January

Ah, January. I have had a love hate relationship with January this year.Mainly because of the weather. It just can't seem to make up it's mind on how it is supposed to be. One minute it's cold...the next it's not. One minute it's raining....the next it's a beautiful sunny day. I guess that's Texas for ya! Oh, these last few days. I have been a happy camper with these sunny days. I even got outside and spray painted an old toy box. More on that later

My Mom and sister came for a visit. Of course, those were the days that it was cold and raining. The day they left turned out beautiful. We had lunch with my Dad's sisters on one day. Then spent the rest of the day on Pinterest looking up a gazillion ways to turn cheap junk into fabulous holiday creations. Then the next day we went to Goodwill and Hobby Lobby to get the stuff we needed to have a go at it. Well, my sister did. I really didn't find too much. Just a Santa shirt for H and a cool box for S. We will be sanding it and re-staining it. She is excited about that.

I also got a new camera.Yay, me :) I have been trying to find places to use it but I really have been stuck here at home. I have gone on a few neighborhood walks and taken some. Also playing around in the back yard. At the end of the post I'll throw some pics in of my random shots :)

We had a bit of drama with S a few weeks ago too. She was spending the night with a friend when they found a little kitty with a broken paw on their doorstep. Needless to say I had a call from her..in tears no less...begging if we could take it. No way jose'! I did NOT want to get saddled with a hurt cat. Poor S. She cried and cried. The little kitty ended up having a collapsed lung and passed away the next day or so. It was very traumatic those few days.

I have added two more WIPs to my large WIP list. We were heading to my oldest's home to finally do Christmas and I brought a project to do but it wasn't working out so I started another easy grannysquare. It will be pink and black with Minnie Mouse on it( no pics yet). And I found out that my other niece--sister to the one that was married on October-- will most probably be getting married this year too. Sooooo, I just had to start her wedding blanket too. I will need LOTS of time to do hers.  Here's why.

Ugghhh. I really don't know why I wanted to try one of these. Each little square in only one round of a granny. This is going to be SO time consuming. And I KNOW I am going to get SO bored crocheting 693 white squares. I might have to tweak how I do the squares a bit. Maybe just fill in around Mickey with the squares then go to bordering granny stripes in white. Hmmm...I'll have to think on that.

That's pretty much what has been going on in January, so without further ado, my random pics with my new camera.

 My Lantana. My Mom calls it a volunteer. I'm guessing because it just sprung up on it's own.

 These next few were on my walk a couple of days ago. It was such a beautiful evening.

 These were from another walk a couple of days later at another location. Again, another beautiful time of day.

 Hmmm. Not exactly the shot I was going for.

I have to say that so far I am really liking my camera's zoom. Not sure about all the other stuff yet...well, there really isn't a lot of other stuff too it. It is a pretty simple canon. Which I like :)

Alrighty then, I'm off to go to school for a bit to see how things are going for Catholic Schools Week. I got to meet Olaf from Frozen on Monday. Wonder what today will bring?

Feeling a Bit Sad

Five years ago ]my Dad passed away. I am feeling a bit blue. Oh, not nearly as bad as it has been in the past. I can actually smile today. It took me awhile to get to this point. And as hard as it was to let him go, I am so glad I am at this point. Time really does heal.

I'll be going to Mass this morning and then after school I'll take the girls out to the grave site to take down the poinsettias and add some yellow roses---they are my Mom's favorites.

Do me a favor, please? If your Dad is still with you, take the time to tell him you love him today. Give him a big hug :)

Book, Hook and Cup

Book

 

Ghosts of Goliad and other stories of Presidio La Bahia.

Goliad isn't very far from us and La Bahia is one of my all time favorite places to go. You can learn about it here. It was written by a local journalist. So far it's pretty good.  Not a very big book at all. 

Hook

 

How do you like my bright colors? Not sure if I do. I kind of feel like a circus when I wear them :) I'm using my cheap yarn stash so they aren't all that soft. But I figure with several washings they should soften up a bit. I like these colors but I think I might go a bit softer in the shades next time. I would love a huge snuggly blanket in these colors. Maybe no white? or no yellow? I don't know. I just know that they didn't turn out quite like I wanted. Ah, well. It was fun making them.

