The Journey......

..............was uneventful.  As I mentioned in a previous post, we stopped in at Munchie's house for a short visit....Mommy is going to send me some pictures - I'm sure she will!  We left there on the 15th of December and spent the first night in .....

.... Sutton, West Virginia at a Day's Inn. As you can see, it was very nice and the bears weren't long getting relaxed.  The weather between Munchie's and this location wasn't too bad.  We had stretches of snow, blowing snow and bare pavement.  It was somewhat tense, but not as bad as it could have been!  Second night found us............

.... in Orangeburg, South Carolina.  About half-way through our second day we drove out of the snow and into sunshine.  The drive through the mountains is always enjoyable - but Squeegie hates driving through the two tunnels that go under the mountains - he thinks the mountain will fall on us!  So, he was happy to get into the hotel for the night and turn on the television to relax while Poppa & I went out for supper.

Taffy and I love the tunnels and once through the tunnels it wasn't long until we were in ..... Cocoa Beach, Florida!  We stayed there one night.....

......... at La Quinta Inn - right across the road from the beach of the Atlantic Ocean.  The time went quickly and soon we were on our way to..........

......... the villa - which felt like home!  Here is Squeegie out enjoying the Florida sunshine by the pool!  The temperature was............

......... quite balmy as you can see from this shot of the gauge in the car.  Yep - that's 30C degrees - we had the windows down and the wind blowing in our hair - it was wonderful.  And so, finally .....

......... a beautiful sunset in Florida ended our journey on the 18th of December, 2013.

The Preparations..........

......... for a drive to Florida!  I packed the ............

 ...... luggage for the four of us (Taffy's has flowers, and Squeegie's is a grey carry-on).  Poppa and Squeegie.....

..... got bundled up and went outside.....

..... to blow some snow.  When Squeegie came back in.....

..... he was quite cold, and climbed up on the mitten rack over the hot air register to get warmed up!  Poppa & I went....

.... to see our optometrist - and we both got new glasses - just in time for our journey southward.  We picked up Auntie Colleen....

 and went......

..... for a visit with Gramma Grace.  She was looking well and we enjoyed the visit.  Poppa did some last minute .......

.... work in the kitchen where he managed (by working extra long hours) to.....

..... get the backsplash installed - it was a lot of work, but doesn't it look nice????  I took enough time to ......

.... make a small pair of socks, which were a special request from Munchie when he was at our house.  I was talking to Mommy yesterday and she says he is quite pleased with them and wants them washed every day so he can wear them to school!  How cute!  I'll need to make a pair for little Curtie too!  On my last day at work......

.... our Manager treated us all to lunch and we exchanged presents....we had a good time as you can guess by the picture!  These are the people I work with every day and they are a great bunch...we get a lot of work done and enjoy ourselves too!  Kev-Inn is the guy on the right side of the picture - just in case you didn't recognize him!  And "HI" to the rest of the gang too!  Finally - enjoying a beautiful.............

..... Canadian sunrise .... we were on our way!

I know!

We've been "over-the-top busy"!  I'm working on it, and getting closer!  Soon!  We are safely at the villa - the weather has been outstanding - more "soon"!  To Granny - thank you for the adorable tea towel - it will make a lovely centre-piece!  To Auntie Cecile - the goodies were fantastic - and the clothesline - as you already know - I love it!  To all the folks who sent Christmas cards to Florida for us - thank you so much!  We just got home from Christmas dinner at Denis' house - and are heading to bed!  Hope Santa is good to everyone!

Crazy........

.....isn't it?  It's been such a long time since I wrote a new blog for you!  I have been working full-time for the past three weeks.  And, between that (it's been really busy at work!), taking care of Aunt Peggy, preparing for the trip to Florida and squeezing in a Christmas/Birthday dinner with Mommy and her family - it has all been rather hectic.  So, I'm going to try to catch you up on all the latest developments - besides me being busy!  I don't even remember what I've told you and what I've missed - so I'll just do my best.  We.........

..... sold Grandma Grace's house to a young couple who have since done a lot of work on it and it is nice to know that someone is excited and happy to be making it their home.   I made........

