Hialeah Progress..

Somehow, I have managed to get this much done so far...  14 motifs. It didn't seem like it would "even out"; but it did.  It was kind of confusing at first, figuring out the motifs/diagram. But it seems to be getting easier. Once I figured the diagram out. Three more motifs and I will be halfway done with the motifs.  (But not with the bag..)  All the little tags are which number motif they are. Or I would get completely confused. :P

This week (and next) is the school Book Fair. I offered to volunteer to help out. Today was the first day. Supposedly, it will be easier from tomorrow on. I'm not helping out tomorrow; since I "have" to drive my husband to his dentist appointment. (And pick him up..)  I didn't want to help out every day, but...  They kind of act like they are depending on me. And since I don't have to do testing this Friday, (sigh....) I guess I will.  A couple of boys were seen putting things into their pockets today. :/  (Can't figure out a mad sideways "smiley"...)  One was caught, and he had to pay for the bookmarks he tried to steal. The one boy that was "caught"; I had been watching, too. They must have taken something the second I took my eyes off them. I was watching two tables.  It was hard to keep an eye on everyone. And they would huddle around the table (the table with all the little stuff that would be easy to take-- pens, pencils, erasers...). You would think they would be happy/grateful to have a Book Fair in their school...  The items they were trying to take weren't even that expensive, either.   Sigh...    Overall, though; I think all the kids had fun.  And I enjoyed helping them with their "wishlists".  :D 

Well It Isn't Scrabble, But...

I made some Sweet and Spicy Honey Nut Chex Mix the other night..  It was okay.. But I don't think I will ever make it again. I just didn't like it that much. (The recipe calls for cayenne pepper and I think it was too much.) Next time I make anything like this; I just want it sweet.

I thought I would post a (not so good) picture of some Quail that were in our back yard (and the neighbors back yard) the other day.  They're so neat. My husband says "Dinner" every time we see them. lol  (We haven't eaten any, just so you know!!! I wouldn't either.)  

They sometimes come to my bird feeder (which is on the other side of the back yard).  You can see the top of our little apple tree. It has about two or three baby apples on it. I hope it will do well this summer. Last summer it didn't do so well. The person who owns this house (we know her) wasn't here a lot, and so it didn't get watered. And (I think) by the time she asked us to water it, it was probably too late to do any good. But we have been watering it (and all the other ones) since we've been here, and it seems to be doing a lot better. Plus my husband trimmed some of the branches. It was growing all sideways and down. (Weird.)  Now it looks like a dwarf apple tree. :D

A Root Canal (At least it's not me this time!) & Hialeah Bag Progress..

My husband is going to need a root canal done...  :(  Two teeth have a cavity in between them (root canal), four crowns, and a bridge.   :0   (At least I don't feel so bad with all the work I had to have done, now..)  Sheesh.  I told him, though; "You should have gone to the dentist sooner".  He won't even go in to get his teeth cleaned.  Sigh.. 



And here is the progress I have made on my Hialeah Bag. Not much, I know..  I can't even sit down to crochet any more, it seems...  I actually crocheted three other flowers (one whole motif) but then I read through the whole pattern and figured out "Oh..."  I was doing it wrong.  :P   I really want to get this done fast and get a new outfit to wear with it, if I can~ soon.  So I am going to try and work on it.  If only I had someone to clean my house, do my laundry, cook...  (Sigh..) ;P   I am making Lasagne today since I opened my big mouth and asked "Doesn't lasagne sound good?..." (And bought all the stuff to make it.)  Now I am committed.   :P   Our 14 year old is getting sooo picky about what he eats. So I have been trying to make "different" stuff for dinner. (Not meat, potatoes, vegetables. Or spaghetti or tacos..)  I am kind of sick of the same old stuff too. It's just too much brain work to think of something, lol...  ;P  I have to save all my brain cells for crocheting. Hee hee...   



Thank You, Mimi!! :D

I got more mail, yesterday!! From my friend Mimi.  <3  What a lovely surprise! I almost missed the Mail-Lady (is that an oxymoron?). The kids said "Someone was just knocking on the door" (I like how they don't get up to answer it, though... grrr..)  "I think it was the mailman".  So I ran out the door and said "Hello?"  :P     Look what Mimi sent me!  A tan color V-neck tee, a little tote bag for my three gazillion projects. :D   Cool paper clips. (I love these~ I had gotten some at Staples a while ago, but I only had a couple left) And a postcard (from France?) with a little kitty puffy sticker on the back~ I love it. And her business card- which looks so nice! (There are two sides of it.)   Thank you so much, Mimi.  <3  *hugs!!!*

Hialeah Bag

I started another new project last night (aheeeem...)  I could not resist.  I didn't have Tahki cotton (size 2 yarn), sooo...  I am using Wool-Ease for the grey and Simply Soft for the yellow. I had a little ball (PERFECT color) of teal, but it isn't enough...  :(((   I don't know what I am going to do for that. It's not until motif #33, so maybe I will find yarn for it by the time I am ready to crochet it.   After I started crocheting this, I was thinking "what could I use for a size 2 yarn?"...   And I thought maybe like a heavier weight cotton thread might work.  Or a couple (or three?) strands held together? I don't know if that would be too stiff, though.  We have no good yarn stores where I live, unless I drive over an hour away.  So I could maybe just look online (in the future..).   So, I will just have a larger sized purse I guess. :P (Which I like anyhow...)   Anyway, this pattern is from the Interweave Crochet Spring 2011 issue.    You can (maybe?) see more pictures of the purse here, online.  Now I need to get a skirt/clothes to go with my purse. Hee hee.  It's weird because lately I had been thinking, "A darker gray would go good with a pale yellow". And then I saw this purse (bag).   :P   I also don't know what I will do for the handles. I would like a "handle" that I can put over my shoulder. I don't like carrying purses (bags) with my hand.

