Crochet Me Crazy

Fix My Heart

Fix my eyes upon Thy face.
O Savior, this my plea:
Help me look upon the things
That pleasest only Thee!

Fix my thoughts upon Thy Word
Lord, make me pure within.
Yea, hour by hour and day by day
Lord, keep my mind from sin!

Fix my ears upon Thy voice
To listen and obey.
And quickly, though temptation shouts
And dares me to delay!

Fix my lips upon Thy praise
In kindness let me speak.
May my words be like my Lord’s:
Patient, humble, meek!

Fix my hands upon Thy work.
Lord make me diligent!
Faithful to the “little things”
The jobs that you have sent!

Fix my feet upon Thy path
Lord, do not let me stray!
Keep me in your narrow path;
Lead me day by day!

Fix my will upon Thy will
You set me, Lord, apart.
This is my prayer each day anew:
O Savior, fix my heart!

Copyright Miriam Rainwater, May 16, 2006
All rights reserved
Based on Col. 3:1-2

Poems for Him: Fix My Heart

I read an article today about "Losing motherhood" and it really got me thinking. I feel strong about certain things which makes me bit strange and different. I am a stay-at-home mom. Especially now that my kids are getting older, I look around me and realize there aren't any other stay-at-home moms. I realize that in this economy more mom's have to work to make ends meet. Maybe it's because my mom was always home even when I got older. It still seems important to me to be with my kids. I guess I'm very old-fashioned and I don't want to be any other way. My husband and I made that choice when Michael was 2 years old and I'm glad we made it so early in our marriage when we were poor and I made more money than Jeff did! It was just a priority and we never learned to depend on two incomes or have two cars, etc. Sometimes the grind gets old and you feel useless but I guess it depends on the standard you are holding yourself up to. I struggle sometimes with what people think is important and question whether it's okay for our family to be so different but then I remember that I am holding ourselves up to the wrong standard when I think like this. I guess I would have fit into an earlier generation better than my own. My kids ARE normal...it's the over-sexed, uncreative generation of kids that I am seeing today that are not normal. I was not saintly teenager so I know real life but I also know that it could have been different for me. My children are definately different. I think being different isn't very popular in today's culture. Our teens are supposed to fit-in and act like "teens" are supposed to act! People just don't know what to think about teens that don't care about those things. They both have interests and likes and dislikes that they choose for themselves not because its popular or what is expected of them. I guess I've done my job now that they are this old, I don't think I could force them to be "normal" teens if I tried! It's too late for "normalcy" for my kids and for that I say "Thank God!" I've watched some of my kids friends morph before our eyes into "actors" playing a part to fit in. Others aren't acting but run head-strong into the moral decay or our schools with gusto. Either way, it makes me sad to see it happen to these kids and its sad for my kids too. So that being said, homeschooling my kids hasn't been an easy road to take and I've second-guessed and questioned myself along the way. I guess I won't stop that until my kids are grown and see them as happy adults. Notice, I didn't use the work "successful" because I don't think the standard for success I have is the same as others. I just want my kids to be true to themselves and be the best God made them to be and accomplish what the good Lord put them on this earth to do.

I met with the 4-H director yesterday to explain it all to me. This is all new to me! Looks like we missed the last rabbit validation which was last night so Alison won't be able to show a rabbit. Of course, that won't stop her from wanting a rabbit again. She's had a couple of rabbits in the past and one that died just before we sold our house. It's looking like we're going to try for showing a goat and, of course, the horse show which is what led us down that path to begin with! Mrs. Stable had graciously offered to let Alison show Princess and to help her learn to work with her. Not sure if Michael is going to take part yet or not. He was interested in the rabbits but now that's out, so he thought maybe chickens. I don't think that's going to work out though. You have to get 50 baby chickens! If we had our own place, we'd let him give it a try.

Well, Michael's knives are officially for sale on consignment in a local little antique/junk store in the local town. He got his display all made and had me bring him up there last night while Alison was in dance class. She put better prices on them than he was expecting. She said she could always go down but not up on price so they'll see how they go. If they sell too fast, they aren't asking enough...if they sell too slow, they'll go down. His biggest problem is finding knives to use the blades from. He re-crafts the handles with either hand-carved wood handles or deer antlers.

