I made / missed it!

If you are reading this, then that means you made missed it too.  Yup, didn't make the cut for the rapture.  Now I am not making fun of anyone here.  I personally do not believe in the rapture scenerio.  I do believe that the world as we know it will end someday.  I do believe that we will all have a final judgment before God.  I do believe in Heaven and Hell.  I do believe that there will continue to be people that will try and guess when the end of the world will be.  But I REALLY believe in the Bible that tells us "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." Matthew 24:36  So every time someone makes a prediction about the end of the world we can rest assured that is most likely not the day or time.  So I continue to live each day as if is my last.  Each day I thank the Lord for another day to be a witness to Him and pray that I can do the best I humanly can in living as Christ lived.  Trying to love every one equally and with out predjudice.  It is not easy to do but I continue to try to do better each day, with the help of God.

That said.......................I am glad to announce that my lovely blog friends are once again blogging!  I have even found some really great new blogs to follow.  So many people out there with so much talent.  I am so impressed by this.

On a personal note, this weekend my brother from TX came in to be with my mom for a few days.  She so looks forward to his visits.  Since she no longer can travel well, it is so nice for others to come and visit her.  I am sure there are days she gets tired of it just being me and my family that she gets to interact with.  She even gets so excited with phone calls from her friends and other family.  Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to happen too often unless she initiates the calls.  She is a very vibrant woman and her physical limitations have really hurt her pride.  She has a wonderful mind and a quick wit.  She loves to give love and never seems tired of trying to "do" for others.  There has not been a time that I have not gone to visit her that she doesn't express how happy she is that I have taken time out of my day to "do" for her.  But this is the woman that gave me life, loved me even when I was not the nicest person to her, cared for me when I was very ill, stood by me when my marriage crumbled apart and has endured her share of suffering with the loose of 2 husbands.  We have laughed and cried together.  We have argued and made up lots of times.  This is my mom and I love her so much.

This weekend also saw the first time my grand daughter got in our swimming pool for the season.  That water was really really cold but she didn't care.  She just had to go swimming!  Her poor father had to go in with her too.  (no way was I getting in there and her mommy is stupid either!)  His only comment to her was "Just remember when you get older and accuse me of not loving you that I did this today for you".  At this point he cannon balled into the pool and you could hear the scream from under the water.  (it really was cold)  She cannon balled in right behind him and the cold took her breath away.  But they managed to stay in for a little over an hour.  Bravo to them!!!  (BTW:  Jose told her daddy that she would always love him and she knew that he would always love her.)

Not much going on on the crafting front.  Still working on the second spiderman blanket.  It is just so warm now that it is really uncomfortable to have that thing on my lap for more than about 20 minutes.  But once it is finished I am going to go back to my sock knitting.  That is my favorite summer project to do.  They are light and small so they don't sit on my lap.  I can also do dishclothes and other small projects for the next 4-5 months.  Hats are another good choice during the hot months here in the desert.

Our Grand Daughter graduates from Kindergarten this week.  We have a Grand Son that is going to be graduating from college too!  What an exciting year to be a grand parent.  Of course every year is exciting to us as grand parents.  We get to see them grow and mature in so many ways.  We truly have been blessed with all of our grand children.  (that would be 6 of them)

Happy Crafting

Have you noticed?

I love to read other peoples blogs.  I have a whole list of them in my favorites.  I go in at least once a week to catch up on what other people are crafting or doing in their lives.  It is interesting to read about these things.  There are professional knitters, knitting designers, students, grandmothers, animal lovers, spinners, weavers, amatuer crafters (that's me) and all sorts of others that I love to read.  They are spread out all over the world and it really makes reading interesting.

But in the past couple of weeks I have noticed that their blog writing has slowed way down.  This kind of disappoints me because I so love to see all the things they have crafted and cooked and sewed.  But then I realized, that just because it has already hit 100 degrees here in Arizona it is just starting to thaw out in several other parts of the world and USA.  People are so happy to be able to be out doors that they don't care about being cooped up with fiber in their lap.  The sun is out, the birds are chirping, flowers are budding, trees are leaving out.  It is a sign that life continues to go on!

