Ibby's Place

Tomorrow is Day of Caring

2009-02-20T10:28:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow morning I will be going over to the Civic League Building owned by the historical society to take part in Day of Caring. I'm not exactly sure what we will be working on this year, but the place will for sure get a good house cleaning. This building was built in 1915 and really needs work on floors and some other things. I'm pretty sure that the floors aren't getting done, except sweeping and mopping, but plywood and 2x4's were delivered this week. Some kids from the culinary arts department of the high school are coming to help. They will be working outside cutting away debris and bushes that have grown up on the property. I just wish that it was going to be warmer. It's only supposed to be 27 when we get there in the morning and the temp isn't supposed to get too warm during the day. It would be great if it would at least get up to 65 or 70, but it's not supposed to do that.

On Valentine's Day, I went with dh, dd and her bf to the Camping World Nascar race. We had won 4 tickets from a radio station, so with a little extra money we were able to go to the infield. It was a beautiful day, and we got to look in the garages at the cars being worked on. We also got to watch how they are inspected before the race and see them driving around the garage area. It was also fun looking for the drivers walking around chatting in the garage area. Later, they opened the gates and we were allowed onto the infield where the cars were lined up in preparation for the race. They had ropes up so that you couldn't get right next to the cars, but we got close enough to get some good pictures. Next we went and stood on the racetrack at the start/finish line! The track is banked, so standing there trying to look normal is a real accomplishment. When dd loads the pics, I'll post them. When it was time to go to our seats, after the driver introductions, we walked down the track and across to a ladder up to the stands. Our seats were on the 4 th turn so we got to see them race to the finish line! I lost my voice yelling for my driver, Tony Stewart. He won the race, which thrilled me!

Before we had gone over to the infield, we looked at all the Nascar trailers filled with stuff you could buy of your favorite driver. Then we roamed around where the sponsors had things set up. We got samples and played games and just had a great time!

As far as my crocheting and knitting go, I'm working on something in both right now. In my crocheting, I'm making a scarf in a pretty blue. For my knitting, I'm making a wrap that has cables and a collar in a dark green. If you're on Ravelry, you can see them in my project pages.

I did make a dishcloth and a dishtowel in knit for my friend for her birthday. I used the Peaches & Cream pansy varigated and she loved them.

I've recently joined Facebook. My cousin asked me to join so that we could stay in touch, so that's what I did. To my amazement, I've found more of my family on there plus friends from Ravelry! It's a good place to go if you just want to catch up and have a little fun. I'm loving it.

Have a great weekend! And think of me working in the cold on Saturday morning! lol

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-12T17:06:00.002-05:00

"Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all theings, endures all things. " 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

When I think of Valentine's Day, I think of love. When I think of love, I think of this passage from the Bible. Love is a wonderful thing, and I hope that everyone gets to experience great love in their lives.

Have I experienced such love? Yes, I have. I had parents who loved me through thick and thin. They were always there to help me and comfort me when I needed it. Now, I'm surrounded by a wonderful loving family that I'm very thankful for every day. I have a dh who loves and cares about me, as I do him. My children are wonderful people who I'm very proud of having as friends now. As if all of this wasn't enough, I'm also lucky enough to have wonderful loving friends who I enjoy being with whenever possible.

I may not live in a big house with a beautiful yard (always a dream of mine) or have a lot of money. But I am surrounded by love which makes me very happy!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

Comfort Foods

2009-01-26T14:27:00.002-05:00

As part of a blog ring for my Ravelry OT: Insanity group, a topic of comfort foods has been selected as our next subject. With the cold weather, many comfort foods came to my mind. My mother used to make wonderful pot roasts with potatoes and carrots. When I lived in New York, I used to love to put on a big pot of chili and let it cook all day! But what I finally decided on is something that EVERYONE in my family loves for me to make, chicken and dumplings. This is not a hard recipe and can be found on any Bisquick box, but my family thinks I'm the best cook in the world when I make it. So here is the recipe:

Chicken---can be breasts, thighs, legs, whatever you like--I usually use breasts or thighs with the skin removed
Onion--chopped
Bisquick---2 cups
Milk--3/4 cup
{you can double this to make more dumplings, which is what I always do}

Place your chicken in a large pot and cover with water. Add onion and bring to a boil. Reduce heat so that water is barely boiling and cook chicken for 10 minutes.

While chicken is cooking, mix Bisquick and milk in bowl. Mix well.

Add by spoonfuls on top of the chicken and cook uncovered for 10 minutes, then cover and cook for 10 minutes more.

I always have a problem because I make so many dumplings that I need to cook them a little longer covered to make sure that they're done. If the pot starts to boil over, reduce your heat.

These taste great and you usually have a nice gravy also when they're done. Enjoy!

On another topic, I just added pictures to my other site if you'd like to take a look. If you're on Ravelry, your name could be there. http://ibbyfl.tripod.com/ibbyscreations

Goals for the New Year!

2009-01-01T17:13:00.002-05:00

Since a new year has started, I decided it would be a good idea to make some goals for myself for this new year.

make hats for Christmas starting in January. I think the first one will be the Official Kittyville Hat. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/official-kittyville-hat
next maybe I'll make the Owata Hat http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/owata-hat
Of course it goes without saying that I'll be making fingerless gloves. I'm not sure which patterns, but I'll be doing the Mystery CAL at the FGF group on Ravelry and maybe even the Mystery KAL.
I also want to make a cowl. Don't ask me who will get it because we don't need them too much here in Florida. But there are so many pretty patterns, such as the Arboreal Cowl by my fellow FGF member. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/arboreal-cowl
Also I will make a couple of scarves. I want to make the Garter Snake Scarf for my grandson http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/garter-snake-scarf
On the non-knitting or crocheting side, I want to work on my geneology a little more because I've got new info on my grandfather that may help me
Also would like to make some cards again
Read Sue Grafton's T book! U will be out before I've read T at this rate!

That's about all I'm planning for now. It's going to be a busy year!

It's been a long time!

2008-12-06T14:01:00.004-05:00

It's been quite awhile since I've posted here. I have been dealing with pnemonia, and haven't really felt up to doing anything on here!! Apparently I had this pnemonia when I was holding the craft fair, which would explain why I was coughing so darn much!! On the second day, when I went to pack up, I was coughing so hard that my daughter made me sit while she packed up my things.

I promised pictures of the craft fair, and thanks to my dear friend, I have them on a disk and can post them here. They're not really exciting, but you'll be able to meet my friends and see the diversity of crafts.

This was my stand.
This is my best friend, Kathleen. She does quilting and makes embroidered cards.

This is Carolyn, who is a member of the club. She makes beautiful jewelry with silver and crystals. She also quilts.

This is Shriley, Kay, and Betty. Shirley and Betty just started making jewelry, and Kay, who just joined our club, paints and does beautiful scrap quilts with embroidry.

This is Ethel who has been a member of the club for a long time. She is blind, but crochets and knits. She made everything in front of her. She makes beautiful things.

Carol has just joined the Wednesday group. She, Betty, and Shirley has all come to join us from the Tuesday club that I belong to. Carol has been teaching the Tuesday club how to make jewelry. Her husband, who managed to avoid the camera, sold hot dogs and soft drinks for the fair.

Laverne and Ethel, make a variety of differnt things. Both quilt also. Laverne makes the beautiful beaded Christmas tree, church and other beaded things. Georgeous!

There are more pictures on the Flickr page, but they're turned wrong, so I'm not posting them here.

Saturday, we had a pretty steady crowd, but Sunday was horrible! We did have a lot of fun though! Lots of lessons learned in case we want to do it again next year.

My pattern is now on Ravelry!!

2008-09-28T19:16:00.003-04:00

I hope that you remember my fingerless glove pattern called Pretty In Pink. Well, as of a short time ago, they have been added to Ravelry patterns!! It's such a relief to finally have it available! I had to wait almost a month for Casey to accept me as a designer, then the pay pal verification didn't work! But I didn't give up and finally, FINALLY, it is offically for sale.

If you look to your left, you will see a picture of the gloves and the Buy Now button. If you wish to purchase the pattern, the cost is $4.50. I've already sold one pattern, possibly more. I hope everyone enjoys making them as much as I did.

Book??????????

2008-08-30T19:49:00.004-04:00

This is a picture of Pretty In Pink that my friend Kathleen took for me today. I think it shows the glove nicely. If you click on the picture it will enlarge so that you can see it better.

Here's a new development. A couple of my friends in the Fingerless Glove Fanatics Group on Ravelry think I should submit my pattern to someone they know for her new book. No guarantee that it would get in it, but they seem to think that it would. So now I'm trying to decide if I want to do that or not. It's a wonderful opportunity, but so is being able to sell it on Ravelry! I have no idea what I'll do!

My testers are working on the pattern. The one who thought she couldn't crochet well enough has completed the cuff and finishing row 7 on the hand awhile ago!! I knew she would be able to do it! She posted a picture of the cuff and it looks great! She's going to be so proud of herself when she finishes them.

I'm getting ready to do a fingerless glove swap at the FGF group. They're also having a CAL and KAL for September that I want to join. They sure know how to keep you busy! LOL It's a great group and I really have enjoyed meeting everyone there. Such talent at Ravelry! It's amazing! Young women knitting and designing such beautiful things! I'm in awe of all of them. Not only are they a talented group, they are also very smart and polite and cute!! Of course there are all ages in this group, but so little is said about the young people who are doing the right things that I feel that they should be recognized! The whole group are awesome, even the men! Don't tell them that I said that. We wouldn't want them to get swelled heads! hehe

Time to go check on the progress of my crocheters! I'll keep you informed!

Pretty In Pink

2008-08-29T16:27:00.003-04:00

I'm so excited that you might say that I'm tickled pink!! I've just finished designing my first pair of fingerless gloves, which I have named Pretty In Pink!! They are pictured here. I have 4 very nice people from the Fingerless Glove Fanatics group testing them for me. When they're finished, I will be putting it up for sale on Ravelry.

They are crocheted gloves done in Luster Sheen yarn. I love the way they turned out and I think that they're easy enough for any crocheter who can read a pattern to make. My testers will let me know if that's true or not.

I've posted pictures of them in several places and gotten a wonderful response, much bigger than I ever expected! I've just sent out the pattern today, and I can't wait to see how my testers do. They can use any yarn that's the same weight as the Luster Sheen I've used. I know one of them will also be using Luster Sheen.

Since we're talking pink here, and that makes me think of the Cancer Society. I hope you will check out the places I visit and pay a visit to the wonderful lady who is doing the walk for the society. It's a great cause, and her story will touch your heart I'm sure.

Hurricane Season is Here!!