Cup

 

My sister brought this tea back for me from her trip to Disneyworld. I'm really really enjoying it. Especially with it being so cold here lately. 

So what's your book, on your hook and in your cup?

Just a Quick Note

Just a quick note to explain what was mentioned in my last post about my husband. Back in October his ribs started hurting and he had trouble breathing when he laid down. At first we thought it was pulled muscles due to him moving and dryer for me. Two nights in he tells me he needs to go to the ER. Off we go. I was in total denial. Nothing, nothing can be seriously wrong. Guess what? It was! He had five, yes a total of five blood clots in his lungs. He was in intensive care for about two days and another day in a regular room. It scared the bejeebies out of us! So even though his doctor cleared him for work in a couple of weeks, his job did not. Or rather, who they use to give their physicals. They say you can't drive a vehicle for three months after your embolism. We have until next month before he can go back. So he'll have not been to work in about four months total. He is ready to get back to work :) So that's it in a nutshell. We are all very grateful that he is here with us this year. It definitely could have been a very different  2015 for us.

Last Day Before Normal

Normal? School and routine. Back to the way things were before Christmas break. Sadly only one of us had to go back to school yesterday. Poor little S. H has decided to go to vet. tech school instead of basic college. We all think that is a fabulous idea. One she should have had when she started school...but...better late than never. She is meant to work with animals. This decision has put her back a semester. So she'll be off until that gets going full swing. Fortunately/unfortunately she will have to do an online program since there isn't one close enough for her liking. She'll do online classes while getting her tech stuff done at a vets office. Fingers crossed that one of our local vets can do this :). The husband, C, is still off work. What!?! Not working? To make the story short, it has to do with him having some blood clots in his lungs. I'll go into that at another time. I can't believe I haven't told the whole story yet. And me, I won't do testing at school until next week. So my little S was all alone heading off to responsibility.

It was mid-way through Monday when H brought up the fact that we were supposed to go walking again before school. Right. Get your shoes on people were a-walking. Off we go back to Lake Texana.

These were taken at the beginning of the walk. It started out by the entry into the park and first  went by the highway, then angled back towards the wooded area. I loved getting closer and closer to the windmill.

At first I really didn't like walking along the path in the open field. Then I took a moment and looked up and around. It was huge and open and you could see forever. That's one of things I love about Texas. You really do get a feeling of "everything is bigger in Texas" . This tree was the beginning of the woods. I love the oaks here.

Here was one of the first little bridges. There were so many birds right along here. Unfortunately, they were too far away and hidden in all those branches. Plus, a cell phone doesn't really zoom in much :) So no cute little bird pictures. 

It was cold and crisp. The perfect day for a walk in the woods.

 This is just past the little bridge and the start of the really nice woodsy area. We started down at the bottom by the little white star. Then we traveled on the purple path(can you tell the color?) and finished with the short jaunt of the yellow towards the left.

It was pretty wet and we did have to do a bit of maneuvering around some squishy areas. And by the looks of it, some deer, raccoons and other critters did some squishing too. The path then led us by a bit of an inlet. If you look real close you can see the heron in the middle there. C said it was a great blue heron and not the lesser heron. But I really can't tell the difference. A heron is a heron--gray, blue, white. They are just pretty awesome no matter what color or size.

We were all pretty tired by the time we finished. But it was a good tired. I can't wait til the next time we go and try an different trail. My favorite part of the trip was when we figured out that if you park at the entrance you don't have to pay. Woo hoo! I like that.

Resolutions

I have been thinking about what I will be resolved to accomplish this year. The standards keep rolling through my mind. You know, loose weight, be a better person, yadda, yadda, yadda. I don't want to throw the same things out there this year. I do want to accomplish those things but I need a better way to approach them.

I have been seeing the "one word" resolution popping up all over the place. I first heard about it from my sister. Her Priest suggested using one word for the year. Find a good one and put it up in random places so you can be reminded to implement it daily. I'm really not one of those person who plasters goals and personal affirmations all over the place. I just don't work that way. But, BUT, I like the idea of the one word. I kept thinking and thinking and thinking about a word I could do. I didn't want one that was too far out there for me. One I couldn't accomplish. One word kept leaping into my mind. And it is one that I have been working on for awhile. One I haven't done all that well with. I think( I hope) this year will be the year I use it well. Oh? The word? De-clutter. I hate the word and I love the word. De-clutter. DE-CLUTTER. Oh, how I need to de-clutter. Not only my home but my mind.