It's so beautiful and you see so much wildlife out here. We see these two bucks all the time.

Tonight, Michael came running up with his catch... a porcupine. He's a cute little guy. We let him free after getting a good look at him.

Jeff was working out of town today. He is not going to be home until late tonight so the kids and I went into the local little town and got ice cream and picked up a pizza for dinner. "Tow-Mater" was parked at the Exxon! I see "Tow-Mater" a lot driving around in the area and it always makes me smile. I keep saying I want a picture of him and I finally got it tonight. If you haven't seen the movie "Cars" this might not mean anything to you.

This afghan is from the Leisure Arts Leaflet 2628. For some reason, mine doesn't look near as beautiful as the one in the picture in the book! LOL

 

 

It's been rainy around here for the past several days. We saw this rainbow this evening. The picture really doesn't do it justice. All the colors were very vivid.

The kids wanted us to go over to the game room here at the RV park with them tonight so we all went over and played the Wii. We bowled, played tennis, and boxing. I sat out for the golf and worked on my crochet baby blanket. I am on my LAST round of that blanket! I am going to be very happy to be done with that blanket. It has never taken me this long to complete something of this small size. I'm ready to move onto something else! Pictures of that will be coming soon and that will be a happy completion for me!

Jeff finally drove the truck today for the first time since he got his permit. He made the short 30 minutes drive into town.

Alison has been struggling with losing some stubborn baby teeth for the past two nights. She had permanent teeth growing in over the baby teeth. Those things were very, very stubborn to come out. She got one out last night and tonight she struggled with one for hours and came out with tears in her eyes when she finally got it out. I'm glad she finally got them out. I've been thinking we are going to have to go have them pulled at the dentist. Unfortunately she has at least 2 more to go on the other side!

While I was blending up my dip this afternoon, I realized that I have been making this since I was a kid. I remember when my mama made it for me. I came home from school one day my mother had read and article about this healthy alternative to other fattening dips and decided to experiment on me. Well, I loved it and have been making it ever since then. It's one of those things that sounds gross but I just have people taste it without knowing what it is and they love it. I still eat it with potato chips, which isn't so good for you but you could use it as a vegetable dip too.


Cottage Cheese Dip

Dump your cottage cheese in the blender and a little bit of milk and blend it up until its creamy and smooth. Add garlic powder and onion salt to taste. Yum!

My mother was always clipping...clipping coupons, clipping recipes, and I remember her clipping out "Hints for Heloise" tips. Well, I decided to do a search for Hints for Heloise and discovered it still exists! What? She must be ancient! Well, I discovered the original Heloise passes away in 1977 and the column is continued by her daughter. How special ~ the legacy lives on!

We went to put out salt blocks and feed the horses that are kept at a neighboring ranch Saturday night. I've been wanting to get a picture of this beautiful horse. He's was a stallion for many years and he is HUGE horse. I think he's so pretty...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Spirit~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alison is sad because the "babies" are getting so big. This is Jasper, her baby...


Quite a change of subject here but here's a shot of Alison in her dance class tonight. Alison is one of the youngest girls in the class. There is only one other girl younger than her. The rest of these girls are all 16 & 17 years old.

An email with this poem in it has appeared in my email inbox from several different people. I like it a lot and don't mind reading it again so I thought I would share it here with you all.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

I feel sad tonight after seeing a picture of my mother that was taken on her 81st brithday last year. She looked happy in that picture. She was passed less than a month after that picture was taken. I try not to think of those last months and days as much as I can.

Cooking and sitting here by myself today. Alison is at the river where she met up with some kids she had met at the river back in May. They are back camping at the state park again. It's beautiful and quiet here during the week except for a few families here and there. Michael is unloading hay at the stables yesterday and today. It's a big job when that hay comes in.

Not working today but Alison and I went down to the stables this morning for about an hour or so. We took horses out of the pin one at a time and let them munch down on the high, green grass growing up around the place. What a waste to mow that beautiful green grass when one of God's creatures could mow it for you! Anyway, I came back home because I wanted to have time to get some dinner cooked tonight. I didn't work yesterday but I went to the stables yesterday to borrow the washing machine so I helped with the two big rides that went out late yesterday afternoon. We got home late and it was just too late to cook so we scrounged around for food and ate Ramon Noodles and Frito Pie. I hate doing that. I really feel better about myself when I have meals for my family. I can't do everything though. We will have dinner tonight though...I'm cooking the bacon for the Spaghetti and Tomatoes right now.

