Can we have a forum for "older" people with bc?

What a delightful conversation about knitting and crocheting! I began crocheting when I was a young teen or pre-teen and made doilies that we used. One I particularly enjoyed making had pansies around the outside. Chris, I love your cloth hanging, displaying old doilies. What a clever idea and such artistic arrangement.

I use crocheted dish cloths that I make. I also do/did hand embroidery and sew. I made my younger sister's wedding dress many years ago. I made all my simple window curtains and placemats that we use daily. I have tried selling my wares at the farmers market in MN but wasn't successful. I don't think I priced them cheap enough. I also opened a store on Etsy and enjoyed the whole process, but the store wasn't successful. Illinois Lady bought some of my dish cloths.

I'm about to start crocheting again making items to donate, possibly lap afghans.

I taught myself simple knitting but crocheting is more "natural" for me.

I would love to see more pictures.

My sister as a young bride in 1973 started to crochet blankets. She taught me and a cousin. My cousin was a lefty, so we would sit across from each other, mirror each other. Well, her blanket was super loose and mine was so tight it weighed a ton at 3’x3’. I never completed it.

I did cross stitch for years, embroidery, plastic canvas with yarn, and even rug making with printed canvas and precut yarns. My fingers are double jointed, and as I aged full of arthritis too. I’ve had de Quervain’s thumb surgery, to release the tendon on the right thumb. And sometimes my left thumb will make me yelp in pain.

I have some lace that was tatted in Bruge, Belgium. A cousin lived in Belgium for a while and we toured Bruge. Many women in the stores were hand making doilies, lace trimmed handkerchiefs, and more. And I have older lace trimmed handkerchiefs that were my mother’s. I should look into framing them.

Recently I grabbed some embroidery floss, tiny scissors and threaders to free hand embroidery as repairs on a pair of my favorite jean shorts. I wouldn’t say the repairs are fantastic, but they’re good enough for me. My fingers did ache the next day.

Any of the above activities make the time fly by. I don’t know how to knit. Many ladies in my FL neighborhood do both. I should have someone show me.

Tuesday evening SO saw a few crazy or ghost ants in the master bathroom. We put out syrup and borax which attracts them; they take it back to the nest to kill them all. But today we had the bathroom sprayed by my neighbor who uses the professional sprays. We had to empty everything so she could spray everything; leave it to dry, before putting everything back in. They come from our shared wall neighbor; I could elaborate but I won’t. 🐜

I also cleaned out our clothes dryer vent today. I try to do it every other year. It wasn’t real bad, but it wasn’t clean either. I probably should do it every May, so it’s clean when we get back in November. The cleaning isn’t hard, but it’s a pain hooking that accordion vent part back up to the dryer and the wall - ours vents through the roof.

It was raining this morning, which we needed. Then sun for a bit, before winds picked up to 30 mph. That’s why I stayed in cleaning. HA!

I ran out for the mail around 5 pm and I was frozen. Tonight it’s going back down into the low 40’s, but instead of sheets on my plants I just brought the amaryllis bulbs back in. I’m tired of it.

All my life, I have been a positive thinker... I have always been able to survive by telling myself that no matter how bad things are, they will one day be better. And that out of every event - no matter how tragic - one can always find a way to survive and even, perhaps, to be a little bit happy.

Zsa Zsa Gabor

I broke down, still irritated with the lack of room in my kitchen. People IRL and at another chat-site suggested moving the microwave out. I had just the right place for it. Found a microwave cart at Amazon. They had a return for ten dollars less. I bought it, knowing that there would be a risk. Got it today. Opened it up. No directions. A screw in catterwompus and the metal receptacle for the screw torn loose from a piece of wood. A bit of Elmer and a squirt of WD40 took care of that. Assembled, easy-peasy. Microwave on top, silverware on first shelf, and bread machine on the bottom with plenty of room for loading and unloading. Satisfaction.

Then I opened up the other box. Freezer containers. I am sure I ordered what I ordered before. One compartment. No, these were three. Will have to send it back. How do you figure it: a gamble works out, and a sure thing doesn't?

A friend (I think that is him) made the news. Yes, I am about sure it is him, because that is how he does things. Giggling. Will be interesting.

teka, I don’t use a thimble either. Sometimes I use a fingernail, and regret it. I’ve grabbed anything solid next to me if I really can’t get the needle through.

Petite, love the picture.

Chris, you did well fixing up the cart for the microwave.

taco, I just saw a video of a man at a local town board meeting stating very clearly and calmly why he was against a holding center to be put in his neighborhood. Too political to get into, but strong opposition.

