Oh where does the time go?

So much has happened!

2011-07-15T20:33:00.003-04:00

Wow! It has been ages since I posted a report for you. I am very sorry for that...

It was an extremely busy summer last year; between the weddings my husband either performed or helped with, the normal summer activities, and working around having one vehicle when he has to be gone so much for work... it was rather hectic. William made it safely through Basic Training, and we went to Fort Knox to watch him graduate... returned home and he pretty much promptly spent all the money he had earned all summer. I'm not exactly sure (nor is he) how he managed to do that...

School started up again, full swing. I was a bit concerned because the 1st grade teachers had to do some "reorganizing" which meant there were now 2 First Grade classrooms as opposed to 3. Each teacher had around 30 kids in her room, with a high school student part of the time as a helper. (Not cool, at least not to me.) The third 1st grade teacher is there for anyone that needs that little "extra" bit of help, she takes the kids and gives them more one-on-one attention. I am very disappointed in the State of Michigan that so much of the school budget had to be trimmed. I understand the idea of living within your means, and I don't even pretend to know what was cut back and what wasn't, but the fact that our school system has already been making deep cuts for the last several years - and is still making those deep cuts in employees - really bothers me. So far, my kids have done okay (Michael is pulling in straight A's) but I don't feel they are getting the one-on-one teacher time that they deserve. The bad thing is it looks like it's going to get worse before it gets better, so the idea of homeschooling has once again been crossing my mind for the next school year. I'll just have to wait and see how it is in the fall, I suppose...

My mom bought a house here in town in July of 2010, and then sold the house she had been living in for the last 25 or so years in August of 2010. Her "new" house was getting some work done to it by my brothers (and a little tiny bit by me) and we were all looking forward to when she would be moved in and settled. She had planned on being moved by the first of November... unfortunately, it was taking longer than expected to get the "new" house ready for her to move in... Luckily, the people she sold her house to were in no big hurry for her to leave, so she was able to stay until her new place was ready. And then, all of the sudden, she was gone. She died on January 6th, 2011. Needless to say, life has been in quite the uproar since! Lucky for me, my 3 siblings and I get along very well, so there hasn't been too much in the way of sibling rivalry or anything between us. We've gotten closer, I think, which is awesome. I miss Mom - and I'm sure she's smiling down on all of us from a much better place. It would have been nice to have coffee with her in her new house, but I'll just have to be patient and enjoy some with her when I go to the next plane of existence! And THAT new house will be even more awesome!!!

I'd also like to mention here, that on January 5th, 2011, a good friend and classmate of my eldest son, William, took his own life. Brandon Lamb left behind a stunned Senior class, and he will be greatly missed. I'm sure January was very rough for William, as he lost a good friend and his Mimi so close together...

I shouldn't let so much time elapse between posts; I feel like I'm bouncing back and forth from last year to this year and I hope you're not getting lost... From here on out, I'm talking about this year (2011).

Things on the home front have been staying on a pretty even keel. William graduated from High School the end of May 2011 and left for Advanced Infantry Training yesterday (usually, soldiers do that immediately following Basic Training, but William did his Basic over summer "vacation" between his Junior and Senior year, came back to finish high school, and has now set out to finish his initial Army training...) He's going to Fort Jackson in South Carolina, which I've heard is absolutely beautiful, and I hope he enjoys the change of scenery and the training he's going to be receiving... I'm quite proud of his decision to go into the Armed Services! I hope he learns a lot from them, and takes advantage of the benefits he's being offered. I also hope he matures and grows into a fine young man - I believe he's on his way, but there is always some tweaking that can take place in all of us, right??

Michael has been spending most of his summer with his Dad. He doesn't get to spend much time over there during the school year, because he keeps himself very busy with school activities. This past school year, he was in Color Guard with the Marching Band, he's in Orchestral Band anyway, and he was in the Quiz Bowl, the Arena (a gaming club after school), the Chess Club, Drama Club, he went to Regional Solo & Ensemble and got a "1" rating on both his clarinet solo and his duet, then went on to State Solo & Ensemble and received a "2" rating on both - plus he managed to get straight A's on his report card. (He wasn't taking the "easy" classes, either... Algebra II, Chemistry, Spanish, English 10, Band, World History, and the seventh class was split between Multi Media the first half and Grammar the second half of the school year. He wears me out just THINKING of all the stuff he does!!

