My Weekend... So Far

Like the new layout? I think I'll stick with this one for awhile. 

I started working on the Crochet Sampler Afgan a couple days ago. I am only on Square 5 and stuck... I hate when I look at a pattern and it just doesn't make sense to me. I hate when I can't see the pattern in the first few rows and it frustrates me. That's the problem I'm running into with this square. But, I will be going in Tuesday morning to talk to a lady at the Sr. Center, and I know she can get me straightened out. It probably doesn't help that this blanket is going beyond my skill level. I am learning so many new stitches, and it's exciting! But each one gets just a little harder, and there are 12 all together.

But, I have plenty to work on between now and Tuesday. I finally finished my mom's blanket {but forgot to take a picture before I gave it to her yesterday}, and now I need to finish my brother's and my hats and I have a bumble bee too finish up. {Crocheting stuffed animals is not as easy as it looks to be, either.}

Oh, and I could always clean the house! {Yeah right...} Or work on my novel. I have options.

Trying to Find a New Layout

Is much harder than it seems it should be. Maybe we should make it a game!? I bet every time you click onto my blog there is a new layout. I'm so damn picky it's been tough to come up with something! Please bear with me. :)

April Fragments Of Friday

Sorry it's been so long! Has anyone even really missed me?

I have been out with horrible headaches, depression, injuries and a couple days of "Spring" cleaning, that didn't go very well.

Yes, my headaches have continued. Thankfully, my doctor appointment is on Monday morning, and hopefully we can at least get some treatment options. I'm also praying for the courage to discuss my depression, which has flared up again and is quickly becoming unbearable...

I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

As for the injuries... I don't even know how they came about! My wrist is doing much better today. I think I have tendinitis in my left wrist. Every now and then, it acts up, and I think scrubbing the bathroom helped irritate it. My foot is a total mystery to me. I was doing Hip Hop Abs at about 5:30 Monday morning. I was being very quiet. I didn't want to wake anyone up so I could have a shower afterward, so I wasn't jumping or doing too high impact. But, somehow, I hurt the outside of my right foot. I have been limping around on it since Monday morning.

Oh, the doctor is going to LOVE me!



The novel is going well. Honestly, I haven't done too much work. I finished Chapter One but am struggling with Chapter Two. I've always had trouble starting a novel, so I know my first few {5 or 6} chapters are going to take some major time and major work. It's a little frustrating, really. I love the action, the drama, of the middle and ending of the novel, but getting there is a battle!

Wednesday night, I attended a workshop with my former 8th grade English teacher, who now has a few books in print {mostly self published}. It was great! It was very informative, but I've still been reluctant to sit down and work on this novel. I want to, and it wants to be done. But I am such a perfectionist, that it's tough. I have a hard time with "this is only a first draft" and "there will be hundreds of re-writes". I'm working on it, though.



I've been working on crochet {as much as I can with an almost useless wrist} lately. My mom's blanket is almost finished and I have my brother's a quarter of the way done.

During Labor Day Weekend, out little town holds a Tri-County Fair, with a craft show, rodeo and all sorts of other events and vendors. I was talking to Hubby the other day, showing him a crochet magazine I had gotten earlier that day, and he suggested I put some of my crochet work into the fair. That got me excited! I looked up the guidelines online, and I can enter up to 10 projects!! Yay!

These are two of them I am working on:
{These are FREE patterns that can be found on the Red Heart website!}

Crochet Sample Afgan

Forever Diamonds Throw

 Can't wait to show the finished products!

I am also considering a few stuffed animals {found some super cute Amigurumi
patterns at YouCanMakeThis}.



School starts in a month, and it's safe to say I am a little more than freaked out by it. My first class cost just over $2,000 and my husband is still screwing around getting out taxes done!! There's no way we can afford to pay that much out of out own pockets, but unless we get the taxes done, I can't get FAFSA and if I don't have FAFSA filled out, I can't get loans... And I know it wouldn't look good to drop my first and only class before it's even started... Next year, I'm just doing our taxes and letting him deal with the business on his own...