.... this little key-fob cover for one of the girls at work - the little loop broke off her fob and she couldn't put the key on her key ring - yep - I can fix that!  Poppa.....

.... has been even busier than me!  He stripped all the wallpaper off the kitchen walls and.....

...is changing the look of the whole kitchen!  He even.....

.......... built the bottom cupboards and installed them - which makes a huge difference to the appearance of the kitchen.  He hasn't got the top units done - that will have to wait until next spring after we return from Florida because...........

......... it has turned cold - too cold for Poppa to work in his workshop where he makes kitchen cabinets - as well as a lot of other stuff!  It is so cold..........

.... that Squeegie got his snowsuit out of the closet and put it on so he could go with Poppa to get a lottery ticket and some chocolate bars!  Taffy and Mikey chose.....

.... to put on some warmer clothes and stay at home!  It was really pretty though.

I snapped this picture as we drove over the bridge in the morning, as Poppa drove me to work.

This little Japanese maple tree is in the parking lot at work.  I prefer its summer outfit, but I had to grudgingly admit that it looked very nice in its snow coat.  Even at the back of the plant...

..... where I go in every morning, things looked prettier than normal.  One night after Poppa went over to make Aunt Peggy's supper (while I worked late), we made a quick trip over to the grocery store for a couple of things (we're not buying many groceries since we'll be leaving home on Friday).  On our way back from the store....

...... I noticed this big piece of equipment clearing rubble away from this site, and suddenly realized just how long it had been since I had driven past.....

.... the former location of the high school where Granny and I received a good portion of our education.  It is gone and there is a large, flat piece of land awaiting the construction of a new high school.  In the meantime, all the students from this school and the school Poppa attended are packed into Poppa's school.  There are a lot of portable school rooms there and the pupils are not impressed!  Thankfully it is only temporary.  Out little boys.....

.... came for a weekend.  We had a turkey dinner with birthday cake for dessert (to celebrate Mommy's birthday which was at the end of November).  We had a present for each of them....and it didn't take long.....

.... for the clothes to come off and the new jammies to go on!  They kept me so busy, I'm embarassed to say, I didn't get many pictures!  I thought I had a picture of Mommy blowing out the candles on her cake, but apparently I don't!  When they had left for home, Poppa.....

..... got right back to work!

A new project.........

.......... for Auntie Colleen and Uncle Shaun!

This is Augustus (fondly referred to as Gus).  He recently came to stay with Auntie Colleen and Uncle Shaun.  They have agreed to be foster parents to dogs who have no place to go and need a friendly and loving environment temporarily.  Gus is their first client.  Any of you who know Auntie Colleen and Uncle Shaun can probably guess that they are currently deciding if they should just keep Gus who has already crept into their hearts.

Knitting?  Yep!  Auntie Denise would like one of those neckwarmers like the one I previously made for a friend of ours - so I have temporarily stopped............

............. working on that blanket, so I can get her a couple of neck warmers finished before we leave for Florida (!!!!) on December 12th.  Of course, that opens another whole can of worms, since I also have to do our Christmas shopping, write the Christmas cards and (of course) have our little boys - along with Mommy and Daddy - over to our house for Christmas dinner.  They are coming next weekend - so I've got to get busy!!!  So - I'll sign off for now and get to work............but............

.........not before showing you this much more relaxed Gus!  Awwwww!

On The Needles..........

.......... there has been quite a bit of stuff.  After I finished the red vest..........

... and gave it to Liz at the family reunion, I got busy on a project that I had promised to make for Munchie - quite a while ago.  You've already had a glimpse..............

.......... of the new Buster.  Munchie wanted him to be blue with a red tail.  I complimented the red tail by adding a red nose and red ears.  Squeegie took good care of the new Buster while he was waiting to be delivered to Munchie.........

.... and carefully tucked him into a blanket each night so he would stay warm.  Once the new Buster had been delivered, I moved on to my next project...........

