Unicorn Purse

 

I finished the purse for my niece, and my sister told me it was perfect when I sent a picture. This was definitely a labor of love. The patterns are from a book that was translated into English from German which means the instructions weren’t always clear. I can almost the flap at the top has mistakes. Thankfully, six year olds aren’t likely to notice. 

What will she notice and care about? The main color is pink, and not baby pink (she is fairly insistent that big girls don’t like “baby colors”). There are two unicorns (her favorite animal). All of the yarn sparkles. I have a lot of yrn left over because I wanted to make this purse sparkle as much as possible, but it was worth it. I just hope my sister thinks of taking a video so I can see her reaction. 

Ninja Cat

 With the kids gone, Noel’s cat has been missing humans. Normally, Sean is here when Noel is gone to give Olive some attention. She isn’t getting much attention with them both gone. 

Tonight, when I went to check on her, she curled up on my shoulder and didn’t want to let go. I brought her into my room as Chad and I watched a recording of American Ninja Warrior. She let me put her on the bed and sat at my feet watching the show. When the show was done, she found Sophie and scared her. (It’s a bit humorous how scared Sophie is of Olive.)

I will try to remember to pick her up an pet her throughout the day tomorrow. We have one more episode of American Ninja Warrior to watch. Maybe she will want to watch that one, too. 

The Third Hat

 

I finished Eric’s hat last Friday and gave it to him yesterday. I think this one turned out the best. The yarn was better to work with, and I already knew what I was doing for the most part because I had already made two. No matter the reason, Eric likes it, and I am satisfied with the final product.

I enjoyed making these hats, and I love that the pattern is customizable. It is possible I will make another one in the future, but I am happy to be done with it for now. I am not usually the type of person that knits the same pattern more than once (other than socks). 

Now, I am working on the purse for my adorable niece. I will post pictures before I ship it to her. 

These Kids

 I level these kids more than anything. (Chad has always known this.) As they get older, they continue to amaze me with how much they love each other. There was a time I was worried they would always fight and end up hating each other. I guess that was just a phase. Do they still argue? Sean and Noel do, but it rarely ends with them both angry. They get over it fairly quickly. 

This morning, Eric picked up Sean and Noel for their yearly trip with their grandparents. As they left, I reminded him to drive carefully because they are the three most precious people to me. He just gave me a kind, sweet, uniquely Eric smile and told me he would. 

I already miss these crazy kids., but I hope they have fun and enjoy this time with family. 

Kids Leaving

Every year since the divorce, my kids have gone camping with their grandparents. The first year, I went for the first night and left them when I had to go back to work. Since then, I think their dad went one year, but they usually go without their parents. 

I love that they get to spend time with their dad’s family in this way. It is like a family reunion of sorts and has been their main vacation every year. They always come back with new stories, and they have seen places I hope to go some day. 

Tomorrow morning, Eric will be coming to pick up his brother and sister to embark on this year’s adventure. They aren’t going too far this year, but they will still be together. 

Speech Done

I had to write and give a speech for my Child and Family Advocacy class. We were told to write a persuasive speech about a social issue affecting children and families along with laws or policies involving that issue. I chose to write about mental illness using my experience with my mom as an example. I talked about the importance of yearly mental health screenings for children and adolescents. I talked about the need to have conversations about it to help people be more willing to seek help.

This was a hard speech to write because I had to make sure I used enough research from reputable research in a way that was easy to understand. Peer review articles can be hard to read though and even harder to incorporate in this type of writing. Once I get going on something like this, it is even harder to narrow down what needs to be included. It was only supposed to be 3 to 5 minutes. I had to cut out two entire paragraphs as well smaller sections here and there. Finding policies and laws in my state was probably the easiest part of the process. 

This was also a hard speech to give. I was able to read the entire speech, but it is hard to talk about certain aspects of growing up without getting emotional. I love my mom, and I know she was a good mom when her mental illness did not get in the way. Her hospitalizations and leaving the family are not topics I enjoy talking about. I almost cried once, but I was able to gain my composure and finish the speech. 

After I performed the speech and my class meeting was over, I read it for my husband. He got emotional hearing details he hadn’t heard before this. 