2008-08-26T12:08:00.002-04:00

I received the following in my email today. I thought it was so funny that I wanted to share it. The bad part is that most of it is also true!! LOL

Hurricane Advisory

HURRICANE SEASON CAN MAKE A STORM SHUDDER
BY DAVE BARRY

We're entering the heart of hurricane season. Any day now, you're going to turn on the TV and see a weatherperson pointing to some radar blob out in the Atlantic and making two basic meteorological points:* There is no need to panic.* We could all be killed. Yes, hurricane season is an exciting time to be in South Florida. If you're new to the area, you're probably wondering what you need to do to prepare for the possibility that we'll get hit by "the big one." The best way to get information on this topic is to ask people who were here during Hurricane Andrew (we're easy to recognize, because we still smell faintly of b.o. mixed with gasoline). Based on our experiences, we recommend that you follow this simple three-step hurricane preparedness plan:STEP 1. Buy enough food and bottled water to last your family for at least three days.STEP 2. Put these supplies into your car.STEP 3. Drive to Nebraska and remain there until Halloween.Unfortunately, statistics show that most people will n ot follow this sensible plan. Most people will foolishly stay here in South Florida. If you're one of those people, you'll want to clip out the following useful hurricane information and tuck it away in a safe place so that later on, when a storm is brewing, you will not be able to locate it.We'll start with one of the most important hurricane preparedness items:HOMEOWNERS' INSURANC E: If you own a home, you must have hurricane insurance. Fortunately, this insurance is cheap and easy to get, as long as your home meets two basic requirements: (1) It is reasonably well-built, and (2) It is located in Nebraska.Unfortunately, if your home is located in South Florida, or any other area that might actually be hit by a hurricane, most insurance companies would prefer not to sell you hurricane insurance, because then they might be required to pay YOU money, and that is certainly not why they got into the insurance business in the fir st place. So you'll have to scrounge around for an insurance company, which will charge you an annual premium roughly equal to the replacement value of your house. At any moment, this company can drop you like used dental floss. Since Hurricane Andrew, I have had an estimated 27 different home-insurance companies. This week, I'm covered by the Bob and Big Stan Insurance Company, under a policy which states that, in addition to my premium, Bob and Big Stan are entitled, on demand, to my kidneys.SHUTTERS: Your house should have hurricane shutters on all the windows, all the doors, and - if it's a major hurricane - all the toilets. There are several types of shutters, with advantages and disadvantages:* Plywood shutters: The advantage is that, because you make them yourself, they're cheap. The disadvantage is that, because you make them yourself, they will fall off.* Sheet-metal shutters: The advantage is that these work well, once you get them all up. The disadvantage is that once you get them all up, your hands will be useless bleeding stumps, and it will be December.* Roll-down shutters: The advantages are that they're very easy to use, and will definitely protect your house. The disadvantage is that you will have to sell your house to pay for them.* "Hurricane-proof" windows: These are the newest wrinkle in hurricane protection: They look like ordinary windows, but they can withstand hurricane winds! You can be sure of this, because the salesman says so. He lives in Nebraska."HURRICANE PROOFING" YOUR PROPERTY: As the hurricane approaches, check your yard for movable objects like barbecue grills, planters, patio furniture, visiting relatives, etc.; you should, as a precaution, th row these items into your swimming pool (if you don't have a swimming pool, you should have one built immediately). Otherwise, the hurricane winds will turn these objects into deadly missiles. (If you happen to have deadly missiles in your yard, don't worry, because the hurricane winds will turn THEM into harmless objects).EVACUATION ROUTE: If you live in a low-lying area, you should have an evacuation route planned out. (To determine whether you live in a low-lying area, look at your driver's license; if it says "Florid a, " you live in a low-lyin g area.) The purpose of having an evacuation route is to avoid being trapped in your home when a major storm hits. Instead, you will be trapped in a gigantic traffic jam several miles from your home, along with two million other evacuees. So, as a bonus, you will not be lonely.SUPPLIES: If you don't evacuate, you will need a mess of supplies. Do not buy them now!South Florida tradition requires that you wait until the last possible minute, then go to the supermarket and get into vicious fights with strangers over who gets the last can of Spam. In addition to food and water, you w ill need the following supplies:* 23 flashlights.* At least $167 worth of batteries that turn out, when the powergoes out, to be the wrong size for the flashlights.* Bleach. (No, I don't know what the bleach is for. NOBODY knows what the bleach is for. But it's traditional, so GET some, dammit!)* A 55-gallon drum of underarm deodorant.* A big knife that you can strap to your leg. (This will be useless in a hurricane, but it looks cool.)* A large quantity of bananas, to placate the monkeys. (Ask anybody who went through Andrew; after the hurricane, there WILL be irate monkeys.)* $35,000 in cash or diamonds so that, after the hurricane passes, you can buy a generator from a man with no discernible teeth.Of course these are just basic precautions. As the hurricane draws near, it is vitally important that you keep abreast of the situation by turning on your television and watching TV reporters in rain slickers stand right next to the ocean and tell you over and over how vitally important it is for everybody to stay the hell away from the ocean.At that point, if you've prepared all you can, there's frankly nothing left to for you to do but pray. I mean for a really BIG wave.

Ravelympics

2008-08-13T20:17:00.003-04:00

As I think I've mentioned, I have joined the Ravelympics. I was only going to join one team, but ended up on two because I wanted to destash and have something to do while I was at my craft club. This is what I made for Team Stashdown:

I'm now working on a pair of beautiful fingerless gloves designed by my friend Wendy Ganiggle. They are called Eden and I'm making them in Essentials yarn from Knit Picks in the Cocoa color. You can see Wendy's designs here: http://www.ganiggle.com/wp/ Please go to check out her designs. They're great!

Well, off I go to work on my gloves! I'll get a picture asap!!

Ravelympics 2008

2008-08-06T13:34:00.002-04:00

Ok, so you know that I'm a member at Ravelry and part of the fingerless glove group. What you may not know is that Ravelry is having it's own olymics to go along with the games held in China. Being the team player that I am, I have decided to join Team FGF and make a pair of fingerless gloves. Hopefully I will complete my pair of Eden mitts in the 16 days allowed. They are very beautiful fingerless gloves designed by Wendy Ganiggle. It's only her second design and she's done a beautiful job with them. I'm anxiously waiting to start work on them with the hopes that my knitting skills are good enough to do them credit.

July 4th Weekend!

2008-07-10T10:30:00.007-04:00

I haven't blogged for awhile, so I decided it was about time! I had a great 4th of July! My dh and I went to Daytona Beach for the Nascar Nationwide Race! We managed to get a pair of great tickets from a hawker for the infield Daytona 500 Club! He didn't know what he had, and we didn't realize how great they were until later. We just wanted to be in the infield near the drivers and cars.

The Daytona 500 Club has a beautiful building in the infield with Victory Lane right in front of it! It opened at 3 pm and we went in to check it out. It was so beautiful and the people inside the door gave us our "credenitals" which consisted of a red wrist band that allowed us to come and go as we pleased. We wore our tickets around our necks in little see through plastic pouches that we received from Sprint. Our tickets had large VL on them which we discoved meant that we could go into Victory Lane at the end of the race. It was very exciting!

After we went inside, we saw a beautiful dinning room and were told that dinner would start serving at 5:30 (free) and then we were told that there was a bar on the 2nd floor if we wanted a drink and some appitizers. We went upstairs and found a beautiful bar, tables all around with tv's with race coverage on them all over the place, and chairs in front of large windows that faced the race track, with a little bar in front of them where you could sit your drink. We got our drinks, dh had beer and I had Coke Zero, and sat and marveled at our good fortune! We decided to go back outside, and the bartender offered us drinks in plastic cups to take with us (all of our drinks and food was FREE)!

Earlier, we had watched the cars go through inspection and saw some of the drivers, such as Dale Jr., Greg Bliss, and Robby Gordon, come through with their cars. We also got Tony Urahe (probably spelled that wrong, but he's Jr's pit crew boss) autograph. When we left the Club, we went to where the drivers were going to be signing autographs! We got 27 of them and Kenny Wallace signed my white baseball cap on the brim.

After the session, we were hot and thirsty, so we headed back to the club, where we found food of all kinds ready for our taking. There was a table of fresh fruit with salad, a table of prime rib with potatoes, one of all types of seafood dishes, another with chicken, and tables full of all kinds of yummy desserts and coffee! The food was wonderful!

By the time we were finished eating, it was almost time for the race to start, so we headed back up to get our front row seats by the start/finish line in the bar area. After the race, we were allowed to take seats in the bleachers in Victory Lane and saw the burnout of the winner from a side we'd never been at before. Then he drove his car into the lane and we were part of the victory celebration. Dh was snapping pictures like crazy all day!

We didn't get to see fireworks, but it was a great day no the less! How was your July 4th?

Test knitting

2008-06-09T13:34:00.002-04:00

Something in me decided to volunteer to test knit a pair of fingerless gloves for a new designer at Ravelry. For some unknown reason, she let me be one of her honored test knitters, even though I'm kind of new to knitting. Luckily for me, the pattern was well written and I didn't have a problem reading it.

That doesn't mean that I didn't goof it up! No, of course I goofed it up because I didn't really read the abbreviations correctly. I had my first glove all completed and was ready to post a picture. I was sooooooooo proud of myself for completing it. Then I saw pictures in the thread of other peoples completed gloves and mine looked nothing like theirs! Yipes! Could they all have made the same mistake and I did it right? Not likely I decided. So back I went to the pattern and the yarn to start a new one. When I did that, I discovered that although I had a very cute small cable (almost looked like a snake) on my completed glove, it was supposed to be a 6 stitch cable like the ones pictured! Imagine that! I had done the c6f stitches exactly like the c6b stitches only with the sts on the cable needle to the front instead of the back. When I actually did it the way it was supposed to be, I got a beautiful cable. Who knew? hehe

I do the same thing with my crocheting sometimes. I think I know exactly how the pattern is supposed to go, so I do it my way. Then I discover that I did it all wrong and have to frog it. Boy I hate when I do that!

My second attempt at the test glove turned out just like the ones I saw pictured, except mine is the longer version. They all got new copies of the pattern with the shorter version, which I had decided not to use! I frogged my first glove, even though I could have used it as an original Ibby pattern. I'm happy to say that both gloves are now completed and look great.

Now another poor designer has allowed me to test knit their pattern for gloves! I'm reading the directions more carefully this time. There are no cables in this one to mess up, but I'm sure there's something that I can do wrong! I've got the 4 inches done, and I'm ready to go on to the next part of the pattern. Hopefully it will all go smoothly! But hey, this is me! That would be too easy! lol

Bronte's Mitts and Pink Kitty Bag

2008-05-18T10:09:00.005-04:00

I joined the KAL for the Bronte's Mitts with the FGF at Ravelry. I know that I'm a newer knitter, but I shouldn't be having so many problems with these gloves! I started with a pretty sort of off white color, but ended up frogging the whole thing because I couldn't seem to get things right. So I restarted in another color and things went fairly well until I hit row 5 of the edging. I put them down for a few days, picked them up again and still had trouble. So I put them back down. When I finally picked them up again, row 5 went by like a breeze! Finished that part with no problem. So today I'm working on the next part, which was going pretty well until I got to row 3 and now I don't have enough stitches on my needles. I'm sure I missed some yarn overs, so I'm going to have to frog again! Someone just doesnt' want me making these gloves!! But I'm stubborn, so I'll keep trying until I get them done. Or at least one done!

In the meantime, I've also been working on a pink kitty bag in tapestry crochet. The lady who asked me to make it wants to use it to carry yarn, so I'm using Red Heart worsted weight yarn to make it bigger. I'm very happy with the results so far. I'm almost finished with the third kitty row. So I should have it finished this week.

I would post a picture of both of these for you to see if I had a camera. But since I don't, you'll have to wait until I get my ydd to take one for me. Then I can post pics for you to see. Hopefully of a finished mitt!

Frogging Bronte's Mitts

2008-05-04T15:28:00.002-04:00

Since I was home alone this morning, I decided to work on the KAL that I'm doing with the fingerless glove group on Ravelry. We're all making Bronte's Mitts which are very pretty and a lacy design. For me this is a learning experience because there are techniques in the pattern that I've never done before, such as using waste yarn. I've had to research and read posts to know what everyone is talking about, but I have been learning new things. This is good.

I had started a glove using a #3 double pointed needle, which I discovered was the wrong size! It was supposed to be a #4!! Then there was the yarn that I was using. It didn't feel very soft to me and so I decided to look in my stash for a different yarn which I found this morning. So I frogged the first glove and started all over. The second time went much faster until I hit the lace part. This was part of the learning experience! I had to read the pattern correctly for it to turn out right. I thought I was doing this until I actually looked at my work. Then I discovered that somewhere in the first few rows I had made a mistake. I don't know what mistake I made, but I definitely made one! The design had started out straight, then was suddenly off to the side of the original design, sort of like a zig zag pattern! I thought about continuing, because it was coming out right now. But the perfectionist in me just couldn't do that! Darn!! So I had to frog about 10 rows, then pick up stitches that got dropped in the process. Thank goodness I've learned how to do that so that I didn't have to start from the beginning.

Now my glove is sitting on top of my bag waiting for my return. I'm afraid that if I start it now, my husband will come home right in the middle of the lace row and I'll lose my place. So I'm waiting. Either tonight, after he goes to bed or tomorrow morning, I'll pick it up again. At least I think I like this color yarn a little better. It's sort of a creamy white and will show the design beautifully, and I'll be able to wear them with anything! I thought of making them in a pale pink, but I don't own anything that I could wear them with if I did that color.