An amazing thing happened this week...I actually had time to crochet a little bit here and there! I made this scarf!


It's such a novel and cute idea! When I saw this pattern, I immediately thought of the ugly green colored yarn that I picked up at the local thrift store for 25 cents. You know...some of that ancient yarn in some hideous color that a grandma had been hanging onto forever. Well, I can't even resist that, and sure enough this was the perfect color for this project.

Here's a neat site Craft Freely I found for free crochet patterns and all kinds of other craft patterns as well.

Check out this neat site. You can find these patterns and many other projects here




Cut Out + Keep

I'm adding these to my link side-bar so I can go back and keep checking for new content on these.

I've also added a few new blogs to my blog list. I like to find crochet blogs that stay updated and I took a few off that hadn't updated in almost a year!
CAP's Crochet
Deb's Crafts
Big Girl Blog

Well, the kids are doing good getting their school work done this week. Even Michael impressed me yesterday and got up and got busy getting his work done. Of course, he wanted to go over to Grandma Bev's to work on some of his projects and he knew school work would need to be in order before he could go. I picked him up after Alison's dance was over last night. I've got to get my camera up there to get some pictures. He's been busy. He had made a table out of pallet wood. He has now found out that you can get free pallets at the feed store. He is an endless fountain of creativity.

The kids went swimming tonight at the river and Alison got attacked by a deer! There is a sweet little deer that we call the "pet deer" that runs around here. You can usually walk up and pet her. Well, today she let Alison pet her and then all of a sudden she raised up on her back legs at Alison. She had her hooves on Alison's shoulders... Alison pushed her back and she was still up on her hind legs. The other kids were staring in shock. Well, I'm just glad she didn't get hurt. That deer could certainly hurt you if she wanted to but at least she didn't kick at Alison.

There is some type of aggressive what we thought were "bees" which turned out to be yellow jackets around here. Today, Alison came out of her room screaming and saying she was being attacked by a bee. Michael told her to calm down because it was just a bee and they don't attack you...until he started yelling that the little guy was attacking him and trying to sting him! We got him though. Then, later this afternoon I was sitting on the couch in the dance studio calmly waiting for Alison to get out of dance when I felt something sting me on my back shoulder...Ouch! Then, this same evening Alison and I were sitting outside while she was working on her scrapbook and some of them starting buzzing wildly around us and chasing Michael. Jeff found that they were living in a hole in the ground near where we were sitting. We looked them up on the internet and it seems like they are yellow jackets and that will sting repeatedly. I haven't been stung by a bees in years! Those things are agressive, mean and bound and determined to sting you!

Laundry is always a big chore for me to keep up with. I'm discouraged after doing my first load of laundry here at the RV park today. I had to pay to run my load of laundry through the dryer here two times and they still weren't dry tonight. I refused to put another $1.00 in that machine so my clothes are laid out on the picnic table to finish drying. Laundry has just become a bigger chore ~ sigh.

We went to town early this morning in order to be back in time for Alison to make it to the ballet "Pointe Shoe Party" She rode with one of the dance mom's to the party.

Today was a "first" since we've moved into the RV since February. I slow-cooked a pot roast in the crock pot with potatoes and carrots and made a big pot of fluffly, creamy mashed potatoes to go with it. This is my favorite meal! I have not been able to find roasts at the stores we shop in here! It's something I was missing so I bought two roasts when we were in Houston and brought them back in an ice chest!

We thought Jeff would be going to North Dakota this week but it looks like he will be around here this week after all!

I stumbled across this great resource for free online courses of all types for high-schoolers

Hoagies' Gifted: (Free) Online High School Courses

This resource was left by a reader...lots of help here.

