Crochet Me Crazy

I teared up a bit while looking through the box of things I received from my mother's personal belongings. I can't believe it's almost been a year next month since my mother passed. I really miss the days of talking to her. I don't have anyone to talk to now, really. My mom always would have enjoyed hearing about what was going on with us.

Well, onto day to day life....Here's another new recipe I tried last week. Everyone really liked this and I was surprised at how good it tasted because it really doesn't have any spices in it. I did throw a piece of fat-back in there which probably added to the flavor.

Cabbage and Sausage Soup

1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
1 head of cabbage
32 oz of beef broth (I used 2 cans and then added 1 beef bullion cube)
4 sliced carrots (I used baby carrots, whole)
1 round white onion (I used sweet onion)
1 package of smoked sausage
Water, as needed

In large pot, combine all ingredients and bring to simmer. Cook until carrots and potatoes are just fork tender.

I'm looking forward to making some some soups and simmering them on the stove during the day once the weather gets colder. It will be so nice to be able to cook in the RV and appreciate the fact that its warming up my RV! It will serve a dual purpose.

No rides at the stable today at all. We ended our day early today. I was mainly up there to play today. We got the bot fly eggs removed off of two horses. They are hard to get off and take a little while to work them out. Alison rode Wishbone. He's a thoroughbread who's fairly new and doesn't quite fit in with the herd yet. He's low man on the totem pole. He was stalled before they got him so he's a little different and has a cribbing habit. He's a great horse though. He would've been so good on the trail but he limps on the rocks and they think he's lame and it was hidden from them when they bought him at an auction. He seemed to ride well on the dirt for Alison today. He's one of her top 3 favorite horses at the stables.

As a big believer in Vitamin C, I found this video very interesting. I use it aggressively and immediately at the first sign of sickness. Between Vitamin C and Olive Leaf/Oregano Oil, no one in my family has been to a doctor in years. By day two of feeling "icky", we always see improvement. Well, congratulations to this family for standing up to the doctors and saving their loved-ones life.

Living Proof: Vitamin C - Miracle Cure? - 60 Minutes - Video - 3 News: "Living Proof: Vitamin C - Miracle Cure? - Video"

I finished this dance shrug for Alison just in time for the cold snap that is coming through tonight. I made this one up myself. I used the ribbed stitch so that it would stretch. I may make her another one. The sleeves were supposed to be longer but it's good this way too. Try one...it's just a rectangle and then sew up the sleeves!






Alison has been having fun editing pictures a lot recently. She changes them up and and adds the words...

My sister brought me some sausage, fish, and a ham chunk when she was visiting. Thank you, Carol. (Thanks to Nancy, too, for the Tom's toothpaste and clothes for Alison -- she's still working on trying those on, by the way) I saw the ham has a split in it and would end up freezer burned so I thawed it and chopped up the entire thing into pieces. I made some smaller bags to use in scrambled eggs and some bags with 2 cup servings to use in recipes. I will easily get several meals out of that. I have never bought one before but this will help me to decide if it will be worth it to spend the money on this to have easy meals. Now, I have to start searching for more recipes which use ham. I have found one to add to my meal plan to try so far...can't remember what it is but I have it somewhere! Also, the oneroastvegetable.com website that I posted earlier has a recipe for "freezer quiche" which uses ham. I'll have to try that for one of my late home nights after dance class.

We made the dreaded trip to our storage unit this evening. I had to bring the boxes of my mother's stuff over so I could stop moving them all over the RV so we can get around. I can't take it anymore so I brought back 4 boxes of yarn and 3 of the super giant ziploc bags of yarn! I have been frustrated not having it. It turns out I have about 8 more boxes of yarn in storage. I wanted to get more but we at least moved it so that I can get to it in the storage now. What did I do with all this yarn you ask? Well, I moved all the blankets that were under my bed....Now, I'm back in business! LOL



The three big zip-loc bags are under the RV storage but at least I can see what's in the bags at a glance. Yay! Most of this is just my Caron Simply Soft which is one of my favorite yarns. I'm switching to I Love This Yarn brand from Hobby Lobby now though because Simply Soft went up in price. They are going to lose a lot of business from me over that move as you can see. This is not even half of my yarn in this picture.

