A Night At Home

Last night I found myself at home

An early afternoon hockey game was done

My next college class hasn't started so I had no homework

Our laundry was all caught up

The house was clean

It felt foreign

It felt nice

There wasn't anything I had to do

So I watched a recorded Christmas Hallmark movie

and I crocheted

One dishcloth after another was created

Don't you love the bright colors!

It was an amazing night

What would you do if you had a free night?

A Masterpiece

I am so excited and, so amazed, that a big project has been completed.

It involves family.

My house is a split-level and within the past year almost

all of the upstairs and foyer have been painted.

Yeah!

I really wanted to change up the pictures from the

past and just couldn't decide what I wanted

on my freshly painted walls.

Until a Pinterest post caught my eye and I decided to recreate it.

Michael's Crafts had a sale on picture frames last

week so I went shopping and

spent an afternoon reframing family photos.

Here they are all lined up on the kitchen counter.

With the tall ceiling in the foyer, the wall
going up the stairs was perfect for all of
the pictures I wanted to show.
Using black construction paper, I measured

each frame and taped paper on the wall to

simulate each picture.

 I left the paper up for a few days to visualize if

I really liked this plan.  I did move a few
sheets of paper around to play with placement.

The day of the 'hanging' I assembled the framing

tools on the steps.

 I think The Husband got a little nervous when I came out

with the drill.

He stopped what he was working on and

offered to help me.

 For the next two hours he measured, drilled

and hung all of the pictures.
Yeah for The Husband!

 From the left we have pictures of

Kidlet One and Favorite-Son-Law's wedding

The Husband's parents

My parents

Our family picture

The Kidlets

Our India-supported daughter, Kavitha

Grand Baby C

 Tonight I removed the last placeholder paper.

  Family is one of God's Masterpieces

 My family is one of God's Masterpieces

 I'm so thankful for this project to the completed.

I'm really excited at how it turned out.
Plus, there is room to add pictures of Grand Baby N
that will join our family in July!

As God continues to amaze me every day, it was

important to me that He be honored on this

wall as well.  After all, He brought us all together.

Amazing!

Crafty

I've been crafty.  Well, crochet crafty. 

This blanket I made while home on surgical leave

 The first person in the livingroom grabs the blanket

so I decided to make a second one.

I finished this second one at the baseball field

this spring.

 My nifty craft bag is portable and allowed me

to start another blanket at the baseball field.

 Single crochet is fast, easy and allows me

to watch Kidlet Three and his team play ball.

 I finished the blanket this weekend.

My flash distorted the color as this is the same

yarn from the picture above.

This blanket will be raffled in a silent auction

in the Relay for Life my parents participate in.

 The yarn is packed and ready for my next project.

I've been asked to make blankets for the hockey and

football fundraisers at Kidlet Three's school.

Both blankets need to be done by July.

Guess I'll need some crafty time in the next month!

Being crafty is amazing fun for me and I'm so happy

I can share my projects with others.

Hockey Therapy

I sit in plenty of hockey arenas during practices and games.  One of the arenas in Our City has a walking track, which I enjoy walking on.  In other arenas I crochet.  Most die-hard hockey fans would probably not associate crocheting with hockey, but I am an exception. 

Over the past year I have carried green, brown or cream yarn and a crochet hook everywhere.  Sometimes it is more enjoyable to chat with the other hockey parents so at those times I don't grab the craft to work on.  Othertimes I feel quiet and reflective and will crochet many rows.  It is a form of therapy for me. 

I decided to make crocheted squares and decide at a later date what to do with them!  Somewhat risky for a novice crocheter but my hands needed to be kept busy.  One by one those squares were completed.  In the miracle category, they all ended up fairly even, square and the same size! 

Over the hockey season I did get plenty of wrinkled-eyebrow-looks as I was the only one doing needlework in a hockey arena.  Hey, it was keeping me from the concession stand and it relaxes me. 

Okay...now the truth comes out.  I get a little excited at hockey games.  

I heard that!  Those of you that know me are laughing and saying "a little" excited! 

Hockey is an awesome game.  When Kidlet Two was about 11 years old, his team offered to have a parent-against-son hockey game and I was so "in" on that!  There was no consideration on my part that I hadn't skated in years and had no hockey protective equipment but I was going to do this!  It wasn't pretty.  Most of my time on the ice was spent trying to balance myself, hang onto that stick and anytime the puck came my way, my "swing" at the puck usually missed.  The ending play for me was the 100-mile-per-hour puck that hit my shin.  It has been several years since that game but memories are flooding my head (and my shin) right now of the pain. 

Last Christmas I got cocky and decided I should try this hockey thing again.  On the outdoor rink in my parent's town, Husband and Kidlet Three and I went skating.  And then we decided to pass the puck back and forth with each other.   You know I am pretty good at multi-tasking in my home and at work.  It is not uncommon for me to have four or five things going at the same time and all is in control.  On the ice, however, there is no multitasking for me.  There is one thing that I can do and that is concentrate on not falling on my bum.  But I had to take the challenge of playing hockey with my guys.  I didn't fall but that is only because I was praying so hard.  I'm not sure on many hockey rinks you will hear a player saying repeatedly "oh God help me" but that was my mantra.

Bottom line:  hockey is not for wimps.  Being able to stand, hold a stick and then skate takes talent!  Then add the fact you have to skate forward, backward, sideways holding the stick and controlling a puck all while some annoying other person (the opponent) is there trying to take the puck away. As much as I would love to be a hockey player myself, I can't do it!

If you were to watch me during any of Kidlet Two and Three's hockey games, I'd be the mom whose feet are moving (under my warming blanket) as I guess I'm pretending to skate, and my arms may flinch as I was pretending to hit a puck with my pretend hockey stick.  My body would move to the right and left as I was ducking away from the opponent.  I may even lean into the person next to me pretending I was skating next to the boards and I'm feeling squeezed. 

Hello, my name is So Amazed and I have a problem with passion for hockey...

I need some form of therapy to contain this passion so I crochet.  Whew...that confession feels good. 

Thus, my "therapy squares"...

And the finished product:

Anyone want to go to a hockey game this winter?  Give me a call!  My crocheting bag and I will pick you up!