And The Stockings Were Hung

The 10 denim stockings are now hung on our fireplace mantle.  This photo was taken before I filled them and now they are fat and ready for everyone to empty when we open gifts this week.  We will be celebrating before Christmas with our daughters and their families.  They will be leaving for their own homes on Christmas Eve.  So far we have managed to not tell them I made the stockings....I wanted to keep it as a surprise. 

The mantle is holding a few of of my Santa collection.  Most of them have been gifts so I treasure them all.

Lynn 

Busy December

Molded Glass

I don't know where most of December went but here it is a week before Christmas and I haven't posted since December 1. I have not touched my sewing machine since then either.

Painted Canvas and Metal

Two weeks in a row John and I attended conferences in Kearney for several days each. I did get most of my Christmas shopping done while John attended meetings but sure didn't get anything done here at home.  I have made some candies and cookies, made some Christmas visits, wrote our Christmas letter, cleaned up my house and have my laundry caught up so now I have time to do a few other things before our family arrives mid-week.

Molded Glass

This year it took me longer to get my decorations up - walking is still not back to normal so my ankle gets tired easily. I decided to not take everything out of my boxes this year but the house looks festive anyway. I have WAY TOO MANY Christmas decorations and should sort and get rid of some of them. Maybe my daughters will want some that I didn't put up then I wouldn't feel bad about leaving them in the box.

Painted Gourd

We put up two trees....I know it's overkill. One of them is very skinny, called a pencil tree that we have had for years. The house we moved from was limited on space so we got this skinny tree and it worked out great. We have two living areas so one tree is put up in each. The skinny tree only has Santa ornaments on it...with the exception of one Mrs. Santa.

Plastic from the 80s

Santa and Mrs. Santa I made from nylon hose

The second tree is full and tall and I put the rest of the ornaments on it - oh, by the way both trees artificial. I am allergic to pine, cedar and fur trees so just can't have them in the house and the artificial look OK.

Santa holding a quilt

Plastic formed over glass ball

The photos on this post are some of the Santa ornaments on our skinny tree. Enjoy!

Lynn

My Nest

I have taken lots of photos here around the house to learn what my camera can do, how to change the settings and practice taking photos.  I took a photo of "my nest" as one of those photos.

As you can see I have a lot of stuff surrounding the chair I sit in to watch TV, do needlework and play on the computer.  I used Photoshop Elements to draw the different colored arrows to the different things.

First my lovely almost worn out blue recliner.  We have had it for years and the fabric is starting to wear out but I have not found anything to replace it with that is as comfortable.  I have an end table to the left of the chair with quilt magazines and a lamp and telephone but wanted more table space so have a small folding table to the right.  I can take it down when we have company or use it in other places in the house when I need an extra table.  It can be set up at different heights too which is nice (Purchased it at Menards a few years ago)

OK...now on to the rest of the stuff.  The yellow arrows point to my lap top computer and charger cord.  The laptop is sitting on a sort of bean bag with a flat surface on the top of it.  It is something that the girls had when they were young so they could lay on the floor and color or do homework.  Kind of like a little table top.  It works great to sit on my lap to use the laptop.

The green arrow points to a fabric bag filled with rice that I used on my ankle the other day.  I keep it in the freezer and when I need an ice bag I use that.  It is not quite as cold as real ice but is cold enough for most times that I need one.

The orange arrow points to a can of my various remotes.  Seems like there is one for everything...TV, VCR, DVD, Stereo and Satellite.  They get scattered all over so now I have this can/small bucket that I keep them in.

Pink arrow points to the fly swatter.  Yes it is December 1 but just last week I had a fly annoying me while I sat in the chair.  He didn't annoy me long though!

