Crochet Me Crazy

It felt like I was neglecting my blog for a week or two there and while I wasn't paying attention, I got some new followers! Welcome to all my new readers and thanks for coming to my humble abode. Just my little corner of the world where I keep track of my silly life, my kids, and my beloved crochet projects!

Well, here's another one...ANOTHER hat. I am tiring of these a bit once again. I have another one I am going to finish before I take a little break from these. That gives me 7 hats to sell. How long my break is depends on whether they sell quickly or slowly. I think I have a little time though since the tourist season doesn't really kick off until Memorial Day. So, I will take a break from hats and try to force myself to finish a "fish" sack I started awhile back and became bored with! Ha! Must not have too many unfinished projects...makes me feel icky!

We all battened down the hatches last night and got all ready for a big storm with hail that was supposed to be heading our way. We found a safe place for our cars and took down the awnings. Then...nothing. A little bit of wind but not even a drop of rain. Alison took advantage of the little wind and flew her kite she's been waiting to fly.



It did bring in a cold front and it got real cool last night and it was really cool all day today. It finally warmed up late this afternoon.

I'm trying to stretch the groceries out so we can wit until Friday to go to the grocery store. I fried Alison's fish she had been catching along with some salt water fish someone gave me up at the stables. I borrowed my neighbor's fryer and did it outside. Now that's the way to do it! No mess in my kitchen!

Jeff has gone to take the kids to youth service tonight. Our neighbors, the Clubine's will pick them up for us and bring them home because they will be over there at choir practice. This is the last time they will go to choir practice though. They will be leaving on Monday to go back home to Kansas. Jeff & Michael are going to go over there and help him pack up on Sunday. He's in ill health and gets out of breath. I hope we see them again next year!

Here's the latest hat I've finished.



The RV park is really clearing out. Only about 3 of our friends are still here. We've been visiting around the campfire at night.



This week is visitor's week at Alison's dance this week. Our neighbor's came tonight to watch her class.

A lady came over to my campsite this morning holding this tiny rabbit. At first I thought it would be a baby Jack Rabbit, mainly because that's the only kind of rabbits I usually see around here. Now, I am thinking it may be a baby Cottontail. Of course, the bunny should have been left alone but they found it under their RV nestled between some boxes and they are packing up to leave tomorrow morning. Right now, he's in a box in the RV nestled in towel. I'm not going to handle him and I'm doing a little reading. Apparently, the mom comes back in the night and early morning hours to take care of them. I've got a call into the vet to see how far away I can relocate him for the mom to still find him. I think it's his best bet for survival.

Here's two hats I got finished this week.




Jeff & Alison worked at the stables today. I technically wasn't working today but I went down there anyway of course. Not extremely busy.


Princess getting bath

Princess standing there taking nap

I've been cleaning and packing up winter clothes today. I'm happy to pack away the winter clothes because they are bulky and take up too much space in the RV. It was a beautiful day today. The kids are starting to get spring fever. It makes it harder to keep your mind on school work when the weather is warm and sunny and you have a river behind your house!

Jeff is trying to get started on a cabinet job he needs to finish before summer. The lady isn't in a big hurry but once summer hits we'll be too busy at the stables.

Well, Alison has her picture in a local tourism magazine!

The first one is an article about Elm Creek Stables. The second picture is a seperate advertisement.





These pictures were taken last year. I can really tell that Alison has already grown up a little since then.

It was back to school for the kids and I've been working on getting things straightened up around here, catching up on laundry, etc. Alison is back at dance this week.

I sold my Lone Star hat this past week. I had planned on bringing it down to the consignment shop but I never had a chance to get down there so I put it in the gift shop at the stables. Someone bought it so I'm going to make a few more to put in there. Every little bit helps! So it looks like its going to be aluminum can hats for a little while again!

I just got finished with this Diet Coke hat tonight.

