What I've Been Up To...

Sometimes I can be quite spacey.  The week before Thanksgiving, dh and I went to visit a friend of mine from long ago when I was in the navy.  We hadn't seen each other since March 1986!  The visit went great!  There are some people that were just meant to be friends.  After not seeing her for 23 years, it was just like I had seen her the week before, I mean there wasn't a sense of unease or anything.  I brought my camera with me but as I mentioned earlier, I'm spacey at times and the camera stayed packed away.  I brought her and her husband slippers I crocheted and usually I take pictures of all my crochet projects but these slipped by; did I mention that I can be spacey? lol....
Thanksgiving was great.  Unfortunately my dil had to work and wasn't able to have the meal with us.  I had son take a plate to her so at least she was able to have some of the food.  Both of my sons, the ggd and dh's mom shared a pretty good meal (if I may say so myself :) ) with dh and me.  I didn't stress about fixing the food this year.  I started baking pies and making side dishes earlier in the week and popped them into the freezer until Thanksgiving morning.  We had  our meal a bit later in the day, 5 p.m., and that helped out a lot too.  Also, I trimmed a few extra dishes off the menu.  For years, I had tried to replicate the Thanksgiving meals of my childhood even though those meals were put together by numerous ladies in the family and not just one person (me).
I'm still crocheting.  My focus is on the traditional slippers I make for most family  members and friends every Christmas.  Instead of taking a picture of each pair, I'm going to wait until they're all finished and then take a picture of the entire batch of 'em. I'm also making a mat out of scrap yarn for the dogs to lay on the floor with to keep warm.
I hope that all of you had a great Thanksgiving.  Best wishes to all.  Hugs....

Tomb of the Unknowns Dedicated This Day in 1921

On this day, November 11, 1921, U.S. President Warren Harding dedicated the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. On March 4, 1921, Congress approved a resolution providing for the burial of an unidentified American soldier, following the custom adopted by other allied countries after World War I. The site was to be the plaza of Arlington National Cemetery’s Memorial Amphitheater, which had been dedicated the previous year.

     On Memorial Day, 1921, an unknown was exhumed from each of four cemeteries in France. The remains were placed in identical caskets and assembled at Chalon sur Marne.  Ultimately they were interred at Arlington.  Then on Memorial Day, May 28, 1984, President Ronald Reagan presided over the interment ceremony for the Vietnam Unknown service member.
     To read about the history of this monument, go to this army page.

I'm Slow so Sue Me lol...Here's Halloween Pics

Here's a few pictures of Halloween at our house.  My daughter-in-law is the little devil and my son is the handsome fellow with her.  You can see ggranddaughter and granddaughter. Ray and ggranddaughter posed with the giant tomato.  The dogs also dressed up so that they wouldn't be caught nekkid by other trick-or-treaters! Hope you received more treats than tricks...

Slippers for Me

Here is a picture of a pair of slippers I recently made for myself.  I was going to put these aside for a Christmas gift but the yarn (I bought it on clearance) was cut in several places so I had to join it 4 times in 1 slipper grrrrr...The yarn I used is I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby.  Normally, this is a great yarn to work with--soft and doesn't split.  This is the same pattern I usually use for slippers and you can find it here.

Ma & Pa Kettle Do Math

Do you need a laugh?  Watch the following video clip of Ma and Pa Kettle working math problems; it had me laughing.  Sometimes it is good to find some silliness to laugh about, and this should do it.  I hope you enjoy this too.  Hugs....

Dishcloth Crocheted from Left-Overs

Hi everyone.  This is a dishcloth I made a while back but didn't post a picture of.  It's really made out of some left-over cotton yarn from another project and some white (cotton) I had.  Not too bad of an idea for a dishcloth.  It is one that I am keeping to use in my own kitchen.  I made a chain the length I wanted the width of the cloth to be.  The 1st and last rows were sc and the rows in the middle were dc.  One row of sc with white was made around  the circumference. In this example, I made an equal number of rows for each color.  I hope you enjoy.  Hugs...

