52 Weeks of Happy 6/52

Week 6 of Happy!!!
This last week I had a very happy time going to have a pedicure with my granddaughter Peanut.  We sat in the spa chairs and they massaged our feet & calves.  They also put my feet in paraffin wax to soften my feet. I am a barefoot kind of gal.  It was a wonderful way to spend an hour. Afterwards my feet felt like new.
Look here.....


Peanut got pink with zebra stripes where as I got a neon aqua.




I don't know why I waited 57 years before getting my first pedi.  I have had about 4 of them now.  It does make a difference where you go.  The last place made my toes hurt.  I think their tools were not clean and gave me an infection.  But this last place was very clean but expensive.  BUT no infection or hurting toes.

I love my AQUA toes!!!!!

52 Weeks of Happy 4/52

Last Sunday was Easter. Peanut and I went to church on Saturday night so on Sunday we took Bob to the elementary school.  They have a huge grass area for the kids to play.


Look at this beautiful day.  The school is called Highland Grove Elementary.  There use to be orange groves in this area of Highland.  This is not where Peanut goes to school.  She attends Cram Elementary.



The mountains were so beautiful. The day was warm with a slight breeze. We got a little sunburn.  By 4 pm the clouds covered the sky and it looked like rain. 



Peanut practiced her kickball moves.  She is really good. We had a lot of fun kicking the ball.  This was a white ball and she colored it. It is beautiful.





Since there were very few people there Bob was allowed to be free and run till he was too tired to run.  We brought his tennis ball and he chased it over and over.  What a cute dog.
Peanut put him on the leash in order to get him to go down the slide. He is not fond of the slide.  hehehe



If you look real hard you can see Peanut and Bob on the playground.



This day made us happy.  We would have loved to spend it with our loved one but everyone was busy. Some of the invites from loved one were too sfar away to go to.  My sister had to work on Easter! darn Chevy dealership. Grrrr.   
But church was lovely saturday night. We worshiped our Lord and that he rose on the 3rd day. He LIVES!!!!

A post from the Past: May 27, 2008 - My History

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 27, 2008  First Blog post on Live Journal

mmm...my first post. I am still figuring out how this works. I am familiar with posting blogs on MySpace. But I am having problems figuring out how to insert photos. I tried for an hour and no luck. It shouldn't be this hard. I love to see lots of photos on a blog.
I will try again right now.................



This is my daughter Sierra. I lost her a year ago. She was my only daughter and I do miss her so so much. She was 23 when she died by a gunshot to her beautiful head. It's so sad. Her little daughter Peanut is living with me now. We are taking each day one at a time. Life is certainly changing for us. Here we are...



We were dressed for Halloween. On this night 10/31/06 my daughter was taking the photo. Then my daughter Sierra, Peanut and I walked around my neighborhood to trick or treat. 
Sierra and I had several good times like that before she died Jan. 2007. 
I miss her so. I do not understand why she was the one person out of hundreds or thousands who would die by a gunshot. We are not gun people. I never had handguns in the house ever, never in all my life. She only had that gun in her house for 3 weeks before a fight broke out between her and her boyfriend. No one is sure what happened. The police think the boyfriend is responsible. The coroner put gun shot wound to the head.  But it is the boyfriends word of what happened on that day. Peanut saw and heard the fight. She was watching from her room when the gun went off. I think her dad was blocking her view of the gun so she only knows what he told her happened. She was only 5 years old. What a horrible tragedy to have in a young girls life.



This beautiful granddaughter is living with me now. I am in a guardianship case trying to get full custody. For more than a year I have been in and out of court. I finally got Temporary custody on 10/30/2007. What a long wait.
It is not an easy road. Peanut is in therapy now. We are both grieving so much. But we are having good times. We took a trip to Idaho 2 weeks ago. My son Dustin, her uncle, got married. He lives in Idaho. Peanut and I have a goal to move to Idaho before the end of this year.

My new love is WOOL and KNITTING!!!!! more on that in the next blog.

Today and everyday, I thank God for carrying me this far in my grief journey. He has taken my burden. On days that I have a very heavy heart is usually when I have not looked at the LORD to give him praise for blessing me with my children, Peanut, a home, food, clothing, love and good friends. I have a lot to be thankful for.


