Crochet Me Crazy

ME! Yesterday was my birthday! Jeff went to the store with a list on Saturday night so we wouldn't have to go grocery shopping on Sunday. We used the day to move the RV to another camp site. The kids really did surprise me for the first time though. Jeff took Alison to the stables to feed her goat before we got started with the moving process. They stayed gone a long time...I couldn't believe they were taking so long. They finally got back and I asked what took them so long. They said Michael caught a skunk in his trap and Alison was working with Princess a little bit. I really was slightly annoyed that we were getting started moving so late. Jeff had a little problems getting the slides in and we found out the RV battery is bad so he had to hook the RVup to the car with jumper cables. Michael started feeling bad....achey and nose running and started dragging around. I gave him some cold medicine with Tylenol. He started feeling better. We didn't really finish moving everything over until 8:30 or 9:00 last night. Jeff was outside puttering around until after 10:00. We found out that the TV connection doesn't work in this site that we picked out. They will probably fix it pretty soon. We don't really care that much though...we don't really watch it much anyway. Anyway, we were all in agreement that we like the site we moved into a lot better. It is more private and surrounded by trees. The plan was to put the Christmas Tree up last night too but we didn't make it that far. Anyway, once we were moved in, and the day was pretty much over, the kids surprised me and came out of the RV with a cake with 40 candles on it. Michael did the decorating.


I was so surprised because I couldn't figure out how and when they had made it! Then, the story came out about how they had tried to go over the community room the night before to bake it but people were in there. They tried to go and use the oven again in the community room that morning but there were people already using the oven. So when they went to feed Alison's show goat, they baked the cake while they were up there and that is why it took them so long. They left it in the refrigerator at the stables to cool. I asked them how she got it home. She said she snuck it in the car when I took her back up to the stables that night to feed her goat! Wow! I happened to be on the phone with my sister, so I was distracted otherwise I don't think she would've gotten away with that! LOL Anyway, my sweet little Alison planned all that herself and Jeff said she had been sneaking away to buy the stuff with her own money when we were in town buying groceries. Alison bought me a "Slap Chop".

Not many people turned out for horse rides on Thanksgiving Day. Who wants to ride a horse when your stuffed silly, after all? We had 3 riders so we cut the day off early and we ended up getting the best of both worlds. Thanks to our friends, the Pfeiffer's, we had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner and hung out at their house the rest of the day with their family. The kids hung out with their kids and we sat around talking.

It was a fairly busy day today. 30 riders -- we met all kinds of nice and interesting people, as usual. It was quite chilly all day today though...not terrible but tomorrow may be a different story. It is supposed to get down to 21 degrees tonight! Ugh...I hate cold weather.

We all had to endure my son trying to feed us opossum tonight. He trapped a opossum and skinned it today and saved the meat. He cooked it on the fire tonight. The opossum is ready for taxidermy now! UGH...When he gets the money for these forms, I don't know what we are going to do with all these stuffed animals everywhere. He tends to get very intense about whatever it is that he is into. He already has plans for a raccoon next. The guy in town that processes dear said he threw out a whole bunch of hooves yesterday from deer he processed and that his taxidermist makes thermometers out of them. Michael can have the stuff they throw out. I don't know if I should tell Michael that or he'll be wanting to make a trip to town to load our trunk with deer hooves. Sigh....

I got some laundry done today in town and checked the mail where Alison had an early birthday present in the mail from a friend. She got a present from a friend she made here this summer at the stables. She sent her a Scrapbooking Encyclopedia. Alison loves to scrapbook and make cards. We went to the stables and stuck around for a horse ride this afternoon and then we took the kids to youth meeting in Utopia. We were starting to head home when we started thinking how we always have to practically turn right around and go back and get them so we decided to see if there was anything to eat there. Jeff and I went and ate at a cute little cafe there in town. It was a pretty good little place! One of the best I think we've tried in the area since we've been here. It was nice to sit down and have a meal together with out the kids even though we knew they were going to be disappointed to know they missed out on getting to eat out! Came home and talked to Jeff's folks on the phone and told them Happy Thanksgiving.

Getting ready to head to bed now and get up in the morning to get going on our day among our friends, the horses. Alison was joking we should have made "horse salads" for them for Thanksgiving.... a little Alfalfa hay tossed with fresh grass and Oak leaves, carrots and apples with a Molasses dressing...topped with a few horse treats for "croutons". LOL! Would have made a cute picture at least!

Oh, and we've been talking about that pesky decision we need to make. We rather wish it would just go away. It would be irresponsible of us not to at least consider things that are put before you but there are so many factors to consider. I wish I had a crystal ball. Life would be so much easier then.

We have a difficult decision to make. It's not a an exciting decision to have to make, but one that we must consider nonetheless. Please pray for us.

