A couple crochet / knit projects...

Crochet camo visors: When I was recovering from surgery and couldn't do a whole lot, or when I'm waiting for kiddo in a car or in a lobby...I've made more than a few of these. I will post a pic of them. Instead of a yellow edging I made mine camo edged in baby pink. For some reason (unknown to me) I am a preteen girl magnet at church (they're always flocking around me, busily telling me about what they're up to...my hubby says they do it because I actually listen to them...I dunno if that's actually it or not), and so when I got better I returned with a camo visor for each of them. I used pink velcro (you can get that in the closeout bin at JoAnns) instead of snaps because I figured it offered more flexibility in sizing/fit.

I should also say that I made the bill of the visor bigger than the pattern specifies. If you add the additional rows in the same criteria as the previous rows, and in increments of two, you'll end up with the same kind of thing but a bigger bill...because I think the bill is a little skimpy.

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/na_other/article/0,2025,DIY_14142_5334681,00.html

Steering wheel covers: I've made a few of these too and one has graced the wheel of my ancient Honda for a while. Nice on a hot day when you want to have more comfort. The main thing to remember is that they need to fit VERY snugly when you make them. Make them so snug that you really have to fight to put them on. Also, be sure to put some kind of non-slip stuff on the inside of them. I sewed pieces of a rug no-slip material inside, although I have heard of people putting blobs of hot glue on the inside too. This is not optional! The pattern is knit but of course there is no reason it couldn't be crocheted instead. Make one to match your car's color scheme!


I did NOT use the fuzzy type yarn, as shown in the DIYnet photo; I think something like a suede yarn would be extra nice. My favorite was an acrylic/wool blend, something about the natural fibers made it extra comfy.

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/na_knitting/article/0,2025,DIY_14141_5193083,00.html

Stress

Stress has ratcheted up. It's a challenge to get it under control. So much is truly out of our hands, how we respond to it is so important. We've both been feeling it. At least it has helped us pray a lot. Waking up at 3 in the morning with all the stressors running through my head has been a very regular part of this, but hey, God said He'd help his kids sleep..so that's what I'm askin' for. Restful sleep is a prayer request for both of us right now.

Market was...

...slow. It was slow for everyone. The vendors had nothing to do. Sales weren't too exciting. I did get to see the mom of an old friend of mine though, and that was nice. Also, I was grateful that my stuff wasn't perishable like the food/vegetable vendors. I can just bring it back next time.

We had an outstanding rainstorm after market was over. Buckets upon buckets! There again, I was grateful for the market shed over our heads. Just an EZUp would have been a major pain. A few things got a little damp, but none of the stock was damaged, so I'm grateful both for the rain (we've been in the middle of a major drought) and for the roof over our heads at the time.

So it truly could have been worse.

For you geeks and geekettes

Binary socks

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6912000

Space Invaders Sweater

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6925868

The inconvenience of service

Dang, following God can be a pain in the tookus...but it is worth it. I'm just whining.

Kiddo decided a few weeks ago that they weren't going to go to youth group any more at our church. Sometimes a dyslexic is not real forthcoming about what the reasons are...trying to find the words to describe why is a pain and that wouldn't be a problem but coupled with impulse control problems aplenty you get an interesting (I'm being nice) situation.

Somehow we were able to avoid the hairtrigger anger. I don't take credit for it, it happened to be a rare occasion when kiddo is calmly conversant...I would credit God for that. It was cool because I didn't freak out, we were able to talk about why kiddo didn't want to go (perfectly understandable reasons) : younger kids kiddo considers very immature and no kids their age in the group.

I basically said, gently, that I could certainly understand that, and that if I were your mom, I would basically say "well, let's put together some ideas for a spiritual meeting, Bible study or group that you DO feel comfortable with, and I expect that you would pick one and I'll help you get to the meetings."

A friend of kiddo's (well, kiddo would say vehemently that they have NO friends) has been trying to get kiddo to go to their youth group. Kiddo expressed some interest in going. I said "it matters enough to me that I will help you get there if you want to go." Of course the group is fairly close to kiddo's school, which means it is a LONG ways away. But kiddo is not easily swayed to go to a group closer to home, and I didn't even try. If the kid is interested in spiritual things, I'm going to try to meet reasonable requests. This is on the fringe of "reasonable" but if I'll drive that far for school, I should be willing to drive that far to youth group. Hoping we can come up with something to do inbetween school and youth group, if we do this, so we're not driving home and then driving yet again back over there...which doesn't make logistical, time, or monetary sense. Please, 100 miles a day is long enough, 150 is too much. Obviously I espect the kid to bring a change of clothes and whatever else kiddo needs so we don't have to go back to their house.

So of course today kiddo announces he was interested in maybe going tonight. *sigh* I could have used that time for other stuff, Lord, but I know this is important. I can get in the groove and use it for shopping time or working on stuff in the car.