Finally Home

I was recently pretty sick and went to the emergency room dark and early Monday morning.  Today (Thursday), around 5PM I was finally discharged from the hospital.  I just wanted to say "Thank You" to my wonderful family and friends.  You kept the phone wires burning to cheer me; or you who were close came to visit.  You all kept my spirits up and really shortened my stay in the hospital with  the prayers you made on my behalf.  I love you all.... Sharon

Gift Cards and Christmas

My thought for the day is about gift cards. For birthdays and Mothers' Day and Fathers' Day I think cards are a great idea. Christmas is a whole different ball game.  I picture all of us trading gift cards like they were baseball cards-- "I'll trade you a Wal-mart card for a Kohl's card." Do you see what I'm talking about? Kids who don't necessarily buy Christmas gifts are an exception to my theory. It would be fun to give a child a gift card for a present with a promise to take them out to eat and on a shopping excursion so they can get what they want. I've been considering doing that for my ggranddaughter this year. That will be one day that her mom gets a break and the young'un has a special day. Oh, I did think of another exception and that is what my ds and his wife did for Christmas last year. They bought me a Barnes and Nobles gift card that I could either use for merchandise or to get their discount card. I opted for the discount card because I am a voracious reader and also continuously on the lookout for crochet books. What do y'all think? Write me and let me know.

Amazon Gift Cards

My Closet Remodel Is Complete

On the 11th of October I posted some before pictures of my sad closet. The wire shelves were falling down and it was awful! My very talented younger son Justin designed and built the new cabinetry. He is a talented guy as you can see. Here is a video I put together showing how it progressed. I am so proud of my talented son. Ray and our good friend Phillip "supervised" and lent an extra hand when required; Justin did the bulk of the work. The little girl on one of the slides is my ggranddaughter. She is helping me make homemade beef-vegetable-barley soup and corn muffins for supper that night. Oh yeah, I should probably let you know that if my music player starts, you can scroll down the right column and mute it. Hugs...

Vintage Crochet Patterns for You!

Vintage Crochet

View more documents from Cervanda Arce.

Here are some vintage crochet patterns that you may want to use or just peruse for enjoyment. I love looking at them; I just don't know if I'd care to make them. I enjoy them for the historical look at women and their crafts. I hope you enjoy...

Highlander, Full Episodes

I've been watching Highlander on www.hulu.com. I never got into this show when it first aired, but now I'm addicted to it. I put this widget here so that if any of you are interested you can watch it too.





More Highlander

Compound Possessive Nouns

There have been times that I have been confused about how to use the possessive forms of nouns when I have a compound possessive-noun situation. Do I make both nouns have the apostrophe "s" ('s) on the end or just the 2nd noun? I decided that I would check it out. Read below for more information.

Compound Possessives

When you are showing possession with compounded nouns, the apostrophe's placement depends on whether the nouns are acting separately or together.

* Miguel's and Cecilia's new cars are in the parking lot.
This means that each of them has at least one new car and that their ownership is a separate matter.
* Miguel and Cecilia's new cars are in the parking lot.
This construction tells us that Miguel and Cecilia share ownership of these cars. The possessive (indicated by 's) belongs to the entire phrase, not just to Cecilia.

Another example:

* Lewis and Clark's expectations were very much the same.
This construction tells us that the two gentlemen held one set of expectations in common.
* Lewis's and Clark's expectations were altogether different.
This means that the expectations of the two men were different (rather obvious from what the sentence says, too). We signify separate ownership by writing both of the compounded proper nouns in the possessive form.

When one of the possessors in a compound possessive is a personal pronoun, we have to put both possessors in the possessive form or we end up with something silly: "Bill and my car had to be towed last night."

* Bill's and my car had to be towed last night.
* Giorgio's and her father was not around much during their childhood.

If this second sentence seems unsatisfactory, you might have to do some rewriting so you end up talking about their father, instead, or revert to using both names: "Giorgio and Isabel's father wasn't around much . . . ." (and then "Giorgio" will lose the apostrophe +s).

For more information please see this site. This is the site I used as a reference for this posting

More Grammar Help

Been Busy Lately

Life has been a bit hectic lately. This past week school has been on fall break so I haven't subbed any. I had to clear out my big walk-in closet (6' x 18') because my very talented younger son has been constructing build-in storage for me. YIPPEE, no more wire shelves that fall down! I will post pictures for you when it is finished. The construction is done except for the installation of 2 hanging bars. Justin designed it and did most of the construction himself with a little assistance from dh and a good friend of ours who has done finish carpentry in the Hamptons prior to relocating to KY. The pictures are before images. You can see in the one picture where the one wire shelf had fallen down. I had so much junk in the closet but was only able to "give up" one large boxful of "treasures." Sigh....I am such a hoarder.



More Closet Organizers

A Bit of Humor....

