Happy New Year!!

I hope your 2013 was good and your 2014 is even better.

I looked at my post from last year and I basically want the same things for the coming year:

*read more
*learn to book bind (still haven't done this, can't find a class yet)
*crochet more
*work on taming my tongue--it's that gossip thing (this one is HARD)
*read the bible in a year (want to do this with my boy)
*continue with my college ( I am continuing to take classes)
*post something positive each day (need to work on this)
*pray more (can we really ever pray enough?)

I will also add that I have learned to knit and will be taking a once a month class with my daughter to learn more about knitting. My daughter likes knitting like I like crochetting!!

This past year has been a good year. We are all healthy and happy and that is what counts most.

We had a new family member join us in October, my niece had a baby girl! She is adorable.

My daughter continues to do well.

My boy continues to do well but has some behavior challenges we are working on. He does well in school, which is nice and he continues to enjoy Boy Scouts. He is an excellent popcorn seller! He had a couple of teeth pulled to get ready for braces and will get his braces on in January.

My mom is doing well too. No new surgeries or illnesses for her. But I see her drastically slowing down.

Husband continues at his job. Nothing too exciting there. He purchased a new pick up truck in May, and we all like it.

The boy and I took our trip to Washington DC. I will probably go out to visit my cousin by myself. It's nice to have the break away!

I finally ordered a handmade shoes for myself. I am so excited to have shoes fit for my very own feet. I will post pictures when I receive them in April or May.

I finished my Linguistics class with a B. I got the grade I deserved. I didn't put 100% into the class and my grade reflects that effort. For the coming semester I will be taking Literature and Geography. I am looking forward to both classes!

That's about it for now, have a great 2014!!

eight years

Today marks eight years since I quit smoking. I smoked for many years, and many times I tried to quit. This time I succeeded, cold turkey!! I'm glad I don't smoke anymore!

Baby afghans and caps

These are some baby hats I made this summer for the NICU babies.

The blankets are also for the NICU babies I crochet for.  There are about 30 little blankets.  Most of them I made with leftover yarn.

These are tiny blankets mostly for premature babies.

Prayer Shawls

These are two prayer shawls I made this fall for the prayer shawl ministry I give to.

They are both made with Homespun. A pretty green and russet.

The green shawl is a rectangle shape and the russet shawl is an oblong shape.

Veterans Day 2013

To honor our vets, past and present.
Thank you all for your service.

My post from last year, it lists my family that have served.
http://pj-countryroads.blogspot.com/2012/11/veterans-day-2012.html

Knitting

This isn't a very good picture, but it's the best I have right now. About three weeks ago, we drove by a yarn shop. My husband pointed it out, and stopped so my daughter and I could look around.

We ended up talking to one of the ladies working there and signed up for a beginner knitting class. The class was today and it was just my daughter and me taking the class. We loved it. My daughter a little more than me, but overall it was a great experience.

The picture above is the beginning of my scarf. The teacher said we did very well, and the other people working in the shop said the same thing. I think we will take more lessons there!!

I'm pretty sure knitting will never replace my crochetting, but it is fun to learn!

School update and stuff

I am taking one class this semester, Linguistics. It's pretty interesting. And, I am taking it online. I am not sure if I like the online stuff. On the one hand, it's convenient for me to be able to do the classroom stuff at my leisure. And I don't have to drive anywhere, which is very nice. On the other hand, it's a lot of time on the computer and I'm not sure I like that. Plus, I don't really get to know my classmates or teacher. It's very non personal taking an online class.  But, I needed to try it for a variety of reasons. One being that my husband is working some long hours this fall. So, it's good I don't have to drive to school.

My boy and daughter are doing well. A few issues with the boy in school, but I am confident they will be worked out. Mostly some social issues. He does very well academically, for which I am thankful.

The daughter is doing well too. Likes her job etc. We went shopping the other day and she served as my personal shopper, which is great for me because she is honest about what clothing works well for me and what doesn't.  I had a list of what I needed/wanted and we got it all done within about 2 and a half hours, including lunch.

Mom is doing well too. Getting older and more fragile. I still talk to her every day and clean her house twice a month. She stays busy with her card clubs and friends. She goes to a movie and lunch once a month with a group of friends.