Seven years ago my handsome, wonderful, hardworking husband died of cancer. I miss him so much. He never knew his grandchildren. He was my high school sweetheart. We were married 28 years. I was 45 and he was 47 when he died. I believe he is in heaven holding our daughter in his arms. God bless my family in Heaven.

So there is my first POST on Live Journal.
Yeah.....I'm glad to be here!!!!!!

A post from the Past: May 27, 2008 - First felted Hat

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 27, 2008  First Felted Hat

I am very new to knitting. I began at the end of March 2008. I jumped into "Wool" with a hat I made. It was not knitted, it was crocheted.
I wanted to see if I could tackle felting. So I stuck to crocheting since I have been doing that since I was about 7 years old. I crocheted this hat our of Paton's wool.




I crocheted it larger than I wanted the finished product. Here is it before felting on my 6yr. old granddaughters head.





Then I washed it in the machine on hot inside of a pillow case. I then let it dry stretched over a glass container since I didn't have any other form to put it on.





When it was dry this is how it looked.





I liked it a lot. My daughter in law Anne loved it so now I am crocheting her one too.







I'm going to make it bigger than my first hat since I think my hat is too tight. I don't look good in hats but I am going to try to get over it since I plan to knit a bunch of them and I want to felt more hats.
My granddaughter Peanut asked for a hat so she is next on the list.

The yarn in both hats is Patons Classic Wool- merino, 100% wool
The red/mix color stripe on the second hat is recycled silk from Nepal.
It is handspun by women's cooperatives from silk weaving mill waste.
It is very soft and has bright vibrant colors. I will put more stripes in the hat and I know it does not shrink so it will stand out. Should be interesting when I am done.

A post from the Past: May 28, 2008 - Socks & Sun

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 28, 2008  Socks Enjoying the Sun



So I finished the "Step" socks for my daughter in law Anne today. They wanted to take a little sunbath so they spent some time on the grass and........................ then they wanted to view the pool.




They were afraid of the water, a little cool. So they just watched my granddaughter lay on a HammerHead Shark while eating ice cream.





The horse tried to entice them into the pool. But these socks haven't seen water in all their life and they are waiting for their maker (me) to put them in gently for a nice bath before being wrapped up as a birthday gift.





The Step socks wanted to try a few steps so they ran in the house and jumped on my feet just to see if I knit them comfortably. The answer is yes, they made me put my feet up and boy were they cozy. 

A post from the Past: May 30, 2008 - New Cat

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

May 30, 2008  -  New Cat, Sally

Yesterday evening my little sister came and delivered a new kitten to our home. This is Peanut's kitten. She named her "Sally Flower Lee". Lee is Peanut's and my middle name. Sally is Jack's girlfriend in Nightmare Before Christmas. Flower, well I guess Peanut likes flowers.



Peanut is in love.



My other cat Solo Vino was cool. He tried to act like he didn't care.
Peanut made a bed and Sally slept with her all night. Here she is ready for school.



Peanut said, "now I have a friend to play with me." She lost her mommy a year ago. My daughter Sierra died by a gunshot. Peanut was in the house when it happened and probably saw something. She was found by her mommy's side when the paramedics arrived. It's been a hard journey but we are doing ok. We take each day as it comes and we have a deep faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. I know that Sierra is in Heaven with her daddy, my late husband Richard.
This kitty is a good thing in our lives and in Peanut's life. She is being so nurturing with the kitten. It is sweet to watch. 

A post from the Past: June 12, 2008 - Still knitting

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

June 12, 2008 - Still Knitting

I haven't posted in a while. This week has been busy because it is the last week of school for my kindergartner.
I took some pics of Sally our new kitten. She is a busy little kitty.
Here she is on the couch ready to jump.



This is Sally under the table attacking a crunchy ball.



As for my knitting. I was distracted for a week or so with the scarf on the beautiful new needles. It is the scarf done in Kanui wool. I had started it and decided it was too narrow. So I cast off, and then cast on with more stitches. I had to set it aside to get the Socks done.



I have only 2 weeks left to finish the socks and a felted hat for my daughter in law's birthday. I know I will have the socks done in a couple days. I can crochet the hat pretty fast but the felting takes a few days. I let it air dry after the machine washing so it just takes time to dry out. 

