MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE EVE!

Wow, has it really been this long? I logged on this evening and truly expected to find that my blog had been deleted by Blogspot or Google or whoever the Blog Head Cheese happens to be! I was truly ecstatic to see that pretty much everything was still the same . . . even the same followers. Thank YOU very much!

Not worth going into a lot of detail. "LIFE" has just gotten in the way, and I've had to put my blog on the back burner for quite awhile. I've continued to crochet, but not nearly as much as I would've liked. I'm working two jobs now . . . giving up my full-time work-at-home job for an honest-to-goodness, REAL job, in a REAL hospital! When I took on the full-time job, I committed to my previous "at-home" job through the end of the year, and have not yet decided whether I'm going to continue after January 1st. The extra money comes in handy, but I'm beginning to feel some burn-out . . . working full-time downtown, then driving home and sitting back down at the computer to work another 2-3 hours. It's definitely a bittersweet thing!

Anyway, something prompted me to get online tonight and check out some of your crochet blogs. I want you to know that I've missed you all terribly, but just haven't felt that I've had the time and energy to contribute anything worthwhile to the blogging community. I can't wait to jump back in and catch up on what's been happening with you over the last 4-5 months!

I promise to add more information and pictures soon. Tonight, however, I just wanted to get back on and say hello and wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve . . . lots of things to do with my daughter, Hunter, presents to wrap, last minute grocery shopping, and a big get-together at my oldest daughter's house to top off the evening!

Looking forward to visiting with you all again in the next few days! Hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas!

JUST A FEW RANDOM THINGS

Hi, Everyone!

WARNING - - - BRAGGING AHEAD!!!

Well, today is Hunter Bean's last day of school. If we keep our fingers crossed, she'll get a good report card and move on to the 6th grade next fall. Actually, I want to share something that happened this morning and caught me totally off guard. I was sitting in my recliner, enjoying my second cup of coffee, and my cell phone rang. I looked at the number and recognized it as Hunter's school. My first thought was that Hunter had forgotten something and wanted me to deliver it to her. My second thought was that Hunter wanted me to get pizza and bring it to her and her friends to celebrate their last day of school. Hmmm, should I answer or ignore? (just kidding) So, I answered and was surprised that it was not Hunter, but it was Mrs. Balderama, the assistant principal.

Being a PTA volunteer, I'm used to getting calls from other PTA parents to discuss one activity or another. But, I can't recall ever getting a call from one of the principals in Hunter's 5 years at the school. If you've had kids in school, I'm sure you remember that uneasy, nauseating feeling of dread in the pit of your stomach when you feel like you're about to hear bad news. Well, I guess Mrs. Balderama could sense my alarm, and she immediately told me that her reason for calling was not bad, but in fact, it was just the opposite.

She had been visiting with some of the teachers at their end-of-school luncheon and had heard Hunter's name come up numerous times, from different teachers. Her homeroom teacher this year, Mrs. Ross, could say absolutely nothing bad about Hunter. She said Hunter was such a good student, she was intelligent and excited about learning, she was always willing to help when asked, she never needed to be disciplined, and she was excellent with all the other kids. Mrs. Balderama then went on to say that the main reason she was calling was to "thank Hunter's dad and me for our hard work and for sharing Hunter with everyone at Wayland Bonds Elementary."

Yes, as you can imagine, I was sitting there in my recliner with my mouth open, wondering what to say next. I thanked her for the call and told her how much I appreciated hearing all those kind things about my 11-year-old. I do realize that I wasn't the only parent called, but it did impress me that one of the principals would take the time to thank ME for sharing my daughter. I hung up and just sat . . . with my eyes a little misty, and reflected on that call. Although my husband and I have noticed an occasional "pre-teen attitude", overall we couldn't be more proud of Hunter and everything she's accomplished. She is a beautiful blessing to us, and she brings us more joy than she could ever imagine!

11th BIRTHDAY

HUNTER AND AUNT TAMMY 

Sorry about the quality, but it was really dark inside the restaurant. 

This past weekend, Hunter and I stayed at my sister's house to dog-sit. I've decided that between Tammy's dogs and my daughter, Ryanne's, dogs, who needs grandchildren?  :)  But, while dog-sitting, I got to crochet a little bit and made a couple of fun things. 

Supposed to be a crown. I checked gauge and 

everything, and I'll be lucky if it fits a newborn! 

This pattern came from the same book. It was supposed to be a beanie. I made the largest size available and even went up on my hook size, but it was still squishy on Hunter's head. So, I turned it into a pillow. 

My husband, JC, has been putting a lot of work into the field behind our house. Recently, he took the mower back there and made three, long and winding trails. I'm not sure of the total distance of the trails, but each one is three-mower-widths. This is a push mower, by the way, not a riding mower. Anyway, on one of his excursions to his little oasis, he discovered a huge patch of blackberry bushes. I've never made jam or jelly, but I think I'll be learning pretty soon! :)

JC AND HIS BLACKBERRIES

And, finally . . .

Remember Disney and her puppies?

Ryanne kept one of the puppies, and he 

is the cutest thing ever!

NEWMAN AND MAMA DISNEY

Well, that's enough random stuff for today. Hope you all are having a super-duper day. See ya soon!! 

CONGRATULATIONS, PAMMY SUE!

Pammy Sue, over at Scotty's Place, is celebrating her Four-Year Blogiversary. In honor of that worthy achievement, she is hosting a terrific giveaway. Check out Scotty's Place for all the details, and sign up for a chance to win some really neat prizes!