So I will wait.  I will be patient.  I will allow all you folks that have to deal with 6 months of snow, ice and wind to enjoy your freedom from your homes.  I will even be happy that you are able to go out doors and admire God's creation in full bloom.

But just don't take too long!!!!!!!!!

Happy crafting.

Pictures

I have been promising pictures for some time now.  Well, today I decided to fulfill my promise.  The only picture I have not gotten yet is the one of the spiderman blanket.  I am working on getting that one.  I discovered that after I finished the blanket my husband was kind enough to wash it and then put it in a dust/animal/bug proof bag so it would be nice and fresh for when the childs birthday came. 

This is the Princess blanket.  I just want you to be aware that this is on a queen size bed.  So don't think this was any small blanket.  It is the same pattern as the spiderman blanket.

This is a close up of the yarn.  The dark pink has a lovely silver thread going through it.  And yes, the grand daughter informed me that she loved it and it is BIG enough.  (all her other blankets are from when she was but a wee babe)

Here is our backyard completed now.  We have the "grass" all installed and the pool has been drained and cleaned this year.  It is so nice to go out there and just enjoy ourselves.  It has been a long time coming but we finally finished it.  Basically all of the outside of our home is now completed.  We painted and re-roofed it last year.  Did the front yard the year before and now the back is done.  (well, we do have to replace the gate but we have someone doing that for us.)


So now we will start to concentrate on the inside of the house.  We have lived here since 1988 and have been kind of doing one room at a time. (Cheaper that way).  We have 3 rooms done the way we want them.  But several more to go.  (seven actually)  It will eventually get done and then we will once again decide that we need to do something else to it.  I lovingly call it my money pit.  But it's ours and I would rather fix it up than move.  This is where we have lived the longest and basically where our kids kind of grew up.  (we moved 14 times in 12 years so they kind of grew up as nomads too)

I am still working on spiderman blanket #2 but have not touched it at all this week.  Hubby has been out of town and I have been using that oppurtunity to purge the house of un-needed items.  I do much better at this when he is gone than if he is looking over my shoulder.  I have one more room to go through and hopefully I will get that done before he returns this evening.  If not.......there will always be another time.

Happy crafting.

Spring has sprung

Spring is here in the valley of the sun.  My lantana is in full bloom, the Mexican Birds of Paradise are sprouting their new branches, and my dogs and cat are shedding their winter coats.  Yup, spring has sprung.

We have decided to put "grass" in, in our backyard.  We had all the dead trees removed last year and it looks so bare.  It is all sand/rock there and not a very nice area to enjoy pool time.  So next week they will be coming out to put in the new grass (artificial) and in the process they will be removing all the river rock (but we are going to keep it since you can't just "pick" it up anymore), take out a small chain link fence, remove a small sidewalk walkway and then dig down 5 inches and start putting in decomposed granite for drainage and then lay the grass on top of that.

After they are done I will be putting my "lawn decor" back out.  We also have a fountain that has not worked for a few years.  I love it but it is a real pain to use as a fountain.  When it is done running you have to make sure all the water is out of it or you get a nasty mosquito problem quickly.  Also, you no longer can fill it with the garden hose since there are cancer causing agents in the hoses now a days and I have a LARGE dog that can easily drink out of the fountain.  So I have decided to turn it into a planter.  I am going to plant hens and chicks in it.  It sits in almost full sun all day and needs a very hardy plant in there that is also drought resistant. 

After the yard is done I promise to post pictures on here.  We have one other project that needs to be done for the outside of our home to be totally complete.  We need 2 new gates.  One will just be a replacement gate but the other will be a new gate that we have been wanting to do for about 10 years.  Last year our roofer told us that he could do the gate for us and we have not heard from him since then.  My husband has a friend that is looking for odd jobs to supplement his income so I think that is who we are going to have do it.

