"Plans"

Oh my goodness!  Just noticed that it has been more than two years since I have blogged.  SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED SINCE THEN!  Of course there is the obvious but we won't go down that rabbit hole. 

Since my last blog post, we have continued to simplify our lives and have conquered some big goals.  (I will use that as my "excuse" for being a bad blogger.) I cannot emphasize how much simplifying and de-cluttering our life has been the best thing we could have done.  It was overwhelming and scary at first but we had a "Plan."

We used a very simplified version of debt reduction - something along the lines of Dave Ramsey's program.  We budgeted, moved to smaller digs, shared one vehicle, and used all extra funds to pay on that debt.  It took nearly 8 years but WE DID IT!  All of our credit card debt is paid off!  That was the biggest stress in our hectic lives! 

Our oldest daughter suggested a great plan to our little family to simplify the Holidays: draw names, set a cost limit, Amazon wish lists...  It was and still is a perfect solution to our desire to de-commercialize Christmas and make it about spending time with our family during the season.  Instead of shopping, we bake, make and create other memories. It is a tradition that we love!  

Our "plan" had three prongs:  (1) Pay off all credit card and vehicle debt; (2) Purchase a home and second vehicle; and (3) Pay off home loan in time for retirement.  

While we were in the first phase - the universe had other plans for us. 

The perfect house came on the market and it had everything we wanted.  It was located in the right community, small, renovated, all one level, a music room for the hubster and a sewing room for me.  Even faces north south - which is important in the southwest desert. 

However, we still had about a year to go before all of our debt would be paid off.  We were not ready for the second phase yet....But we just could not let that house go.  

On April 3, 2020, we moved into our new little house.  We could not be happier!!! And it has been a great investment - it has already gone up in value more than we could ever imagine.  

So a little deviation from the "plan" was a good thing.  

In March 2021 we could check off the first part of our "plan".... all of the previous debt was paid!  We were ready to finish out the second part of the "plan" so it was time to look for a second car.  

The hubster researched for nearly a year for a vehicle that would be best for us.  I wanted a Ford.  I came from a Ford family.  His was a Chevy family.  So during our whole 36 year marriage we never owned a Ford. It was almost blasphemous if the "F" word was spoken. 

Until. . . . . . He began to research and boy do we do a lot of researching nowadays!  He found that a Ford Edge would be the best thing for us - even over a Chevy!  I love that he was willing to do that research and be willing to share that with me.  

Guess what??!!  We are the proud owners of a 2019 Ford. Our son-in-law helped us steer away from a new vehicle.  Love that guy! 

It feels good to be in the third phase of our "plan."  

But I cannot help to wonder what the universe will have in store for us....   

Enlightened life....

Such a long time since my last blog post.  

Why gone so long?  There are many reasons, but the biggest is that we have been working toward simplifying our life.  And does it ever feel great!  Since we have downsized, purged and simplified, we have been spending more time with our kids, our friends, ourselves, and doing more of the things we love.  

SO WORTH IT!  

There are many articles, blog entries, YouTube videos, just to name a few, about the benefits of living simply and with intention.  Believe me I have read and watched ALOT of them.  It was an obsession.... and the whole Tiny House movement.... wow! 

How did we do it?  What have we gained and lost so far?  How did we become enlightened...    

When we were first married, my husband was working as a musician and landscaper and I cleaned houses and worked in retail.  We always lived with intention..... So, when we needed to get some health insurance for our little family, he became the stay at home dad by day and a working musician by night..... I found a better job.    

We have taken care of aging family members, raised our little family, worked, volunteered countless hours.....  with very few vacations, little downtime.  

We would not change a thing.... okay maybe bad food choices, exercising more and taking more vacations....  We have always tried to live our life with as few regrets as we could, but we do have some. 

We love our life.  We were able to raise our little family without daycare, teach our children by example to be loving and generous adults....  We have life-long friends.  However, we are not perfect.  Our life was not always easy, in fact there were times when it was downright unbearable, but we made it.  Our little family is very close, very supportive of each other, very loving to one another and our growing little family. 

During that time of our life, not only did we gather memories and friends, we also accumulated a lot of stuff.  In fact we had filled a 2500 square foot house with stuff.  As our children grew and moved into their own places, they took a lot of their things with them.  That really helped to lighten the load.