Michael had a great day yesterday. I dropped him off at the Pastor's house yesterday afternoon and they skinned out his fox and Axis. Now, its just a matter of ordering the forms for them. The difficult part is figuring out how to pay for all this stuff. He needs a job and has a lot to learn about money. I may pay for the form as a Christmas present to him. Then, he will at least have a mount he can show people his work to get business. The Pastor has a large "collection" of all kinds of animals he has mounted. Michael came home talking about it. The Pastor used to do this for a living before he moved here but he doesn't advertise here or he said he would be swamped with business. He only does what he wants to do now. It's extremely kind of him to work with Michael on this.

I'm going to make Spinach Dip and Taco Dip today to bring to the stables for us to eat tomorrow on Thanksgiving. I was trying to figure what would be something that would travel well. I might make some cookies...just something special for the kids (mainly Alison) to make the day maybe not seem like just another day. We will definately take the time to thank God for his provision and all he has done for us.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Yesterday Jeff was at the stables all day with the horses so Alison got up and went with him. I went down there for awhile and helped Jeff try to de-tick some of the horses. The ticks are bad right now and they all seem to have them real bad. Now here's something that won't mean anything to anyone reading this, but to us its an amazing transformation that we've seen in one particular horse over the time we've been there. It's been a gradual change in him and this week in particular, I am seeing such a change I never thought I would see from this particular horse. Silver is a big white horse that was very intimidating to me in the beginning. He always had this wide eyed look and was very stand-off like. No matter how nice you were to him, he just wouldn't come around for the longest time. I put my mind to get over my healthy fear of him...I finally felt like I was starting to win him over. The first thing I saw was he started to relax. The wide eyed look that he always seemed to have seemed to disappear. I realized he was starting to finally trust us. He was still aloof but I figured that would be the way he would always be. I really wasn't expecting a change beyond this point and was satisfied that he was at least more relaxed now. The thing that really amazed us was this week....this horse has actually started coming up to me and Jeff as well. He actually came up and wanted to be petted. He has never done this before. He would let us pet him but he was always too proud to come to us. Both days this week, this horse has virtually had a personality change. He came up to me yesterday and I let him smell the pumice stone and then he rubbed up against me as I rubbed him. I even worked on getting some of the bot eggs off of his legs. Like I said, since you don't know Silver, this story won't mean anything to you, but this has been the subject of quite a few conversations in our family this week. I'll be interested to watch Silver's reaction this week when he sees the guy that ran the horses this past summer. He's coming for a visit over Thanksgiving. The horses didn't like him. They are all so calm and relaxed now. It's going to pain me if I see the wide eyes in Silver come back when he sees him.

At least I don't have a mile long, expensive Thanksgiving grocery list like I usually do this time a year! We will be working at the stables on Thanksgiving Day this year. It's supposed to be a busy day. I'm surprised because Alison LOVES working at the stables but she is having a hard time dealing with no Thanksgiving with family this year. Normal tradition is traveling to Jeff's Aunt Cathy's house in Victoria. They have a beautiful house and set-up with cabins that's perfect for large crowds. We were invited to Thanksgiving Day at our friend and Alison's friend's from dance house in Utopia as well. I told Alison she could go if she wanted to but she said no. She wants to be with her family. My kids are great....they handled this complete uprooting and upset of their normal surburban lives with grace. I'm only just now beginning to see the signs of weariness with the lack of having their own space. I hear at least 2-3 times a week now, they are ready for a house. So AM I and that's exactly what I tell them. Alison is tired of sharing a room with her stinky brother. Ha!

Michael is working on setting up his time to go have the Baptist pastor help him with his taxidermy this week. Tentative schedule is maybe Tuesday if we can work it out.

I hope everyone is having a great week this week getting ready for the kick-off of the Holiday season. Hey, in a normal life...I would have had all my Christmas shopping FINISHED by Thursday so that we could spend the rest of the month until Christmas doing fun stuff!

The colors aren't coming out well in the pictures. The one in the middle is black and pink.

The water bottle holders are coming along quickly. I can practically make them in my sleep now. I'm getting to use up some of my yarn that I only have small amounts of left.

Alison wanted me to make water bottle holders for all the girls in her ballet class for Christmas presents. I wasn't sure if I could do it in time. I only have a month to do it. I started on them and now I'm sure that I can have them done in time. I'm not making anything fancy. I wanted to add beads or danglies of some kind but decided against it. I didn't want to spend the money on those extras. If I could get to my supplies that are in storage, I already have that kind of stuff.




