It's Tuesday?

Where'd the weekend go?

Anyway...Here's what I've been up to: CROCHET. Like crazy. I've crocheted two sets of wrist warmers, and I'm working on David's mittens today.

And...I think that a giant came by last night, flipped my house upside down while we were all sleeping, and then stole the bag of energy I had sitting in my kitchen. There are toys everywhere, dirty clothes in various corners of my house, and it looks like the kids' room was tossed about the most. Ah well...I guess Tuesday just became Clean It Day.

I told you I bought some beautiful wool. Well, I spun that beautiful wool and then crocheted it into two wrist warmers. I love it. I've never made anything for myself with my own handspun wool.

And, here are the photos my computer finally allowed me to upload...

Enter Fall...PLEASE

According to some natives here in NC, it's fall. What? Fall? Ok, yes, some mornings, while waiting for the school bus to come, we can see our breath and feel the chill, but by mid afternoon, we're back in the 80's...

I'm in Fall mode. I want to bundle up in my sweater and sit on the back porch, enjoying the nip in the air. I want to clean out our firepit so we can roast marshmallows and drink hot cocoa.

I also want to decorate the house for the holidays that are coming up, but this makes me anxious. I know that sounds bad, but I keep thinking "More stuff to take care of..." and I avoid the aisles that are selling halloween decor and mums. sigh... I would love to get a little flag pole to hang seasonal flags from, but I'd probably forget to change the Christmas flag to the Easter flag...or the Spring flag would end up staying up all year long...

I can't believe Evie will be a year old in two months...Has it really been that long? She's got eight teeth...I swear last week she was only six months old!

Rosa is learning how to spell her name. I'll write it out and she'll copy. So far, we've accomplished making squiggly lines and circles...

And David came home with a note from his teacher this week. It read "David is a pleasure to have in class". He's recognizing words in books when I read to him...

Me? I've been spinning wool. I bought some of the softest wool in the world from a lady in the UK. It's the color of fall leaves...I may keep it and make myself some wrist warmers. I absolutely love the colors. And I've yet to make myself something with the wool I spin.

And one of these days, when my camera decides that it will allow my computer to upload photos, I will post some cute stuff here. :)

I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Home!

We went to my family's house this weekend! And we celebrated my mom's 45th birthday (you would never guess she's 45...), hung out with brothers, uncles, grandmas, and dads. We made cupcakes! And a birthday banner out of fabric. I drank more coffee than I have in two months, and ate like a pig.

I also got a huge bag of pretty clothes from my mom...I needed clothes so desperately! And these are girly clothes! Not my normal jeans and crappy, ten year old t-shirts!

The kids had a blast, and so did I. It was so nice to get away for a little while. To play with the kitties and Miss Ginger, the pappion (sp?).

But, it IS nice to be home...I missed my kitty, my doggie (my BIG doggie...), my chickens, and my lamb. The lamb greeted us when we got home with a pretty little bleat. We had our pasture mowed, so I can actually see her...

It's school tomorrow and back to the normal routine, but I'm looking forward to it. Now, I think I may go curl up on the couch and read some books my mom gave me...

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

It's Been A Long Time...

...And I miss writing. :(

Well, let's see...A few new things have happened since I wrote last. I'll start with the first, and most exciting!

David started school! No, not homeschool like we planned (I'll explain later...), but public school! He's been in school for three weeks now, and I have to say that I like the way we went about it. We were late enrolling him, but the transition has been very smooth. He had two full days the first week, three full days the second week (he was sick for two...), and this week he'll have three and a half days. Next week: A full five days! The days are long for him, but he comes home and gets a snack, and a little rest, and he's back to his old self again.

Rosa's not so sure how to take David being away all day long. She has become quite demanding of my attention, and very bossy, as well. Evie just goes along with the days. She's a trooper. :) Eats, sleeps, plays on her belly, rolls around, and eats and sleeps some more.

