Is it weird...

... that I want to frame one of my Stained Glass Window squares?

I pinned my finished square on the wall and I don't want to take it down.  It's going to be so hard to give this afghan away.

When I was working on the squares last week, I was missing one of them.  So I just started another one.  Then I found it yesterday.  So I caught it up with the other 11.  Now I have 12 in progress and the finished one.  I'm keeping one.  It's just too pretty.  I can't help it.  I may never make another full afghan from the pattern, so I want something other than pictures of it.

My book is falling apart now... I've been using it so much.  If you ever spend money on an afghan pattern book, I can't recommend this enough.  The pattern for Zoe's afghan is in there as well as the Stained Glass Window afghan.  There are quite a few others in the book that I would like to make.   I don't normally buy pattern books... there just aren't usually enough patterns in them that I like to justify the cost, especially when you can find so many great patterns online for free. 

Source: amazon.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Did you know that today (Monday 9/12) was International Crochet Day?  I didn't until tonight.  I definitely celebrated.  I crocheted my way into a headache, I crocheted so much. And that was after cleaning.  I'm being super productive lately.  We better enjoy this while it lasts.  ;)

Saturday Family Fun Day

This was our next-to-last Saturday Family Fun Day.  *pouty face*  Next Saturday is Bill's last Saturday off.  They are switching his days off to Sunday and Monday.  So we'll have to start having Sunday Family Fun Days.  *happy face*

Of course, this means I'm going to have to get into a new routine.  Right now, Sunday is my big laundry day.  No matter how hard I try, I can't get into the habit of doing a load a day, and even when I do, there's still several to do at the end of the week.  I swear, sometimes I feel like there are more than 5  people in this family on laundry day.  So I'm going to have to get into the habit of doing laundry on Saturday so that I don't have that hanging over my head on Sunday.  I'm not a big fan of changing my routine. 

And I liked that the two nights a week that I can stay up late and don't have the extra tasks of getting things ready for the next day were the same nights that my hubby is home.  Sometimes I really dislike my husband's bosses.  OK, most of the time.  The man never calls in, always comes in when asked, actually takes being on call seriously, spends his own free time taking certification tests and whatnot... yet he's always the one that gets uprooted and thrown around when people quit.  Because he'll do it without making a fuss.  I just hate that the people who are the most difficult to work with always get their way... just because it's easiest. 

Enough complaining...  let's get back to the topic at hand.  =)

Bill had been planning our Fun Day all week.  Or at least the first part of it... going to an antique tractor show.  He loves tractors, having practically been raised on a dairy farm.  He can tell you just about anything you'd want to know about any kind of farm tractor.  So we took a little drive out to Scott, AR to look at some tractors...



They had a little plot of cotton planted.  I don't think I've ever been up close to cotton plants before, but I've heard my dad talk about having to pick it before...



It's actually quite pretty, I think.



Little cotton balls =)







There is a cypress swamp in the area... I think it's quite pretty, too.

We left there and had lunch at a new burger place that everyone keeps raving about.  I wasn't that impressed.  In fact, I had a bit of a tummy ache afterwards.  I had mentioned earlier that there was a new walking bridge that had opened recently, so we decided to check it out. 



Now, ever since I was little, I thought that the land that this bridge connects to was an island and I always wanted to go on this island.  It's actually just a little peninsula, but it was still really exciting to be able to just go walk over to it now. 





There is a walking trail once you get over the bridge.  It's actually a part of a huge trail system in the area.  We didn't make it to the end of this particular part of the trail, but I think we were close because we were seeing people coming back that had passed us (because we were sloooooow.)



The reason we were slow.  Short little legs and short little patience.  This was when we decided to turn around.



And this was when we got near the end.  Poor little Dodo was not happy.  It sucks to be the littlest person.  She told me several times that we should have brought the stroller or wagon.  And maybe I would have if we had actually planned that part of the trip, but it was kind of a "what can we do now?" decision.

It definitely got me wanting to take more walks, even with all the whining.  I love trails.  Walking trails, nature trails, walking bridges.  It's one of my favorite parts of where we live, so many trails.  =)

Can you hear the angels singing?

I got a lot of crocheting finished while we had company.  I finished the sixth row of Zoe's afghan, which is the halfway point (not counting the border).  And I worked all 12 of my Stained Glass Window squares to the point where I needed new colors. 

Darn it all, had to go to Hobby Lobby.  What torture.  =)

I decided to just grab the 3 remaining colors and more black all at once.  No more stressing over my color choices.  Just get it and be done.  And since I had all the colors, I thought I'd finish a square completely to see if what I made would even look like what is in the book.

Want to see?  Do you?  Do you?