Hope everyone's doing well. I haven't been ignoring you. I've just been up to my eyeballs in work, birthday, and end-of-school activities. I need to earmark some time on my calendar to update my blog and put some pictures on here. I'll jot it down on my calendar to earmark some time on my calendar for blogging!  :)

Have a great Sunday! I'll be back to visit soon . . . . . . .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEAN!

Gosh, I'm busy, but I just wanted to take a quick minute to jump on here and wish my baby girl a very happy 11th birthday. She's growing up way too fast, and I don't like it one bit!!!  Love you, Little Bean!

THE WRATH OF MOTHER NATURE!

Not far from my house

We dodged the tornadoes, but got hammered by these!

This one touched down in Yukon, where Baby Sis lives.

This one was 2 miles north of my daughter's house
in north OKC.

Look at the power of the rotation!

This used to be a Love's Country Store . . . totally gone! 

It's Springtime in Oklahoma!

Hi, Everyone!  I've missed you. I've been in the weirdest funk lately . . . not like my usual "just-don't-feel-like-blogging" funk, but really just a gigantic "oh-woe-is-me" funk. I mean, SERIOUSLY!! And, you know what? Today I really kicked myself in the butt for feeling this way. After riding out the storms here yesterday without a scratch or speck of damage and just some frayed nerves, I looked around at all the other unfortunate souls just a few miles from me who woke up this morning to complete devastation, and for some, the loss of their loved ones. And, once again, I am reminded of the many blessings I have, and I am ashamed that too often I take that for granted.

Yes, it was a wild and crazy afternoon, but we’re all present and accounted for. JC was working and unavailable, and Hunter and I were home. She was sick and home from school, so she had control of the remote and was watching something on Disney channel. Suddenly, we started hearing clunks of hail hitting the windows. We changed the TV to a local channel and discovered that all hell was breaking loose! At that point, even though it was sunny outside, the storms were all around us, so even if we’d wanted to take off in the car (which was Hunter’s suggestion), there really wasn’t anyplace to go. 

Right then, the weatherman announced that a tornado touched down in Yukon, which is the little ‘burb just west of OKC, and it’s where my sister lives. I tried calling her a number of times, but the phone lines were all jammed. Then, the tornado sirens started blaring, and the Greyhounds went crazy. About that time, as the hail was pounding the living daylights out of us, it was announced that a tornado was on the ground, crossing I-44 and Hwy 37, which is exactly 2.5 miles west of us. So, Hunter grabbed her bike helmet, flashlight, pillows, candles, and radio, and I grabbed the dogs, and we headed to the bathroom for safety. It seemed like an hour, but it was only 10-15 minutes! J

Sometime while we were in the bathroom, JC happened to call and asked what we were doing. I told him we were hunkered down in the bathroom because of the storm, and he was totally shocked. This was coming from the guy who actually works for our local NBC affiliate TV station and was at work while all this was going on!!! He had no clue all this was happening in south OKC!!  

Well, the tornado that touched down close to us had lifted back up and ferociously made its way on to the east, causing unbelievable destruction. As of now, there are at least 5 confirmed fatalities and still more people missing. During just a few hours, there was an outbreak of 30+ tornadoes. We've had a very mild spring, for Oklahoma standards, but Mother Nature made up for lost time in one day. 

My thoughts and prayers go out to the many families who were affected by the storms

CRABBY TO THE MAX!

I accidentally typed "CRAPPY", and thought about just leaving it because it really describes my mood! I've been back in my "Not-Wanting-To-Blog" mode, just because I've been in such a rotten mood. In fact, do you know how many days it's been since I've picked up my hook and yarn? I believe it was sometime last weekend, and that is VERY unusual for me, to go more than a day without crocheting something. 

So, who popped my bubble this time? Let me see how I can explain this without boring you all to tears. Basically, this is what happened. You all know I was in the hospital a couple of days recently. When I turned in my hours for payroll, I added a BIG, BOLD notation indicating my request to take two PTO days to make up for the days I missed. Well, life was bopping along just fine until this last Monday. I got into Quicken to do my update and give our account a last-minute check before the house payment was deducted. To my horror, I discovered that my request for the PTO days had not been honored, and my paycheck was much lower than anticipated!!  Unfortunately, there was not an over-abundance of money in that account, and even less with the smaller paycheck, so charges started coming through, and this led to overdraft charges. By the time I discovered the OD charges from Friday, there were four more that came through on Monday. This fiasco came to a grand total of $210!!!!!  If you've ever experienced the joy of overdraft charges, you know how the problem seems to compound, kind of like falling dominoes!

My husband and I went to the bank on Tuesday, in an attempt to plead for mercy, since we have had this account for many years and have had very few screw-ups like this. The assistant branch manager told us she would only reimburse us for three of the OD charges, and I would have to go to my employer to get reimbursed for the rest. GGRRRRR!!!  Yes, I realize it was my boss' mistake, and I even have her apology in an email to back it up. But, it really irks me that banks cannot be more customer-friendly. It's not like they manually mailed back checks for non-payment. With everything electronic these days, the OD charges were all generated by a computer. And, it's not like my husband and I, long-time customers that we are, routinely overdraw our account.  So, I will talk to my boss about the possibility of getting reimbursed for these charges. I'm just mad about having to take that step.

That got my week off to a rip-roaring start, and it's just gone downhill from there. But, lest you are already dozing off, I think I will leave you for now, and I promise to return in better spirits.

MURPHY STRIKES AGAIN!

This message is coming to you today, straight from the keys of my brand new Dell Inspiron laptop. You might ask why that is such riveting news. Well, you know me, and you know that I have a way of building the entire clock when you just ask for the time. So, I am going to tell you just exactly what happened .

