Another Proud Mom Moment!

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!!

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!

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

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!

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

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...

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!!