Happy New Year!

 Wishing everyone a Happy New Year. 

The Indiana sunrise was beautiful 

  My daughter, S-I-L and I got dressed up and went out to the bowling alley to meet some friends but found out they couldn't come because they were sick. My daughter called some other people but they were under the weather as well.  We ate and went back home. We were all hoping to party but ended up just watching TV. 

 I'm missing my hubby. He sent a couple videos of the New Year celebrations in Kosovo. He called to wish us Happy New Year :D

Checking In

 I'm feeling better...yay! Hubby is feeling better. Not sure if I mentioned he has been sick. Today (over there) he took his mom and sister to the giant new mall in Prishtina. I will try to look it up and add a link. They are 7 hours ahead so they would be home and maybe sleeping by now.

Prishtina Mall Images, opens in new window.

We are having crazy wind, rain and thunder storms here in Indiana. It's 62 degrees! It should be sunny so we could take a walk. Crazy. It's 35 and snowing back home in Ripon. 

My daughter found a bunch of craft supplies for me to fiddle with while she and S-I-L are at work next week. She gets off at noon on Wednesday, is off New Year's, works Friday (probably) and maybe half a day Saturday. Then we are off to the airport to pick up my hubby. So I guess I better hurry and finish some crafts LOL

It's raining like crazy again, some tornado warning but not for this location. That's about it for today.

Picture of my orchid for interest 

Merry Christmas Ba Humbug

I'm sorry, but I was in a funk. Before we left home I tried to do some artwork but nothing happened. I tried to do some crafts but I only had half of the supplies for anything I wanted to make. Moving twice in one year is a hard thing to do. I didn't send any cards. I looked for a special card for my daughter but everywhere was out of the nice one I had in mind. Hubby was getting packed to fly to Kosovo to visit his mom and sister and I was getting ready to stay with my daughter in Indiana. I felt woefully unprepared and not in the mood for the holidays. 

On a positive note, I helped my daughter bake ten thousand cookies, or so it seemed. I helped with the assembly line duties that sped the process up tremendously, for which they are very thankful. It was all hands on deck for the fudge. I helped by prepping the bowls of ingredients, lining cake pans with foil, and washing pans and spoons for the next batch. My S-I-L cooked the fudge and my daughter stirred in the rest of the ingredients and poured the fudge. She would put the pan in the sink and place the fudge on the rack. I would wash the pan and spoon and set it on the drainboard for the next batch. There were 3 pans all going at once. 

We made 17 pans of fudge and 17 batches of kolaczies, plus dozens of sugar cookies. I think they work too hard. All of this stuff gets put into giant baskets with other gifts. This was my first time helping. My S-I-L has a giant family plus friends.

It's getting late. I'm going to finish the post with some pictures and call it a night.

I love this tree my daughter gave me to decorate. I chose these lights because they looked soft and peaceful, even though I could have used bright ones. I like the look, old fashioned.

Chocolate coated pretzels

Kolaczki making

Filling up a baker's rack

Fudge assembly line

Baskets

A neighbor gave me a gift, string of dolphins

Catching Up

I am writing from Indiana. My hubby is in Kosovo for a couple weeks. It will be nice to spend the holidays with my daughter. Her and her hubby are on vacation this week, so we will be busy having fun.

Today we went shopping. My daughter and her hubby always cook dozens of cookies and pans of fudge as gifts for family members. This year I get to help out with this monumental task of baking and packing. 

Afterwards we stopped by Anderson's Winery. We listened live music, had some wine and cheese.

I started to write this post several days ago, so I am behind with the news.

I found this metal and glass table for $8 at a second hand store. It was covered in dust, dirt and some cobwebs, but I wanted it. It cleaned up pretty well. 

For now it's going there, because I need to put a couple plants on it. The window sills have been wet from condensation so I don't want plants on the sills. Besides, if it gets down to minus 10 again there will be ice on the windows. 

Speaking of minus 10, I woke up cold Saturday morning and discovered the apartment was only 67°. That feels cold to me. I checked the baseboard heat with my digital thermometer and they were barely warm. I turned the thermostat to 80 but no improvement. I texted maintenance. He asked if I thought the thermostat was not responding and I told him I thought it was ok. He said turn it all the way, which is 90°. After some time the heat responded. The baseboards were 95° to 98° and the rooms were 70°, so that was ok. Thankfully that super cold weather is done for now.

The side effect of the apartment being so chilly is now my orchids are growing bloom spikes.

This one is always in bloom

That's all the news for now.