Catch-Up

So, it's been a while since I posted. But, in my defense, I've been busy. In the past month, my spare time has been spent doing the following: 1. Decorating Nick's new room, since we moved him out of the nursery. Of course, the bunk beds I want are on backorder, and the arrival date keeps getting pushed back later and later. So, the bed's in a state of limbo. But, I've still tried to get as much done as I can. I have made curtains, painted new NICK letters for the wall (Doesn't everyone put their kids' names on the wall? Everyone in my family does.), made a new bulletin board for his room (and almost shot my finger with a staple gun in the process), made throw pillows for both non-existent bunk beds, moved his clothes, re-organized his toys, and changed the room layout about 10 times. Don't worry, Mom, I made Mike do the heavy lifting. 2. Getting the nursery back in semi-order for a newborn. This has proved difficult because Nick insists on using it as his playroom. I guess he got a little too used to the idea of having a separate bedroom and playroom, so since the playroom is now his bedroom, he thinks his old bedroom should be his playroom. So, there are toys and stuffed animals everywhere, and I confess that I mainly just shut the door and try not to think about it. But, I did make Mike get all the baby clothes down from the attic, so while they're not hung up or in drawers, they are at least in the actual room. 3. Teaching myself to crochet. I once knew how (okay, so all I could make was potholders or scarves), but sort of forgot how to do it. So, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I taught myself again using videos on YouTube. Yes, I'm serious. I loved the blanket that Mike's grandma crocheted for Nick, and since she's no longer with us, I had no one to appeal to except for myself. It took a long time, but the main blanket is now done. It needs some sort of border to look finished, so I'm going to have to go take lessons from this lady in our ward. My beginner crochet skills are such that I can't really read any of the border patterns I've found, even though they're labeled "Beginner" and "Novice." I guess YouTube doesn't prepare you for even the simplest of pattern reading. Such is life. 4. Making a t-shirt quilt for the secretary of Mike's school's son for graduation. Sound random? I'll explain. Because Mike coaches, he always has a zillion (okay, exaggeration) t-shirts from the sports he coaches. Plus, he gets t-shirts from the other coaches, because there's some unwritten rule that if you are a coach, you must give t-shirts from your sport to coaches of the other sports, and they in turn must give you t-shirts from their teams. Add to that all the generic t-shirts that the school gives out for spirit days and the like, and he usually gets at least 15 new t-shirts a year. After teaching at the same school for 6 years, he's got a lot of Centennial shirts. So, for Christmas, I decided to use some of his older, rarely-worn shirts to make a t-shirt quilt for him. And then somehow Sally, the secretary, saw his quilt, and asked him if I'd make one for her son who's graduating this year. He played a few sports and was on student council, so he also had quite the collection of shirts. Anyway, the quilt's not finished, but in process. It's huge. I think she gave me 30 shirts for it, and when you consider that each was 15"x15"...you get the idea. It's taken forever just to get the shirts cut and pieced together. I still have to put a back on it, and then tie it. And graduation's coming up shortly. In looking at the above, I realize that I seem pretty crafty. Not really. We've been doing other things too, but I've got to transfer the pictures to the computer. Just wanted to let everyone know that we're alive.