I made another mug rug for a University student who loves Candy Corn........it totally reminded me how much I dislike machine appliqué. The purpose here is to fit them flat in a 9 by 11 envelope so mailing will be cheap, that’s how the side ended up being so close. I don’t think she will mind.😉. I managed to use up some scraps on the back. Sorry, my photos need work, 😂

A few years ago a childhood friend moved to FL for her hubby’s work. About a month later I spoke with her and their list of complaints seemed huge but 99%of them had to do with dietary issues. I offered one piece of advice Publix.......never heard a complaint since. Beyond have you tried the whatever at Publix! 🤣

I am so sorry. I am going to tell you my mom’s story just because it might give you hope. My mother was given too much of a pain med after injuring her foot and went into total la la land for well over a month......she received the Alzheimer’s diagnosis, was placed in a facility, everything. I noticed that her language skills were making sense in her life context first, than one of her nurses joined in with me. After one is labeled it is hard to change the label. Her mind did clear but it took roughly three months for her to really come back. She went back to living independently for a few years until her death.......... I wonder if your mom was drugged and assaulted. The spiral down was sudden......my mom lost it in less than half an hour when overmedicated. Have they done blood work? I would have the kit done and call the police. Too much is not right........no matter what, if someone did assault her they need to be caught and I think you need to know in your own mind. Hugs and prayers.

Totally agree, Velveeta grilled cheese are the best!

Now for the what am I reading.......... @Violet Crown I am finally reading A Voyage to Arcturas https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20812012-a-voyage-to-arcturus-with-biographical-introduction which is not at all what I was anticipating. Calling it Sci Fi is a bit of a stretch from the first half. That said I plan to count it as an allegory for my Bingo card so I am pretty happy that it isn’t the anticipated Sci Fi. I also plan to use it for my Scotland 10x10 so it is a very handy book. That said it may be only 168 pages but they are a really slow read! I thought of you during the tea drinking scene! 😂 I picked up The Goblin Emperor at the library yesterday so will start my combined listen/hard copy after I finish my current Bo Tully. No idea what I will read for Spooky this year. Normally I have this all planned out.......whatever I do it will be on the fluffy side this year. Some of the Urban Fantasy series on Robin’s link look good but I have my Faith Hunter reread which I may just pick up speed on and call it Spooky. For people looking for a light mystery with a Halloween theme I recently read Death Overdue https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34507290-death-overdue. I already have the next in the series checked out.

So glad to “see” you! I just finished What is a Girl Worth. I missed the entire scandal while in England so everything was new. Knowing that the mom’s were in the exam room in some cases really scares a parent’s heart. Just wow! Glad you are enjoying the Elly Griffiths!😉 Yes Amy, I miss you! You are welcome to chat even if you don’t read a single page all week long to yourself! I just put Shattered Bonds on hold....think I am 10th so I have awhile to finish the reread! 😂. I have two done but will speed up as I finish off my 10’s. I am really close on several. I need to get back to read the Archangel series......my library even has that one on audio.

That’s pretty much my recipe. I prefer the bread crumbs to be the ones with Italian seasoning. But that is basically it.....I try to have Colby as part of the cheese mix. It is OK w/out velveeta but a soft kid type cheese really helps things, I found one that was just fine in England too. My mom threw in one can of evaporated milk and an egg or two......she owned a diner before I was born and her Mac and cheese was really popular, as in people asked me about it when I was little.😉. The eggs don’t make it creamier but it does hold better I think with the eggs and it certainly has a prettier color.

I just want to say I would never take a rental car between the UK and Europe as a tourist. Turn in the car and get a vehicle that is designed to be driven on the right or left....whichever is that countries norm. One of the most important checks I do because drive in a left handed and right handed country frequently is “am I (the driver) sitting in the middle of the road”...........that is my new “I am comfortable driving” place. We also make sure we have an alert passenger riding with us on our initial drive when we switch countries. We have taken our UK car into the E.U. and it’s really extremely hard driving a car that isn’t properly designed for the road, imo. Takes an incredible effort to not mess up which is why we pay for the toll on the way in to Disney/Paris. We are a bit more comfortable on the way home but we always have a passenger on duty watching signs, side of road, etc. It’s nice having 4 licensed drivers in the family now. Personally I find the E.U. cars on UK to be really scary to be around, especially the lorry’s, because poor lane control because the steering wheels location makes it really hard to place yourself properly in the lane.