BJ Pinchbeck Relaunches Homework Helper Site

We're all moved and settled down in our new temporary home this evening. We have moved back to the RV Park that we first stayed in when we came to this area. Ah, its always nice to have a change of scenery. Plus, it helps to get things cleaned up an organized ...well, its one way to do it anyway. I think we were getting a little too settled in over there in the park. We took a few people by surprise when we left. A few people were gonna try to catch us before we left to talk us into staying. Well, it's nice to know some people appreciated us because I was feeling really bad that we weren't getting as many hours in and we were gone so much working. Apparently, they were thinking of keeping the visitor's center open more days if I was going to be there to work as volunteer. That is confusing to me because I offered to work Thursday and Friday of this week and the manager gave the paid employee the preference to work instead. Really though, I feel it was time to go but going back is a possibility if we needed to. We already see at least one familiar face here that was here at this RV park when we were here last time. They had left and already come back again. I expect to see at least a few others that will be coming back in the fall.

Tomorrow is a stable day so I'm looking forward to seeing those horses tomorrow.

I may be on my own next week while Jeff makes a trip to North Dakota with Mr. Stable. We'll see...never quite sure what's happening day to day.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Alison is really loving her ballet classes. She comes out talking excitedly most every time. She's really have to work hard to change some training that has been ingrained into her brain over the past 6 years. They teach a different method here and some things are a bit different. They are having a "pointe shoe party" on Sunday. That's going to be great for Alison to get to know a few of the girls a little more in a more relaxed setting.

Jeff came home a bit early today and announced he got the day off tomorrow for us to move so we went over to the RV park today and picked out our site this evening. We're moving tomorrow! I went and said "good-bye" to a few people today. At the office, they wanted to know if they could call Michael to work on days someone called in sick or they were busy. I think he could easily get a job lined up next summer working at the park.

I'm looking forward to getting on with a new season of life now that our park hosting experience is over...

Spent the day getting school work done and washing clothes. My friend, Becky, called to say she needed Michael to help her with something. She came and picked him up and he helped her finish up some shelters for her dogs she was trying to build for her dogs. He came home $30 richer! We all worked around the campsite tonight trying to get things cleaned up and tents taken down to get ready for our move. We hope to get some time to move the RV in the next week. I'm going to miss the free ice and washing machines!

I made this coozie at some point this summer. This was my attempt at experimenting on making something a little "western" looking to sell in the gift shop at the stables. It's okay but nothing I'm too excited about.

Jeff's parents came for their visit but we didn't do very much visiting at all but his parents were happy to get away for a quiet weekend in this beautiful place. Michael got to spend some time alone with his grandparents for once though which is a good thing. He went into town with them a couple of times while they were here and got spoiled with some treats he loves...two big bags of beef jerky and several cans of Slim Jim's. Alison was busy working so she couldn't leave to go with them.

Sunday was the busiest day I have seen since I have been working at the stables so his parents really got to see what we've been doing in a big dose! We had 62 riders that day! The place was hectic. Alison & Jeff rode literally all day long from 9 am until the last ride went out at 6 pm. I was so busy with helping load rides and the phone was ringing or I had people driving up all day trying to get in. I had to do some pretty intricate scheduling trying to get people in and not mess up because we can only take a certain number of children per ride and a certain number of adults with a child riding double per ride. There were two rides that had kids on Hildago that absolutely refused to do what was necessary to make him walk faster no matter how many times you told them. Between that and people showing up a few minutes late or scared people or people talking or people in no particular hurry or people that want to take pictures, we ended up getting behind schedule as the day wore on. At least the day went fast though and we're glad to see a good day to close out the season. Too bad there weren't more of them this summer! Those horses are so awesome...I love and respect those animals so much!

We went to our first 4-H meeting last night. Alison wants to show Princess so we're doing what we need to do to make that happen for her. Michael has been busy reading over his paperwork today to decide if he's going to participate. The kid should be a lawyer...he didn't want to agree to anything without reading it and he had all kinds of questions. Michael will probably enter a rabbit and Alison will most likely enter a rabbit as well but only after we find out whether the animals are sold for meat or not. The leader said that in this particular show you get your animal back so if that's the case I believe we may enter more venues.

Here's a hat I made. Nothing special but I made it when we made that trip to Houston last week.