However, with my husband being a musician, he had quite the collection of gear and guitars.  We won't even discuss my collection of yarn, fabric, paint, canvases, paper, beads, wire, tools..... yes, let's not discuss that. 

It took us quite a bit of time to learn that we did not need all of the material items we had built up over the years.  With intention, we would clean out one closet, one cabinet, one drawer at a time.  We would put back what we felt we really needed, move to the garage the stuff we thought we might need and donate (or trash) anything we knew we did not need at all.  It took time, effort, thoughtfulness, even tears. Once we got going, it became easier and easier.  We would then go through the items that were moved to the garage, asking ourselves did we really use or need those items in the last few months.  If not (and most of the time we didn't), it was donated.  We would go back through each closet, cabinet and drawer a second, third and sometimes even a fourth time.  You would be surprised at the things we thought we needed would eventually be donated!  This process took a couple of years until finally we were only using our bedroom, one bathroom (of four), the kitchen, the family and dining rooms.  

During the time we were purging all of our stuff, we were letting go of areas of our lives that were filling up so much of our time.  We volunteered so much that we did not have any time to ourselves.  There were people in our lives that brought a lot of drama and drained our energy.  Even a job change... again, this took time, effort, thoughtfulness and tears.

What amazed me was that once we had started letting go of things, people and activities.... we became more enlightened.  We became more intentional, more productive.  Best of all, we started to have joy back in our lives.  Some people did not understand what we were doing, even acted like we were nuts!  

We moved to a small, one level condo.  No more yard work, very little house chores, very little drama. 

Instead more fun, a lot more time with our friends, a lot more time with our little growing family and a lot more doing what we love to do.  

ENLIGHTENED life....  

Full of Holes?

Memory......

Is yours strong.... detailed..... like an elephant? Or is it spotty..... scattered.... full of holes? 

Lately my memory, or rather lack thereof, has been something of a concern for me. (Or maybe stress and worry are a better description!)  

I worked in the same job for nearly 30 years, but last year started a new position at a new office.... same field - but very different from the previous position.  Well, let me just tell you that has been a crazy ride this past year and one of the reasons I have not been writing much lately.   But as crazy and hard as it has been - I would most certainly, do it all over over again.  (This is a whole article all on its own....)  

Struggles with memory has definitely been one of the issues over this past year.... and it especially arose in a conversation with a co-worker this week.  We were talking about how some items are easier to write than others...  I shared with him that 12 years ago I had written a piece for a Lent service.  I explained that during the editing, I was not happy with the feel of it.  So much so, that three-four days before the Service - I scrapped the whole thing and started over.  The point in sharing this little story was the second piece flowed and required very little editing.  

Then he asked me for the crib note version of the speech....   Crickets...... Yes, crickets were heard at that very moment.  Well, at least in my head...  

Luckily for me, he was called away to another matter and the conversation ended.  However, the effects of that conversation did not end for me.  I mulled it over... racked my brain... even did a little internet research on the subject to see if that would help.  A few snippets came back....  

Then the crazy self-doubting voice said, "Does my co-worker think I was telling a fib?"  Maybe...

Yet, if I had been asked what I was feeling at the time of writing it, or of giving it....  well.... I could have given such detail that it may have taken until the office closed for me to finish... Yes, that is stretching it... a little.  

If having a good or great memory is based on details, which details are considered acceptable?  

Going back to the speech.....  

I would have been able to talk about how nervous the idea of getting up in front of a group people was for me.  How that nervousness went away when the group laughed, sighed, and nodded their heads at the right times....  How I felt after the meeting was over and a favorite friend told me she was moving to Wisconsin....  How I noticed her nervousness in telling me.  

However, there is not one little detail of the actual speech itself.  Shoot, I cannot even remember the title!  

In sharing that moment with my co-worker.... along with the racking of the brain and crazy self-doubting voice... a new realization came to light.... ding, ding, ding...  .     

I remember the details of feelings, emotions, reactions, moments....  For me the speech was the vehicle to bring all those emotions and feelings to the surface for others and for me.  I can recall the dry mouth, the smiles from the darkened church, the elation when the talk was over, the great shock and sadness of my friend telling me of her impeding move.     

Over the past year I have worried so much about not being able to remember a password, or the procedure for something I had done a billion times, having to write all the new procedures down....  I will not go further and bore you.....  

