Thinking Outloud

It’s an awful shame how some young people today are just throwing their lives away.  I was just talking to a friend of mine who’s daughter has gotten herself in a world of trouble all because of drugs.   I honestly don’t remember my generation having as many troubles with drugs as the kids these days are. It’s a good thing that more and more drug rehab centers are being built because I honestly think we need them all as well as a few more. I felt bad for my friend, but the only thing I could do for her was sit back and listen. Hopefully her daughter will see the error of her ways and try to straighten herself out.

Last night I was a little bored and wanted something different to do.  So I picked up my daughter’s knitted afghan that I have spent months working on and started knitting again.  I honestly couldn’t believe how long it’s been since I last worked on it.  It’s a good thing that she is a very patient child when it comes to things like this.  I have a tendency to go in spurts when working on certain crafting projects and lately I have been in the jewelry creation spurts.  But to be fair to my daughter I have decided to spend a little time working on her afghan every night until its finally completed.  I feel like I’ve been working on it forever so I can’t wait until it’s done.  My son wants one next, but I think I’m going to look for a different pattern that doesn’t take quite so long to complete.

My daughter was invited to a girl’s 11th birthday party.  It seems to me like the older kids get the harder they are to buy for.  This is especially true for kids that I don’t really know.  I know what my daughter is in to (and she’s 9), but I have no clue what this child is into or even what types of things she already has.  So we bought her a game of trouble.  You really can’t go wrong with board games.  And even if she did already own this game, pieces get lost of wrecked so they can always use a spare.  This is the first present that I have had to purchase for a child that is over the age of 8 that I don’t really know and let me tell you it was a hard choice to make.  I can’t wait until the kids start getting older and older.  I think then I will be sticking with gift cards.

My daughter sure has a lot of plans to keep me busy. Right now she is involved with the school choir, the running club and the violin. But this is not where her wishes end. She wants to join the summer soccer program, play lacrosse and join some type of dance. The dance she could probably do as it is the least expensive of the all the activities. I have checked into it and except for purchasing some bodystockings all we would need to do would be to pay the dance fees. But since summer is still a little ways off, I’m sure when the time comes, she will have changed her mind and decided that she wants to do something else instead.

Yesterday I was telling you all about the search and rescue mission I needed to go on to try to find my son’s sneakers and how when I did finally find them, they really weren’t much good to him.  So yesterday after work my husband stopped at the store and purchased him a new pair of sneakers, my daughter a new pair and both of them a new spring jacket.  Needless to say after all this spending, he came out of the store a little poorer than when he first walked in.  But it was things that the kids really did need, so the money had to be spent.

They both looked so cute and proud when they headed off to school today in their new spring gear.  So the spent money was totally worth it.

Last night I started routing through every closet in the house to try to find my son’s sneakers. They were put away for the winter and now with all the snow gone, it’s time for him to stop wearing the winter boots. I spent a lot of time looking for his sneakers and when I finally did find them, I was highly disappointed in the shape they were in. He did go to school today with them on, but over the weekend we are going to have to get him a new pair of sneakers to wear back and forth to school.

I’m really thinking that what this child needs is a pair of Dansko so that they will last more than three months of wear and tear. My son is extremely hard on his footwear and I have to the realization that he really needs a good sturdy set of footwear for his everyday use.

I feel so bad for  my little guy.  Every time you turn around he is getting sick.  Most of the time it’s just a simple cold that he needs to work through but lately these colds have been turning into so much more.  In December he started out with a cold that turned into an ear infection, then in March he had a cold that ended up being phenomena.  Well here it is the first of April and he has another cold.  Because his colds usually end up becoming a more serious problem, I have made him a doctor’s appointment for later this afternoon.  Better to be safe than sorry.  Hopefully he can get some medicine and be on the road to recovery soon.

My  daughter  is really starting to enjoy her violin lessons.  They have now begun working on the fun stuff like playing songs so she is really starting to get into it.  Getting her to practice at home is still requiring a lot of patience on my part, but things are starting to  improve.

In the month of April, she has three different violin events coming up and she has one more performance event in June.  She has her fiddle-a-thon, a competition and the spring extravaganza in April and then has a retirement party for a teacher to prepare for in June.  With all these concerts and events coming up in the near future it gives her a purpose to practice hard.   And now that she it totally caught up with her class (she missed a lot of time before Christmas due to a serious illness) and can play everything they can, she is having the time of her life.  So much in fact that she has decided to stick with it for many more years to come.

I can’t be more proud of her than I am right now and I am really looking forward to seeing all her performances.

I don’t know what I was thinking a few months back.  I decided that I would finally use up all my scrap pieces of yarn and make my daughter a homemade knitting afghan.  It was a great idea at the time.  But, I never realized what type of work would go into one of these and I honestly have to wonder if I’m ever going to get it done.

I usually knit in the evenings while I’m watching TV.  The particular pattern I chose was to make 70 individual blocks of six and a half inch squares.  One square (if I knit constantly) takes me a day.  Then I have to sew all the pieces together and then crochete a border.  I think when it’s finally completed it’s going to be a very funky and interesting piece.  My daughter loves it already.  But, I am still wondering if I’m ever going to see a completed product.  Then my son wants one for his bed (all boy colors) as well.  So even when I see the end of this project.  It’s really not the end.  But I have been making some progress and here are some pics so you can all see how far I have gotten.

Although the kids are just getting over a long weekend, my youngest son was looking forward to another long weekend next weekend.  This coming Friday the kids were supposed to be home from school due to parent teacher conferences.  But, because they have missed so much school time over the last few months due to bad weather, the schools have decided to cancel all parent teacher conferences for Friday and have a regular class day instead. 

This information has been on the radio all day and I just received a talk mail confirming it.  Needless to say my youngest son was not impressed and still has a sour look on his face when I remind him that he has to go to school on Friday.  This information did not bother my daughter, but it sure did bother him.