Baby blankets

These are baby blankets that I have made this fall. I know two women that are having baby boys after having three baby girls!!  I have another friend having a baby in the Spring time but she is not finding out the gender! so I will have a blue and pink blanket available for her.

I've been crocheting in between studying for my Spanish class and this is what I have done this fall.

All of these are baby sized, about 36x48 or so, I never measure when I make them, I just crochet them. All but the yellow one are made with Lion Brand Homespun. The yellow is similar to Homespun but it's not and I forget what brand it is.

It's been a while

And I loathe bloggers that post and say they will post pictures later, but, I'm saying that again. I do have pictures to post, but something happened where I can't download from my camera anymore and it seems like such a hassle anymore. I have pictures of crochet stuff and pictures of the shoes I handmade.

It's been somewhat of a busy summer again. My mom moved at the end of July and I spend a couple of weeks getting her unpacked quickly so she would feel at home. She moved to a senior apartment and absolutely loves her new place. It has a great feel to it, and it flows well, and is bright and airy! She is extremely happy there and that makes me very happy.  Mom also turned 86 on July 1 and I have a birthday picture of her I will post. (hehehe)

We went up to Grand Marais this summer. The boys went fishing and I took a shoemaking class and made my very own custom fit/made shoes! It was really an incredible experience and I hope to go again next year.  The boys had fun fishing, and we would all like to go back to visit again. It is a very peaceful town. I love that we can walk anywhere in town too.

I registered for school. I will be taking Spanish and Philosophy. Both classes fill requirements for me to obtain a degree, and I signed up somewhat late, so this is what fits with my schedule.

My boy starts a new school in a couple weeks. I think he is excited and a little nervous and that is understandable.  We could use prayers for all of that.

The daughter is here visiting and it's been nice. She returns home on Wednesday. She is spending some time with Grandma and helping her finish unpacking. They work well together.

We are still trying to find a church home in our community. We like the church attached to the school, it's an Assembly of God affiliation and we are comfortable with that. Could use prayers for finding a church home as well.

For the second year I attended The Global Leadership Summit .http://www.willowcreek.com/events/leadership/  It was incredible and each year I attend, I learn so much, and I learn so much about myself as well. This year it is all about communication. Not just communication, but effective, leadership communication. And I learned about forgiveness. That is a huge one for me right now because I am carrying a lot of unforgiveness and it is a burden. But I am working on that and I know the release will come.

Finally got my yarn under control. We cleaned the extra bedroom/storage  in anticipation of the girl coming home and it took us 6 hours to get the room under control. We did it. I have a very clear picture of the yarn I have and I know exactly what I have to work with. In this process, we also gave SIX large garbage bags of clothing and jackets to our local family services. In addition, there were also a grocery sack of books and household goods, rugs, even a working vacuum cleaner. It is refreshing to donate items we are no longer using.

Looking forward to fall, and what the new school year has in store for us.

School................

I registered for two classes that start in August. I am taking Philosophy and Spanish 1.  It should be a fairly easy semester, and I am slowly getting classes done.

My boy is all registered for his new school. In August we will have an orientation for parents and children, which is a switch from the other school. It will be nice for my boy to meet his teacher again and bring all his supplies into school before the first day of school.  We also need to get new uniforms, this school is a little more picky about the uniforms and have very specific uniforms available at one store. We will go in August for that.

I am somewhat hesitant enrolling him in another Christian school.  I've discussed the Christian school issue with two people I know that have actually been school teachers at private Christian schools. Both indicated that they were somewhat surprised how every one is treated. I am not surprised anymore because I saw it, and lived it first hand this past school year. I have to admit the behavior was somewhat shocking to me this year. We'll see how it goes. It saddens me to think that "christians" treat each other this way.  I understand why people back away from a church.

Not a terribly busy summer for us. We will be going to a couple of concerts in the fall, and we are going "up north" for a few days. We are all excited about that.

Forty years ago......................

Wow, just writing that out makes me feel old!!

Forty years ago, I spent the summer in New Jersey with my relatives. My sweet grandma, my great grandma and my aunt and a family friend drove out there and they all left me there and I flew home later in the summer. It was a definite summer to remember.