Other than that I did get a call from my boss yesterday. I use to work in a dental lab making porcelain teeth. It was so much fun. I went to school to be a dental technician after my husband died. So I had worked in this lab for 3 years but in March 08 I had to quit because my granddaughter needs me to be home. We are still grieving my daughters death. I got custody of my granddaughter late last year. I worked when I had her for a few months but I was killing myself. I can't be mom, employee, cook, cleaner, gardener, etc. I'm not married since my husband died of cancer in Aug. 2000. It's tough being a single mom again. My kids were all grown. I had the empty nest.

So I was flattered that my boss would call and ask me to return. I know I could have asked for a huge raise. I am still thinking about it. He is even willing to wait for the fall when school gets back in. 
I loved what I did. I loved working with the tools and baking porcelain, grinding the teeth with tiny tiny high speed drills. I was also doing digital design with the Cad/Cam program with scanning models and designing bridges and crowns on the computer then sending those files to be milled out in zirconia. I was in the High Tech department. I loved it.
I hated the drive from my home to the lab. I had to go on 4 different freeways (only 22 miles) and the traffic was horrible. I do not miss that drive at all. It could take 30 min. on a good day or 2 hours on a bad day. Average time was 45 min. I was ok with the drive before I had Peanut. When I lived alone. I would just listen to the radio and kick back. But when you have a little one waiting for you at after school care it is horrible. I just missed her so bad. She needed to be with me or with family after loosing her mommy. 
So now I am home with her and I have more free time for my knitting and hobbies, also for errands and house work. 
We go to church several times a week. Our life is full.

A post from the Past: June 12, 2008 - LIfe with a 6 yr. old

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

June 12, 2008 - Life with a 6 year old. 


School is out. Fun begins. Peanut (my granddaughter) just cracks me up.
How old were ya'll when you learned to knit or crochet?
What did you make?
Is 6 too young to teach her to knit or crochet?
I tried to teach her to do the small spool knitting 
http://www.knitting-crochet.com/spokni.html
But she got frustrated. 
Any suggestions?

A post from the Past: June 17, 2008

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

June 17, 2008  Balloon release for Sierra. RIP

Tonight my granddaughter and I went to our meeting of The Compassionate Friends.
http://www.compassionatefriends.org/
(Redlands Chapter of Compassionate Friends)
http://www.redlandstcf.com/

This is a grief group for parents & siblings who have lost a child.

Tonight was the annual balloon launch in the memory of our children. 

We arrived early and started making out little cards to attach to the balloons.

Ouch, sunburn.......




Then we were ready to head outside.  Legos in red case, balloons in hand.


Outside it was a beautiful night. There was a singer Naomi Slotkin and a man on the keyboard. Her voice was like an angel. She sang so beautiful and the lyrics to the songs made me cry.


Then we went on the stairs to release the Balloons. It was so beautiful. The balloons went straight up to heaven.



We watched till the balloons got smaller and smaller. 



And then Naomi Slotkin with the angel voice sang on..........

Near far wherever you are 
I believe that the heart does go on 
Once more you open the door 
And you're here in my heart 
And my heart will go on and on



And then they were gone.............

A post from the Past: June 20, 2008

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

June 20, 2008   Hot day in the pool.

I thought yesterday was hot at 104 but today it was 108 in my city.
It was a bit cooler at my house with 107 degrees.
We were in the pool 2 times but this is just too too hot for me.


Peanut is my underwater explorer. She loves swimming like a Tuna.


Peanut likes taking pictures too of her grandma.

A post from the Past: June 20, 2008

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009.

June 20, 2008       Felted hat before felting.







The blue/green wool and the red silk yarn are only for stripes so I didn’t use very much. 
I am making up the pattern as I go. When I feel like it needs an increase I just crochet 2 sc in one space. Then to get the hat to turn down at the crown I decrease by skipping a space. I just do this when it seems it needs to be shaped here or there.
5/26 
I start crocheting from the top down and increase as needed to make a hat shape. I crochet the hat larger than normal since I will be felting it.
6/20 
I had not been working on this much. I was finishing my other projects. 
So today I finished the crocheting. I added a few inches of blue to the bottom which I crocheted the first row in the back loop so it would turn easy. Then I turned the blue strip to the inside and sewed it down with the gray yarn. It makes a nice edge. 
I still need to felt this project then it is done! 
I love how the colors look on this hat. The picture of the hat on my granddaughter is closer to the real colors.