I've completed my entrelac project! I like it. Now I've got to figure out another project to do in it. I've almost completed a crocheted cable bag. I have a lining cut out, but haven't sewn it together yet. It's supposed to have store bought handles, but I think I'll crochet them since I don't have any cash right now and I actully prefer crocheted handles to hard ones.

I managed to take a walk yesterday after dinner. I haven't gone for a walk since I hurt my knee last September. Becca went with me, and I walked where I used to walk when I had first started my walking routine. My knee was slightly sore when I got home, but nothing that rest didn't help. I had been at the Historical Society's booth for Founder's Day yesterday morning. So I got some walking in there too.

Guess I'll go work on my dishcloth KAL. I just wrote down the directions for todays rows. I don't care if dh comes in while I'm working on that.

My Tapestry Crochet Kitty Bags

2008-04-24T10:35:00.002-04:00

I promised pictures of these so here they are:

And since I've posted that tapestry project, here's a couple more tapestry projects that I've done:

This is the front. And this one is the back:

I love doing tapestry crochet, but I'm just a novice compared to the ones I've seen.

It's a beautiful day out today and I've already accomplished one of my goals for today. I went out for a walk. It was only a 15 minute walk, but Princess loved it! I haven't been walking since I hurt my knee in September, so 15 minutes at a time is good. My knee doesn't hurt and it didn't pop or anything. I may go on another 15 minute walk later today!

I'm also planning on making some lacy fingerless gloves today in crochet today. A couple of the ladies in my Red Hat group expressed an interest in some, so I've decided to try a couple of patterns to see which I could make up quickly if more than one or two want them. No I'm not giving them away, for two reasons. One, I just don't have the money to spend on yarn to make these and give them away. Two, they're not my closest friends so they have to pay. I'll make anything for my friends that they want. I never charge them, but they always end up paying me anyway.

I'm getting excited because Saturday my oldest granddaughter is getting married up in Jacksonville. She's my oldest dd's daughter, and I haven't been up to visit them since they moved to Florida. My dd and her dh usually come down here. They want to get away from the kids!! I'm excited to see the house because my daughter has been wanting me to see it. My daughters, Denise and Rebecca are also going with their boyfriends. I think we'll all be riding together. My dh said that he's not going because he needs to sell at the flea market that day so that we can pay our bills. I know we need the money, but I wish he would change his mind. I'm not going to bug him though because the more I do it the more he'll dig his heels in to his decision. It won't be the same without him there.

Have to tell you what happened as I was preparing to get out the Monk's Cloth afghan that I'm giving for a wedding present. Here's a pic:

I thought that this was the only thing that I had put into the box it was in, so I was just going to wrap it up. Then I decided to have Becca take a picture of it for me. When I took it out of the box, I discovered a tapestry hot pad that I'd been searching for, a baby sweater that I'd knit, a crocheted baby sweater, 3 baby washcloths, 5 beautiful square doilies, a runner and two peach doilies that I had also put into that box!! LOL I was in shock! Needless to say, if I had just wrapped up the box my granddaughter would have thought that her Nana had lost her mind! Thank goodness I decided on a picture. Since Becca had her camera out anyway, I had her take pictures of everything that was in the box. You can see everything on my Flickr account. Just check out the pictures in the left column.

Guess I'd better get crocheting or I'll not get anything else done today! Still need to call and check on Kathy today. Bye for now!

God has blessed me!!!

2008-04-19T15:43:00.003-04:00

I'm sitting here trying to see to type as tears are streaming down my face! The most wonderful beautiful thing has just happened to me!

A short time ago, the president of the Historical Society, who has become a friend of mine (I'm the secretary), called to see if I had gotten all of my prescriptions filled. She told me that she had been thinking about it and couldn't remember what I had told her. So I told her again about my meds and how much they were going to cost us. I also told her that I had applied for aide, but have no idea if I will be getting it. But if I do get it, it won't be for weeks probably. She thanked me for clearing her mind and said she'd talk to me later. A while later, she called again. She said that the society had voted and that they were going to PAY FOR MY MEDICINE!! I couldn't believe my ears!! When she got here, she said that everyone on the board agreed, not one nay! And individual members dug into their pockets to help!! I am a blessed person!! Thank you God for all of your blessings! I can't stop crying!! The generosity of these people has touched my heart and soul! Then the pharmachist said that he would call the dr on Monday to get a new prescription for the Advair so that I could use the free coupon to get one and the society could pay for one. That med is $211 and it's not for a full month!! I don't even know the pharmachist! I just always use his phamacy!!!!

We may not have money, but I am blessed with wonderful friends!! Thank you God for your blessings!!

Today's the day!

2008-04-15T19:10:00.002-04:00

I haven't written anything for a little while so I decided that today's the day to do it! So much has been going on in my life that I just haven't had time to do all the things that I love to do like crocheting and knitting.

On Monday of last week, my youngest dd, Rebecca, ended up taking me to the emergency room because I couldn't breath. She had wanted me to go on Sunday night, but I wouldn't go because I'm stupid!! So in the morning, I called her and told her to come pick me up. As it turned out, they ended up keeping me. Just for the night, they said, to straighten out my breathing. Well, one day turned into two and before I knew it three days had passed. Since I was feeling better, I had my dd bring me my crocheting! I mean I was going crazy just sitting their with the boob tube going all day! Sure Becca and I were doing crosswords, word searches, jumbles, sudoku and such, but enough is enough already!! I had been working on a tapestry crochet kitty bag at home, so I told her to bring it to me. I got it finished and started another one. ( Pictures will come as soon as she takes them for me. Promise). Finally on Friday, around dinner time, they released me to come home.

Now I'm not saying that a hospital stay is pleasant, however I have to say that I almost enjoyed my visit there. I got great tasting food, that I didn't have to prepare. Someone gave me clean sheets everyday!! My friends called me to see how I was doing. ( I told them not to come visit because I would be going home the next day, and the next day, and the next day!!) Then both of my youngest dd's were with me every evening along with my husband. We had family hours!! It was fun, honest! There were volunteers who if I ran my bell, were at my beck and call. If I wanted hot water to make tea, they got it for me. They brought me a newspaper in the morning, and also more coffee if I wanted it. Life wasn't all that bad if you want to know the truth!! On top of all of this, I had a beautiful view out of my window. The sun came in in the morning, just brightening up the whole place, and in the evening the sunset was to die for!!

Here's a part that's really nice. SAM!! He was the nurse on duty on the Friday that I had to come home. He was young, with a big beautiful smile, dark wavy hair and big brown eyes! Nurse McDreamy!!! My dd was drooling!!! (so was I to be honest!) And such a nice personality to go with all of that! So of course, God in his infinite wisdom, sent me home, lest I be tempted! yeah, like that would happen! But he would have given me beautiful dreams! Hey, just because you get older doesn't mean the fire's out! don't tell my dh that!!

So today I got to go to my Tuesday craft club, which I missed last week due to my vacation at the hospital. I was totally and warmly amazed at how everyone, I repeat, everyone came up to me to welcome me back and see how I was doing and give warm wishes! I have some people who I consider friends there, but people who I didn't acted just like my friends did! It gave me the warm fuzzy feelings deep inside. Then one of my friends, who is learning to make jewlery there, put a necklace that she had just finished (photo later) around my neck. I thought she was just trying it on me to see how it would fit her. But then she told me to enjoy it!! How sweet of her!

Tomorrow I'll be going to the craft club that I lead. I've gotten cards, phone calls, emails from almost everyone in the club! I can't wait to see them all tomorrow. We have such a great time on Wednesday mornings. If you're ever in Belleview, you should come to visit us!! We're a great fun group of talented ladies!

Did I mention Ravelry? NO! How could I not do that? As soon as I got home I had to go there to check what was going on in my Fingerless Glove group! It's such a nice group of people that I've met there. I'm learning so much about knitting and yarn and differnt ways to do things. And now we're putting together a newsletter! They've dubed me a "writer". I don't know about all that, but I do thend to carry on sometimes, like today!!

I also belong to an entrelac group at Ravelry! So last night in all of my steroid drug glory, I decided to try doing the Quant pattern, which is a headband/scarf. They're saying on the boards that it's a good beginners project and once you get the hang of it, you can do it in a day or less! I got the first three squares done, but then I think I really messed up. But in true drug induced spirit, I kept going. Looking at it today, the front is on the back or something. I have no idea what I did wrong or right! So guess that's going to get frogged to start over. Maybe doing it while I'm taking this prednisone wasn't such a great idea, but I was feeling so creative!! Who knew?

Maybe another day, I'll tell you about the insane conversations of my family while visiting me at the hospital. There was some crazy stuff being tossed around, very funny. But I guess this is it for today! My ramblings are finished. Back to Ravelry I go! More blogs to check from the fingerless glove group!

Bad things happen to good people

2008-04-05T11:05:00.003-04:00

As I was reading a blog a minute ago, I once again wondered why do bad things happen to good people? It seems that if you have a good heart and a giving spirit, bad things come your way. Not to say that it doesn't happen to people who aren't so nice, but don't you think they kind of bring it on themselves? I mean, if you're doing drugs, you can expect to go to jail or even maybe get shot! But what about the people who do no harm to anyone? The people who just live their lives loving their family and friends. I know someone like that who just lost everything she'd been saving to go to school by working two jobs, because someone hacked into her pay pal account! Why? Why would someone do something like that in the first place? Greed? No respect for other people's property? It just makes me so angry when I hear about these types of things. No matter what we do to try to protect ourselves, there seems to be an evil force (some might call it the devil) trying to make us fail.

On another note, today is a day filled with frustration so far. First of all, our refrigerator that the landlord just replaced isn't cold. The freezer works but the bottom part doesn't. The landlord contacted the guy she bought this used one from and he said he would be here by noon yesterday. Still haven't seen or heard from him, and the landlady says she stopped by and he's not there!! She's going to another place to get us one today. If dh was here, he would have said to just buy us a new one and quit fooling around with these used things! But he's not here, and I'm not feeling good enough to tell her something like that. Besides, she's being so nice about getting us a nice fridge! So now I'm waiting to hear from her about when they will be bringing us another one. My milk went bad, so I put my yogurts in the freezer! Now I have frozen yogurt! LOL Dh was upset because he bought cold beer that got warm in the fridge! Now that's a tragedy! hehe

On top of the frustration from above mentioned item, I went looking for burgundy, pink and black yarn that I was SURE I had in my stash. I found the black! No burgundy or pink! Here I have a chance to make some money and I don't have what I need to make the stuff! Rrrrrrrr!! Someone my daughter works with wants a stipped pair of fingerless mitts in black and pink. Then the vp of the historical society wants two flowered hot pads in burgundy. Hence the search! I'm thinking that I'm going to make at least $20, but no. It would be too easy to actually have what I need. As I've said before, bad things happen to good people, who in this case is me.

Also I'm back on medication because this stupid pnemonia hasn't cleared up. I'm coughing my lungs out and need a nice soothing massage because my ribs and back are so sore! I hate being sick! Nothing ever goes right! Dh did take me out to eat last night though so that I didn't have to cook. Bless his heart! He's been so sweet to me lately. He even told me that he would buy the yarn I need if I couldn't find it in my stash. I hate to spend money we need for bills on yarn to make me happy, but he offered!

I'm going back to the couch to see if I can sleep. I fell asleep after breakfast this morning, but coughing woke me up. I hate being sick! Did I say that before? Let me say it again. I HATE being sick!!

Landlady just came to the door. The guy is supposed to be here in at least 30 minutes to fix the fridge! He'd better be!! I'm not having a good day! Rrrrr!!

2008-04-02T12:26:00.003-04:00

I wasn't aware until I read Aunt Kathy's blog today that being tagged is a game. The other day Ghost told me that I was tagged. I had no idea what she was talking about. So thank you Aunt Kathy for posting the rules.
Here are the rules:
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are some facts about me that you may or may not know:
1. I have 3 dd's and 2 stepdd's as well as 3 son's and a stepson.
2. I've been married 27 years, 28 in October.
3. I belong to 2 craft clubs in my area and I'm the leader of one of them (the Wed. one)
4. I love to crochet, but I'm doing a lot of knitting lately.
5. I'm the secretary of the Belleview South Marion Historical Society.
6. I hate housework!!
7. I love hanging out with my friends or my family.

