Monday we had 4 days planned at the beach, my friend has a house she rents out there and in March I asked her what she had available in the summer up until September and these were the ONLY days, a little too early for us for homeschooling for Solveig was done, so we took it! We’ve stayed at the house several times, sometimes just one night but often 2 nights and this time it was 3 nights, so longer than normal! The weekend before Grandma wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go to the hospital but once we got there she seemed ok and she was worried about some computer stuff so once we figured that out, she seemed better, so we left Monday morning, we got to the beach before the house was ready and went straight to the beach to swim and make sand castles!
Bjorn is getting into Pickle Ball and brought his paddles and balls and we found a court and he showed us how to play it!
Tuesday morning I woke up to a call from Grandma’s neighbor that EMS had been there the night before but she didn’t want to go to the hospital because of grandpa, so I called the neighbor back and it was mid morning the neighbor called back again that grandma was still not great and wanted to go to the hospital, so 2 other neighbors said they’d take turns and sit with grandpa, meanwhile every few hours I would call the hospital and check on updates and we tried to still do touristy stuff for the kids.
My friend who owns the house had told us about a Pier nearby and Dan loves to fish but hasn’t done it in many years, so we borrowed her fishing rod and went to the pier and paid for renting another one and me and the girls were just watching them fish.
It was already mid morning, so probably too late but they got a few fish
one was called a Pompano and others on the pier told us it’s tasty and how to fry it so we brought it home
Bjorn filleted it (after watching a video about it)
and they fried it up and we all had a nibble and it was great with lime chips and salsa we had brought home home!
They planned on going back after dusk to fish some more!
After lunch we went to this touch aquarium that is really neat, it’s really for kids, so a higher price for kids than adults, we went two years ago and really wanted to see BORIS!
Last time Boris was just walking around and they fed him chicken liver and quail eggs and it was just fascinating to watch, one of my kids had almost walked into him, going to the bathroom, then saw this huge lizard animal! LOL
I happened to have a measuring tape in my purse (no quilter leaves the house without one LOL!) and we measured him at around 45 inches!
On our way out we all bought “friends of Boris” shirts!!
when it got almost dark I went back with the guys to the pier and I brought my headphones and listened to an audiobook while they fished and I could be the photographer, meanwhile I called the hospital still several times and there was no news about grandma, we then discussed that we had to cut our vacation short because we couldn’t leave the care of grandpa to the neighbors and also if something happened to her and we were at the beach, that would be horrible!
Of course the little ones were upset and cried while we packed up and headed out, but you gotta do what you gotta do!
We got home at midnight, then Dan and I turned around and headed to his parent’s house so he could sit with his dad and I drove to the hospital, because by then they had called and said she’d be discharged after running another test around midnight.
I got there and she was allowed to eat something and I told her that we have decided that they can’t live on their own anymore, they need to come and live with us! She was open to that and agreed.
She’s 93 and has a bad heart and grandpa is 97 and had dementia, so it’s hard for her to do anything now, she’s weak and gets tired, so this way we can do the cooking and cleaning and we’ll watch them.
So Dan and I decided that they need to be in our master bedroom and bathroom, it’s downstairs and then they can go straight to the bathroom and walk-in shower etc…. So we moved Dan’s office furniture out into our dining room area and the dining room table we don’t really use so we put that in our storage area- walk out attic, where I had craft supplies and my bolts of fabric, then we moved our bedroom set into his office and by the time this post goes live, we should have moved them in with us. I was surprised how the kids took it, they all agreed and thought it was best, even Anja said then I’ll be home more, because I’ve been running over there quite often lately. It’ll be an adjustment but it’s better for everyone!
Here’s my 2024 project list!
Anything I’ve worked on this week is in red
#1 (Jan 2021) Gnome EPP project- #3 done worked a bit
#2 (March 2022) EPP flowers- I did a bit in the car on the way to the beach!
