I Crocheted a Tent (Yes, a Tent :P)

And a sleeping bag. I wanted to crochet something for my friends' son, since I had crocheted her daughter some Barbie Doll Furniture (which you can see in this post). So he wouldn't feel left out, you know?  :)   Well, the thing I crocheted for him so he wouldn't be jealous of his sisters thing turned out to be "bigger" than his sisters thing... So, now I am going to have to make his sister something else, too. I am thinking about something like a cupcake purse maybe. (I am burned out on Barbie doll furniture, and tents.. ) And our 7 year old wants one now, too. (Sigh.. I still have to finish his Gary the Snail first!..) Anyway, I had more pictures but as usual I could not figure out how to upload more than one picture. So I will just "tell" you how the tent door opens. You roll the tent door up and tie it to keep it open, and you can unroll it and tie it to keep it closed. Pretty cool.  (I am so glad this thing is finished, though!! You do not know!...)   

Good News!

Well first off, this is my sister's cat Oliver with his catnip mouse I knitted him. It looks like he totally destroyed it. Look at his eyes. He's like "What was that stuff? Can I have some more?"  lol  Believe me, this cat does NOT need catnip. He's crazy enough without it. I would have loved to see him with the mouse. But at least my sister sent me this picture. :P 

Back to the title of this post...  I am SOOO happy!! After not knowing what to do, and going back and forth about what should I do?... I got a phone call earlier this week from the principal of our youngest sons school saying I had to come in and fill out some forms?  I don't even remember what for, this time. I asked her, "Well can't I just sign a permit or some form that would allow our son to continue going to your school?" (When we lived in Michigan, and in Colorado, we could..)  She said yes, and that she would approve it. (When I went in later that day, the secretary behind the desk (long story short) said the principal never does that. [Approves a variance form].  Really?  Well she told me to come in and fill one out.) And yesterday being the Ice Cream Social for both schools, and still not knowing which school he was going to go to, I finally just called and asked if anyone knew..  And found out that it is most likely approved. Both principals have signed it, the only person left to sign is the superintendent. And if both principals signed, the chances of the superintendent *not* signing would be extremely rare..  So, we went to his (old) school for the Ice Cream Social. (All the ice cream was melted, it was so hot out, but it was still nice for the kids to get ice cream..)  I went into his old classroom to say hi to his old teacher, and he is still going to be with his teacher from last year. Which makes me even more happy, because I really, really like her!!  YES!!!!  (He will be with another teacher for half the day [or something], too.)  Today we went and got haircuts for them both. And then we went to Walmart. and I got them a couple more things for school. I think we are all set.  ~~Yay!!~~  Now if I can just get up in time for school. I have been trying for two weeks (set my alarm and everything) and I cannot drag myself out of bed in the morning...  Oh well. We'll get used to the new schedule soon enough.     

I'm Still Here...

This is one of the baby hamsters we kept. One of the "Wickett twins" :P There were two darker babies, with black, tan/red, and white. We kept both of the Wickett twins. Her (her name is Cocoa) and, you guessed it, Wickett (male). There were also the "Rhino twins" (a male and female they both looked like Rhino, the Dad). And the "Mia twins" (even though there were four of them~ Two sets of twins?).  I took all the rest of them up to the pet store here in town (it's more like a "Feed Store"; with some bunnies, hamsters, guinea pigs, real pigs, sometimes kittens (free with purchase of a bag of food), lizards, baby turtles, fish, goats, ducks, chickens, turkeys...  In the back room there's also rats, mice... (I think they are for "Snake food" :( He said they also sell them for pets, too. ) He traded us 6 baby hamsters, for a big bag of bedding.  Let's see: 6 x $15.95 (what he sells them for)= $96 he will be making off of us. We got a $9.99 bag of bedding..  I really, honestly don't care. ;) I didn't want to try and find homes for all those babies!!!  I was thinking he would just take them off our hands. So, it was nice of him to give us a bag of bedding.  And, we are done "breeding" hamsters! 

I guess I can only post one picture per blog post with my new "updated" blog. (Which, have I mentioned, I hate? And I want my "old blog" back?...)  I can't figure anything out. (This is the fifth time I have tried posting this; and had another picture I was trying to put in here, but it just disappeared..)  Sheesh. 