I will finish the project that I have started before I delve into this yarn. But on second thought, I have started a baby dress with some scratchy, ugly old yarn from the thrift store simply because it was all I had. I'm thinking of ripping it out and starting over with some of this yarn. It will be a much prettier product if I use some of this. I'm also working on a dance shrug for Alison.

Alison didn't get to work with Princess today but she spent time with her show goat instead. He's getting a little less wild although he's still quite skittish.

FEAR - False Evidence Appearing Real

Just listened to this interview about self-discipline....
http://oneroastvegetable.com/onegoodidea.fm.htm

I thought it was very good. This interview is done by Shelley at oneroastvegetable.com. I have been enjoying her free freezer classes so much, I should pass on the information here for anyone else who might enjoy these lessons. She has just a great personality and way about her during her classes. A lot of the information I already knew so far but they just got started. It's going to help me get motivated and help me with meal planning so I can reduce my grocery trips! Now for me that's a big deal since grocery shopping is a 30 minute drive and uses up the one day off my husband has. I want to get my freezer moved over here to the RV so I will have the space. Anyway, check it out here: Fresh From the Freezer � Lessons

When the kids were done with their school today, we went up to the stables for Alison to work with Princess. We spent a few hours there and went straight to dance from the stables. This week is visitor's week at dance so there were people there watching today.

A couple of pictures I took today....


I think this is a sweet picture of Alison and Princess....

I fell down the stairs of the RV on Friday and hit my lower back on the bottom stair. My back has been hurting me ever since. It doesn't hurt me constantly but its hurting me right now when I laid down in bed and it was hurting me this morning when I was standing for a long time.

We had visitor's this weekend for a quick visit. Two of my sister's were here for the final drawing for my mother's belongings. We drew for who will get my mother's piano. They each drove in Friday night. We met them at the cabin they were staying in and had dinner with them after dropping Alison and Michael off at a youth group activity. We had to go to Alison's 4-H Clinic on Saturday morning to find out what exactly is expected of her to do with Princess when she shows her. That was basically the extent of the visit. They headed back home right after that. Jeff worked at the stables all day and Alison and I went up there and finished the day out at noon. We had two big rides in the afternoon and a 5:00 ride. We got home late after dark because we hung around a little while after the horses were unsaddled. Alison was working with Princess, feeding her goat and Jeff was trying to work with Stormy (one of the horses) because she's been giving Alison a hard time when she tries to get Princess from the field. It was almost dark when we fed. Jeff took my car to get gas and I drove the truck home to scrounge up something quick for us to eat.

Alison and Michael had a big time Friday night at the Corn Maze. They went with the Baptist Church youth group. They didn't get home until after midnight and we had to pick them up. The kids like going to the youth group and want to start going on Wednesday nights. I'm not sure we can manage it every week. It's a curvy-dark road and I don't see very good driving at night. Jeff dropped them off and picked them up last week. It's a town over..about 15 miles from us. A very small group of about 10-15 kids.

Well, tomorrow's the end of another week....the weeks fly by so fast!

I have been crocheting for at least 5 years now almost daily and have made hundreds of slippers but I found myself astonished at the brilliance of the people that come up with these patterns! It's a simple easy to follow pattern but I didn't really understand how it was going to come together to make what was supposed to be a slipper. I just continued doing what the pattern stated and lo, and behold -- it is a slipper!! Wow, no sewing or seams on this one. This is crocheted all in once piece. Amazing pattern design! Apparently this slipper has been around for awhile. I just had never found it until now. This is why I love to crochet so much. I'm still learning.

I got the pattern from this Annie Potter book:



They look kinda goofy when they aren't on your foot.

Once you get them on, they look totally different.



I made this bootie style pair from the same book. It uses the same technique. It looks especially goofy when its not on your foot but when you put it on, it's quite cute I think!



I almost didn't make these because they are all made with single crochet which I hate but they work up very quickly. I'm glad I decided to try it after all.

The kids were invited to youth service tonight with a girl from Alison's dance. We took them over there to go to that. They both had a good time at that and came home all hyper! They are invited to go with the same youth group to the corn maze in Hondo Friday night. I told them they couldn't go because some of my sister's are coming to town. They had such a good time tonight...they are begging to go to that on Friday now. Jeff says we should go ahead and let them go...we'll see.

