Hello? Anyone still there? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Sooooo yeah it's been awhile since I posted.  So much has happened over the past 5 years! If you are one of my Facebook friends, you've seen the vast quantities of road trips we've been on and the thousands of pics I've posted.  The last time posted was before The Mandalorian came out and I've been utterly besotted with Baby Yoda/Grogu since then.  He's just the cutest little green jelly bean ever.  

From 2018-2021 we were visting the grandkids about 2-3 times a year, but then we had a huge falling out w/ my stepson (which I still maintain was NOT our fault but the story is too long to go into) so we haven't seen the boys since.  That plunged me into a deep depression and anxiety for a long time.  I was still in touch w/ the mother of the kids who told us we could still visit, but my stepson didn't want to be present so she could meet us at a playground or something.  I'm sorry but it's a long way to go and a lot of money to only see them for an hour at a time.  It was just too painful so I ended up blocking her.  I feel bad that the boys are collateral damage.  I was still sending gifts on bdays and holidays but I had to make a clean break for my own mental health.  If the boys want to look us up when they are older, we will give them a chance and we WILL tell them EXACTLY what happened, since I am sure we are the bad guys in the parents' and paternal grandmother's narratives.  

In the meantime, my other 2 stepkids started pulling away from us too and we've been ghosted.  Last time we saw my youngest stepson was Dec of 2021 when we ran into him and he told us that he'd moved back from Arkansas (we'd visited him in June of 2021 in AR), and he'd come see us on Christmas Day.  That was the last we heard from or saw him.  He's back w/ a girlfriend we despised....and told him so when we were in AR....so I suspect that's why he's avoided us.  As for my stepdaughter, she moved north of Boston and stopped reaching out.  I was always the one initiating contact and would get monosyllabic replies from her.  The last straw came on Russell's 60th birthday in 2022 when NONE of his kids wished him a happy bday.  I waited till 10pm and sent terse messages to both her and her younger brother that they disgusted me the way they treat their father.  She blocked me the next day.  I know damn well that their mother is encouraging this rift.  We last saw her after the disasterous OH trip, and she was going to work with us on the situation.  Next thing we know, she's cut off contact w/ us as well.  I was nothing but kind to that woman for EIGHT YEARS.  I thought all that bad blood blood was behind them.  I gave her the benefit of the doubt, I would ask him not to say bad stuff about her in front of the kids, I ALWAYS gave her a flash drive of pics of the boys from our trips since she couldn't go as often as we did (pics of just them, not us), always got pics processed and would frame them for her.  So all of them can just fuck right off.  

Our lives have actually gotten peaceful and less complicated w/o their nonstop drama and constant requests for handouts.  It's enabled us to travel whenever we want and wherever we want w/o having to build in time to go to Ohio.  I just hope they realize that what they've done is permanent.  I can forgive them b/c they are a product of parental alienation by their POS mother, but I will never forget.  I will never trust them again, be friends with them, or help them.  Even if they reach out to apologize.  They've proved themselves to be the most selfish, backstabbing, ungrateful, disloyal users.  

In other news, my mom passed away in Oct 2019 which finally set me free of her verbal, mental and emotional abuse.  I couldn't even muster up a single tear at her funeral.  And I tried too....I was thinking about all the sad scenes from Harry Potter that make me cry, the music from To Kill a Mockingbird, and nothing worked.  

My mother in law lived with us in the coop (cottage) from the summer of 2019 till March of 2022 and she was a delight.  The mom I never had.  I loved having her here.  You always here of conflicts w/ married couples when an inlaw moves in but we never had that dynamic at all.  In fact, I used to constantly reassure her we weren't going to kick her out and we were trying to keep her here so PLEASE tell me if she wasn't feeling well or needed something.  She was so used to everyone putting her needs last that she just couldn't get it in her head that we were putting her needs first.  But she got a bad UTI and my sisters in law used that as the opportunity to throw her in a nursing home, since they were her powers of attorney.  We visited her 2-3 times a week, faithfully.  She passed away this past March and we both miss her so much.  It was hard to get into the habit of not going to see her.  I caught myself numerous times about to say, 'Wanna go visit Ma today?'  

After the kids kicked us to the curb, we started discussing relocating to another state.  We hate Mass, we hate Cape Cod and Sandwich.  I never wanted to spend my life here....and certainly not in my childhood home.  The house is old and it's just too much to deal with anymore.  4 buildings on the property that all date to the early 1900s.  And the yard is too big to mow and take care of.  We are now the proud owners of 10 acres in Michigan, about 20 miles west of Lake Huron.  We closed on the property in August.  The plan is to sell this house and build out there.  This coming winter my plan is to start boxing up nonessential things.  In a perfect world we would be moving a year from now.  We've already met with a modular home company and have some floor plans to look over and work on.  

