Busy summer week!

Well, the younger guys both had baseball games tonight, so it was divide and conquer. Taylor and I took Trenton to his game(She got to drive!) Dad took Devin to his. The weather was soooo humid we just sat in piles of sweat, but the games were fun to watch.



Tennis lessons tomorrow, my yearly mammography tomorrow( my mom is a 22 year BC survivor....do your monthly check ups!), pool tomorrow. Can we get it all in? It's summer, of cours we shall prevail! LOL!



Friday, is the day I'm actually dreading the most this summer. My ex-husband and I are taking our oldest, Austen to his college orientation for the day. So picuture this; here is someone who I divorced more than 14 years ago and I have to ride with him and Austen; 2 and a half hours to Manhattan, KS where K-State is located. Then I have to sit with him all day through all the presentations. Next I have to eat lunch and dinner with him, finally I have to ride with him 2 and a half hours all the way back to KC. How I wish it was just Austen and me. What fun we would have. Anyways, I do want Austen to have a good time and enjoy exploring his university, so I will do my darndest to make it so.



Last but not least, KSU afghan update!!!!! Heh, heh, thought you were going to make clean get away, eh?

Argh!!!! Slow goin'! More KSU afghan.....

The afghan was sailing along, now I've hit the lettering. It's soooo slow and time-consuming. I want to get every color-change just and counting the right number of stitches is mind-numbing. I only got 2 rows done yesterday and only one-half of a row today.

Devin finished his baskeball camp yesterday and seemed to enjoy it. We have tennis lessons next week, but those are only for an hour Mon/Wed/Fri. Hopefully we'll get some pool time.

Taylor has had her full driver's license for over 2 weeks now and is just itching to drive more and more. It is sure nerve-wracking to watch her drive off. I don't settle down until the car is back in the garage.

DH starts for home tomorrow afternoon. He should be home early Monday morning. Hope he dosen't run into any of the storms.

Blog Award

Beansie Babbles gave me the Kreativ Blogger Award. Thanks so much of thinking of me!I don't know if my blog is creative, but I was noticing that I'm consistent. I'm up to 141 posts that spans almost 2 years.

The rules with this award are to:
1) List 7 things you love.
2) Link back to the person who gave you the award.
3) Pass it along to 7 other bloggers

Seven Things I Love:

my husband

my kids

my doggy

a McDonald's Diet Coke

Special Dark Chocolate by Hershey's

yarn

Puerto Rico

Seven Bloggers who are deserving of this award:

A mom living life

Crafty Ashley

Crafty Christina

Debbie -a1

Macrochet

Greyt Balls of yarn

Hooked on Yarn One Stitch at a Time!

These blog buddies of mine dserve a big kudos for all the great stuff you do with and without yarn in your lives!

KSU afghan update!

Couldn't wait to show you how far I've gotten and this isn't even the latest! I'm about 5 rows farther than this now. I'm past the mid-way point. WooHoo! I'm actually quite proud of myslf.; not only did I teach myself a new skill, but I'm sticking to this project and I just know it'll be done by the time DS leaves for school in August.

Weekend Update

This weekend has left me bushed! First of all, I have been single-parenting it because DH is at a seminar......sooooooI have been left with all household and parenting responsiblities!


Friday night my MIL(Bless her!) came and took me and the little boys out to dinner. We ate at Friday's. It was Trenton's pick, because afterall it was Friday.LOL. Then she said she would watch them at home while I did my grocery shopping, so I accepted in a flash and leisurely wandered around WalMart for the next hour or so.

Saturday, we did sleep in a little(if 8:00am counts as sleeping in!!!) Then Devin had a ball game at 3:00-4:30 then Trenton's game started at 6:00. we barely had time to come home, hog something down, then turn around and back to the ball park. it was absolutely beautiful weather, so I can't complain.