Jeff has the day off again today. Not good news since he was off Friday, yesterday and now again today. Things are slow. He came home today and said he was going to see if Bev needed him. She didn't so it's looking like Jeff is going to have to start asking around to find some other work. We can't afford for him not to work. He's heading up to the storage unit to caulk the unit. He has an arrangement with the owner for a free months rent on our unit for every one he caulks. I'm going to have to watch Jeff because I know he's starting to worry and if he starts getting depressed, it will be hard for him to motivate himself. Time for me to be strong. He did have a recruiter call him and ask him for an updated resume.

I have time to crochet for the hour and a half that Alison is in dance 3 times a week.

This is a little dish grabber/mitt.




Free pattern for the hat is here: Two Thirty Two Hat scarf pattern added - Crochetville

Today was the day we had to take the goat Alison is showing up to the show barn and have him validated and tagged, etc. Poor little guy...we didn't know that tipping his horns and tagging him would be so bad. We're new to all this stock show stuff. We went down there and filled out our paper work and they gave us our tags and then we stood around like idiots for awhile because we didn't know anybody or who was supposed to tag the goat for us. Well, we saw the county agent...about the only one we know...and he and 2 other guys came over and they pulled the goat out of the pin and "tipped" his horns and tagged him before we knew it. It was less than 5 minutes. They disappeared rather quickly after that and the goat's horns started spurting blood out everwhere! Luckily, one guy stayed back long enough to tell us to pack some dirt on the end of his horns to stop the bleeding when we got home. We're left standing there with this goat shooting blood everywhere. We weren't going to wait till we got home so I'm holding the end of his horns to try to stop it from shooting out everywhere while we're trying to get some dirt to put on it. We stood with him and got it stopped. We were kinda shocked and I guess kinda stupid that we didn't know that would happen. I thought their horns would be kinda like clipping fingernails. None of us had any idea that would be like that. Well, I guess we're getting our education. I'm hoping the trauma for this goat is over now. Alison started feeding him today to start fattening him up and he's calmed down a little bit already. They definately love that show goat food. There were some very pretty goats up there at the barn today. This will be a good experience for Alison. I hope nothing happens to that goat! Alison has spent $90 so far on the goat and we haven't paid a dime of it. She's paying for this herself.

We had a surprise Friday when Jeff came back home with the day off. He got a few things taken care of he needed to do while he was off. Today was a day with the horses. We were starving after the day was done and I hadn't planned a meal so we did a rare thing and we went out to eat. We went to the Lodge to eat which we hadn't tried before. We all ordered the burgers since the everything else was pricier than we wanted to spend. It was good and we left with our tummies full. Turns out two of Alison's dance class-mates work in that restaurant and one of them was our waitress.

Michael made a few new knives today but I haven't taken pictures...in the meantime, here are some other recent ones.

She had her first ever "Pas de Deux" ballet lessons. This is what partner dancing is called in ballet terms. It was fun and the girls learned a lot during this class



So many times I have tried to upload videos to my blog and it has never worked. I finally decided to really figure out what the problem is. I needed to convert the files to "avi" which is what I've done here. I hope it works!
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Maggie Weldon: Lantern Potholder - Free Crochet Pattern

Pop on over to the free crochet pattern today. This is a really neat pattern. I'm printing this one!

We had an appointment to get the little goat Alison is going to try to show castrated today. Alison got up and went to the stable with her daddy this morning to help him catch the little guy. They had a hard time catching him. They came home all hot and sweaty and tired. This particular goat is not one of the tamed ones. Anyway, they got it done and Jeff too him to the vet. Alison spent $80 dollars on the little guy. They say the kids make about $600 showing a goat. I hope she get does or at least gets the return on her money. She's spending her own money on this.

I really can't wait for the day that we have our own land and our own animals. We've had most kind of animal you can have as city folks from ducks, to rabbits, to rats, cats, dogs....once we have our land, we can expand our horizons. We'll definately have at least two horses, chickens and rabbits to start with.

Alison had two sisters from her dance class over today so I've been hearing the sounds of girls giggling all day. They played ping-pong and the Wii over at the game room. Alison is happy to have a couple of friends. They are nice girls.

Well, the cupcake purse inspired me so I started on the cupcake water bottle holder last night and finished it up today. Here is the end result.


I think I could use the same basic concept and come up with a hat.