My niece recently had a baby girl! The first next generation. And the niece is the first of that generation! I saw the baby the other day. It was a treat to hold a newborn baby. And the baby is just beautiful.

That's about all for now. Not much new going on. Continuing with school and just living.  I'm still crocheting and have a bunch of stuff to post about. I will try to get to that soon.

My Grandma

This is my Grandma and my baby boy. This picture was taken in July of 2004 when we went to Maryland to see my grandma.  She was 95.  She died in January of 2005.

I still miss her. She was my special Grandma. She had a nickname for me that only she used and she would address my birthday cards with that name. We were always very close and I miss her.

Today, she would have been 105 years old. She lived til she was almost 97. At the end of her life, she was still healthy, but she had dementia and Alzheimers.  I still miss her and think of her often.

Blog Anniversary

Today is the seventh anniversary of this blog. I never thought that seven years ago when I started this blog that I would continue with it for so long. But, I am glad I did, because it evolved into something other than what it started out as.

I mostly just post about my crochet stuff now, and once in a while throw in an update about school, mine and my little guys school.  And occasionally the odd blog entry about something I find interesting.

My blog has had some bumps along the way. At one point I thought about deleted some of the entries then I decided that I was not going to do that. This blog is what it is and I will keep it in it's original form.

The first post I made is here:  http://pj-countryroads.blogspot.com/2006/08/seven-things.html  

The second post I made was about my log house. And one shortly after that is one I posted about my dear Grandma.  I thought of her today because in two days is her birthday. She would have been 105 years old.  I think about her often. She was that special, special Grandma. She had a special nickname for me that only she used, and she addressed my birthday cards with that name.  Today I received a box of papers and pictures from my cousin, that were my Grandma's. I found her birth certificate in there, and I learned one new fact about my family history!!

So, another year has gone by, and my blog continues. I imagine I will be updating again in a similar fashion to this one in another year!

I hope you all have a good year, and thanks for reading my blog! :)

Baby afghans...........

 This pink baby blanket I made for my Niece who is expecting a little girl in October. It's the first great-grandchild for my mom and the first great niece for me and my brothers and their families. I am excited to meet this baby!  This blanket is made with Bernat Baby coordinates.

 This is a yellow baby blanket I made for my niece but I don't like it so much. It is heavy and too thick. 

These are 100% cotton washcloths for the new baby! They were so fun to make. I hope my niece likes them.

I also made another baby blanket for a friend. It is the same color as this afghan, and she sent me a note saying they all liked it!

Yarn candles

I bought these candles because they are made to look like yarn! I think they are unique and pretty.

I bought them http://shop.bar-maids.com/  and with my order they sent me a sample of the body bar. I also have to say that the customer service was absolutely excellent.  I had one issue and they called me immediately after I sent  a message and corrected my issue. Not to mention that my candles shipped in a couple days!! Nicely boxed and wrapped and they used all recyclable packaging!

Birthday!!!

Today is my Mom's 85th Birthday.  I took my mom, my boy and my girl out to Red Lobster for lunch for Mom's birthday (hubby had to work). Red Lobster was her choice and we all enjoyed our lunch.

I tried to find Star Gazer Lilies for her, but didn't have any luck. So, I bought her some beautiful red Roses. She liked them, and one of my brothers and his wife found her a beautiful bouquet of Lilies!

Mom is continues to do well.  Her hip feels great a year later!  She is settled into her new home and likes it, she said it finally feels like home.  However, she needs a new shoulder. It's not a rotator cuff, but a shoulder replacement. A few years ago she feel in a mall parking lot and hurt her shoulder. Now, it needs to be fixed, and she's thinking of having it done soon.

Washington DC part 2

So, I returned home from my trip. It's always nice to go away, but it's nice to come home too. I was gone May 16-21.  About a week later, I told my husband that I would like to take the boy to DC sometime. He said why don't you go now?!  He looked up flights for the boy and myself and they were double what I paid to fly out there, so he suggested I drive! I mulled it over, cancelled two appointments and started packing for the boy and myself. A couple of times I wondered if I should go, after all, it would just be me driving and would the boy do well on a long roadtrip? It would be almost two days of driving and an overnight in the hotel each way.  He did just fine!

I brought my daughter to DC when she was the same age. I have to say that I think my daughter enjoyed DC more than my son and she was certainly better behaved!