As you know, I had my heart cath last week. The incision site on my groin has been very sore, and it causes me a great deal of pain to sit at my desk for extended periods of time. Since I work from home and do 95% of my work on the computer, I've been fortunate to have a desktop computer, as well as a laptop, which allows me to be a little more portable. I have the coolest little lap table . . . one of those "As Seen On TV" jobbies . . . and it allows me to work from bed, the couch, or my favorite recliner. On Monday night, I was coding charts, while watching the men's basketball finals, and jumped up to let Hunter in, who was furiously pounding on the front door. I tried to move the lap desk, the laptop's cord got caught in the foot rest, and as I stood up, the laptop went crashing to the floor. No biggie, I thought. It has hit the floor before with no serious damage. Well, not this time. When I settled back in and turned the computer back on, the screen looked like it had been hit with a baseball! I rebooted a couple of times, but no luck. JC walked through the room, and I handed it to him and said, "Turn it on and see what it does." He did, and he just stood there shaking his head. "Wow, you must've dropped it, huh?" 

I was so upset. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, and honestly, I wanted to throw the laptop across the room. But, alas, the violent impulse passed, and I went to bed instead. Yesterday, I called a good friend of mine, who is the biggest "geek freak" I know. I asked her if she, by chance, had an extra laptop lying around. She actually would have had one but she had recently loaned out her "extra". Well, one thing led to another, and before I knew it, I was accompanying my friend to Best Buy to look at computers.

Now, obviously, this friend is special. In addition to calling her one of my best friends, I have also had the pleasure of working for her since 2005. I have helped her manage her medical coding company, and she has given me her company AMEX card for business expenses. Last August for my birthday, Mary told me to go shopping and spend $300 for a gift. I felt guilty with her generosity and never took her up on her offer. This past Christmas? Yep, she told me the same thing, and once again, I never went shopping for myself. So, yesterday, at Best Buy, Mary told the sales person that she was buying this computer for me as a birthday/Christmas gift!! I just stood there, like a fool, with this goofy look on my face!

Mary, like I said, is very special. She has always said she's blessed and because of that, she wants to share her blessings with others. She did just that yesterday, and I am eternally grateful. Mary doesn't read my blog, and in fact, is the first to admit that she doesn't like messing with computers any more than necessary. But, I didn't want to let her generosity go unnoticed, and I wanted to tell you all about this person who does so much for others and expects so little in return.  Thank you, Mary, for being you!

TYING UP SOME LOOSE ENDS!

Get it, tying up some loose ends? Greyhound running with the yarn unraveling? Okay, maybe it's my own private little giggle! :)  Well, I just got the permission I needed to properly credit the designer of my new blog heading, so . . . (drum roll) . . . it was ingeniously created by Pammy Sue and her husband, Barnaby! What a fantastic job they did. I had always worried that people would think I didn't know how to spell the word "Great", so I wanted something to show my love for both of my passions, Greyhounds and crochet. I think the new logo pretty much says it all! Thanks so much to Pammy Sue and Barnaby for taking the time to do this for me. I'm conjuring up something really special for them to show my appreciation.

It's back to the grind here on this gray and HUMID Monday! No more recuperating for the weary. I enjoyed my weekend of rest and relaxation so much and really got spoiled to having JC and Hunter wait on me. I don't want any more trips to the hospital, and I don't want to lie around in recuperation mode, so I'm just going to have to figure out some other way to have more "Rest and Relaxation" weekends!

Happy Monday, everyone! Talk to you soon . . . . .

HAPPY EASTER!

I'm excited about so many things right now! First, I am tickled to pieces with my new blog heading. I had been working on some business cards with this idea in mind. However, due to my severe lack of artistic talent, I could never make the idea materialize, and I ended up with a boring basket of yarn on my cards. I want to give the creator of my new heading all the credit that is due, but I want to get the proper permissions before doing so. I was so excited with the way it turned out, and I just couldn't wait any longer to show it off. I hope the designer doesn't mind me gushing with all this praise! :)  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Next, I am excited that the Oklahoma Sooner women are getting ready to play in the NCAA Final Four against Stanford. The men's tournament has been full of surprises this year, and it's been exciting to watch (even though my bracket was null and void after all the upsets in the first round)! Oklahoma is not really known for being a "basketball state", and our men's teams had nothing to offer the tournament. But, the women have a good chance of moving on to the finals. Let's go SOONERS!!

I'm extremely excited that I got a couple of days off last week, and my boss wanted to give me some recuperation time, so she gave me ZERO charts to code this weekend! That makes me VERY happy. I can't even recall the last time I had absolutely nothing to do over the weekend except R-E-S-T. Thank you to my very wonderful husband and daughter for taking such good care of me!

Due to all this R & R time, I got lots of crocheting done. I was hoping to have pictures to show you, but I haven't mustered up the energy to put the camera into action. I promise I will do that this week.

Finally, I'm more than excited to report that my heart cath was considered negative. I have some "irregularities" in my coronary artery and what the doctor said were spasms. But, he feels confident that we can get these things under control with medication and a healthier lifestyle. That means, bye-bye Mexican food, love of my life! Well, maybe not completely. I'm just going to have to limit myself to taco salads and give up the enchiladas! :)

I was going to share some of the more humorous highlights of my stay in the hospital, but I'm sure you've all probably "been there, done that" and have some great stories of your own. The nurses and aides that took care of me were all very professional and kind. They did their best to make my visit somewhat tolerable. Thanks to you, my sweet blogging friends, for your kind thoughts and get-well wishes.