People I'm tagging!
http://yarnmafia.blogspot.com/2008/04/that-would-be-first-place-id-look.html Angie
http://msknitsplace.blogspot.com/2008/04/drapery-rodspriceless.html Faye
http://lilknitofthisandthat.blogspot.com/2008/03/wee-tiny-sockbig-big-thanks.html Melanie

Sorry I don't have 7 but I don't read that many blogs and some have already been tagged!

Flowered Hot Pad

2008-04-01T15:35:00.002-04:00

I've had a number of people comment on the flower hot pad that I have pictured here. So far I've made two of them and they're fun and fast to do. Everyone has been asking me for the pattern, so I've decided to post the link for all of you. Have fun making them!

http://www.freecraftunlimited.com/flower-hot-pad.html

Friends Day

2008-03-27T17:59:00.002-04:00

I have designated today as Friends Day! I'm sure some greeting card company has another day in mind, but today is my Friends Day. After getting up this morning, I realized that there was a message on my phone. Upon checking it, I discovered that it was a friend of mine from the Historical Society calling to check on how I was feeling. She's a sweet older woman, who instantly became a friend of mine at the society in spite of my outspoken nature. With that in mind, I instantly returned her call. How sweet of her to think of me! This is the second or third time she's called me since I've been sick.

Then I got to thinking. My friend Barbara is having knee surgury today, and another ONLINE friend of mine has been sick. I had told my online friend that I'd be calling her today, so after another cup of coffee I called her. I'm so happy I did because she just sounded so stuffed up and not really good. Of course, she had many excuses for not going to the dr. today. One of them being knitting squares!! lol I didn't push it, but made her promise that if she starts hacking up green or yellow she will see a doctor right away! Someone has to learn from my experience this month! If I had done what I told her to do I probably would have felt better last week! But no! I was just fighting the flu or a cold or something! Never mind that my temp went to 103 and I was shaking with cold so bad that I couldn't move! Or the fact that I kept coughing so hard that I almost passed out and saw green or yellow everytime I cleared the crap out of my throat! (sorry if that's too graphic, but it was nasty!!) But I was FINE! I just needed more medicine, rest, fluids and a good back rub! How stupid can one person get? Answer: Pretty darn stupid!!

After chatting with my friend for what must have been at least 2 hrs, I decided to call a new online friend who I've been dying to talk to in person. We've been reading each others blogs and sending emails, but it was time to meet in person! She very kindly sent me her phone number so I programed it into my phone and dialed! I had emailed her that I would probably call her today, but had no idea if she'd read it or not. She was very happy to recieve my call, and as I expected, we had a lot of ideas and other things in common. Isn't it nice when you find someone like that? I think so. We chatted like old friends for over 2 hours, and then my dh started making noises like he wanted some attention. She totally understood, so I hung up to give him what he craved. Attention from me!!

Even though I felt tired, I couldn't stand the bathroom floor another minute, so I decided to play housekeeper and clean it. Now I can sit and not fret!! lol I didn't clean the tub, but I can close the curtain so I can't see that! The floor is another matter all together!

So what happens when I sit down with my yogurt and water? My dd calles! Again with the phone! She was all upset because someone had hacked into her pay pal account and ran up bills of over $800!! She notified pay pal right away and they've flagged her account, but there's nothing more she can do until the stuff goes through. Then she can get her money back. She's notified her bank, but they can't do anything right now either! Poor kid works two jobs to keep her head above water and then someone does this to her! That stinks big time!!

I just get off the phone with her, and it rings again! My ear is burning by now and I'm wondering if I really want to pick up the phone. Then I'm wondering if there is something I can put between my ear and the phone to stop the burning and bring feeling back into my hand and arm which are hurting even though I've kept switching hands! I couldn't resist, so I answered the phone, which was a call from my stepson who is in Ill. on a job. He lives with his family in Georgia! He told me that it was snowing there and that he will be going home tomorrow. I assured him that his wife would be happy. He informed me that she had a bunch of jobs ready for him to tackle when he got back! LOL Serves him right for being away so much, not that he can avoid it because it's his job; but you know what I mean, right? He didn't keep me on the phone as long as he usually does because he said he was on a lunch break. Thank goodness, because I couldn't have taken much more!

As I'm fixing dinner, the PHONE RINGS AGAIN!! This time it's my friend Deb who is on her way to Home Depot and wanted company for the ride! Hopefully this will be my last call for the night!!

When I went on Ravelry to check things, I found a note to my inbox from yet another new friend that I have made online. She seems so nice. Well, she informed me that she had some sock yarn that she had bought and would like to share with me!! Imagine my surprise! I hardly know this nice person and she's offering me yarn!! That's like gold to me! I told her that if she was very sure that she wanted to share I would accept her wonderful offer! So I sent her my address.

Aren't friends great? I don't know what I would do without all of my wonderful friends, both the ones in person and my online ones. My friends who live near me, called and checked on me the whole time I was sick. My online friends left messages wherever they could telling me that they hoped I felt better. What a wonderful medicine! Friendship!

That's why I'm calling today Friends Day! I love my friends and I hope that I'm as good a friend to them as they are to me! God Bless You All!

Interesting Easter

2008-03-25T12:44:00.003-04:00

I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter. Mine turned out very interesting!

On Friday, Becca came and took me to my weigh in for Weight Watchers. I hadn't gone last week because I was sick. I was sure that I had probably gained, but I was wrong! I went down 2.8 pounds!! Yipee!! I've gone from 248 in Jan 07 to 191 now!! Someday I'll reach my goal! But I digress. After the WI my wonderful daughter took me to Applebee's for lunch. We were celebrating her b'day (March 4th) and my loss! We had a wonderful time. Then we were going to WalMart then to her place to the gym. When we got to WalMart and started walking, I started losing my breath. I had thought that I was better, but apparently I was wrong! Becca decided that the gym idea was out, so we went to her apartment and she showed me the new clothes she had purchased for her new job at Sears. Then we took the long way home because it was such a beautiful day. I thought for sure that I'd sleep well that night, but once again I was wrong.

On Saturday, I got up late after finally falling asleep early that morning. I kind of went around in a fog all day. Another sleepless night. Easter Sunday, Denise and Tim showed up around noon and went to Taco Bell for food. I had a London broil marinating for dinner. Denise had decided on Satuday that she was going to make hard boiled eggs to decorate on Sunday. When she put them on to boil at home, she had fallen asleep. When she woke up, the eggs were boiled and some had lost their shells while others had cracked! LOL So she brought them over and decided to make deviled eggs instead. She's such a riot! Becca and J got here around 4:30 for dinner. We had been watching a movie, and I had just started peeling potatoes! After dinner we all watched Michael Clayton with George Clooney. It was very good, but as I was watching I realized that it was becoming hard for me to breath. This was not good! I managed to make it to the end of the movie, then asked Becca to take me to the emergency room. I had no inhaler or any meds to help me, so I had to go there.

Driving up in the car, we had the ac blasting so that I could get air. When I got to the hospital, my breathing was better. I got taken to the back within a half hour! Then a guy named Chris came to give me a breathing treatment. Becca commented that I was smoking a pipe, to which I replyed that it was a bong and my drug of choice which was legal!! lol We were both laughing, and so was the nurse who told me to stop and start using the machine. I think the lack of oxagen to my brain was affecting me. When the treatment was over, I sat and sat and sat. Finally my drug dealer Chris came back with another treatment! When I was done with that one, they took me back to a room where a nurse came in and introduced herself. She said the dr would be there shortly. Then my dealer returned with another treatment. (that's 3 in case you've lost count). I just finished it and the dr came in to see me. He was a very pleasant Asian man, Dr. Millana. He said he wanted x-rays and blood work done before deciding treatment. Back came my dealer with yet another inhaler cocktail for me. This one had a little something extra added to it. While taking this treatment, the nurse came in and proceeded to put a small iv needle into the top of my right hand. She said that she was going to take blood and give me some meds. Becca left the room while she was doing this because needles make her faint and we figured one patient at a time was better than two! Finally the x-ray came to see me and took one picture and was gone. My butt was getting sore from sitting on this bed. I wanted to get moving, but then the dr came in and said that pnemonia had showed up in my right lung. He wanted me to have an iv of antibiotics! Back came Norma, the nurse, with a bag to hook up to the needle in my hand. She said it would take about an hour for it all to get done. So Becca decided to take J home so that he could get some sleep. Then she could pick up her truck. She had driven Denise's car to the hospital, and they had left J's car at the house. So they had to drive back, drop of Denise's car, pick up his car, go back to their apartment and then she would get her truck and come back to the hospital. Did I confuse anyone on that one? lol While she was dropping off her sisters car, she got me a diet soda and left a note for her dad who she assumed was asleep. Before she got back, Norma brought me a soda because the meds were giving me a bad taste in my mouth. Then Becca showed up with my Chocolate Cherry Diet Dr. Pepper! So of course I drank that too! Now I really had a problem because I had to go to tinkle really really badly! I had all I could do to sit there for another half hour while the iv finished! Dr. Millana came back and told me that I had pnemonia still in my right lung, but my blood work was good so he would let me go home!! Thank God!! He gave me a prescription for antibiotics and an inhaler and told me to get a recheck with my dr. When the nurse came back to take out the iv, she had Becca sign the paper work because I told her it was tinkle time. She said that I had suffered long enough and told me where the bathroom was! LOL All in all, the stay there wasn't so bad. I did have a tv to keep me company and pass the time. I can't really tell you what was on because I was so tired.

Becca stopped by her place and changed into her pj's and packed a bag to bring to the house. She was spending the night! Then she took me to get an iced coffee and home we came. When I went in to go to bed, my dh was awake, much to my surprise. He had been so worried that he made himself sick. Becca stayed all day Monday and even made dinner. She's such a sweetie! Denise texted me during the day and then stopped by on her way to her second job! Told me to call her if I needed ANYTHING! She's a sweetie too!

Today I'm feeling so much better that I went to my Tuesday craft club where I was greeted with Welcome back, how are you feeling? by everyone! How nice!

So at least now I know why I was so tired all the time and why my asthma kept acting up. I told Becca that they wouldn't keep me at the hospital because I was only sick in one lung, not both! She called me a dork and laughed, but I was serious!!

Since I had scared myself, I thought about my new friend Aunt Kathy, and decided that I needed to call her to make sure that she was ok. I don't want anyone to be sick like me! She promised to call the dr if she isn't feeling better by Wed, and I'm planning on making sure she does!

Enjoy the rest of your day! I'm going to take a nap now! LOL

Flu Bug

2008-03-18T16:41:00.002-04:00

Apparently, according to my oldest daughter, I have been wageing a battle with the flu bug. I was losing for awhile, but I think I finally have him on the run! It's been a lot of coughing, choking, fever, no appitite, but I think I'm making progress. Today I managed to take a shower and not have to sit for 10 minutes to catch my breath after it! I even sort of have an appitite. Not much of one, but a little one. And the best sign that I'm feeling better------this blog and my picking up a crochet hook!!

I'm so sore. I feel like I've been working out with the Biggest Losers!! Wouldn't mind that if I lost the pounds like they do, but I'm not sure that's the case. I've been taking steriods for my asthma, and they don't like you to lose weight. Fat is a steriods friend!! I'll be lucky if I haven't gained weight rather than lost it!!

Oh well, at least I'm feeling better. That's the most important part. My house is not clean by any stretch of the imagination, but I really don't care! My friends will understand, and anyone else just isn't welcome here.

If you're fighting this bug, I hope you're winning too! Feel better!

Fingerless mitts pictures

2008-03-08T18:41:00.004-05:00

I told you about my bout with the Fingerless Glove Bug. This is what the result was:

I have another pair of crocheted ones that I just realized I don't have a picture of to post! Darn! Have you caught the bug?

