Crochet Me Crazy

We've been very very busy. Seems like Christmas hit us like a train this year. Alison had a birthday party last weekend. She wanted a "Ron Paul" themed birthday party. We had a flat bed trailer and we took the kids to look at lights. It was a bit hectic but it was a great party.

You might have heard about Ron Paul raising $6 million on December 16. Well, there were parties all of ther world celebrating Ron Paul's money bomb. We went to a Tea-Party in Freeport, TX which is very near Ron's hometown. There was a huge crowd there. My 14 year old son and 10 year old daughter are just as big of Ron Paul supporters as we are. My son has been making necklaces where he writes "Ron Paul 2008" out of wire. He had a few with him so he decided to donate two of them to the auction they were having to raise funds for Dr. Paul. I was wondering if I should let him in case nobody bid on them, he would be crushed. Well, I decided it's just life and it would be okay. His necklaces were the last things to go and we weren't sure what to expect. We would have been happy with anything. It's a way that Michael can make his own contribution to Ron Paul's campaign on his own. We were so happy and delighted when the total raised for the two of Michael's necklaces was $1,375! Michael gave a necklace to noce of Carol Paul's daughters but she insisted on paying him the $10 that he was planning on selling them for. He also received an order for 6 more along with an offer to let him sell them on the auctioneer's wife's online auction shop for free. Such a kind offer.

I tell you, my kids have learned so much from our Ron Paul experience. I haven't been writing about it here but I'm going to have to write about our experience in Iowa some time.

Now, my 10 year old daughter, Alison, had a very exciting day as well. She has a special love for Carol Paul which started when we met the Paul's in Iowa. Carol Paul is such a personable person and has always been so very sweet to Alison. We first met her in San Antonio. Then, months later she remembered us when we saw her in Iowa! She just seems like your mother or your grandmother. I guess that is only natural since she is a mother to 5 and and has 17 grandchildren. Alison has been making her very own lovely Christmas cards and selling them this year. She brought them along with her because she wanted to show them to Carol Paul. Well, Mr. Paul loved Alison's cards and said she wanted show them to Dr. Paul. She proceed to lead Alison through the crowd to where Ron Paul was and Ron Paul told Alison how nice they were and said they should buy 20 of those. Alison was very embarrased and didn't want to "sell" them to the Paul's! She kept saying..."You don't have to buy them, you can have them" Carol Paul said Alison had worked hard on those and insisted that she pay for them. She got a $20 out of Ron Paul's wallet and bought all the cards that Alison had. Alison has that $20 bill that she says she will never spend because it was once in Ron Paul's wallet. Later, I was thinking we should have had them sign it but we forgot. We'll have to bring it along next time we are somewhere they will be.




So it was an exciting day for my kids. I was very proud of their accomplishments.
Michael also had made a beautiful "Ron Paul" snow globe and gave it to Carol Paul. Man, I really wish I would have taken a close up picture of that snow-globe before he gave it away!

I've not posted much about our grass roots campaigning for Ron Paul here since this is my "crochet" blog but I've decided that has to stop. It's just too big of a part of our lives for me not to post. I was thinking about it and since I really started this blog for myself and a sort of record keeping journal and to keep a record of my crochet projects, I'm gipping myself if I don't write about the experiences we've had during our involvement with the Ron Paul grass roots movement. So, if you want to stop reading, here's your warning....

First, I'm going to post a letter written by a friend from our Ron Paul meet-up group. I want to save this letter because its about our experience we had on December 5th when we all met with Ron Paul at the airport one night to escort him home. We broke down but her letter was so good I want to memorialize it in my pages.

Driving Ron Home, Dec.5, 2007 by Carrie Snuske

I got the call around 7:20 PM from my friend Jeff Ritz from the Spring/Klein/Tomball
Ron Paul Meet-Up Group.

"I just found out ten minutes ago that Ron Paul is coming into Bush airport around
10:00 PM. We’re trying to get a convoy together to run him home to Lake Jackson, would you like to be a part of it?"

You bet I would! Jeff had recently helped me install an ‘A-frame’ he had made, in the bed of my pick up truck to display two huge Ron Paul for President signs. Now I am able to shout my support all the time, wherever I go, and I wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to be in a convoy with Ron Paul! I loved the idea that our escort would be our way of showing him that we are ‘right behind him’.

I met up with three other vehicles Jeff, Lisa, their two kids, Nanette, as well as Mark Holmes. We all wanted our candidate to be able to rest, and recharge his batteries from the campaign trail, so we didn’t go inside the airport to greet him. Instead we stayed with our vehicles in the third row and waited for him to appear.. , [ AIRPORT ANNOUNCEMENT : "The third row is reserved for Ron Paul supporters. For security reasons, please stay with your vehicles."]

