Month: October 2012

Bar soap bath pouch

I was thinking about what to do yesterday for a quick and easy little crochet project and came up with a pouch for bars of soap that also double as a wash cloth.

I used an “L” hook and two colors of yarn, but you can use any hook and any type/color of yarn you have around. This is a good way to use up those little bits of yarn that are not long enough to really do anything else with.

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This is my first time writing a pattern of my own, but here goes:

Chain 32
DC in 3rd ch from hook, DC in each st across (30 DC) Ch 2 and turn
DC in every stitch (30 Dc) Change yarn CH 2 and turn
DC in every st (30 DC) ch 2 and turn
2 more rows of 30 DC in second color. Change yarn, ch2 and turn
3 Rows of 30 DC in original color. Do not tie off.

Fold in half so the stripe is vertical and the fold is the bottom short side.
SC the first side seam with 15 SC (put the hook in all four loops of each stitch) (15 seam SC)
Slip Stitch across the bottom
Seam the second long side the same way you did the first, a SC stitch through all stitches along this side (15 SC seam stitches) Finish off and weave in ends. Add a bar of soap and there you go!
I used green for the stripe since this one is for Big J’s bar of Irish Spring. I will make a pink stripe for my bar of body soap in a bit.
I used both yarns to make the seam stitches to add strength. You can also add a round of SC around the top if you like to give it a more finished look.
Enjoy!

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Secret Sisters!

One of the things I do with some fellow trucker wives is a Secret Sister exchange. Every few months, you are given the name and address of one of the wives in the group along with a short bio, and you use that as well as what you already know about her from the group posts and you make a little care package to brighten her day. I just got a care package from my Secret Sister today. I got some cool things from my SS! Can’t wait until the time is up and I find out who she is.


The first two pics are hand made dish cloths which match the eclectic style of my kitchen. Then there is the knook kit (knooking is knitting using crochet hooks) which I am going to try to learn to do tonight for a little bit, and the fourth pic is the candy she included in the box. I love the pressed sugar candies like SweetTarts, and she sent me a whole box of them!
I love doing things like this with the group. It is just something that brightens a person’s day and reminds a trucker’s wife that others are going through what she is and that she is not alone. One never knows when their care package might help someone make it through those last few days before her husband comes home after a long period out on the road.
Thank you to my SS! I love the package!

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Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails…

Sometimes, Little J is too much, he is one of the most polite and kind young men I have ever been around. At times, I can’t believe he is ONLY going to be 9 this weekend.
This morning, when he got dressed, my washing machine was empty, his uniforms hanging up in the laundry room. When he got dressed, he opened the lid of the washer and threw his PJs, dirty boxers, and towel from his shower into the machine and told me “Mom, I pout the stuff in the washer to make your morning a little easier.” How cute, lol. Now, if only he will do that in the afternoon when he comes home with pasta sauce from lunch on the back of his pant leg (don’t ask, I have no idea how that one happened, lol).
I asked him what he wanted to do on his birthday, which is a Sunday this year. He wants to go to church (which we were planning to do anyway since we should have our car back by then) and he wants to go to the zoo with me after church. That is something we like to do together, and we are zoo members so we can go for free all year (Big J and Little J got me a zoo membership for my birthday) and it is on our way home from church. and a lazy Sunday stroll around the zoo is always fun. We have not been to the zoo since they opened the cheetah exhibit, so we will both enjoy that. He also requested spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.
Big J will be home the weekend after Little J’s birthday so we will do a family thing then. Big J wants to take him to Arkansas Post, which was the first settlement in Arkansas and the capital when we were still the Arkansas Territory, so we will do that when Big J is home and we will take him to the Chinese buffet for dinner.
The day before his birthday, I will do cake and ice cream here when his grandparents come over. He hasn’t decided on the kind of cake yet, but I am sure he will soon enough, lol.
I can’t believe my little man is going to be 9! Where oh where does the time go?

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Quick and Easy bath mitt and washcloth

 

I was a little bored the other night and wanted to figure out something to do with all those half skeins of yarn I have left over in my yarn bin from other projects, so I decided to troll the Red Heart patterns online. I found a few that are easy and quick, all of which take under one skein.
After reading through the instructions, I decided to make a few things to donate to the local women’s shelter.
I made a few regular shaped wash clothes and some bath mitts.
After I dropped them off with a friend of mine who works at the shelter, I decided to make myself one. In total, I made a dozen washcloths and 5 mitts for the shelter, and 2 cloths and a mitt for myself.
Here is a pic of the mitt I made for myself.  All of the things I made that night took a total of 3 left over skeins (each only about 1/4 of a skein), the mitt is a mix of DC and SC, the cloths are all sc. I will post a pic of the cloths I made for myself in a little bit. Happy hooking!

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Fresh Chicken Soup

I have about six or seven different chicken soup recipes, Chicken and egg noodle, chicken and dumplings, chicken corn chowder, cream of chicken, chicken veggie, chicken and rice, to name a few. This afternoon, I was in a mood for chicken soup, so I decided to make my pantry busting soup my Grandmother taught me to make.