.... which was to make each of the little boys a nice Aran sweater..........here are the finished products.  The colours don't show up to their best advantage.  I finished Curtie's chocolate brown sweater in the hotel room before we went to their place for Thanksgiving - and I only had my little camera - so this was as good as I could get.  Munchie's sweater is actually the same colour as the new Buster.  Mommy has promised to get a picture of the little boys wearing them............needless to say - I'm still waiting!  When we returned home after that weekend I go busy working on another request I had received from a friend of ours...............

.......... years ago she acquired one of these neckwarmers and periodically asks for more.  I was happy to make them up for her - they are quick and fun to make!  Then, on to the next thing.  When the new Buster arrived at Munchie's house - he gave Poppa the old Buster to come and stay at our house.  When I checked him out, I decided he just needed to have a total makeover.  I should have taken a before picture, but didn't think of it until it was too late.  Poppa was kind enough to remove the big blue eyes so they could be re-used and then I started.  I still had some of the same yarn so I decided to re-make the whole bear.  I shortened his body a little and made his arms a little shorter so that.........

.... he would fit perfectly into his Hallowe'en costume!  He looks a little bit scary doesn't he!  Here he is without the suit..........

..... and here is a shot ............

........from another angle to show off his new tail!  Now that old Buster has been rejuvenated, I have embarked on a project designed to use up some of my stash yarn.  A couple of friend have donated some yarn to my stash, and more recently Granny was kind enough to give me a bag of yarn as well.  When we were visiting Mommy she mentioned that she was using an old blanket of Munchie's to keep her warm in the evening, so I thought I would make her a bigger blanket to use.  Once I started...........

..... Poppa thought it would make a nice addition to his bed on chilly winter nights..........so we'll have to see who gets this one.......I would love to make another one anyway ..... this is a fun pattern!  I'm already working on ideas for another one - you know - similar, yet different!  I'm going to be quite busy for the next couple of weeks as Kev-Inn is on vacation for two weeks - he is out hunting for deer.  He sent me a couple of interesting pictures and I will try to post them for you soon.  Squeegie is sitting.........

........... in Poppa's chair tonight.  He is missing Poppa who has gone to Munchie's house to help Daddy with a couple of chores.

Better...........

.........late than never - right?  I know I am terribly remiss in getting my Thanksgiving post done, but........

... recently we found ourselves in a hotel room, on a practice run for our trip to Florida for the winter..... only we were only a short distance from Munchie's house, and the plan was to visit them for Thanksgiving dinner at their house.  As you can see, Poppa and Taffy were watching TV, while Squeegie had a nap.  The next day...........

........ we were admiring the fine work of the Master - Munchie!  Take a close look at the turkey's body and you will recognize a small footprint, then the tail is composed of bi-colour hand-prints!  Isn't it just a precious piece of art?  Poppa gave Munchie his birthday bag............

........... where he discovered something I had been promising for quite a while.... a new Buster!  His old Buster was getting quite bedraggled and we decided it was time for a new one.  The first thing Munchie did.........

...... was check to make sure the new Buster had blue eyes - like his old Buster, himself and Poppa.  Of course I had made sure of that!  Once the new Buster was approved.............

....... with Daddy looking on solemnly and............

...... Mommy keeping an eye on things, with a big smile!  When Munchie was finished checking out the "new" Buster, he .................

........... let Curtie have a look, while he went to see what else was in his birthday bag........... there was a bunch of clothes, which weren't so exciting, but he likes clothes and was fairly enthusiastic.  I seemed to be so busy after - I didn't get many more pictures - but we had a great time.  Mommy had a wonderful roast in the slow cooker, along with vegetables and some creamed corn - it was yummy beyond description - it had been a looooong time since we'd had roast beef!  Poppa had a great time playing with his little boys and did that until they finally were convinced to head off to bed.  He tucked them in and then joined the rest of us to watch the hockey game.  When it was over we headed back to the hotel and after a good sleep, returned home.  It was a nice break from routine, and gave us time to visit..............

............ with our future famous artist and his family!  If you click on the picture to see it larger, you can see Curtie, Daddy & Mommy, plus a self-protrait of Munchie!  I should add that the turkey in the first picture is proudly displayed in my fridge now!  Thank you to Munchie and his family for a great weekend and a bountiful Thanksgiving dinner!