Here it is... 



I am not going to lie.  This is a very challenging pattern.  But it is fun.  On one hand, I'm thinking "I have to make 11 more of these?", but the fun factor makes it not so daunting.

It's also huge.  It's about 10 inches... I think.  I couldn't find anything to measure it with, but it was about as tall as my 8x10 picture close to it. 

When I had the center of it finished with all the colors, I was not sure I liked it at all.  The yellowish color just seemed "off" to me.  But then I got the corner motifs on and it looked so much better... it just tied it together perfectly.  I completely love it.  This is going to be such an amazing afghan.  It will be so hard to give it away.

The Hostess With The Mostest...

... Mostest what, I don't know.  =)

My sister-in-law decided to move back to Massachusetts from California.  My father-in-law flew out there to help her with the moving and the drive, and they decided to make a little pit stop here to visit us along the way.  We haven't seen them in about two years.  It's just such a huge undertaking to take all 5 of us on a trip that big and we, unfortunately, don't get to make it very often.  So we were so excited that they were coming to visit.

Now, it's very rare that we have overnight company.  I don't think we have had anyone here since Isabelle was born 5 years ago.  So I spent last weekend in a cleaning frenzy, totally stressed out to the point that I spent Labor Day with a migraine.  It was totally silly of me, but I just wanted things to be nice for them.  Plus, Bill wasn't able to get any time off of work so it would be just me and the girls to entertain them most of the time.  And, just in case you missed the bulletin, I'm so not a social creature.  Not that I didn't enjoy their company... don't get me wrong, I do like them immensely.  We had a great time.  But I can't lie and say that the anticipation of playing hostess didn't weigh heavily on me. 

The main reason that Bill wasn't able to get time off was that we weren't exactly sure when they'd arrive.  They ended up leaving a day later than they planned and had some late starts.  Originally they thought they'd be here Monday, or Tuesday at the latest.  It was actually Wednesday evening when they got here.  The girls were just out of their heads with excitement. 



They had their Papa on book duty pretty quickly.  That was pretty much the only time they weren't running full speed, giving the tour of the house, worrying over my sister-in-law's cat, showing off toys and pillows and blankets.  They wore me out just watching.

The next day, I did have to go to work myself, but only for a few hours and I was home by the time everyone was getting up for the day.  The girls were much calmer and really well-behaved.



Olivia even asked to do the dishes for me.  =)



Days of driving wears an Aunt Mandy out and Zoe was more than happy to join her in a nap.



They had a lot of fun taking pictures and just acting goofy.



Aunt Mandy taught the girls how to play Angry Birds and Papa taught Olivia how to do Sodoku puzzles.  And she was actually getting it... I can't even do Sodoku.

Amanda and I had a few long conversations and that was really nice.  I don't think we've really ever had the chance to just chit chat... just the two of us.  So, I wasn't all that antisocial.  I did get a lot of crocheting done, though.  It's just easier for me to talk with my hands busy.

They only were able to stay two nights and had to leave while I was at work.  It was a real bummer that they had to go.  It really sucks living so far away from part of the family.  But Bill has already mentioned making the trip to visit next summer and I'm excited!  I tried to plan a trip this summer and we weren't able to make it work.  I'm going to work extra hard to make it happen next year though.  There are many, many more people to see, but it was so great to see two of them at least.

Oh, it's ON now...

This Stained Glass Window afghan is going to be the death of me.

I know I've told the story, but short synopsis... it's a big thank you gift for my boss.  I've been up, down, and all around about this gift.  At first it was definitely this afghan.  Then I had trouble finding the colors for it, because I wanted to do it just like the pattern.  Then I tried different colors and hated it.  Then I said, forget the afghan, I'll sew some stuff.  Then my sewing machine started growling at me.  So, today, my inner Tim Gunn said "make it work, Jennifer."  I trotted my happy self down to Hobby Lobby to find the best match for my next color of yarn. 

Let's go.

I get myself all settled on the couch with my 12 already started squares (which are actually circles at the moment), ready to continue on....just to find that the color I just bought is the same freaking color I already used.


The color of FRUSTRATION.

I really was this close to throwing everything in the garbage.

But the second color, which is supposed to be a tad darker than the third color, is so close and so almost hidden anyway that I decided I'd just use the same color for both the second and third colors. Yeah, that's confusing to me, too.  It's getting late and I'm frazzled. But anyway, it's not like my boss is going to be comparing the afghan to the pattern and say "Now, Jennifer, you were supposed to use a dark teal-ish color here and a turquoise color after.  This just won't do.  Gratitude not accepted."

Now it's just a matter of pride.  I'm whipping the dog mess out of this afghan.  Prepare yourself, Stained Glass Window... I'm about to own you.