For your enjoyment, here is a bit of humor. This is one of those "kids say the darndest things" when kids were talking about the Bible.

1. In the first book of the Bible, Guinessis, God got tired of creating the world so he took the Sabbath off.
2. Adam and eve were created from an apple tree. Noah's wife was Joan of Ark. Noah built an ark and the animals came on in pears.
3. Lot's wife was a pillar of salt during the day, but a ball of fire during the night.
4. Sampson was a strongman who let himself be led astray by a jezebel like Delilah.
5. Samson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the apostles.
6. Moses led the Jews to the Red Sea where they made unleavened bread which is bread without any ingredients.
7. The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards, Moses went up to Mount Cyanide to get the Ten Commandments.
8. The First Commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.
9. The seventh Commandment is thou shalt not admit adultery.
10. The greatest miracle in the Bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.
11. David was a Hebrew king who was skilled at playing the liar. He fought the Finkelsteins, a race of people who lived in biblical times.
12. Solomon, one of David's sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.
13. When the three wise guys from the east side arrived they found Jesus in the manager.
14. Jesus was born because Mary had an immaculate contraption.
15. St. John the blacksmith dumped water on his head.
16. Jesus enunciated the golden rule, which says to do unto others before they do one to you. he also explained a man doth not live by sweat alone.
17. It was a miracle when Jesus rose from the dead and managed to get the tombstone off the entrance.
18. The people who followed the Lord were called the 12 decibels.
19. The Epistles were the wives of the Apostles.
20. One of the opossums was St. Matthew who was also a taximan.
21. When St. Paul cavorted to Christianity, he preached holy acrimony which is another name for marriage.
22. Christians have only one spouse. This is called monotony.

More Kids Say the Darndest Things from Cosby, Linkletter et al

Found Another Crochet Pattern for Round Afghan

OK, 3 times is the charm and this is the number of posts for today. Anyway, I found another round afghan pattern so I thought I would post the link for it. Here it is. I have a listing of round afghan crochet patterns that I've been updating as I find new patterns. You can see it here. The picture is a round ripple baby blanket I made last year.

Guess Where I Was 31 Years Ago???

Thirty-one years ago today I was in the hospital on Barksdale Air Force Base having my son Matthew. Happy Birthday Matt!

Comfort Shawl--C'est Fini!

Maybe I shouldn't have put "C'est Fini" in the title since I made this comfort shawl for a relative of dh in Germany. She is going through a tough time because her grandson passed away. I didn't think about doing this right away, but I heard about how down she has been so I made it a few months after the fact. I need to find someone who is fluent in German to help me write a note to her. I would ask dh but he is pretty fluent in spoken German but the written isn't quite his forte. Anyway, I looked at some patterns on Lion Brand Yarn Site and I adapted this one. Instead of putting the fringe on I used the edging pattern I found here. I used Homespun yarn and I really don't like fringe made from it because I think it looks raggedy after a garment made from it is worn only a couple times. Anyway, I need to weave in a few loose ends and put this in the washer and mail it off to Deutschland. Auf weidersehen....

ps--It really looks much nicer in real life than in the photo :).

Those Old Adjectives--Using Comparative or Superlative Form

Today is a busy posting day for me. Sometimes, I find myself questioning the way I use English grammar. An example of this is that I have 2 sons. I would refer to Son #1 as the oldest and #2 as the youngest. That isn't quite right. #1 is the older and #2 is the younger. Comparing two things requires the use of the comparative form of an adjective (such as older and younger). If I had 3 sons then I would us the -est suffix on the adjective to compare the #1 son to the #3-- this is the superlative form of the adjective. Clear as mud right??? Here is a video that may explain it to you a little better than I have. You may want to turn the music player off(it's in the other column) before you listen to this video. Hope you enjoy!

Comparative and Superlative adjectives

View more presentations from ditza.

Man from My State of KY Wins on America's Got Talent

A Kentucky man, Kevin Skinner, won on the show America's Got Talent. Here is one of the performances done by him. Congratulations Kevin and best wishes to you and your family...

To play this, you may first want to go to the right-hand column and turn off the other music player. Hope you enjoy

Roof on Patio Finished!

We had a roof built over our patio this summer. It is great! We should be able to use the hot tub a little longer during the year, we won't have to sit directly in the sun, and the ceiling fans will help to keep us cool! This is something we've wanted for a long time. When we first started talking about it dh wanted to put one of those 1970ish metal roofs on. I vetoed that and guess who won? LOL!