Arielle and Dmitri are in the Summer Reading Program at the library. They seem to really enjoy that! We also seem to always have something going on, whether it's getting together with friends or just getting the grocery shopping out of the way! I do plan to get a zoo membership so we can start visiting some area zoos, and at some point in time I'd like to take them to a picnic at a beach... just have to wait for my hubby to get his vehicle here so I can have full-access to mine! Otherwise, he's gone to work and then when he's home I'm gone running errands and taking the kids to stuff, and we rarely see each other!

Some of the fun crochet projects I've been working on lately... I made a purse ...

Dirndl Bag

AND LINED IT! First time ever, and it turned out better than I could have expected... The pattern came from the Crochet 2011 Calendar - May 30th & 31st... it's called a Dirndl Bag.

Lining of Dirndl Bag

I also made a big beach bag type tote,

Inga's Crocheted Bag

tested a trio of dishcloth patterns,

Basketweave Beauty

Concentric Squares

Waffle Cloth

made a pinwheel sweater for my daughter,

pinwheel sweater front

pinwheel sweater back

button closure

and a Stash Buster Tote. Those are the "big" projects that I've done lately.

Stash Buster Tote - flattened

Stash Buster Tote - filled

Thank you so much for stopping by, and I wish you good health and much happiness!!!

A Book!!

2010-05-09T13:24:00.000-04:00

I just found out that my cousin has self-published a book! Personally, I find this to be super-cool... my cousin is only a little bit older than my eldest son which just makes it that much cooler to me. Anyhow - if you feel like checking out his work, his book is available for purchase at LuLu. I just want to do my little part for him, to market his book. Oh, and Happy Mothers Day to all of you wonderful Moms out there!!!

Thanks for checking in today - I hope you have a wonderful day, week, month, year and life!

Plastic Bags

2010-04-14T16:41:00.004-04:00

I just read about this on another blog, and had to share. Now, I am not as passionate about not taking plastic bags from the stores as others, but I do have a few canvas bags and I do use them. Love them actually! They hold a lot, the handles don't cut into your hand, and so far I haven't paid for any of them! I even entered a contest and designed a bag - you can go vote for my bag by clicking here. Every vote is truly appreciated! Anyhow - back to the original post; apparently, Washington, D.C. has instituted a plastic bag tax (five cents per bag) and thus has reduced the number of plastic bags going to landfills by 19.5 million per month. Yes, you read that right - NINETEEN AND A HALF MILLION PER MONTH! (They also raised $150,000.00 in the process, which is awesome but not as awesome, In My Humble Opinion, as the number of bags they DIDN'T use!) Personally, I had no idea that many bags could be used in 6 months, let alone a single month, and this was just for Washington, D.C.! I have never investigated how many plastic bags are used by people, so I do not have a frame of reference. I can tell you that I don't throw away plastic bags - I save them for re-use. I do have plans for making welcome mats and grocery totes with some of my bags, and maybe someday I won't ever get them from the store again! Oh, and you can bet that I'll be picking up some of those mesh bags from the Dollar Tree next time I'm there (as mentioned on the above-linked blog). Yes, this post is rather short, but sweet - and I just had to share my amazement with all of you!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you have a wonderful day, week, month, year and life!!

Update

2010-03-27T13:43:00.006-04:00

I'm posting today! I know you all must be very excited! There are so many things going on all the time, I have a hard time keeping up with everything. I very often wonder how I ever managed when I worked full-time, since I am a stay at home Mom now and run out of time to get things done. I do appreciate all of you that visit my little spot here in blog land, and those of you that follow (even though there isn't much going on most of the time!) - so thank you all very much!

I do have several crochet projects I'm working on, mostly squares I'm making for swaps. Once I get some of the "cooler" things I'm working on finished up, I'll be sure to post pictures of them. I did sew up an outfit for my daughter a couple of weeks ago - she loved it! It was a fun little project, and I was glad to pull my sewing machine out - even if it was just for a little while.