We had Spring weather for a couple days. It was just an April Fool's joke {as a good friend of mine put it}. Now we've got snow and 30 degree weather. It's not unheard of for April in Northern Nevada, but it certainly is frustrating! I can only hope that it clears up by Easter. Last year the kids got to hunt for their eggs in a thin sheet of snow. There is a saying in town here: the only reason we color eggs is so we can find them in the snow.

Friday Fragments

Another week, come and gone... This has been a week I am more than happy to see go, and I pray this week to come is much, much better...

I finally gave in and am on twitter... The end must be near. LOL! But, click this lovely button I have here to follow me and I will follow you back. And hopefully keep everyone updated. {On what I haven't quite figured out.} Plus, I have this wonderful app on my phone. :)



The baby is officially walking! Not everywhere or all the time, but he does know how to stand himself up {in the middle of the room, no less} and will take a few steps without coaxing from Momma! Makes me happy, but a little sad. I'm not so ready for my baby to grow up yet. He goes into the DR. on Monday for his one-year checkup. I'm interested to hear what they say about his size, although he is starting to chunk up a bit.

I'm also thinking about talking to the DR. about my headaches. I have had one pretty constant all week. Though some of that has to be from hangovers, but we're not going there right now. I'm just kinda scared. Scared of what they might find or what might happen.

But, anyway...

I have been working on my novel this week. Well, working on editing and rewriting my first chapter. I think I finally have it! After almost 3 years, I think I finally have the perfect beginning of my novel. It feels good and it is moving along nicely.

But, as a result of all the writing, my crocheting has taken a back seat. Not completely stopped, but definitely slowed down. Last weekend, I crocheted 10 preemie hats in one day, 6 the next day. I also went to the library and found a couple books with some patterns I need to copy.

So much going on, it's hard to balance at times, but I'll figure it out. Some days, all I want to do is sit and crochet one project after another. Other days, I just want to sit and write and could get thousands of words in just a few hours. Others, I want to sit and read book after book. All the while, my house is suffering and at the end of the day, my body aches. Today is my catch up on housework day, but, since Hubby is working days, I have a feeling that there won't be much catching up on housework going on at all.

April Is...

My 3rd anniversary.

National Poetry Month.

Child Abuse Awareness Month.

Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Crime Victim Rights Awareness Month.

I dare you to make a move. 

Get up and do something. 

Write a poem.

Help a child. 

Raise your voice. 

Take a class.

Think beyond right now.

Make April THE month we make this a better world.

You Guessed It: Friday Fragments

TGIF!!!?

How was your St. Patties Day?

I spent mine watching the last disc of Season 2 of The Cleaner, then a marathon {can it be called a marathon with only two movies?} of Boondock Saints! I am so excited about the "rumor" that they are making #3! So many questions still need to be answered.

Oh, my! What a week this has been. One giant roller coaster {and I really don't like roller coasters...}.

For starters, I got accepted into Capella University and will start on my BS in Psychology on May 9th! I am super excited, but that excitement was short lived. Don't get me wrong, this is amazing! I've been wanting this for a few years now and I'm glad I decided to go ahead with it. Submitting that application is something I've been too afraid to do, so it was a big step to take. I am excited that in just over a month, I will be taking the first steps toward my therapist licence and PhD!

But, now I feel overwhelmed and almost regretful {okay, a lot regretful}. I know that I will get a little in financial aid, but I also know that this BS will cost me about $55,000!! Most of that is going to come out of our own pockets in the form of student loans. I do realize that I have 4 years before I have to start paying on them, but a lot can happen in the next 4 years, and we're already struggling now. I feel like I am putting another burden on Hubby's wallet. But, by the time I have a BS, the baby will be 5 and be getting ready to enter Kindergarten. The older two will be in school full time. I could probably find a part time job to help with some of that cost... Or, I can use the $500 we're paying each month on the car {which will finally be paid off next year!} to pay the loans... Or, maybe I just shouldn't worry about it right now and enjoy my move forward!

I think I suffer from a condition called Chronic Daily Headaches. I have currently had a headache since Tuesday afternoon... It wasn't so bad yesterday, and it's not too bad today, but I seem to be going to bed with them and waking up the next morning with them, too... Okay, so mine is probably caused by stress and a stiff neck, but a girl's gotta have hope, right?

