I think I’m back…

Been awhile, hasn’t it? Can I start by saying I’ve missed blogging and all my blogging friends!! I hope you all haven’t forgotten about me!!! Why have I been gone, you may ask. Well, this is why:

Yup—that’s my Daddio. I won’t bore you with all the details, but he went in the hospital early in June. After spending about a week in the hospital, they refused to release him unless he was going to 24 hour care. Since he was adamant that he didn’t want to go to a nursing home, we’ve been taking care of him at his home ever since. I’ve taken on the bulk of the duties, and have been living at his house most of the last month and a half. He lives about 40 miles away from me, so I’ve spent very little time at my own house between working and taking care of him. Well, we had a meeting with the Hospice team last Friday, and after all the care and pampering we’ve been giving him, they agreed that we could scale back on his care. So, I think I’m going to be able to spend all week sleeping in my own bed!!! He has his good days and bad days, but he’s in much better shape than he was at the beginning of June. He’s a skinny little thing, isn’t he? He weights 100 pounds soaking wet, even after a month of three meals a day.

I wasn’t able to do any stamping or other artwork while I was at his house—I dragged enough stuff there as it was, without taking inks and stamps and paints and paper…you get the drift. I was able to do some creative things, though. Let me ask all of you—when was the last time you crocheted? I don’t think I’ve done any extensive crocheting for a good 30 years! However, I got a wild hair before my dad went in the hospital and decided to crochet an afghan for my special needs sister, Lisa. Here’s a not very good picture of her and the afghan I crocheted for her:

She’s waving at me, trying to get me to leave! Once I finished that one, I needed something to keep my hands busy while staying with my dad, so in addition to helping my nieces with some of their 4-H projects, I made even more afghans. Here’s my niece, Casey, and the one I made for her. The picture is awful—I took all of these with my phone. The colors in this afghan are turquoise, lime green and yellow:

Then I had to make one for my dad, since he’s always freezing. Here’s his:

Then I  made one for my other niece, Morgan. Here she is with hers:

  I couldn’t leave out their big brother, could I? I don’t have a picture of him, but here’s his afghan. The colors don’t show up very well—I used a camo variegated yarn and two shades of green:

Wow—was this addicting!!! Now I have Casey hooked (LOL—pun intended). She wanted to learn how to crochet, so I taught her and she’s going full steam ahead!! 

I’m sure my postings will still be sporadic for awhile—I have to take care of my much neglected house and yard, I’ll still be going to my dad’s regularly, and work is getting ready to be crazy for the next three weeks. I just wanted to assure everyone that I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth, and I promise I’ll be back visiting your blogs in the very near future!!!