Blessings to those protecting us

I am so thankful my kids had school today.  Their classes put Veteran's Day into the mix of standard lessons and showing that their time in school is their service to those who protect their ways of life.

As friends serve overseas, I am proud and grateful to all of those who put their dedication to this country above service to self. My prayers for your safe return to family and friends.

Haunting Halloween

Our Mario and MM Kitty enjoyed many Halloween activities this year.  Manchester College held an early Halloween event with crafts, games, and trick or treating. MM went for the evening and had a blast until the last floor of the haunted hall.  That scared her into hysterics and took alot of calming from both Nana on the way home and Mom at home.

Saturday was trick or treating for kids in town.  LB in his full Mario and I went around part of the neighborhood and found fun houses with decorations from simple to very extravagant.  He even survived at stop at the house of Medusa.

MM kitty stayed on the porch with Nana and enjoyed handing out candy to the wide variety of costumed kids that came.  This included many princesses, fairies, a grim riper, and assorted little bees, butterflies, and

Back Home in Indiana

After an uneventful drive, the family is settling into life here in North Manchester.  Sunday was spent unpacking the kitchen and getting clothes sorted so the kids could be registered for school on Monday.

Starting school on Tuesday was a fun send off as the bus stop is just outside our back door.  The bus drivers talked and sorted out one route so both kids are picked up by the same bus.  Gotta love small town features.

If you saw the news reports, Tuesday was not a typical day for the kids.  About 10am we heard a siren for the tornado warning but didn't really think much of it.  We did get nailed with a lot of wind and rain.  In fact the trailer, we brought the first round of boxes and furniture out in, was blown off the parking pad and into the street.  It wasn't in traffic so we waited to move it back. Near 11:30 the siren sounded again as the storm settled down.Mom and DH headed into Wabash to run some errands and found out the Walmart lost part of the roof, power was out for many in the area.

MM and LB had a bigger impression of the storm.  At separate schools their respective classes were sent into the safety shelters during the tornado alert.  For each class their bathrooms were the safety shelters so MM was entertained that the boys were uncomfortable and LB that the  girls in his class were uncomfortable.  For them this was just the adventure to start their times at their new school.

I'm sure we will each have more adventures as we begin life in our small town America....

Time to fess up

As of Friday, my jump into my new life begins with both feet into the puddle.  Leaving the society hasn't been as much of a deal as I thought it would but that is probably due to a friend's note about how all the fun people were gone leaving me the last of the gang to hold on.  It definitely is time to make a change and one came to us over the past year.

Our new life starts with a move from Philadelphia to North Manchester.  Okay, you are welcome to ask, "where in the world is North Manchester?"  Well we are heading west, returning to the home county of my dad, Wabash County, Indiana.  Small town USA - here we come.

What will I be doing to keep from running down the street naked --- running a Bed & Breakfast.  That's right, I'm becoming an Innkeeper.  DH bought and existing B&B, where we stay during visits to my grandmother.  The   original owners started their time about 20 years ago and raised their family there, so now we continue the tradition moving out family and running the B&B.  So the Fruitt Basket Inn is becoming the Fruit Basket Inn.

I plan to continue this blog for my knitting, crafting, and other family stuff.  There will also be a blog at www.fruitbasketinn.com.  This site is still under construction.  I hope to have it up before the holidays start, but learning the guests, my menus, and getting the kids through the move and changes may delay some of the features I want to include.

So I may be a bit slow in posting here but promise not to totally abandon my first site.

Still kicking

Although woefully neglected, I have not forgot my blog.  I just haven't been much for writing here.  My plan from last year to write to friends and family has been more successful and more comforting.

The back issues continue, but there is a light trying to peek through.  The past 6 weeks have been wet - aqua therapy twice a week.  Finally some success!  The prior round of PT did help but not with the same results.  In fact I'm doing so well, today I started some new land PT.  Added to this I get to enjoy a stretch with the chiropractor twice a week.  This is a 21st century mechanical rack, but the stretch helps open up my back.  After all these months, it is a relief to find something besides all the medications helping me.


Knitting continues too. I had these partial balls and decided they could be fun to stripe together and this came off.  I liked the peach, purple, tan, lavender, and peach again better then I thought I would.  The mix of microfiber and cotton feels lovely.  I'm not at all sure who this will go to in the end but it will be nice

The summer sweater continues too, but slowly.  Now that fall has swept in, I'm turning to holiday gifts so this won't move along with great focused speed.







My plan tonight was to give warning that I would be absent for the next couple of weeks as we relocating and starting a new life all round.  Since my posting over the past several months has been hit and miss for posting to start with so being lost in moving and setting up new digs might not be noticed.

A sad parting

Last week we said goodbye to one of the girls..

Andromeda, aka Romy, was Ms. Tina (in the background) latest housemate.  They would occasionally hang out in the front window or under the dining room table (here they hid) but typically they held to their territory or enjoyed a good scream and slap around session.

Over the past couple of weeks, we noticed something was wrong with one of the girls, but couldn't figure out switch one.  They are both good at keeping things to themselves.  Well the vet dropped a major bomb on us,  Romy was in kidney failure.  Though she wasn't a snuggle kitten, like Ms. Tina, we all miss out guard kitty.  During my time home this winter and spring, she would take position on our bed each night DH wasn't home.  More recently her protection place was on the floor on my bedside, so whenever I got up she was ready to come along where ever I went.

I hope Romy finds friends in Tess, Garden Kitty, Nocturne, Mr. Mann, and all our other animal friends who are waiting for their 2 legged humans to come back to them.

Don't send out a search party

I haven't fallen off the edge of the world.  Taking a 4th of July blog vacation turned into a 2 month sabbatical from most everything online, expect paying the bills.  If I wasn't paying the bills, you wouldn't be able to read anything from me.  And just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean I haven't been doing other stuff.

We spent the 4th of July at my parents, enjoyed a live performance of 1776 at Plays in the Park.  It was fun watching MM's response to the show.  Her history program last year was colonial America and now she thinks Ben Franklin and the others are really cool.  LB just loved having time in the park and a picnic dinner before the show.  If you are in Central Jersey during the summer, I recommend taking an evening show in the park.

The last week of July was spent in Western New York with our annual trip to Chautauqua. This year DH, BIL, SIL, and I were treated to a dinner out without the kids.  DH's dad and stepmom offer to take the 4 kids for dinner and ice cream so we could enjoy a dinner together.  It was so fun just having an adult conversation uninterrupted.   I'll post more pics from the week as soon as I get them better sorted.

August brought two big 0 events to the family.  On the 8th, I ventured into my 4th decade.  WOW, I am totally amazed to be saying now I'm 40.  With the new life coming online later this year, my new career will also be my mid-life crisis event.

Friday was another big 0 - MM is now 10.  All I could say to DH after her birthday dinner was "where did all the time go?" and "how did she make it to 10?"  More photos of the decade baby later too.  Getting her ears pierced was the top of the birthday wish list so that was our to-do list item for last week.  In six weeks, I'll start hiding my earrings since she keeps commenting on those she thinks would be fun to wear.

I'm still knitting.  With my mom's help, I hope to finish one project which is a hangover from last year's scarf project over Labor Day weekend.  This is a addition to our annual uniform production line.

My sweater is proceeding nicely and should be ready for 4th of July 2011.  Scarf project 2010 continues though without the self demanding production schedule.  And it also continues to use more of the stash hiding in the closet at my parents.  Daddy appreciates anyone who removes skeins from his house even if they don't knit, crochet or anything else.

Next posting promises some pics of our summer fun and other adventures.