We made it to Nebraska, and head home today

We went to Rushmore Cave on Monday morning before Mark had to leave to go to Tucson for an Air Force Reserve trip. It was really cool, and I'll post more than just the one picture below later. There were really cool formations and it was quite colorful. It wasn't really big, but it was worth the trip.

Then on Tuesday we went to Wall and to Wall Drug. That is an experience everyone should have at least once in their life. What a fun day! I didn't take a lot of pictures, but I did get one good shot of the front of the store. It now takes up a city block and has stores that sell everything under the sun!

There was this cute little alligator (and I LOVE alligators and crocodiles), so the kids insisted I have my picture taken with it. He was awfully cute! We drove through the Badlands National Park on the way to Nebraska yesterday. We took a ton of pictures, and I will post some of them later, too.

And of course, I did try my hand at knitting just a little. And Chauntel, mom actually helped me! With a little practice I might eventually be able to figure it out. I think I need to go ahead and get some straight needles at first. Those circulars were really difficult to maneuver at first. I now know why I love to crochet--I don't have enough manual dexterity to work two needles and the yarn! :-) Mom even said that she might have to knit a little, she had fun working with me!

It's Wednesday...

and we are a little more than halfway through our vacation. We have seen Mount Rushmore, Rushmore Cave, Wall Drug, Keystone, and some woodpeckers in our campsite! We have also spent some time in the swimming pool and played cards and dominoes. All in all, it has been a nice few days. Mount Rushmore should be right over our heads, but the nice lady who took the picture didn't get it in.

Here we are after arriving at Rushmore for the evening ceremony and lighting of the monument. There was a symphony concert that evening that we didn't know about, and it was pretty incredible. The kids were musicians from around the country who had auditioned for a camp held in Rapid City. They were 11 and older.

There is a short hike you can take around the base of the monument now (it wasn't there last time I was here a zillion years ago). It lets you get some pretty cool pictures. The one above was taken from between a couple of large rocks right down the trail, and you can look out between them up at George and Abe.

At the end of the evening, they had a flag retreat, and asked all veterans, active duty and representatives of such to come and participate in the ceremony. That's who all the people across the bottom are. And this picture has not been doctored at all; the lights above the stage area are shining on the monument, and the stage is lighted, and there is a break in the light between the two areas, making it look like the picture is a composite. The ceremony was so cool, and there was one WWII veteran there. He could hardly walk, but his family helped him to the stage. It was so awesome!

Woohoo! Class is done...

and now I just have to finish grading the final projects. Whew! They will be plenty of work on their own, but I have seen a lot of improvement in my students. I am very much looking forward to my vacation and being able to work on crochet and read a book if I want.

I'll catch up here after I get back, and should have lots of pictures. See you then!

A satisfying end...

Well, it's 4 a.m., and I finished the book. I love the way it all wrapped up. Rowling knew what her loyal readers needed, and she delivered it spot on! Yes, I got a few papers graded, but absolutely couldn't put the book down as I got closer to the end. Now I don't have to worry about spoilers, and can read all those blogs out there! And maybe I will actually find some time to pick up my crochet hooks again soon.

Still seriously short on sleep, but ah, well, sometimes things are worth it. Now I can start again with year one, and read the whole series back to back. And the stack of "must reads" is growing considerably as well, so I can branch out and read some of the other books that have been gathering dust.

I shall press onward!

Help! I need a vacation...

And lucky for me I've got one coming up in just a few days. It was an amazingly crazy weekend. I started working at the newspaper on Wednesday, and my regular schedule is Wednesday through Sunday nights. I am still teaching my writing class, and trying to catch up on all the grading (the WORST thing about teaching). The class ends Friday, and I will be happy to be able to get more sleep. My schedule at the newspaper is 4 p.m. to midnight (except Fridays and Sundays, which will be more like 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.). And with Harry Potter out this weekend, plus trying to grade, I haven't picked up a crochet hook in what feels like forever (but it's probably more like 4-5 days).