Fingerless Glove Bug

2008-03-05T18:26:00.004-05:00

Lately I've been taken over by the "Fingerless Glove Bug". It's a very sneaky little thing. It lures you in with an easy pattern that you make up in no time at all, then leaves you hungry for more! I'm addicted for sure, and I don't think that there's a cure. I made my first pair by getting a pattern from a friend in my craft club. I couldn't believe how fast they made up, so I had to make a second pair. Then at the Fingerless Glove Group on Raverly, I discovered a slew of patterns, even some in crochet. So naturally being a crocheter, I had to make a pair or two in crochet. Next I joined the Secret Spring Swap! I decided to try another knit pattern which turned out very nice. It's the twisted rib pattern. I made them in a light blue, but not for the exchange. For the exchange I went out and bought some nice alpaca yarn in a persimmon color. The pattern I picked out turned out to be hard for me to follow with my limited knitting knowledge, so I've found another pattern to do. Sure hope the person who receives them likes them and the color. Believe it or not, I also have a pair of the Opera Gloves on needles for my youngest daughter! I wonder if there's a cure for this bug?

Red Dress for Women's Heart Health

2008-02-27T18:37:00.002-05:00

Today started out pretty normal. I turned off the alarm and wanted to go back to sleep, but instead I got up so I'd be ready when Kathleen got here to pick me up. Today was craft club day and since I'm kind of in charge, it wouldn't do for me not to show up for no reason. I really love Wednesday craft club. I joined so many years ago that I've lost track. We meet at the Civic League Bldg. that the Historical Society that I also belong to owns. If it's not chilly, it's not bad meeting there. But if there was a chill the night before, the building gets cold. It doesn't really have insulation and the only heat is two pot belly stoves! Today was a chilly day. One of the ladies brought wood for the stove and started the fire. Then it wasn't bad. I managed to get some work done on the knitted tea cozy that I'm making and enjoyed talking to my friends.

Before I left for the club, the phone rang. It was a lady I know from the Historical Society. She wanted to know if I was going to the Red Dress Tea at the hospital today at 2. Pretending that I knew about the tea, I told her that I hadn't signed up for the tea because I didn't have a ride. Turns out that the woman who was going to go with her couldn't go, so she offered to call the hospital to see if I couldn't come. I told her that would be great. She said she would call back and leave a message if I wasn't here. So when Kathleen picked me up I asked her if she had heard about the tea. She hadn't, and said that there was nothing in our letter from the Red Dress Ladies about it. I just figured that somehow both of us had missed reading it in our letter.
I was wrong! When I got my call back, she said that if they asked I hadn't sent in my application for Prestige 55, which is a group at the hospital you pay to join. I asked her if she was sure it would be ok for me to go, and she said sure. So off I went to shower and find something red to wear!

When we got to the tea, my friend told them that she had called about me coming that morning, so they took my name, rank and serial number and let me pass!! I was so happy that I went because it was very informative.

I joined the Red Dress Ladies a few months ago. We got a tour of the cardiac care facilities at the hospital and a nice lunch. Today we got information about how to spot a heart attack in ourselves. Women don't have the same symptoms as men do. Did you know that? We also learned other things about heart health while sipping our tea and eating finger foods.

If you have never heard of the Red Dress movement, you should check it out. Did you know that more women die from heart disease than the top 3 killers, which includes cancer! Red Dress women are getting educated about their hearts and spreading the word that you need to take care of your heart. I hope that I have done that with this blog today. Here is a link for you to check out: http://www.goredforwomen.org/ PLEASE check it out!

Day of Caring

2008-02-23T19:30:00.001-05:00

Today was Day of Caring and Deb picked me up at 7 am to go over to the Civic League Bldg. I'm so not a morning person!! lol I had planned on hopping into the shower when I got up to try to wake myself up, but I woke up to thunder! So I scraped that idea. Lockhead Martin sponsors the Historical Society and helps us spruce up the bldg. Today two of the men put down a new floor and linelioum in the bathroom along with a new toilet! Now we can't see the ground from where the pipes come into the bathroom. hehe We also cleaned all the wood with wood cleaner (that was one of my jobs), swept (which didn't help much because everyone kept coming in with wet feet), and after the rain finally stopped azalae's were planted and brush cleared. The place looks so much better! The outside has been beautified and cleared of all the overgrowth (at least most of it). The only bad part was that after drinking coffee and water, everyone had to go to the bathroom and it was out of service! lol Deb, JoAnn and I came over here to use my bathroom and others went to McDonalds!! Needless to say everyone was happy when the bathroom was back in working order!

Everything was going well, and we were clearing the tables to clean them for lunch. As I walked around the end of one of the tables, I caught my foot on the push broom and fell hard flat on my face!! It really stunned me. After a minute, that seemed longer, I turned over and got help up from members who heard me fall. They got me ice for my head and checked my eyes. Now I have a big knot just above my nose by my eyebrow and a cut on the bridge of my nose from my glasses! Even the back of the top of my head is sore. My glasses didn't break, thank goodness! They made me sit with the ice for what seemed like forever to me. My nose hurt more than my head! I was even served my lunch because Deb didn't want me up walking! After lunch, I got back to work. I'm sore all over, especially my neck and shoulders, and left wrist. My tailbone is tightening up, so I keep getting up and moving. I don't want to get stiff, but I'm sure I will be tomorrow. My nose still hurts!

I am such a clutz!! It was nice seeing that the people in the society were worried about me though. Deb called a little while ago to make sure I was ok. She said that she'd call me tomorrow. That's nice.

So that was my day! Never a dull moment! LOL

Day of Caring

2008-02-23T19:30:00.000-05:00

Promised pictures of Mitts

2008-02-19T16:03:00.006-05:00

I told you if I got the pictures that my dd took of my first pair of fingerless mitts that I would post them. So here they are. I think they turned out pretty good for the first time. Just don't look really close at the thumb! LOL

As you've probably noticed I still have my computer! It isn't smelling today. Is that a good sign? I sure hope so! I would really miss being able to get online.

This morning was my Tuesday craft club. I hadn't quite finished the second mitt of the second pair that I'm making, but I took it with me. Everyone loved the one that was made and the crocheted pair was also a favorite with some! I decided not to work on it, because I couldn't do that and talk. So I worked on the petal dishcloth. I thought I was safe with that. I'd worked on one at club before and it turned out fine. I had my paper so that I could cross of the row I had done and everything. Well, I was wrong. When I finished the one petal it looked bigger!! LOL Guess I forgot to cross off a couple of rows. he he So tonight I'll be doing some frogging. I've never frogged a knit piece. I may end up messing up the whole thing and having to start it over again! Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes.

Speaking of frogging, I had to do that to my current tapestry crochet project yesterday. Everything was going well, then all of a sudden each side had an extra stitch at each end! I couldn't figure out what I had done to make that happen. So I frogged it and did it again. When I went to do the next row, I had the same problem. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong! Finally after studying the pattern, I realized that I didn't have extra stitches after all. I was doing the following pattern wrong! Duh!! Sometimes I feel so stupid! This was one of them. Now I've got it all straight in my mind and it will go fine until my brain freezes up on me again. (hope it's not soon)

Well, I'm off to finish the thumb on my last mitt, then pick out my next project!

Smells like something may be wrong!

2008-02-18T19:02:00.002-05:00

The smell is coming from my computer! It smells like something is overheating or burning or something. So if you don't see me online, it's probably because my computer went ker put!! Guess I should call my sil and tell him. Maybe he can make it down here sometime soon to take a look at it. He knows computers! Unlike myself, who can do some things but don't have a clue about others!

On to more pleasant things. I made my first pair of knit fingerless mitts! I had a little trouble on the thumb, but the nice ladies at Raverly gave me the help I needed. My dd, Denise, loved them so much that I gave them to her. Actually I was thinking of her when I made them, but I was prepared for her not to like them. The second mitt worked up faster than the first and I had no trouble with the thumb. Then I found a crocheted version and made them. They're pretty, but a little big. I need to modify them. I think I may use a different yarn.

Today I started a second pair of the knitted mitts. I remembered that I had promised my friend that I would show her what I had made. But I gave them away before showing her!! Yikes!! So this morning I started a new pair. I have the first one done and plan on doing the second one tonight.

I've also started another tapestry crochet hot pad. This one has flowers. I'm doing it in cream, green, pink. I love making these now!!

Guess I 'd better get knitting or my mitts won't be done tomorrow. Bye for now!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T10:24:00.002-05:00

It's hard to believe that it's Valentine's Day already! The time has just flown by since the first of the year. It will be a quiet day around here until the Nascar race this evening. Dh can't wait for it, and I enjoy watching myself. Right now he's got Speed channel on and is watching the cars warming up and testing. This is one of his favorite times of year.

I wrote a big long post the other day and somehow it got lost in cyber space! I don't know what happened, but I hope it doesn't happen again! So here goes!

This morning, I started a pair of fingerless gloves (mitts) on dpn's. I haven't used them in a very long time, maybe 40 yrs!! lol I'm using Paton's Classic Wool-Merino in Rosewood, which is a varigated yarn. An 85 yr old lady from my craft club loaned me the pattern yesterday because I had told her on Tuesday that I wanted to make a pair. She said that she'd never made any, but thought she had a pattern. So now I'm starting my first pair! Now I have to tell you what got me started on this road.

Last week, my yahoo mail was messed up and I was feeling very frustrated. Because of that, I went to Raverly to check things out. There's so much to see there that you can get lost for days! As I was checking out a profile, I saw that this person belonged to a fingerless glove group. My two daughter's like that kind of thing, so I decided to check it out. I ended up joining it! I checked out the crochet patterns and didn't see a lot that I liked. They all looked so basic and blah! So then I checked out the knit patterns and found ones that I liked, but I'm not sure I can do. I was going to vamp up the crocheted pattern to add some pretty pattern stitches, but since I've never made one pair, I wasn't sure where to start! I finally decided to try making a knit pair of basic mitts, then go on to designing my own crocheted ones!

In my frustration, I also joined a crocheted socks group, and a flowers group, where I met someone who is willing to help me learn free form crochet! So now I'm learning to make fingerless mitts, need to make crocheted socks, and have a challenge to do for the free form crochet! Not to mention that I'm putting the final row on my second tapestry crochet hot pad (tapestry crochet is also a group that I belong to at Raverly). So I think that I will have enough to keep me busy, provided I stay off of the computer and away from Raverly! Both of these are very hard to do, and it's never only a few minutes on either!

Guess I should get going so that I can work on my mitt! It's almost lunch time already and I don't have much done yet!

After Super Bowl Monday!

2008-02-04T10:56:00.000-05:00

The football game got a little boring until it got down to the wire. My dh just didn't want New England to win, and I was routing for Eli Manning. Denise came over with Tim, who was wanting New England to win. Becca came ove with Jerimah just to enjoy the game. We were all getting a good laugh watching my dh get involved in the game, and Tim kept egging him on! All in all it was a lot of fun! So much fun in fact that dh turned the alarm he had set so he could go sell at the flea market off. He tried to tell me that it didn't go off, but I knew it did because I was up when he turned it off.

I have asthma, and I've been doing great lately. But for some reason, all of a sudden last night, I started feeling weezy. I thought it would pass after I used my inhaler, but everyone was gone and I still was the same. I decided to stay up to see if maybe the medicine would kick in and even took the dog out so that I got some fresh cool air. Nothing helped. I went to bed, but I was having a hard time breathing. I did manage to get to sleep, but woke up about 3:30 am feeling very short of breath. So I got up and got out the nebulizer. I'm sure the medicine that goes in it must be out of date, but I figured that I'd give it a try before waking dh up to take me to the emergency room. Happily it worked! I was so relieved! There was no way that I wanted to call an ambulance or go to the hospital, which is what was going through my mind. Now I'm trying to figure out what triggered my attack. I was having fun all day, and I don't remember doing anything that would trigger my asthma. I had gone in the bedroom that Denise moved out of and packed some things, but if dust was the trigger I should have felt it before last night. Guess I'll never know why.