Still thinking about the dog...   :) 

We Are Thinking About Getting a Dog...

We went to the Animal Shelter in town.  We only liked this one male black Lab.  He was brought in with two other black Labs (one female, one male). They all look the same age/size. (About a year, maybe?) But we really liked him the best. (Which makes me think, "If we like him, he's probably a bad dog"...)  I am not going by the "cutest" dog, I go by their personalities. He seems to be calm and won't look at you.  And the tag on his kennel says "Well mannered".  (All three of them say that- the ones that were brought in together..)  But the woman said she thinks they may have been "Over disciplined"..  What exactly does she mean by that?...  I wouldn't want to get a dog with issues, you know... Especially dominance issues, or aggression issues...   (That's why I think this dog will be good. Although I don't know for sure..)   We are still thinking about it.  With my husband still not working, and we might be moving again; we don't know if it would be a good time to get  a dog right now..  (If he could get a job here, that would be better, but..)  We both keep going back and forth..  lol   I think "Everyone has a dog, it's not that big of a deal.."  But then I think "I will have to watch him all the time, make sure he isn't getting into anything, chewing on anything he's not supposed to be...  Pooping or peeing in the house....  Eating the hamsters.."  (lol on the hamster part, but seriously.. We'll have to put the hamsters up somewhere) Plus walk him, clean up poop outside (it is the 14 year olds' and 8 year olds' jobs, but...)  I know the first week they will be gung ho "I will take care of him! I PROOOOOOOOOOMISE...."  Then all the excitement will wear off...   Then it will be "Take the dog out."  "Clean up the dog poop"..   "I don't waaaaaaaaaant to."     We'll see..   I'm kinda just waiting to see what my husband says. I told him if we get a dog again, I am NOT taking it back to the pound this time, so it better be for real...   (So if he says we can get a dog, then I will know it's "meant to be"..)  :P   

Even More Card Stuff... :P

Yup, I have been in the mood to make cards again...  (And write letters~ what's up with that? lol...)  This one is from the Sept/Oct 2010 "Paper Crafts" magazine... It's called "Dictionary Flower Card".   I didn't have the flower stamp; I used a "stencil" (punch outs I had). I put the stencils over words like "friend", "sweet", or "lily"...  :)  Then used colored pencils (I don't have the spray paint or whatever they used in the magazine). Then used floss for the "stems". I drew little dots and poked little holes through the paper so I would know where to put the needle through at...  And, some little gem dots...  I was feeling crafty yesterday. :P

And even still this morning. I didn't have an envelope the right size for this card & I was thinking maybe I could make one out of the "ledger" paper. Then I had an idea to copy pages of the dictionary, and circled words like "letter", "envelope", "correspondent", and "mail".  Only one or two showed up for this small envelope but still...   :P  I thought it was pretty cool. 

And someone else was feeling crafty, too. :P  Yup, it was Eon...   He made some "cards" with pictures of his hamster, Mia.  "Her Big Day".  :P  (That was the day we got her~ he's so funny..)   (He has two hamsters but we don't have many pictures of Coco. Which is one of Mia's babies that we kept...)  The one on the right is supposed to be confetti. I thought it was supposed to be fireworks, cuz it says "Boom". But I asked him this morning, and he said "No, it's the boom when all the confetti comes out".  lol... ?   

And he made a card for our old puppy, Koda; too.  :(   I said "Don't use all my gem dots..."  "I won't"...  (Sigh...   He didn't leave me much... Fortunately I think these were from the Dollar Store. I hope so..)   He had fun though so that's okay.  ;)

More Cards..

I joined another Card Swap at Ravelry, for the month of April. (Just Because Greeting Cards Group). So, I thought I would get a head start on making some cards...  I think I am more than covered so far. :P  I actually did this card last, but I finished it first.  It's from the Sept/October 2010 issue of Paper Crafts magazine.  It isn't "exactly" like the one in the magazine, but.. 