We met up with Ron Paul’s personal driver Bruce and waited with him. Our plan was to stay back and leave him alone so Dr. Paul could just come home and relax
As we are standing there Nanette says, "Who has some Slim Jims? We need to work this crowd." I reach into my satchel and pull out a handful of Slim Jims with calling cards stapled to them. Nanette walks up and down the rows of cars handing out information and talking with folks about Ron Paul.

We see a security guard through the window in the upper level of the airport motioning with his hands and arms. Ron Paul is coming. About 10 minutes later we are wondering where he is. There were other supporters inside holding a welcome home banner for Ron Paul and he was sure to make time to chat with them.

As the great man came out of the terminal I stayed back and took pictures from a distance, even as Ron Paul moved toward the front vehicle of our group and started chatting with them. As driver of the tail vehicle I cooperated with airport security and stayed with my truck, busying myself taking pictures. When Bruce led the candidate off to his car, we all put on our four-way flashers and followed along behind. That’s when I realized I had missed my chance to meet Ron Paul. I could have kicked myself!

When we got to Pearland I was surprised and heartened at the out pouring of support for Ron Paul. We passed a line of ten or fifteen vehicles of supporters parked along the side of the road like ducks in a row, their flashers on, beeping their horns as we passed, ready to fall in line with the rest of the convoy. I called my friend from Pearland, Robert Mayer, and found out that he had indeed joined in the convoy.

At every curve in the road I peeked into my mirror at the impressive line of vehicles with their flashers on, and teared up a bit.

Just before we got into lake Jackson, Jeff, in the lead ‘A’ frame pulled off the road, so we all started pulling off the road, but were waived on. Mark called me a few minutes later to tell me that Jeff had broken down, and that I and the huge line behind me needed to catch up.
The plan was to get Dr. Paul close to his home, and to break off and head on back home, so that we wouldn’t keep him from this rare opportunity for rest. Before we know it, however, we were at his house! I stayed with my truck even as other supporters started assembling at Dr. Paul's street corner, talking about Jeff’s breakdown.

Ron Paul comes out and chats with the crowd, and before I know it he starts heading my way! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, he is coming my way! He comes up to me as I am standing next to my truck. He looks tired, but strong. He sticks out his hand and says, ‘How are you? Thanks for coming’. Star-struck, the first thing I say is ‘I am working so hard for you’, at the same time I am thinking to myself ‘Carrie, you are so stupid, everyone is working hard, especially him!’ The next thing out of my mouth is "I love your message. Thank you so much ... Did you see all of those people waiting for you in Pearland?" ... " Do you know that the message is that 'we are right behind you' ? Dr. Paul thoughtfully said yes he was aware of that.

It's midnight. I am standing on Ron Paul's street chatting with him. He peers into the darkness behind me and says, ‘Is there anyone else? Have I missed anyone?’ The compassion of that statement, from Dr. Paul, to be so concerned that someone might be left out, impressed me.

Robert stepped out of the shadows. I said ‘Here’s another friend, this is Robert Mayer, Robert, this is Ron.’ That’s when I took the photo of Robert and Ron, which is posted along with Robert's story' The Ron Paul Convoy', December 6, 2007, @ LewRockwell.com, and Robert took this picture of Dr. Paul and me.

One of us said to Dr. Paul, 'Well you probably need to get some rest so you can get more energy.' With a widespread gesture of his hand Ron said,"This is what gives me the energy!"


Carrie Snuske
Dec. 17,2007

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We just got back from a camping trip. We stayed at the Blanco State Park. This park WAS my back yard when I grew up. My back gate literally opened up into it and the river was 100 yards from my house. Quite a nice place to grow up and I still like going back.









The kids picked wild river onions and decided to make their own onion soup. LOL! That kept them busy for an hour or two!





We went to Enchanted Rock on Thursday. We actually walked up this giant rock which isn't easy to do!! Geez...I had to stop and rest several times.







There is a cave at Enchanted Rock that you can climb down into on your own if you want. We have been in it a little way before on another trip but we weren't equipped with enough lights so we wanted to go back again with plenty of flashlights and batteries. It was much darker than it looks in these pictures because my flash sorta lit up the place and you can actually see what it looks like in there. We were in there in the dark crawling through spaces that were almost two small for us parents to squeeze through at some points. It was very fun though and we went all the way to find a 2nd unmarked opening near the end this time.








We saw one of the prettiest light displays I think I've ever seen in the nearby town to Blanco called Johnson City, Texas. They had 50-60 trees COMPLETELY wrapped in lights. This light display was at the local Electric Company! Go figure...