I did not need to worry.  I did not need to stress.  I did not need to fill my head with crazy self-doubt.....  My memory works differently from others. 

My details are the smiles, the smell of the meal, the song playing in the background, the temperature of the room..... those are as relevant as what consecutive numbers and letters created a password. 

If memory issues are a struggle for you.....  If you scratch your head when you walk into a room because you cannot remember why you are there....

Do not worry - do not stress - do not be hard on yourself....  our memory works differently.  

Do not try to fill up those holes.   

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Well, my goodness.... Christmas is here and 2017 is right around the bend.

It was time for me to take a break.... a short break... from blogging so I could continue to purge, downsize and simplify.  I hated to take this break because there has been so much to talk about.  

We moved during 2016.  We went from a 2500 square foot, four bedroom and 4 bath house with a yard to a 1100 square foot, 2 bed, 2 bath apartment with a small patio.  

The crazy thing is my sewing/craft room is the largest one I have ever had in my life!  Isn't that awesome?  I am pretty pleased!  

We love the smaller place.  We loved giving our "clutter" to those who had a need.  We have more to give away, but that can wait until the first of the year.  

I have watched countless YouTube videos about tiny houses, minimalist lifestyles, and simple living.  It has been inspiring, to say the least.  We have borrowed a lot from those that have gone before us into the world of living with less.  Great resources!  

Also, during this past year, I have finally gotten a better hold of my new job.  It has been a rollercoaster of emotions, terrifying drops, and exciting turns.  I have battled a big case of insecurity.... but it is coming back.  While I have a long way to go.... I am happy that I made this big change.  

So it was the right time to simplify my personal life and space.  It has helped me with the empty nest emotions because this new nest cannot be empty!  

Here are some pictures of the new sewing/craft room - still a work in progress.  It may not look like it but I gave away a lot of sewing, craft and hobby items!  Oh, a little confession.... my yarn is in the antique pie safe in the family room ;)  

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Heart

Quilt Drive

May?

This year is just flying right by.....  zooming actually.

At the beginning of 2016, I left my old job of nearly 30 years and started at a new office.  

While it has been hard, scary, and overwhelming.... it has been equally uplifting, eye-opening and one of the best things that has happened in my work life in a long, long, long time. 

And it has been tiring.    

Meeting new people, unlearning old procedures and creating new ones, trying to get comfortable with new software and trying very hard to not kick yourself because you have not "mastered" it, having new co-workers encourage and lift you up, realizing you have lots of experience but not in the area of expertise you now live..... most importantly knowing in time you will get it.  You will contribute and it will be fine.  

That has been the most valuable lesson learned in this experience.  

You will contribute and it will be fine.  

Oh I could sit here and say that I was so confident, so sure of it all.... Ha.... what a crock.  

I have never felt so unsure and so worried. 

But that is ok.  It is ok to learn new things, meet new people, become a member of a team.... 

and to be a little tired at the end of the day.  

Crochet in Pictures

Spending lots of time watching documentaries, tutorials and crocheting....  

Cooled off for two days but will be back to gold tomorrow. 

Ripple is coming along.... will not be done in time for blanket bee on Saturday though.  I do love working this one up.  

Because I was so inspired by Lucy at Attic 24 with the Ripple... decided to give some of her birdies and bauble decorations a go....

The little crochet balls are awesome!  

Winter Blues/Desert Beauty

Living in the Southwest Desert.... the winter blues are not a part of our vocabulary.  

My sister lives in a very wintery part of the United States.  She gets the winter blues.  She is a misplaced desert rat who loves the sun and heat.  I, however, am not a fan of the heat.  Not a fan of dirt.  Not a fan of brown. It seems we are both misplaced. 

But..... I realize the desert has beauty.  

The Creosote Bush - the branches and leaves smell like rain.  Seriously, they really do!  

And a prickly cactus can give some gorgeous blooms.... all colors of the rainbow. 

Do not get me started on the sunsets.  They just cannot be matched.   

And yes, we do not have to shovel snow. 

But there is something about the stillness of a snowy winter. The grey skys.  The stark contrast of the dark branches of the naked trees against the moonlight glow of the landscape. Almost allows you to step back.... slow down.  Snow falling is slow and steady. This is all so appealing to me. It seems to be right along the lines of my desire to continue to simplify, reduce and downsize.  