It is my wish that all of you are having a wonderful Easter Sunday.

JUST A LITTLE NEWS!

Happy April Fools Day to you all! I wish I had a silly prank or a funny joke, but alas, I'm not feeling real humorous today. I'll tell you why a bit later, but first, I want to tell you about my daughter, Hunter, and her amazing day yesterday.

Some of you might remember that we bought her a Genesis bow for Christmas because she was showing a lot of interest in archery at her school. Well, she ended up making the team and up until yesterday, she had participated in two tournaments. In fact, in her last tournament about a month ago, she came in FIRST PLACE amongst the fifth grade girls. Unfortunately, the only picture I got of that event was taken with my husband's iPhone, and for some reason, the picture never made it home with us. :(

Well, after lots of practice and hard work, Hunter qualified to go to the state tournament with her school's team. This was held yesterday in downtown Oklahoma City at the Cox Convention Center. There were over 1700 participants and over 70 elementary schools, specifically. I'm happy to report that the Wayland Bonds Broncos came in 2nd place, and this qualified their team to go to the national tournament in Louisville, KY, in May. Hunter's dad, her Aunt Tammy, and I all took off work so we could be there for the big event. It was really spectacular, especially when the flag was lowered and 280 archers shot their first arrows at the same time. It kind of sounded like a machine gun or a bunch of Black Cat firecrackers exploding! :)  So, I thought I'd share a few photos from Hunter's big day.

MIKAELA AND HUNTER

COACH GATLIN AND THE TEAM

HUNTER CONCENTRATING (OR DOZING)

MODELING HER MEDALS

So, throughout the day, there was lots of "down" time. Of course, I had my crochet bag with me, and I started two more squares for Bev. The ones below are the ones I had already finished. The pink one was my first, and I think it's a bit on the ugly side. It was not turning out to be 12 inches, so I just kept going with my DC border. I don't care for all the pale pink. But, I really, REALLY like the blue square. You can see that it's not as big as the pink one, but rather than ruining it with an extra border, I stopped and decided to let Guru Bev deal with the size difference. :) 

It looks like I'm going to have a long weekend to get some serious crochet done. I am going in to the hospital today to have a heart catheterization done. Remember all that heart nonsense that started back in November that ultimately led to the stress test and Holter monitor? Well, apparently, the next step is the heart cath, to see if I have any blockages that might be contributing to my symptoms. I have to be at the hospital at 11:00 for pre-op lab, chest x-ray and EKG, then the actual procedure is at 1:00. This means, friends, that I am writing this WITHOUT MY COFFEE!!!! Nothing by mouth after midnight, which is absolutely the WORST part!! :)

The doctor already told me that he wants to keep me overnight, but I'm going to beg and plead to get him to let me come home this evening, assuming everything turns out okay with the test. I hate hospitals and would rest much better in my big, soft, comfy bed! I'm a little nervous about the whole thing, so any warm fuzzy thoughts directed my way would be greatly appreciated.

I'm hoping by Sunday afternoon I'll have some more crochet to show you. Have a great weekend, and I'll be back soon.

In the meantime, GO SOONER WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM who will be playing in the Final Four this weekend!!!

OKAY, TIME FOR A FEW PICS

How many times have I said I was going to post some crochet pictures? I know, more procrastination! Actually, one thing that was holding me up was the fact that I lost my memory card reader that magically moves pics from my camera to my computer. Tragic, huh? It recently occurred to me that I could just use the USB connector that came with the camera to upload pictures. What a novel idea! So, here are a few things I've worked on lately.

HUNTER'S TOES

She loves these furry flip-flops!

ANOTHER CELL PHONE CASE

I've made tons of these . . . easy and fun! 

HEART FILET

Had thoughts of doing something with this for Valentine's Day.

Remember the Wal-Mart granny square?

BABY GRANNY

This is the one I made for the lady who didn't claim it until
4 months AFTER the fact! :)

LUCY-INSPIRED GRANNY

I didn't measure, but it almost covers a king-size bed. 

I gave this to my in-laws as a house-warming gift. I don't have

Lucy's eye for color, but I'm still pleased with how it turned out! 

That's all the time I have for picture-posting today. I've got to get some charts coded. I've got a bunch of squares made for Mrs. Twins' project, and I'm starting to work on some 12" squares for Beverooni. I'll take pics before I mail them.

FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!

What does Pete's love have to do with anything? Expressions are so funny sometimes. I had a boyfriend once who used to say, "Keri, just go scratch your tail and get glad!", whenever he thought I was acting poopie.  I would get so spittin' mad whenever he said that, but now that he's a fossil in my collection of past relationships, I think it's hilarious. I find myself using it when I'm trying to get somebody out of a bad mood. :)

Okay, so, back to Pete. The reason I actually said that out loud is because I glanced up from the keyboard and peered outside, and when what to my wandering eyes should appear?  SNOW!!!!!!!!!!  Yep, that is the gosh-darned truth! Thursday and Friday, here in Oklahoma City, the temperature was in the mid-70's. Today, we are having the wildest, windiest, chilliest Spring snowstorm you can imagine. There's a thin layer of ice on the roads, thanks to the rain that fell in the middle of the night, and now the snow is blowing around and creating drifts all over the place.