This was a quick and easy project. I found several skeins of yarn at the thrift store last week and this is what I used to make this cute little purse. I'm thinking I could make a bigger version of this or you could do a smaller, taller one as a water bottle holder. I may experiment with that idea.



I found the free pattern for this cute little purse over at "Crochetville". Here is the Link

I found this recipe site and I love it!

Just A Pinch Recipe Club�

I just spent time here and saved a whole bunch of recipes that sounded great and even easy to make. My taste buds are getting bored. I'm going to have to overcome my fear of lighting the pilot on my stove in the RV. I tried it last week on my own and chickened out before I got it lit. I've only used the oven to make biscuits when Jeff has been here to light the pilot for me the whole time we've been in the RV. I miss cooking in the oven. Stove-top skillet dishes are getting boring. Anyway, just wanted to share!

Saturday was a steady day working at the stables. Michael came down to us at the horses with blood gushing out of his head. He had a knife he was working on in a vice and hit his head on the blade and put a little puncture wound in his scalp. He's fine though. I'm just thankful he didn't put an eye out.


Yesterday was a long day. We worked rides at the stables part of the day. Got finished up around 1:30. Then, Jeff took the kids to a 4-H event. They were picking up trash...boy, my kids have lots of experience with that! Anyway, I came home to put up laundry and straighten up the RV so we would have a place to set our groceries bags when we get back from the store. Next, we drove the 30 miles into town to buy groceries for the week. We got back pretty late last night and got groceries put away and went to bed.


Here's a few pictures of some of Michael's knives....

I got creative today. I've been wanting to try my hand at making a soda can crochet hat. I found the pattern online HERE
It was fun. I'll try a few with some different types of can and colors. It wasn't too fun cutting the cans and you have to be careful that you don't cut yourself! The weather was so pretty today so I sat outside at the pic-nic table and did this.







Almost finished...but not quite! Alison said, do you really want me to try on a hat with beer cans on it?



Finally finished!



No, we didn't drink the beer that was in these cans but there is no shortage of beer cans where I live! There are aluminum can recycling recepticles everywhere in the RV park. I sent Michael to round me some matching cans up and this is what he came back with. I'm wondering if I could sell these around here.

Today, the state park called to ask Michael to work at the gate in the park tomorrow. They are expecting a big crowd coming in this weekend. All the extra summer help is gone. There's a chance he could end up working the booth by himself out there. So anyway, I'll drop him off there tomorrow afternoon and he'll be working until 8 or 9 o'clock tomorrow night. They asked for him on Sunday and Monday too but I'm not sure if he's going to work those days.

I came across this link for these paper decorations I thought were nice.
zakka life: Craft: Kirigami Fall Decorations

They might be something Alison could add to her card making. She's been having fun creating her homemade cards again. She does such a nice job!



I thought it was rather amusing when I looked around me last night.....

Alison was working on her cards in the middle of the floor....



Michael was in the room working on his knive collection....



Jeff was at the computer....



and we were all within 6 feet of each other! Lots of activity going on in this little space!

Blog Award ~

Well, this is new to me but I'm going to give it a shot and see how it goes! My friend and fellow blogger, homeschooler and crocheter, Lily, gave me a blog award over at Never Fading Wood so you can stop over at her blog and say "hello!" I don't consider myself a very good blogger. This whole endeavor started out as a basic record keeping spot for all my crochet projects. One thing I guess I have done a good job at is that I kept it up all these years! Geez, I think I've been blogging since 2005! Now I'm realizing I need to memorial my blog in book format which you can now do! I wish I would've thought of doing that sooner because now it is going to cost me a fortune to have this many posts put in a book!


Now for the criteria:
To accept the award you must link back and thank the person who gave you the Life is Good award and answer the 10 questions and pass it along to 6 other blogs :)

1. If you blog anonymously are you happy doing it that way; if you are not anonymous do you wish you had started out anonymously so you could be anonymous now?

I think blogging anonymously is a great idea and I think it would have been a good decision to do it that way. I could really be more honest and open about posts and go into much more detail. Even though I have been quite open in my blog, I have to say I skim over many details that I'd rather not share with the world.

2.Describe one incident that shows your inner stubborn side.

I cannot describe a particular incident but I would have to agree that I have a stubborn side especially concerning things I believe in strongly. I'm very open minded and I give people the benefit of the doubt but once I've made my decision about something and believe it to be true and right, its pretty much useless to try to change my mind.