I also received the most AWESOME package from a dear friend last month! Robin, thank you very much! She sent me all sorts of really cool stuff... here, check it out!

Thanks for stopping by today, it was great to have you visit!

I hope you have a wonderful day, week, month year and life!!

Another Proud Mom Moment!

2010-02-24T22:29:00.004-05:00

Yes, it's true! I have another Proud Mom moment!!

This time, the honoree is my second-born, his name is Michael and he is 15 years old. He has been trying to learn the art of crochet off and on for the last few years. A few months ago, his interest was sparked yet again, and he asked me to show him some basic stitches. I chained a few, I showed him the double crochet, and off he went! It only took two rows (very short rows, I think about 22 dc's is all) before he was ready to start a scarf!

He picked out some colors from my stash, and I showed him how to change colors. He finished it up the other night, and he is so proud of his accomplishment! (I'm proud, too!)

He got all the repeats done he wanted to do, he figured out how to do a button-hole all by himself, picked out a button and everything!

I showed him the basics of the half-double crochet stitch, and how to go along the side of the rows, he did up a quick border, put the button on there, and viola!! His scarf is all done!

He did 99.9% of the work; I did an occasional stitch in the very beginning to show him how to do a double crochet, then I did a stitch to show him the half-double crochet, but he did all the rest himself. Don't you think he did a great job???

What an Honor!!

2010-02-20T21:07:00.003-05:00

I just want to say THANK YOU so much to Ghost for this award! She has awarded me with the "Sunshine Blog Award" - WOW!! I don't even post very often - seems like life just gets in the way so much for me, I never ever expected to win an award!! Especially for inspiring people... since I very rarely even manage to put a post up, I can't imagine the posts are all that inspiring when I do - so the idea that someone finds me inspirational is just amazing to me! I do believe I'm blushing!! One of the things I enjoy about Ghost's blog is her ??Fact of the Moment?? - which today was "From the age of thirty, humans gradually begin to shrink in size." - I read that and thought "WHAT?? You mean I'm seven years into shrinkage already???" Sure doesn't seem like it, with my seemingly endless battle of the bulge! Shouldn't I be able to actually see some shrinkage by now??? Ah, well - maybe someday I'll win this war! Thank you again for this award, I do so very much appreciate it... and now, to follow the rules of acceptance, I need to name 12 blogs where I find inspiration - shouldn't be too difficult, except for the "only" 12 part! Oh, and before I forget - here are the rules...

1. Put the logo on your blog or within your post.

2. Pass the award to 12 bloggers.

3. Link the nominees within your post.

4. Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog.

5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Okay, so here goes - my personal dozen "diamonds"... (these are in alphabetical order)

1. Lucy at Attic24
2. Tina at Beansie Babbles
3. I hope I'm allowed to pick a winner that was in Ghosts' list, too... Tammy at Coffee n' Crafts
4. April over at Dishcloth Diaries
5. Lora the Eclectic Nana
6. Tea from the Foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains
7. Paulissa at Knotty Musings
8. Chase from Oh! The Cuteness
9. Liz of Rose Vignettes
10. Caroline, the Kansas Hooker
11. The Laughing Willow of the Laughing Willow
12. Amber, the Yarn Pixie

Of course, Ghost is another one of my favorites!! I also read Wormie over at Hooked on Crochet... I guess the choosing of "just 12" isn't as easy as I thought it might be!

Thanks again, Ghost!! What an honor and a fun little thing to be a part of!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day, week, month, year and life!!!

Stick it to the Man!

2010-02-18T23:09:00.002-05:00

Just a very brief post for you today - I would love it if you would check this blog out, and this blog post specifically!! Any chance you get to create this lovely little darling, go for it!

RAINBOW SUNSHINE PLUSHIE

This is just the cutest darn thing, I'm sure you'll enjoy! Looks easy enough to make, too, that I might just try it myself... the story behind it is way cool, too.

Okay, that's it for me right now! Take care all -

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day, week, month, year and life!!!

