just wore sweaters and used my electric throw to keep my legs and feet warm. I'm not even wearing a sweater now.
I think I will even be able to raise the dough for Cinnamon rolls downstairs, which I found out people are expecting me to make for Thanksgiving.

QUILTING RETREAT

Donna and I are leaving for the Quilting Retreat Friday. My arm is still bothering me quite a bit but I am still excited about going. David is down from Ketchikan and is staying with Debbie and Kent. We will be picking him up Sunday on our way back from the Retreat. I have been doing some reading on "Distal biceps tendon rupture". I am doing my best to exercise my arm. Turning my arm so that my palm is upward is painful right now. As far as I can tell from reading I will never have full strength in my arm. I wasn't planning on signing up for Tennis anyway so I guess everything will work out. I have a bruise right over my bicep area. I did not hit my arm on anything. My muscle is bruised on the inside but shows on my arm.

We are going to drive my car to the Retreat. I guess I should use it some. It is 218 miles to the Retreat. The Retreat is at the Best Western Parkersville Inn is in Washougal, WA. It is on the Washington side of the Columbia River aways from Vancouver, WA.

BOTTOM PICTURE--ME IN A SLING

I got my new desk and my new recliner Thursday. Today I decided I wanted my floor lamp by my new recliner so I managed to get myself into trouble. The outlet is behind the desk and I was having trouble plugging it in and I stretched my left arm so far trying to plug the lamp in that I heard a snap in my arm and immediately had terrible pain when I tried to move my arm. Donna took me to the emergency room of the hospital in Port Angeles. I have a Distal biceps tendon rupture. I need to wear this sling for a few days. My arm hurts anytime I move it. I did get pain pills. My arm will heal on its on and as soon as possible I will have to work on my range of motion but I am supposed to rest it for 2or 3days. Fortunately it was my left arm.

I don't really like the lamp that I have by the chair and will be getting a better looking one later. I think I will let someone help me plug it in.

Our quilting retreat is next weekend and also David is coming in from Ketchikan next week too so my arm better get better soon.

CABINETS AND COUNTERTOPS

Today I have a complete kitchen! Beautiful kitchen cabinets and a gorgeous countertop. We looked at so many colors of Corian it made my head spin. Finally we all decided on this color and it turned out so great. The burners on my stove are a gray which goes just perfect with the countertop.

I AM STILL AROUND

I will take more pictures after the cabinets are put in and the countertops are in. I have lots of things to do yet.

Dust

and

dust

and

dust




and put all my little things back in order.

I know I have not written on my blog since our trip. So much has been going on. We just got back from our trip and Donna and Laif decided to go ahead and get the sheetrocking and painting done downstairs. What a job to get ready for it. All the furniture and all the stuff I have been accumulating had to be moved. Laif did a great job on figuring out where everything would go. The worker was going to start the day after Labor Day. Dan and Heidi decided to come to visit over the Labor Day weekend. At that point we could still get to the beds. They stayed Sunday and Sunday night. We had a real nice visit. I was so happy to have them visit.

Finally all the work is done and Friday night I finally got to sleep downstairs again. Saturday Donna and Laif moved my furniture back in. Laif is putting up the kitchen cabinets. They look so nice. I was moving one of my small cabinets back into the bathroom and I dropped it on my left toe. It is all bruised and swollen. I haven't been able to wear my shoes yet. It seems to be better today. I have too much to do so whether it hurts or not I am going to have to get busy and straighten things up down here.

THIS IS IT-OUR LAST DAY

We have had such a nice time here in Atlanta with Diane. I am anxious to get home but I will miss Diane too. These last two days especially have been tiring. When you are talking temperatures 95 to 98 it is hard to walk anywhere. I have held up amazingly well for all the things we have done here.
This morning Donna and I took the Marta. We had to take two trains. The trains come every few minutes so it is not a problem.
We met Diane for lunch in the State Building. There is a large cafeteria with several restaurants. After lunch Diane took us up to see her office. She is on the 19th floor. What a wonderful view of the city you get. You can see the Capitol close up.
We took the Marta back to the apts. and both of us were almost to the collapsing point. After a short nap we revived pretty much.
Today I said goodbye to the little Kia Blueberry. I have a new car waiting for me at home. I almost forgot what it looks like. We have been gone for two weeks.
Now I have to get everything packed up. We will be leaving around 8am to get on the Marta. We just walk out the front door of Diane's apts. and cross the street to get on the Marta. I hope I can manage to drag my suitcase. Maybe someone feel sorry for me and help. Donna will have her hands full. Diane can't help because she has to leave on an earlier train because she has a meeting in the morning. The Marta takes us right into the airport. It is the last stop. Once we are there we will be fine as we are going to have our bags checked.
The happiest part of all-----WE WERE ABLE TO UPGRADE TO FIRST CLASS.
When we get to Sea-Tac Airport we will be going right to Sequim on The Rocket transit which will take us right to our door. Our neighbors, Marge and George will have dinner ready for us.

A NICE SUNDAY

Pictures from the Coca-Cola Museum. We met the Coca-Cola bear. Diane and I having our picture taken with the Coca-Cola bear yesterday.

We went to the Atlanta Ward with Diane. We met a few people. Everyone was friendly. Diane taught the Relief Society lesson.

After Church we had lunch and then went to the Historical Museum. We spent a long time there and still did not see everything. I spent most of my time going through the Civil War displays and watching the short films.

We didn't see a lot more. It got up to 96 degrees today and Diane's apt. felt the best. Diane had bought a bookcase and Donna helped her put it together.

Tomorrow will be our last day as we are leaving early Tuesday morning to catch our plane back home.