3.What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror?

I wonder why people always tell me I look younger than I am....I don't really see it myself, and yes, I would like to lose 10-15 pounds but there's nothing unusual about that!

4. What is your favorite summer cold drink?
Ice Cold Water

5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do?
Crochet, Read, spend time on the computer

6.Is there something you still want to accomplish in your life? What is it?

The goal for me is to raise my kids to adulthood as happy, healthy, well-adjusted human beings who love and serve the Lord. Also, I always say I want to see the Grand Canyon before I die too.

7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever , the shy person, or always ditching?

I was always pretty shy but I was raised in a small town where I knew everyone so that helped. I was never particularly out-going and I'm still not. In high school, I had some rebellious years and I did my share of skipping school.

8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment of your life what would you see? Without a doubt, it would be the days and hours and then finally the moment of my mother's death less than a year ago. I was there to witness the entire process and it is something I feel incapable of expressing in words what that was like.

9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events?

I tend to be a very transparent and honest person so its not difficult for me to share things that others might be uncomfortable in sharing.

10. If you had the choice to sit down and read or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?

It would depend on the day. Some days I might rather read a book and another I might feel like talking.

To pass this award on, I wanted to recognize blogs that, in my mind, epitomize "Life is Good", as the award is named:
Folk-n-Fancy
Attic24
Timeless Creations
My Recycled Bags

My family seems to really like this recipe. I can eat it but its not my favorite. I make it anyway because its so easy and they all like it so much.

4-5 boneless chicken breasts
1 can of black beans
1 can of corn
1 15 oz jar of salsa
1 8 oz package of cream cheese

Take frozen chicken breast and put in crock pot. Add drained black beans, salsa and drained corn. Keep in crock on High 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked. Add 1 package of cream cheese (just throw it on top) and let sit for about 1/2 hour until softened.

Our situation have really been wearing on me the past little while. I know its not the right way to be thinking so I am trying to work through my negativity. I have a strong desire to "stretch out" a little bit. So many things I'd like to do or work on but just aren't possible right now. It's almost been 8 months that we have been living in the RV. I think I can't live in this RV forever..or can I? I think of those people that were at the first RV park we were in. Those people and some with families will. What about the holocaust families that lived in tighter spaces than this? Can we ever afford land here? If not, why are we here? I don't want to put more pressure on Jeff than he already has so I'm going to work on keeping my complaining to a minimum and asking God to help me get myself straightened out.

Phillipians 4:11
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Proverbs 15:15
All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.

Christmas is fast approaching. Alison wanted to know if we would have a Christmas this year. I said yes, we are having Christmas one way or another. Jeff has started giving me money here and there to tuck away for Christmas presents for the kids and I've got some of my own money stashed away I saved from working this summer. I guess we'll have to have a tree outside....put the presents in storage and haul them over in the morning. Stockings hanging from the RV slide? Anyway, I guess I'll figure something out. It will be a Christmas to remember for sure!

Yesterday, we were supposed to go work with Princess with Mrs. Stable in the round pen but something came up and she had to go somewhere. We went over yesterday evening and caught Princess and Alison just walked around practicing with Princess walking and stopping with her and backing up. Princess did good. Sure love that beautiful horse...she's so smart and sweet.






Last night we went back to the park and picked up our fire wood that we had left there. Then, when I was washing dishes last night the tank filled up. I told Jeff I needed the tank drained so he went out to pull the plug. He came back in with a disappointed look on his face and said not to run the water for a little while. The handle has been broken and it had gotten pushed up inside too far and he couldn't pull it. He was going to have to crawl under there take the underside of the RV apart and fix it. I tried to talk him into waiting until this morning and telling them he'd be in a little late but he said "no". He crawled under there with his flashlight and fixed that last night in the dark for a few hours. Thank goodness, Mr. Skunk didn't come for a visit while he was under there! That little guy will sometimes walk right into our campsite while we are sitting there and we have to scare him away with flashlights.