As a gift for my husband I told him to get a pool service.  His back is not as young as it use to be and for what they charge it is ridiculous for him to be spending 2-3 hours every other week working on the pool.  Plus they will supply all the chemicals and clean the salt cell on a regular basis for us.  The only thing Hubby has to do is clean the filters and that only happens about once every other month.  ( I so love the salt water pool!  So much easier on the skin and clothes)

I am still working on the princess blanket and it is about 9 rows from being done other than the edging and the accenting of it.  I have started the next spiderman blanket, but still have LOTS to go on it.  I forgot how much fun making afghans and blankets was.  I have been so wrapped up in my sweater and socks that I completely put my crocheting skills on a back burner.  Well no more.  I still love to crochet and it is so much quicker for me than knitting.  But I love the look of knitted items.  Especially items that are worn.  Crocheting is my favorite way to make blankets and shawls though. 

In other news.........................my mom is still in her "boot" but we are all hopeful that it will be coming off around the 12th of this month.  She will have been in it for 3 months by that time.  She is going nuts not being able to just go when she wants to where she wants to.  I can totally understand that too.  I was in that situation for about 2 months after some foot surgery.  It is not pleasant knowing that you have to depend on others to get you around.

This seems to be a big birthday month too.  I have a nephew, niece and grandson all with birthdays in a weeks time.  They are all grown up now but I still remember them when they were all little and cute.  (they are still cute but not so little anymore)

My brother has gone on a mission trip to Africa this month.  He was really excited about doing this.  He will going to several areas in Africa over the next few weeks but will not be in any of the "hot spots" over there.  Please pray for his safety and success of this trip.

My husband will be leaving right after Easter to go and visit his mom in Las Vegas.  He had been going up every month but since he is my main chauffer for my mom he hasn't been up there alone since before Thanksgiving.  We did go up together in March and saw her then.  She looked really great too.  She had lost a lot of weight after Dad passed away but seems to have put it all back on and looks much better now.

I really need to take some pictures and get them loaded on my computer.  I want you all to see the spiderman blanket I finished.  It is so cute.  Maybe I will wait until I finish the princess blanket too and then I can put up TWO pictures. 

Hopefully you all are seeing signs of spring in your area.

Happy crafting

March On

I can hardly believe that we are almost through the month of March.  I usually really enjoy the month of March since it is the last month when we will be seeing temperatures only hitting the 60s for the high.  I makes working with yarn in the lap much more comfortable than when it hits in the 90's to the 120's (and yes we do get to 120 in the summer here)

I have finished one spiderman blanket!  It was a bugger to figure out all the instructions but I did it and it is totally done.  I just need to run it through the washer and dryer to remove all my animal's fur off of it.

I have started another spiderman blanket as well as a "princess" blanket from the same pattern.  The princess blanket  is all done in shades of pink.  I would like to do another one in navy camouflage but don't know how it will look when it is done but.....................might as well try it.  Now I have to try and find Navy Camo yarn.  I know there is the sand camo, and the green camo but this particular person would really like to have the one they use in the Navy since his daddy is a chief there.  Might have to go on line and order some from somewhere.

I have not picked up my sweater in a long time now.  I am so busy getting the blankets done for birthdays that I have not had time to even think about the sweater.  I know it will be there when I get done with the blankets.  HEEHEE

Not much else going on in my life.  Same stuff each day...........wake up, go to work, go home, craft/walk dogs, eat dinner and go to bed.  Pretty boring right?  But it is my life and love it!

Happy crafting.

Oh My!

So much has happened since I last posted here.  And it really hasn't been all that long either.

Hubby and I went to Las Vegas for a 4 day weekend.  Our son and his wife joined us on the trip.  It was nice to get away for a few days and we all really had a great time.  We came back with the same amount of money that we left with so I guess that means we are winners.