And you have no idea how difficult it was to write this post without swearing.  I have such a potty mouth when I'm frustrated.

Chilling...

After a day of discovering the horrors that live beneath the couch yesterday, it was time to just relax.


Yay for finally putting the slipcover back on the ugly floral couch.

We need a new remote.  It's pretty worn out.  I'm the only person in the house not addicted to it, but it was Big Brother night and I am addicted to that.  I know, reality shows are evil.  I don't care.  I don't really watch anything but reality shows, and only a handful of those.  I just don't have time.  But the few I watch give me an excuse to veg out on the couch for a few hours a week, with the crochet hook, of course.

I am beginning the 6th row of Zoe's afghan.  I like to make the flower centers first since they're the most complicated part, with the cluster and popcorn stitches involved.  There are 8 squares per row, but I have enough green squares made for two more rows, so I only needed 6 flowers for this row.  When this row is complete, I'll be halfway finished.  And since I think it's taken me about 3 months to get here, I don't see me beating the time it took me to make my Babette.  Maybe if I can get a row done a week, but I really have other things I'm going to have to concentrate on soon.

Like these South Park amigurumis that Bill's aunt has requested as a gift for one of her daughters:

Source: etsy.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I keep letting them slip my mind, and I really need to go ahead and knock it out.

I also need to get to work on my boss's thank you gift.  I had just about decided to take the sewing option and make a bunch of matching travel accessories... passport cover, shoe bags, luggage tags, etc.... but my sewing machine started growling at me today.  That can't be good.  I'm going to try to give it a good cleaning and cross my fingers that it just was ticked off about me trying to sew corduroy.  Corduroy tends to be a bit linty and it's thick.  And my machine needs to be cleaned anyway.  I'm not a good sewing machine owner.  Hopefully it's just feeling neglected and doesn't need a doctor.  But if I do end up making her an afghan, it's going to have to take priority over Zoe's blanket since I'm just kind of slow on the afghan making.

I need to really concentrate on time management going into the holidays.  I'm so bad at balancing everything that needs to be done and something always suffers.  Usually the housework.  And after today, I really don't want to let that slide.  Seriously.  I never feared the Closet Monster or the Under The Bed Monster, but if I have to fight the Couch Monster again, you might as well just throw that straight jacket on me and toss me in the padded cell.

I'm so glad we don't have carpet

I think from now on, my first advice to any new parent will be this:  rip out the carpet now.

When we rented this place, the landlady was very proud of her "hardwood" floors.  She's a tad delusional, it's just laminate (I think, I don't know the difference between vinyl, laminate, and linoleum) flooring with a hardwood pattern, and she probably thinks the bathroom looks like it has marble counters, too.  It doesn't.  It looks like someone smeared poo all over the bathroom - every small child who sees my bathroom for the first time says so.  I haven't been able to decorate the bathroom in the two years we've lived here because I can't figure out what goes with poo.

Anyway.  I have a love/hate relationship with our lack of carpet.  First, I can't stand to be barefoot.  Before we lived here, the first thing I would do upon coming home was kick off my shoes.  Now I usually don't take my shoes off until I go to bed.  And you never realize how sound-dampening carpet is until you don't have any.  I sometimes feel like my head is going to explode from the non-stop racket around here.  I know rugs would help, but then we get into the area of what I love about not having carpet.  Plus, a good room-sized rug is expensive and there's always something else more important to buy, it seems.

So, what do I love about not having carpet?  I love not having to vacuum.  There are a couple of noises that I can't handle - such as hairdryers, the AC in the van being on high, and vacuums.  I honestly never blow dry my hair unless it is sub-freezing outside.  So, not having to deal with the sound of a vacuum cleaner is very lovely to me. 

After you sweep and mop a few times, you realize how nasty floors get and I just have a hard time believing a vacuum can suck all that nastiness up.  I'm not OCD about cleaning (I honestly wish I were) or anything like that, but you see the bottom of a mop bucket enough (or a Swiffer pad or my Shark pad) and you think about things like that.

And, very important with my crew, it's hard to stain laminate flooring.  And have you ever tried to get gum out of carpet?  It's just much easier to maintain.  I know with all the stuff I've mopped up that our carpet would look awful by now. 

Yes, I miss having nice plush carpet between my toes at times.  I don't like stepping onto a cold floor.  But, it will have to wait until the girls are little older.  Just like couches that I don't feel the need to cover up with slipcovers.  And pretty much any other nice object.  Heck, if I had my way, I'd vinyl-coat the whole house, install some floor drains and just hose the place off once a week and be done with it.  Save me a couple of headaches.