Look.........

.......... at what Poppa made for me!

It's a little abacus.  It is about seven and a half inches long and 4 and a half inches high.  As you can see there are three rows of beads, with 10 beads in each row.  Such a simple little thing which makes row and stitch counting so much easier.  Instead of having to put needles down to change the count, as I do on regular counting devices, I just use the free needle to nudge a bead from one side to the other.  There are similar devices available out there, and when I mentioned it he said he could make me one!  Then, he ....

........ made a smaller one for me to travel with!  Aren't they adorable?  On top of that, after listening to me complain about measuring socks while they are on the needle.......... my dear creative husband came up with this.......

.......... clever little ruler.  It is round and has one rounded end.  Since I knit socks inside out (unlike most people?), this enable me to stick the little ruler into the sock and get an accurate measurement from heel to current length - making the foot length more precise than an ordinary tape measure.  He started at three and went all the way to 12 - which means I can make socks for little feet (like Curtie's) to BIG feet (like Uncle Brian's!) with more ease. Thank you Poppa!  After all that (and of course a few other things)....

....... he settled into his chair to read the paper, while.........

Squeegie and Snout watched TV - well, maybe Squeegie took a nap - and, of course........

......... Taffy chilled out and talked on the phone, while Mikey and Minnie snuggled under their blanket and watched TV too.  What did I do??  Well........

......... I got Friend all knitted, stuffed and sewn together.  Unfortunately, I then realized that I didn't have the proper eyes..... so the poor little guy still doesn't have a face.  I made a trip to several of the craft supply stores in town - only to find that the one store that does carry them, had none available.  So I went to my favourite teddy-bear-making website - www.discojoints.on.ca - and ordered some eyes.  If you make toys check out this website - they have some great things there!  And....

........... I got a picture of Lucy's dishcloths.  Now I still have to get pictures of dishcloths for Mommy, Auntie Melissa and Becky - soon!  Other news of note..........

  I got an HP Omni 10 Windows 8.1 tablet.  I am quite pleased with it, but I must be honest about my reasons for purchasing it.  When I was looking through my stash of un-read books, I found one called Dragonfly in Amber by an author called Diana Gabaldon.  I had not read any books by this author before, but the blurb on the back cover sounded interesting so I chose it as my next book.  By the time I got to Page 86 (the end of Chapter 5) I decided that it was definitely a book that Auntie Colleen would enjoy.  So - on the Tuesday of that week, when we picked her up for our visit to Gramma Grace - I asked her if she had read it.  She immediately and vehemently told me to STOP READING!!!!!!!!!!!!  After she had repeated this instruction several times, she continued to tell me that it was book 2 in a series that began with The Outlander, and that I should read them in the correct order to understand and follow the story properly.  It appears that there are seven books in the series!  So, I went to Amazon.ca to see if I could procure The Outlander.  While browsing there it was obvious that I could save a couple of $$ by getting the Kindle version - which I could read on my computer, but that wasn't really very convenient for the throne room where I usually read..... which led me to a Tablet - one with Windows 8.1 so I was familiar with the OS (though it is a little different on the Tablet) while acquiring the convenience of the Tablet.  The rest is history....

......... Kindle is installed and I am about 1/2 way the The Uplander - and I must admit, I am enjoying it.  Speaking of Auntie Colleen..........

....... I was thrilled to get this photo of her with Gus.  He weighs 90 lbs and I'm really glad that Uncle Shaun didn't throw a stick into the lake while she was holding the leash!!!!