Side view to see the "3D~ness" of it. :P





I thought I would post a picture of this card, before the other cards.. (This is an old one btw)  I was trying to copy the ones below, here... But I didn't have the butterfly stamp, or the edger.  (So you can compare :P)  It was so ugly, I don't think I ever posted it on here.  :P  Here are the ones I made today that are closer to what they're supposed to look like:

These are the cards I actually started first, today...  I just wanted to make cards that said "Hello" or "Hi", and I had these in mind.Then while wondering what to do for the "hello" or "hi" part (and the ribbon part); since I didn't have anything for it, I started the other card.  The only other thing I would like to have done differently for these cards is to have had different ribbon. But, I couldn't find any in this lame town.  I did find some on ebay that would work.  Anyway, this card is from a 2008 "Stamp It! cards" magazine. It doesn't really have a month on there; it just says "Display until 08/12/08. So...  Maybe it was a summer issue.  (It's actually a "Happy Birthday" card, too; but...  I did it this way. And I think it would work for any greeting.  "Get Well Soon", or "Thank You", or any saying..)

A Box of Goodies From My Pen Pen Pal :)

Look at what she sent me.  :)  I probably should have taken a close up picture of all the pens. But I was happy to get this non-blurry picture, with my camera...  There's a snowman pen, a lemon fizzy pen, a light up heart pen (the furry red one)..  She also sent a little holder with a cool (clay?) covered pen, and a (clay?) covered steel crochet hook.  The little purse on the right has an awesome lining, it looks so professionally done. :)   And (not pictured, except for the two pens in front of the box) she sent a package of Toy Story pens for the boys, and a package of pencil grippers for them, too.  I used the hand lotion last night, it smells so nice.  I wasn't supposed to use oils, powders, perfumes, lotions, creams, deodorants yesterday -- mammogram~~ Fun....  :/   So my hands were really dry last night; and I thought, "Oh, I'm going to use that lotion she sent me!"  Thank you so much, Pen Pen Pal.   It was a kind of crazy day yesterday, and I was so happy to get your box when I got home.   

Chevron Lace Cardigan

I've had this in my Ravelry queue since forever.. Sometime in 2009, anyway.  And since I am going to start making more of my own sweaters/clothing, I started this project today. I somehow got done through row 3, in between carpooling & watching my 8 year old ride his bike outside for a while... :P  It's the Chevron Lace Cardigan. (Look in the sidebar, under "Free Patterns".  :) 

I Crocheted a Couple of Tam's Granny TP Covers

Sorry for the blurry picture (again.. sigh..)  I had been stalking Tam's blog to see if she had posted the pattern to her Granny Toilet Tissue Covers. :P  She said she might do a "Freebie Friday" with it.  :)  I was so happy she did! They are supposed to be for a "toilet paper kleenex roll"??  Instead of kleenex (does your family use toilet paper, too?) the toilet paper roll is undone and cut out then the toilet paper pulled up from the middle of the roll. Well I haven't done that part of it, yet. I might just use them as TP covers.  The one on the left I know I am sending to one of my people on Pine Ridge.  Can't really afford anything right now. So it's better than nothing. ;)   

I am working on a bunch of toys right now. I have no idea why. Probably cuz they're fun. But, I ran out of stuffing. Soooo.... They are all going to be on hold. I started a bunny from an older crochet book I have, on Friday night. Then did the two TP covers today. I also printed out Stormy's Super Easy Teddy Bear pattern. I want to make one right now. Then, started a turtle.    I got the whole head done on the turtle and the neck. But I think I am at a point where I'm going to stop, since I can't stuff it anyway.  Maybe I'll work on some of my other projects I already have going, so I can actually finish something... 

Park & Play Garage

I made this for our 8 year old over the last two days. :P  It's called the Park and Play Garage (like the blog post title says.. ;P)  I used to get Family Fun magazine. But, we can't really afford it now. Plus, I have too many magazines and can usually get the instructions free online anyway. :D  I had been wanting to make this since I saw it in their magazine (a couple/few months ago?). Well this past week, Eon has been wanting to "play cars" every day. I thought "This would be a perfect time to make him that Park & Play Garage".  Not bad for a cereal box (I didn't use two, btw, just one big Fruit Loops box, and a hot chocolate box for the extra pieces I needed (the ramp, plus reinforcement for one of the sides); and a 96 cent can of spray paint. (I didn't use paper and glue for that). My husband did the spray painting. :)  Then 5 toilet paper rolls w/ yellow paper (involved some measuring & cutting & glueing with a glue stick).  Then I just put a car in, measured lines & drew on w/ a pencil then cut tape and put it on...  

Here it is with his "Cars" rug we got him a few years ago.  I think he is going to LOVE it. (See the ramp that goes up into the garage~ how cool is that? :P)    He doesn't know I made this yet, it will be a surprise for when he gets home from school today.      Hmmm... Wonder what I am going to be doing this afternoon?...    ;P

Proud Mommy Moment.. :P

I don't know if I ever mentioned on here that I volunteer in my son's school every Friday. I love doing it. Well this past Friday I finally got to test my own son for his sight words. (I kept asking and bugging and pleading with him to study them at home.. lol)  He passed!  (I won't pass anyone if they don't get them right~ I'm so *mean*..)  I'm so proud of him!!  :D  Every time they pass their word list, they get a "Dog Tag".  (You can see all his Dog Tags on his chain.. )   I am "Miss Tina" there, but I wrote (Mom) underneath. :P  Now he's on to the 400 word list. :0   I took this picture with my phone.  Hee hee..    Well I better go get ready~ I have a doctor's appointment today...  Can't wait to get that over with.