I had to take the two younger boys in to their doctor to get their shots updated. (Sheesh, again!! How many forms do I have to fill out just to get their shots updated?... Are they not patients there?...)  The "new" school informed me that they needed their shot record updated. (Insert rolling eyes smiley here...)  I had to enroll our youngest son in a different school since we moved. Which I don't know if I am happy about or not. There were things I didn't like about the "old" school. But. Now I'm beginning to think the "old" school was the better choice.  I don't think I have a choice, though. In Colorado, or Michigan, if you wanted your child to go to a school that wasn't in your school attendance area, you just had to sign some papers (saying I dont know what..)   The thing is, I homeschooled the kids. (The 7 year old had never been in public school.) Well by April of this year, I had had it. They were soooo lazy!! Sleeping til noon (the 13 year old), getting up around one in the afternoon. Not starting schoolwork until almost 2...  Then, "I did two hours"... "Um, two hours is not enough.."  (I am still going through this with the 18 year old btw, which is a whole other [irritating!!!!] story..)  Anyway.  So, I brought their books they were working on, into the school. Signed some papers saying they were homeschooled and what their grades were. (?)  The 13 year old basically got to skip all of 7th grade.  Well the 7 year old was going to be put into 2nd grade (in the "old" school); and they were going to work with him. Well, apparently, this ("new") school doesn't "honor that arrangement".  Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!  So, I don't know what to do. Or what I want to do. (As I may not have a choice?..)  If I could sign some papers and have him go to the old school, maybe he would catch up. Or have him go to the "new" school, and be a year behind.    Inicidentally, I threw the homeschool books away, thinking I no longer needed them now they were in public school, everything was "good"...    Why does everything have to be so complicated, and such a pain?  :/    Thank goodness crocheting/knitting hasn't "upgraded" or changed. Sheesh!... ;)

Goodbye, Oak :(

This early afternoon Eli said, "Oak doesn't look so good." This is what she was doing. Just laying there. She wouldn't move. I got a soft towel (rag) for her to lay on. [I had a feeling she wasn't going to get any better :(  ]  It wasn't long after I took this picture, she squeaked at Eli. Not longer after that, she died.  I can't believe it. I know hamsters don't live long. And I don't know how old she was when we got her. It's just so sad. 

Our power went out today. Well I called the electric company. She told me what to do. (Flip the breaker switch.. Okay I don't know anything, all right?.)  Well I noticed it was not getting any cooler... Then, it was really, really warm... I called the electric company again. They sent someone out. (It's HOT here!)  Well, apparently our AC unit is broken. (Although, somehow I still think it has something to do with the power going out.)  I called the landlord, she said to call an AC place... OF COURSE, they were closed. Not only do they close at 5, they close at 3???  Ugh!! Well I'm sorry my AC went out after business hours.    I figured out fast which windows have screens in them. :/  I hope someone can come out and fix it tomorrow. I don't know how we are going to pay for it though!!?  :(  Why does everything have to be such a pain?   I hope they can figure something out. It's supposed to get up to 109 later on... 

Snickerdoodles

While I was unpacking a couple boxes the other day, I got the cookie jar out. I saw Eon look inside it for cookies. :P Then a little while later, Eli looked inside... So, today I asked Eon if he wanted to make cookies with me. He said yes. I asked him, "What kind? Peanut butter, oatmeal?"... "What about Snickerdoodles?" "What are sickerdoodles?" :P "The kind with cinnamon & sugar on 'em" "Yeah". So I got a stick of butter out to let it soften. Then when I was going to make them, I said "Do you wanna make cookies now?" "No" ??? :( "Oh, you just want me to make them, so you can eat them?" "Yeah". :/ It's okay. Here's some rolled into balls waiting... :D

Here they are cooling off. One other thing the woman who used to live here left behind, was this cooling rack. I don't know if it's technically a cookie rack. But, it fits a whole pan of cookies and it works for me, so... Now I feel like a "real" baker. ;P

Here they all are in the cookie jar. I had to take a picture so it will last longer. :P Or is it, I had to take a picture because they won't last long?... 
Did I mention I want my "old" blog back? I don't understand how the pictures work for this one. :(  I hope they all turn out in the order I want them posted.. Kind of annoying.   