I am thankful for the opportunity to do this speech. I was able to learn more about myself and my family in he process. If all I learn from this education process is how to process my past and be a better functioning person, it will all be worth it. 

Thrifting

 

Every once in awhile, Noel and I like to go to the thrift store. We usually go with a specific purpose and come home with a few more things. Today, she wanted to look for a Disney inspired outfit for a dance she is going to tomorrow. 

We went in with the intention of buying a shirt and a pair of shorts or pants. One of the outfits she was thinking of, the one I liked the best, also would need a sash. We ended up also buying 4th of July shirts, another t shirt for her, a gag gift for Chad, a coin purse for my niece, and a rolling chair that she fell in love with for some reason. 

I love that I can buy that much stuff for less than $50, but I also just love going into a thrift store with my daughter and just playing around with her. We point out the ugliest things in each other’s size and tease them about wearing it and laugh about the gaudy shoes on the tables of dress shoes. Today, the chair she greatly desired brought us the most joy. After we paid for everything, she held our bag as I rolled her out of the store. The best part about it is that we can be as strange as we want because it doesn’t phase anyone. They have seen worse. 

Water Levels

When Chad and I went paddle boarding a few days ago, I tried to figure out why I didn’t remember a huge tree in the middle of the area we got in. I figured it out as we came back in 2 hours later. The tree was on the beach last year. The water levels are higher than they have been for a while. 

We live in a dry part of the country that is borderline a desert. This year, we keep getting record precipitation. It has made the lakes and rivers vey full. Honestly, I love it. Full rivers and lakes are beautiful. 

14 Years Ago

Facebook memories can be a double edged sword. There are some memories I would rather forget. I have deleted a lot of them, but there are some that still show up. Then, there are the ones that remind me of the love that encircled me during those tough times. Today, I was reminded of the love. 

In today’s date in 2009, the ex moved out for the first time. To make sure the kids weren’t there when this happened, they stayed the night with my sister. To help me get out of the house, I had a Rock Band night with friends. These wonderful women were there for me when I needed them the most. Some knew whet was going on. Some did not. All helped me keep my mind off of the crap in my life at the time. 

Side note: I was wearing a child’s extra large shirt in this picture and was being told I was fat on a regular basis. If I could get back to this size, it would be a miracle. 

Project Planning

Yesterday, my sister told me that her six year old, my precious little niece, was devastated because she lost per precious dog purse at a parade. My sister didn’t know what she could even do to help her because it was impossible to find and not able to be replaced with the exact item because it was an item a cousin gave her. My auntie heart broke for this little girl. What did I do? I offered to made a pink sparkly purse with a unicorn on it. (This girl loves anything “dark” pink with unicorns.) I sat on the phone planning with my sister with a unicorn pattern book in front of me as I sent a few concept pictures to her. Thankfully, she is one of those people that appreciates the work that goes into knitting and crocheting, so she agreed with my ideas. I will be making this purse:

With one of these unicorn in the corner:

And some of these hearts:

Today, I found the best main color, sparkly fuchsia. 

I will either go back to Walmart or sift through my stash for the other colors. I am so excited to get this started. As soon as I finish Eric’s hat, I will get out my hook, and start the purse. I can’t have my niece being sad. 

My Dad

My dad is one of the best people I know. He is the person who taught me the value of hard work. He spends all of his free time caring for other people without complaint. When I was a teenager, he was a single dad who went in to work or make sure he got home early enough to be home with us and make sure we ate before going to work. He cooked, cleaned, did the laundry, and went grocery shopping. When we tried to help him with the laundry, he told us that was his time to be alone. He taught four kids how to drive without losing his mind. We had a strained relationship for a while, but it has grown a lot in the last ten years or so. I love this man with all of my heart. I could not imagine my world without him. Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Laundry Day - Take 2

Since I have a major fail when it came to doing laundry yesterday, I had to do it today. Chad had the day off, so I had a different helper that usual. We loaded up the car with the family laundry and set off to the laundromat to find that there was a car show on the street of the one we usually go to. With a week and a half of laundry, we were not going to park a block away and carry it. Chad searched laundromats in a neighboring town, and we drove the 15 minutes to get there. 