I graded last night after getting home from the paper, and my reward for each assignment graded was a chapter of Harry. I am about 2/3 of the way through and trying really hard to avoid all spoilers. I stayed up until 5 a.m., and then pretty much just crashed until I had to get up at 8:30 to shower and get to class. After class, I came home and read some more until my eyes just wouldn't stay open. Took a 3-hour nap (about), and now that it is 11 p.m. I need to grade some more papers (and see if I can sneak in a few more chapters!).

And we leave on vacation to South Dakota (the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, caverns, camping, etc.) on Friday. I am so excited to be away from home and all the pressure (which has been more than normal for the last couple of weeks). I am packing a couple of great crochet projects and a really comfortable chair. Between that and the pool I think I will be one happy camper! I'll take lots of pictures and share them here. I intend to RELAX. Anyway, papers await, so off I go!

Squares made and joining to come...

Here's the stack of 20 squares for the sampler afghan I have been working on. They are finally finished, and I am working on crocheting around them so they can be joined. They are assorted sizes (they were all supposed to be 12 x 12, but it didn't quite work out that way), and there is no even number of stitches on any side of all the squares. Basically, I am just single crocheting all the way around each square, then I am going to play around with some different stitches to go between the squares. I am going to have to fudge a lot of stitches as I work it up, but I have plenty of experience with that!

You can see that some of the red pieces have a white single crochet around them. When I am really ready to join them, all of them will have a white single crochet around them, then I will use the red, blue and white to do the in between stitching and joining. Yes, it seems like I always work in red, white and blue, but really I sometimes use other colors, too. Remember the black, gold and white rug?

I have a couple of other fun projects ready to go, and just need to get them started.

If anyone has some good ideas on joining and the between stuff for the blocks above, I am open to any and all ideas! And I think I might be ready to take a risk on some more expensive yarn to make a couple of sweaters and tops for myself. So now I have to decide what to use once I've decided what patterns to use. I also have a great granny square bag pattern (actually a couple of them) that I'd like to use some other yarns on. However, my stash is building so I probably better use some of it first!

They are so tall!

Here are my two boys and the two neighbor boys when we went to the zoo. The penguin pictures are a long wall with all the species of penguins pictured and their average size so kids can see how they measure up. Nick and Jonathon are in front of the end where the Emperor is pictures, and the penguins get smaller as you go farther to the right.
Ryan (on the far left) is 13 (he'll be 14 in September), and Kyle is 11 and will be 12 in December. Ryan is far past me, and Kyle has caught me (and I am almost 5'10"). Nick is just a little more than a year younger than Kyle and Jonathon is 6.

The zoo is so much fun!

I finally took the opportunity to take the kids to the zoo and see the new penguin exhibit. We have a terrific zoo, and the exhibit was just completed a few months ago. I love to go to the zoo anyway, and I especially love the jungle house. It's all tropical with lots of plants and animals, and the waterfall makes it sound really great. Now that I am working second shift, I can take advantage of having mornings off and go to the zoo before going to work. It was really a fun, relaxing day.

This is a picture looking through the waterfall in the jungle house back out into the building. The water is so cool looking, and I love the way it smears the colors. The dark horizontal lines are branches of a small tree that hang out over the pond area where the waterfall drops.

This baby giraffe was born only a couple of days earlier. He is really so cute, and more stable on his legs than I would have thought. The rhinos also had a baby a week or so earlier, but I couldn't get a great picture of her. She was pretty darn cute, too though.

And of course, the river otters are always fun to watch. They were all over the place, wrestling in the water, and playing. I just happened to catch this one while he stepped out in the sun for a minute, and just before he dove back in.

It was pretty fun to get up close and personal with the penguins. The exhibit is designed so that viewers can see right into the tank from above and from in front. The glass front makes it easy to see what the birds look like when they swim. These are Humboldt penguins, and are quite a bit smaller than the more recognizable Emperor penguins. They are still pretty darn cute!