Lastly are the blue arrows.  The blue arrows point to the stuff I use to exercise my ankle.  On the left side of the photo is a tan belt - used to wrap around foot and stretch foot side to side, pull up foot and twist foot.  The red stretchy rubber band like thing has a loop tied in the end where I insert my foot.  I have to pivot my foot all different directions with it being stretched for resistance.  There is a tennis ball and another prikly blue ball that I have to roll the ball of my foot over.  (prickly ball is sold to use in the clothes dryer)  Lastly is the dictionary on the floor and the mayo jar wrapped in hand weights on the table.  Odd things to use for therapy but this is how I use them.  I put the ball of my foot on the dictionary and the mayo jar wrapped in hand weights on my knee.  The theory is the weight will help stretch my foot and ankle muscles so I can eventually get my heel to touch the floor and the mayo jar was the heaviest thing I could find in my cupboard.

I finished my last physical therapy session on my ankle yesterday but will keep doing the exercises at home for many months yet I am sure.  The pain is gone but it is still stiffer than I want it to be.  I have to remember not to limp and to walk slowly stretching the ankle each time I take a step.  Hopefully someday I won't even notice the difference between the two ankles.

I have not told you that I do have to have surgery on my right shoulder the first part of January so will start  PT with that a few weeks after.  The shoulder has a flex. joint called the AC joint at the end of my collar bone that is very arthritic.  The arthritis has grown downward and that is scraping one of my rotator cuff muscles.  So far it has not done too much damage but could if left alone.  I had the same problem with my left shoulder and had surgery on it 7 years ago and had let it get really bad and had to have more done but it is great now.  I decided to have the surgery right after Christmas so I could be healed by spring then I can do my own gardening this year.  It is not something I am looking forward to but it is not going to get better and only worse if I do nothing.  I am tired of it hurting and my motion being limited on that arm.  Actually I was seeing the Dr. for the shoulder and doing PT for it when I broke my ankle so it has been put on hold until the ankle got well.  I am hoping this next year I have no surgeries or major health problems because this year has been a bummer.

I am left handed so hopefully this time I will be able to manage things a little better than when I had it operated on.  It still is very hard to do some things with only one arm.  Try zipping up your jeans, drying your hair with the blow dryer, putting on your bra with only one hand.  I am so thankful that John can help me with some things, some I will forgo like the bra (thankfully it will be cold so I can wear heavy sweatshirts and no one will even know) and will probably just wear sweat pants until I can manage to button and zip my jeans.  As for the hair, last time I had John hang an wire clothes hanger over the curtain rod and tied my blow dryer to it.  I could style my hair as it dried that way.  You know a person always finds a way to do things if possible.

I don't know how much sewing, even by hand, I will be able to do though.  I am hoping I can do some or maybe do some beading to keep busy.  Will let you know.

OK - guess I have delayed getting my Christmas decorations up long enough.  I have the boxes up from the storage room in the basement and need to get it done today.  It always looks so nice when it is finished.  Will get a photo of the stockings when I get them all hung too.

Lynn

UPS Package Has Arrived

I certainly hope I get more done the rest of the week than I did on Monday. The UPS truck came and left a package...something I have been waiting for 10 days to arrive.

I have wanted a DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera for sometime and have been studying reviews and watching prices for the optimum time to purchase it. I settled on the Canon EOS Rebel T2i and it arrived yesterday on a cold, windy freezing misty day.

I should have let the box just sit on the counter until evening before opening it, then I might have gotten a little sewing done or hauled my Christmas decorations out of the basement and started decorating the house. Instead I started reading the instruction manual, and another book "Canon EOS Rebel T2i/550D Gude to Digital SLR Photography" by David Busch that I also purchased. I have taken photos of my feet, the office, etc. to practice what I am learning and obviously not saving any of them.  It will take a while to remember what all the buttons, dials and digital readouts mean and what they do.  It is amazing how much there is to learn!

So far I am having fun and snapping photos, changing settings and snapping some more. Not sure when I will be ready to use it to take photos to post here though. 

I used a 35mm film camera for years and have missed all the advantages of a single lens reflex camera since I have been using digital cameras so hope I can learn to use and enjoy this camera as much as that one.  I plan to keep the camera I am/was currently using as it still works.  I never know when I may want to use it again or let the grandchildren use it when they visit.

Back to reading and snapping more photos.

Lynn