Well, we're home from our 6 day trip to see Noel and Laurie and Avery. That part of the trip was a lot of fun. We got to have a couple of cook outs over the camp fire. Avery loves to walk around things, chairs, strollers, picnic tables, anything that he can hold onto. He's not so sure of this walking by himself stuff, but he did take 3 or four steps towards me without holding on to anything, which this particular Grammy thought was pretty exciting. Noel was our chief cook and fire tender on this occasion.
Avery wasn't too sure what to do with the mud and gravel that ended up on his hands after crawling around or after his many sudden transitions from standing to sitting.
And then we got to spend a short afternoon at the beach. Avery loves the water, absolutely loves it. And if he can take one of his favourite trucks with him, so much the better. He thinks there is nothing better than getting handfuls of pebbles and sand and filling up the truck with it. The thoughts of going to the beach and into the water with him, actually got me out to buy a bathing suit, something that hasn't happened in a large number of years. It wasn't a very warm day for this, though, so we didn't stay in the water too long, his poor little teeth were chattering.
The rest of this particular camping trip was not the best. It rained, a lot, which is really great for the farmers, and we badly needed it, so that isn't a complaint. And it gave me the opportunity to get some stocking sewing done, and a lot of reading.
Our camping neighbours, on the other hand, I will complain about. The first night we were there we were beside a group of 4 young people, but they settled down by midnight, so I thought we'd be OK. Not so.............. this particular group knew the timing and the schedule of the park wardens. So, when the park wardens left at 2 AM, the noise and the ruckus and the bottles and the drinking and the foul language began. They exhausted themselves, or passed out, I'm not sure which, by 3 AM. Needless to say, I was furious by this time, and even once they settled down, I couldn't. And, of course, Scott didn't hear a thing. A guess there is a small good side to his hearing loss. These people left the next day, so I breathed a huge sigh of relief. However.......... they were replaced with a couple who owned 2 dogs, who barked at every sound, every squirrel, every car that drove by and every person that walked by their campsite, or moved around on their own campsite that bordered theirs. And their owners did NOTHING to stop the non stop barking. When the owners left their campsite, they locked the dogs in the trailer, where the dogs then barked non stop until the owners came back. Can we all say grrrrrrrr............. It wasn't the dogs' fault........ why do people get them if they aren't going to do anything with them??? This was the first time in a very long time when I was actually looking forward to getting home.
Anyway, that is past and done, and we have another piece of news. Matt and Becca have bought themselves a house, and are moving into it this weekend. That is so very exciting. So when we got home yesterday, we went over and helped them start to move in. I helped Becca start cleaning out and the arranging the kitchen, which was a lot of fun. But the best part about this house is that they have asked us to share it with them, and become a multi-generational household.
There is a large basement under this house, and it opens out to a walkout in the back yard, so it doesn't even seem like it is a basement. We are planning to put in a kitchen over where the post is that is visible at the right in the picture. There is an existing bedroom and bathroom already in place down there, although the bathroom needs work. We will also be building a studio for me in the garage, so that I can continue to do my quilting and the long arming and continue to have customers. All of this has been checked with the city zoning people, and is good to go. As for the timing, it probably won't all come together until the spring, since we have to get the renovations done there, and also get some repairs done to our house, and get it sold. Very, very exciting, and I will probably be posting more as the renos and building and stuff get started. I'm not sure when that will be, though, since we are in the process of finding a reputable person to do the work.
Anyway, that's all the news for now, and it is time for me to think about getting ready for work.
I'm now in the process of making a backing for it. It's taking longer than I thought it would because I'm using up the leftover layer cake squares, some odds and ends of kiddie fabrics and some fat quarters. I'll get a picture of it when I'm done.
Both of these projects were started in August, so they both classify as "Newfo's", which are defined as new projects begun during the month, and not necessarily finished, so the have the potential of becoming new UFO's........ hence "Newfo". Barb, who blogs at Cat Patches started this trend back in January, but this is the first month I've participated. She has a linky party going for everyone who started a Newfo in August, which I'm going to link this post to.