And in my mind, no visit to the zoo is complete unless I get to see the flamingos. Last summer we had a couple escape. They eventually got tracked down and returned, but for a while the flamingos were on the lam!

I just had a great time, relaxed (although it was crazy hot), and had fun. The boys also had fun, and with a family pass, we'll get to go several more times I'm sure.

I can't believe it's been a week!

Wow! It has been so crazy and without Internet access at home (for the meantime) I haven't had much chance to post. We had our last regular swim meet of the season last night, and it didn't rain on us! The clouds were threatening, and we thought it might, but we were able to swim the whole meet without incident. We had just about finished cleaning up the pool area after the meet (taking down the timing system, backstroke flags, computer system, etc.) and we saw the cutest little bunch of ducks walking on the deck. The lifeguards said they come around all the time, and are in the pool swimming every morning before swim practice. The lane lines were still in the pool, and a couple of the ducks had a difficult time climbing over them. The discs would spin as the ducks went over, and the duck would fall back. They looked so cute swimming up and down in the second lane!

Whew!

I had my third day of the writing class I am teaching today, and gave them assignments number 4 and 5. And they had their first current events quiz. I feel like I am knee-deep in grading, and just needed to take a break. Got the quizzes graded and will move on to the next assignment here in a minute after taking a few minutes to do a little surfing.

We had a wet Fourth, but the fireworks were going crazy in the rain and lightning until about midnight. I mean the fireworks were going until about midnight, and there was rain and lightning pretty much all that time as well. Our kids didn't get to shoot their fireworks off until about 11:45 p.m., but they had a lot of fun. And the laws on fireworks here are pretty darn liberal (Roman candles, etc. are legal, and there are a lot of fireworks that shoot up over the rooftops!). We just light little things like those spinning flowers (I love those!) and fountains. We did have a church picnic and kickball game, which was pretty fun. I was just glad to have a day off to relax (except a little grading...). I even took a nap!

The crocheting goes on, and I figured out the pattern fr the next block of the sampler afghan. Those instructions are so wacky and hard to understand. I found a marvelous little book at B&N that has 200 crochet stitches, with instructions, charts and photographs. I found one that sounded like the one I was trying to figure out, and worked it. I love the book because it is spiral bound (so it lies flat). You can see the book here

Well, I probably better get back to grading. But before I go, I feel the need to post a picture of something fun, so here it is:This is a beautiful Venetian glass and marble mural by artist Joan Miro, that hangs on the front of the art museum I used to work at. It is 28 by 52 feet, and contains more than 1 million pieces. This isn't the greatest picture, but it is an amazing piece!

How cute are these?

Aren't the polka dots the best?

The straps sit in a really comfortable position and don't rub at all.

I found these at Target ($20) and because I haven't worn heels in a long time, I thought the kind-of platforms might make these a little easier on the feet. I've worn them and they are actually pretty comfortable to walk in, even for me!

I feel like I live in a swamp!

And doesn't it look like I live in a swamp, too? This is actually a picture of the water that is sitting in my gutter in my front yard. Yes, it's true, I am growing algae because there has been water there for so long. Normally we have a humidity rate of about 50-60% this time of year (and for being from the desert, that is high, but after living is South Carolina, that is low!). This morning we were at 100% humidity, and the weather man was kind enough to remind us that although we will see the sun (at least occasionally), we will not dry out, because the air is so saturated that pretty much no evaporation can take place. At least it has only been in the 70s as opposed to nearly 100 like it usually is by July.

However, that also means that I have not been able to just hang out at the pool with the kids, and with no job right now, that means opportunity lost! Ah, well, I hope there will be time for that later...

But on the bright side, I sure don't have to water my grass, and look how nice and green it is!

The sun came out..