We took a walk this afternoon when it was at its warmest, 63 with full sun. The wind was so fierce, at points I felt like I was standing still. SO ended up with an ear ache and a sore throat - I think from post nasal. And I got something in my eye. LOL What a pair.

intolight, loved the crocheted animals and what a wonderful gift to give to one's grandchildren.

I am a huge fan of the Olympics and last night's opening ceremony was spectacular in scope and breadth. The presenting cast was varied including some of my favorites and the theme is harmony. So thankful I will have this to watch until February 22 and not have to watch any news. I was surprised that Mariah Carey as the opening singer and what an honor for her.

Andrea Bocelli singing "Nessun Dorma" by Puccini brought back a memory of visiting Lucca, Puccini's birthplace, where our lovely tour guide sang it outside his home. She had a spectacular voice and it was the first time I'd heard a female sing it. I just love him, but the honor of best male voice for this still belongs to Pavarotti.

The above quote was spoken there by Charlize Theron, a fellow South African, and is in synch with the Olympic theme.

Chris, what a great save of the microwave cart and being handy. Glad you were able to customize the shelves to give yourself more room in your kitchen.

Taco, envy your weather and if I could ship you some of the ice from my yard, it would help with your drought. It may be March before we thaw at this rate. A large warehouse in Berks county was just purchased for $87 million for the same purpose and the people there are not happy either. Concern is about property values and humane treatment.

cindyny, our winds are to be between 50-60 mph today which means we will hear loud whistling for much of the day. Not looking forward to them. Temps will be below zero before we discuss the wind chill factor. So in the 60's sounds good to me. Loved what you did to your jeans.

petite1, loved the doilies. I hope you have them on display.

While cleaning out drawers in my DD's old room, I uncovered a counted cross stitch which depicts a Mickey and Minnie Mouse wedding theme. I can't believe I paid as much as I did for it and obviously I have had it for years. I never got around to doing it and I should do it for their anniversary (they have been married for 10 years) which is in September. I haven't done counted cross stitch in a while and I have this lovely wooden frame on feet where I can work on it while seated on the couch. I should dig it out and start working on it now that I will b ehouse bound for awhile.

I once did a very intricate one for my BFF which took me over 300 hours to complete. It had an involved border, a center that was personalized to her and her DH, and I can remember working on it as we drove to Fl to visit Disney with our children. I couldn't use the frame then so I had to rely on just a medium hoop for each section. It had to be carefully plotted given the border demands. I have one of the Irish blessing in my bedroom that I had done for my uncle as a gift which was returned to me when he died. I used to do pillows, wall plaques, plastic mesh plant containers, etc in counted cross stitch.

Asked DH to check oil tank gauge the other day and he kept putting it off, citing we had received a delivery before the storm. I finally insisted he do it after dinner on Thursday and it read 10%, so he made a quick call to the oil company and they delivered yesterday before this cold weather front moved in. When we first moved here our oil schedule was not regular and there were a few times in bad weather when we ran out of oil so they did emergency deliveries of 5 gallon cans on foot. I don't want that experience again, especially when our steep driveway has ice or snow on it. They used to walk up my neighbor's driveway and then have to cut across the lawn to our driveway. What a haul and climb.

Working on a genealogy challenge with my cousin. She has a family member that sort of pulled a disappearing act, but then may have emerged under a different name. Trying to parse this out is the challenge since the new name was a name of an old friend.

Hope everyone has a great day and waving "hi" to everyone.

Betrayal, definitely get that cross stitch set up and while away the time.

Carole, I’ve purchased the tax software and have most of what’s needed to file. All due 4/15, I’ll file both through the software.

Your mention of sales tax reminded me of a time traveling down here, via TX. I think we were by Loretta Lynn’s ranch, headed back to the main route and stopped in a gift store. I bought a few things for gifts and at check out the total was so off of my estimate I had to ask did something ring up wrong. No, it was their sales tax … I swear it was near 13%. Blew my mind. We pay 8% which we thought was high. I digress!

We had a beautiful sunny and warm day. First good day in some time. All neighbors are comparing our power bills, on how much they’ve gone up now that we put heat on. I think from last month which included Christmas lights and guests, ours went up $20. And in comparison to NY it’s still lower by about $40, and that house is empty!

Speaking of NY it’s absolutely brutal there right now. Winds were causing -21 feel temps. It’s going down to -6 overnight. I keep checking on power, wifi Thermostat and cameras. So far, so good.

We went down to the casino for another free outdoor concert. Weather was great, but attendance wasn’t real high. We’re thinking it was due to the many things going on today. It was a New Orleans funk fest, zydeco music, which is fun.