It is very simple, chicken broth (whatever you might have in the pantry, if you only have a can or two, use a can of hot water for every can of broth you have or use, you can also use bullion cubes and hot water or any other kind of chicken broth you have) 4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, salt, black pepper, garlic, onion cut into large chunks, put the chicken in a large pot and cover with broth and water, throw in salt, pepper, garlic, and onion, simmering until the chicken is cooked. The broth will strengthen as the chicken cooks. Once chicken is cooked through, reduce heat and remove large chunks of onion. With a fork and large spoon, break up chicken into large shredded chunks, add any veggies you may have in the freezer (I usually use either mixed veggies or green beans, broccoli doesn’t work as well in this kind of soup, you can also throw in some carrot rounds now if you want them. Simmer for half an hour or until veggies are soft, add a few handfulls of any kind of pasta noodle in the pantry plus any canned veggies you might want to add (tonight I used broken up thin spaghetti, break up longer noodles). Serve piping hot with buttered rye bread or potato rolls and enjoy.

I love this soup, it is quick and easy and uses things already in the pantry.

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Back In High School

Looking at my Facebook friends list, I realized something…. Over half the people on my list from my high school wanted nothing to do with me in school. In high school, we were protected by the “big red doors” of the building. Once inside those doors, you had your social circle, and those were the only people you really hung out with, straying out of that circle was social suicide.
In high school, I really didn’t have that many friends, hell, even in elementary school, I was one of the outcasts. The same thing about the people from high school goes for the people from elementary school, too. Most of the people on my Facebook list from elementary school wanted nothing to do with me back in school either.
I was on the cusp of misery when it came to my social life from around 5th grade on. I wasn’t a member of any specific clique. I guess you could say I was a pseudo rocker since I was dating a wanna be rocker/skater. I had a few close friends, but as a whole, most Friday nights, I was either working or sitting at home. Pathetic, I know. I didn’t go away for prom weekend, I didn’t go “clubbing” I was a geek who tried to find her place but never really fit in.
Now, though, it is as if those years as an outcast didn’t happen. The people on my list now act as if high school never happened, as if many of them did not ignore me for the entire 4 years. Hell, one of the girls on my list was even involved in an incident where she cheered her friend on to spit in my hair!
They expect that I have forgotten about the four years of living hell, how I was so eager to get out of high school that I have never been back since graduation.
Before the bullying in schools was a huge issue, it was still going on. I am not saying what I experienced was as bad as some cases, but it was happening. I was picked on because I wasn’t just like the other kids. I was different and most of the people in school made me hate getting up in the morning to face another day of classes. To know what was being said, to be told by supposed friends what people were laughing about behind my back, to see the glares thrown my way, the hateful looks and resentment on people’s faces when they looked either at me or through me, without even knowing what the reason for those looks were, killed me inside.
But, now, 15 years later, the very same people who acted like I didn’t exist, are requesting to be my friends now. I can’t help but think, in the back of my mind, that they are still in high school, looking for the easy target. But, still wanting to try to see the good in everyone, and thinking people can change, I accept their friend requests, knowing that they probably have not changed.

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Love Thy Neighbor

I try, Heaven knows I have tried over the years to live this, but, there are just some people you can’t. There are just some people who take advantage of every kindness you offer them.
So, is it wrong that I feel a small triumph when I see the cleaning company across the street to clean the place so it can be rented after the people who lived there were evicted? I do feel bad for the two daughters, but their parents put them in this situation. When I am asked daily by the child, who is a year younger than Little J, if her parents can have a few cigarettes so they can be more calm, I have to say no. When the same child knocks on my door daily asking for milk or pasta or hamburger meat, or beans so their father can make dinner, I have to say no. When the mother comes over and asks if I will buy food stamps from her or if I can lend her $10 and she will pay me back with $20 in food stamps when hers come in, I have to say no.
I made the mistake, I said yes once or twice, and I then became responsible for supporting them as well as my own family. I let on that I would never let a child go hungry after Little J is fed, and they took advantage of that. The last time I was asked, I said no, and the mother tried to pull a guilt trip on me, telling me that I didn’t tell her that we wouldn’t have enough money to buy future food stamps from her and she was counting on that money she was going to borrow from me for her kids. I will give everyone a minute to let that sink in…
I was asked to babysit her children one night for 2 hours and they would pick up McDonalds on the way home. I said sure thing, I like their girls and they usually get along with Little J and it was after dinner time, so I really didn’t mind.
6 hours later, the baby had messed her last diaper and I had to use an emergency swim diaper I had from a friend’s little girl (the diaper was a few years old but still unused), the parents had not called even once to tell me they would be late, Little J was starting to get cranky because he couldn’t go to sleep in his own home since he had a friend over and running around, the two girls were not fed before they came over and I did not have anything made to feed them, the baby spent 45 minutes poking my dog in the eyes and saying “doggy eyes,” the older girl was starting to not feel well. When they finally got home to get the girls they acted offended that I was a little annoyed because it was after midnight. Oh, and they just so happened to forget to tell me both of the girls had lice, which I didn’t find out until the next day, after they had been all over my home, on my couches, in Little J’s room. And the mom acted like it was none of my business, which I really do think it is.
So, long story short, I couldn’t help but feel a little glad that the parents were evicted. Yes, I feel bad for the children since their parents’ actions are none of their fault, they are just helpless pawns in the adults’ games, but the parents have gotten what was coming to them for a long time.

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