The place we found was not ideal, but it was also not the worst one we have been to. It was very clean and spacious with plenty of folding tables, other tables, and places to sit. The lady working there was so kind and helpful, too. The only issue we had was there were a number of machines that were out of order, and the large capacity machines were all being used. We filled five machines and still had quite a bit more to do. About 10 minutes into the loads we had started the lady that worked there plus two more people searched me out to let me know one of the big machines was available. One of them even made sure it stayed available for me. I have never been treated so kindly at a laundromat. Usually, people are respectful, but never that helpful. If it were closer to my house, I would go there more often for that reason alone. (They were just as helpful to another lady that w came in with a lot as well.) 

I have been in such a crabby mood for the last few days (especially yesterday) and praying for help with my overwhelm all week. Today, I was given an answer to my prayers through those kind strangers at the laundromat 20 minutes from my home. I am so thankful for these small miracles in my life. It made me feel loved. 

Bad Week

Other than a few things like the concert and my weekly walk with my friend, this has been a tough week. First of all, Noel was sick for about 3 days with Tuesday being the worst. I was able to take care of her most of the day, but I also had to work and didn’t change my concert plans because I knew the main this she needed was sleep. Her fever spiked Wednesday night, so I took her to the doctor Thursday morning. They did COVID, flu, and strep tests which all came back negative. We were told it was probably “some kind of virus.” She was feeling better, for the most part, that afternoon. Wednesday, I had food poisoning and spent a good part of the day in bed. I hate taking sick time from work, and I hate being sick even more. Thursday ended up being crazy busy because I had my regular Thursday plans (my walk and a class Zoom) plus I had to make up the time I missed when I took Noel to the doctor. Yesterday, Noel had a friend over with the promise they would leave by 3:00 so we could go do laundry. They left a few minutes late which threw me off a bit. Then, I forgot my coin bag at home and didn’t realize it until we got there. I drove to the bank, but I didn’t have my debit card and, apparently, ATMs don’t take mobile pay though the tap to pay function. We were on a tight schedule, so we had to just go back home. Now, I have to go today which makes my day of homework more difficult. Honestly, I can’t wait until this week is over. 

The Morning After

I knew today was going to be hard because concerts get out past our bedtime. I didn’t know I was going to wake up with food poisoning. I ended up having to clock out of work after about two hours because I was throwing up so much. (I don’t drink, so it wasn’t a hangover.)

After the amazing show last night, Chic-fil-a had tents set up to sell sandwiches once we had climbed the stairs out. I had been slightly hungry and very thirsty, and Chic-fil-a is so good. Chad bought us each sandwiches and sodas that we had when we got back to the car. The sandwiches were premade and prepackaged and kept in warming containers. It wasn’t unlike some of the food we have had at running events. This was the only unusual food we had. Chad had no adverse reaction. I, on the other had, was sick all morning. I couldn’t keep anything down until about 3:00 other than the ginger ale Chad got me. 

The good news is that I have an understanding boss and plenty of sick time since I haven’t used it in over 3 years. (I either take vacation time or make appointments after work when needed.) I’m thankful my husband took the day off knowing he would be too tired for work. I’m thankful he was willing to get things done and run errors for me while I was sick. I’m thankful that I have the privilege of working from home so that I wasn’t trying to drive this morning. It was not a fun morning, but it did help me see some of the blessings I have that I take for granted. 

Concert at Red Rocks

 If you have never been to a concert at Red Rocks, you should find one and go. It is a bit of a hike to get in and out, but SO worth it. (Have I mentioned how beautiful Colorado is this time of year?)

For our anniversary a few month ago, Chad bought us tickets to the Bare Naked Ladies concert. I have been eagerly waiting ever since and hoping it would stop raining long enough. Thankfully, it stopped raining tins morning, and the show was able to go on. 

There were two opening acts: Del Ametri and Sublime. I enjoyed singing along with some of there songs, but I enjoyed the main attraction better. Taylor Swift can have her big shows with fancy clothes. I’ll keep my late 90s/ early 2000s bands. 

They Did It!