It's been a busy, busy, busy week for us! We've had hundreds and hundreds of riders coming for trails rides at the stables all week. No breaks all day all week...just a steady flow of people and riders from 9-5 all day. Jeff and Alison's day starts at 6:30 am feeding the horses. By the time we're done unsaddling and feeding it's usually at least 7:00 pm before we get home. Everything has been going great though. We love it and we love all those horses. Today was the first day we actually had a break to sit down and eat lunch. We've all been eating boiled eggs alot to get by during the day. I've already lost weight this week and Jeff went down a belt notch just from working at the stable this week! Today, we did have a little girl throw a royal tantrum and start screaming that she wanted off of the horse. She was up at the front of the line with Alison so Alison ended up having to get the girl off the horse and Alison got off of her horse walked the little girl back to the barn. Red, the horse the little girl was on walked back riderless in the line just like he was walking while she was on him. He's a sweet kid horse...that horse is such an angel. It scared me when I saw Alison walking back with her horse and the little girl. I thought she had fallen off or something but no...nothing had happened. The little girl was just screaming so loud and ruining the ride for the rest of the riders.

For the past two days, the owner's grandkid's have been visiting so Alison has been playing with their little granddaughter. She's a sweet little girl. It's sweet...she loves Alison. Alison is braiding her hair...


When they have had a chance, they get on their horses and ride around the parking lot.


Well, tomorrow's another day so I'm going to hit the hay. (HA!)

I'm just laying down resting my aching feet. Definately time for some insoles for my boots. Today was the 2nd busiest day for us since we've been doing the rides at the stables. We had 57 riders today...full rides most of the day. Phone ringing and people coming, going, gift shop, phones, pony rides - It was non-stop all day long. Those kind of days really tire you out! The poor horses were tired too. They are out of shape after having the winter off for the most part. There's barely time for getting a drink between rides or Alison and Jeff when it gets that busy and things inevitably start backing up.

Tomorrow shouldn't be as busy but we do have people already booked up the first few rides. We are supposed to cut off early tomorrow to give the horses the afternoon off.

I did snap a quick picture of the new Mule they bought today! His name is Snuffy. He seems like he's going to be a great ride and is very well adjusted. Alison and Jeff are going to try him out in the line tomorrow and see how he does. He's a nice looking mule.



I thought the RV park was full yesterday when we came home last night...well, it's even fuller tonight when we got home. Every spot in the park is full and there are people EVERYWHERE! It's hard to drive in because its pretty congested. I'm glad we're at the stable all day right now. Got to be careful with my little dogs right now too. Lots of big dogs everywhere that would probably like to eat my dogs!

We had a busy day at the stables today. Everyone is fat and sassy after such a long break. Jeff and Alison are sore from riding all day. It'll take them a few days to shape up after going so long without riding. Alison came home sore but so satisfied with riding Princess all day and bragging about what a good horse she is for her. Her and that horse.... We got out of there in record time this evening considering we had a 5:00 ride. Michael and I unsaddled all the horses left in the pen during the last ride so as soon as the last ride got back, Alison, Michael and I got the rest of them unsaddled (and there were only 6) while Jeff started feeding. I left a little before Jeff but I was pulling away a little after 6:00. I came home and cooked spaghetti for dinner. I'm sitting down to relax for a little bit before I go in and figure out what I'm going to pack for our lunches tomorrow and put some beans to soak for tomorrow's dinner. I came home this evening to a different world in the RV Park tonight. We have neighbors right on top of us next door. The park is very full, the smell of Bar-B-Q and campfires fills the air tonight, and I hear the noise of little kids zipping by on bicycles in the dark. Camping is such fun for little kids. Tomorrow is looking like its going to be another busy day at the stables. it's already starting to book up and I'm sure we'll have lots of calls and drive-ups to fill the gaps. I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow. There are lots of baby goats and a baby lamb up there right now.

I may be missing in action for the next week or so. This week is Spring Break and we'll be working at the stables. Unless, I have time to post "stable stuff" in the evenings, we'll be pretty busy. I definately won't be having time to crochet this week though! Hope everyone has a nice weekend!!

Well, I finished the "Lone Star" Beer can hat the lady at the consignment shop requested. I suppose I should try to get it to her before spring break starts next week when all the tourists show up. Every spot in the RV park is booked over spring break next week. Glad the high gas prices aren't keeping people away!