Made this little Christmas Tree for Alison to decorate however she see's fit and hang on the tree:

Check out this video....



The parking lot featured in this video is the owned by the same company, CENTRAL, that we were scammed in. It seemed they have a problem with this that they are not in a hurry to correct since they are making a fortune on it. One gal in our group has contacted a local investigative reporter, Wayne Dolcifino and an attorney. Central knows this is going on and they are getting fat and happy off of hard working Americans getting scammed. DO NOT EVER PARK IN A CENTRAL PARKING LOT!!

We had a VERY interesting day today! We went downtown Houston to a march against the NAU. That was very uneventful...we did our duty and showed our support with the many other concerned citizens that were attending. We finished up and were leaving when we got a call from one of our Ron Paul supporter friends telling us they were still in the parking lot they had parked in and they all had "boots" on their cars. When we got over to where they were there were two of our friends cars with the boots and numerous other people gathered around along with two police cars. There was a total of 7 cars booted at that time. The story from ALL of these people was that they had paid the parking attendant their money when they got parked and then got back to find their cars booted and notices saying they had to pay $100 each to get the boots taken off! The guy that took their money was wearing the same parking attendant shirts the guys trying to take their $100 was wearing. The manager of the parking lot was called by the police and they tried to reason with the owners...we even offered to pay them the parking fee so they wouldn't be out money but they said NO...we want the $100. The parking attendant was a MAJOR jerk. These people are going to be taken to court over this. The police told us this happens ALL WEEK LONG. There was some workers across the street that were asking what was going on over there. They told us that before we all had gotten there that they had already collected $100 for 6-8 cars that day! The police told us they couldn't do anything about it because it was private property. Well, being the stubborn group that we were, people weren't paying. One guy started taking his tire off of his car to get the boot off...the parking attendant starts running over to his car to boot the other tires! We all ran over to the guys car and stood in front of his tires so he couldn't put the boot on. One of the gals in our group called a judge she knew who told her it was illegal for private citizens to boot someone's car. They had to be the city or deputized or have a permit from the city. This guy would run to another car and try to boot it again! Well, we've been down there all day well past dark. The one guy was able to get his boot off and the parking attendant tried to block his car in with his car but we stood in the way. The police were all there...by this time, there were 5 police cars there and about 8 officers! They were mainly there to make sure things didn't get out of hand. We assured them that we weren't going to push, shove, or touch anyone but we weren't getting out of their way either. We won a victory when that guy changed his tire and drove away. Even a police officer was secretly happy to see us get that boot off! Incidentally, this particular guy that got the boot off was a stranger and not from our Ron Paul group. When he left, he said he was definately voting for Ron Paul after spending that time with us! The next car we tried to free they had managed to get two boots on and we weren't able to get it off. Another guy in our group ended up paying the $100 so that he can file suit. We have all the contact info of all the people there and that company will be hearing from us again. The parking attendant had called a tow truck...the tow truck was actually there and telling us how much money he makes there a week! He thought it was all funny...they were just about to tow a car that the unsuspecting owners hadn't even gotten back to yet. They had added another boot to that car too because they didn't know it wasn't one of our people's cars. About this time, the local FOX 26 NEWS reporter showed up. He was asking us our stories and then was walking over to the parking attendants and they both jumped in their cars and drove off!! Even the tow truck drivers was gone before I knew what was happened. Those two parking attendants kept circle-ing the block waiting for the reporter to leave before they came back! I was interviewed and our good friend Mark...there was a small segment about it on the FOX 26 NEWS at 9 news tonight. Well, this is a huge scam going on downtown Houston parking lots. Even if they aren't planting fake attendents there themselves, they know its going on and aren't doing anything about it or warning people because they are making a butt-load of money off of this. The police themselves said this goes on ALL the time. They made about $1600 today alone off of this scam. Anyway, it was unbelievable to me but there's going to be a lawsuit filed against this company. Oh, and by the way, the unsuspecting owner that they were about to tow away...once the media showed up, they removed the boot and that car was still sitting there when we left. Little do they know, we saved them $100 ... they probably take the boots off if the owners have come back by the time their read to go home for the night...hmmmph

Our Ron Paul group is going to bring Thanksgiving dinner to the officers. They were talking about how they work 12 hour days and they will be working on Thanksgiving. We got the hint that they like "fried" turkeys! lol

Whew...not how I expected to spend my day but getting the boot off that one car was worth it all. They get away with this crap because people take it.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

MamaHooks Pattern Page

Found this blog with lots of free patterns for Cabbage Patch Dolls

Here's the latest pictures of Libby and Belle. They are learning to "Sit" so I was actually able to get them to sit still for a picture by bribing them with cheese!! :) They are a little over 10 weeks old now!