Me? Well, I hit a rough patch. A very rough patch. My brain is swiss cheese, so I'm not sure if I said anything in a blog entry, but I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder in March of this year. Let's just say I hit a wall, and reality hit me back. I spent five months in complete denial, which isn't exactly the best way to cope. I'd been on meds that weren't doing anything, and I wasn't getting the help I needed. And to be honest, I don't remember much of the past five/six months. My husband, out of desperation, called my mom, and my mom called me and I spent a good week just crying. It was a mess.

Needless to say, my wonderful mother was loving and firm, just the right kind of medicine I needed. I did more research on living and coping with Bipolar Disorder, and requested that I switch meds. I was plagued with suicidal thoughts, the inability to function, and depression. I am now on Seroquel XR, and am happy to say that I think these meds are working. I woke up yesterday (I've been taking them for a week now...), and felt like a new person. I wasn't elated, or overly joyful. I just felt good. When I first started the new meds, I was tired...soooooo tired. They kicked my butt. But, yesterday, I woke up at six am, and actually stayed awake the rest of the day. I cleaned my very, very, VERY messy house, which felt good. My poor kitchen. My poor bedroom. My poor living room.

The anxiety attacks have become less frequent, and I'm able to fully face the mistakes I've made. I'm taking it nice and slow. But, I'm keeping my hopes up and doing my best to stay positive.

As far as homeschooling goes, I had to be completely honest with myself. I simply can not do it right now, as much as I want to. I don't have the patience, I don't have the organization, and I don't have the resources. Is homeschooling out of the question for the future? Absolutely Not. And I think David is for the better. He's making friends, and he's learning. He came home yesterday, and without my help, he wrote "Do Homework" on a piece of construction paper. All by himself! When he showed me, my jaw dropped. His teachers are great, which is a bonus, because for the longest time, I thought only I could be his best teacher. (I have control issues...)

*sigh*

So, for the next few months, it's going to be all about catching up on immunizations, reading to my babies, getting the girls immunizations on schedule, and enjoying enhancing David's education after school. I'm even gettting back in the mood for some good home-cooked meals. I've been raiding my cookbooks and the internet for good recipes. :)

My word for the year was Adventurous. I think that may change. I think there will be a lot of changes to come. God Bless.

Staying On Top of Things

It's barely working. I feel, sometimes, I'm standing on top of the tallest pile of junk and is swaying from side to side.

I know it's been a long time since I've written anything. It's just one more thing I've been neglecting, or avoiding (I'm not sure which...). We've done so much these past months, too. We've been to the beach twice. We've had family up from Chile. I celebrated my birthday (best birthday EVER!!). I received my spinning wheel, my dad bought me all sorts of spinning goodies, and my mom bought me House dvds. I think I'm in heaven. :)

We also start homeschooling this September! I will take it day by day. I get very anxious over this. I am personally responsible for my children's education, and I can't fail them.

Evie was Christened this past weekend, and very typical of me, I brought my camera, but the batteries died by the time we reached the parking lot of the chirch. I have been using rechargable batteries, but they were dead, so I popped in some batteries from my cd player. I dropped the camera into the diaper bag, and when I pulled it out to get some photos taken of Evie, the camera was on. So, the batteries died within fifteen minutes. Not a single photo taken for such an important day...

So, that's been my week. :) I've come to realize that my life isn't all that crazy. But I am. :)

Something Positive

I try to do at least one thing per day that makes *ME* feel good. Sometimes it's just sitting on the back deck, counting the airplanes at night, when the babies are put to bed.

I've compiled a list of things that bring a little bit of peace at the end of the day.

1.crochet
2. reading sappy love stories
3. listen to music on my cd walkman thingy
4. talking to my dad
5. getting and reading an email from my mom
6. scratching my dog's ears
7. cuddling with my husband
8. eating a milky way candy bar
9. sipping chamomile tea
10. doing my nails

That's just ten of my favorite things to do before going to bed! What are yours?