So we made the trip on June 9 and returned home June 17.  We stayed with my cousins again, though we didn't see much of either of them.

The first day we went into DC, we took a bus tour of the city, which I had never done before in all the times I had been there. I am super glad we took the bus tour because I saw things in DC that I had never seen before.  The nice thing about this tour was that you could stop at any of the stops and hop back on another bus an hour later if you wanted too. The first day we spent on the bus almost the whole day. We got off and visited the Lincoln Memorial, along with the VietNam wall, and the Korean war Memorial. It was well worth the price for the tour and it helped me and my son plan the next two days.

We also stopped at the National Museum of Natural History. This was a favorite and we went back each day to this Museum. And we were briefly at the Air and Space Museum. I thought my boy would like this more than he did!

We also saw all the monuments in DC, the embassy's, the Watergate hotel (which I had never seen before), and a ton of other buildings I never knew about.

Each day we drove about 30 minutes to a parking area and grabbed the metro. Both of us got to learn the metro very well!

The second day we went in we started at the National Museum of Natural History. It was fascinating. We saw dinosaurs, skeletons, minerals, the hope diamond, and so much more.  This is the day we went to the Holocaust Museum, because I brought my DD214 with me. We got in right away and it took about 3 hours to get through the Museum. It was sad, and humbling all at the same time. In 1999 I took a trip to Israel with my husband and we went to Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem has a childrens museum and I just weeped the whole time we were in it. So very sad.

We also went to the National Museum of American History. Again the boy was not as interested in this as I thought he would be. I couldn't help comparing my two children and the contrasts in each visit. My daughter seemed more interested in the monuments and the American History Museum and my boy seemed more interested in feeding the birds and dinosaurs! And my boy is not much of a walker, whereas my cousin and I don't recall the girl complaining about walking!

The third day we spent at the Spy Museum. My son enjoyed that. And,w e saw the lady from May that let me and my cousins in! I told her I was back with my boy and that we actually paid to get in!! We both laughed about that and I told her again how thankful we were for her generosity.  We visited the National Museum of Natural History again and this time we went through the Butterfly exhibit.  Then we went up to the Zoo and saw Panda bears!!  That was the end of our three days in DC and it was fabulous. And the weather was near perfect for us, compared to June or July!

I know I am missing a ton of what we did, but we had three 10 hour days in Washington DC and it was great. Overall my boy tells me he had a good time!

Next time I go, I want to go to the National Geographic Museum and the Newseum. We didn't have time for either of these and I didn't even know there was a National Geographic Museum!

We left my cousins house and had a good drive home. There was some rain starting out but then the rest of the day was clear. We made it to Rockford Illinois the first night, then it was just about a five hour drive home the next day!

So glad we made the trip out there!

Washington DC

Each year for the past 6 years or so, I have been flying out to Maryland to visit my cousin. She grew up in New Jersey and I was always very close to her and my aunt.  My aunt had moved to Maryland also, and my grandma had moved in with her. Before I had my little boy I would fly out there three times a year to visit with my grandma and aunt. Then my aunt died, and a year later my grandma died. Then I had my boy, and a few years ago I started visiting my cousin.

This year I went in May, after my school was out for the semester and before my boy was done with school. I usually go in August.  I have wanted to go see the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, so my cousin, her partner, and I went. But we couldn't get in. All the daily tickets were given out by the time we got there, and the online tickets were sold out until late June.  But we did learn that vets could get in anytime by showing their DD214. BINGO!! Lisa (my cousin) and I are vets, but neither one of us carry our DD214 with us. No one that I know of carries it with them.  So instead, we went to the Spy Museum.  When we got there, we looked at the prices for entry and I said out loud, but quietly, that it was more than I wanted to pay to get in. My cousin and her partner agreed. At that moment the lady who lets you in line to get into the museum after you pay walked over to us and agreed that it was a lot to pay and to follow her. She let us in the museum for FREE!!  Later on toward the end of the museum we saw her and thanked her for letting us in because we really enjoyed the museum!

Along the walk to the Soy Museum, I saw buildings that I have not ever seen in DC and it was a fascinating walk.

We didn't do much else during my visit, but that is ok. I enjoy being there with them and we always have fun. I go to work with them three of the nights I am there. They own a cleaning company and clean office buildings in the evening.

