Crochet Me Crazy

It is really so bad out there that you can't go outside. The dust is so bad you can't breath. You can see all the dust and grass in the air even between the gusts of wind.

We went to San Antonio on Saturday night. Alison brought a friend. We went to the mall, ate, and the girls swam in the indoor pool and whirlpool at the hotel that night. On Sunday, we got up and went to the rodeo grounds. The rodeo was over but the girls certainly got their money's worth out of the wrist bands for unlimited rides at the carnival.

Wow, I've been such a bad blogger! It just seems like I have nothing interesting to say and I'm haven't been crocheting anything. I'm totally uninspired on the crochet front. We've been staying pretty busy though. This past weekend Alison and I took a little over night road trip. We drove to San Antonio and did some shopping. Then we went from there to Blanco. We visited and spent the night with an old friend. We drove around my old stomping grounds and visited my mom & dad's gravesites. We did a little more shopping and went to the mall on our way back home through San Antonio again. We had a good time eating some good food and just getting away was nice! Alison got herself a nifty little curler at the mall. She loves it and the curls stay in. Quite amazing!! Here is before and after pictures of her hair....



We were back in time to go to our new church on Sunday. Alison really, really likes then new church. It has been very refreshing and renewing for her to be around some other kids that seem to really love God like she does.

Oh! And another new development is...Alison and Morgan broke up! It was a pretty uneventful break-up this time and I think it is over for good this time. I've seen a real change in Alison over the past few weeks in regard to Morgan. There were no tears this time and she seems to be fine with it. She's been thinking of breaking up with him for some time now but she didn't want it to end badly. Hopefully, they are going to be able to be friends.

We looked at some land this weekend! It's 46 acres with a lot of pasture land for horses and it's even pretty close to town. It's some of the best land we've ever looked at that we could ever even consider affording but it would still stretch us to our limits. There are a few things that have to fall in place before we could buy it though so we're praying about that. I guess if it's meant to be, it will work out I guess.

Took the kids to the new youth group last night. It was a success! Alison really liked it. Michael went with her even though he's technically too old for it. She was scared to go the first time by herself so he went as a "chaperone" --- lol! The kids were nice to them and they felt very welcome so I guess she'll be okay on her own from now on. Ah....these two new things are going to significantly increase my road time especially once we go back to dance. Oh well, it's worth it if it helps Alison make some new friends.

We had a lovely surprise last night when we got home --- I should have taken a picture! Alison came into her room to find her duvet and sheet shredded and feathers all over the room. Buck! It was a HUGE mess---- my guess is that he was trying to get to my little dogs. They are in heat right now and Buck is driving us batty harassing them constantly and walking around whining all the time. We don't really have to worry about anything happening because of his size verses theirs and also he has a crippled back leg. We have been separating them anyways though just because my little dogs are trembling with fear over his obsession with them. Apparently, Jeff wasn't on top of that last night. I still have feathers to clean up today that have been spread all over the house ---

We drove a little farther to visit a different church today... a bigger church. I'm okay with the church we've been going to but Alison needs to be around some kids that will accept her and she didn't like the immaturity of the way the Sunday School lessons are presented. She came home today saying she liked it. She didn't feel unwelcome or judged and she said the lesson was a real lesson. It was't just for entertainment. They have a really large youth group that meets on Wednesday nights -- about 75 kids. We're going to check that out this week. We're having to drive to the town 30 miles away...between this new church and the homeschooling group, I'll be driving there at least 2 days a week but it's worth it if Alison can meet some nice kids she can be friends with. I'm very proud of my daughter....she's so mature, beautiful, kind, and loves God.

Alison and I tried something new today -- I took her into town to a homeschooling co-op. She wasn't real thrilled with the idea but I really wanted us to at least see what it was like. Well, I thought it was pretty good...the people were really nice. They are doing classes on drama and sewing/crochet/knitting right now. She's really not wanting to participate in the drama because she's so shy. Well, it's all pretty low pressure so I don't think she'll have to do anything she doesn't want to. We watched their video productions of what they have done so far which was pretty impressive. One of the kids is pretty savvy with the video editing, etc. They were even using a green screen. The crocheting part was right up my alley and the mom teaching it really is learning herself so I am going to be able to help them with that. Next week I'm supposed to bring some examples of things I have made. They want me to teach them to read a pattern. We might be a little premature on that. All they've learned is single crochet so far. I think I will come up with a few simple projects that can be done in a single crochet they can do. It's always more fun to learn if you are actually making something! We met a couple of other families that are really into horses too so that was neat. Everyone lives pretty spread out though since it's such a rural area where we live. I think it's something we're going to try to do every week. The only down side is that most of the kids are younger than Alison. I think she is the oldest.

We did some grocery shopping and ate before we came home so our afternoon was pretty much gone. Then we went to Morgan's basketball game...End of the day. It's getting late...I'm tired. I was up at 5:30 this morning getting the other kids off to school.

Last night she tells us that she has a confession. I'm like...what?? She says that she stood up on her horse's back yesterday! Her father and I are like..."What! Alison! With a broken ankle?!" I had told her she could ride but not to do anything RISKY!!! Geez...what am I going to do with her!

This weekend seemed long. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I'm feeling a little stir crazy. I feel like going somewhere. Alison really, really wants to take a trip back to Houston to visit her best friend. I was seriously considering it but the more I think about it, I realize it's just not possible in my car. I'm too scared to take that long of a trip by ourselves in my unreliable car. I feel so trapped since I don't have a good car. Jeff works all the time and if Alison and I wanted to go somewhere we would go if I felt good about my car! We looked into renting a car but it would cost about $300. Not sure I want to do that either so....I'm thinking about taking a trip back to my home town which is about 2 hours away. There's a lady there that I've known my whole life. I heard from her at Christmas and she is getting old. I want to go see her so I may go ahead and try that trip at least.