On the good side, Becca came over early to do her laundry and she brought her digital camera. I had asked to to bring it so that I could get pictures of my crochet and knit projects. I belong to Raverly and want to get my projects online. I have pictures of a lot of the things that I've made, but these are some of the newest ones and I had no pictures. Now I just have to wait for her to send them to me and then put them on Flickr and then on Raverly. I wish I could just put them from my computer to Raverly without Flickr. I really hate doing the extra step. I spend enough time online when I get online!

I decided on Saturday that I wanted to make another knit petal dishcloth. Then of course, I couldn't find my pattern! So after emailing Aunt Kathy, I found it online! So then I had to send another email telling her to disregard the first one! At any rate, I finally made another one in Lily Sugar'n Cream Lime Stripes which is a self-striping yarn. It turne out really cool! I love it. When Becca sends me the pics I'll post it.

I'm going to make a 12" square today that's posted on the 12" crochet a block a month club at Raverly. I made the January square, and this one is for February. I'm not a big fan of sewing squares together, but this one is kind of nice.

It's supposed to be really nice here for a couple of days, probably in the 80's. Then it's going to go back to the 70's. On Regis and Kelly this morning they showed that it was snowing in NY. I like the snow, but don't really miss dealing with it. What I really miss is the scarfs, hats, sweaters that I love! If you're in the snow I hope you stay safe and warm. Have a great day!

What a night!!

2008-01-25T13:16:00.000-05:00

Our Historical Society hosted the Chamber of Commerce mixer last night. Since I'm an officer, I felt it was my duty to go. I don't enjoy going into groups where I don't know people. I guess the shy part of me rears it's little head when I go into those types of situations.

I didn't eat dinner because I knew there would be finger food there plus desserts and today was my weigh in at WW, so I didn't want to over due the food. Then I wanted to look nice, because I didn't think anyone would be showing up in tee shirts and jeans. When I went into my closet, I had a horrible time trying to find something! I realized that 95% of my clothes are very casual. When I found something that I really liked and tried it on, low and behold it was so big that the shoulder seams came about 3 inches off of my shoulders!! LOL Of course dh said it looked very nice, but I couldn't wear that! Turns out it was a 3x that used to be tight on me. hehe Finally I found a long black dress hanging there. When I tried it on, it actually fit me! Joy filled my soul! As it turned out, I could have gone in my comfortable jeans and a nice shirt! Who knew? lol My friend Deb said that I did a good job of mingling, which made me feel good because I wanted the society to come over as a friendly bunch of people (needy tho we are).

I did eat the food that was there including a piece of homemade cake that was delicious. When I went in for my WI (weigh in) this morning, I had lost another 1.2#'s!! I couldn't believe it!

So that's how my night went. Did I mention that I received a lot of compliments, that I don't know how to deal with?

Dizzy Wednesday

2008-01-23T13:24:00.000-05:00

I'm glad you enjoyed my frog story yesterday! Seems like there's never a dull moment with those girls! lol

Today I'm feeling dizzy today. I think my sinus' are bothering me because of the weather today. It's gloomy and grey outside and rain is looming. That always bothers my sinus. Not too much I can do about it. I'm going to take some sinus meds to see if it helps.

Since some nice person sent me the knitting calendar, I decided to make the dishcloth pattern for January which is an elephant. Remember I'm not really a knitter, I'm a wanna be! Really I'm a crocheter! I got it finished last night and took it to my craft club this morning to show everyone. One of the ladies in my club who is a knitter and a crocheter is blind. When I showed her my knitting, she said that for someone who isn't a knitter, it looked darn good to her! She can feel the stitches and felt the raised elephant. Then another lady who is 85 and a knitter told me that I did a good job. So I'm feeling pretty good right now.

I couldn't decide what to take to make at the club today, so I put a ball of #10 thread in my bag, my crochet hooks and a couple of pattern books. When I got to the club, I had to help my friend with the afghan pattern like the one that I made. She wanted to make one like mine and so did my other friend. So then after helping them, a new lady came in and needed help learning to crochet. Of course I helped her! I finally got to look at my books and decided to make a potpourri angel. I had made a few last year and everyone loved them, so I'm making another one. Don't ask me who's getting it or anything, because I really don't have a clue.

Denise is coming over tonight. She wants to watch the new show The Moment of Truth with me. They hook people up to a lie detetor, then ask them questions. I'm thinking that this show is going to end some marriages! I saw a preview where they were asking a man if he would cheat on his wife if she wouldn't find out! Now if he says yes, I'm thinking they have problems! Who knows what other questions they will ask. It should be interesting. Denise even wants to have popcorn, actually kettle corn, while we're watching tv, so I'm saving some of my points (I'm doing Weight Watchers).

Guess I'll go work on my angel now. Don't for get to go to Aunt Kathy's Place, http://gimpykatk.blogspot.com/ , and enter her cool contest. And check out Kathy and Shelly's stuff at http://gimpykatkadezmom.etsy.com/ . They really have some nice stuff for sale.

Bye for now!

Terrific Tuesday

2008-01-22T16:04:00.000-05:00

Ok, maybe terrific is too strong a word, but I wanted something that started with a T. It has been a pretty relaxing day so far. Tuesday mornings I go to a craft club with my friend. The ladies are all very nice and most of them belong to the Red Hat group that I joined. In keeping with getting back to some knitting, I started the elepahant dishcloth last night. I found it pretty easy which made me feel good. So I took it with me this morning to the club. Now I must tell you that we talk a lot at this club, so doing anything that I need to pay close attention to just doesn't work out well. I only had to frog once! which is amazing seeing as how much I was talking! lol I managed to get 10 rows done which really surprised me. When I got home, I had some lunch then went back to knitting. I think I'm about 10 rows from finishing it! I'm so proud of myself. The ladies who knit at the club told me that the stitches looked nice and even, of course I could see that myself, but it felt good for them to say it anyway. Maybe someday I'll make a sweater or something, who knows!

I have to tell you what happened last night. I was sitting and knitting when the phone rang. It was my dd, Denise, who was just walking from her car to the apartment that she's now sharing with her sister. She said that she likes to be on the phone while she's doing that. I could hear her unlocking the door when she suddenly asks me if Becca is home. I told her that I thought so, but wasn't sure because she hadn't answered my text earlier. She started gasping and saying omg! Her voice sounded scared and excited. Then she told me that she would call me back. Well I didn't know what to think! I was imagining all sorst of things, including a break in! After what seemed like forever, but was actually only a minute or two, she called me back. She said that when she went in she saw what she thought was a toy frog in the middle of the living room. She thought Becca had bought the dog a new toy. As she walked toward it, the frog hopped!! LOL It startled her. Then as she's talking to me, she woke her sister up to help her get the frog out of the apartment. We were all laughing at a tree frog in the living room when I hung up so the girls could try to get it and take it outside. They have no idea how this big tree frog got into the apartment. I thought this was funny, so I had to share it.

Tomorrow evening, the Historical Society, of which I'm the secretary, is hosting the Chamber of Commerce mixer at our Civic League Building. So last night, a small group of us went over there and cleaned. I've never been to a mixer before, let alone been part of hosting one! We will be having hor derves (probably spelled that wrong) and deserts. I promised to be there since I'm an officer, but I could really care less about going. It should be an interesting evening. I'll let you know how it goes.

Time to get off of here and start dinner. Bye for now!

Can't Find Them!

2008-01-21T11:32:00.000-05:00

Have you ever made something then not been able to find it? Awhile back, I crocheted two beautiful tapestry hotpads. Do you think I can find them? Heck no!! I looked through every storage container in my bedroom this morning looking for them. For the life of me I can't remember ever giving them to anyone, but maybe I did! I remember thinking after I finished them, that they were so much work that I was just going to hang on to them for myself. I never do that, but it had taken me awhile to get these done so I coveted them! Shame on me! I guess that's what I get for wanting them so bad. I just joined a tapestry crochet group on Raverly and wanted to take a picture so that I could post them. ( Yes, I forgot to take a picture. How dumb can I be?) I'm so frustrated right now that I could scream!! That's why I'm doing this post. I'm hoping that it will relieve my anger at not being able to remember what I did with them.

On the good side though, I finished my doily with the hearts and pineapples! It is currently hanging in my bathroom drying. Well actually it's laying on this drying round net that is hanging in my bathroom. It's supposed to be used to dry your sweaters I think, but I always use it to dry my doilies! I will get a picture of it to post! It turned out so pretty and it's about 21 1/2 inches across.

Well, guess I'd better go and finish my laundry. Dh didn't leave me enough money to do all of it, but I had assumed that he did. So I did the towels and a couple of blankets in two separate loads, and now I don't have enough to do the sheets and dark clothes. Our landlord put a laundry room out in back of our apartments with 2 washers and 2 dryers in it. I really like that because I hated taking everything to the laundromat.

Let me know if you ever misplaced one of your favorite projects. I'm really hoping that I'm not alone in my frustration. LOL

Teaching crochet

2008-01-16T15:12:00.000-05:00

This morning was my craft club. I love this club! I joined it quite awhile ago, and was asked last year to take on the responsibility of sort of a president of the club. We meet once a week on Wednesday mornings from 9 until about 11 or 11:30. Everyone brings a project to work on while chatting and joking. It's such fun, and everyone has become a friend of mine. They're great ladies.

It seems like everytime I decide to do something that's a little different, everyone else wants to do it too! This makes me feel good because it means that they like what I'm making. Last year I was making purses with flowers on them, and everyone wanted to learn how to make them. So I ended up teaching my friends how to make the mesh that went around the purchased bag and how to make the flowers. I have to admit that I really enjoyed it.

Now it's happening again. I've been working on an afghan that a lady who used to come to the club gave me the pattern for after I admired the one that she had made. Now it seems like everyone wants to make it, even at my Tuesday club! So last week I helped my one friend pick out the color yarn to use and then start her afghan, and today I showed another friend how to start it. I'm happy to share what I've learned how to do. Starting this pattern can be confusing, and it actually took me a couple of tries before I understood the directions. I'm not sure if it's the directions or me!

After the club, my friend and I joined our Red Hat club to get boxes ready for Operation Shoebox to send to the troops. Operation Shoebox was started by a lady in our town who's sons were in the military overseas. She started packing shoeboxes with things they would need, such as wipes, hand lotion, soap, shampoo, comb, toothpaste--you get the idea. It caught on and she had people helping her, then churches started helping, and different groups. Finally it got national attention. I'm not sure how many boxes get sent, but it's a lot. My craft club knit and crocheted helmet hats to add to the boxes to keep heads warm under their helmets. Our groups made over 600 and other groups made them too. I think we did 160 shoeboxes today.

Tomorrow is my first Red Dress meeting. I'll let you know about that tomorrow.

Time to go crochet!

Do you have printer problems?

2008-01-15T13:33:00.000-05:00

The other day, my youngest dd, Becca, gave me the printer that she had hooked up to the computer in her room. She has moved out, about a year ago, and her sister, Denise, who has been using the computer and bedroom is now moving in with her. Denise is taking the computer, which actually belongs to her sister, Becca, as well as the computer desk, also belonging to sis. But Becca decided that mom should get the printer that she bought since she and her bf have a new computer and printer. Have I totally confused you yet?

I decided to clean up my computer desk and make room for my new printer, scanner, copier. I figured that I would have it installed before Becca came back to visit again. I cleaned off my shelf on my desk only to discover that I'd either have to somehow cut a hole in the back, or run the wires out the front and around to the back of the tower. Since I didn't like either of those options, I went through the wonderful stuff, crochet and knit patterns mostly, that I had on the shelf, then put them all neatly back and proceeded to clean off the top shelf above my monitor.
When I finally got the printer hooked up and the cd installed, Becca showed up. I was so proud of myself for actually finding the right place to plug the printer into on the computer and that I was installing the hardware without any help. That's when the problem occured! It said "Print a test page". It seemed to be working fine, but when the paper dropped----it was blank!! So then Becca took over and tried to troubleshoot the problem. She even downloaded new drivers. I think they may have been updates or something. But I'm still not getting anything on my paper.

