What a day yesterday! I had a wonderful lunch with friends, and then a grueling supervisor training session, and then an all-staff dinner (including our Roseville Office - they closed the office at 2:30 and bussed them up!) and then another training session. The evening session wasn't that grueling, but it was long. I left town at about 9:20 (after getting to work at 7:15 that morning), and then walked in the door at home (thinking of nothing more than a glass of wine and to sit down and relax) and Ralph met me at the door with a sick cat.

Lucy got into some antifreeze. The vet was hopeful we got her to the hospital in time, but I won't know until later in the day if she will pull through or not. Poor baby!

What a dark and stormy weekend! Yesterday, I did very little - watched TV, did laundry and crocheted! I didn't even make it to church. We got almost an inch of rain so far out of this storm, and more to come. What a change from last week - sunny and warm!

Mom and Freda came down last week - Mom is shopping for an RV. I took Tuesday afternoon off, and we ran all over Shasta County looking. We started in Anderson, and found the best option for her up by Shasta Lake City. The price wasn't right on that RV, but at least we know what we are looking for now. Not too bad for one afternoon!

After shopping, we took Freda down to the Sundial Bridge. She had seen it from the highway, but had not been across it. Lucky for us, it was also "free Tuesday" for the Arboretum. (It was probably a free day for the museum too, but we didn't get that far.) I had not been into the Arboretum myself, so we took a nice little walk through. It is very pretty! Unusual for me, I didn't bring my camera, but I did bring my cell phone. I took a few pictures with my phone, and I am very surprised at how well they turned out! I forget that the cell phones now have as good a camera as my first digital camera. I am just spoiled by my 'real' camera.



There is a sculpture along the main path titled "The sound of water" (I think - relying on memory here - work with me!) It had three different waterfalls - all lovely. At the base are ponds that will be quite lively with gold fish - when it warms up. We saw one large carp, and the rest are all baby feeders - and they are all huddled up together to keep warm.

I did go in yesterday and pick up yarn for my next baby afghan, and got it started. The base of the afghan is 80 rows of double crochet, 120 stitches wide. After the base is made, you crochet a tree and a giraffe and a few other things and applique them on. The base afghan is boring! I got about 18 rows done yesterday, so it is started. Good thing the baby isn't due until August! The pattern has a matching pillow and toy giraffe, so if I have time, I want to make them too. We'll see how enthusiastic I am after I get the afghan done!

Here are pictures of the finished baby afghan. It is done corner to corner, and I really like how the pattern worked up.



Here is one of my 'mystery' patterns from a Yahoo! group - I turned stars into bookmarks. I used worsted weight yarn for the blue one - too big - cotton yard for the red one - too bulky - and white size 10 for the white on - too small. I think if I used a larger size thread (3 or 5) it would be better. I think I have some size 5 with a pearl thread through it that I used for snowflakes - I'll have to give it a try!



A couple of friends are cleaning out their house - and I am the beneficiary! Both Kimberly and Michelle gave me a ton of yarn! Michelle had 19 large skeins of gray and white yarn, and Kimberly had an eclectic assortment.



She has a baby afghan almost done - I need to get the pattern from her and finish it up - just a few more squares, and it would be large enough for a cute car-seat afghan.

Alli seemed to have a lot of fun at her baseball game. She ran from the car to the game - which is unusual in itself! She must be 'in the groove' this year. I needed very little physical contact with her to keep her on the field, and she automatically went into the dugout when it was time. What a change from over the years!


AJ went up with me to the start of Alli's game, and took pictures. Ralph came up to the game at 9:30 and relieved us, and AJ and I went to his scout meeting. From there, we went to his soccer game. It was a fun game, and they lost by two, I think. AJ made the statement that he really likes playing the spring soccer because it isn't so serious. He can play and have fun, and no one is all stressed out about it. While we were at the soccer park, there was a tournament going on for the next level of players (Division III). Quite a few of AJ's friends play in that division, and he was hoping they would win, because everyone is happier when they win. That would explain why he doesn't want to play at that level - he likes the game, but he isn't that competitive.

Here is a doily that I finished last month, and then didn't post a picture of because it was in a contest for the homepage picture of one of my Yahoo! groups. I won! That means this picture is up our website for the month (or until someone else does an absolute fabulous job on something and they bump it off to showcase it. If that happens, it is usually for something pretty stupendous!) I was pretty proud of my doily!



I finished up my baby afghan last night, now I need to take a picture of it and post it! I am off today (I hope) to get some more yarn to start another baby afghan. Then, I need to make some booties and hats to go along with the afghans! Good thing both babies are due in August - I still have time!

It's Saturday! Time to relax, kick back....right! I'll be able to do that this afternoon, I think! This morning, Alli has a baseball game at 9:00 (which means she needs to be in Shasta Lake City at 8:45) and AJ has a scout meeting at 10:00 (which means he needs to be there at 9:45) and then he has a soccer game at 11:30 (which means he needs to be there at 11:00). I'm excited about both games - I love to watch AJ play soccer, and the baseball games are quite fun - at least in the beginning. If I was really good, I would have gotten up early and done my shopping before the 9:00 game. But...I slept in! I can go shopping later!