I am looking forward to seeing the completed dress. I haven’t made clothing since Dd was little. I love that fabric, it’s very similar to a favorite of mine that I have been saving in my stash for something special. I parted with a bit of it for the hedgehog mug rug because I think that particular girl will like it. Just took a picture of the back with the cute hedgehog and fox fabric.

I loved The Thirty Nine Steps, the audiobook was so good! Still working on Scotland for the 10 by 10. It has ended up being my hardest category. I am quite behind on that one and my Nordic Noir category. I have both planned out but need to actually read the books! Bull Tully has totally distracted me this week! I am now the third audiobook in the series.....those books are additive. I need to switch from audiobooks after the one I am on so have some hold’s out there. This will slow me down at least! I haven’t even tried my Toby Peters because of Bo Tully!

I made a hedgehog mug rug to mail to a friend who is starting University this week.

Picture please!

We have rented many places in Europe and if you already drive a stick I don’t think you will have a problem. We always review the road signs online before going as familiarity helps. For instance a sign in white with a black diagonal line in England(and I think elsewhere)means it’s National Speed Limit on that portion of the road which is 60mph or 70mph depending on the type of road......divided or not divided. For years my heart did a panicked pity pat when seeing that sign as I was zooming down a road because to me it screams no entry! My worry now is that I will go into a no entry somewhere else.😂 So sign familiarity is good....also know what no entry actually looks like in the place you are driving.😉 Beyond that France has many toll roads which are lovely to drive on so if you are finding side roads are stressful move onto the toll roads. It costs roughly €26 to drive from near Calais to Paris......which is about a 3 hour drive I think. We generally go via toll and return on a different route depending on time.

You are probably right........since you have 20 I would still do it if your Dd likes the idea. I will be honest and say the recipe request is probably the one last minute thing I could handle so I was thinking no biggy.

Could you send an email to other attendee’s to bring a recipe to add to the book? That way she will leave with a close to full book from her Bridal Shower. I think it sounds nice and I would like to receive it so put Dd to work copying recipes tonight! Hope you have a good time tomorrow!

😂I’ll fix that......I was debating writing Mercy Thompson and decided Patricia Briggs was better known, apparently I went with the unknown Patricia Thompson!

Saturday Brit Tripping..............This is the end of my place photo’s that are on my iPad from last summer, prior years are stored on hard drives. One of my projects this fall is to get my favorites moved on to my iPad so I can actually enjoy them. If I find some fun ones I will share...... Dh and I went solo to Calke Abbey on a dreary wet day in hopes that the weather report was accurate and it wouldn’t be actually raining there. It wasn’t........but not sunny either. Calke is a huge estate near a really attractive village, Ticknall was a contender in our family’s original “where do we want to live” lists but we wanted further north. We spent many Sunday afternoons walking on the estate when we were attending a church in nearby Birmingham and the grounds are beautiful. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/calke-abbey/features/the-history-of-calke-abbey That said the inside of this house is National Trust’s version of my favorite estate Brodsworth Hall( English Heritage) and both have been purposely left unrestored, simply cared for. The owners of Calke took the aristocracy’s love of collecting to a whole new level and they basically filled the huge house. Huge rooms filled with cases and in some cases sort of a jumble of stuff. We started going shortly after Calke was acquired and it could be a bit of a place of horrors for us and we stopped visiting the house after one of the kids cried over an extinct stuffed creature.....they knew it was extinct and spotted it. I believe that efforts to curate the massive collections have been made. This part is from memory so could have an error or two 😉.......The house was sold to National Trust by an American who inherited it in the 70’s or 80’s. They actually tried to make a go of it while they were figuring out what to do with it a lived in a small self contained area the previous owner had hollowed out. They ended up selling the main estate but still own their properties in the village......which possible means most of the village. Not a lot of property for sale there ever........ We didn’t actually tour the house in total as we wanted to walk. There are sheep, deer, and many cows wandering on that estate. Many are heritage herds. We did go in and take a couple of pictures. I spotted these scary looking otters and immediately thought of the “ Otterkin” in Patricia Brigg’s books. As I said before I no longer look at otter’s the same way.😂

I totally understand and am actually really relieved there are so many of us. I tire quickly and frequently feel like I can’t move after doing things that would have had no effect on me physically a few years ago. I can’t quite believe how old I feel.