 

Kayaking

In 2020, Chad bought a paddle board for the family to share because Noel came back from the kids' camping trip with their grandparents excited to go paddle boarding again like she had with them. She made it sound so fun that he ordered one from whatever website he could get it from the fastest (it was hard to find outdoor recreation products during the pandemic). I tried it, but I needed some kind of back support to sit on in for a long period of time since I had little desire to stand on it. The next summer, I was given an inflatable kayak for my birthday and have used it periodically for the past few years. 

Now, when Chad wants me to go paddle boarding with him, he takes his paddle board, and I take my kayak. Today, we went to Boyd Lake in Loveland. We inflated the paddle board and kayak and headed out into the water. We were able to get a good 40 minutes in before the wind picked up and we had to head back to shore. The wind made the waves bigger which was a bit fun, but it also carried us the wrong direction a bit. It is hard to paddle against the wind. At one point, a gust hit my boat, and I almost capsized. Thankfully, I was able to lean into the wind and counteract the force that threatened to push me over. I had fun, for the most part. Hopefully, there will be a lower chance of wind and rain next time we go out. 

Hat #2

 

I have finished Sean’s hat. This one took longer because Sean has a bigger head than Noel. I think I made it a bit too long, but he seems to like it. I’m going to work on Eric’s next. I think I will make it about 5 to 10 centimeters shorter (the pattern designer is from South America), but his head is about the same size. I am at a point where these hats are a labor of love. 

My Song

I have done several “personality quiz” type things on Facebook. I don’t take them too seriously, and they don’t usually fit me very well. I did this one a few days ago and was shocked that it actually described me very well. I even love the song mentioned!

Rockies Game

 Chad won tickets to tonight’s Rockies game. There is something about live sports that’s exciting. Going to baseball games also has a sense of nostalgia for me. 

When I was a kid living in Indianapolis, we went to watch the local minor league team play during the summer. I remember seeing more than one firework show at that ballpark. Those games are the source of many fond memories. 

When we moved to Colorado, we stopped going to games. I wanted to but couldn’t justify the cost for a long time. A few years ago, we were finally able to go with Sean and Noel. A few weeks later we went again when Chad got tickets from work. Today, we got to sit in those same seats. They are great seats! I love that he has actual perks with this job. 

Tatting? Sure

 

The more needlework I do, the more I want to learn. I had thought I would be happy with knitting and crocheting, and I have been. I cross stitched here and there growing up, but it was never something I enjoyed as much as my dad or grandma. I’m not going to say that I would never do it again, but it does not grab my attention right now. Macrame has yet to appeal to me. Tatting has never quite been on my radar. 

Before I left a few days ago, my stepmom asked me if I had thought about learning because she had a book she wanted to give me. As I thumbed through the book, my first thought was, “I haven’t considered this, but I really want to learn to make that heart.” Guess what I am now excited to learn when I have my 7 week school break? How to tat!

The Drive Home

Noel and I left for our trek home about 7:30 this morning. This time we drove I70 instead of I80. It was beautiful! I couldn’t believe I hadn’t tried this route yet. We each took turns taking pictures as the other one drove. Hers are much better than mine, but I am happy to have the variety to look at. 

Final Day For Now

 We are leaving Utah in the morning, so today was our final day. It was a great day to be here. I started the day off going to church with my dad. Then, I sat and enjoyed my dad and sister’s company until my sister and I set off to Walmart to buy some water for Noel and things her kids forgot. That was followed by a lunch of Kraft macaroni and cheese with her kids and my daughter. At dinner time my other sister, Carrie, came over with three of her girls. Then, we watched the Nuggets game and enjoyed being around each other until Noel and I needed to head to bed. 

I am sad we are leaving tomorrow before we can do more things around town, but I will be happy to be home with my husband, son, and dogs. As an added extra, Eric will be coming by to pick up a few things. (I am always excited when he calls and plans to stop by.) 

I forgot to take pictures while Carrie and the girls were over, but I did get some before we went our separate ways for the night. 

The Wedding

 

My best friend’s daughter got married today in the Payson Temple. It was a wonderful ceremony! I love the special spirit in the temple, and witnessing a couple be married for eternity makes it even better. 

The reception that really nice. The decorations were beautiful! The food was fun (fruit skewers, pretzels and stuff, and cupcakes), and the dancing was fun. They are such a cute couple, and I feel so honored and blessed to be invited to share in this wonderful day!