The baby took his first steps last night!! Finally! He is just over 13 months now, but still so tiny. The last time I weighed him {about a month ago} he was only 15 pounds, and he hasn't grown too much since then. It's just so cute watching something so tiny walking around.

I have been crocheting like a mad woman this last week. I am making up "packets" of preemie hats to donate to NICUs around the country {will write a better post on it this coming week}. So far, I have about 10 crocheted. I have those flat rate priority mail boxes from the post office, and I'm trying to fill each medium sized one with at least 100 hats each. I could probably fit more in there, though, but we'll see. I still have a ways to go before that.

I need to finish my mom's and brother's blankets, but have mostly been working on the preemie hats and a couple other hat patterns I've found. I learned how to do a "crab stitch" {single crochet backwards} and I'm not a fan of it... The hat is gonna come out so cute, though!

We had a successful first novel swap last weekend. Sadly, I haven't worked on my novel much since then. I guess I don't possess the discipline necessary. I really need to work on that one. The characters have been quiet lately, which is probably the reason for it.

Hopefully this will be a {slightly} relaxing weekend for me. Or maybe not. I'm not sure that I really want the time to sit down and be alone with my thoughts right now.

Inspire Me!

{A part of Writer's Workshop hosted by Kat @ Mama's Losin' It}

I Did It!!

I got in!!

I got accepted into Capella University for BS in Psychology!!

School starts May 9th!!

FFM - We Heart Surveys!

FMM: We Heart Surveys! 

1) What's your favorite brand of make-up? Are you loyal to one brand? Hmm.. I really don't have one. Whatever's cheaper at the time... And I haven't really been a makeup person lately. I'm actually lucky to get a shower every couple day and get my hair brushed...

2) What is the last thing you drank? Currently drinking a pot of coffee and had some strawberry milk with the kiddos.

3) What's your favorite Girl Scout cookie? I haven't had Girl Scout cookies in so freakin' long!! I loved the ones with the coconut.

4) French Fries or Onion Rings? Onion rings. Hungry Girl has an awesome recipe for baked onion rings made with Fiber One Cereal.

5) Share something you've done in the last week that makes you proud of yourself. I am making a bunch of these beanies to send to NICUs around the country for preemie babies. It makes me happy to get them done and I can't wait to get enough to fill a box and will feel so amazing when I mail off that first box of beanies!

 
6) What is your favorite inexpensive indulgence? Coffee. I love getting coffee or even making some for myself at home and just sitting at the computer and writing or crocheting with a warm cup of coffee by my side.

7) Are you currently reading a book? If so, which one? I'm not, but I should be. I have so many books, and haven't read half of them. Maybe I'll pick one out tonight.

8) Do you prefer to text or talk? Depends on who I'm talking to. Most of the time, I prefer to text. I'm not much of a people person lately and would rather have a face-to-face or text. I hate talking on the phone, really.

9) Have you ever performed on stage? If so, what did you do? Yes. Once upon a time, I used to call myself a musician. I played guitar and sang in a few talent contests, and I've been in a few plays.

10) Are you more likely to pick truth or dare? Truth, though I have a hard time being truthful about many issues. I always sucked at therapy because I don't like talking about things.

Babies: A Gift Of Life

Preemie Windowpane Skull Cap - Boy

I started crocheting my Preemie Windowpane Skull Caps last night. They are surprisingly easy and quick to do! I loved it.

Today, I am heading to the store for more yarn! The boys' hats will be blue, green and brown. The girls will be pink, purple and yellow and they have little flowers that I'm going to put onto clippies, so when she outgrows the hat, she can still use the flower.

These are the only items I will not have for sale. I have a "medium flat rate" box that I will send off to a "local" NICU once it is filled with hats. If you would like some {for yourself or your own NICU}, all I ask is that you pay shipping. I will also be providing a donate box on this blog. All donations will be sent to March Of Dimes, which puts the money back into families of NICU babies, research and prematurity awareness.

I would like to give this project a name. {I thought of Beanies for Preemies, but it seems to already be taken...} Give me all the suggestions you can think of, I'll pick my favorite toward the end of the month. =)