I will admit right here, right now, that I have not lived in wintery climate since college.  So as an adult, I have not had to deal with all the unpleasant aspects of snowplows, icy roads, bitter cold, frozen pipes....  yes, I have heard all about the yuckiness of living in a snowy climate.  

I would like to believe and (maybe naively) that I would still love it all the same.  

I love to make blankets. I crochet afghans and sew quilts.  (I even tie fleece for my grandpuppies.)  But I cannot remember the last time I really needed to get under one of these creations to keep warm. Yet, I continue to create, crochet and sew. Oogle over patterns, yarn and fabric.   

When The Crochet Crowd posted on Facebook about Temperature Afghans..... I was, at first intrigued, and then completely hooked (yes, this pun was very much intended).
  
Of course, I had to change the colors and temperatures. The pattern showed yarn color that was for 22 degrees below 0!  

Posted my my first color/temperature key on my facebook page.  

Love the greens for the lower temperatures then going into the gold, carrot and burgundy for the warmer days.  It seems to incoporate all of the desert beauty described above, the Creosote and cacti are represented in the greens and the sunsets in the gold, orange and red. 

And since it is the desert, 54 seemed like a nice, good low temperature... right?  

Lo and behold, on January 7th we were 50 degrees!  Well, I just had to celebrate with a trip to Hobby Lobby, of course. Picked up a very pale green (instead of the original cream I intended to purchase).  

Know what is super crazy?  The color is called Artic Ice!  Was not even aware of it until a few days later!  

Was able to work a COUPLE rows with that beautiful Artic Ice color!  

The pattern is called Spectrum and it is just half double crochets.  The foundation is 196 chains.  

There will be 365 rows and I have all that time to decide on a border. It is soothing, slow and steady.  Really lovely to work on each night... just the right amount of time to work the day out in your mind.  

And it looks like I might get to add a few rows of that gorgeous gold yarn next week....

Sure hope that does not mean it is the start of our warm weather.  Just not ready yet! 

If I can remember, I will post an update every month of the Temperature Afghan. (Also, need to come up with a new and clever name!)
   
Of course, we cannot just have one project going.  After a long period of oogling, I started a ripple afghan for Project Linus. It is another one of Lucy's at Attic 24 patterns.  Was super excited to get this started because I had been debating whether this pattern was too hard and complicated for me. 

Boy, was I ever wrong. Not because I am some great crochet guru.... nope - not at all. It is all Lucy's fantastic tutorials!  She could teach a knat to crochet...

My step mother donated three bags of her leftover yarn at Christmas.... and some of that is getting all rippled!! 

So, no...

I do not have the winter blues. My temperature afghan does not have any winter blues....  

January

 Just desert beauty. 


  

In with the New......

....out with the Old.  

Never grow tired of that phrase.  Seriously, never, ever grow tired of saying that.... believing that.... doing that. 

It is that time of year when all the television commercials, store fronts, magazine ads.... tell us we need to ring in the new year better, smaller, healthier, younger, richer.... you get the idea.  

So glad that television watching and shopping are not high on my list.

I love "out with the old." We have been purging, unloading, recycling, and generally letting go, of many things and areas of our lives that have been cluttering and distracting. 

I love "in with the new."  We are learning to live without, which in turn gives us more.  We are learning to let go, which lets us give more.  We are learning that holding on for dear life was actually killing us.  

We still have plenty more to do.....  

So out with the old 

and in the with new!  

Finished and Delivered

More time.....more finished and delivered quilts.    

This is Lucy's Star Quilt.  Made this for a friend's new daughter.  The blocks are Friendship Stars and the quilt design is from Start Quilting with Alex Anderson. My first two quilting classes were taught from this book.  I have made five quilts from this book now!  

It has taken awhile to find the right quilt block to make my oldest daughter's quilt. Found one on Quilt in a Day's Free block patterns....  "Leah's Star" Which was just perfect because my daughter's name is Leah! 

This block is gorgeous (almost as much as my daughter) and super easy.  

I started her quilt last year before Christmas and finally just finished it....  

This is a picture of it before the binding was turned to the back to be sewn down. Just love the fabrics!  

The backing fabric is fantastic!  I am happy that Leah was very pleased and I hope it was worth the wait! 

Almost done with her husband's camping quilt... Rows are almost sewn together, then just a thin border of the same orange fabric used in the sashing... then it will be ready to be quilted.  