#3 (June 2022) Black patterned and grey and pink quilt Bunny Slope LARGE- top done ready to quilt pattern in my shop
#4 (Jan2023) Hunter star rainbow blocks- pink, blue and green done- using them for backing for another quilt which needs binding DONE see below
#5 (Jan 2023) Washington puzzle rainbow blocks- DONE!
#6 (Jan 2023) Crossed Canoe rainbow blocks- 4 done
#7 (Jan 2023) Butterfly rainbow blocks- top done ready to quilt
#8 (Jan 2023) Priscilla rainbow blocks- all the blocks are done, sewing top together
# (Jan 2023) Arkansas Traveler rainbow blocks- using them for backing for another quilt which needs binding DONE, see #4
# (Jan 2023) Morning star rainbow blocks- using them for backing for another quilt which needs binding DONE, see #4
#9 (Jan 2023) Tangled Star blocks – 2 blocks done turned into a pillow
#10 (Jan 2023) Chimney Sweep blocks- DONE!
#11 (Jan 2023) Storm at sea blocks- 9 done
#12 (Jan 2023) Road to Fortune blocks – 12 blocks done top done ready to quilt- put together with butterfly blocks!
#13 (Aug 2023) Scrappy Florence- Done Get pattern here
#14 (Aug 2023) red and light blue Contained- Done Get pattern here
#15 (Sept 2023) Charm Arrows quilt- working on blocks
#16 (Oct 2023) Fruit Log Cabin- DONE! pattern here and KITS here
#17 (Nov 2023) Teal and black Handy Man- DONE pattern available thru the pattern club
#18 (Dec 2023) Tied with a ribbon charms – DONE! pattern here
#19 (Dec 2023) Window Charms – DONE, Get pattern here
#20 (Dec 2023) Charm bow-tie quilt – DONE, pattern here
#21 (Dec 2023) Jacob’s latter charms – DONE, pattern coming soon
#22 (Dec 2023) Charming pinwheels – DONE, pattern coming soon
#23 (Dec 2023) Charm Wrench quilt – DONE pattern coming soon
#24 (Jan) Pineapple blue and red quilt – DONE
#25 (Jan) Angelic charms- DONE, pattern here
#26 (Jan) Beachcomber jacket- DONE!
#27 (Jan) Safety scrappy – DONE! get pattern here
#28 (Jan) Sweet Dreams sort of scrappy – DONE
#29 (Jan) Coin Toss scrappy – top done ready to quilt
#30 (Feb) FQ dreams temple court quilt- top done ready to quilt, pattern coming soon
#31 (Feb) Optical baby quilt- DONE pattern coming soon
#32 (Feb) Providence quilt – quilted, needs binding, pattern coming soon
#33 (Feb) Pink white and grey Kaleidoscope quilt- DONE
#34 (March) Star and Cross and Pineapple quilt- DONE!
#35 (March) Signature circle- quilted needs binding
#36 (March) Bluey Crazy Cat quilt- quilted needs binding
#37 (March) Red White and Blue charm quilt- top done ready to quilt
#38 (March) Cowboy churn dash quilt- DONE pattern here
#39 (March) Jungle quilt- DONE! Get pattern here
#40 (Jan?) Rainbow block of the month- April’s blocks is done
#41 (March) Bee Yellow and black quilt- top done ready to quilt
#42 (March) Scrappy Green and Teal trapezoid signature blocks- working on blocks
#43 (March?) Signature Charms quilt- DONE pattern coming soon
#44 (Jan?) Gnome Kronk- DONE get pattern here
#45 (April) Picnic Pink- working on blocks
#46 (April) Royalty Pink and Grey- working on blocks
#47 (April) Sweater Weather Green – top done ready to quilt
#48 (April) Genesis 9:16 scrappy- working on blocks
#49 (April) Jungle Meringue – top done ready to quilt
#50 (April) Duck Duck Goose Scrappy – working on blocks
#51 (May) Christmas gingerbread quilt- working on blocks
That is a very kind and generous way to care for your loved ones! 🙂