Calm and Crazy

Amidst the crazy week, Chief is calm, cool, and collected.

 

Next week, reports from TNNA. 

Crazy Week Continued...

Then, the morning after Chickee's 8th grade graduation, we drove 3.5 hours to the State Power of the Pen writing competition. Chickee had made it through the District tournament in January. She placed 11th in the Regional Competition in March and was honored to represent. She was the only 8th grader from this side of town who made it to the State competition.

 

 

The kids compete in three writing rounds. They are given a prompt then they have 35 minutes to write a story. They are judged by two judges who have to agree on her rank and a quality score out of 100. The kids who do well in the first 3 rounds of writing, they take the top I think it was 50 (out of 350?) to go to the Power Round.  One of her morning rounds she got a #1 ranking and a perfect score. The other two rounds she got a #2 ranking and a #3 ranking. So she did great and qualified for the "Power Round".  The Power Round was a more difficult prompt and only 30 minutes to write. She didn't place overall but did fantastic. I still think she has a chance to win a "Best of Round" certificate for the #1 she earned. 

 

But the experience was great. We brought her BFF with us, and the girls got to hang out on a college campus, sleep in a dorm, eat in the cafeteria, navigate multiple campus buildings, hear an inspiring author speak about what makes for success.  All great stuff. 

 



Crazy Week

Last week was so crazy busy with good things... Chickee graduated from 8th grade.

Looking Ahead

TNNA is this coming weekend. As I prepare by throwing random things into my suitcase whenever they pop into my mind... family life keeps going.

Memorial Day

It's a good day to be grateful. 

You might think...

You might think that someone is crawling under the couch...

but actually, she is stationary... static in one place. Because, she thinks I cannot see her. She is hiding. MWAH haha.

My Favorite Cheese Ball

Unfortunately, we lost my Father-in-law this past August, to Melanoma. (Wear sunscreen!) He left my Mother in law mere months before their 50th Wedding Anniversary. So, a week or two ago, we invited mom and all Tom's sisters and their husbands and kids to our house for dinner. I made my favorite cheese ball.

It's cream cheese, onion, and Buddig packaged deli beef.  It's rare to find an appetizer that is NOT based on cream cheese...

Do you have a go-to appetizer that is NOT based on cream cheese? Please, expand my horizons...

JDRF gala

Chickee's BFF is a lovely young lady who happens to have Type 1 diabetes.  BFF is a junior ambassador for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and often participates in fundraisers to assist in finding a cure.  Last weekend, BFF and her family invited Chickee to the major fundraiser Gala at the convention center. The event including silent and live auctions raised over a million dollars!  A fantastic number but it's a growing problem. Here are Chickee and her BFF, channeling their favorite tv star... Lucille Ball. 

And while you are sick...

While one cat is attentive and cuddly... the other cat...

...chews on the crank handle of the window?  How weird is that?

The Stomach Bug

The kind of stomach bug that makes you abandon your bed in the middle of the night, and even though there are at least 15 crocheted blankets in the house, none of them were handy, so you grab the biggest bath towel you can find after picking yourself up off the bathroom floor to go lay on the couch. And the cat joins you. Nice kitty.

Mother's Day

Blueberry Pancakes with blueberry syrup made by my boy.

Faux-chet

It looks like crochet, but is not. It's Fauxchet. 

Car Crocheting

Last night I got some quality stitching time in the car while I waited for Chickee. I'm making the Mouse Set from my book, Go Crochet Skillbuilder.

 

But I'm making this one in pale gray and I'm going to change the ears to bunny ears!

Flying Pig Sunday

Saturday I ran the 5k with Chickee. Sunday I ran the marathon relay with 3 teammates. I ran just shy of 8 miles in my leg of the race.

Here I am with two of my teammates. The friend who ran the first leg had to hurry home for family activities so we didn't get to see her in the finish area. Together we ran a 4:06:18 marathon. Too bad I didn't notice any crochet!

Two Worlds Collide

I love it when my worlds collide. As you know, my two major things are crochet and running. This past weekend was the Flying Pig Marathon Weekend. The weekend is 5 different races culminating with the marathon on Sunday.

Saturday morning, Chickee and I ran the 5K (3.1 miles) together.

 Here we are before the race and after. (Yep, gotta get a photo in front of the porta-potties)

 

 

After the finish line, the runners are funneled under a bridge where the bananas, water, fruit, pretzels, and other goodies are waiting. Hanging from the underside of the bridge like chandeliers were THREE crochet sculptures!  I took a few snapshots while being herded in the crowd.

 

 

Pretty neat!



Before I became a designer...

Before I became a crochet designer, I crocheted this blanket, from someone else's pattern. I don't know who!  That was nearly 17 years ago and this blanket, is still used on our bed.

Minnie is not happy about me interrupting her nap to take the photo.