Updating the house plus hanging around the new baby and her mom

We ended up staying at Squaw Creek County Park in Marion for a week. On Sunday, 19 May, we moved to Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area. It is a lovely place, and we were lucky to score one of the six non-reservation sites that would fit us. We literally drove into the campground while the previous occupant was pulling out, so we quickly signed up for the site and out the lawn chairs out. Then we headed back to Squaw Creek to pack up the motorhome. I really do like how fast the Sani-Con dumps the black and gray tanks. Kevin likes how clean the process is, and he says it is one of the best plumbing updates he has done.

My daughter, her husband, her son, and the new baby girl came out quite a few times. DD says it is awfully nice to get out of the house but be in a safe environment. Seems like Callyn liked it too. She was up above her birth weight at one week old!

We did end up going back to the house some. We had trees planted (they look lovely), we had the deck stained, and we had some electrical work done. The electrical work included adding a big fan in the living room. Our living room faces pretty much straight west, and it gets hot in the summer afternoons. We did put a good sized tree there, but the room needed a fan.

A 60” blade was definitely not too big for the recessed ceiling

The other electrical work was to add a bunch of 4-plex outlets added at waist level in my craft room. I was tired of having to move shelving to reach the low level outlets that were there. We also added a new 20 amp line for some of the 4-plex outlets. Now I will have more flexibility with the heat press and irons I use! Used to be I had a single 15 amp circuit for the whole room. If I accidentally left the iron on and turned on the heat press, I tripped the breaker. This will be much nicer. Of course, to do the work every cabinet and shelving unit had to be moved to the middle of the room. It will be a pain to get everything back in its place, but worth it in the end. Most of the things I plug in are very low power – sewing machines, Silhouette cutter, PC, radio, etc.

I have two walls with these lovely outlets

Kevin also had the electrician install an outdoor outlet to plug in a camper that shows the front of the garage and the driveway. He added another camera in the utility room that shows the heater, the water heater, the water softener, and the sump pump. With us being gone so much, it is confidence-building to know the state of the systems, particularly the sump pump. We can also check the temperature in the house. I certainly like modern connected houses!

I am still working on my granddaughter’s quilt. I have done so much quilting on it, I am bored. I just have to plow through though since I really, really want to get it done next week. I have to get started on the baby’s baptism which is in late July. Still working on a pattern for that though.

We have a new granddaughter!

I quit the previous post rather abruptly because we got some lovely news. Our daughter had a lovely baby girl, Callyn Rose!

Wearing the onesie I made for her

She came a bit early, 37 weeks per plan, and was a healthy 6 pounds 15 ounces. We are all pretty much in love as you can see.

Love that tongue!

Her big brother seems pretty pleased too. He wanted to be rolled up like she was.

Everybody is doing well. Callyn is nursing like a champ, and she is letting mom and dad have an entire 3 hours of sleep some times!

We are making food. Tonight was a bunch of taco meat plus all the fixings. I also made a lovely pot roast which will provide two big meals. We will get it vacuum packed and frozen so they don’t have any worries. We will probably stay here until Monday when I have a PT appointment back home.

Hanging around Marion

We lived in Marion, IA for 20 plus years. We still have kids, grandkids, and some of our doctors here, so we come down every once in a while. Our favorite camping spot is Squaw Creek Park, and I finally remembered to take a picture.

Squaw Creek non-reservation area

We came down Thursday last week for The Hunchback of Norte Dame at Theater Cedar Rapids. We stayed in the reservation, full hookup area until Monday morning when we moved to the prettier site shown. Lots of space between sites, trees, birds, and wildlife more than make up for the lack of a sewer connection. Cost is right too – $23 a night instead of $28. We intend on staying here for a week or so.

The play was quite good. It is regional theater instead of Broadway touring, but I enjoyed myself tremendously. It didn’t hurt that I splurged on tickets, fourth row back, orchestra. Of course splurging on tickets in Cedar Rapids means $40 each or so compared to the nice (but not spurge) tickets in Salt Lake City, row H in the first balcony for $80 each or so!

Tuesday morning I got my second cataract removed, and it went as swimmingly as the first one did. I feel fully recovered, and it is a joy to be able to see clearly out of both eyes. The anesthesia knocked me out this time though! I got back to the motorhome and pretty much slept for 6 hours or more.

Oh, and I bought a new sewing machine for the motorhome and other travel needs! I got a Viking Opal 650, a good solid intermediate machine with the goodies I wanted. I had my class on Monday, and I am raring to go. However I am going to finish quilting the baby quilt for my daughter on the Bernina 440 first. It is well underway.

Busy in Iowa

Last time I posted about medical stuff I was going to do. Now I can say I have done it. One cataract removed, and the next one scheduled in a week and a half. Dermatologist burned and cut a great big hole in my leg! Painful and slow healing because it is on my shin. I had a bad reaction to the tape too, so I ended up wrapping my leg in gauze then securing the gauze with Coban. However I did get to do some fun things.

I attended a Preemie Project sewing day to make G-tube pads for babies and children. The results will go to the University of Iowa hospital. We had 750 of them to do, and we got most of those completed. We were also working on tracheotomy pads, and we only got 75-100 of those done. It was still pretty fruitful, and I had a blast as usual.

Completed pads
In process pads

As you can see, these are made out of the cutest fabrics! Flannel, hemp, and bamboo make up the layers, bamboo on the skin side since it is supposed to have some germicidal action. I just realized the completed ones don’t have the plastic snaps on them. Those got added at the end.

I also made some more things for my daughter and her soon to arrive daughter.

Two burp cloths
Two gauze swaddles with a gorgeous fabric

I also made three crib sheets, but I didn’t get pictures.

We were lucky enough to score some free tickets for the University of Northern Iowa orchestra and combined choirs performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Kevin was not initially thrilled, but he did agree it was very good afterwards. It is a university orchestra, and there were a few issues with balance, but it was still quite good. The soloists were all faculty members (the tenor sings in my church choir). Even though the tickets were on the back row of the first floor, the sound was great.

We have a housekeeper once a month, and while she was here Friday, we decided to take off on a short road trip. We headed to McGregor, a small town on the Mississippi River. We stopped for lunch at River View on the north side of town. I had a wonderful mushroom burger and home made cottage friends (they were really potato wedges), and Kevin had very good fish and chips. I will be back there again! The restaurant is right on the river next to a marina, and they usually have boats tied up nearby. The water was so high! The proprietor said he didn’t expect anyone to be able to tie up until late June or into July. They have been in flood stage for over 40 days so far.

We crossed the river into Prairie du Chien and drove up the Great River Road. I don’t think I have ever seen the river this high. The last time it was this high was 1993, and I know we were on vacation. My pictures aren’t very good since they were taken on a dreary day with my phone, but it can give you a feel of the water.

The shore is generally much closer than this!

Lock and Dam #9 was completely open
A close up of the open gates

I also finished up the embroidery classes at my local Bernina dealer. I get so frustrated with them! I know they make their money by selling things, but I think they really mislead naive people into believing that only (very expensive) items X, Y, and Z will work on their new machines, and it just isn’t right! Oh well. I learned how to use my machine, and I will not have to go back much.