Hello from Kansas!

Our house in Texas is empty and clean.  I cleaned like a crazy person yesterday, so that we could leave today.  Which we did.  We started driving at 5am.  12 1/2 hours later, we arrived in my hometown in Kansas.  We'll be visiting family here for almost a week before heading north.

I'm glad the packing is done, but I'm sad that we no longer live in Texas.  It's a great place to live (as long as you don't mind the heat and humidity).  I've decided to continue thinking of myself as a Texan, even though we won't likely ever live there again.  I don't have any pictures to post today, but I might later in the week, depending on what we end up doing while we're here. ☺

I'm in Kansas!

I haven't been online much in the past few days, because we're visiting my family in Kansas.  It's been a pretty quiet visit.  The only one of my siblings that I've spent much time with is my sister Sara.  She has three daughters also, and our girls love to play together.  So we all went to the pool yesterday, and had a lot of fun.  Then I took Sara out for dinner, and on the way home we realized the sky was swirling ominously, so we grabbed her kiddos and headed back to our parents' house.  Turns out her oldest girl(same age as Princess) had "prayed to Jesus that there would be a tornado so we could have a sleepover at Grandma's house." Haha.  Little stinker.  There wasn't actually a tornado, but it definitely looked possible!  Since Sara and her family live in a trailer, they always go to Mom and Dad's when the weather is bad.  So now we're just keeping the kids busy until Sara comes back to get them.  I think we might be going to the zoo later.

And tomorrow we're getting back in the van and heading north...to North Dakota.  We'll be up there almost two weeks, and hopefully we'll be able to get the process of building our house started while we're there.  We have to go look at the land and decide where on it we want the house, and which way we want it to face, and what shape we want it to be.  There are a lot of options as far as the shape.  I've been looking online at one specific builder that is based in Minnesota, but has an office a few miles from where we'll be.  I'm hoping we can get a design we like, in a price range that we like.  Originally, Hubby had said to me "plan your dream home"...but when I showed him what I liked(which wasn't outrageous) he was aghast.  I'm thinking, either tell me to plan our dream home, or tell me to keep it economical.  They are pretty much mutually exclusive.  Oh well.  A smaller house should be easier to keep clean...in theory.

In Kansas...

I'm in Kansas, visiting family.  Sorry I haven't posted in the past few days; hanging out just didn't seem blog-worthy, and I haven't done any exercise at all, except some back exercises that are part of a program my parents are using; it's supposed to help with back pain.

Anyway, it's snowy here!  There was snow on the ground when we got here, there was another little dusting Saturday night, and then it snowed all day and night yesterday.  Actually, it's still snowing this morning.  Here's how the van looks...

I don't think I'll be going anywhere today...

But if I need to, at least I have new tires and a new battery, so I don't have anything to worry about except the other drivers. ☺ I noticed when we got to church on Sunday that one tire was almost flat, and we had filled all the tires just last week, before I drove to Kansas.  And all of them were almost bald anyway, so it was time.  Fortunately, I have a brother-in-law who is a mechanic, so I knew just who to call.

I'm thinking of taking the kids either ice-skating or sledding today, so that may involve a little driving.  I'll wait a while and see if the snowplows get the streets taken care of.

Evellyn Anne!

I finished my Evellyn Anne blanket!  It's blocking on my family room floor at this very moment...

I'm so glad I got it done!  I'm ready to focus on other projects.  And I'm glad because I'll be able to have my niece model the blankie for the pattern pics.  A blankie pattern is always more appealing with a cute baby in the pic. ☺ I'm going to visit my family in Kansas next week, so this is perfect timing.  The girls are very excited about visiting with their cousins.  I'm excited too.  I really miss my family.  I sometimes wonder why I didn't visit more often when it was only a three hour drive.  Now it's twelve hours, so three seems like nothing.

♥

I went to the gym this morning, and worked my legs and back.  My right leg still hurts from when I put my foot through the neighbors' kitchen ceiling back in August.  I must have injured it worse than I thought.  I think all this exercise is the reason it's hurting more now than it was before I started working out.  So I worked my legs.  Hoping it'll help, like working my back makes my back feel better.  And I did 20 minutes on the bike and 15 on the stair-stepper.  It's getting easier, so I might be ready to try level 2 on those machines.  I think I'll give it a try tomorrow.

Visiting family!

I'm in Kansas, visiting my family. ☺ The girls and I are having a blast. My sister has brought her girls over every day that we've been here, so it's been pretty wild. Here's a little sampling of what we've been up to....

♥

A daffodil at the zoo

Angel, reading to her sisters and cousins
All eight girls, at the zoo. (3 belong to my sister Sara, and 2 to my sister Rebekah)

Watching "Annie" on movie night

Me, having a little quality time with my dad and our firearms. ☺

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I haven't had much knitting time, and what I've had was mostly spent tinking. I dropped a stitch on my Adamas shawl, and it fell several rows. I tried to pick it up, but since it was lace, there were yarnovers and decreases in the way, and that just made it worse. I hadn't used lifelines, so I couldn't just rip. I had to tink back about 5 rows, before I was able to pick up the stitch properly. Now I've caught back up to where I was before I messed up. I think I'll finish this repeat, then put it aside to work on Surf.

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In case I don't get time to be on the computer tomorrow.....Happy Easter! I hope you have a wonderful Resurrection Day celebration. ☺