Not only has it been a long week at work, I have been fighting with headaches all week - bummer. I could use a break from both! I think the headaches are a combination of stress and allergies - it is a pollen covered world out there this week, and the wind has been blowing pollen everywhere. We are expecting rain this week, which should settle the pollen down. I would really like to see the nice weather, but....if it helps my allergies, I'll take it - I just hope it waits until after the games today.

Speaking of winds, our neighbor to the south of us came visiting this week. He found Koori in his backyard, and then discovered our joint fence had blown over in the last wind storm (the fence by the clothesline, and I hadn't been out there to hang clothes on the line.) He put a board up to keep Koo out, and then he and his son are going to fix the fence. We offered both assistance and to split the costs with him. I don't know when that will happen, but for now, the board will keep Koo on her side of the fence.

You know, sometimes it just doesn't pay to take a day off! Tuesday at work was a madhouse! Since I spent most of my 'day off' on Monday cleaning and scrubbing, and catching up on chores around the house, it didn't feel particularly restful (but I did feel better about my house!) I still have someone off sick in my department, so there were only two people there on Monday - ugly! Oh well, we'll catch up - maybe by June or July!

I did take some time on Monday to work up a few Autism Awareness ribbons. The month of April is Autism Awareness month, so I made up 6 ribbons for Alli' teachers/aides. They work up fast, so I really didn't spend a lot of time on them,



When I was up in Susanville over the weekend, I visited with a friend for a couple of hours. While I was there - she gave me back a present I gave her years ago. After several years, and several moves, my present needed some serious help. This was a crocheted egg, decorated with ribbon, buttons and flowers.



After a little resuscitation, - it looks much better now!

Allison was a perfect angel at Mom's, well, almost! I took just the VCR tapes we have for Pokemon, and....Mom's VCR player decided not to work. I should have brought the DVD's that we have, but....I wasn't really planning ahead, I guess! Alli did just fine with just the TV on cartoons though. I was impressed! She went out to visit Michelle with me too, and was on her best behavior.

She did have an awkward moment though. She was in watching TV while I was helping clean up the kitchen after breakfast, and when I went to check on her, she wasn't in the living room. As I rounded the corner to go look for her, I had a straight view into the bathroom. There, I could see two little feet waving over the edge of the tub. The rest of Allison was in the tub. Evidently, she had decided to take herself to the bathroom (yippee!) and had either leaned on the shower curtain thinking it was solid, or lost her balance and fell into it. She wasn't hurt, she was just stuck! I have no idea how long she was stuck, but she wasn't making any noise, just laying back and enjoying the view, I guess. She had a big smile on her face at least. Since she wasn't hurt, it was just too funny!

Mom's cat George was playing 'vulture kitty', just waiting for someone to walk by so he could pounce (or at least swat with a paw!) Check out his tail wrapped around his paws - too cute!



Here is little jar lid I made - it worked up very quickly. I'll keep this pattern in mind if I ever make jarred presents.

What a weekend! The weather didn't exactly cooperate with my plans, but - I'm flexible! My original plans called for a trip to Susanville after work on Friday (the bank closes at 1:00 on Good Friday), but...it was raining cats and dogs in Redding, and the traffic cameras were showing a build-up of snow on the highway, so....we'll go up on Saturday instead! Saturday morning, the road conditions called for chains up until about 9:30, so Alli and I went to town and did our normal Saturday shopping, and then around 10:00, we left for Susanville.

The wildflowers on the way up were gorgeous! This shot is from the Millville plains area.


The roads were pretty clear, with a few spots of slush on the road.



And then.....Alli and I pull up on a wreck just this side of McCoy Flats.



What is it about people and helping at a wreck? When I pulled up, the car was already on its side, and people were standing around it. When I parked and got out and walked over, the driver was climbing out of his window. No one stepped up to help him out of his car! I walked up, just like usual, bumbled right in, and climbed down to help him out, and then someone else stepped up to help me help him out! The driver was uninjured, so it was just a matter of getting a tow truck, etc. One of the other bystanders had already called 911, so by the time the guy got out, help was on the way.

A trucker (bless him - I didn't get his name, or the company he worked for, but he was wonderful!!) provided a hazard triangle for us to place at the top of the hill. My RAV with its hazard lights on was good for the traffic going east, but the west bound traffic needed a warning, because they were topping a hill right before the wreck. When I went up to place the triangle, everyone else left, so I stayed with the driver. It was amazing how many people stopped (or slowed down at least) to make sure everyone was okay, and we didn't need help. I don't think there was a car that didn't check as they drove by - I was giving them a thumb's up sign as they approached, so they would know everything was okay. After about 15 minutes, a snow plow from CalTrans came by. He couldn't move the car, but he did have a radio, and was in contact with CHP (who were already on the way). CHP was about 5 minutes behind CalTrans, so I was released to go on my way.

