Updates since Tuesday - School Supplies

Today is Friday and we have a big weekend set. Saturday, we are taking the girls to a butterfly show up in Dayton. At least that is the plan. But the upside is that if one of the girl's isn't feeling well, we can split up and one stay with the girl who isn't well and one goes with the others.

Wednesday, my husband went to work and I was home with the girls. I returned books to the library. I read some, but others were being requested and I hadn't read them yet. So, they went back. I figure I can get them again and read them at that time.

Thursday, shopping day. We shop every other week for groceries. I hate shopping, but it has to be done. We went school shopping and it seems that some of the things I bought following last years list may be wrong because the schools are incapable of getting a corrected list to parents in a decent amount of time. I like to shop when there are sales so I can get good prices, but it seems the schools don't really care when the sales are they will do things when they want. The fun thing is they state that the lists are available at Walmart and Kroger, but I was at both stores and they do not have the lists. What a waste. I will send in the items I bought and say when they need something let me know, but I am not shopping again. If they really wanted these items they should have mailed the lists out mid-July to the parents, not sometime in August.

The last time I had to shop for school supplies and waited for the lists, all the sales were over and the items that had been on sale were not even available because of all the parents buying the same items. At one school they will have 15 classes with 25 - 28 students per class. That comes to 400 to 425 students in Kindergarten.
1st grade has the same quantity of students. When I went to school there were only 20 students in my grade school (1-8) class. My high school class was about 200!!! These numbers just astound me and the schools just can't get their act together and get the supply lists to us. The fun thing - I was told last year (when my oldest started Kindergarten) that I would get some of these items back. I didn't get anything back. I had to keep giving her a new folder when the old one fell apart. I don't think we should have to buy new scissors every year for our children to use at school when they keep the scissors from last year. They now have scissors for the new incoming class. Crayons, glue, markers, pencils, etc - they get used up and I really don't expect them to be sent home at the end of the year, but scissors don't get used up - they can be reused for several years. (Sorry for being on my soapbox, but I have three children all very close in age 1st grade, Kindergarten and Pre-K, and I could really use the savings).

Thursday, I also made milk shakes for the girls and my youngest promptly knocked a full cup of milkshake onto the carpet. I cleaned it up a little and planned for Friday to clean it up better by cleaning the carpets. So this morning, after taking my middle girl so they could see what she knew (she is smarter than they will ever know), I came home and had the girls pick up their messes so I could run the carpet cleaner. I then cleaned the carpet and after I spent most of the day cleaning the downstairs carpets, the girls promptly opened a bottle of bubbles and dumped it all over the floor!!!! I clean, they mess - the circle goes on.

Today, the girls also went down to a friend's house and she fed them lunch, then sent them up here, where I fed them dessert. This way we both got some no kid time. She is a good lady and I am glad that she and her children moved so close to us.

Updates on projects:
1. Socks for girls (still untouched)
2. Pink Hat - started
3. Afghan - started
4. Lavendar prayer shawl
5. Hummingbird dish cloth

Reds Game Knitting

Last night, my husband and I went to a Reds Game and we had some awesome seats. We were very close to the action. Since the strike back in the 1990's (not real sure when they struck, just remember that they were refusing to play because they wanted more money), I haven't been a big fan of any baseball players or in attending any games they play. What was very obvious to me was that everyone who attended that game could have fit close to the field without an issue. I can remember a time when those seats would have been filled and not been empty and moving down would have been hard to do.

My husband and his friend Pete (from work) won the tickets in the give away that the company (yes, the company that is closing it's doors) has whenever they have tickets and no bigwigs to use them. We had a nice time, Pete and his wife and my husband and I had all been together before. We have been over to their place (they have horses) and they have been able to be around our girls. Katie jokes that when they are teens, we won't be welcome, but I think she realizes, teens are fun as long as they are away from their parents.







In these photos you will see Bronson Aroyo pitching, some other player bunting, my husband and his friend Pete and Pete's wife Katie and just other photos from the game. Now to show how geeky I have become, I brought a camera (just to take photos) and my knitting (which I had out and was working on). Katie wants me to make her a tea cozy. So the search will begin for a pattern that she likes and then the yarn purchases and then making it. But I want to finish a lot of other things first.

My brother-in-law (my husband's brother) is getting divorced. It seems that his wife and he have been having problems for a long time (they have been married for 6 years). They have one daughter. We are praying for him and his child. I will be making my niece a clown and some other things. I will also make something for my brother-in-law.