Oklahoma City is hosting the first-round regional NCAA "March Madness" basketball tournament. On the news last night, they were interviewing out-of-state fans. One guy from Utah, following BYU, was just amazed at our weather. He arrived here on Wednesday and said he had to buy some shorts and t-shirts for his family because of the warm temperatures. As of yesterday, they had gone back to the store to stock up on sweatshirts, just to get them through today's freak snowstorm!  So much for making a good impression on our friends from other states! "Hey, Ya'll, come to Oklahoma for Spring Break. You might get to swim or you might get to ski . . . snow-ski, that is!  :)

Just wanted to jump on here for a minute and confess my love for Pete. Please don't let JC in on my secret. I've got some charts to code, and I'm going to go perch myself in front of the TV to watch some basketball. I'll be back later 'cause I've got some "Ta-Da" pics to share with you.

Happy Saturday Spring Snowstorm!!!!

LAST WEEK OF WINTER, BOO-HOO!

You guys are too sweet to me! Seriously, I couldn't get lost if I wanted to. Not that I ever really WANT to get lost, I just seem to fade away for awhile. Not sure why I do that really. It just seems that I get so overwhelmed with LIFE sometimes that being on the computer any more than I absolutely have to becomes more of a task than a pleasure. That's certainly not directed at any of you. You all are so kind and caring, and I appreciate, more than you'll ever know, your emails and well wishes.

So . . . a lot has happened in my life since I visited with you last. Most of the time, while I've been MIA, I was lurking in the shadows and following your blogs. Occasionally, I stayed away from the computer for a few days and had to play catch-up on my reading. Your beautiful projects, funny stories, and yummy recipes always kept me coming back for more! Every time I would think about signing on and writing a little post, I would talk myself out of it, knowing that my "little" post wouldn't be so "little"!

Well, winter here in Oklahoma seems to be dwindling away much sooner than I'd like. It's not that I'm a hater of spring, although tornado season here can be really exciting, not always in a good way. It's just that when spring arrives, I know it's only a matter of weeks before the scorching heat and humidity are upon us, and that is SO DEPRESSING!  Eww, that makes me nauseous just thinking about it.

My daughter, Hunter "The Bean", has been practicing very hard with her school's Archery team. A couple of weeks ago, she was notified that not only had she secured a place on the team, but she also qualified to go with the team to the State competition. Her dad and I are thinking that the bow set she got for Christmas was a pretty good investment. We're very proud of her for all the hard work she's putting into this. KEEP IT UP, HUNTER BEAN!!

Another highlight in my life recently involves my favorite (and only) sister, Tammy. She is a 20+ year veteran of the Oklahoma City Police Department. Back in the fall, she came to the conclusion that although she was actually eligible to retire at 20 years, she didn't feel like she had done enough in her career for her satisfaction. So, she decided she would prepare herself to take the Lieutenant's exam and try to move her career forward into a management role. There were 62 candidates who took the written test over a month ago. Tammy ranked 7th after the scores were tallied. The top 30 from that group moved on to the very demanding part of the test, which consisted of three days of face-to-face interviews and critiques from a panel of law enforcement experts. The top 20 candidates were then selected from this phase. These officers are eligible for promotion to Lieutenant as positions become available over the next two years. I would like to say CONGRATULATIONS to my sister for passing all phases of the test and becoming Lieutenant-eligible!

My next bit of news involves my health. Some of you probably remember the little scare I had back in November with some chest pains and a resulting overnight stay at the hospital. Well, the cardiologist ordered some cardiac-specific lab tests, an adenosine stress test, and 24-hour Holter monitoring. This was all done the week of Christmas. Due to rescheduling issues on my part and the doctor's, I finally got in for my follow-up visit this past week. I was not happy with the news I received. The stress test showed that my heart muscle is extremely weak and that my left ventricle is enlarged. The Holter monitor tracked 1607 "extra" beats in a 24-hour period. These are called premature ventricular contractions or PVC's. This condition can be very dangerous, especially if there are a string of seven or more PVC's together. Surprisingly, the doctor said that my weight issues were not actually the culprit, although losing weight would certainly be helpful. He attributes most of this to heredity, knowing that my mother and two grandfathers passed away at relatively young ages from heart disease.

So, what do I do now? Well, I immediately asked the doctor if I could strengthen my heart with some low-impact, aerobic exercising? He instructed me NOT to undertake anything more than a gentle walk around the block until we get the PVC's under control. He started me on two new medications and wants to see me back in a week to do another EKG. In the meantime, I'm trying to keep my heavy-duty crocheting in check so as not to get too winded. I am keeping a close eye on my diet and focusing on putting healthy things in my mouth. I'm getting lots of sleep, trust me, and I'm doing my best to get a short walk in every day. And, I guess I'm just waiting for my next doctor's appointment. I'll keep you all posted.

Okay, so I mentioned heavy-duty crocheting. You guys won't believe what happened to me this weekend. Do any of you remember the blue and white baby granny afghan I started making last year while I was sitting at Wal-Mart, waiting for my oil to be changed? Well, I was watching my sister bowl one afternoon and working on the afghan. One of her teammates saw it, loved it, and said she would buy it from me. She also wanted me to make a second afghan because she had two brand new babies in her family who needed blankets. So, I finished one, started the second, finished it, and was going to take them to the bowling alley for delivery. My sister then informed me that the lady was no longer bowling with them, and she was not sure how to contact her. So, I have had both of the blankets, sealed in plastic bags, for over three months, waiting for the right moment to give them away. Well, this past Saturday, I attended a friend's baby shower and was so happy and excited to finally be able to give my blankets away. On Sunday, my sister was bowling in the women's state tournament, and I decided to go watch. Lo and behold, guess who was there! Yep, her former teammate who had wanted the baby blankets!!!  I was so shocked when I saw her, and the first words out of her mouth were "Oh, did you by chance bring my baby blankets?"  I think my mouth dropped open, and in my peripheral vision I could see my sister smirking!

