The Citrus Collection complete. Ten scrubbies to help Tsunami victums.    ¶ 8:55 AM |

  Thanks I would like to thank each of you who posted on my blog your heartfelt wishes for me and my family. It means so much to me and I am touched my your offerings of generosity.

As things stand right now, we are still in a state of limbo. We are persuvering and know that one day we will look back and be greatful for the changes that have come into our lives. As you are going through the fire, however, it tends to skew your vision and it is hard to imagine a way out.

On the up side: I got a job! I will be practicing massage therapy in town. I am subcontracted out which leaves me great flexibility plus, her business is such that I have a built in client list which means I will be busy. Plus she is partnered up with a chiropracter so I get referals from her as well. Down side: I have to take another test! because I will be working with a chiropracter, I have to pass my CTA's (Chiropractic Therapist Assistant). I hate tests and was hoping after passing the Nationals that I was done. Nope, now I have to know about the chiropractic side as well. Knowledge is good.

I finished my goal of 10 scrubbies for the String Scrubbie Project 2005. And I met my deadline, by the first of April! so those are going out today as well as my flower swap packages. So look out Jess and Ulla you have goodies coming your way.

My husband has to be out of town for a few day because of the situation and I miss him already. He is really depressed and in need of a boost. I hope that this trip offers up the miricle that we need. Fingers crossed.

Peace all~
DAWN  ¶ 8:39 AM |

  Cloudy Days Ahead I just want to let those that regularly read my blog know that my family is going through a pretty serious crisis right now and so my blog may not be it's usual self. I will continue to post but can't promise anything.

I will continue to work on the swaps I'm in and I will participate in the Scarf Swap coming up (because I signed up and I like to follow through) but other than that I will have to bow out of future swaps until further notice.

I often blog about the bright side of things and being strong and full of good intentions and now it seems that I have to be a practitioner of those things as well so as not to loose sight of the important things in life. I am chanting on a regular basis "I am devinely protected and guided at all times" for now when I want to cry it is what gets me through.

Sorry this is so damn melancholy. Tomorrow will be better...
Peace all~
DAWN  ¶ 9:32 AM |

  Easter Monday (in Canada and the U.K.)   ¶ 9:26 AM |

 
The Tee Shirt rug in the kitchen. Foot provided for size reference only (not for esthetic purposes).   ¶ 4:25 PM |

  Here Comes Peter Cottontail. . . Hope everyone is having a great Easter/Spring Celebration. Very low key around here today. After finding out what the 'bunny' left in your basket and gorging on chocolate (and hiding and finding eggs--which we didn't do) what's left. . . . .

How about crafting?! As you can see from the above photo, I got busy and took 8 tee shirts that were bound for the goodwill and or garbage and recycled them into a Rug for my kitchen. My husband (who is great with tools, by the way) made me a weaving loom for it and me and the youngest went to it. It is made like the old school pot holders with the plastic peg loom. I feel good about how it turned out and the family is impressed with my never ending need to find new uses for old stuff. Now I just need 8 more t's so I can make one for the littlest dog....

I got a wonderful package in the mail yesterday from Cinfulkarmah. She had my name for the Spring yarn swap. She loaded me up with some nice goodies and some great yarn that is bound for glorious things. I am also thrilled because today I ordered some yarn from ebay from Alpaca Amore. It is 100% cotton from Peru. I've never used it but am looking forward to it's arrival because I have great plans for it. If I like it I will be ordering some alpaca from them, too. I love alpaca. It is one of my all time favorite yarns. If I had the land, I would own some Alpacas and I would make my own yarn. I say that because I've never tried it. However, I might want to eat those words if it truely came to pass.

Peace all~
DAWN  ¶ 4:10 PM |

 
Beautiful flowers from Jess! She did an amazing job with the flowers and included lots of extra goodies for me. Thank you!    ¶ 3:16 PM |

  I Caved! Uh! I have no will power. Even though I am in the Yarn Swap at Crochetville and am swapping with 2 people, I still can't resist buying some yarn for myself. It is a sickness. I've been ordering yarn for my partners and I was doing good and then all of a sudden, I couldn't take it anymore. I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and BOUGHT YARN! Since I'm doing scrubbies for the String Scrubbie Project and since HL had Sugar 'n Cream on sale for .99 cents, well. . . I also got somemore thread to finish up my Flowers for the flower swap and some embroidery floss for Betty Boop! I'm also bidding on some stuff on e-bay. I am totally weak.

