Monday's Link for Free Crochet Pattern

With baseball season in full swing, here's a set of baseball themed coasters to help protect your tables from those beer and soda can rings from the enthusiastic but messy fans in your home.  Here you go...  CLICK!  Have a great week everyone.

I really liked this song when it came out.  The beat was catchy and I got into tapping my feet to it.  For me, it wasn't a put down of short people but rather a humorous way to look at height because at the time I was very self-conscious of being tall.  To all my short friends, I love you and thanks for putting up with me.


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Fun With Photo

I enjoy playing around with the Funny Photo Widget on Facebook. I have this nice photo of myself that I had to have taken professionally so folks wouldn't know how old I really look, and I played around with it and came up with some really humorous looks!  Check a few of them out:

This is actually dh and me on our wedding day.  As you can see we went "casual" to say the least.  We were both in the navy and I had had to work on the ship that day in 1987.  I was working on decommissioning my ship the USS Ajax AR-6.

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Betsy Ross and the History of the Flag

Many of us have grown up hearing the legend that the first American flag was made by Betsy Ross, a Philadelphia seamstress who was acquainted with George Washington, leader of the Continental Army, and other influential Philadelphians. In May 1776, so the story goes, General Washington and two representatives from the Continental Congress visited Ross at her upholstery shop and showed her a rough design of the flag. Although Washington initially favored using a star with six points, Ross advocated for a five-pointed star, which could be cut with just one quick snip of the scissors, and the gentlemen were won over.(see more)  The story first came to light in 1874 when her grandson William J. Canby told it at a meeting of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, there is no proof of this story.  This story is a great legend and wonderful fairy tale to tell children.  One day historians may be able to discover more about the origins of "Old Glory" and we'll learn the true story.

For more information on Ms. Ross, check out the following links:

• The Legend of Betsy Ross
• Betsy Ross Flag Maker, Seamstress
• Betsy Ross Did She or Didn't She?
• How Betsy Ross Became Famous
• A more controversial article is http://www.slate.com/id/2259351/

Here is an old documentary on the history of the American flag from 1938 that you may find interesting. It is noteworthy that Betsy Ross is not mentioned.

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Homemade Laundry Soap Tested

I tested my homemade laundry soap and so far it's great!  I haven't had any heavily soiled clothes to wash so I'll hold final judgement until I wash some of them.  So far, it's pretty darned good.    It was a little more expensive to make than I anticipated.  Of course, if I wouldn't have dropped broke part of the had a food processor malfunction (that I grated the soap with) then I wouldn't be looking at the cost of a new one before I start canning tomato sauce this summer.  Anyway, maybe it was time for a new one.  Y'all have a nice, clean clothes day lol!

I Made My Own Laundry Soap Today

I've been talking about making my own laundry soap for some time now and I finally got around to doing it today. I wanted a powdered soap--why dilute it and have to have extra room to store it? I found this page and used recipe #9.  I made a 1/2 batch of it.  For the soap, I used 4 bars of ivory soap and it came out very close to the proper amount.  At the moment, I have a load washing with my new soap. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it turns out.  I used the measuring cup from my store-bought detergent and used a sharpie to mark a line at the 1/4 cup measurement.  As I was talking to my uncle the other day, he told me that my grandmother would use her little scraps of bath soap and shave them before tossing in the washing machine to do her laundry with.  Sounds like Grandma had how-to-do laundry cheaply down pat.  Hope this works out!  Y'all have a nice week...

Monday's Link for Free Crochet Pattern

The other day my husband picked up his golf clubs for the first time in 15 years.  I think he has the "fever" again lol!  I looked around the Internet for some golf-related crochet projects and came up with this pattern to make some patriotic golf club covers.  You can see the pattern here.  Have fun!



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My New Look!

As I was reading my favorite blogs today, there seemed to be a new fad going around.  If you go to this webpage, you can do a South Park character for yourself!  I had so much fun doing this.  You should check it out.  Anyway, here's my South Park look:

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Monday's Link for Free Crochet Pattern

Winter's Coming!!!!!!  Ok, so there are a few months to go but for the crocheter, summer is a good time to work on small projects like mittens.  Here's an interesting pair of mittens to make for this winter.  Good to make for gifts or for yourself.  Go ahead and check them out.  Hugs...

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Silly me, I posted this early.  Guess it's better early than a few days late like I've done before.  :)

Monday's Link for Free Crochet Pattern

Here's a cute pattern to crochet a cabled sweater for a special fur baby.  I always like dressing my wee ones up for the winter and if I ever get my current projects under control I might try to size this one down for one of my chihuahuas. That's a big if though lol! Enjoy...

