31 December 2012

Happy New Year 2013

Tonight is 31 December 2012. As I sit and think about the last year, so much has happened and so much to look forward to! My cousin was married in September. Another cousin will get married in September. We lost a cat to kidney failure in March 2012 and gained a new cat in June 2012! We had someone attempt to gain entrance to our house and we gained a dog! We lost more family to illness and death. Some got better, some wish they hadn't! We gained more to love! More friends, more family! God has a plan and we have to trust that HE knows what HE is doing and we are just along for the ride! He will take care of us! I made many things to donate and give to children. As we start the New Year, I have already chosen the next project that has to be finished in 1 1/2 months (Feb 14th). I memorized another pattern to make! I have been making Winter Slouch hats. A very simple pattern (http://www.macyarns.com/?p=279) that is very quick to make. I started doing a test crochet on some hats. They are very simple and they are very pretty! Thanks, Tamara (OzarkLakeCrochet) for letting me have this opportunity. My girls love the hats! They want them all, but I made them agree on who gets which ones.
This is the hat I made for the test crochet.
I made this for my bil's girlfriend's youngest daughter. My youngest loves it and wants it for herself.
The same winter slouch that I have memorized. I discovered that while the "lacy" scarves are very pretty and simple looking. They are quite frustrating and need to be worked on when no one is demanding my attention, for I will gladly walk away from it to help anyone!
Tomorrow, I will resolve to finish many WIPs! Some of them are UFOs and need to be finished! I will list them and try to make some order as to what will be finished first to last! I know that the afghan for my father and brother need to be near the top and the scarf for my mother needs to be near the top. Only one can be carried with me, the other two can only be worked on at home. I also have a shawl that I started in June or July and I would like to finish that also. I also started another that is to be mine all mine! I will try to have photos of the WIPs or UFOs (if you will) to help me organize my thoughts. I will also go to the library on Wednesday or Thursday to get a few books to read that will fit the two reading plans I signed up for. I already have Band of Brothers (double dipping in reading is truly acceptable). But I want to try and stay on track and get an A book. Besides there is nothing better than wandering the stacks at the library for a book! What are your resolutions? What are you going to try and achieve? Happy New Year! Happy 2013!

23 December 2012

Reading

I have been pretty busy. Life as we know it has school....helping in classrooms. Illnes (kids get it bring it home and then I get it). Then caring for the animals. I am constantly chasing the newest cat....
Prince Naveen Dingleberry Doofus Rotten Houdini the Second, he escapes and because of where we live he could easily be hit by a car, then we have the dog who takes opportunities to run also and then we chase her. My washing machine broke (only had it for about 2 1/2 years). Very frustrating. So we decided to find out what our friends had and what they liked or didn't like on their washers. We are now using a front loader. I also made many, many things over the past few months.
The biggest quantity items were candy corn gift bags. I made these for youngest DD's class.
I made Minikins for my oldest DD's class. I need to start working on my middle DD's class item for Valentine's Day. As I was going over my reading for the year, I found 2 blogs that are hosting two different reading challenges. The first is for reading about "men in uniform" and that can be any uniform....military, police or fire. The other is and A-Z Reading Challenge. It suggested that you make a list of books that you want to read that start with the letter in question. For example, A - A Funny Thing Happened the Other Day. I am thinking of posting my list of what I want to read that fits the list and then adjusting as I go along should I find something I want to read from a library (real book) vs. an ebook. Which brings up the issue of problems with my Kindle. I have an older version and the battery is not holding charges and they say that my warranty ran out. That made me upset because most places send you a note when your warranty is out and then you renew. They said that was not available with the Kindle....reason? Because that Kindle is not being made any longer. Frustration. I will be complaining in the morning to the people who did the warranty. Oh well. Have a nice Christmas. If you are interested in the A-Z Reading list it can be found at http://www.escapewithdollycas.com/category/challenges-2/a-z-reading-challenge/ The other let me put a link on the side of my page (I will check to see if it works as soon as I post).