Since my youngest (I have to refrain from calling him 'my little one' cause he's 9 now) only has a couple of more days of spring break, we are going to see dad at work today so he can have lunch with his youngest. He asked him the other day, "dad, can I go to work with you sometime?" Dad, is in the military so it's not likely. We have to settle for lunch in the little cafeteria. Mmmmmm. Maybe it's 'wrap' day and they will have a good one on the menu.

My dad has gone to N.C to visit his siblings for the weekend. I think he needed a break from grandson sitting while we were gone. He said they were great. Still, when you are not use to being responsible for 3 boys and then all of a sudden you are, it can be overwhelming.

For all you Ramen Noodle fans (and you know who you are) here is a link for you:

The Official Ramen Homepage

Who know such a thing exhisted. I may have to try some of these, cause when the mood strikes me, I love a package of Ramen noodles, oh yes I do.

Okay, I have projects to get done so I am not banned from joining swaps anymore (hehe). Have a great day everyone.

Peace all~
DAWN

  ¶ 10:39 AM |

  The Citrus Collection Oh, I'm so happy. I found a charity that is set up to help Unicef bring aide to the victums of the tsunami in Thailand. Check it out: The String Scrubbie Project. To show you I am serious. . .I made 3 dishclothes last nite and my goal is 10 for this month.



I love them, they are so bright and cheery! I'm not even an orange person but am drawn to these. I have somemore of the daisy ombre and some with blues and greens and white. I hope that gets me at least 4 more. Then I may get some solid color cotton. Anywho. . .

I'm not sure what is up with Denise's link from yesterdays post. It was working in the morning and by the afternoon the webpage is kaplooie. It still is not up. Damn!!!! She has a ton of doilies I have yet to make!

The kids have dentist appointments this afternoon and I plan on waiting them out by making more dishclothes. Hmmmm, good thing I found that charity. I hate taking big projects out in public cause there is soooo muchhh crap to drag with. The yarn and the bag to hold the yarn and the pattern that always falls and shift and it's just to much drama. Inevitably you get into the pattern and your wait is over and you have to pack it all up and try to remember your place. Small projects rule for public displays of crochet. You can quote me on that, if you want.

I love love love my Hq It's on online bookmark manager and it holds tons of patterns and links and source pages for me without cluttering up my bookmark on my computer. Great tool!!

Okay, now for a personal note [cause my sister reads my blog though she doesn't crochet--she loves me:)]. She and her girlfriend where in Florida for vacation last week and the day before they came home her house was broken into and ransacked!! thankfully nothing that they no of was taken but tons of stuff was destroyed. Furniture and knick knacks, electronics. The stupid f***er that did it drank a bottle of liquer and trashed their home, puked on their carpet and left. They know who did it and yet the cops won't do anything because it is "your word against his". I'm not even going to go into how pissed off that makes me cause my keyboard may burst into flames! let me just state that I guess it really is only on T.V that they take samples, of say puke i.e vomit, and match it to the suspect. Why oh why can't Grisom and his team of CSI be real and fighting for the little guy?

I love you! "K" and I hope things get better. "R" says he'll kick his ass if he sees him. God help us all! on that ironic note. . .

Peace all~
DAWN  ¶ 10:28 AM |

  Just a Little Something Yesterday I was in the mood to work with some thread so I found this mini doily pattern http://www.denisecrochets.com/ and went to town. In about an hour I had my lovely mini doily! It is so cute....



Enjoy your day. I have errands to run and laundry to do (see previous post--ugh!)

Peace all
~DAWN  ¶ 9:34 AM |

  practice emboidery
practice emboidery
Originally uploaded by DawnsRays.

This is my practice embroidery.

  ¶ 1:05 PM |

  First Day of SPRING!! Jump for Joy Well, lets start with the movie review, shall we: **** 4 stars out of 5. This was a really good 'take the family to a movie' flick. It was funny and cute. Not a big brain buster, but then again, it's not supose to be. Vin Diesel is so good in this role and as he becomes more ennamered by the children he becomes more endearing. Not to mention, there is a nice shower and towel scene that I'm sure was put in just for the moms who took there kids. Nice little 'thank you'. The kids in the movie were great. Not overly cute where you want to puke, but fairly realistic. I just didn't buy the principal of the school played by Gilmore Girls "Lorali". Not that she isn't a good actress, but not believable as principal.

Okay, now on to the above photo. This is the embroidery I wrote about earlier in the week. Not bad considering that I haven't embroidered in about 5 years or so. Just a simple stencle design to get me back in the saddle. I have a nice white cotton tank that I'm gonna do next. My son drew me a nice Betty Boop and I want to put it in the center with some glitzy stuff around the neckline. In my head it is pretty cool looking; let's just hope I can pull it off.