Since the news he has been coming to Kentucky more often and we are able to see him and my niece more often and we are looking forward to meeting her and letting her and her cousins finally get to know each other. My youngest and my niece are about a month apart in age and they should be able to play together.

I am almost finished with one of my prayer shawls and this is good news (that is what I worked on last night), because then I can scratch one more item off my list. I also worked on an afghan for my youngest and I also worked on a dish cloth. I like when I can finish projects and have finished items lying around. It gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Hats, Scarves and Cancelled Plans

This weekend was a very busy weekend, until Saturday - rained out. Sunday, cancelled due to child's allergies. I was going to take the children to a Celtic Festival up in Dayton, Ohio. I thought they might really enjoy that. The rain kind of ended those plans for Saturday, so I thought, we'll just go after church today. But my middle girl looks like she was punched out - Her eyes were watering and to top it all off, she must be part shark. She has to have another tooth pulled. Second time in 1 month.


I finished my oldest girl's scarf and she is ecstatically happy with it. I am using Ruth's (The Yarnarian) yarn Pennyrose, Puck's Rainbow. She was walking around wearing it at church this morning, so that she could show it off. She also reminded me that she does not need a new hat and scarf because she still has her snake scarf (yes snake - she loves snakes) and her fuzzy hat from earlier this year.



Now to get other things finished:
1. 3 Prayer Shawls (1 cast on already)
2. 3 Hats (for my girls and neice)
3. 3 Scarves
4. 3 Afghans (2 cast on already) - the number on the afghans may change because so many presents need to be made for Christmas
5. Dish cloths (hummingbird design cast on)
6. Socks for my girls. I have them cast on, but can't concentrate with all the fighting and yelling.

Daily Survival Kit

Daily Survival Kit

Items Required:

Toothpick, Rubber Band, Band Aid, Pencil, Eraser, Chewing Gum, Mint, Candy Kiss, Tea Bag.

Why?

Toothpick: To remind you to pick out the good qualities in others. Matthew 7:1

Rubber Band: To remind you to be flexible, things might not always go the way you want, but it will work out. Romans 8:28

Band Aid: To remind you to heal hurt feelings, yours or someone else's. Col 3:12-14

Pencil: To remind you to list your blessings everyday. Eph 1:3

Eraser: To remind you that everyone makes mistakes, and it's OK. Gen 50:15-21

Chewing Gum: To remind you to stick with it and you can accomplish anything. Phil 4:13

Mint: To remind you that you are worth a mint! John 3:16-17

Tea Bag: To remind you to relax daily and go over that list of blessings. 1 Thess 5:18

I made this one year and gave it to everyone for Christmas. I went out and got a pencil box for everyone. Collected the necessary items and Taped the above information on top of the box. Some people still have theirs. Others ate the candy, the gum and used the other items. But I still think it was a great gift. Everyday items showing how much God loves us and is there for us through all our trials.

Some "Recipes"

I have a friend who several years ago would make boxes and baskets for people to realize how important God is in their lives. I recently found the "recipes" for making these items and I would like to share them with everyone.

My Stress Basket
I keep my stress basket handy to remind me of ways to relax in the Lord, enjoy life, and apply, in a practical sense, crucial ideas such as truth, faith and righteousness:

A SMALL BOTTLE:
to remind me that God has collected all my tears - He knows all about me.

ADHESIVE TAPE:
to remind that God's love can heal a heart that's been broken.

A SMALL PAIR OF SCISSORS:
to cut out all the unnecessary stuff in my schedule that is causing a lot of stress in the first place.

A HANDKERCHIEF:
to remind me to dry someone's tears with a word, a note, or a hug.

A SMALL PEBBLE:
to remind me God is my Rock.

A NAIL:
to remind me that Jesus coped with some pretty heavy stress, too.

A THUMBTACK:
to remind me not to just sit on my problems.

A PIECE OF CHALK:
to use when something unpleasant happens, so I can "chalk it up" to experience.

Updates on Projects

I was updating my Ravelry. I finished a lapghan, 2 dishcloths, and 1 wash cloth (1 big, 3 small). I joined a couple of groups on ravelry that help to keep me motivated and organized and discovered that I only have my daughter's socks to finish to stay on target for the year. But I have a problem, the heel and the gusset. I get to work on these and then I get distracted. If it isn't the children yelling for me, it is the children fighting. I have decided that I am looking very forward to school starting in about a month (depending on the child).