Glad it worked out. I think every country has different rules if you are not resident. My mil was able to get her U.K. rights back after decades of being resident in another country with no current passport but it was not immediate or quick. For some nationality’s if you allow your passport to lapse and have taken other citizenship you have given up your citizenship. This is the situation family friend that I spoke of earlier in this thread. Her country does not allow duel citizenship except If another citizenship “happens” to you by birth or marriage. I am not mentioning the country because I have talked about her in other threads, but an E.U.😉 She will need to maintain her duel citizenship by keeping her passport current if she wishes to keep it.......she is thrilled because she thought she would lose her original citizenship and does not wish to. I have another friend who has to go in person to a German consulate every 10 years to renew her passport and that maintains her right to residency in Germany/ EU. She has never been resident but is duel by birth and wishes to remain Duel.

I finished spelling September’s Detective, Darko Dawson......... D.......Vendetta in Death by JD Robb A.......Sapphire Flames by Ilona Andrews R.......The Rosie Result by Graeme Simsion K.......Wife of the Gods by Kwai Quartey O.......One Good Deed by David Baldacci D.........Medusa Uploaded by Emily Davenport A..........Terns of Endearment by Donna Andrews W ........The Eye of Jade by Diane Wei Liang S..........Skinwalker by Faith Hunter O.........Death Overdue by Allison Brook N........The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan For the Baldacci fans among us.......One Good Deed was an enjoyable book but not as fast moving as his Puller series.....honestly the main character was a law breaking Puller set post WW2 which was perfectly enjoyable.

One thing to remember when you make decisions about citizenship is your children will be duel (maybe more because of Lithuania) at birth. You may want to have as many of the same citizenships as your children as possible just because it makes life easier if they need you with them at any point in their adult life. One of my friend’s mothers was not allowed in the US (needed Visa and was too soon) and could not to help care for her grandchildren in a pretty extreme medical crisis......appeals don’t always work but citizenship does.😉 I know at your age that sounds like it’s very far off but if you know you will be there long enough to complete the citizenship process, spend the money and fill out the paperwork.......I did. Glad it’s done. I love both my countries and no longer have to worry about leaving the U.K. for too long. Life is easier.

Another baby quilt. I’m on a roll! This one is meant to be given with a copy of The Wonky Donkey which is apparently being released in the US as a board book this week!

I just had my kids show me their bars every week when they were using Alcumus.

We are going through the E.U. citizen to US marriage with a dear family friend. This is my very basic understanding of bring a spouse/potential spouse to the US.......Basically both the fiancé visa (which takes several months to receive and the fiancé remains in their home country while waiting) and the green card require a minimum income to bring the person to the US. This can be proving you made roughly $16;500 (it starts here, different situations require more income) via a US tax return or someone else (a parent for instance signing for the person with that income level). Essentially someone needs to be able to support the spouse at a basic level. A confirmed job offer for the amount or above also works (another family friend). A couple of useful links: https://www.uscis.gov/family/family-us-citizens/bringing-spouses-live-united-states-permanent-residents https://www.uscis.gov/family/family-us-citizens/visas-fiancees-us-citizens

I listened to a “new to me” book that was recommended on @Kareni book recommendation thread. The Blight Way was the first in the Sherriff Bo Tully series which was really entertaining with a really likable main character. @Liz CA definitely look for these, short but fun. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/87020.The_Blight_Way. I ended up giving it five stars and checked the next one out already! I also finished listening to Vendetta in Death which was really good. It’s the first time I have listened to one of the In Death series books and it took a whole lot of adjustment......the actual narrator sounded nothing like the narrator in my mind. Not sure that I will do audio for that series again.😉