Well, at that moment, why I didn't just 'fess up and tell her the truth, I don't know. I mean, SHE was the one who quit bowling and didn't leave any contact information. SHE was the one who requested blankets, then never got back with me to claim them. But, at that very moment, she caught me totally off guard, and I found myself blubbering out some excuse like, "Oh, geez, I sure didn't expect to see YOU here!", and "Gosh, I wish Tammy would have told me you were going to be here, and I would have brought your blankets." Little did she know that I had just given "her" blankets away the day before to a very deserving mother-to-be.

Seriously, can you believe the luck??? I know there are some of you out there who are mentally chastising me right now for not telling her the truth. But, I just didn't know how to tell her that I didn't have her blankets. Throughout the time I was sitting there, watching the ladies bowl and stewing over how I was going to have to be crocheting 24/7 for the next week, my sister kept whispering in my ear, "Are you sure you don't need to leave so you can get busy crocheting?"  Oh, the nerve!!

Well, my first thought was to put out a plea for help from you guys. I thought surely some of you probably have a baby blanket or two lying around, just waiting to sell to a desperate friend. Then, after much angst and despair, I came to the conclusion that I just need to get in touch with this lady and tell her the truth. I can explain to her that I had kept "her" blankets for almost 4 months before deciding to give them away. And, I will offer to make her two new blankets. VOILA! The truth! I know it's the right thing, but it's going to be so hard to go to this lady and eat humble pie! :)

I hope you all have a terrific week! It's the last week of winter (UGH!) so enjoy it before the heat sets in!  Believe it or not, I have been crocheting during my time away. I'm finding that I really enjoy making little projects that bring instant gratification and don't take too long, like dishcloths, tawashis, cell phone covers, and seasonal things like hearts, shamrocks, Easter bunnies, etc. Looks like I'd better get my hook flying on some baby blankets, huh? :)

Bad Mother of the Year Award

. . . . . goes to me, Keri Bowers!!!  That's right. You guys will never believe what I did (or didn't do) this week. I'm so ashamed, I can't believe I'm telling on myself, but if I can't tell my friends, who else can I tell?

Today, as you know, is Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day, by the way. Love and hugs and Cupid and mushy stuff would have been the topics of my post today, IF I had not had a flare up of Alzheimer's this week. So, this is what happened. Hunter came in from school on Friday afternoon. I greeted her as usual and asked her how her day went. She said, "It was okay", in a tone somewhat less exuberant than normal. Then, much to my dismay, she got into her backpack and pulled out her decorated Valentine's sack from school. I was aghast in horror. It was then, right at that very moment, that I realized I had sent my child to school, on the day they were going to be celebrating Valentine's Day, empty handed. That's right, totally WITHOUT Valentines to give out to her classmates!! Inside, my stomach churned, and I felt a little bit nauseated. On the outside, as embarrassed as I was, I put on a big smile and let her go through and show me all the Valentines she had received. All the time, I kept thinking how embarrassed she must have felt to have gone through the day and not had any Valentines to put in her friends' goody sacks.

Well, Hunter, being the sweet child that she is, never said anything. I wanted to say something, but wasn't prepared to talk about it right then. It was Saturday morning, sitting around and chatting with her daddy, before I brought up the Valentine's Day fiasco. As it turned out, we all took some of the blame of not being prepared for the Valentine's Day celebration at her school. I mean, she is 10 years old and in 5th grade, after all, so it's not like she hasn't known for some time that she would need Valentines on Friday. She and her Daddy go to Wal-Mart every weekend, so it's reasonable to assume that she COULD have asked to buy Valentines last Saturday. So, she didn't plan ahead, her daddy and I got busy with life and didn't think about it, and Friday came and went, and Hunter went without on Valentine's Day. That still makes my tummy turn, just thinking about it.

But, alas, life goes on, and in the grand scheme of things, this is really just a minor speed bump in our day-to-day lives. It did provide us with a great opportunity to have a nice family discussion so that hopefully, we'll all be better about not procrastinating and we'll be more willing to speak up and communicate better. Hunter and I are going to put some little Valentine's sacks together this afternoon, so her classmates will get something after the fact. She'll just be spreading the love a little bit longer. :)

Here's a little something I made last night for Hunter while watching the Olympics. Her daddy and I finally broke down and got her a cell phone. According to her, she was the ONLY kid in her school who didn't have a cell phone. Hmphh!  Well, it was time to renew our cell phone contracts anyway, and we got her phone for free, so we just decided it was an okay time.

I started with 2 chains and 6 sc in the 2nd chain from the hook. I then worked continuous rounds, doing my increases up to 24 stitches and changing colors every round until I had a pouch tall enough for the phone. I then went to rows and did 10 sc, chained 1, turned. I did this for 4 rows to cover the top, before working a sc dec on each end. My next row, I put 3 chains in the middle to make my buttonhole, then did 2 more rows. I went around the flap with a border of sc's, then sewed in my ends. I found a cute Valentiney button in my vast collection, and sewed it on. I think she'll like it, don't you? Maybe she'll forgive me for forgetting Valentine's Day.

I do hope all of you have a delightful Valentine's Day, spending time with people you love and doing whatever it is that makes you happy. Give your loved ones an extra hug today.

CONGRATULATIONS, 

SAINTS

PROZAC, WHERE ARE YOU?