The best thing of all is how much I've knocked off my Bucket List the past few years!!!  I've now been to all lower 48 states....Russell has 46 (missing OR and CA).  We've done Rte 66 once and planning to go again next year since I'm turning 60 this month. I'm calling it '60 on 66' and this time we'll push into California.  We've been to the Canadian Maritimes twice, and Niagara Falls.  Years ago I'd made some Bucket List Pinterest Boards and they have been so whittled down that there's hardly anything on them anymore.  Everything's been moved over to my 'Bucket List: DONE' pinboard and it has over 500 things on it.  One more cross country trip on Rte 66 and back and one more trip to Maine and all that'll be left are the things in the Pacific NW that I didn't see when I lived there.  And let's face it, the PNW is a lot closer to Michigan than Cape Cod is.  

I will try to update more.  To be honest when my cousin Barbara passed away in 2017, I kinda lost my spark to blog cause she was my most avid reader as she didn't have Facebook.  

Bits and Bobs, Dribs and Drabs

Hard to believe March is almost over.  With the exception of that one day I got to the beach, it's been mostly cold and snowy.  We're all so tired and beaten down by it.

Sagan had his 10th birthday on March 11.  I can't believe he's 10.  He still jumps around and runs up and down the hallway like a crazed puppy.  I've had him over 9 years now.  Where has the time gone?

"Take dis dum fing off mai head."

So of course they got special peanut butter cheese treats after dinner.

"Huwwy up and make mai birfday tweat!"

Pushy pups!  I'm cornered AGAIN!

*Sigh*  This was March 15th.  We had another snow event on the 21st too, another 2".  At least this time of year it melts off pretty fast.  Go home Mother Nature.  You're drunk.  Still below normal temps with a cold wind.  Really hoping this is it.  I know I keep saying that....but....

I cannot remember if I already posted pics of this celestial needlepoint.  Not happy with the frame but it works for now.

I really should be working on my custom cross stitch projects for people, but I couldn't resist whipping out this wizard in about 2 weeks' time.  Here it is before the beads....

....and after it was completed.  This was way harder than it looked in the catalog picture. The dark blue floss against dark blue perforated paper was really hard to see.  

We spent most of the month taking care of routine medical and paperwork stuff.  I got a letter from Premera Blue Cross, saying that their site was hacked, last May, and millions of people's info was stolen.  I haven't had that health insurance since 2008, but I signed up for their offer for two years' worth of free credit monitoring and ID theft insurance.  Why can't the hackers use their powers for good?  

My craft muse is still on an extended vacation so I haven't done anything new.  I went through my Pinterest boards, craft pics on my hard drive and a bunch of tutorials and nothing, and I do mean nothing floats my boat.  I have my resin jewelry kit but....meh.  I don't want to blow through all the stuff I bought.  All I really feel like doing is colouring and cross stitch so that's what I'm doing.  Lord knows I have enough kits and books to keep me busy.

Speaking of books, I just finished The Mighty Fitz: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Michael Schumacher.  It was really quite good, although I got teary eyed and emotional on more than one occasion thinking about those poor guys that died, and how awful it was for their families. Plus I had Gordon Lightfoot's song stuck in my head the entire time and that didn't help.  They were so close to the safety and shelter of Whitefish Bay when they went down.  After all this time, there is still no real way of knowing what happened out there that stormy night.  A lot of theories, but no proof.  It's a really good read, if you are interested in shipwrecks.  

Other than that, I've been living on my heating pad b/c my back's been so achy, and when I'm not reading, colouring or cross stitching, I'm cooking lots of homemade soups and baking cookies (most of which I've given away.  I love to bake but I really don't need to be eating 3 dozen cookies). Hubby's birthday is the end of the month and I'll be fixing him some of his fave foodstuffs and attemping a pineapple upside down bundt cake.  

This is what I see peering around the corner of the cabinet at me every time I'm cooking or baking. Always ready to help. 

Motivation: I Lacks It

It's been so hard for me to get motivated to make jewelry and stuff for the upcoming craft shows.  My craft table is so packed with stuff that there's no room for me to spread out with all my beads.  I finally broke down and set up the second card table and took everything out.  Keep in mind, most of what's on this table was purchased when I still lived in Washington and bags of old, broken & unwanted jewelry were gave me.