It is laundry day here at this house. In every bedroom my kids have mounds of laundry that they need to do. If the washer can handle all the abuse it is gonna get today then I say Sears you are the man! I had to implement a schedule cause this is rediculous. So starting next week each kid has a laundry day. Mine is Monday and this here marathon is gonna interfer with it, I just know it.

Okay, I have to make a Wal-mart run with the husband. We are grilling out because it is the first day of Spring, by God and we are gonna ring it in no matter how crappy the weather is!!! I suggest you do the same and maybe if we all pretend that it is nice and sunny and spring-like it will actually happen. If Kevin Costner can do it with baseball, I figure we can do it with the weather. "Grill out and Spring will come."

Peace all
~ DAWN  ¶ 10:30 AM |

  I have been spending a lot of time last nite and today over at Crochetville's new home just playing around and trying to figure out how all the gizzmos work. I finally have an avitar that I like and I figured out after a long time that you could not post a picture as part of your signiture. Man, that about wore me out last nite. Then I read the FAQ post about it and it explained why they weren't allowing pictures there. Makes sense.

We are going to see The Pacifier later this afternoon. We promised the kids when we got back from Vegas that we would all go and see it. I'm looking forward to it. I'll let you all know how it was tomorrow.

I have also been working like crazy on the Cocoon Sweater that I started before our trip. I have decided to alter the stitch pattern and I probably won't make the sleeves long. Maybe 3/4 length. I haven't gotten that far yet. So far I'm on the collar section and it is looking so good. I have had to tweek this pattern so much for my taste and fit. I am writing changes down as I do them in case I really like how it turns out and want to make another one.

Also, I have come up with a tiny flower for the swap that I'm gonna turn into something special for each of my gals. So far they are getting about 3 different "flower items" in all. If I keep this up, it may end up being more. No, I think 3 plus a little somethin' somethin' will be plenty. I just can't wait to share so I need to finish up. Who am I kiddin'-- I probably won't be done till the first part of April. That is what happens when you do more than one project at a time.

Peace all
~ DAWN
  ¶ 2:49 PM |

  Luck of the Irish! HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!!

I am a lot Irish, so I wish you all a great St. Patty's day and toast all of my friends and family with a Guinness (cause dark beer rules!).

In honor of this day I am preparing an Irish Stew with lots of fresh veggies and a red wine base, mmmmm. And because it snowed and all the kids are home today (that is Irish luck, for sure) I also made a big batch of chocolate chip cookies. I feel so domestic today.

I started on some embroidery, which I have not done in a long time. I have a ton of floss and a ton of ideas so I figure I better put them to use. I also finished one of the "flowers" for the flower swap. It is the cuttiest damn thing I have seen in awhile. It worked up pretty fast so each of my swappies are getting two!! I will post a picture when I get them in the mail. I also started on one of these (Beth's Little Star Afghan). It is so cute and works up so fast. Some crocheter's over at Craftster.org are working on it and I love the results so I thought I'd give it a try. Some have been complaining that the pattern is confusing but I have to say--it is really straight forward to me--no problem. But I also don't have a hard time following patterns, so. . . anyhow, I'm using up the extra yarn from the Granny baby blanket. Jewels asked the final size of the baby blanket; it is 38 inches squared. There are 28 rows and a half dc boarder. I used a J hook and w.w yarn. Thank you for all the kudos on the blanket (smile)

Enjoy something Irish today (even if it's just Lucky Charms) and give someone not wearing green a little pinch -- a cute guy would be my first choice -- have a great one!!

Peace all
~ DAWN  ¶ 3:09 PM |

 
Claire's baby blanket!!   ¶ 11:18 AM |

  It's a wrap (actually a blanket) I finished the baby blanket yesterday!! I love the way the colors look together. I will get it in the mail by the end of the week and hopefully the little recipient will love it for years.

This morning I had my six month check up and cleaning at the dentist (uhge) and happily I report no work needed so I won't have to go back for six more months. My kiddos get their check ups next week and I hope they are as lucky. I hate going to the dentist. Hate it. This time I got a little bonus and got some gritty toothpolish in my eye as well as in my mouth. That will teach me to keep my eyes open... man, it was a little tingly for a while.