Proud Mom Moment

2010-02-06T09:28:00.006-05:00

Hey all - I just wanted to let you all know how proud I am today! My eldest, William, signed up to join the Army Reserve, and today he left bright and early for his first "weekend warrior" training... he's just 17 and a half, he won't be 18 until July... and he's a Junior in high school. Yet, he decided to join the Reserves - and even though I know he won't be called to go anywhere until at least he's out of high school, that doesn't diminish the pride I feel knowing he felt the call to serve his country... I actually come from a long line of Service people. My dad, my grandpa, my other grandpa, my step-dad, 3 of my uncles, my ex-husband, his brother, my cousin, just to name the ones I can think of off the top of my head. There are probably a lot more that I don't even know about! I looked into it when I was in high school, but I've always had an issue with my weight so I didn't join. Looking back, I should have just bitten the bullet and lost the weight way back then and gone for it - but if I had, there's a very good chance that NONE of my kids would be here, so I won't be going back to re-do any of this life of mine (even if I could)!!!

Not really too much more to report on today - I have done a few small things recently, a hotpad, some coasters, a tawashi and a couple dishcloths were the most recently completed crochet-related items I've made. (The pattern for the heart dishcloth can be found HERE. A big thank-you to April over at Dishcloth Diaries for designing such a fun pattern!) I'm also working on making a dozen 12" squares, then there is a scarf I've got in the works, (I actually have 3 scarves in the works - I might want to get busy on those!) along with a myriad of other projects I'd love to see completed... oh, and I still have to work on getting our tax stuff together (yay).

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you have a wonderful day, week, month, year and life!!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T01:25:00.002-05:00

Welcome back! I have not posted in quite a while, and I do apologize to anyone sitting there with baited breath waiting for my next post! I just wanted to pop in real quick and say HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone! I hope you all had a safe and enjoyable entrance into 2010, whether it was spent with friends and family, or if you went to bed and let the new year come in all by itself - as long as you enjoyed yourself and were safe, that's all that really matters now, isn't it?

We had a very enjoyable time at my neighbors house - played a couple games (Guesstures and Apples to Apples - the younger ones also enjoyed some games on the Wii), ate Mexican fare and rang in the new year with noisy horns and a quick kiss to our significant others! It was quite a nice time, for sure! The only down side is I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any pictures of the festivities. Oh, well - it was still fun!!

Wishing you and yours a prosperous, happy and healthy 2010 -

Silverware

2009-11-15T23:29:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone! I haven't posted in a very long time, and this will just be a very brief post, but I wanted to share a little something that I do when I wash my dishes, or - more specifically - my silverware. This works for those of you with a dishwasher, too - because your silverware goes in it's silverware bin. I know, because I have a dishwasher - it just doesn't work! LOL

On to the whole point of this post: When I wash my silverware and get it all rinsed off, I put it in the drainer handle-up. There are two reasons for this - first, we have the occasional fly in our house, sometimes a few flies. I can't stand flies - to me, they are just disgusting! So, I would prefer their nasty feet were not walking all over the part of the silverware I'm going to be sticking on my food or in my mouth. (Yuck) Second, and probably more important, when I'm either grabbing the whole bunch of silverware to put it away, or if I'm just grabbing a spoon to stir my coffee or whatever, having the handles sticking up instead of the sharp-pointy side means I won't jab myself inadvertently. I've done that a time or two in the past - reached in to grab a fork or something and didn't notice that steak knife sticking up and OUCH! So, my solution is to put my silverware into the drainer handle-side-up. (Upside-down, if you will) I did the same thing when my dishwasher was working, makes putting the silverware away a lot easier if you can just grab the whole kit & kaboodle without worrying about what you might be getting stabbed with.

Hope somebody out there finds this little hint at least amusing, if not helpful!!

I wish for all of you to have a wonderful day, week, month, year and life!!

Thanks for stopping by...

2009-09-26T17:45:00.010-04:00

I just looked at the date of my previous post, and I must admit I am ashamed at myself for letting it go so long between posts! So, just a quick post today so you know I didn't fall off the planet or anything...