I told you all a few weeks ago that I am always hesitant about posting when I'm in a crappy mood. But, after a bit of debate with myself, I decided to go ahead and share with you. I actually started this post yesterday and stopped after a few lines, still trying to decide whether to reveal my gloomy outlook on things. I picked up the phone and called a very good friend just to vent a little and to get some unbiased perspective. I felt much better after that phone call (thank you, You-Know-Who!), but still never got back to my blog.

So, here I am today, and I'll have to say that I'm in much better spirits. Believe it or not, the sun is actually shining, and it appears to be melting most of the ice and sludge that has been on the ground for over a week. One thing about living in Oklahoma . . . we don't get much "pretty" snow, but mostly sleet and ice that turns icky brown after a day or two. I've been extremely excited that we've gotten REAL snow a couple of times this year. But, accompanying the snow has been an abundance of gray and dreary days that tend to make me want to go back to bed and bury myself under the covers.

In reality, as much as I love winter and cold weather, this is probably why my mood has not been up to par lately. It's easy to look at things in my life that are not quite the way I'd like them to be and blame my grumpiness on all that. But, truly, I have a pretty decent life, and I have more blessings than I can count, and I really have no excuses for being poopy! So, I'll just blame it on the weather and move on . . . . .

Well, what are your plans for the weekend?  Any Super Bowl fans out there?  GO COLTS!!!!!  I know, I know, a few weeks ago you heard me yelling, "Go Vikings", but that was because I was pulling for Brett Favre and our former OU Sooner, Adrian Peterson. Now that Brett's season has ended, I'll be proudly wearing my Peyton Manning jersey and rooting for the Colts. No big game plans for me. We're supposed to get another round of "wintry mix" late Sunday into Monday, so I'll probably be cuddled up under a beautiful crocheted afghan . . . hot wings in one hand and a frosty beverage of some sort in the other!

Hey, he's wearing my jersey!!

Hunter and I are also going to spend a big part of the weekend at my oldest daughter's house. Ryanne and her husband are driving to Chicago to pick up a new race boat, and Hunter and I get to puppy-sit for her 4 fur kids. Ryanne promised me the pantry and refrigerator would be filled to capacity, AND she bought me a new Keurig so that I won't have to be without my precious coffee when I spend time at her house.  What a good girl my daughter is. :)

Ryanne and Joe

Speaking of good kids, take a moment if you can to drop by Hunter's blog. She has changed her background, and she's trying to be a little more diligent about posting. I told her not to follow MY example. :)  We did sit down last night, and I scrutinized her technique as she crocheted a granny square. She really wants to make some afghan squares to donate to Sue, but she was worried that hers wouldn't be good enough. I thought she did a great job and encouraged her to make more.

Hunter and her Grandma "Babci",
 testing out the new sewing machine,
not crocheting granny squares! 

Hunter's first sewing project

I think I have made up for a few days of not posting, wouldn't you say? I have been crocheting some, here and there, and this weekend I hope to finish the multi-colored ripple afghan that I showed you in my WIPs post. That's the BEAUTIFUL afghan I plan to be snuggled under during the Super Bowl!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

SMART WOMEN

Recently, in a large city in France , a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said, "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"

A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern,
Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans.) They have an active sex life, get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia , the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia .. Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. 

They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don't exist.  If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human? They don't have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Just look at them ... where is IT? Therefore, they don't have kids either. Not to mention, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me:  I want to be a whale.

P..S.. We are in an age  when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a piece of chocolate with my friends.. With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy.

Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think,  

 ¨Good grief, 

look how smart I am!¨

AUTHOR UNKNOWN

MY BOOK ARRIVED!

This is the great book I received after winning my bet with Pammy Sue on the Vikings - Cowboys game. The game was played Sunday, and I received the book yesterday. That was SPEEDY DELIVERY!  Thanks so much, Pammy Sue. I've been reading through the book almost all morning and have already tried some Entrelac. That's just what I need . . . something new to divert my attention away from the WIPs I promised to get finished!  :)  

I COULDN'T RESIST

I used to lay claim to this recliner, but as you can see, Hunter and Mini both think it belongs to them. 

HAPPY HUMP DAY!

I agree with Pammy Sue . . . trying to come up with titles for our posts is agonizing. Most days, it's difficult to organize all the thoughts and ideas mulling around in my head, much less try to figure out a creative way to express them in written form.

With that being said, I wanted to take a quick minute to let you all know that I haven't slipped into oblivion again. I realize I haven't posted since my big football win on Sunday, which I'm sure causes some of you alarm (grin), but things are all good with me right now. I'm not moping around under a big, dark cloud, and I even have my blinds open today and am enjoying the beautiful blue skies. I've just been extremely busy the past few days, and although I've been following you all through my Dashboard, I haven't taken the time to post anything.

My husband's parents came up from Texas on Sunday and stayed with us until Tuesday. Due to our Christmas blizzard, they couldn't make it up then. The week after Christmas, through New Year's, I had the flu, and the following week, my hubby was sick. So, this past weekend was the first opportunity we've had to get together with them to celebrate Christmas and just enjoy some R & R time, visiting.

You all might recall that my mother-in-law was the one who taught me how to crochet that very first granny square on Thanksgiving of 2008. She is so crafty and talented, I wanted to wait until she arrived before pulling out my new sewing machine and giving it a whirl. Yes, I did get to sew a few lines and even tried out the zig-zag stitch a few times. Then, while I was in my office catching up on some coding, I heard the sewing machine sound like it was about to take off. Thinking it was my mother-in-law, I stepped in to take a peek and lo and behold, I saw my daughter, Hunter, sitting at MY new sewing machine, looking like a crazed lunatic. She had this devilish grin on her face, and an unmistakable gleam in her eye, and the child was sewing 90 miles per hour! We ended up going to the fabric store, and my mother-in-law bought her some fleece and matching thread. When we got home, they measured and cut and tucked and pinned, and before long, Hunter showed me her new creation --- a blue and green pillow cover!  She is not letting me live this down. I consider myself the crochet queen in our family, but Hunter has now claimed the title of "Sewing Queen", and all because my sister bought ME a new sewing machine!  :)  GO FIGURE!!