So I have a table full of beads plus plastic boxes (seen on the floor under the table).

Here's Sagan, helping me after I set up the table.

What a sweet face.  He'd just had his fall bath and was so fluffy & soft.

We had such a nice fall that it's really been hard to get back to being inside and making the same old stuff, vs. wanting to try out new crafts.  Plus I was busy carving pumpkins and roasting seeds.  And another horribly time consuming chore is having my name changed on everything.  I should've started it back in September but I put it off. Finally forced myself to the DMV for the new license and registration.  Since the closest one is in Plymouth, I had to get up early and get up there by 7:45 and I was still about 15th back in line when they opened at 8. Luckily they were moving people through quickly, so I was back on the road for home by 8:30.  Of course everyone wants copies of things and don't get me started on the hell that is changing your name on Paypal.  I just did this a couple of years ago and now I get to do it again.

I have been trying to figure out how many miles I've walked since winter ended.  I remember my first longish walk in April, my back, feet legs and hips were aching after reaching the end of my street.  Now I'm regularly doing miles at a time, esp. on the Canal.  My sneakers are worn out too.  Time for a new pair of those.  Just from looking at my pictures, it looks like I walked just over 100 miles since April.  That's a lot, esp. for me, a confirmed exercise hater.

Finally forced myself to start making jewelry and having the beads all spread out has made designing so much easier.  I really love doing it so I don't understand why I couldn't get motivated.  Michelle did the wire wrapped beach glass pendant on this one, and I added the necklace part to it.  I did quite a few necklaces, some bracelets and earrings but my pics didn't come out too good!  I was in a hurry to shoot them and they ended up kinda blurry at the top and bottom.

Here's another 'never again' project.  Shells and glass stuck on a styrofoam ball.  This took over a week to finish because the styrofoam glue takes so long to dry.  The shells are from Sanibel Island in Florida, which friends brought back for me.

November 2 was Fall Back Day; my fave!  We had a wicked storm too. Started the day before with torrential rain and high winds.  The poopies were sticking close together, as they are not fans of storms.

All hell broke loose after about 2:30 AM on Sunday, 11/2, with rain and wind.  I was very grateful that Russell made sure the generator was all charged up and ready to use in case the power went out, which, fortunately, it didn't.  I got up at 8 and promptly set the clocks back to 7, and busied myself packing away the Halloween decorations and putting up the Thanksgiving ones.  When I looked outside around noon, I could not believe what I was seeing.  Snow. Just a tad early.  The temperature plummeted to the mid 30s, I caved in and turned on the heat in the house, and I had to break out the winter coat and boots to take the dogs out.

It prompted me to write this on my car.

But by day's end, the snow and wind had stopped, the cold remained but the setting sun lit up the tree tops.

I am sooooo not ready for winter!!

January

What is it about this month that seems to get off to such a rough start?  And I don't mean just me, I see it on my Facebook newsfeed.  Had a couple of stressful issues, which, surprisingly, resolved fairly quickly and all was well.  But it's just that stress of dealing with it through it's resolution that totally sucks.  

The weather is suffering from multiple personality disorder.  We started the year with that huge Nor'easter blizzard.  The weather immediately before and immediately after was bitter cold.  I have never felt it that cold.  The temp rapidly warmed to above 50 and it poured rain for a day.  Then we plunged back into single digits and low teens.  Then it snowed again.  Then another rapid warm up to 50.  And THEN, a huge, howling rainstorm with high winds, thunder & lightning.  Some gusts were so fierce that the house shook, one of my window crystals fell off my window and I was wondering if we'd just experienced a microburst.  

So no huge surprise that I, and almost everyone I know, got sick.  Russell came home looking and sounding like death warmed over and I pretty much figured I would be next and I was.  It hung on for a week, sapping my energy.

Here are some pretty windshield frost pics.

Our third anniversary was January 7th.  Cannot believe it's been 3 years already!!  Best 3 years ever, too.  I made this Bitstrip to celebrate.  We thought about going out to eat but it was too cold to leave the house so we had pizza delivered, cause that's how we roll.

I've been living in this town for over 2 years and a couple of months ago I noticed this tree in a rock.  I don't know how I managed to miss this...it's right on Main Street....although in a part that I don't pay much attention to.

I made another fibre bowl.  Not a very good pic.  

I seem to be starting some crafts that I don't feel like finishing...