I recently completed a comfortghan for the daughter of one of the members of a Yahoo group I'm in - Crochet Swaps Galore! It's a great group of ladies, and we do have the occasion to put together squares for those that need some comfort. I was able to be involved in the assembly process recently. I don't know how soon I'll be doing that again, though - it took me forever to get the afghan put together... I do think it turned out well, and the recipient loved it, but it should have been done a good month, month and a half before I finally finished it. :( For those interested, here is a picture of it:

This was another project where lots of people sent me squares... but this time, I bordered each one and then assembled them. I also added a pocket on the back for her feet to stay nice and toasty - and when the 'ghan is not in use, it can be folded up and tucked into the pocket, thus making it into a pillow, and here is a picture of it folded up like a pillow:

One other small project I did up recently is a hat that looks like a soccer ball. There is a young lady by the name of Jordyn who has been diagnosed with a rare type of cancer. (That is all I know about her diagnosis.) Due to the chemotherapy she has to undergo, she either will lose or already has lost her hair. She has a love of soccer, and her favorite colors are red, orange, blue and green. Since she loves soccer, I wanted to make a hat that looked like a soccer ball but I couldn't find a pattern I liked anywhere. So I looked up how a soccer ball is made! There are 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons in a soccer ball. I made half that many, hooked them all together, added enough of a border to pull the 'gons into a sphere shape, and viola! - A soccer ball hat!

I hope she likes it, when I get it sent... I'm thinking Monday or Tuesday I should be able to mail it off... I wanted to include a couple of bandannas, too, and I just need to stitch those up.

So - that is what I have been up to lately. If you leave me a comment and I don't comment back, that's because I don't know how... I've tried more than once to comment back to people and just can't get it to work. I do email privately, but if anyone can tell me what I'm doing wrong, that would be very helpful!

Until next time, I hope you have a wonderful day, week, month, year and life!!

Chicken pot pie

2009-07-31T03:26:00.011-04:00

Hello Everyone!!

I'm finally posting again! I probably should get better at this... anyhoo - today I decided to post a recipe that I make quite frequently - it's my daughter's favorite, so EVERY time I ask her what she'd like for dinner, her answer is almost ALWAYS "Chicken Pot Pie"...

I make it myself, with a little help from things like canned gravy and cream of mushroom soup (I do watch the nutritional values of the ingredients, for instance, I will pay a little more if the sodium is lower); I made it last night, and decided to take pictures and everything, so this is an all-encompassing post! LOL I usually make a double-batch (since my daughter loves it so much) - but if this is too much for your household, it's super-easy to cut it in half!

Okay, first, the ingredients I use:

Most of a 3-pound bag of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts (or all of it, depends on how much chicken I want that day)
2 regular or 1 large bag of frozen vegetables (we like California blend, but regular mixed veggies are great too - and I've used canned veggies with great success as well, I just prefer frozen due to the sodium content of the canned - can you tell I watch my sodium intake? LOL)
2 cans of Chicken Gravy
2 cans of Cream of Mushroom or Cream of Chicken soup (or any creamy soup you like; I've also used cheesy soups, that adds a different flavor yet!)
2 packages of ready-to-unroll pie crust
a small handful of pasta (any kind you like) to soak up extra moisture
sometimes, a little bit of pepper

Now, the first thing I do is put the frozen chicken in my deep skillet with a bit (maybe 1/2 an inch to an inch) of water. I don't season the meat - I just get it cooked through and to at least 170°F internal temp. Here's a picture of that:
My skillet has a nice fitting glass lid, so I don't have to worry about the water evaporating and the chicken sticking to the pan. While that's cooking, I mix up the veggies and the canned stuff... this is what that looks like:

Then I toss in my few pasta noodles - and you don't need many, believe me - but just a few will help absorb all the extra fluid from when your frozen veggies are thawing.
After that's all mixed up, I put the pie crusts in my pie plates.Now, I cut up the chicken. I use kitchen shears and tongs - just hold the chicken with the tongs and trim it with the scissors. Of course, you always have the option of cooking thawed chicken that's already chopped up, or chopping up the cooked chicken with a knife; whatever works for you! I don't like to touch raw chicken, and once it's cooked it's usually "too hot to handle" which is why I do it the way I do.

This is what the mess looks like now:
Stir,
Now I divide the glop between the two pie plates -

there is usually enough to overfill the pie plate! See?

At this point, sometimes I grind a little pepper on the tops... and then...