My home. My husband was in the Coast Guard for the first seventeen years of our marriage. We moved about every two years. Great for de-cluttering! We have been in our current home for almost eleven years. Needless to say, it hasn't been de-cluttered. I have started a bit in the spare room. Trying to get rid of all the left over toys and stuff from the girls younger days. It's coming along fine...but now it has all my crochet/craft/scrapbook stuff in it...it seems like it never ends. So, I will try to make a goal for myself to purge at least once a month....hopefully more than that. And that is for the WHOLE house. Every room. Including the garage. Fingers crossed :)

My mind. Sometimes it feels like my brain never stops. No, that's not right. It feels like things never stop invading my brain. Outside stimuli. I would like to stop a lot of the outside secular world from constantly accosting my brain. With that being said, I plan on including more prayer and less noise. Turn more things off in my life. Less electronics and more nature. I think my quote for this will be " Be still and know that I am God". Be still. That is what I need to do. Ok, kind of a contradiction of the previous paragraph but I think you get my meaning :) Some of the ways I am going to do this are by saying the Rosary more and going to Adoration more. Have more of a morning prayer time before everyone gets up.

There are a lot of other things I want to accomplish this year--crochet more,learn to knit, practice my sewing,  go to Disney again ( I know, that's asking for a lot), walk a 5-k. I think I may make a list and see what I can cross of this year.

Good luck on all of ya'll's resolutions!

Finishing Off the Old Year pt 2

The very last part of 2014 I got to spend with my Mom, Sister and her family in Louisiana. It was short trip but it was fun. It was so much fun that I only took one picture and that was of my Mom's new cat. We shared Christmas ornaments and my sister bought a few presents...she loves to shop. We had some good meals and did some outlet shopping. Puzzles were done and stupid quizzes off the internet taken. And some football was watched. Oh the football. My husband LOVES football. My sister LOVES college football. Especially Clemson football. Both her daughters went to Clemson in South Carolina. Me....not a big fan of football. While they were watching I was crocheting. I did a lot of crochet. Mostly in the car traveling. Quite a few grannies were made!

Little Girl. Sweet, fat, snuggly cat 

 

Working in the van...somewhere between Texas and Louisiana

What I have so far. This is cheap yarn bought when I didn't have a project to do. I needed something easy with not a lot of thinking going on. I rummaged this out of my stash. I'm not yet sure how I feel about the colors. They do look better in person. I'm beginning to think I need a new camera :)

And these are what I bought myself for a combination birthday, anniversary( yep, hit the big twenty-five mark), Christmas gift. The two cup teapot I bought at The English Tea Store. I absolutely LOVE it. The hook I bought on Etsy from buttonmeadow. The same place I bought my red polka dot hook. Again, LOVE them. And the case I bought on Etsy as well from PKStuff. I just need it to be able to hold my hooks and it would be perfect! Can you see a pattern? Yes, I love red :)

Finishing Off the Old Year pt 1

Galveston. This is the seawall looking out. It was a cloudy humid day. That is until about five o'clock in the afternoon when the cold front came in. Which wasn't long before we started our walk around Moody Gardens Festival of Lights. Oh. My. Goodness. It was cold.

I'm only posting two pictures. I was just too darn cold to take really good ones. I was a-shiverin' :) I am a southern girl. I like it to be mostly warm! It was fun though. I really enjoyed getting to see all of the in-laws. We aren't able to get together as much as we used to. Now that all our own children are getting older and moving off and starting their own families it gets a little tough. 

Take a look at the difference in these next two photos.

I just have to chuckle. The first picture is the view from my in-laws hotel room. That is Moody Gardens right out their window. Beautiful! The next one....the view from our hotel room. That is the "partial beach view" room that we got. The beach IS there. You just have to look really hard but it's there. But little beach view is always, ALWAYS, better than NO beach view!!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year one and all! For me, there is no better way to celebrate than by going to Mass for the Solemnity Mary, the Mother of God.  It is just so awesome that through this one young woman God came to us. That through Mary, God became fully human while remaining fully devine. For saying yes to God, and for so much more, she deserves our honor.

Praying ya'll have a bright, happy, safe and blessed  year to come.