I'm A Mess

No, really. I am.

I'm just one big, blobby mess with crochet hooks and knitting needles stuck in my hair.

I went out on Friday and bought 4 douple pointed needles (DPN's) and two skeins of some fairly soft yarn (my budget doesn't always allow enough for silk and rubies, ok?) and some stitch markers.

I came home. The end. No no no, I'm kidding! Actually, I sat down that night, and tried my hand at knitting socks. It took me about thrity minutes to figure out the needles, how to connect the needles and yarn to complete a circle, bla, blah, blah. WELL. I got all the way down to where the guuset (or instep gusset or whatever. THE HEEL.) and TOTALLY MESSED IT UP. I am just not getting the whole turn the heel and gaps and...sigh. I'm not asking for help. I probably couldn't understand anything anyone tried to explain to me, because I must learn by seeing.

There's always the tube sock. I can decrease esy enough for the toe, but I've always hated tube socks. And I need a row counter.

And Joe says he wants a pair of socks first. And he said they can be tube socks, if I wanted them to be. Isn't he sweet? In other words: He doesn't care how they turn out, he just wants to wear something I made for him. And he's ALWAYS comparing me to his grandma, who knitted and crocheted her days away, so he's sitting there, giving me pointers like he knows something. I asked him if he would like to try to make his own socks. He, of course, said no. So much for the sweet stuff. :)

And then there's this:

Mama's neglecting her kids so she can knit. Again. I once read, in a quilting magazine, how this mother, right after moving in to a new house with her family, tried quilting. It made me feel a little bit better. She stated that she sat in the living room, listening to her children play, and before she knew it, it was lunch time. Once the sandwiches were made, she sat down in her empty living room again, and worked on her quilt and before she knew it, it was dinner time.

*sigh*

I try not to do that, but there have been days, when the kids are playing so nicely, and I'm buried in learning something new, and before I know it, it's meal time and the kids are hanging off couch arms, and flinging themselves around, moaning, "I'm so hungry, I'm gonna die of 'tarvating'". (That's a direct quote.)

I have just finished up my science paper. Thank goodness. It nearly killed me, mentally. Really, I'm totally worn out! I have to keep telling myself that it'll be over before I know it. And guess what my academic advisor told me? His exact words were "D's get degrees". WHAT?! Is that their philosophy? sheesh. I'd hate myself if I got a C, let alone a D. You're telling a clinically diagnosed perfectionist that D's get degrees?!?!?! Ok. My lowest grade so far is a B-. It's better than a D, but I know I could've probably done better than that. Like, a lot.

Yesterday, on the wonderful day of America's Independence, I got sick of a tree just laying there in my driveway. We have a couple of trees growing right next to our deck, and by this time next year, they would have cracked a couple of railing pieces, so I took it upon myself, about a week ago, to get these trees gone. GONE! Well, it didn't work out as well as I'd plan. I broke the shovel. (Who makes shovels with fiberglass handles, anyway?!) So it was laying sideways in my yard for a week. Yesterday evening, as the fireworks were exploding in the sky above me (a lot of the people down here do their own firework displays), I poured gasoline on the roots of the tree and said "You're goin' down!!" Within twenty minutes, I had that stinkin' tree outta the ground and in our burn pile. Haha! I love trees, and I do plan on planting some in our sideyard, but I really hate trees that grow right next to my deck and then refuse to come out.

So, I hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day, and if Sarah Palin runs in 2012, I hope you vote for her. Not because she's a woman, but because she is one awesome conservative that can, if it's not too late, turn this country around and get America back on her feet. I won't get too deep, I promise. I have a slight obssession about politics in this country and I can get pretty riled up. But, if you like to hear the truth, visit www.marklevinshow.com and download his radio show.

Well. I better go knit some socks before I get myself all ruffled up. Have a great Sunday!