Creeps Leaving Comments

Some creep has been leaving not-so-nice comments here.  It's a good thing that I moderate my comments.  I don't think many of you would like to see comments about "adult" sites or that sort of thing.  If the creep is reading this then you need to cease and desist NOW.  I will not allow any comments of this sort to be posted here.  Get a life...!

Monday's Link for Free Crochet Pattern--Late This Week...Sorry

Because of a technical difficulty (a brain dysfunction) this weeks free pattern is a few days late.  :(  Without further ado or excuses here it is.  This is a cute pattern for an angel themed baby blanket.  Enjoy...!

Is Being Patriotic Just a Fad for Some?

On Memorial Day and Independence Day we see a fervor of patriotism.  Red, white and blue banners and flags festoon buildings, homes and cemeteries.   Sometimes I substitute teach in high schools.  Many times the kids will sit in their seats and eat breakfast, talk with friends and generally ignore the Pledge of Allegiance!  I was told that the kids have a choice about saying the Pledge.  I guess they must have a choice about showing respect for their peers who are reciting the Pledge too! When things like the census comes around every 10 years many folks slam their doors in the enumerators' faces and don't want the government into their business.  The feeling is that the government is too big and has too much power.  Let's change the scenario a bit.  Disaster strikes be it a hurricane or huge oil spill offshore.  Then, we want Washington, D.C. to make it all better IMMEDIATELY!   The thing is folks, we all need to vote and participate when called upon.  Representation in the House of Representatives is based on population folks so we need to be sure to be counted.  So, be proactive, not reactive,  fill out your census forms and vote.

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Go here to learn how one man RECORDED his call from the scammer "Credit Card Services." I do NOT recommend doing this but it is interesting to know how shameless these scammers are! I recently wrote about my experience with this hoax. Be careful folks!

Almost Forgot to Show This Project

Here is a lapghan that I have made to donate.  I have problems with joining squares and having the edges turn out "funny."  I had read somewhere on the Internet to omit the chains in the corners on the final round when making squares.  Didn't work for me this time! I think I did put an extra single crochet between squares and that may be what caused the ruffle effect.  I'll have to try something else the next time.  I still have the gray and claret colored squares to join.  I did not omit the chains in the square corners so I'll have to see how that turns out! In one direction, I whip stitched the squares together and the other I crocheted them.  This would have been my third lapghan for donation but I used one to wrap my poor Barney in when she went to the vet to be put to sleep.  I'd like to make about 1/2 dozen and then donate them. I'm not too fast though--these squares have been made since last year except I decided to make it a little larger and had to make another rows worth. Thanks for stopping in! Hugs...Sharon

Why I Have a Copyright Mark on Some Photos

Every now and then, you will see a photo on my blog that I have posted a copyright statement on.  Why do I do this you ask?  I do this because there is one individual who haunts my blog to see photos of my sons and then badmouths me.  So, if he wants to save copies of my photos then he has to deal with the copyright mark on them.  If any of my real, true friends want copies without the copyright mark then send me a message and I will happily send you a "clean" copy of the photo.  Sorry for the inconvenience...  Hugs Sharon


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Backyard Fun Memorial Day Weekend!

We got the pool filled with water and the hot tub too in time for Saturday's cookout on Memorial Day Weekend.  DH and Son #1 (aka Matthew or Matt) opened the pool and the hot tub.  Opi enjoyed the time just relaxing on the outdoor furniture.  Here's a hint that may help you save money.  In our community, we can checkout  a meter that measures the amount of water we use outdoors.  This is water that doesn't go in the sewer and that way we don't have to pay for sewer costs on the water that goes through the meter!  With a pool, pond, hot tub and garden we use more than a few bucketfuls outside.  At the end of summer, we will return the meter to the water company and they will do a reading on it and we'll get a credit on our water/sewer bill.  Pretty nifty huh?

Memorial Day--Honoring Our Military Heroes

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service.  It was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May [passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays], though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis' birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.  Go to the Memorial Day History page to see the source of this information and read more about this holiday.  Below is a Universal Newsreel that contains one segment about the celebration of Memorial Day in 1945.

Monday's Link for Free Crochet Pattern

It's that time of the year for cookouts and lots of fun outdoors.  Here's a pattern for your own crochet cookout.  It's a cute little hotdog that you can use for decoration or a child's toy.  Have fun!

It's The Big 5 Oh!

Happy birthday baby brother!!!