Kidney stones

I had follow-up appointment with Dr Emery, the urologist, last Wednesday the 30th, in Cherokee Village.  I had to get an x-ray of my kidneys before the appointment.

He's a very good doctor.  Professional, friendly and very thorough.  The x-ray revealed I once again have a large kidney stone in my left kidney. I was scheduled for  lithotripsy  (Kidneystones shockwave treatment ) in Batesville yesterday.  I had to get another x-ray prior to the procedure. Everything went well.  We stopped at The Pill Box in Highland (Davis Drug Store Inc ) to pick up some medications and arrived home safe and sound.

Now I just have to pass the pieces....  Fun, fun, fun!

I've been knitting away on my Christmas list. Hats for Children's Hospital, Knititng for Noggins. Knitting for Noggins

I got the slippers for my nieces finished & mailed off.  Sadly, Nevaeh's are too small.  So I'll be making her another pair.

I also ordered yarn from Knit Pics (Knit Picks.com) to crochet a blanket for Nevaeh.  I'm not sure how it happened, but she never got a baby blanket.  So now she'll be getting a big girl blanket.  Nevaeh's sick a lot, she has a compromised immune system (e-coli infection from contact with her dad's turtles).  I know when I don't feel well I always want to cuddle up in my blanket.  I'll be adding all the love and care I can into this one for her.  I'll make her slippers that fit with this same yarn.  I added this project to my Ravelry queue.  Nevaehs pink blanket

Another beautiful Sunday

Fall seems to be one hold once again.  Sure, the leaves are falling but temperatures are back in the mid 80's.  Dang, I put my sweet tea pitcher away already....

Life has been pretty low key lately.  John and Josh did some heavy duty yard clean-up with the tractor.  They moved the band saw mill and relocated the log pile.  They dug a bit deeper in the rain "relief" pit.  And they put a door on the greenhouse.  Now, I need to get to work on the inside.

I've been spinning and weaving and crocheting.  Here's my current weaving project.

Ariel's first ever weaving with 2 shuttles

Making me proud! She's only 13!

Friends Chevelle & Christa come to visit & weave.

I showed my granddaughter Ariel how to use the warping board, and she wound a 5-yard warp.  I had given her rather specific instructions on how to tie it to prevent tangles.  She isn't very attentive, so her warp twisted itself into a huge tangled mess.  So she had to wind another warp.  This warp made it over to the loom in good condition.  While sleying the reed & threading the heddles, she again lost focus.  So she had threads all crossed, out of order or broken off.  That warp also went into the burn box.  Warp number 3 actually made it onto the loom.  We got it wound on without too difficulty, and she started weaving.

Look mom! She's weaving!

She wove a dish towel for her mom before the summer visit ended.  So, I took over weaving.  I finished 3 & got them cut off the loom and hemmed.  I sent one to her other grandmother, Margaret.  And I sent one to my mom, Ariel's great grandmother.  I have several more to finish.  There are 3 wound onto the cloth beam at the moment.

My current crochet project is coming along well.  I've been working on a "crochet along" project, Mandala Madness.  My cousin's wife, Maggie, made a Facebook post about it. So I decided to do it too.  It's coming along very well.  I'm almost finished.  I post my projects on Ravelry; user name is PennyTeem.
PennyTeem

Asus Chrome C200

Slowly, but surely, I am entering the cyberworld.

Several years ago, my laptop died.  My husband was kind enough to let me use one of his older taptops.  Now the battery on that laptop had dies.  When I upgraded to a smart phone 2 years ago, I also got a tablet for $10.  Now, that battery won't hold a charge.  And so, my step-son Josh took me to Walmart in Ash Flat to get a new tablet or laptop.

I came home with a Asus Chrome C200. Here's a link on Amazon...
Asus Chromebook with Convertible touchscreen

So, I got myself a glass of wine and started the set-up tutorial.  This laptop doesn't work quite like other's I've had before.  Every file and photo are stored "in the cloud".  Now, this is a challenge for me.  What is the "cloud"?!  Where is the "cloud".  Why do I want to store my stuff there, rather than on an internal hard drive?  Who can see my "cloud"?!  Ahhhhhh!

It's taken me some time to get all my information off the old laptop and tablet.  I've had to get my bookmarks, accounts and passwords organized.  I had to investigate how to get apps and extensions on Google Chrome.

I even challenged myself yesterday.  I took a picture on my phone, saved it to the cloud, opened it on the tablet and posted it to Ravelry.  Wow!  It actually showed up.  Isn't technology amazing?!

Thankfully my phone didn't decide to die along with all my other devices.  I would really have been challenged then!

The weather is still warm.  We had to run the air conditioner yesterday.  We'll probably have to run it again today.  We had over 3 inches of rain Thursday and Friday.  One particular bolt of lightening made all 3 of us jump!  The air conditioner made a snapping sound, and the power went out for half a minute.  Our power continued to flicker for the next few days.  I called the power company yesterday and someone came out.  He found the problem and had it fixed in 15 minutes.  No more blinking lights.

We're finally able to go outside!!!

It's been bitterly cold here in NE Arkansas.  Ice and snow on the ground, driveway frozen over... and overnight temperatures in the mid-teens!  Dang, this is the SOUTH!

We finally had a chance to get out onto the highway last Sunday for the first time in 10 days.  It's not that we NEEDED to go to the grocery store... but you have to replace what you consumed at some point.  So, when it got up to 30 degrees and the sun was shining we decided to make a trip to the grocery store (14 miles round trip).

What kind of things did we need?  Milk, half & half, dog and cat food, frozen burritos, potatoes, a beef roast, coke (for my hubby...), flour, juice, ice cream.  What we call "consumables".  Could we have gone another week without going to the store?  Sure.  Do I like putting canned milk in my coffee?  Not really.  I could.  But I'd rather have half & half.  Sure, I'm spoiled.  I admit it.

We're in the process of forming a Co-op group, to place an order for dried fruits, grains and such from Country Life Natural Foods.  Country Life Natural Foods  If you're reading this and live in our local area, let me know if you want to be involved.

I finally got a chance to take Cricket for a walk yesterday.  We walked down to the bottom of the hollow, on the north end of the property.  She really loves her long walks.

It was exactly 40F when we left the house at 4:15 PM.  We made it to the stream and back before sunset.  By the time we got back to the house, it was 35F.  The low last night was 34, the first night above freezing since 1/31.  That is really odd for Arkansas.  And now, it's supposed to warm up to 60 by Monday.  Very odd!

This morning, it's 36F and we're having drizzle.  I won't be going outside to play in the woods this morning!

I've been crocheting an afghan for my stepdaughter's partner.  It's going well.  I've got 3 more blocks to crochet.  Then I get to sew all the pieces together.  Fun!  I've been posting my progress on Ravelry, if you're interested... Circle Dance afghan crochet-along