Early November Snow & Knitting

Oh my it has been cold this past week here in Central Missouri.  Now if it were January, this would not be unusual.  But it is NOVEMBER.  Last Monday it was 72 degrees.  Today the high is 22, and tomorrow's low temperature -- 12 degrees.  That is JANUARY weather, not November.

This is what my world looks like this morning.  Isn't it beautiful??

We rarely have snow in Missouri in November.  But we got a couple of inches yesterday.

I feel bad, because my husband is working outside in this weather.  He is busy making sure all the cows are fed.  Making sure the turkeys are fed.  He hates wintertime.  It makes a lot of extra work in very uncomfortable working conditions.  There is no rest for a farmer.  But he loves farming anyway!

And for all you knitters out there, I need some advice. My beautiful daughter (who is doing GREAT post appendectomy in case you were wondering) wants me to knit a hand band for her to keep her ears warm.  I've been doing some looking around online, and I've found a couple of fairly simple patterns.  I am really a beginning knitter.  That means I can make scarfs, and I can make little baby hats (knitting in the round!), but I don't know a lot of the fancy stitches so I'm looking for something pretty basic.  If you have any suggestions, I'd LOVE to hear from you!

These are a couple of patterns I've found so far.  The top one is a little more difficult, but very pretty.

 

Image by Craftsy

This second image looks very simple, even for a beginning knitter like me.

Image by Ratchadawan Chambers

So if you have any suggestions on an easy headband to make, PLEASE share!!

So whatever the weather is in your neck of the woods, I pray that you are blessed.  I pray that you are warm.  I pray that today you take a few moments to thank God for all of the blessings in your life.  And that, like me, today you will strive to be obedient to the verse below.  The world is full of evil, full of sin.  We are called to keep ourselves from this. 

Philippians 4:8   "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

Stay warm!!!

Appendectomy

Last Tuesday our phone rang very early in the morning.  It was our beautiful daughter, and she was crying.  She said her stomach had been hurting for about an hour.

We threw our clothes on and began the two hour drive to where she attends college.

Thankfully my cousin and his wife live in the same town where Alex goes to college.  Alex tutors their oldest son, and babysits for them.  My cousin's wife is an ER doctor.

She went WAAYYY above and beyond and picked up Alex from her dorm and took her to the emergency room.  By the time we got there they had already put in an IV, drawn some blood and were waiting on test results.

Very long story short, they determined it was her appendix, and Alex had surgery about 1:30 Tuesday afternoon.  Her appendix had not ruptured (Praise the Lord) so they were able to do the surgery laparoscopically, so she just has three tiny incisions.

Amazingly, by 4:30 p.m. we left the hospital, and, after a quick trip to her dorm room to pick up some clothing and homework we were on the road home by 5:00 p.m.  We walked into our house at 7:00 p.m. that same day.

Alex spent the rest of the week, and weekend, recovering at home and yesterday afternoon I drove her back to school. While I hate that she had to have surgery, we sure enjoyed having her home for an extended stay.

She is feeling great.  She still has a little soreness, and I'm sure she will be tired by the time she is finished with her four classes today.  But she definitely has the worst behind her.

We are thankful for so many things.  Thankful that her appendix hadn't ruptured.  Thankful for no infection.  Thankful for my cousin's wife and all of the other doctors and nurses who took such great care of Alex.  And we are praying for complete healing, in Jesus name. 

We do not understand why Alex had to go through this, but we trust that nothing surprises our God.  And we know that He works all things together for our good.

The Sound of Silence

I couldn't tell you the last time a repair man was at my house.

I mean, I use my stuff forever, but my husband is pretty darned handy when it comes to fixing stuff.  So I rarely have to "call the professionals."

But today, I will have two professionals at my house. One will be here to fix the dryer.  The other to fix the air conditioner.

My dryer has been making a horrendous noise for quite some time.

I've just been putting up with it.  I mean seriously.  It still works.  It still tumbles and blows warm air.  Isn't that what a dryer is supposed to do? 

But that noise.  It just keeps getting louder. Wow. I mean it is SO LOUD you can hardly sleep.  

My "laundry room" isn't really a separate room.  Meaning, there are no doors to close.  So when the dryer is running it knocks and bangs all through the house.  Seriously, you can't imagine how LOUD it is!!!

Turns out the part that surrounds the blower is broken, so that loud sound is that part bouncing around every time the dryer makes a rotation.  So the nice repair man ordered the part.  It should be in today.

Friday evening I got home from work and the house was really, really warm.  Summertime has returned to Missouri here in late October.  But when I tried to turn on the air conditioner, nothing. 

Zip.  Nada.  Silence.

Saturday morning we called another repair man who showed up Saturday afternoon to tell us that the "transformer" in the a/c unit had burned up.  So he ordered a new one (a transformer, not a new unit!) and is supposed to be here today to fix that.

Yesterday it was 88 degrees outside.  And pretty close to that inside our house. It was TOASTY!!

So tonight when I get home, I am expecting SOUND to be coming from our air conditioner, and SILENCE from our dryer.  And for the temperature to be down to a comfortable level again, purty please!!!!  When I was a kid we didn't have air conditioning, but I've become quite spoiled.

Of course, now that the air conditioner is fixed, summertime will be going away.  It's going to be 39 degrees Wednesday morning.  But I'm still gonna need that dryer!!

Ahhh, the sound of silence!!!