I'll write about my second trip to DC in the next post.

A Reason, Season or Lifetime.............

This puts into perspective what I've always thought. Friends come into our lives for a reason, season or a lifetime.

Reason, Season, or Lifetime Friends

When someone is in your life for a reason, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly. S/he has come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually.

S/he is there to meet a need. Then  without any wrongdoing  on your part or at an inconvenient time, s/he will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes s/he dies. Sometimes s/he walks away. Sometimes s/he acts  up or out and forces you to take a stand. What we must realize  is that the need has been met.

When a person comes into your life for a season, it is  because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn. S/he may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. S/he may teach you something you have never done. S/he usually gives you  an unbelievable amount of joy.

Lifetime relationships teach you lifetime lessons. Those things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. You must accept the lesson, love  the person/people anyway, and put what you have learned  to use in all other relationships  and areas of your life.

Source: Anonymous

Shawl

I made this shawl around February for the Prayer Shawl ministry. As I was looking at it, my husband said it was huge. I tend to make the prayer shawls big, but I had a conversation with the church secretary where I donate the shawls. She said her mom received a prayer shawl but didn't like it because it was too heavy!! I never thought of that. An older person might not like such a huge and heavy prayer shawl. So, I have decided to make my shawls smaller in the future. I have one about half way done and it won't be so big, it's also a rectangular shaped shawl.
This one is made with Homespun Mixed Berries.

Crocheting

The top is a baby blanket I made for a woman having a baby girl. It is made with Homespun Tulip and the three washcloths on top are 100% cotton.                     

The bottom two are covers I made for my mom for her antique couch. The bottom lighter one is made with Homespun Parfait and the top one is Mixed Berries. I made them both and she chose the lighter one and it's almost a perfect match! The other one I gave to my daughter.

Recycling

These are some items we recently recycled. The boys stroller and the dog cage went to the curb and were gone within about an hour! I love curbside recycling.

The bowling game, tiny moccasins and blouse were brought to my city's family services. Glad to get a couple items out of the house and garage!

School update

I was busy again with school this semester. I took Research Writing and History II.  They were fun classes, but lots of work. Research writing was interesting and I learned a lot about writing and research writing. I received an A- in that class.
History II was interesting and boring at the same time. I learned a lot in this class too. I did my oral report and paper on Child Labor laws. I also received a 97!! on my final. I was shocked that I got a 97.  My grade for History is an A.

Now that I am done with school til August, I have a lot more free time. It's weird having so much free time now.  I have a lot to do around the house to keep me busy though, and I still continue to crochet.

My boy just has a few more weeks left of school, then he will be off for the summer as well. 

A shawl

This is a Prayer Shawl I recently finished. It is made from Lion Brand Homespun yarn and the color is "Seafoam."  It measures 115 inches across and 50 inches from neck to tip. It's huge, but this is how large I make all my prayer shawls!

I purchased this yarn on a huge sale. I think it's pretty. It's a variegated green color and looks nice. My model didn't really do a good job of modeling, he said his arms hurt to hold it up.

I will be delivering it tomorrow to the church where I donate the shawls.

Baby blankets..........

This blanket is made with Homespun. The washcloths are 100% cotton. This blanket is made for my cousin, she is having a baby boy!

These two blankets are made with Red Heart yarn. Each of the blankets are a large Granny Square Green/white on the bottom and Red/white on the top. I made these in December but I didn't get them sent in time. I'll add them to the box I send this year for the NICU babies.

This blanket I finished earlier this month. I made most of it last year and ran out of yarn and I set it aside. It's made with two strands. One is Bernat baby yarn and the other is just plain white yarn. It's a regular sized baby blanket and not a small NICU blanket.

One positive comment a day

I'm going to try this for a year. I don't know how to keep this post at the top, so I may have to dig for it later.

January 1, 2013
*we took down the Christmas decorations today

A New Year..

Happy New Year! I hope you all have a wonderful 2013.

This year I would like to:
*read more
*learn to book bind
*crochet more
*work on taming my tongue--it's that gossip thing
*read the bible in a year
*continue with my college
*post something positive each day
*pray more

I didn't write a list last year, so we will see how this year goes with this list!