Well, the holiday season is here. I am determined to try my hardest to make the holiday season as normal and good as possible for my kids. It's going to be hard for me because I am getting very, very weary of living in this RV. None of the normal traditions that we have been doing for years will be possible this year. I miss having any time as a family anymore. We will put our Christmas Tree up outside at least. Finding the time to dig it out of storage will be the first challenge. If I could do it by myself, that would be helpful but the storage is so full you can't really move around in there and there's all kind of heavy stuff I can't move by myself. We're thinking about moving all of our stuff to a different unit...that way we could organize it and get everything we need to be able to get to up front where we can get to it. I do believe its starting to get to everyone a little bit living in the RV. No one complains too much but I am starting to see and here signs of the stress from everyone. I know a house and a horse is at the top of Alison's dream list.

Well, we got a lot shoved into the day today. I dropped Jeff off at the dentist office while the kids and I went to Dollar General & Wal-Mart. We went back to get Jeff and he wasn't quite done yet so we waited for him. He came out finally. They did a bunch of x-rays on him to find the problem. Apparently, it IS the tooth with the previous root canal that the dentist's file broke off in his tooth. He said the tooth has to be sealed off after a root canal and because of the file in it, he probably wasn't able to seal it off as well. With Jeff's immune systems being down and being sick over the past week, it was just too much for his system and the infection spread into the roots of his tooth. What has to be done sounds like torture. He will cut his gums back to the roots and cut the root of the tooth off and seal it and somehow put it back? HUH? Anyway, sounds painful. If that doesn't work then the tooth has to go. The dentist prescribed more antibiotics and he's going back on the first of December to get this done. We went to a clinic where the rates are on a sliding pay scale so what would normally cost us over $600 is only going to cost us $200. He said the rest of his cavities can wait...this has to be taken care of first. Aw shucks...Jeff won't let me post the pictures of his watermelon face when he was sick!

After the dentist, Jeff dropped Michael and I off at the grocery store while he ran Alison by Tractor Supply for her to buy a bag of treats for Princess. They came back and got us and we hurried home for Alison to run in and get read for dance. Jeff and Michael put up groceries for me while I took Alison to dance. Sigh...the day is now over. I'm feeling a bit yucky myself. Starting to get a little cough and drainage. I'm upping my Vitamin C. I can't afford to get sick. I bought a "Nettie Pot" today. Jeff's mom told me she's been using one and it helps her. I've looked into these before but never bought one. I'm about to start the torture of my family with yet another home prevention/cure! They are going to LOVE me!!

Well, I'm happy to say that Jeff seemed to turn a corner today with his infection. Swelling is not completely gone but he at least looks human again. Pretty scary. I am making him go to the dentist tomorrow. The dentist in Houston called today to check on him. He said to continue the doubling up of the antibiotics through today or until all of the swelling is gone. It turns out that it is not the tooth that has the dental file in it. It's on the other side. So, we're not sure what exactly is going on. His soreness seems to be up high in the roots and not in his teeth in his mouth. They won't be able to work on him until he's done with the antibiotics but we will at least have him checked out tomorrow. I don't want this to happen again.

Jeff is home recuperating and Alison and I went to the stables to feed her goat and she rode, worked with and pampered Princess for many hours today. She had a whole bunch of ticks on her so Alison removed at least 20 or more ticks from her. There was a ride so Alison went on the ride and then we unsaddled all the horses. We were mainly just playing today.

Jeff has had a rough week this week. He failed his CDL driving test on Wednesday. The next day he had to get up at 5 am to drive to Corpus Christi to get a load of pipe. He tried to go to bed early but hardly got an ounce of sleep because one of his teeth started bothering him. I knew something was weird when he kept getting up, waking up, etc because usually Jeff could sleep through a hurricane and nothing wakes him up. He got up and worked hard that day while his tooth was hurting him all day. He said he was sucking on ice and it made it feel better. This morning he took his CDL again and didn't pass this time because he hit the curb while parallel parking. The girl giving him his test said next time just make sure you don't hit the curb...he doesn't have to pass the parallel parking to get his license but you can't hit the curb or you fail. Third times the charm? lol -- Anyway, he called me on his way home to get me to call dentists because he said his whole face is swollen today. He had a root canal several years ago and the dentist's drill bit broke off INSIDE of his tooth. This is the tooth that is hurting him now. I found a dental clinic in Uvalde that Jeff was on his way into when the dentist in Houston called me back. He called in a prescription for Jeff to start taking. When Jeff got home with his prescription, I was horrified when I saw him. He was much more swollen and he was burning up with fever. He was half incoherent and I had to make him get out of the shower when he got in a hot shower. He kept trying to bundle himself up in blankets but I kept being mean and taking them off because I knew his fever was high. We put ice on his face and made him sit up. I was so worried about him and was really wondering if I was going to have to take him to the emergency room. His fever finally broke and the swelling seemed to go down slightly so I felt a little better than he would be okay. When he lays down, his face swells up more. I think I've finally convinced him the importance of keeping his head up. He is supposed to keep his head above his heart. I called the dentist this morning and he told me to double up his antibiotic dose so that's what I am doing today and that as long as he doesn't get worse, have diarrhea, a rash or get nauseated, then we are probably okay. He is still swollen today and his fever is 101 the last time I checked it. I'm keeping his butt home as long as he is swollen up like this.

