Goodbye 2010.....

I'm so proud of myself -- I finally figured out how to do a collage!  lol!  If you squint at the collage above, you'll see all of my 2010 finishes.  Or at least I think they're all of my finishes.  While I was making the collage I discovered one finish I'd forgotten about.

Anyway, they are from top left: Jane Atkinson by Scarlet Letter, Know Ye by La D Da, the Family Sampler by Erica Michaels, directly below the Family Sampler is Margaret Harris by Blackbird Designs, Guarding Eden by Examplars from the Heart, Hallow Eden by Plum Street Samplers.  Second short row is Catherine Maudsley by the Drawn Thread and Freelove Hazard by Scarlet Letter.  Third row from left is the Richmond Sampler or Anne Maria Clarke by the Essamplaire,  Sarah Woodham by Shakespeare's Peddler, Margaret Pence by the Good Huswife, and Beneath the Waters by Carriage House Samplings.

2010 has ended with a bang.  Well, at least it was rather interesting around here.  As you might know, we've been waiting to hear when FIL's heart bypass surgery would be scheduled.  Well, it was finally scheduled for the 21st of December.  The father type wanted to be there to help out and provide moral support, so he flew on down there on the 20th.  That evening of the 20th after the father type had arrived, the doctors belatedly told everyone that no, they'd changed their minds -- now FIL was going to have a stent put in instead.   $%*?!  (So to speak.)

The 21st everyone waited around for more news, hoping that the stent surgery would be that day -- but no, of course not.  The final verdict:  the stent surgery would be on December 28.  A week from that day.  Ugh.  More waiting -- and more stress.  (I find what the doctors did to FIL unacceptable, don't you?  Aren't they supposed to be helping him and not putting more stress on him??)

So the long and the short of it is Christmas was spent without our dear father type at home.  That was more or less expected even if things hadn't changed.  We wanted to have things be as supportive as possible for FIL and having a whole swarm of people descend on one's house isn't exactly conducive to relaxation and less stress.  But having one's son around is.  So the father type was with FIL and his wife for Christmas, and also for the stent surgery which did take place on the 28th.  The good news is FIL is doing well after his surgery and says he's feeling better already.

The father type also missed out on the big blizzard of December 26-27.  Here are a few pictures of the snow -- we supposedly got a foot and a half, but since the snow got blown all over the place it's hard to tell for sure.  And it doesn't look like much from the pictures, but I promise, it was a lot of snow!

Please note:  these pictures are of a covered front porch.  There's a large roof overhead.  There has never been snow right up to the front door before.

Here's Mia being amazed at that white stuff outside.

Digging the car out was a job in itself.

Thank goodness the kids were home.  The boy child did the hard job of snow blowing and then helping with various shoveling tasks.  The girl child helped with the shoveling.  I dug the car out and shoveled.  Here are the kids working hard.

Later, the boy child wanted to go sledding with friends but his coat was still soaked from the snow blowing.  So he borrowed the father type's coat.  It's a bit large.  lol!

I think he likes it though -- he's been wearing it to go sledding ever since.

Once we were all finished with the shoveling and snow blowing, we got into the house and bam!  The power went out.  Yup, for about 6 hours or so.  Ugh!!!   (The wind was still blowing like crazy at that point, thus I guess, the power outage.)  My worst nightmare, and without the father type around to enjoy the madness!  The kids enjoyed it though.  The house got pretty cold until we finally gave up and started our little wood stove that we have for emergencies.

The boy child and I got the Christmas tree taken down yesterday -- I have this thing about having the tree down and out by the curb before New Years -- so that's all taken care of.  The father type will be home for New Year's celebrations.  I'm so looking forward to having him home again.  I think this is the longest we've ever spent apart in our married life.

As I'm typing this, the father type has started on his way home.  I should be picking him up from the airport this evening.  Yay!  And the FIL is doing great.  Thanks to everyone for their good wishes and prayers.

I have made some progress on Jane Tindall, but I'll save that for next time in 2011.  :D   I hope everyone has a wonderful, happy, prosperous and healthy New Year!