Today, I have to make more cookies. I think I am going to make chocolate chip cookies and no bake cookies. Then I will deliver them to church for pick up later today. Then it is Family Fun Night at the Vacation Bible School. My girls are so excited they only talk about this night. I took them to the other Vacation Bible School's Family Fun Night and they had a lot of fun. Tonight, is supposed to be for the parents. So we can see what they have made all week and see the songs they have learned.

Here are some photos. The last two are from the Family Fun Night on Sunday night. The second is the prayer lapghan. I am giving this to a gentleman from our church. The first is the dishcloth. It is a ribbed pattern. I think it would have been better had I used 40 cast on, but I used 32. It is still a nice dishcloth and I know that my mother-in-law will love it. Basically, cast on 32-40 (always an even number), Knit 1, purl 1. Continue to end of row and repeat until you have a square.

These are some photos from the airforce museum. I want to take the girls back up one day when it is sunny, because they have this memorial park and the memorials are really awesome. They also have planes set up outside that they can look at also.

Airforce Museum and VBS

We will be taking the girls to the Airforce Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Come home fix supper and then take the girls back to Crocodile Dock at the Church of God Vacation Bible School. They are having so much fun playing with the other children and learning about God. This is the best thing for them to do. Stay active and busy.

Yesterday, we made Christmas cookies for the Christmas in July party for Interfaith Hospitality Network. We invited some other children over and they had so much fun playing and making cookies. Sugar spills everywhere! But the smiled and laughed. Noah found my books and found books that he liked and sat down and started reading. Hannah talked with me and Hope and my older two girls just played in the water. My youngest hid from the older girls because they were getting too wild. I wouldn't let them use water pistols because then they would have been too wet and since they had to be ready to go with their Dad when he came to get them, I wanted to control fun.

I will have pictures from the museum to post later. I also have to get my photos from the last few days up.

Updates:
1. Washcloth using the afghan stitch.
2. Hats and Scarves for my girls for the winter
3. Afghans for Christmas gifts
4. Hat and scarf for my neice for her birthday.
5. Dish Cloths (Christmas gifts)
6. Prayer shawls (3 more to go - 1. Church, 2. Ms. Kathy (Esther's teacher), 3. Ms. Kim (Esther's teacher).

Garden of Hope

When we were in Kentucky on Friday, we went to Mt. Hope. It has a very interesting story. It is said that when they were trying to put the Garden together it kept sliding down the hill. The people working on the project prayed to God for help and a man came and said that he was an engineer for the Railroad and could help them stop the garden from sliding. He taught them how to put in girders and the sliding stopped. When they tried to find him later to pay him for his work, they found out that he didn't exist on the registers for railroads. They believe that God sent him to help them. People who go to the Garden and pray there usually receive a response to their prayer.

Please keep praying for my husband to find another job. His job is ending somewhere between September 1st to June 2010. But he suspects that it might be sooner because of the problems that are being created.

Updates on Knitting and Crochet:
1. I finished a lapghan for a friend who injured his shoulder and the injury was worse than they thought.
2. I have yarns from my girls picked out that will allow me to make their hats and scarves. Posting will occur when I get to it.
3. I have to make afghans. Lots and Lots and Lots of afghans. I guess I better get busy.
4. Socks, I need to finish the socks!

More Photos from Friday

Several years ago, the city of Cincinnati, Ohio had people decorate a flying pig and they were placed all over the city. Covington, Kentucky did a project were they made mosaics to celebrate different sections of the city. Here are some that are in downtown.





After visiting with my in-laws, we went to St. Joseph Heights to put some flowers on my cousin's grave. Here my daughter reminded us that: "This is Jesus and he died for our sins." My husband is so proud of her for understanding this.







Also, in the photos is my High School - Notre Dame Academy. It has changed a lot since I went there. They keep make additions and changes, but the same can be said of my husband's high school - Covington Catholic (they are across the street from each other). It seems that many parents agree that it is better for the teens to be separated from each other while they go to high school and these schools are doing very well.

Homemade Brownies

I make these brownies for when I go to Welcome visitors to our church and to welcome people to the neighborhood. I have been making them for years and as a result I just don't even consider buying a box brownie mix.

The Best Brownies

1 cup vegetable oil (not olive oil)
2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 cup flour
2/3 cup cocoa
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
Optionals: 1 cup mini chocolate chips
Or 1 cup crushed nuts
Or 1 cup dried fruits

Mix 1st 4 ingredients well. In separate bowl mix the last 4 ingredients. Mix dry ingredients with wet mixture slowly. When well mixed put in 9 x 13 cake pan that has been greased (or Pamed). Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven for 20-25 minutes. (I usually start at 20 but will check center and add 5 as needed).