This was Soul Rebel, a lot of horns that sounded great. I did run into the casino to leave some money. Hope to collect some money one of these days.

Super Bowl tomorrow, I’m viewing it as an east coast, west coast challenge. Sorry ladies, I’m east coast for both houses!

We’re planning on running down to Bonita Springs for their music & seafood festival at noon, before football. Really it’s for SO to hear some guy play - he’s tried 2x and the guy always cancels. I hope he shows up this time.

Well, east coast lost Super Bowl. It was a good game. We enjoyed the gathering, food was great

We did go down to Bonita and heard some good music. Sun was so hot we took our chairs and went far back from the stage to sit in some shade. We’re never happy - too cold vs too hot. 🤷‍♀️

My stitches from the implant all came out. My follow-up is Wednesday and she would have taken them out if they didn’t come out on their own.

Olympics - Lindsey pushed it and sadly paid a price. She will be recovering for sometime. We turn the Olympics on after the Super Bowl and caught the skiers from earlier, replay of Lindsey.

For those of you experiencing warm weather, here is a look at our winter wonderland. Temps to be in the 30's stalled at 26. It was sunny with no perceptible breeze.

DD and DSIL stopped by with some goodies and to pick up some goodies I had for them.

DB to start painting tomorrow. Yeah, I really would like to dismantle the 2 rooms of doom as soon as he is done.

Hope everyone had a great day and waving "hi" to everyone. Olympics have my attention for the moment.

Betrayal, It it 65° in Colorado Springs right now so it is hot for us. Maybe we will get a little snow by Friday—I hope so. That is the only day of the next 15 where they predict any precipitation. The fire danger here is very real as we are a dry climate. I am sorry for you all who are living with snow and cold right now and are not used to it. My DS lives in Upstate NY and has 18 inches that is staying frozen. He is used to it but he says the price of electricity and oil have skyrocketed, more than tripled, and is not good for many people. This is a dangerous winter. We typically get a lot of snow in March so I am praying I won't be complaining about it next month!

Love the winter photo with the little deer. Glad you're entertained by the Olympics, Betrayal. I probably like the summer competition better. I do like the ice skating.

I have a hair appointment at 10:30. Not sure what direction/suggestion I will give to my hair stylist. My hair is longer now than it has been in years and is fairly easy to manage. Recently I got out a brush/dryer that I haven't used and started using it instead of relying on the dryer/round brush styling technique.

Guess I had better get moving.

Hi to all.

The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around.

Thomas A. Edison

Betrayal, nice picture of the deer, but seeing the snow confirms I don’t miss it. I’m glad your DB is getting to your painting project. Cat prints could become the new style, you could be ahead of the curve.

Intolight, my niece in upstate NY had her bill for heating/gas & lights more than double in cost. We’re heating an empty house on a budget plan - set amount every month.

Carole, I use the brush/hairdryer and love it. I actually bought a 2nd one on sale because I thought the first one was dying. It hasn’t died, and now I take 2 from NY to FL, and vise versa. I know, I’m boarderline crazy. But you know if I leave it behind, the first one will die.

Petite, I’m happy for you at your NC cabin. I can hear the joy in your words.

Canarycat, another play will keep you busy. I’ll look forward to photos.

Harley, I haven’t watched as much of the Olympics as I’d like. I’ve missed most of the skating.

Wednesdsy I was hanging in the garage catching up on newspapers - comics, and all the different puzzles, when I heard “click click click” …I looked up to see an armadillo walking in my driveway past my open garage door. It dove into my front bushes, and came out on my neighbors driveway. I just looked, I deleted all the pictures. It was still sunny out as it went along my neighbors house, to behind another house - digging up the lawns looking for food/grubs I’d guess. Crazy to see it up so close in daylight.

Wednesday evening we went to a friend’s for sunset viewing on the river, with apps and drinks. Totally enjoyed ourselves, and didn’t get home until the 11pm new was starting.

Tonight we went to Naples for a fund raiser. Delicious food as well as open bar (I drank lemonade), and great desserts too. On our way home we ran into Sam’s club. Well it turns out they locked the doors soon after we got in. We thought open until 9, but it was 8. I think in 10 minutes we spent $50.

Tomorrow we’re picking up my niece and her daughter from the airport. Upstate NY is killing them with horrific temperatures so with the school mid winter recess, they beat feet to get down here for an unplanned thaw out. Should be a fun visit.

I hope you all get a thaw out. Or a hot cup’a something to warm your bones. ❤️