I'm off to Susanville today! Of course, the sun was shining by the end of the day here, but the storm was still up in the mountains. I took advantage of the forced delay, and sat around watching TV and crocheting! I made chicken and dumplings for dinner, and set the chicken up to cook around 5:00. Alli, with her fascination with the stove, stood and watched the pot boiling until dinner time - 7:00! At least that gave me the chance to watch TV! I am also officially half way done on my baby afghan! It is a corner to corner afghan, and I have reached the decrease part, so it's all down hill from here. I still need to post a picture of it - it is turning out very nice - I like the pattern of it, and it is quick to make - if you are paying attention! I had to frog two rows last night - and they are long rows right now! I hate it when that happens.

I had Allison's IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting this week. It went really well - sort of a large parent-teacher meeting. She will be staying in her same class for next year, but the year after that - high school! So scary! Her current teacher did have nice things to say about the Anderson teacher and classroom, which is comforting. I'm not ready for Allison to be in high school! She is 13 in about a month, too. How did that happen?

April weather! I was supposed to be heading up to Susanville today after work, but....the weather didn't cooperate! It was raining cats and dogs in Redding, but I kept an eye on the traffic cameras at Lassen Park Entrance and Bogard, and they were clear. And then.....between 11:15 and 12:15, it looked like Lassen picked up 2 inches of snow - in the road. Then I checked some other roads...I5 was completely closed just outside of Redding. Not a good time to try to go up in the mountains! If all the rain we were getting in Redding followed me up the hill, I would be stuck in no time. Maybe tomorrow will be better - it is just supposed to be partly cloudy here.

Finally! I can post a picture of a doily I made earlier this month! One of the Yahoo! groups that I am on has a 'traveling hook' game going. There is one crochet hook that is set to a person on the list. They make a small project with the hook, and pass the hook and project on to someone else on the list. I received this doily from Greece:



Then, I made this doily with the hook, and sent it on to the East Coast:



The pattern is very old - from a book of patterns that cost 10 cents! (You know it was an old pattern book!!) Done in the variegated purple, it reminded me of violets and springtime. I loved the doily, and so wanted to post a picture of it, but....it was a secret until it arrived at its destination, which it did yesterday. The receiving party said she loved it too, so...success! I have another doily that I made this month, but it is still a secret....until after the 7th of April. Then I can post a picture of it!

Yesterday was a flying trip to Sacramento! Alli and I got up nice and early and went to the grocery store in the morning, and Kimberly came by around 10:00, and off we went! This weekend was a mandatory camp out for the scouts going to Jamboree this summer, and Ralph took AJ and Kimberly's son Dylan down to Sacramento on Friday. The parents had a mandatory meeting at 3:00 on Saturday, so.....Kimberly and I drove down Saturday! That's a lot of miles in one weekend, and I am very glad Ralph did the Friday drive!

Kimberly needed to pick up some supplies for her store in Sac while we were down, so we left early, and had a fun trip - it was nice to have someone to talk to on the drive! The actual camp site is beautiful - Camp Pollock Pines on the American River - very close to downtown Sacramento. The weather was beautiful - I think I sunburned my nose during the meeting! The meeting itself was a waste of time, but I guess we had to pick up AJ anyway. The drive back was uneventful - the boys slept all of it - good thing Kimberly was there to talk to!

We got in from Sac about 7:00 - and then AJ and I went in to town to pick up two of his friends. AJ has a project for physics, and the three of them are working on it today. I didn't eat dinner until 8:30 last night - way too late! Today, AJ already has plans with Ralph to go shopping for the 'stuff' they need for the project. Of course, they haven't made any plans yet, so - this morning is the planning and then shopping. Ralph and three teenage boys! I think Alli and I will stay home!

I mentioned it was beautiful weather yesterday, but Thursday, we had a hail storm go through - lots of it! This is from my office - before the rain melted it:



I finished up a small doily - about7 inches across. It turned out pretty nice!

Is it Friday yet? What a week, and I had Monday off! I always feel like I pay for taking a day off with extra work, but this week has been amazing! Besides being extra busy, we have been short handed! I'm ready for the weekend!

I say that I am ready for the weekend, but it is busy as well. AJ has a scout camp-out (mandatory) in Sacramento this weekend, so Ralph is taking him down on Friday afternoon, and I will go and pick him up on Saturday afternoon. There is also a mandatory parent's meeting in Sacramento on Saturday, so...I have no choice! My Saturday is going to be spent driving up and down I5. I will have company with me, so it won't be all bad! One of the other parents is going down with me for the meeting.


The last of the pictures from the trail. The very last one is a picture of the trail and the erosion under it. Good thing I saw this after I went over it!