January Back to Normal

Well, the January Thaw is over and winter has returned.  I knew it was too good to be true for all the snow to melt in a couple of days...but it did.  (On the downside, the driveway and Fanny's running track turned into mud pits....) Jeff was able to finish splitting the 40+ pallets he had collected from Valley Health Services and get another 20 yesterday, and all the split wood is stacked.  Looks like we've got about a month's worth of firewood. Never thought I could stack so much wood.  Hopefully this week he'll split those recently acquired pallets and maybe be able to get another 40 pallets this weekend.  I never knew pallets were made out of hardwood...especially oak.  It hurts me to throw a clump of oak into a burning fire but free firewood--even oak--is not something to ignore.  It's snowing again today...the forecast is for less than 2" but we're taking today off from splitting/stacking wood anyway.

Sunday (1/13) was my mom's 99th birthday and Jeff and I and my cousin Ed went up to Valley Health to have lunch with her.  She was wearing a beautiful corsage (from Mike & Chris) and was surrounded by many cards and photos. Mom had a good appetite and even ate 2 desserts...the one that came on her tray and a piece of  the New York-style cheesecake I had brought!  Yesterday when I went to pick up her laundry, she complained about being tired coz in PT she had  taken her first steps in over a month.  There's still a long way for her to go before she'll be strong enough and mobile enough to come home but it's a start.  I brought my camera with me Sunday but forgot to take any photos.  

Got to finish a pair of men's socks for a very special order...should be done today, and then go back to knitting baby sweater sets for the shop.  I think I can use the yarn in my stash and get ahead a little.  I may do baby socks for my cousin's new twins in-between sweaters and maybe even a new pair of slippers for Jeff for Valentine's Day.  Knitting them is not hard, it's sewing the griper fabric on the soles that gets to me...but he wears them...wears them out!  I promised him a sweater vest and ordered yarn last fall but just got the interchangeable needle points last week so I could start that, too.  Thank goodness there's such interesting channels on cable tv...History and History2 are my current favorites, and I finally got to watch a couple of episodes of Downton Abbey!...that  I can knit to.