Sunday, I made good 'ole Bisquick waffles for breakfast, then laundry, housecleaning, quick trip to Target to pick up a gift bag, lunch. Devin had a b-day party at 2:30. Luckily, a nice mom offered him a ride because Trenton had ball practice at the same time. Austen started on the lawn while we were gone, then Taylor and I cleaned up the shed and rearranged all the bikes and toys, so eveything is neat and tidy. Dinner followed, then a quick visit to the batting cages, so they won't forget what they practiced and now we're home, sweet home. The guys are playing Wii, Taylor is being a pouty 16 year-old up in her bedroom, Austen is at the driving range hitting golfballs with a buddy.

Yawn......bath and bed... sounds good!

I have worked more on the KSU afghan, but won't bore you with a pic tonite. Then won't you be shocked when you finally see how much I've gotten done. When I need a break from taking out the big 'ghan I worked on this Sleepy Sarah ami. Thanks Owlishly for such a cute pattern!

Free Octopus Pattern!

Free Octopus pattern
by Caroline Chrisco


Materials:
Small amounts of ww yarn
“G” hook
9mm safety eyes
Fiberfill stuffing
Embroidery thread/needle

Small amount of pink felt

Do not join rounds; work in a continuous spiral
Magic circle; 6 sc in circle
Rnd. 1- 2 sc in each sc around(12sc)
Rnd. 2- 2 sc in next stitch then 1 sc; repeat around(18sc)
Rnd.3- 2 sc in next stitch then 2 sc; repeat around(24sc)
Rnd.4-2 sc in next stitch then 3 sc; repeat around(30sc)
Rnd.5-2 sc in next stitch then 4 sc; repeat around (36 sc)
Rnd. 6- 2 sc in next stitch then 5 sc; repeat around(42sc)
Rnd.7-2sc in next stitch then 6 sc; repeat around(48 sc)
Rnds -8 thru 15 sc around
Rnd. 16- *sc dec then sc in next 6 stitches* repeat around(42sc)
Rnd. 17-*sc dec then sc in next 5 stitches* repeat around(36sc)
Rnd.18-*sc dec then sc in next 4 stitches* repeat around(30sc)
Rnd. 19-*sc dec then sc in next 3 stitches* repeat around(24sc)
Rnd. 20-*sc dec then sc in next 2 stitches* repeat around(18sc)

This is where I stop and work on the facial features:

*Attach 9mm safety eyes(I attach in the middle and with about 9 stitches inbetween)
*Embroider mouth.
*Attach 2 felt circles for cheeks.
*Stuff.
Rnd. 21-*sc dec then sc in next 1 stitch* repeat around(12sc)
Finish stuffing, so you can shape it to a nice circle shape.
Rnd. 22- sc dec in every stitch around (6sc)
Fasten off, I weave my yarn tail in and out of every stitch(6sc) then gently pull inorder to completely close the hole up. Weave in tail.

Legs(make 8)

Using 2 strands of yarn:
Chain 20, then 3 sc in 2nd chain from hook; 3 sc in every stitch down the chain. It should start curling after the first few chains. Fasten off.

Attach all legs to bottom of body. I tend to put 4 on each side, so that it can sit evenly, but let me know if you find a better way.

More KSU progress.....

KSU aghan upate

KSU-graph 'ghan update

Well, there certainly is a learning curve for learning how to "graph-ghan" I frogged my first attempt after only 10 rows. I wasn't happy with some of my color changes and I have finally mastered bobbin usage and it really does help not to have 3-4 full skeins around the back of the afghan.

KSU afghan:

close-up of stitches:

Crafty Christina shared a wonderful story of how a big corporation came through for her and her hubby. Here's mine: My Dh was laid off about 6 months ago. Insurance was supposed to continue for 3o days after the termination. I already had dentist visits scheduled for the family and thought we would still be covered, but to make sure I called the insurance company the morning of the visit and verified that we would still be covered and they okayed everything. Forward to now, we just got a notice in the mail denying payment for those services rendered 6 months ago! The dentist visits cost more than $700. The insurance said they were revoking coverage retroactively. What? How can you give coverage one day and then 6 months later say "Oh BTW, we're taking it back!" Anyhoo...I called the insurance they gave me the liason for my husband's ex-company and she admitted it was a dumb error. Especially since it is on the insurance co. records that I called that morning and verified coverage. So the bill is going to be paid for. Wheww!

So far lil' guys 2.....big guys 0