I just went to Shelly's blog (http://kadezmom.blogspot.com/ ) where she was talking about ink cartriges that go out of date. So here's my thought~~~~do they go out of date in the computer if they're not used? It doesn't seem possible, but who would have thought that an ink cartridge would go out of date!? It might explain my invisible printing! The printer acts and looks like it's printing, but nothings on the paper. Invisible? Who knows? Just a thought.

She found a customer service number for me to call, but I hate calling. So I'm hoping that she'll do it for me. I know that I'm a wimp. You don't have to tell me. But I'm intimidated by computers! I can use them, but I really don't understand them. Know what I mean?

Ok, guess I'll go work on my afghan, or start my pink elephant dishcloth! Have a great day!

Finished the hat

2008-01-14T10:28:00.000-05:00

This is the picture of the candy cane cap that I made. It's my first knit project for this year. I think it turned out good. I have no idea who will be getting it right now, so I'm putting it away for the future.

Since I joined a tapestry crochet group on Raverly, I'm thinking of making a tapestry crochet hot pad. I've made two, but I have no idea where I've put them. I think they must be in a box in my closet that has finished projects in it. They were so pretty that I didn't want to use them, and I'd put so much work into them that I didn't want to give them to someone who wouldn't appreciate them. So into the finished projects box they went!

I've also found a great doily that I want to make for Valentines day! It has hearts and pineapples. It would like nice on my coffee table.

I also plan to start my first knitted dishcloth off of the knitting calendar! I think this will be a fun project for me, and I'm hoping that it won't take me a long time to make. I'm a crocheter who knits a little, remember? lol

Guess I need to get off of this computer and start some of these projects. I'm still working on my afghan, but I need to take a break every now and then because the weight of it makes my left hand hurt. It's really pretty though. I've added it on Raverly as a WIP.

Have a great day!

Trying to settle in at Raverly

2008-01-10T10:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was spent on the computer. The day flew by as I attempted to get settled in at Raverly. There is so much that you can put on there, and I'm stuggeling to find pictures of my projects. Then when I find the pictures, I don't have the book of the pattern I used! I may just post my pics without that. On top of that, they have a place where you can put pictures of your stash! I've never even considered taking pictures of the yarn that I have waiting for me to use.

So instead of worrying about all of that, I explored the groups. I found some interesting ones that I think will be fun to be a part of there. Thank goodness not everyone there is a knitter! I don't have anything against knitting, but I sometimes feel that crochet is underrated and underused. There is a group there that believes the same thing, so I joined it. There is also a group that does Tapestry crochet. I've only made a couple of tapestry crochet double sided hot pads, but it is very nice and not for the beginner. I have to find the ones I made to take pics of them. I know I have them put away somewhere, because I selfishly didn't want to give them away. I also found a group of walkers attempting to get in 10,000 steps a day! I doubt that I will achieve that goal soon, but it will help get me motivated again to start walking. I've stopped since I hurt my knee in September, but I think it's healed enough that I can do some walking as long as I don't overdo it.

That was my day yesterday. Not really exciting to most people but I did feel that I got quite a bit done. I even remembered that I had some of my project pics on floppies, so I uploaded them to Flickr. Sometime today I need to post them at Raverly. I have a doily that is especially pretty that I want to get up there.

In the meantime, I need to clean my kitchen and bathroom. So now I'm off to do that. When I get that done, I may take a break and finish reading book 5 of the Stephine Plum series. I haven't touched it since before Thanksgiving I'm sorry to say.

Have a great day everyone!

Goofing Off

2008-01-03T19:20:00.000-05:00

Most of today, I've been busy undecorating our Christmas tree so that my dh could take it out after he got home from work. But when I finished that, I ended up goofing off by playing around on this computer. I went to my MySpace page and changed the background, added some pics and visited my dd's pages to comment on the pictures they had posted from New Year's Eve.

Then I decided that I should add a pic to my profile here, and maybe some new pics on the page.

The pictures that I've added here are from Christmas and New Year's Eve. "The Short One" is a picture of my husband, Dave, my youngest dd, Rebecca (who will be 20 in March), and the short one--Me!! Becca was wearing heels, but she's taller than me without them. I like this picture because everyone looks happy, and it shows how much weight I've lost. Of course it only shows it if you know what I looked like last January! LOL But it makes me feel good anyway. "Mom in the Middle" is a picture of my oldest dd, Ann (who is 39!), me, and my next to youngest dd, Denise, who just turned 27 on the 27th of December. I have some pretty girls! My boys aren't bad either!

Guess it's time for me to go work on the striped stocking hat that I'm knitting. This is a pic of what I'm working on, only I'm doing it in white and green.

Happy New Year!

2007-12-31T13:05:00.000-05:00

It doesn't seem possible that tomorrow will start a new year. This year has just flown past so fast! I guess that's what happens as you get older. I'm looking forward to the new year with anxious anticipation. There will be a lot of different things happening this year and I'm looking forward to the challenges that will confront me.

I plan on trying to do more knitting in the new year. I taught myself to knit in my 20's and did quite a bit back then. Since then however, I've been doing crocheting which I consider myself an expert at doing. That's why I want to get back to some knitting. I want to learn to follow the directions and learn new stitches. I'm sure this will be fun. A new friend of mine sent me the 2008 knitting calendar, so I will be attempting some of those patterns first.

I've lost 50 pounds in 2007 and I want to lose at least 50 more this year! I'm hoping that my knee heals so that I can get back to my walking routine again.

I hope that anyone reading this has a wonderful new year!

Christmas is over already?

2007-12-26T19:13:00.000-05:00

After all the hustle and bussel and getting everything ready, Christmas didn't last nearly long enough for me. But it did tire me out! LOL

I actually slept later than normal on Christmas morning, because the girls didn't wake us up early. When I got up, Becca greated me in the hall. ( She's 19 and my youngest.) I went out and put on the coffee, then proceeded to get the onions and celery ready to put into my stuffing. I hadn't been able to do it the night before because Denise was baking cookies. Whe the coffe was ready, my dh came out and after his first cup, started handing out the presents. That's our tradition. Becca had decided to spend the night, because her truck was being fixed and didn't get returned to her until late.

We had fun opening everything, and the girls had gotten together to give their dad and me some very nice things. After all the openings, I went out and stuffed the turkey and got it into the oven which had been heating. Then, as our tradition mandates, I proceeded to cook breakfast for everyone! To appreciate this, you have to understand that I NEVER make breakfast! Only on Christmas to I break my tradition! lol I made hash browns, link sausage, maple sausage, toasted English muffins, and eggs! I had a bowl of orange and grapefruit sections that I had prepared the day before and an English muffin with one small patty of maple sausage!

Our kids started arriving around 1 pm. Denise went to get her brother Sam, because he didn't have a ride. Becca went to get her bf. Then my oldest gd, Jackie, and her bf, Rob, arrived with her sister, Cindy. Jackie is 6 months older than Becca! lol I haven't seen her for quite awhile, so seeing her was a real treat! Shortly after they arrived, her mother, my odd, Ann, and her dh, Bill, arrived. Next came Chris, with his girlfriend, and his brother, Jimmy. Before I knew it, the apartment was full and very loud! It was wonderful! None of us had much money this year, but that didn't bother us at all. Everyone got something, no matter. Denise had baked cookies for everyone to take home.

Before I knew it, the day was nearly over and we were all watching "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation", another family tradition! Then slowly, everyone started leaving. The day was done!

It didn't seem to last very long. It seems to me that Christmas used to be longer! Could I possibly be getting older? Never!

Hope you all had a great day too!

Photos with Santa

2007-12-16T19:46:00.000-05:00

Today the Historical Society had Photos with Santa and stories with Mrs. Claus. This is the first year of our doing this, so we had no idea how many kids to expect. We had about 12! Not very many, but at least a few. I played Mrs. Claus. It was such fun reading to the kids while they had their cookies and punch! They wanted to know who made the cookies, and I told them that me and the elves made them. hehe

I love seeing how children react to Santa and Mrs. Claus. Their eyes get so big and they're full of questions. One little girl had to sit on my lap while I read the story! She was so cute! One little boy sat on Santa's lap for over 5 minutes talking to him, then after hearing the story and talking to me, he had to go back to talk to Santa some more. He even whispered in his ear! What a cutie he was!

Christmas is wonderful when you see it through the eyes of children. It's magic to them. Most of these children came for pictures after church, so they are learning the reason for the season too!

I hope everyone has a magical Christmas!

Pass it on

2007-12-10T17:05:00.000-05:00

In Aunt Kathy's blog, I read about an idea for not so random acts of kindness. All you have to do is respond to my blog, and I will send you a handmade gift. It won't be sent until after Christmas, because I'm way to busy right now to send things out, not to mention too poor! So if you would like to receive a handmade gift from me, just be one of the first 3 to respond to my blog. Sounds like fun, don't you think?

Well, this week is the Historical Society Christmas party that I've been planning. This weekend, I was busy making sure that we had enough tables and chairs to seat the 85 people who have paid to come. Then I was out gathering pine branches that we will be using to decorate the tables. The vice president of the society was helping me. On Wednesday, some ladies from my craft club will be helping me to sweep and wipe off the tables for the dinner, since I couldn't get all of that done this weekend. Then on Wednesday evening, some members of the society will be helping me to set up the tables and put the pine branches in place. We will also be doing a little more decorating.

I talked to the chorus director this week and she is planning on printing up some sheets with the words to carols, so that everyone can join in singing them. It sounds like a great idea to me. They will also be doing some other songs.

Then I found out this weekend that I will be playing Mrs. Claus for Cookies with Mrs. Claus and photos with Santa, that the society is hosting. We looked at the flea market for a wig, but ended up ordering one online. It will be here Friday. We even found some reading glasses that she might wear. This will be interesting.

If you've read my blog before, you know that the Historical Society was in the local Christmas parade with our entry of the 5 Rings of History. I'm happy to say that we won the Presidents Trophy for our efforts. Everyone had a great time at the parade.

Everyone in my craft club loved the crocheted satin ornaments that I gave to them at our Christmas party. We all had such a great time, and the handmade gifts that were brought for our exchange were even better than they were last year.

Right now, I'm crocheting a capelet in white for Mrs. Claus to wear while reading the stories. The vice president of the society is going to purchase some Paton's Divine yarn for me to use as an edging for it. I discovered after starting it that the yarn I had was actually a light pink instead of white.

Guess that's it for today. Have a great evening.

Christmas Parade is over!!

2007-12-03T18:51:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, Belleview held their Christmas Parade. The temp was in the 80's!! Our Historical Society float (if that's what you want to call it) came together nicely! In the front for the 1800's we had two pony carts surrounded by Indians and settlers. (One of my dd's was an 1890 woman and her bf was Chief Osceola) Next came the 1920's with a vintage car with flappers and a golfer walking ( my oldest dd was one of the flappers ). The next era was the 1930's with a vintage car with two ladies from the society dressed like gangsters riding and gangsters walking (my ydd and her bf were part of this group). For the 1940's, we had a jeep filled with veterns with people dressed in vintage military costumes walking along. Last but not least was the 1950's. My dh drove our PT Cruiser with the flames and he wore his leather jacket and I dressed like a bobby socker. Of course there were greasers and bobby sockers walking with us.

We found out today that we won the President's Trophy! Not bad for our first time!

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-20T18:18:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that it's almost Thanksgiving. Time has sure flown by this year. Thanksgiving has changed since I was young. Every year the adults in my family would take turns having Thanksgiving and Christmas. All of the women would be in the kitchen preparing the meal, and the men would be in the living room talking and watching football. There was never a cross word spoken, but there was a lot of laughter. I used to have the job of stuffing the celery with cream cheese and making the cream cheese balls and rolling them in the ground nuts. My sister and I always wanted the big drumsticks ( I think they tricked us into thinking they were the best part of the turkey! lol) Some of the dishes were made at home and brought to the hosting home.

We used to follow that tradition, but as the children have gotten older and moved farther away, it became a harder tradition to follow. This year, it will just be my husband, 2 youngest daughters and probably the boyfriend. I like this because I have 9 children and a small apartment! I don't really enjoy big crowds, which is what my family is when everyone is present. That's not to say that I don't enjoy having everyone together, but it's been a very long time since that has happened.