This self-care thing is hard. I suck at it. Maybe it's the four hours plus a day of driving, and all the other caring for hubs and kiddo thing that makes it hard.. Ya think? ;-P

Hubs has not been feeling well at all and I have had my hands full as a result with extra stuff to do..lots of it. I'm quite worried about/for him. Hoping things will get better for him soon. Seems like when I physically started feeling better, it coincided (sort of) with his feeling worse. Yikes.

Tonight's Pot Luck

I have a bunch of very ripe tomatoes from farmers market that I will use for that corn, red potato, and tomato salad (just look under recipes if you want to see the ingredients, here among my posts).

Didn't use the chile relleno casserole from last week so I will take it out of the freezer and heat it up.

There's a beautiful large watermelon from the organic grower neighbor of mine at the farmers market, chilling as we speak.

Then my plan is to make the Secret Chocolate Cake as described on Delvin Farms' newsletter...
(scroll down a bit)...sneaky, eh? http://www.delvinfarms.com/newsletters/issue8.htm Always wanted to try a cake with beets in it. Hey, mayonnaise cakes and tomato soup cakes are both lovely and no one's caught a clue, only loved them. So go for it...

Market this last Saturday

It was remarkably good. Not a lot of customers but it seemed that those who came definitely bought stuff. I am very hopeful for the rest of the fall based on these results. Definitely can use the money! Sure enough, getting more aprons in there did spur sales and I brought out the scarves/knit/crochet stuff for its fall debut, being Labor Day weekend and all. Sold a couple scarves and I think as things get cooler and I get some of my more funky designs worked back up, I will sell more. (Honestly, what I had this last weekend was just the dregs of what hadn't sold last fall so to sell a couple of them was gravy as far as I was concerned...I was really low on most colors and didn't have many of my best sellers.)

Thanks, God, for helping us sell stuff at market...and I'm prayin' for big sales this fall. Gonna whip up some more apronage this week, but candles have to come first this week. I have wholesale customers in serious need and all the illnesses I went through put that on the back burner. Glad I'm healing up well and the doctors have helped me get on a good road...

Way more than I think I can handle

Today hasn't been a good one thus far. Dealing with kiddo gets so very stressful, and hubs is not feeling well and hasn't been feeling well for a while now. Kiddo most assuredly has a major psychiatric disorder, and I should be able to remind myself of that during the problems, but often I cannot. The stress is unbearable sometimes. Picture a fifteen year old who looks 17 or 18 with the mentality of a five year old sometimes. Very smart, but cannot control their emotions at all. We've been at bowling alleys before where the outbursts of rage silenced the entire crowd. I mean, a bowling alley is a loud place where people don't usually notice things, and to have all the other folks there stop and stare like "what the heck was that?" lets you know how severe the rages are sometimes.

After kiddo works out (or after a medium to major rage), they are kind, well spoken and pleasant to talk to...for a while. When the adrenaline wears off, back into the abyss we go. It's so very hard. I grew up with a lot of yelling and screaming in my family and you would think I would be used to it; but not being empowered to get kiddo the help they need is probably what sets me off the worst of all. Don't want to overstep my bounds, but I could just about write kiddo's prescription...that would probably help. Don't take that the wrong way, I'm not trying to practice medicine without a license.

I know I need to care for myself and thinking of doing so right now just feels like yet another "to do" on an overflowing list of stressors.

God will help me through this somehow, and I am hoping relief is here soon. Either change the situation, or change me and how I deal with it. I can live with either one, I think. I know that God has a plan and is at work, but often it is just an intellectual assent. Every once in a while I get a glimpse of what is going on behind the scenes of what looks to all the world like abandonment, and it keeps me going. God will deliver this kid yet. God's the only one who can at this point.

Basic apron tutorial

This looks good for a lined half apron. Enjoy!

http://lululollylegs.blogspot.com/2007/07/lined-apron-tutorial.html

Nifty

I just received this cute little handpainted teapot from my swap sistah. Thanks Maggie!!!

Aprons aprons aprons

Here's another one in process.

Smash-em-up potatoes

Easy peasy.

Take two or three pounds of washed potatoes and cut them into halves or quarters so you get similar sized pieces. Don't peel 'em--too much work, and why waste all the nutritional value and fiber of the skins? Bring to a boil and boil them maybe 10-15 min until fork tender. Drain.

Add 2-4 ounces of room temp neufatchel (sp?) cheese (the lower fat cream cheese substitite) or maybe a mix of nonfat cream cheese and neufatchel to lower fat but not make it extremely gross with just the nonfat stuff. Then add a cup or two of shredded cheese (2% to save fat, half of mine was the rice "cheese", don't tell the hubs and the kiddo). Add some onion powder and garlic powder, salt, and white pepper (you can add black, I just like white pepper better with potatoes merely for looks). If you have a grownup crowd (i.e., one that isn't going to complain about onion pieces in their potatoes) then you could use chopped scallions or chives or even (cooked) diced onion.

Be sure to use a potato masher. Using a stick blender creates a strange glop. Ask me how I know this. Potato mashers are ever so cheap, and well worth it.