It has a t-shirt quilt feel to it!  I just cut up a panel of outdoor camping, fishing and hunting scenes for this top.  Hope to get it done in the next couple of weeks.

Our house has always been full of kids, family and lots of pets.  As the older family members passed away and our children grew up, moved out and got married... their pets stayed with us.  And for that I have been so grateful. It made it easier to cope with the whole empty nest phase. 

But over the years, as our pets have left our family, we have not been replacing them.  It is just too hard emotionally. 

We lost our Gordon a few years ago.  

And this week....  

We lost our dear Michael.  Leah found him nearly 14 years ago during a storm and he has been with us ever since. The sweetest cat ever.....  

Good Night, my little crafty kitty and sewing buddy! 

Breaking rules....

When I finally made the decision to step back from church, it was suggested by a friend to read about the Desert Fathers. 

I still had no idea why the need to step back was so great.... it was one of those things that just had to be done.  The desire was so strong that it felt like if I did not get out of the water - I was going to drown.

It took a month of being away from church to finally start reading "The Desert Fathers; Sayings of the Early Christian Monks," Translated and with an Introduction by Benedicta Ward. 

Several sentences from Sister Ward's introduction really stood out.  When describing one of the driving forces behind the early Christian Monks, she wrote, "Instead of dealing with the manifestations of evil in daily life, they were concerned with the source of sin in the human heart." She further wrote, "The desert fathers see themselves as poor men, as sinners in need of mercy, as those who were not strong enough to endure the friction of worldly life." 

Drowning in worldly life. 

In my depressed state of mind...."not strong enough to endure the friction of wordly life" summed it up perfectly. I can identify with the desert fathers.... especially wanting to get away from it all.

Then after the introduction, I got lost.  The excitement fizzled out.  

Their writings came across to me as rules...  

Let me clarify - I am not saying they were rules, but in my state of mind... I was reading rules.  

You see.....  my whole life I have tried (and failed miserably) to live up to other people's expectations... 

Okay - let me re-word that. My whole life I have tried (and failed miserably) to live up to what I (only me) thought were other people's expectations.  

You know.....do not want to disappoint anyone, do and say all the right things.  

If I follow all the rules I will be the best wife, mom, daughter, sister, employee, friend.  Just follow all my rules and there will be acceptance, love.... perfection. 

All I got was just a bunch of self-esteem issues. Inner voices confirming I had it all wrong... all wrong.  More mental beatings.  

That is where the depression came in...  the need to step back. Everything was too overwhelming!  Exhausting. Broken.  

Thankfully, this is the exact opposite of what the Holy Spirit guided me to teach in Sunday School and to my own children...  

No - this was all in my head...  all inside of me.    

Tonight, I listened to an interview of Anne Lamott and Father Tom Weston.  Watch and listen here  

I did not hear rules.

I am paraphrasing Anne Lamott: When we are young, we know more than we will ever know. But when we get a little older and life smacks you around - you know less and less.   

I know less and less...  



So instead of Desert Fathers.... I am going to re-read Spirituality of Imperfection.  It has been a few years.... but definitely need to read it again. 

Then I am going to forgive myself and begin to learn to: 

give up perceived expectations,

let go of the concept of perfection, 

setting up healthy boundaries, and

say that one word sentence:  "No".  

I have the desert fathers' weakness which is not a bad thing - not a bad thing at all.... 

But rules are not for me right now...  

I want to break some rules.... my own rules....

and get back to Grace.    









  

Perfect Moments.......

So many times in our lifetime, we will look back fondly at perfect moments.  

Photography By My Youngest Daughter

Our best childhood friend, our wedding, a special birthday, when our children are born, a promotion at work, a perfect seam....  

Lots of events in our lives can and will be a perfect moment.  

I live in the southwest desert.  We are in June now, so the heat is coming at us with full force... will be 109 in a few days. I dread this time of year....  I did not always live in the desert.  For the first twelve years of my life, I lived in Virginia.  

My family and friends know that I have always wanted to leave the desert.  Move to the mountains, to a small town, with seasons, trees, gardens....   with rain, cool weather nearly year round... snow. 

Even though I am not certain that this dream will come true in my lifetime, I do dream.... dream always.  I talk about it.  I think about it. Almost eat and sleep this dream!  