 I stayed with my Aunt that I have written about occasionally and my Uncle and cousins. It was a fabulous summer.  For July 4th, we went to the shore for fireworks and it was beautiful to see the fireworks over the ocean while sitting on the beach.

We did a lot that summer. My one cousin and I went to the Boys and Girls club often and met people there. There was a trampoline there.  I met a boy and I have stayed in touch with him all these years. Just recently, he sadly lost his son to a drug overdose. His only son. He is heartbroken and I am heartbroken for him. No parent should ever live to see the loss of a child.

My other cousin, who is like a sister to me, is the cousin I go visit each year. This year I went in the middle of May again.  We had a good visit.

I will always have fond memories of that summer and all the people I met. It was a special summer for me.

Changes.........

There have been some changes around here lately. 

We withdrew our boy from his private school and enrolled him in another private school. Which means we are no longer attending the church we've been at for five years (but attended on and off for about 17 yrs).

It got to the point where we no longer had the confidence in the leadership of the school, or the church to be able to continue at either one. There were some trust issues as well with the leadership of the school and his teacher this year. Several parents and employees heard a teacher yelling at the children and reported it to the principal, who did nothing. In five years I had never heard a teacher yell at the children. There were inconsistencies in discipline and that also was brought to the principals attention and nothing was done.

I am trying to move past this, but it is difficult for me. I made some great friends at the school and I am concerned about the children. I know all schools go through a transition, and I hope that this school comes out better at the end of that transition, but I fear there is a lot of heartache to go before that is accomplished. And we can no longer be a part of it all. It's heartbreaking.  I know of about 10 children that are leaving this year. And a substitute parent that is not even coming back to sub!! I know there is a spiritual fight going on there, and I will continue to pray for the school and the people that work there and attend.

My daughter is moving again, this time to California. I hope she does well out there, and accomplishes what she has set out to do. It's been wonderful having her home these past few years. We are currently taking a year long, once a month knitting class, and I'll miss her for these last 7 lessons! She likes knitting a lot more than I do. I prefer crochet. I;ll miss having her close again. And my boy will miss her too!! Dad will miss her as well.

School for me was interesting this past semester. I only took one class-Geography and it was not what I expected at all. It was weird and interesting at the same time.

My mom is moving into a senior high rise in August. I think she will be much happier there. That's all I want for her, to be happy.

We have a few things planned for the summer. Not much but it should be fun. The boys are going to Scout camp for a weekend, and they will go up north to my brother in laws to go fishing for a weekend. We are also going up to Grand Marais for a few days. I will be making a pair of leather shoes, and my boys will be going fishing, canoing and exploring.

My boy took a tour and shadowed the class he will attend school with next year and was excited! EXCITED!! I haven't seen him excited about school for a very long time. We are excited for this new chapter in his and our lives.

I took my yearly visit out to my cousins house. It was refreshing and relaxing. We took a walk downtown and there was a tea shop there. I brought some lovely tea home and I've made some delicious sun tea with it.  We also visited a salt shop. I never knew there were so many different salts in the world!! We also visited a delicious candy shop and a yummy bakery! I had a very good time and as usual, I look forward to visiting them again!

Knitted Scarves

These three scarves are knitted by my daughter. She loves to knit like I love to crochet!!

She made these for my sons school benefit auction. I hope people like them! 

They are all made with acrylic yarn.

Baby blankets

More baby blankets. The two bottom ones are made with Homespun. The pink one is made with Red Heart yarn.

These three are just baby sized blankets ( they are folded). The pink one on top is for a friend of mine who is giving it to her pregnant friend.

The bottom two are for other pregnant people I know.

Dogs................

We lost our Sophie just a month ago. We have since got a new dog. She's on the right and her name is Sadie. That's my faithful Louie on the left. He likes the new dog too.

A little over a week ago, I spotted Sadie on our local animal shelter site. I have been stalking the site for several weeks, looking for a dog, but not really thinking we would find a dog so quickly. I saw her picture, read her story, and told my husband to take a look at her profile. We visited the shelter that night and put a deposit down on her. The next day, Saturday, we brought our Louie to visit her. They got along, mostly ignoring each other.  My boy and I went back later that same morning and visited with her again, and paid for her.  We could not pick her up until at least Wednesday, since she was being spayed on Monday.