I have gotten over being bummed about the sweater and have gotten it back to where it was before I frogged it.  I have not worked on it for a couple of weeks now, though.  There was no way I could take that in the car, with the lace pattern in it, so I started the spiderman blanket for my Godson's birthday.  Amazing, that a total of 11 hours on the road can see a person come to within 5 rows of completing that blanket.  It is really cute and an easy project once you can figure out the instructions.  They were a bit vague but I finally got it figured out with the help of my Daughter in Law.

Lent has started and as is our faith custom we give something up each year for lent to remind us of the sacrifice that our Lord gave for us.  So I asked my husband if he was going to give up watching sports on TV and he turned around and asked me if I was going to give up working with yarn.  He wins!  I have given up some of my "down time" to do more scripture reading and praying.  It seems to be making me a bit more centered too.

My mom goes to the podiatrist this week to see if she can finally start to drive again.  She got a stress fracture in her right ankle about 8 weeks ago and has been in a specialized CROWS boot since then.  So my hubby has been taking her to all her appointments for the past 8 weeks.  He has been really a good sport about it too.  He as never complained about it at all!  But my poor mom is going stir crazy.  She is so used to being able to just go when she wants to and where she wants. 

Did I tell you I also started another pair of socks?  I think they will be for me again.  So far I have 3 rows done on them.  They will probably have to wait until I get both spiderman blankets done and hopefully my sweater.  After all, I won't be wearing socks again for about 9 months.  We have already hit 90 degrees here! 

That is about it for now.  It is getting late and I have to be up early for work tomorrow.

Happy crafting!

Bummer

I am totally bummed out.  I was all the way done with the back of my sweater and as I was getting the last row done and putting the neck stitches on my stitch holder (the one I got for $1.49) I discovered that I had way too many stitches.  Not a problem.  I would just rip it out down to where I made the decreasing mistake.  Did it and then tried to commence from that point when I discovered I could not in any way figure out what row of the pattern I was on.  So I thought about it for a while.  Considered lighting a match to the whole darn thing.  Thought about throwing it all in the trash.  Contemplated pretending to know what I was doing and just continue on even it the pattern didn't match up.  Then came to my senses and realized I was going to have to frog it all the way back to where the pattern started.  ARGH!!!!!!!!  There goes 13 inches of sweater.

I did that and then I put it gently down in my knitting area and walked away from it.  That was on Sunday.  On Monday night I looked at it and thought to myself that I would pick it up and start again.  Then felt myself getting upset again about loosing a weeks worth of work and walked away.  (again)  Tonight I sat across the room staring at the darn thing and realized that it was not going to knit itself.  I also came to the realization that there truly are not little elves that will come in at night and do your work for you.  So I picked it up and started back on the patterned area of the back.  I managed to get 9 rows done without mishap.  I only have about 66 more rows to go and I will be able to bind off the neck.  NO PROBLEM!!!!!!!  At this rate I should have the stupid wonderful piece of knitting wonder done by the time it snows here in Arizona again.  (that happens about once every 10 years or so!)

On the other hand, I ordered yarn today.  I know I promised not to buy anymore yarn until my stash was depleted but this was for a good cause.  I am going to make 2 spiderman blankets for two very special boys for their birthdays.  One birthday is in June and the other is in July.  Since they are crocheted and I crochet much faster than I knit I don't really see any problem of meeting that goal.  After all it is already starting to get to the 80 degree mark here in the desert and I will not be needing that cardigan for about 8-9 months yet.

I also found out this is national crochet month and I would hate to not celebrate that with the rest of the world.  And the final reason for deciding to start on the blankets ASAP is........we are planning a road trip next week and it will be much easier to work on the blankets then try and keep track of my pattern rows on the sweater.  (smart, huh?)

Other than that, the only other thing that I have pulled out to work on lately is one of my prayer shawls that I started several months ago.  OK, almost a year ago.  It is kind of a mindless work for the most part but not mindless enough to take on a road trip.

Happy Crafting!