My youngest brother, Bruce and his wife, Kerri, had a baby back in June (first child). So I have another sweet little nephew to spoil....
Back on May 11th, I had to have Mohs surgery for skin cancer on my forehead. A mole had shown up out of no where several summers ago up by my hairline, and I had asked my doctor about it back then and she thought it was nothing. I wanted it gone, and before I had a chance to say anything to her this last time that I went to see her back in April, she said "I don't like the look of that." I had it removed on April 22nd, and then a week or so later I got a call from the dermatologist's saying it was basal cell carcinoma. So I had to go to a different doctor and have the Mohs surgery done. It took forever to heal and the internal stitches wouldn't dissolve like they were supposed to and ended up eventually working their way out. I had like 13 stitches (a couple of which were inside). But I'm all healed and the scar is barely visible. Thank goodness. I've been using Palmer's Cocoa Butter quite a bit this summer because that was what was recommended for it. I have never been to a tanning bed in my life and I'm usually pretty good when it comes to sunscreen, although I've gotten sunburns throughout my life just like anyone else. But the sun is pretty strong these days. I'm just thankful that I finally got the mole taken care of and that it's gone.
We took a trip down to South Carolina last month to see Ashley, Sean and our little grandson, Evan, for the first time who had just turned one. And then they came up here to visit for a few days several weeks ago. It was really nice to get to spend some time with them.
We stopped to see the New River Gorge Bridge in Fayetteville, WV on the way to South Carolina...
We even got in some beach time at Isle of Palms on Tuesday, August 4th...
We spent the better part of the day in Charleston on August 5th and got to take a boat tour to Fort Sumter out in the harbor and learned about some civil war history.
B. got braces on August 13th....
She has just the top ones on so far and won't be getting bottom braces until almost the end of October. She's thrilled to finally be wearing braces, but wasn't so thrilled about having some pain afterwards and it hurting for her to eat. So I've gotten quite good at making smoothies this past month. I'll buy a few bunches of ripe bananas that are marked down at the grocery store, bring them home, peel them, break them in half, and freeze in Ziploc bags. Then I keep some assorted frozen fruit on hand like mangos, strawberries, pineapple and assorted other berries. Add in some vanilla low-fat yogurt and a wee bit of orange juice and you have a delicious smoothie in no time at all....
Our nephew, Matt, was in town so we all got together for a weenie roast up at my sister and brother-in-law's on August 23rd....
The kids went back to school on Wednesday, the 26th of August, and then a couple days later, Ashley, Sean, and Evan came up on Friday the 28th and stayed with us until Monday. We also had a weenie roast for them up at my sister and brother-in-law's so everyone could visit with them and see Evan for the first time....
I'm happy to finally have another cross stitch finish to show you all. I've been working on this for the past month and just finished it up late last night. I washed, ironed and framed it this morning. And I'll be putting it in the mail here soon to send to little Evan.
I've had this pattern book for at least 15-20 years and it's so nice to finally have a reason to stitch something from it. I tried to be real careful and gentle with my book, but it still fell apart while stitching this. I wish those types of books had nicer bindings. Oh well. Evan loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and starts dancing when he hears the music on TV. lol! He loves Mickey and is such a joy. I wish they didn't live so far away....
This next picture is what it looks like in the 8x10 frame I got from Gabe's before the glass was put in it. We had a heck of of time getting the back on the picture frame, but my wonderful husband got it work......
My cousin, John, got married last month on August 15th and had a really nice wedding. He's 50 years old and had been with the same girl, Michelle, for years. I'm so very happy for the both of them...
Now we're at the very end of summer, just a few days away from the first day of Fall. I'm looking forward to the coming autumnal months and the holidays ahead. I still haven't done any scrapbooking this whole year, but plan to in the coming week. I've just been concentrating mostly on my stitching this year. I did get my craft/scrapbooking room back in order and got my new Kallax unit all set up. I will have to take some pictures and show you all....