Well, I had better get back to coding some charts. I hope you all have a happy HUMP DAY, and I will visit with you soon. Oh, and my PRIZE, the new crochet book I won from my football bet with Pammy Sue, should be arriving soon. I will be sure to post a picture. Thanks, Pammy Sue. You're a sweetheart!

Hunter crocheted this scarf all by herself. She got tired of waiting around for me to make her one, so the Saturday before last, she got out her yarn and went to town. I may have to relinquish my "Crochet Queen" crown. :)

TONY ROMO GOT SACKED HOW MANY TIMES?????

Some of you who visited Pammy Sue's blog were mistakenly led to my blog, expecting to find the loser of today's bet on the Minnesota Vikings' and Dallas Cowboys' football game. I am happy to inform you that Pammy Sue is full of hot air, as usual. Brett Favre is not washed up and is still the cutest little hottie on the field. His counterpart, Tony Romo, being MUCH younger than Brett, seemed to have trouble standing on his own two feet today. 

If you try to contact Pammy Sue, she will probably be busy, ordering my crochet book from Amazon!  

OKAY, I PROMISED . . . .

Ready or not, here are the pictures of my unfinished projects:

This "thing" was from a very reputable pattern book. It's supposed to be a large table mat of some kind. When I finished the stitch part, I thought it was so ugly I never wanted to sew in all the tails.

These are the pieces of an organizer box that need to be sewn together. Way back in my blog archive, I got on a kick of making these little boxes for Hunter and her friends. Boy, did I get burned out!

Two little purses. The green one is missing a fastener, and the multi-colored one
is missing the strap and fastener.

I made this one night while watching a football game. It's supposed to be a little container to hold my hubby's Sweet-n-Low wrappers by the coffee pot. I never got around to putting the stiffener in it.

This is supposed to be a coaster. The "lights" need to be sewn on, and it needs to be blocked.

This was actually 10 rows larger than this, but I was not happy with my lettering, so I frogged it. It's extremely long and will wrap around the back of a couch. It will eventually say "SOONERS" and be a gift for my sister.

Baby blanket - nice easy pattern but boring

Another baby blanket, made with ILTY sport weight. It's about 18 inches square, and I'd like to make it at least 36 inches.

I REALLY like this blanket and after seeing it again, I'm excited about finishing it. I started this almost a year ago, before knowing anything about ripples and certainly before finding Attic 24. I think Lucy would be proud. :)

Another baby blanket. I'm not really sure why I quit working on this one because I like
doing the round ripples.

These are rectangles that will make up an afghan that was designed by Mary Beth Temple. I have another bag of these someplace with yellow, green, and purples circles.

And, yes, another baby afghan. Do you think I'm wanting to be a grandma?
This one will be an "after-bath hoodie".

Okay, this was supposed to be an adult mitten. I used the hook and yarn recommended but did not check my gauge. Well, Hunter cannot even get this over her hand! I would like to finish it and make another one, but they will have to be for a toddler.

Not a very good picture, but this is a market bag made with red, white, and green variegated cotton yarn. I'd like to finish this, but making all the chains gets SO boring!

Crimson and cream . . . another afghan for my Oklahoma Sooners. I'm making this for the lady who bought the orange and black OSU afghan from me last summer.

These are the squares that started it all! These are the very first granny squares I ever made, a little over a year ago. I have another stack of the variegated squares and 70 total.

I just started this face cloth a couple of weeks ago, thanks to inspiration from my friend, Pammy Sue,
who sent me a couple of these.

I have no clue what this is supposed to be. I got on a rippling kick a couple of months ago and thought about making an afghan with different "chunks" of ripple fabric. This is as far as I got. :)

Okay, these are not really "unfinished". I have wanted so badly to find a neat slipper pattern, but everything I try ends up not being close to the right size. So, I make one and give up on making the second one. If any of you know of a good pattern, let me know!

These are supposed to be part of a Christmas pillow. ICK!

I discovered that this scarf is basically finished, except for making some more curly-ques to use in place of fringe. This pattern came from my friend, Caroline, the Kansas Hooker.

These pieces will eventually be sewn together to be a happy little hippo. It's really a cute pattern that I think came from the Lion Brand website.

I started this and was going great guns. Then, I got to a hitch in the instructions, could not figure out what I was supposed to do, so I stuffed it in the bag and put it away!

Remember these?
I was so irritated at myself. I got in my pre-Christmas FUNK and did not finish the stockings
for all the animals in our family. I needed 13 in all. Max and Mini each got one, but I still needed 2 more.

The picture does not do this justice. It's actually almost 2 feet long and has a beautiful twisted cable going up the middle. You all might remember that I was wanting to have this finished before Christmas to give my daughter, Ryanne. Well, looks like it will be birthday in September instead. :)

And, last but not least . . . Hunter's Spongebob!
I don't have a pattern. I'm just winging it, using a picture I printed from the internet.

I also have two "secret" projects that I'm currently working on, but I can't put pictures on here because they are gifts, and the people who will be receiving them happen to read my blog.

Whew!!  I'm not sure my choo-choo train is as long as Pammy Sue's, but I've definitely got my work cut out for me!  Hmmm, now what should I work on first?