Okay, so I don't know when I've seen my son so excited as he was last night with his new acuisition last night...a grey fox. We came across him accidentally. It is truly a beautiful little creature. He talked to the pastor at the Baptist church that the kids have been attending youth at. He is a hobbyist taxidermist. He said he would help Michael mount the fox and the buck that will soon be on its way to us from the processor. Michael loves that fox. Okay, so now I have a grey fox taking up all the space in my little RV freezer. We have deer hooves and a doe hide. Sigh...yes, I have a son. I have a feeling I will soon be trying to find a place for these many new completed projects of my son's. Help!

I can't remember the last time I watched "entertainment" TV but that is what I am sitting here doing tonight. I'm watching the CMA Country Music Awards. Well, as you can see I'm still not "just" watching TV...I'm also posting on my blog...I never can seem to simply watch TV even if I try. The kids are at Youth meeting tonight and Jeff went to feed Alison's goat and then to pick up the kids.

This day was a complete waste...I woke up up this morning and felt nauseated and dizzy. I thought I needed to eat and I felt somewhat better after that but I felt queasy for the rest of the day. I still feel a little sick. I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow.

I just heard on the terrible news last night that an 18 year old boy died in the State Park last weekend. He fell over 250 feet from a cliff. The story is that he made the unwise decision to try to climb down the face of Old Baldy...then changed his mind and tried to climb back up. He grabbed a loose rock and fell to his death. I hope this doesn't affect the park adversely with more rules and regulations. I can assure you after living in the State Park for many months, there is nothing the park can do to stop people from doing risky things and not listening to warnings. Very sad.

Another santa boot, a poinsettia and a candy cane cover (missing the candy cane)


Michael got a surprise! Sunday night, a buck and a doe were shot at the stables. Michael got to practice his taxidermy skills with the doe yesterday. I have some pictures but I don't think I'm going to post them. It might gross some people out so I'm going to try to get some pictures of just the hide now that he's got it all off. However, he is not completely finished so it is in the freezer right now. I'll have to get that later. Anyway, Michael was very excited.

I really want to make some Christmas stuff but having trouble figuring out what to make. In the meantime, I made this little cowboy santa boot ornament...lol



They started rehearsing the choreography for the December ballet in Alison's dance class. She is having so much fun and looks forward to every dance class.

We got up to go babysit this morning and then the mom called to say I didn't need to come after all. Her husband had the day off and was going to stay with the baby. Well Alison was disappointed because she had worked real hard to get extra school work done so she wouldn't have to do it while we were babysitting. She loves to babysit! Since we were already up and ready to go somewhere, we went to the stables and Alison worked with Princess and fed her goat.

It is windy and cold today. Sometimes it feels like this camper is about to blow away! All our chairs keep blowing over and even the firewood stack is blowing over!

About scared me to death today when I came out of the RV to get some water and there was this HUGE black COW walking into our campsite! NOT what I expected to see! He went away and I saw that there were 5 of them. They were wandering all over the RV park. Apparently, someone's cows got out.




Here's another one of Michael's creations...He keeps cranking stuff out!~

Michael made this knife for his sister.




Bev made the knife sheath for her. It's rabbit fur...isn't that cute? She's worn it a few times already.

Yesterday, we decided to make a trip to San Antonio. We treated ourselves to a meal out at our favorite restaurant, The Alamo Cafe, and then hit some thrift stores looking for jeans for Alison. She was in desperate need of jeans. She had 3 pair. She gets so dirty at the stables and I couldn't keep up with keeping them clean and she was having to wear dirty jeans. We found her about 6 pair of jeans after trying on about 50! We always have to try on a zillion of them at the thrift stores. All the different brands run so different in their sizes. We wanted to go to Hobby Lobby and then realized they are closed on Sundays so we went to Michael's craft store instead. I was looking for some plastic canvas hexagons for a Christmas craft Alison and I are going to do.

I've been shuffling and tripping over boxes for the past few days. Jeff went up to the storage to try to find our winter boxes. I've been working on getting some summer clothes packed up and winter clothes put in the RV. We are still missing several boxes though that Jeff hasn't been able to find yet. The storage is so packed full. It's not easy to find anything in there. We're going to have to go up there and try again.

I babysat a 7 month old baby this morning for a few hours. I'll be babysitting on Wednesday and maybe a few days next week. Mom needs to go up to the school because her other child is having some problems at school. Just helping her out by staying with the baby so she can go up there.