Wondering...

Have you been wondering where I was?  I have been sick unfortunately.  I came back to Louisiana to find this sinus garbage.  It started going into my chest so I really had to get on top of it.  Asthma and chest ick is not good.  However, I am finally recovering!  I couldn't think, or sit up long enough to think and had no desire to try to think.  I dutifully took my sinus medicine and turned into the zombie it made me and did a major part of my week sleeping... good for the soul. 

So what else have I accomplished this week?  Remember me trying to teach myself to crochet?  I did figure out what I think is a single crochet stitch.  I went round and round because I had nothing else to do.  I had no direction, but I got the stitch down pretty good, don't cha think?

Not bad for a first timer - even if it might be a bit tight, it'll be ok!  Laura (thanks Laura) told me so!  So I am really ok with that.  

Then guess what I did?  I took every one of those stitches out because I had no idea what to do next!!  Lol... I don't know how to read directions or a pattern and I really don't know what I want to make anyway.  Oh, and I obviously don't know how to turn corners - hence the never ending circle. I sure need to find a crochet/knitting group here.

So, I then decided I might try knitting - Steph knits so she can at least help me with that.  I only have two stitches to learn... maybe?  I had to learn to cast on, I knit a row then purled a row, then I took it out, then knit two stitches and purled two stitches and it doesn't look right, so I will take it out too.  I started with 38 stitches and ended up with WAY more than that.  Not sure what is happening... *sigh*  Sure do miss my girls in Singapore - they would have straightened me out in no time... I *will* figure this out.  Does anyone in the area know how to knit OR crochet??  Lol...

I got the opportunity to go to 'school' and teach pR last week - it was a blast!  I hope to get that opportunity more often.  She did math - she is really good at math, but she claims to hate it.  I think it is a sham.  She is really good at it - even if she does have to use a few fingers and toes:

 

And she is so confident!  "Granny, I KNOW how to do that!"  Lol...  She is attentive, determined and loves to learn.  I think she is doing a great job in school.  She asks a lot of questions - good ones too!  Her mom is a prize - she is such a good teacher.

After she did her math, we learned about Pennsylvania (Delaware was the day before) in case you saw it on the chalkboard above:

She had a great time learning about the Liberty Bell - she even made one.  Darn it, I forgot to take a picture of it - and it is a pretty darned good bell if you ask me.  Even granny learned a few things in the Pennsylvania lesson :-)

After math, we had to go outside and find birds.  It was a frigid cold day outside for south Louisiana, so the birds were few and far between.  But we found lots of empty nests:

It was lots of fun walking around spotting the nests.  We never realized there were that many nests and decided we probably couldn't see them if there were leaves on the trees, but we sure could see them easily right now.  Where were the birds?  They must all be in Singapore!  It was very, very cold that day.  If they were smart they were sitting by a fireplace somewhere... 

pR has been watching those poor pitiful sad SPCA animal commercials on tv.  She decided she needed to earn money for a no kill animal shelter here in Louisiana called HOPE for Animals.  She gathered all the toys she didn't play with or use, marked prices on them, hired granny to cook hot chocolate and banana bread, mom to cook cookies and brownies, dad to keep the stuff warm and papa to bring his coffee pot over and make coffee.  We had a fund raiser toy sale and SHE made the signs and helped set everything up!

She earned over $264.00!!  This little gal is dynomite!  She makes plans and is relentless in carrying them out!  Remember the Toys for the Orphanage?  I am so proud of her!

 

She had a goal of $200, and thought she wasn't going to make it because not so many people came out on a cold day to buy toys - but she did!  Between her sales and her donations, we went well over her goal.

And finally we have played a lot of games.  Punkin' went to the store with papa one night and used those pretty blues to talk him into a new game.  He thought it was way over her head, but it has been a lot of fun.  You are not allowed to look at your face, but to make your face, you draw 1 part of the face from 3 piles: the eyes, the nose and the mouth.  Then you set them up on a stand facing away from yourself and try to guess by asking questions (like do I have blue eyes) and deducing who you are with this paper:

You get some really goofy faces:

Fun game and it is building punkin's thinking skills too!  Maybe working on granny and papa's just a bit, and we are having lots of fun looking at the silly faces.  You should try this game - lots of laughs!


So that is what we have been up to.  Not much to talk about this week... sorry, my life is boring.  We keep waiting on the word, but it hasn't come yet.  Steve will be going to Houston, Pascagoula and Tulsa in the next week or so, but just for meetings.  Keep your fingers crossed - I hope it turns into something more... but you know...

Promise to find more to write about now that I can think again  :-)  See you soon!