Today I will begin my flower "surprise" and I hope they go quickly so maybe I can make a few for each of my swappies. I also need to get busy and get some more yarn for that swap as well. I have some that I purchased before I knew who my gals were, now I need to get some "good sutff". I also joined the spring scarf swap. I love to swap. I already know what pattern I'm gonna use, too. I think I know what yarn, but I will have to wait and get the info from that one to be sure it will work with her taste. If not, that yarn will be for me ;)

blah, blah, blah.....I won't waste your time with ramblings today, have a great day and remember SPRING, they say, is only a few short days away!!!! damn it, it better be...

Peace all
~ DAWN  ¶ 11:08 AM |

  Home Sweet Home Ah, it feels so good to be home. There is nothing like your own bed with your own pillows and all your stuff surrounding you. It really is important to make your home your haven. Paint your walls, frame your art, set out all the stuff that makes you happy and live in your homes!

I swear I am almost done with this baby blanket (hallelujah!). Just one more round and the edgeing. . . then I'm sending it off to baby land. Unfortunately for me, I will still have plenty of this darn yarn left to make another one. I was hoping this blanket would use it up. Oh well, it gives me a chance to make a star shaped baby blanket to donate to charity. The colors are cool together; you will see that for yourself in a few days, god willing.

I am so happy! (this is the part where if I were in a movie, I would be tossing flowers into the air) I finally found the perrrfect pattern for the flower swap (happy dance). I have one of my items done and I wanted to do one more for good measure and I came upon this pattern this morning while surfing the net cause of my withdrawal symtems. I'm going out this afternoon to get the color thread that I need. I can't wait to make one to see how it turns out!!!

I want to give a big shout out to Hilary Denise!! Thank you so much for the raok! She sent me a cute note with the cutiest black bunny fridgie and a really nice crochet madallion on a keyring. Love it!

Who else of you out there are going to be picking up a copy of The Incredables today? hmmm, admit it, it was damn funny and that baby and his powers in the end, whoa! gotta add it to the collection. And, Medium blew me away last nite. I love that show. I also love the fact that Patricia looks like a real woman and hasn't been forced to loose so much weight that she resembles a stick with boobs. Plus she dresses like a normal person without all the clevage and trendy crap. I could go on, but. . . if you haven't watched the show, just see it once at least. For dealing with the paranormal, it is more real than alot of shows out there.

Okay, must crack whip
must get things done
must, must, must

Peace all~ DAWN  ¶ 10:59 AM |

  I'm Baaack! Well, we made it back from Vegas in one piece. It was crazy at the end because of all the race fans that pounced on the city for the Vegas Nascar race yesterday.

We had such a great time! very relaxing for my husband (who obviously needed some time away from the office). We saw Celine Dion -- which was a great show! and we ate at some awesome restaurants. My favorite in Vegas is Fiammas in the MGM hotel. It is the BEST!! The service is always great and they don't rush you and you can't beat the delicious food. Put it on your "to do" list if you ever go. We also went to Red Rock Canyon. The whole week was gorgeous. Blue skies and 80 degree tempts. We had to find a Target so we could buy shorts for the hike. The canyon was beautiful! Took tons of photos and will post a few later. We could have spent a week just hiking through the canyon! I would love to be able to camp out there just once! The only wildlife we spotted was a tortoise and a roadrunner. I tried to get the road runners picture but by the time my husband finished backing the car up and I opened the camara lense and finally could focus because of the glaring sun, well, he was gone. What bird wants to sit through all that drama? I was hoping for some wild burros or some big horned sheep, oh well, at least we didn't run in to any snakes (that we know of).

No crocheting for a week! who knew I had that kind of will power. We kept busy pretty much of the time and when we did make it back to the hotel, all I wanted was a shower and to put my tired tootsies up. I read on the plane but I did spot two young women coming back-- one was knitting and one was crocheting. Also, saw tons of ponchos!! and saw this lady in the Vennitian who was hand painting some masks who had on a lovely crocheted shawl. I sat there eating my gelato and staring at her back trying to figure out the dimensions and the stitch pattern and with a little luck and some swatching, I may have it!! I'm so twisted, I hope no one saw me and thought I was a perve or something.

Well that about does it for now. You know how it is when you come back from a trip (especially if you leave the kids home). Tons of laundry and picking up to do. By the way, the kids where great and no one lost life or limb while we were gone. My dad did say that my little one missed us terribly and was super happy we were back. He even saved a little debbie for me and my husband to share and left a note threatening the older two if they touched it. Wow, that's love.....