My hubby spent the entire daylight hours yesterday working on his truck trying to get it ready to make the spur of the moment trek back to Houston today. He had to get his emergency break fixed because it didn't pass inspection a few weeks ago because of it. He got it fixed and ready to go take it for inspection and then it wouldn't start. He spent hours messing with doing some or another with his battery. He got that fixed and had to take it in for inspection this morning instead. At least he got that fixed...something he's needed to do for awhile. So they made it safely to Houston. I had decided Alison and ai were going to go with them. I had a place to stay when I called her last night, her son had come down with the chicken pox! So needless to say, we decided not to go. Alison has never had the chicken pox. I asked her if she wanted to just go ahead and get them and get it over with...she said NO! So Alison and I are enjoying a quiet evening home alone! She's sleeping in the big bed with me tonight!

I am crocheting a "Lone Star beer can hat right now. I sold a couple of my hats at the consignment shop and the lady wanted me to make one out of "Lone Star" cans. She says that anything Lone Star sells good. Those cans are hard to find but lucky for me, there is apparently someone here in the RV park right now that drinks it because I have been finding them in the can corrals.

Spring Break starts this weekend here! Every single spot in the park is rented out for spring break. It's going to be crowded around here! Well, it won't matter to us because we won't be here much. We'll be working at the stables next week.

We were planning to go back to Houston at the end of the month for the last trip to get a couple of things we still have there. We were all going to go so we could visit friends and Alison really wanted to see some of her friends there. We've been putting the trip off because of the expense of making it. It looks like Jeff is going to have to make that trip this week instead. We have a trailer stored on a friends property there. They called us tonight and said the property has sold with a cash buyer and we need to move it asap. It's really bad timing but there's nothing we can do. We wanted to wait until after Spring Break when we would have the money from working that week. So Jeff and Michael will go by themselves on a quick overnight trip and sleep in the truck.

We went to visit a different church this morning. It actually was probably one of the best ones we've visited since we've been here. We've been to several. The service was more challenging than most I've been to recently. I like a pastor that isn't afraid to step on toes and say things that should make us all think and maybe even a little uncomfortable if necessary. The people were very friendly. Of course, there were some people there we already knew from seeing around town. Now the kids have already found a church they like to go to youth services at but it's a town over from us & we'd rather go to a church that is closer by. It's hard not to be spoiled after listening to the excellent teaching of Pastor John Weaver on www.sermonaudio.com

Well, another week begins! Seems like I've been busy...doing what, I'm not sure of! Maybe I'm just a little more disorganized than usual!

So we decided to take a walk down by the river today.

We to go see our crazy kids swim in the river. They seem to think it's warm enough to swim now and have been jumping in on sunny days. They are "training" for summer and starting on their hand callouses (from the ropes). We found them....


Okay so I'm having a slow down on the afghan because I lack space. I want to sew them together with the colors spread out. It's hard to spread it all out. I'm going to have to spread it out sometime and then actually mark the hexagons somehow on what order to sew them together in so I can start sewing without having to keep spreading them out all over again. So anyway, that's slowing me down. In the meantime, I have been weaving ends in and getting them ready to sew.

Tomorrow is Saturday. We have plans to go to the thrift store where they are having a bag sale. Then we're going to take a drive. There's some land that's reasonably priced and we just want to see what its like out there.

Alison went to the symphony tonight with her ballet class. There was a school bus going tonight with the school music department as well but Alison rode with her friend and her mom. Everyone was dressing up to the hilt. Her friend had on a long gown!

My precious daughter....

Here's two more hexagons I have finished. I'm moving a little slower on this now because it seems like I haven't had as much time to crochet. I was going to post a little tip of something I learned by trial and error while sewing my diamonds together into the hexagon> I'll try to post that over the next few days when I have a little more time.



Well, I am excited because I ordered my health products that I am going to try on my son today! I can't wait for them to get here! I have heard so much great testimonials about this stuff that I hope that I am not let down but I won't know until I try it, right?

I'm also excited because I talked to an old friend from high school today and her and another friend of ours are coming here next month to see me! I'm really looking forward to it! It should be great fun to see old friends!

Anyway, hope everyone is having a great week!