At least for a little while. So I went outside and took a few pictures to prove it. It's gone now behind the clouds again, but here are some pictures to prove it shined, even just a little bit!See? That's blue sky to the east, along with what has become far too regular a sight, storm clouds.And my tree looks nice and green with some sun (a little) shining through its leaves, and a light breeze blowing, but I felt like I was going to sink up to my ankles in my front lawn!

And a daisy (or three) from the garden is always good to provide a ray of sunshine and a smile!

Here's the new car!

Well, the sun finally came out from between the clouds for a few minutes this afternoon, so i went out and took a few pictures of the new car. It's in great shape and super fun to drive. The color does not translate exactly from the pictures, but the yellow is like a banana yellow, not incredibly dark or bright, and not a pastel.






The interior is black leather, and the front seats are heated, which I'm looking forward to when it is 15 degrees outside this winter. Plus, when the kids get in after swimming when they are all wet they don't leave nasty stains all over the leather like they did the cloth seats in my old bug. The window tinting was completely redone just before we bought it, so it is perfect.







I had to keep my vanity tags! And this license plate frame was just too cute to pass up. I had it for the old car, but it just didn't look right on the blue. However, I hung on to it (I hadn't had it terribly long), and now it's perfect. I had a steering wheel cover that matched it, but the flowers and the ladybugs peeled off it! Now I just have a cushy gray one that feels great on the hands.





And of course I have flowers to put in the vase. These are just one set, and I have several other colors so I can change them when I feel like it. Right now I like the look of the yellow with the yellow exterior. I also have orange, purple, white, and pink. The vase was a necessity, and I actually kept the one out of the wrecked car because I wasn't sure if there was still one in this one. And it's a good thing I kept it, because there wasn't one in the this car. So, I love it, love it, love it!

I finally figured it out!

We've been working on a sampler afghan in our crochet guild chapter, and there was one block that was giving us fits. Another member rewrote the pattern, and that made it a little easier, but I still struggled with it for a few hours before I figured it out. Woohoo! it really is a cool pattern (it has a bargello look to it), just hard to read and not see. I got it when I had the pattern and a sample block in front of me. I have posted a couple of pictures below as it was in progress.
I really like the way the square turned out, and I will post a picture of the completed square when I have a picture of it. The afghan will actually be mostly single color squares of the red and blue, with two squares that are red, white and blue. I think I will place those two in near the center of the afghan (it will be 4x5 squares) corner to corner, but I am going to have to lay it out and see how it looks. I still have 4 squares to make, and when I get them all done, I will lay it out and take some pictures of it. I'm looking forward to getting it done, and still trying to decide how to border it. The pattern is just three rows of single crochet (one of each color), but I think I want to try something else.

I promise I'll get a picture of my so cute little bug posted soon too. It has to quit raining long enough that I can go outside and take one without getting soaked! We haven't seen the sun in almost a week, and we had the wettest swim meet (for the spectators) that I think I have ever experienced. It's been cold and wet, wet, wet! My house is starting to feel like waterfront property, unfortunately, the waterfront is what used to be my lawn!

And summer goes along...

The kids have been out of school for a full month now, and I think they are starting to get bored. We have swim practice every morning, and we are halfway through the summer swim season. Three more dual meets, then league finals. Oh, what peace I will feel when the season is over. It's been a pretty good season so far, and we only lost one half of one meet to weather (lightning). Overall, I must say I think it's been good and the boys have enjoyed themselves (even having to get up before 7 am for practice!).

I am teaching a writing class starting next week at Wichita State University, and I have yet to get my act (read: syllabus) together. That and I have to make sure I have assignments to use. It is a 4-week class, and the core for students in the major. Basically, it means tons of papers to grade! And knowing this, I am getting as much time crocheting in as possible.

I have been working on a sampler afghan, and the pattern is not very well written, so I am doing some deciphering along the way. I have 15 of the 20 squares made, and would like to have it finished. I am excited about starting a couple of other projects soon, too. Ah, not really enough hours in the day to do everything I want!