My youngest son is having my oldest dd and his brother come to his house this year with his new girlfriends family. I'm sure they'll have a wonderful time.

I'm looking forward to a nice peaceful day of good food and good company.

Things are coming together

2007-11-13T16:58:00.000-05:00

As I've told you, I've been working with the vice president of the Historical Society on the Christmas Parade which is December 2nd. This week has been filled with trying to get that all together. I think we visited almost every thrift shop in the area looking for costumes for everyone to wear. Last night, we visited the man who is going to loan us his antique cars! They are beautiful! I'm so excited about this whole thing. I hope it all comes together the way we want it to. On Friday, we're going to the Civic Theater to rent costumes that we still need, like the Indian costume. I'm not sure what else we will need. I feel like the club is finally pulling together. The only main problem is that most of the members are over 75 and can't walk. So everyone wants to ride!! I hope to get some pictures to post here to show how things turn out.

So now, the newsletters about the dinner and everything else that's going on with the society for December has been sent out as of today! Now we wait for the dinner reservations to come dribbling in. Heaven forbid anyone answer right away!! LOL

Tonight, I'm off with my dd to a Girl's Night Out Undercover Wear party. Neither of us have any money, but the woman holding the party is her best friends mother. It should be a fun night, and I think my other dd will drop by for awhile after work. There's even supposed to be a bon fire, and it will last until midnight----not sure I'll last that long though! LOL

It's going to be a good week!

2007-11-05T15:41:00.000-05:00

I hope all of you had a good weekend. They go buy so quickly!! I was only planning on going to the flea market for veggies and fruit with my dd on Saturday, but it didn't turn out that way. The vice president of the Historical Society called and asked me if I could help her make a list of the costumes we managed to get so far for the Christmas Parade. So she picked me up and off we went to the Civic League Bldg. When we finished with our list, we ended up going through paperwork that the president who just left, left at the bldg. We found some very interesting stuff that we will be able to use.

I'm so happy. I was elected treasurer of the society because no one else wanted the job! I never really wanted to do it, but I have been doing it for a year now. I have not enjoyed this position at all!! Last week, a decision was made that I would become the secretary, since the present secretary hasn't been able to make the meetings, and the man who had been the treasurer agreed to become treasurer again! So I have balanced the books and written my final report!! Yipee!! I would much rather take notes than the money!

This Thursday is the society meeting. I will give my final report, then start taking notes! I can't wait to see what the membership thinks of our idea for the Christmas Parade. The theme is "The 12 Days of Christmas", so we're doing "The 5 Golden Rings of History". The first ring will be the 1900's, with a horse and buggy, pioneers and Indians. The second ring will be the 1920's with an old car and flappers and people in period dress. The third will be the 1930's gangsters with an old car. The fourth is the 1940's veterans, possibly some from the VFW, but we do have some costumes. And the fifth ring is the 1950's bobby sockers and greasers! My dh will be driving our PT Cruiser that has flames on the sides. He has a leather jacket to wear. We are trying to get sponsors for each ring for $100. So far we have two. I think this will be so much fun! We're getting the old cars with drivers for free!!

I think I'm fighting the cold that my ydd has had, only in a different way. I have been so tired lately, and food hasn't been staying with me for long either. I'm still feeling tired, but other than that I seem to be doing ok.

Tomorrow is my craft club day. My Red Hat Club is going out for lunch, but my friend and I decided that we don't want to go. So we will just go to the club. I made my friend two pair of crocheted flower earrings that have pearls for the centers. I don't have the wire parts though.

Time for me to start dinner, so I'll go for now. Today my microwave decided that it will only run for about 20 seconds! I never liked this microwave, but at least I had one after my nice one broke. Now it looks like I won't have one again! Darn!

Have a great evening!

November is here!!

2007-11-01T18:59:00.000-04:00

Time sure does fly by doesn't it! It's hard to believe that today is the first day of November. Soon it will be Thanksgiving and then Christmas!! I'm not ready for either one. Usually I have a lot of Christmas presents made by now, but not this year!!

Right now I'm working on a set of golf club covers for my daughter's boyfriend. They're not your usual golf club covers though. These look like men wearing hats and they have mustashes! They're so cute!

Yesterday I bought a bag of satin Christmas balls. I plan on decorating them with crochet. Hopefully there will be enough there for me to give them to my friends at our Wednesday craft club Christmas party. We always exchange hand made gifts, and some of us make little gifts for everyone at the party---like party favors.

Guess I need to get off this computer and go work on my crocheting. Sometimes I wish there were two of me!! One could be playing on the computer, and the other could be crocheting! hehe Since there's only one of me, I'm going to have to sign off of here and go start my crocheting.

Do you dress up for Halloween?

2007-10-30T18:38:00.000-04:00

Today, we had a party at my Tuesday craft club. It was for Halloween. Since I wasn't feeling all that great, I opted not to try to figure out a costume. I also had to be there early to help get the table set and decorations around. I'm not very good anymore at costumes, but some of the ladies came in looking great. I actually thought that one of them was someone's husband! lol
When we lived in Virginia Beach, the neighborhood where we lived loved Halloween. All of the parents got involved in dressing up even if it was just to answer the door. It was great!

Tomorrow night, I'm going to be a witch at the Civic League Bldg, where the members of the historical society are going to hand out candy. We have a large cast iron caldron that we're filling with dry ice. It will be so much fun!

What are all of you doing for Halloween?

How do you like the new look?

2007-10-24T18:10:00.000-04:00

I wasn't really happy with the way this blog looked before, so I decided to change it a little. Now it's my favorite color! How do you like it?

Do you believe in ghosts or spirits?

2007-10-21T14:39:00.000-04:00

This time of year, a lot of people start talking about ghosts and spirits. I got thinking about this because our town is having a ghost and historical walk this Saturday and next Saturday. Then I found out that the Civic League Building that the historical society owns was on the tour as an historical site. Since I'm a member of the society, I was happy to hear that it was included.

Yesterday (Saturday), a group of us had been at the building cleaning for an upcoming chicken pileau dinner next Friday, and decorating for Halloween because we plan to hand out candy to the local children. The vice president of the society was joking about walking around in the building with some dim background light to imitate a ghost lurking in the building as the tour came around. It sounded like fun, but then she decided against it.

As it turned out, someone brought more decorations to the building late, so she was there as the first tour arrived. They were so happy that the building was open and that they could go inside to look. She even sold some of the calendars we're selling as a fund raiser to pay for the new roof on the building. After they left, she called and asked me to join her because there would be two more groups that night. So even though I was tired, I went over to keep her company.

Around 7:45 pm, the second tour group arrived and again came inside. As one woman was leaving, she commented that she had seen a group of ladies sitting around the fireplace sewing and chatting and having a wonderful time. There was no one there except myself and my friend! The place were she said she had envisioned these women was the place that women of the Civic League used to gather. The building had originally been petitioned off into a large room, then a room for the men, and a room for the women. I feel that she may have actually seen a vision of these women, but my friend things she just imagined it. We got into a lengthy discussion of spirits.

I would love to hear how you feel about this.

What is a Friend?

2007-10-18T09:44:00.000-04:00

Have you ever thought about what a friend is? I think about it alot. I think I'm a good friend, but sometimes I feel like I've let my friends down. But have I really? Probably not. This is my idea of what a friend is so you can take it for what it's worth. A friend is a person who you can talk to and tell anything, and they won't judge you. They will listen and say they know how you feel, or don't know how you feel but can understand how you're feeling. A friend will lend you their shoulder to cry on when you need to cry and will never complain that you're making it wet. A friend is beside you through the bad times as well as the good times. They celebrate with you and morn with you. They lift you up when you're down, and fly with you when you're up! They may forget a birthday or anniversary, but not usually. They're interested in the things you do and who you are.

What do you think a friend is?

My newest creation

2007-10-10T13:27:00.000-04:00

This is a baby blanket that I made for my youngest daughter to give to her friend who just had her first baby, a boy. She did his room in Tigger, but was going to add some Pooh. I found a graph online for a knit Tigger and Pooh, but I'm better at crochet. So I used the graph as a cross stitch pattern. The blanket is done in the afghan stitch, with Pooh and Tigger cross stitched on the top.

Hurt my knee

2007-09-17T12:31:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, while I was at the mall with my youngest dd, I tripped and fell while coming back into the mall from an employee entrance. My left foot went one way and down I went on my right knee with my right ankle buckeling. My right leg was still from my knee down, and my left foot was black and blue below my ankle. On Tuesday, I felt somewhat better, so stiff knee and all I went with my other dd to do the Freedom Walk for Sept. 11th that our town was holding. We had registered earlier and I really wanted to do this walk.

My dh had his doubts that I would be able to make the walk, but I told him not to worry I would go slow and be ok. I was wrong!! After about a mile or so, I heard a "pop" from the back of my knee and if it hadn't been for my dd and another walker, I would have been down on the pavement. They helped me to the side and someone got me a golf cart ride for the rest of the walk. Disappointment was my name!! I held back the tears, but the pain was severe. When I got home I put it up and put ice on it.

Everyone has been telling me to go to the dr, which I can't afford, so I went online to make sure I was doing what I should do for treatment. And to find out exactly what I had done to my knee. I discovered that I had torn the ligaments in my knee at this site:

http://www.everydayhealth.com/publicsite/index.aspx?puid=3DA46228-905A-47BB-BB1C-A8478D57422B&ContentID=305029&ContentTypeID=57&contentPage=2&searchTerm=

It told me that it will take 4 to 12 months for it to heal, that I did the right treatment and that I need to wear a knee brace and probably get physical therapy. My ydd bought me a brace, and she's going to ask a physical theapist that she knows what I should do.

Can't wait for it to stop hurting!!

My Journey

2007-09-09T16:20:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of me taken around Christmas 2006. I started Weight Watchers in January of 2007. Since this was taken, I've lost 38 pounds. I feel so much better since losing this weight.

Yes, there are nice people!

2007-09-07T19:31:00.000-04:00

Sometimes don't you wonder where the nice people are? Well I found one today. I was at the mall with my dd and had just gone out to her friends car to get something. We had gone out the employee exit, so we went back in the same way. As I was entering, my foot caught and I fell. My left ankle turned and down I went on my right knee which has been sore. So there I sat! Feeling really dumb and trying to figure out if I could get up. My dd is a small thing, but strong. As we were trying to decide the best way for me to get up, a very nice lady came over and offered her help. She told us that she had to help her mother up all the time. I got on my knees and she told my dd to grab under my arm, while she did the same on the other side. Easy as could be, up I went feeling very embarrased! I thanked her, and she said no need.

Yes the nice people are here when you need them!! Thank God for that!

Poncho that I made

2007-08-04T19:44:00.000-04:00

This is a poncho that I knit using Rainbow Boulce yarn. It was made holding two strands together. You can't really tell by the picture, but it's done in a chocolate brown and a varigated green. This was the first thing I had knit in quite awhile. The model is my youngest daughter.

First Time Blogging

2007-07-28T11:01:00.000-04:00

This will be my first attempt at doing a blog, so please bear with me. Let me introduce myself. I am Mary Ann and I live in Florida. I crochet for fun, charity and profit. I usually have a crochet hook in my hand. I also do a little knitting. I enjoy reading when I can put my hook down. I have 3 step children and 6 to whom I gave birth. They range in age from 41 to 19, 4 boys and 5 girls. I belong to two craft groups in my area, one of which I'm the leader.

I belong to a charity group for Munroe Regional Hospital in Ocala that provides boxes of layettes to babies born to the midwives. All items are either hand made, such as blankets, receiving blankets, sweater sets, etc., or newly purchases, such as onsies and pampers. We met about every 3 months to pack boxes that are then given to the newborn's mother.

I am also a Red Hatter. My name at the club is the Countess of Crochet. It's a very nice group of women who get together and do something at least once a month.

Also I'm involved with the local historical society, having recently been elected the treasurer. We are busy trying to raise money to restore the Civic League Bldg. that was built around 1912.

And last but far from least, I'm going to Weight Watchers.

Guess that about covers who I am.