I just wanted to bring her home NOW. I could tell she was stressed and confused and I just wanted her home. But they said no. So she was spayed Monday afternoon. I called several times Tuesday and then picked her up Wednesday at noon, when the shelter opened.

She is a very sweet girl. The shelter told me she was four years old. I brought her to my vet and my vet said she was maybe TWO years old!!! That's ok though. She must have come from a loving home with other dogs and children. She is very well mannered, potty trained, knows how to sleep in a bed, loves to sit in laps, and is just generally a loving dog. I can tell she was well cared for. She is just a sweet dog.

She does not like taking medicine or kennels. I bought a small kennel for her but she would not use it. Thankfully she is well trained so we don't need it.

I never dreamed we would get a dog so quickly after Sophie. But our house was so quiet and then Sadie's profile showed up. Sometimes you just know!

I still miss my Sophie, and still look for her around the house. The ache is getting smaller each day, and I know we did the right thing. Sophie was a faithful companion for me and my family for almost ten years, and I am thankful for that.

I think Sadie will be a faithful companion for us all too.

Crochet projects catch up post

 I've started knitting and this is the scarf I made with my daughters help. It's made with wool yarn. I sent it to a dear friend this past week and she told me she likes it!! That makes me happy.

 

This is a brown shawl I made for the church for the Prayer Shawl ministry. It's made with Homespun yarn and it's rectangular shaped.

 This is a green hat I made for my daughters boyfriend for Christmas. It's made with Red Heart yarn.

 

This is a purple Prayer Shawl I made for a friend. It's Homespun yarn in Purple and it's very pretty, one of my favorite colors. I hope she likes it, I sent it to her this week.

 This is a white memorial blanket I sent to a dear friend that had a miscarriage. It's made with Homespun yarn.

This is a yellow blanket I made for a teacher at my sons school. She didn't know the gender before I made it. It's yellow, made with Bernat Baby yarn. So soft.  She had a baby boy!

Mrs. Sophie Toes...

This is Sophie. I called her Sophie toes sometimes because she didn't like her toes being touched.

Sophie was originally my aunts dog. My aunt got Sophie from her neighbor that didn't want Sophie anymore. Sophie was about 6 months old when she went to my Aunts house. I have known Sophie all her life and so have my dogs.

In May of 2004, my Aunt died. I asked her husband if we could have the dogs, there were three of them. At that time he said no, but I let him know that if he ever didn't want the dogs, we would take them. He let us know in December that we could have the dogs. It was December 4th. My sweet husband drove from Minnesota to Maryland in a weekend to retrieve the dogs for me.

So, I always say Sophie was my Aunts dog, which she was, but she was actually my dog in the end. I had her for almost ten years. She surprised us with how well she behaved. We thought we would have issues with her, and she turned out to be a wonderful pet for our family.

Around August I noticed she was drinking a lot of water and brought her to the vet for a check. She had liver issues, so we put her on medicine and started her on a special food for dogs with liver issues. A couple of weeks ago I went to get her more food and spoke with one of the vet techs about Sophie. She wasn't getting any better, and she was actually doing a little worse. She was starting to retain water and she was starting to have problems breathing.

The vet called me the next day and we talked about Sophie, and options. One of them was to drain the fluid, giving Sophie more time, a week, a month, two months--who knows? Once you start draining, you have to keep draining. We talked about quality of life etc for Sophie. I reluctantly decided that Sophie needed to go to her final resting place.  She was 12 years old, and had a wonderful life. It wasn't fair to her to have to suffer just because I wanted her here still. I could she how bloated she was, and hear how difficult it was for her to breath.

She was still feisty and barky though. She was our barky dog. We always knew when someone was here, because she would bark. And when we arrived home, she always greeted us with her bark barking.  I miss that now. Our house is quiet, and our other dog Louie is lonely. He has always been our quiet dog.

My mom was sad about Sophie too. She said it was like one of the last ties to my Aunt.  And she is right. I feel like it was more than just Sophie that we let go.

We brought her in Thursday, and we were all there with her. I held her and comforted her. Her passing went quickly. I was able to spend some time alone with her on Thursday, to tell her she wouldn't be in pain much longer and to tell her what a good girl she was for us. I know she knew, and I know she understood.

So we go through the days, one at a time, missing Sophie and adjusting to our new, quieter house. I miss her more than I ever thought I would.

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!