Getting my crochet on

So a friend of mine and I had recently discussed doing craft shows together. So we have our first one this weekend. Both days, Saturday and Sunday. I am so excited. I've been working night and day to make as much of my items as possible. I've got 2 blankets to show and sell. I've got slouchy hats, beanie hats, ear/head bands, boot cuffs, bath cloths, Christmas stockings, ruffle scarves etc.  I hope I do well. I love making things like this and I'd love for people to wear them and appreciate them. Its so nice to have a hobby that you can share with others. I put together a pattern book. Basically its a 3-ring binder with page protectors and patterns i've done or really want to do. So I put some pics of actual pieces I've done in there too and I put a little price sticker on the top of the page. I've divided the patterns into categories and have a table of contents etc. I got a package of sales order slips also so I'm really hoping to get a few pre-orders also. That would be wonderful. My friend has lots of duck tape accessories that shes been working on as well as some other great crafts. I sure hope we do well. I know we've both worked hard preparing for it. I spent some time setting up a mock table here in the craft room to get a feel for how I'm going to display everything. I have 3 styrofoam mannequin heads to use as well. I think that gives a more professional look. I hope so anyway.

 Ok well I'm off to get some more products done. I am trying to cram in as much as I can. I've got to bang out a couple more women's beanie hats. I'm thinking of doing a couple pairs of basic fingerless gloves also. We'll see if I get to those this time around.
Happy Hooking!!

Relieved

So I'm very happy to report the move is 99.9% done. Of course there are the customary few boxes that have not been unpacked and are tucked neatly into a corner in the basement. But thats mostly because I dont have the same spaces as the old house so I dont know yet where those things will take up residency in the new house. My two favorite areas of the house seem to be the kitchen, which I keep rearranging things in and making everyone crazy *insert evil grin*, and the downstairs classroom/craft room, which I also keep rearranging things in and making myself crazy. :) I think the kids and I are settling in nicely to the new house and to the homeschooling adventure. I absolutely love that the stress the kids had experienced all last year has disappeared. I love being able to work with them individually as well. I think it really helps them relax and focus more. I love incorporating fun into my lessons. You not only learn better when your mind is free and relaxed you make tons of memories. I admit by the end of dinner time I am usually very frazzled. Bed time cant come soon enough for me most days :) But its worth it. At least I'm stressed because I'm spending time with my kids. I'm very grateful to have them and I am completely blessed. The day will come (sometimes not as fast as I wish) when they are all grown up and moved out and wont need mom anymore and I know that I will look back at these days and despite the stresses, my heart will swell with love and memories.

I've been working like crazy lately to set up spaces at the holiday bazaars and craft fairs for the season. I have been making beanies, slouchies, earbands, Christmas stockings, potholders, bath puffs etc like a machine to make sure I have some stock to bring with me. I've also been working on the online store at Storenvy (see button in upper left). Taking photos of everything and setting up product descriptions is actually pretty time consuming. But it is all well worth it. This has always been a dream of mine.

I need to start scheduling some serious blog time. I really have to just pick a day of the week and carve a block of time. Thats on my to-do list this week. I wonder what day most of you blog on. Do you choose one day and stick to it or do you just blog whenever the mood strikes? Help me out friends :)

Moving.....BLAH

I seriously dislike....strongly dislike moving. I feel like I'm being pulled in so many different directions. I'm so frustrated and discouraged. We are officially moving tomorrow. I'm exhausted. I know tomorrow will be worse. My nephews are coming to help, which is awesome. They really are good kids. I'm finally falling asleep so this is a super short one.

Sickness

Well since around 8pm Monday night I've been sick. I was nauseous and had a major headache. I woke up a few hours later with severe shooting pains up my spine. I've been sleeping on and off since then. One minute I'm freezing the next I'm boiling up.  Moving hurts so badly. My hips, my spine, my shoulders and my head hurt so badly. I don't feel nauseous now but I'm just in pain and feel like crap. I don't understand what's happening. Its one thing to be sick. But this makes no sense to me. I don't know why I'm sick or what to do to feel better. Its very frustrating.  And so now about 20 minutes ago my poor Alexa woke up vomiting. Thankfully she's back asleep on the love seat (since I'm on the couch and can't climb the stairs). My poor baby.
Being down right now just isn't an option for me. There is a lot of stressful things going on right now and no one can take care of mom when I'm not. This is just a really bad time for me to be sick. And I just don't know what to do to feel better.