Peace all!!
~ DAWN  ¶ 11:44 AM |

 
That is my puppy, Timber (he's not really a puppy I just call him that--he is 5 years old and has freckles in his ears) he's so cute.   ¶ 8:43 AM |

 
Timber and Buster sitting pretty for a treat.   ¶ 8:41 AM |

  What to Pack?! We're leaving tomorrow so I won't be blogging for a week. This is the part I hate about traveling.....what to pack!! You have to have casual clothes, dressy, warm, cool. It's a freakin' nitemare trying to narrow it down to get a weeks worth of clothes (and shoes) into one bag. Then there is your carry-on and what all you want with you and can you cram it all into the correct size bag and then can you lift the bag and drag it around the airport. If I were a seasoned traveler and did this as a regular routine for my job, it would be a no brainer. Oh, and I left out something very important. Not over stuffing your suitcase so you can fit in the extras that you inevitably buy while your away....
I'll work it out, don't you worry.

Speaking of worrying. . .I'm leaving my kids for a week! 2 teenagers and a 9 year old! My poor father is the one that is in charge of this little group. How thrilling for him. My youngest is so afraid that his grandpa will forget to pick him up at school (especially Friday, cause they get out early) he is constantly reminding him and is planning on leaving notes all over the house for him. Because he is worrying it's making me worry. My husband just says, "knock it off". Men.

I began a new project for myself called the "cocoon sweater" for a shrug CAL at crafters.org. There are no pictures really to go with this pattern and the size gauge is a total guess so this is a total experiment. I will keep you posted on the progress.

How do you like the doggie pictures? The white german shepard is my baby and the beagle is my husbands. Well, he really belongs to Timber the german shepard but . . . I love my puppies!!

Hope ya'll have a great weekend and week and I, well frankly, I'm gonna have a blast. Look forward to catching up when I return....until then, play nice
Peace~ DAWN  ¶ 8:13 AM |

 
Mesh wrap from RH Symphony and Wool Ease sport   ¶ 12:08 PM |

  Oh is it a beautiful day out; cold but pretty. The sun is shinning and the wind is down. So much better than the cloudy day we had yesterday. Bonus. . . no snow!!

Here is a photo of the 'mesh wrap' that I was working on. I'm taking it on the plane and I think it will be nice with jeans and a tee-shirt if I need it while in Vegas. It is so warm and fuzzy and soft.

I'm still waiting for a couple of books to arrive so I have something to read on the plane. If they don't get here in time I will have to pick something off my bookshelf (it's not like I don't have a multitude of books to choose from, but I was looking forward to one of the two that I'm expecting). Plus, I need to figure out what I want to work on crochet wise while I'm waiting for the husband to get out of his meetings. He'll be out by lunch time which gives me the mornings to crochet and wonder around and then we have from the afternoon on for ourselves. Yippie.

My sons fever broke last nite, thank goodness. At one point his face was so red and his eyes so glassy he looked aweful. His temp at one point was 103! after some tylenol and a cold wash cloth he went to sleep and woke up with natural color and clear eyes. He still sounds like shit though.

Hope you all have a wonderful and prosperous day!!
Peace~ DAWN

  ¶ 11:55 AM |

  Good God, Look at all that Snow! NOT! we had a dusting of snow. It covered the cars and little patches in the grass that was it and yet the people of my county decided that it was just TOO much and canceled school. My two teenagers are loving Tenn. If we were still in Minot, it could be 2 feet of snow and they would still have to go to school. My poor little guy had to go, though. City schools say screw you, get your kids to school!

I now have 5 rows plus the edging on the baby blanket (I'm not sure it will get done before we leave on Saturday). I made a total of 3 book thongs yesterday and today I am working on a wrap to take on the plane with me and to wear in Vegas if it gets chilly. I love the Symphony yarn by RH it is so freakin' soft!! I'm pairing it with my second favorite yarn Woolease sport in Blue Mist. I say it is my second fav. because I have bought a ton of this yarn in the last six months for various projects. I love the color (obviously). Hope to have this done by tonite so I can show you tomorrow.

Got my swap partners for the Flower Swap. Ulla and Jess, yeah! I have a couple of ideas already but will have to wait to get started after I get back.

My middle son has a bad cold...really sore throat, so todays day off from school should do him some good. He sounds horrible. So far we have all had something in this house so I'm hoping this is the end. Seems like January and February are terrible for sickness.

Oh, I got my Pattern Works catalog yesterday in the mail! I love that catalog. I refer back to it all the time and drool over the patterns and the yarn. It is such a good "dream" book. They have a couple of yarns in there that I have my eye on for the yarn swap. I just need to get my partners for that and I can make a decision.

Have a great day all!!!

Peace~ DAWN  ¶ 10:52 AM |