Jeff's parents are coming for a visit tomorrow. We'll be working at the stables tomorrow. (Yay! We haven't seen the horses in a week!) Today I've been busy cleaning the RV and cooking up some stuff for them to eat. I'm made tuna fish salad and pasta salad to bring for lunch tomorrow. Tomorrow evening we'll have hamburgers and I made the potato salad today. Sunday, we'll have pizza for lunch and I bought one of those Stouffer Lasagne for dinner Sunday night to make it easy on me. They will be staying in the cabin at the stables so we're going to bring all the food to the refrigerator over there this evening along with some coffee and stuff for them. Jeff didn't have to work today so we're about to get outside and clean out the truck and the campsite. It's time to start getting ready to leave this place. I've been feeling the time is nearing and my feelings were confirmed this morning when we went our and found out Gator missing. The lead ranger's last day was two days ago and the guy doing his job in the interim is not one of my favorite's. Sorta of an arrogant chip on his shoulder kind of guy. These are just my observations. Actually, I've gotten the idea that he might be part of the reason the lead ranger left to begin with but I don't know. Anyway, he apparently came and took the Gator to give to another park host because his was broken down. No problem at all really. The man who has it came by a little later to explain that he had it and was a little embarassed that he had to do so. He wasn't comfortable with the fact that the ranger told him he took it without saying anything to us. I was grateful that he told me because we were about to head to the office and find out where it was because we had personal belongings in there. Jeff had his spot-light and several other flashlights in there. I didn't want someone to think they belonged to the park and for them to disappear the way things are apt to do around here. So anyway....it really wasn't a problem for him to take it since we won't really be around much this weekend but letting us know would've been considerate. However, Jeff was planning on getting some hours in this afternoon since he wasn't working. Guess that's not an option now. The impossibility of my being able to get these volunteer park hours in without Jeff helping me and me trying to do school, dance, etc. is becoming more and more apparent. I told them I couldn't work the weekend hours at the Visitor's Center but I could work Thursdays and Fridays with the new visitor's Center hours but the paid worker is wanting to work Thursdays and Fridays so I don't even know if I'll be doing that anymore. I'm simply not working the weekends as a volunteer with Jeff being gone working during the week now. It's definately time to go so....a phase is ending and a new phase is beginning for us! It sure was a great experience here doing this at the park though! I'm certainly grateful for the time we've been able to spend here!

Here are some pictures of some carvings Michael did a while back but I'm just now getting pictures of them. I'm not sure what these are exactly but he did an incredibly detailed job carving these.

The kids and I started our school year yesterday. It will feel good to get back into the groove and routine of school work. Biology, Texas History, Total Language Arts which includes literature, grammar, spelling, writing, and Pre-Algebra plus electives are the line up this year. We are starting the year off easy by reading "My Side of the Mountain" and doing a book study on it. I wanted to start off with a good, fun book to get them into it. We haven't officially started the Math or writing program yet because I just ordered the writing curriculum today and we have to install the Math program on their computers.

I worked 1/2 day in the visitor's center today. It is deserted here in the park so no one really came in the store. We're going to have to leave the park very soon. If Jeff is going to be gone this much, I can't handle getting all the volunteer hours myself while trying to get the homeschooling done and running Alison to and from dance. We barely got our hours last much. As a matter of fact, I don't think we would have made it if Michael wouldn't have worked at the fee booth by himself so much. Well, the fee booth isn't open anymore so that's out and the visitor's center will only be open on weekends. We'll have to start planning our exit after Labor Day weekend I guess.

The kids have gone to swim at the river this evening. They practically have the whole place to themselves....it's amazing.

I have another wonderful recipe to share. I had forgotten about this recipe. I should've been making this to take in our lunches at the stables. This was something my mama used to make and my family loves it! That raw broccoli is so good for you too!

Marinated Broccoli

2 cups fresh broccoli florets
2 TBSP red bell pepper, minced
3 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP Red Wine Vinegar
2 TBSP Water
1 TBSP Lemon Juice
1 Large close garlic, minced
1 Tsp salt
1/8 Tsp pepper

Mix oil with vinegar, water, lemon juice, garlic and seasonings. In a large bowl, toss mixture with broccoli. Marinate all day or overnight. (Turn & shake the jar when you think about it)