Retail Therapy

Spent some time today with my oldest daughter Alexa. She got a gift card to Toys R Us for her birthday so she has been dying to go shopping. I stopped into Michaels for some pen pal/filofax/swap supplies. Got some really great stuff on clearance I'm pretty excited about. Had some lunch together too. I love spending time with her. Shes a pretty fun kiddo to hang out with. :)

Projects

Lots of things I've failed to post the last several months. Working on many more.

Yikes....

I'm so ashamed I havent blogged in such a long time.
Ive had so much going on the last several months.

For starters Mom is not doing well. Her health has been getting a lot worse and the toll its taking on my family and I is starting to catch up to us. The doctors are pretty sure the cancer has spread elsewhere in her body. They found a mass on her liver and did a biopsy, we are still waiting for the results. In the meantime her parkinsons is getting worse and the skin cancer disease she has is getting very severe. :(

A couple of months ago we found out my sister has breast cancer, she had surgery to remove the masses and do a reconstruction of the healthy breast. While in surgery the doctor found masses in her healthy breast. So sometime during the winter she will most likely be having a full mastectomy. As for now she started radiation this past Monday and we are hopeful that will be effective.

I myself have had clear mamograms (thankfully). I have been going through a lot of neurological testing to determine what the cause of my migraines is. Thankfully its not a brain tumor, sadly it is Severe Chronic Migraine which is hard to treat. I am now taking 3 meds and still have had several sever flares since beginning treatment. I also have carpal tunnel in both wrists and will be meeting the doc in a couple weeks to plan surgery. Which means I wont be crocheting much during recovery. :( They also found a cyst inside my left knee so I am meeting an orthopedic surgeon to determine the course of action on that. :(

ITS BEEN A SERIOUSLY ROUGH COUPLE OF MONTHS!!

On a good note my kiddos are all healthy and happy. :) We have had a relatively good summer despite the health issues. We've had several great Cub Scout outings, which we always love. We did a week of Cub Scout Day Camp. I volunteered and the girls both got to attend also. We all 4 had a blast. It was a lonnnnnng week but so worth it. I havent been able to spend that much time with the kids in a long time and it was so fun. We've gone fishing on the boat several times. Alexa caught herself a nice fish. Yum!! We have a few more weeks til school starts....yay... I mean oh boy. :)

I had a dry spell with my crochet creating. It was horrible. I felt like I was in mourning. Thankfully I broke out it and got my Cro-Jo back. I've been working on a few projects. I will post them in another post later this evening. I have been corresponding with some new found pen pals, one from England and another from Australia. They are both wonderful ladies and we've had some fun getting to know each other. :)

Wow!!

Its been awhile. So much has been going on. Still taking care of mom. Its taking a toll. On me, my kids, my relationship. But we will make it through. Im trying to remain positive.
Its not the easiest thing to do. Ive got several projects going on right now. A groovyghan is among them. And I love it. So far its the most fun project ive had. Ive recently tried a sock loom which is very hard at first but I think im getting the hang of it. Ive also tried the knook which is fun but a little difficult to get used to. Maybe with a little more practice I'll get the hang of it. Ive also gotten some knitting needles and a book to see if maybe I can learn that too. I know it seems like a lot but I tend to bore easily so I need different things to keep my attention. So we'll see what I can learn lol. Ill post some pics of projects soon. For now ive got a sitter for mom and no children to worry about so the man has asked if id like to go out for dinner. I will never pass up an opportunity like that. :)

Looking for misery...

My oldest daughter causes me some confusion lately.  She is 8 years old and loves to be miserable. I just dont understand it. She had the perfect opportunity today to be spoiled without the annoyance of younger siblings. She had my undivided attention and she pouted and whined the whole time. Im annoyed and aggrevated. I dont understand why she just cant be happy with what she has. Example: we went sledding, great big hill, very fast and steep. Perfect!! She whined that the hill across the way was bigger and better and she wanted to go to that one. So we said ok but its not better. You will regret the choice but we arent coming back to this one. So we drove over and she immediately said it is smaller. She went down twice and then sat and pouted. So I asked if ahe was sledding or leaving. She choose leaving. Now she moping and pouting. How do I teach her to be happy with what she has? And to realize how blessed she is to have what she does? She always wants what everyone else has even if its not better than hers. I dont understand.  What have I done wrong?  Ive tried to teach my children these lessons but apparently ive failed. :(