Olivia's Sweater

I finished Olivia's sweater! I don't believe it myself. I started it July 12th. Finished it August 5th. That's less than a month. :0 And, in between moving and packing, cleaning, unpacking, cleaning some more... (what a nightmare..)  How come I can't finish any of my other projects this fast? :P   I wanted to get this done before school started, and/or Fall..  (AND, before it didn't fit her anymore!... Which is the story of my life..)   I think it turned out pretty cute.  I'm kinda thinking about making one in my size. :P  

The baby hamsters are getting bigger. And CUTE!!! There were 13 babies. But, sadly 5 died...  :( It was so sad. I felt so awful for them. I tried to feed a couple some milk in a dropper. But it wasn't any help.  There may have been something wrong with them. Plus, 13 babies is too many. Especially for a first litter!  The remaining 8 seem to be doing fine, though. There are two black/tan and white ones (one boy, one girl). (They're SOOOO cute! I want to keep one of those- I think Eli wants to keep one, he's named it Wickett already. :P Like the Ewok from Star Wars..) Two "Rhino Juniors"~ they look like Rhino, the dad-one boy, one girl. We want to keep the boy. I said they are "Rhino Jr. and Rhinette". (Ugh... bad name for the girl.) And four tannish colored, with some white on a couple. A couple have red eyes, like Mia. I'm not going to want to give them away. :(  I want to make sure they will be going to good homes. I guess I can't think about that. We want to keep two of them, but I don't know if that will happen, either. (We already have three~Mia, Oak, and Rhino...)    The kids have been taking the babies out of the cage. (Drives me nuts- I'm afraid they will drop one. They move super fast, and you can barely hold on to them sometimes..)  Oh, the two Rhino Jrs. and black/tan ones look like they are going to be long haired! (I wanted at least one long haired... Yay..)

Well, I can't believe that's all the news since we have moved?...  School starts here pretty soon. We already found out the 7 year olds new teacher this year (yesterday). Yay..  I told Eon who his teacher was going to be. I said "Do you know who that is?" Yup...  Is in the classroom right next to last year's teacher, matter of fact. I asked what does she look like...  :P   I have to find out if we are still in the school attendance area. I think we would be, we are closer now than we were before. But, who knows..  Our 13 year old will be in 8th grade. I can't believe it. He'll be in high school next year!!! And driving in a couple years...  :((((       Let's see, what else? I closed my own finger in my dresser drawer. I scraped the skin off my knuckle, and hurt it farther up. Oh well. I'll be okay....  :P    I've made muffins twice, since we've moved to the new house. Coffee Shop Corn Muffins, and Chocolate Banana Muffins.  :P  I have about 20 bananas in the freezer again. Going to have crank out the muffin machine (aka: Me... making them..:P)  The woman who we are renting the house from, left a few things here. One of those "things" was a muffin pan!!  I was SO happy. (No, it doesn't take much to make me happy... :P) It's only a 6 muffin-muffin pan, but it's enough. I have two "big" jumbo muffin pans, and two or three "mini" muffin pans. But only one "regular" sized muffin pan. So, if I made a double batch, or had more muffin batter than one panful, I had to wait til the muffins were done baking & cooled, wash the pan, do again...  Now, I won't always have to. (Unless I make a double batch.) Yes, I know, I could buy another muffin pan... But, with everything else, it's kinda the last thing on our list, you know?  Anyway. My husband's work schedule also changed since we moved. He's working "Swing Shift".  :(  Which is less crazy of hours, so how come it's messed me up so much?  Well, I think it is "messing him" up, too. He got a cold. :(  Bad one.  Then, he was supposed to work today at 4 in the morning! :0  (He doesn't even get off work until 11 at night. That means he would have to drive home for an hour and 15 minutes, sleep for two hours, turn around and drive back to work..) Fortunately, they changed his work time to 10 am. So he got some sleep last night. Poor guy.  I made him homemade chicken noodle soup last night. He got some Nyquil, Dayquil, and Honey Lemon Cough Drops on his way home from work, too.  Eli said "Why don't you just buy him a can of soup?"  :P  I said "Because it's not the same. Your Dad likes homemade chicken noodle soup".  Plus, he likes huge pieces of carrots, celery, onions, and chicken. I was almost tempted to put whole carrots and celery in there (for a joke). The first thing he said when he took the soup out of the fridge was "Mmm big pieces"...       Anyway. This new work schedule is only for about four weeks. After that, my husband might get laid off. So...  I shouldn't complain about the new schedule.  :/  (Not that I'm complaining, but...)   Well stay tuned. I'll try to get some good pictures of the baby hamsters. They move around so fast, though; it's hard to get a good one.