My kids have never been trick-or-treating but we usually try to take them to a church festival somewhere for some candy. We went tonight and Alison wore her little prairie girl dress. A sweet outfit for a sweet girl.


Our neighbor and her two boys came with us to the carnival and they are with the kids here...


Michael didn't participate this year...he wanted to do Ron Paul stuff instead so him and dad met with another guy from our Ron Paul meet-up group and they held signs on the road. We met them out there when we were done. We got lots of thumbs-ups and honks tonight.

I made this turtle for my niece who just had a baby. The baby's room is all done up in turles so I made this for her shelf.

The pattern was written by Krisie over at Crochetville. The pattern is very well written and you can whip this little guy out in one night!

Tiny Striped Turtle - Crochetville--A Crochet Forum and Message Board

A few bath scrubbies and wash cloths I've made over the past couple of weeks. I've given these bath scrubbies to several people and have had rave reviews on them so I decided to make a few to keep around for gifts. Another person was telling me how much they loved the dishcloths. Would you believe I have never used one myself. I always tend to give the stuff I make away. The bath scrubbies in both pictures are the same pattern, I just layed it a different way to show it has a handle. I can make a bath scrubbie in less than an hour so I can usually get one done plus work on something else while I'm sitting in the car on Monday's and Tuesday's waiting for Alison to get out of her dance classes.




This is just a square I made because I wanted to try out this cable stitch.



I'm working on a cotton bath mat right now...and by golly, I'm going to use it for myself! :)

I have a few purse handles I had found on clearance somewhere so I decided to try making a purse. I didn't use a pattern for this...I just sorta "winged" it. I think it turned out pretty good.

These are our two new Toy Rat Terriers...the same breed as Brindy was. The pictures don't do their size justice. They are very tiny. Belle is smaller than Libby. She only weighed 1 pound when we took them to the vet on Saturday.

A day we have dreaded has finally come. Last night, our beloved family pet, Brindy, had a heart attack and died. She had a heart murmur since birth so we always knew that it would eventually get the best of her. We just never expected it to be this soon. She was only 3 1/2 years old. We were out last night and when we got home Brindy didn't get up and get excited like she normally does. Jeff got her and started to play with her. She started playing and getting excited...then all of a sudden, she started crying and we knew what was happening. It happened so fast. There was nothing we could do. We jumped in the truck and sped her to the emergency clinic but she was already gone by the time we got there. This is so horrible...I'm having a very hard time dealing with this. They brought her out to us in a box. We opened the box up and I wrapped her up and held her all the way home and the whole time Jeff was digging her grave. Jeff came and told me I didn't have to hold her anymore. I told him I couldn't just lay her down somewhere. I layed her in her grave with her head on her favorite toy. I just can't believe she's gone. I have to explain to you that I am not a "dog" person...Brindy was not just any dog though. She had completely stolen every member of our family's hearts. There wasn't enough "Brindy" to go around...everyone wanted her at bed time. She was very shy, sweet, and well behaved. She loved all of us and would defend us with her little 6 lb body. She was a "one owner" dog. She was terribly frightened of strangers. She never barked or misbehaved in any way. The worse thing Brindy did was occasionally she would drag a few pieces of trash out of the trash can when we left her alone. She had luxated patella's on her back legs which they say is very common for a runt, which she was, so she walked with a limp. People always thought she was an old dog. She was the little mis-fit of her litter. Her brindle coloring made her "un-breedable". She had never chewed on anything but her own toys right from the beginning. She loved to lay in the sun or bake herself in front of a heater in the winter. She put up with our other various pets over the year...rats, ducks, cats. She never barked except when someone knocked at the door. I could carry her around for hours in her dog bag anywhere and no-one would even know she was there. Her black eyes would blend in with the darkness of the bag. She actually liked to curl up in small snuggly spaces. Her favorite place was under the couch pillows.
The rest of the family is already talkinga about getting another rat terrier puppy. I am no opposed to it but I am scared. I know that the rest of the family will love and bond with any dog we get but I'm afraid I won't. We've have 2 other dogs before Brindy that I couldn't deal with and we ended up giving away. I realize how special she was and I just don't know if I will like the next one. That might sound harsh but like I said, I'm not just an any ol' dog person....I was a Brindy person.

I was going to post a picture of Brindy but the image posting doesn't seem to be working on blogger today.

I got the pattern for this top from the book called Amazing Crochet Lace by Doris Chan. It was an extremely easy to follow pattern.
I had some extra yarn so I started making a skirt to use up the rest of it. The skirt ended up being a little on the short side but I told Alison she could wear it as long as she wears some shorts under it.

I finished another pair of slippers.