(but I did)

...and others I can't wait to get to...but I'm not divulging any sneak peek pics of that yet.  If it turns out, it'll be epic.  But that peace sign...what's not to love? It was turning out to be more time consuming than I thought and I had all that crap on my TV table for over a week, making the table unusable.  

And check out the box full of goodies Marsha dropped off!  I didn't have the energy to take it all out and photograph it, but suffice to say it's stuffed full of crafty goodness.  I know I said it before, but I'll say it again, I am the King (Queen?) Moonracer of Misfit Craft Supplies. 

And then my friend Stephanie sent me some cool tie dye magnet clips!

I've gotten quite a bit accomplished the first half of the first month of the year.  The craft room is cleaned and organized.  The recipes are typed and organized.  3-4 art projects are done.  We've secured the house for another year with the landlords (YAY!!!) and taken care of some annoying paperwork things.  Last spring I did a really good spring cleaning but I suppose I could give the place another good scrubbing.  I suppose I'll get started on that next!  Well, as soon as I get over this cold!

And finally, as a bonus, THE SEATTLE SEAHAWKS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!!!  WHOO HOOO!!!!

Update!

Update loooong overdue!!

I've been so busy the past few months, preparing for craft shows that took place at the Bourne VFW in mid-November and Upper Cape Tech the weekend of 11/23 & 11/24 that I haven't really updated on what's been going on.  I was a crafting maniac and to be honest, towards the end, I started to get reeeeeeally tired of making stuff specifically for the fairs. So I made some stuff for myself too!

I worked on a craft kit of the month project of cross stitch ornaments.  They really should've sent this kit out months ago instead of November.  They are small but time consuming.  Right now I have the Santa stitched but not outlined, and the Christmas tree almost finished.

Added beaded hangers to the blue and purple window crystals I got over the summer.

Couple bracelets which are a little too big for my wrist unfortunately.

Got the pendant at the King Richard's Faire and made a necklace.

But then it was back to crafting for the fairs.  It was next to impossible to find acorn caps this season.  I hope that means an uneventful winter.  This time I used marbles because I couldn't find beads to fit the caps.

These are so much fun to make!

Memory wire bracelets.

More of these.

Beach themed ornaments.

The VFW show was OK.....the best part was hanging out with Marsha, seeing my school bus driver, Elaine, from the 70s who makes beautiful dyed scarves, and my inlaws were there selling their homemade soap.  I made my table fee back, but my total earnings that day were under $100, which was disappointing.  

The Upper Cape Tech School sale was huge; 150 vendors!!  I had a great spot in the cafeteria and sooooo many friends stopped by to say HI.  That was the best.  Marsha, my partner in crime, was there the first day working the show with me. I think the highlight of that weekend, besides seeing my friends, was seeing one of my kindergarten teachers, Mrs. Winslow!  I probably haven't seen her since the early 1970s.  Sales were kinda slow...I made my table fee back and a couple hundred dollars profit.  My photo cards and glitter ornaments didn't sell well at all which was very disappointing.  Lots of people stopped by and admired my items, esp. the button caterpillars, but I only sold one.  There was one little girl who had $10 to spend and returned to my table after going through the whole school because she wanted one of the magic wands.  She couldn't decide between 2 of them so I sold her 2 for $10.  How could I not?  I've signed up for next year and I am going to have to rethink what I make.  There is just too much jewelry at these shows; I can't compete.

This is the view from UTC.  I'm gonna have to go up there for sunsets!  That's the Bourne Bridge, and behind it, the Buzzards Bay water tower.  It was a less than 5 minute drive from my house.

My birthday was the day before Thanksgiving and the best gift I had was that Russell was home.  It was a very windy, rainy day and I would have been worried sick if he was driving home, especially with an empty trailer.  Tons of my friends wished me Happy Bday on Facebook and that gave me the warm and fuzzies.  I am FB friends with a couple of celebrities, and I was stunned to see this one show up on my Timeline!! I've been a fan of Bill Mumy's since the 60s when I first discovered 'Lost in Space' when I was about 4!!!!!

And because I have blogger and gmail accounts, I had my own personalized Google Doodle!!!

 We visited my mom first then went out to eat at 99 for lunch.  After I got home, I baked a funfetti cake.  

The storm moved through by Wednesday evening and we woke up to a gorgeous crescent moon and sunny day on Thanksgiving.

We visited with our families in the early afternoon, then we came home and finished cooking the turkey dinner for the kids who came over around 3 to eat with us before heading over to their mom's for their second dinner at 6.  All in all a lovely day!