Last week, we had what I would consider a pretty darn perfect day.  It rained.....the entire day. (When I was younger - a neighbor and I would meet in our front yards when it rained, with our lawn chairs and a pitcher of margaritas.... yes, this is how much I love rain!) 

On this beautiful, rainy day last week, I left work early and stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner.  As I was putting the grocery cart away after unloading my bags into my car......  the rain was lightly coming down, it was overcast and slightly breezy, a nearby restaurant had their fire pit going, the green trees were swaying and I could hear a couple of birds.... 

The smell of the fire and clean rain, the misty cool breeze, the vibrant green trees set against the grey sky, the birds chirping...  

I stopped..... Literally stopped.....  

Perfection.

It was realized at that moment, in that very moment.  No looking back.... Full awareness. 

A perfect moment.  

Yes, goosebumps.  

Headlines, Headlines, Head Lies?

Have you noticed the trend?  You know, the one where the headline does not match the story....  It seems to be a crazy trend.  

It is surprising.  Seriously, surprising.  

Or is it?  

Do we limit ourselves to a one-liner?  The best one?  The one that puts us in the perfect light....but fails to capture the truth?  

I have not seen this in the blogger community of the internet...

I think this comes from a desire to express ourselves - warts and all.  We love to share our talents, our encouragement and even our faults.... all to help one another. 

So this crazy trend in other parts of social media - they can have it.  I like our Blog posts and titles... I like our loving community.  

I like truth.  

A Season of Finishes and New Beginnings

So much has happened over the last couple of months....  Lots of work done in the craft/sewing room.  Lots of work on myself.  

Finished the 2015 Mystery Afghan!  

Mikey over at The Crochet Crowd is such a great teacher.  His video tutorials are really easy to follow and he is a lot of fun too.  Seriously, I would have never, ever, in a million years, tried most of the stitches we learned in this afghan.  While usually you can call me a minimalist when it comes to my creations - I really enjoyed the process and am super happy with the beautiful afghan!  



Finished the Colorburst Granny Square Afghan!

Absolutely love this afghan.  There will be more in the future!  The bright, bold  colors!  Sarah at Bella Coco is also a fantastic teacher.  She has several tutorials that I go to quite a bit.... the basic granny square, the colorburst granny square, African Flower, the solid granny square. She also has a great tutorial on how to join granny squares.  Huge fan of the join as you go method right here!  

Also learned some stuff about the edging - but that will be another post!  

Finished the "Happy" and "Merry" Everything Quilt for my friend.

She is my crochet guru and has been super supportive of my venture into quilting.  She gave me tons of paper piecing pattern books.... so I decided to make her this paper pieced flying geese quilt based on Judy Niemeyer's Which Ways North Pattern.  This is the second quilt I have made using this pattern.  It is a really great introduction to paper piecing.

I named it The "Happy" and "Merry" Everything Quilt because during the time I was thinking about the design, looking for fabric and finally working on it - two Christmases and her birthday flew right by!  

Super happy with my finishes these past few months.  

This Season of Finishes granted me much prayer and quiet time.  This is good.  

For a long time, I have been struggling with volunteer commitments, the time it had been taking from my family, the time it had taken away from dealing with my own issues, the time it has taken from rest.  

So while it was very hard in my heart to let go of the commitments, it has been good.  

Good to continue with prayer.  

Good to rest and be quiet.  

Good to clear my brain and mind.  

Good to start New Beginnings.....  

 

Crochet Along Update.....

Having so much fun with Yarnspirations and The Crochet Crowd's  2015 Mystery Afghan Crochet Along.  This is really out of my comfort zone but so glad I joined.  (And you still can too!)  Have met lots of new crochet friends on Instagram!  

Crochet Love post shows the color choice and first clue....

Second clue was nice and easy....  Especially when you have Mikey at The Crochet Crowd walking you through each stitch. 

The third clue was so different. 

Those chains in the corner....  such a mystery! 

This week is the fourth clue and it is awesome.

It really is so pretty... Still not sure where we are going with those corner chains.  But will not worry too much about it because I have a LONG way to go!  

Spending all of my free time - which is not very much - on this Crochet Along.  So  much so that quilts, sewing and the other afghan are getting a bit neglected.....  

One more row on this lovely and then it will be time for edging and weaving in my ends.... and let me tell you - there are A LOT of ends to weave in.

Still in Crochet Love though.....