Enjoy

Pictures from Friday

This photo is of a puzzle that my youngest daughter and I completed. We had some fun working on it. She learned that bigger puzzles take a long time.



This photo is from Main Strasse park. I love this clock because it has a cute little show on the hour.



Outside the John R. Green store these kids were painting murals of the City of Covington, KY. The youngest is 12. This store is awesome for school supplies. It has everything you need and at really good prices. If you get a chance stop in and check it out.



Then I walked on to the Mother of God neighborhood. There I took some pictures of the church. The inside of the church was on a previous post. It is still a very nice church and very old.



I then walked onto St. Mary Cathedral Basillica. The Cathedral is a very awesome structure. It has gargoyles on it's roof. The gargoyles include a bear, a pig, a woman and an elephant.











The one photo is behind the altar, where there is a clock. I thought that was kind of funny considering, my cousin (a Catholic priest) was given a watch because he talked so long during his sermon.

I will post more pictures later. I ran out of time since I have to be on the road to the West Chester Library where I am teaching a teenage class how to crochet.

Have a good day.

It's Friday.

I have picked up some new books to read and look through. Tomorrow, I will teaching a group of teenagers how to crochet. It is a small group, considering that usually the classes for the adults fill up with a long waiting list.

Today, I will be in Kentucky again. I will go to my mother-in-laws and drop off my children and husband. This way she gets to see the girls (she always feels better when they are around) and my husband will do some things around their house that they aren't able to do. She once told me I took away her worker. So we try to come in as often as possible to let her see the girls and also to help her with things she needs or wants done.

While they are with her, I will be at the mechanics getting new brakes. They were in very poor condition and need to be changed. While they are working on the brakes, I will walk around Covington again. Pictures will be posted later.

Have a good Friday.

Just some thoughts

I am sitting home alone. I can be introspective and I love the silence. My children are at Vacation Bible School at a little Baptist church 1/2 a mile from our house and they are ecstatically happy. My husband is at work and he will get off work about 7:00 p.m., but he rarely leaves then, he finishes up paperwork and he is searching for a job.

It seems strange that the time I feel most alone is when there are people around me (namely my children and husband). This is when everyone is striving for me to listen to every utterance they make, but when I talk to them about anything, they ignore me. I think this leads me to my loneliness more than anything else. But these are the hours where I can sit and knit or crochet, read or listen to tv while I work on something that requires my concentration.

It is weird that I would feel alone amidst all these people, but when I am alone and there is silence is when I am most at peace. I sometimes wonder how many others feel the same way?

At night, my husband wants my attention and even though I am not ready to sleep he wants me to come to bed with him. I want to work on something or read. In the morning, my girls get up way too early and then I am not allowed to work on anything either. So I am excited. For the next two weeks (5 nights a week) there are vacation Bible Schools. This week is Boomerang Express (they went to the one at Urbancrest Baptist Church), next week is Crocodile Dock (I forget the name of that church, but it is another small church. If I can find another the following week, I will be able to get back to my knitting.

Happy knitting or crocheting or cross stitching. I hope everyone has a restful time.

Update on WIP's

I thought I would update with photos on my wip's. So far I have a scarp yarn bathroom rug in progress. It looks pretty good so far and seems to be the right width. Now I just need to work on the length.

Also, I am working on a scarf for my oldest girl using yarn from the Yarnarian. It is called Puck's rainbow and she loves it!!! It is a circular scarf: size US 2 DPN, co 30, join without any twists. Begin knitting. Knit until yarn is gone or it is the length you wish it to be.


I am also working on a prayer shawl. No recipient in particular. Just making it. It is in lavender colors. I got the pattern from Debbie Macomber book from the Yarn shop books.


I am also working on a dish cloth with a hummingbird in the center. I got the pattern from http://wicketstitch.net/index_files/Page372.htm and I was about halfway through the pattern when I realized that I had made a mistake and had to frog it and restart. Now I am about 1/4 of the way through.


I also have finished.....a very plain dishcloth. Just garter stitch (knit every row). I started it when I taught a class at a local library and I just hadn't worked on it in awhile.


It seems that anything that requires my concentration, it isn't happening and so the socks that I started for my girls are languishing on needles until the time people (namely my children and husband) are at work and school, I can concentrate on the counting. My family has decided that if I am sitting and knitting or anything else, I am there to listen to them talk about things and I do want to listen to them, but when I talk, the only one I seem to be talking to is God, because when I ask a question of my family, no one had been listening to me. It is a very lonely existence when there aren't any people listening.