Put the top crust on, squish the sides of the crust,

Trim the edges and cut a few slits in the top for steam release,

put them in the oven (I usually go with 350° for about an hour, and I also put them on cookie sheets to avoid spills in the bottom of my oven),

wait, and then - viola!!

CHICKEN POT PIE!! I hope you enjoy this recipe - and feel free to customize it to your individual taste!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful day, week, month, year, and life!!

Carol's Comfort shawl

2009-06-02T22:39:00.003-04:00

Well, Carol received her shawl on Saturday, May 30th 2009. She really liked it - so thanks again to everyone that was a part of that effort! The following members of the crochet group Crochet Swaps Galore! are the people who sent squares to me: Sissie, Janet, Jenny, April, Cyndi, Melissa, Karen, Tammy, Teresa, Debbie, Sabrina, Jessica and Jo. I also received squares from a friend of Sissie's named Sandy. I received squares from all over, and when they were all put together, it looked awesome! One of the ladies suggested a darker brown border to finish it off, so I did that, and she was absolutely correct! Thanks, Jo - that advice was perfect! Here is a photo of the finished product:So, what does everyone think? Your comments are most welcome!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day, week, month, year and life!! - Mel

2009-05-20T00:12:00.005-04:00

Hello out there! I have been assembling a shawl for a member of one of the yahoo groups I'm on; several of the members crocheted squares, and sent them to me, so I put them all together... this is the first time I've ever done anything like this, and boy was it ever fun!! I can't wait until she gets it... I think it turned out beautifully! I learned many things by doing this little project. I learned what "tagging" your squares meant; I had no idea what that was until I received squares that were tagged. I asked my daughter (who is almost 6 years old) to help me put the squares into a nice looking pattern, and I think we did a pretty nice job, if I do say so myself! There were enough plain and variegated squares to alternate them, sort of a pseudo-checkerboard. She had fun helping me get them situated, and I enjoy including my kids whenever I can. Another thing I learned while assembling this shawl is what something crocheted by a left-handed person looks like when compared to right-handed work (if that makes any sense). I had the entire shawl assembled, and was putting the outside round on it to finish it up... I got to a square where the stitches were facing the "wrong" way! So I'm looking at the square, then looking at the back of the square, then looking at the front of the square, and I'm absolutely SURE that I have the square facing the right way. But the stitches are facing the opposite direction from the ones I'm stitching. I was stumped for - oh, I don't know - 30 seconds or so! Then it dawned on me that I must be looking at the work of a "south paw"! I found myself chuckling at myself for not having noticed until then - and VERY happy that I really did have the square facing the right way! Now, if I can figure out how to put a picture of it here, that's what I'll do. Keep in mind, I'm very new to this whole "blog" thing... so I'm still learning!
Okay, it seems as though I have managed to get a photo of the completed project on here. I would appreciate any feedback any of you may have. I added some buttons so that when the recipient wears this shawl, she has the option of (hopefully) fastening it so it doesn't fall off! I would like to thank everyone that sent squares - didn't it turn out GREAT?? I really think she's gonna like it!!!

Okay - this has been fun, and I return you now to your regularly scheduled life. I hope you have a wonderful day, week, month, year and life!!! - Mel

2009-05-05T01:38:00.002-04:00

Well, I suppose I should do something with this Blog thingy... yesterday I noticed that some of the Butternut squash seeds the kids and I planted are beginning to sprout, so I will be getting some recycled containers ready for plants within the next week or so. Also, some of the sunflower seeds we put in the front of the house where William (my eldest) removed the decorative bushes/trees are coming up. I'm getting excited, I was expecting my daughter to be more excited about new things growing, especially since she helped plant the seeds... perhaps once the plants get a bit bigger... or when the tomato plants begin yielding some of her favorite fruit! We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose. A friend of mine from Idaho sent a link on how to build a spiral herb garden - I plan to put one in my front yard. I imagine it will be best to begin the preparation on it this summer and fall, so in the spring I can get the plants put in and we shall see how that goes. The link, for any of you who may be interested, can be found here
Thanks for reading my first post! I hope you have a wonderful day/week/month and year!

- Melani