More projects complete and a new car, too!

Well, once again it's been a long time since I have posted anything here. I have been busy taking care of lots of things, and getting a new car after the accident, and now looking for a new job.







First things first, though:
I have completed several crochet projects and am getting ready to start a few more. I am not nearly as talented as my incredible younger sister whose blog can be found here
She knits incredibly wonderful stuff and spins her own yarns, too. I love to check out her latest projects and see what she has on her needles. I don't knit, just crochet, but she has inspired me to pick up my hooks again and dive into the yarn. The latest creations are a couple of rugs. I got the first from my mom because she just couldn't hold the three strands of yarn comfortably. It was about 1/2 done, so I brought it home and finished it. You can see the whole thing at the right, and a couple of detail shots. I finished it in about three hours. It went so fast, I had to make another one, so I did!









I am thinking I want to re-do my kitchen in sunflowers, so I went ahead and made this rug up in black, gold and off-white. It is a modified granny-square pattern, and also worked up super fast. The main blocks are hexagons and the fillers are triangles. My daughter liked it so much she wants me to make her one inNebraska red and black to take with her to college for her dorm room. The yarn for that one is in the bag, and ready to go. The pattern she chose is a little smaller (the white rug is about 4 feet across and the yellow/black one is just a little smaller), so she can fit it under her loft bed.







That's it for crochet news today, but in other news, I got a great little car to replace my poor little squashed bug. It's another little bug, a '99 this time, with fewer miles that my '01 had, and it's yellow with a black leather interior, heated seats, and turbo-charged. It is clean, clean, clean, and in great shape. It is so fun to drive! I'll post pictures of it when I get some taken.

Oh...it's Monday

Well, yesterday was Mother's Day and it was a fairly relaxing day, which was good because the whole previous week was certainly not! The car accident on Tuesday pretty much just wrecked my whole week in having to deal with insurance, trying to get a rental car, and everything that goes along with it.

However, I did take time yesterday to wrap up my afghan. I think there might be a few stray ends that need to be woven in, but it's basically finished. The pictures show it in pieces, then the finished product. I'm pretty happy with it, as it is the first pieced project I have ever done. My mom laughed when she saw I was working granny squares. She used to make granny square stuff all the time. In fact, my fifth-grade picture was taken in a granny-square vest made of oranges browns and white. Very 70s. I am having a lot of fun with the idea of piecing, and looking forward to making more! In fact, I even ordered a used book from half.com that is all about granny squares and has a bunch of projects (including a couple of really ugly skirts) that was printed in the 70s. Truly retro.

Now that one project is done I think it must be time to start another...

Yikes!

Thank heaven for airbags! I was on my way to work this morning and wham! as I was driving through an intersection (where I had the right of way) a car pulled out in front of me to make a turn. She didn't make it and neither did I. Unfortunately, neither did our cars. But thankfully nobody was hurt. My poor car. I love my bug!

Here I go again...

Okay, so my sister tells me I need to get better at posting regularly and put some pictures of my crochet on as well. I will try to get better at posting, and have some pictures to upload later of an afghan that I am in the process of piecing. I have finished the squares and am stitching them together. Then I will get the border on and have it ready to take to my crochet guild meeting in a couple of weeks. I will post a picture of it when it is finished also.

Life is busy and the art museum has lots happening. We had the major opening for the late spring/summer show a couple weeks ago. And I was in Dodge City this weekend for a communicators conference. Lucky for us we missed out on the severe weather that ran through the central part of the state. However, we had a harder time getting home since we couldn't go back through Greensburg. That is a disaster, and I can't imagine what it must be like for those people who have lost everything.

Okay, so I have posted some pictures that make me happy. Most of the pictures on this blog are rather inane, but I like them. And I like pictures that have a happy feeling about them.