We have been considering starting Driver's Ed with Michael. I've been researching the online programs but was concerned about having the time to do the required practice driving time. Michael hasn't been on of those kids that is raring to get his license. He's only recently showed a slight interest since we've been here. Driving out here is much less intimidating than Houston for sure! Jeff is going to need to do a lot of the actual driving instruction with him...especially the "at night" and "city driving" with Michael because I am too big of a nervous wreck to do it! I think we may just put it off for a bit until we have more flexible time schedules. I called the DPS office today and found out that its actually easier to get your license if you take Adult Driver's Education. You don't even have to do the permit period where you drive for 6 months with a licensed driver over 18. Of course, we would still need to do that part with him. He could still pay a small fee to get a provisional license to practice with before he goes in for his driving test. I'm going to discuss it with him tonight.

I am really itching to crocheting something...I just don't know what. Crocheting is very therapeutic and relaxing for me. My problem is that I don't have my yarn accessible to me. I used to go to my yarn closet basically pick out what I was going to make based on what yarn I had and how much. I'm working on some baby shoes but once I'm done with those...hmmm.....We need to make a trip to the storage unit so I can see what I've got. I think I'm about to clean out the underside of my bed and fill it with yarn! I guess I have a great stash busting opportunity here! Bring only the yarns I want to use up and I'll have no choice in the matter!

Tonight, Jeff was able to take Alison to her dance class and to her 4-H meeting so I am cooking and having dinner ready when they get home tonight. It may be after 8:00 when they get home and they should be starving. I'm making soup and sandwiches....Potato Soup and Steak 'N Cheese Sandwiches. Yum...wanted to get those made early in the week this week so my fresh sub-rolls I bought yesterday don't get stale.

I'm about ready to go get my small chest freezer out of storage and put it up under the front of the RV. I might be able to stretch my grocery trips out for 2 weeks instead of going every week if I had that. Then, we could use our day off as an an actual day off instead of spending the day running around. I'm going to talk to Jeff about it and see if he can make time to get it. We have a skirt that can be installed around the front underside of the RV that will protect it. He'd have to have some time to work on doing that.

Went to church this morning and then went over to the house of the family that we met through Alison's dance class. Nice people. They have a lovely log cabin that he built with his own hands after escaping from Chicago to move here! They lived in an Rv even smaller than ours for about a year while their house was being built and they have 3 kids!

We got off a little later than normal to get groceries so we didn't get back until 9pm or so by the time we got our errands done. Still not a very relaxing day for a day off and we're getting to bed a little late tonight. We bought Jeff some salt pills today at Wal-Mart. Tomorrow he'll be helping un-loading another truck of hay. He has always been a chronic sweater so he's been getting cramps when he does the hay trucks. He loses a lot of salt when he sweats so much, thus the cramping. Hopefully, this will help alleviate that problem.

I wish everyone a good week this week!

but I see it hasn't really been all that long. This week has seemed to drag by for me though. Jeff put in several really long days this week. I think there were about 3 nights that he got home 8:30-9:00 pm. He'll be real tired and it's pretty much time for bed. It's a big adjustment to get used to when we've always been a family that "eats together". Of course there are two nights a week that I'm not even home until almost 8:00 pm because of Alison's dance. I'm still trying to work out what the best way to have dinner is on those nights. I have such a hang-up that I am supposed to cook dinner. The kids like for me to cook dinner but its hard to do when you aren't here to cook it and who wants to be cooking that late and then have to wash all those dishes? Jeff got home early yesterday though and today was the day we did horse rides at the stables.

Today, Mrs. Stable showed Alison how to work with Princess in the round pen. I tried to take some pictures but I got my camera out and the batteries were dead! I've been slacking on taking pictures! Anyway, Alison has to remember to stay in the middle and not to talk to Princess like she's used to doing. Alison has to learn to assert herself a little more. She did good though. Hopefully, we'll be able to get with her some more this week to work with her some more. Tomorrow night is our 2nd 4-H meeting. Alison's going to have to leave dance early tomorrow to make her 4-H meeting.

Tomorrow, it looks like we have the day off so we're going to go to church tomorrow. We're going to visit the church of a family we met at Alison's dance school. They homeschool too and have 2 girls in Alison's dance class. They live in the town over but it's not too far and its a beautiful drive. The neat thing is that the pastor does taxidermy! I think Michael is going to walk to talk with him about that. That would be really neat if he could do some apprenticing with Michael....someone who does taxidermy and would be a good influence on Michael as well!

Well, time to get the kids from the game room and make them go to bed so we can get up tomorrow morning....ouch, and I just remember I need to make my grocery list for tomorrow too!