As you probably guessed, I also have a shop on Etsy and you can find it here: http://sherricrochets.etsy.com

Don’t forget my main store, at http://SherriCrochets.com and check out the blog, too, at http://sherricrochets.com/blog .  You may be surprised at some of the stuff I come up with.

Later,
Sherri

We flew out on Saturday afternoon, arriving around bed time.  By the time we got our rental car and drove to Hanover, to John and Pat’s house, it was too late to do much more than say hello and jump in bed.

Pat had decided to do Thanksgiving at her house on Sunday, and many, many friends and family were invited over.  Dave and Jen were the first to arrive with little Max, who is much bigger and cuter and way more fun to play with than he was last time I saw him!

He warmed up to all of us pretty quick and it wasn’t long before he climbed up in my lap and let me give him hugs.  Pat served a delicious dinner and we had a great time catching up with many of Wes’ relatives.

Max needed some outside time in the late afternoon, so I took him outside and he ran around Pat’s community for a while, then he discovered the fallen leaves in the yard! Before you knew it, Camden and Jake and Jayden were also out there jumping in the leaves.

Monday, we had decided to drive up to State College, PA, so Wes could show the boys and I around his old stomping grounds, Penn State.  John and Pat came along, and we had to visit all his old favorite restaurants, including Berkey’s Ice Cream Parlor.  We got our pic taken with the Nittany Lion and the statue of Joe Paterno, Penn State’s long standing football coach.

On Tuesday, we toured Penn’s Cave; an underground, water filled cavern!  It was a cold, dreary, drizzly day, but the cave was so neat.  At the far end of the cave, it emerges out onto a small lake.  While out on the lake, we got to see a Bald Eagle!  We drove home that day, and got to have dinner with Dave and Jen.

Wednesday, we drove to Annapolis so we could tour the Naval Academy (Camden hopes to go there someday).  Another dreary, drizzly day, but we had a great walking tour and saw the campus and the dorms.  Got to have a great lunch at a tavern there, and got some Navy souveniers.  On the way home we stopped at Maryland Homebrew, Wes’ old stomping grounds and saw Christiane.  Then we stopped at Dave and Jen’s again and had dinner with them.

Thursday we were invited to Thanksgiving dinner at Jen’s parents, Ken and Jocelyn’s house.  Got to spend all day with Max, who, it turns out, is not always a happy go lucky child.  LOL.  Got good cuddle time with him, though, when he crawled up in my lap and fell asleep.  That was pretty awesome!

We spent all day Friday with Dave and Jen and Max at their apartment.  Dave took the boys for a short ride on his new motorcycle.  They were thrilled to be so special to ride Dave’s motorcycle!  LOL.

Friday afternoon we had to fly home.  We were thrilled to be able to see everyone, but sad it was so short.  We are hoping to get a nice long visit early next summer though.

I’ve messed around with the pictures for over a half hour and can not get it to do what I want.  All pictures are on our my  Facebook account WITH captions and facing in the right direction.  The link is to the right, friend me.  I am on Facebook everyday, and post pics and updates much more often than I do here, so check it out!

Camden needs to be at the bus stop to catch the bus to high school at 6:21 AM.  Luckily he’s an early riser and always wakes up around 5 AM.  It’ll make high school all that much easier for him.  On the other hand, he’s in band.  They will be practicing every  T, W and Th until 6 PM and when there are night games he’ll be out past 11 PM.  So that will wear him out.  I’m sure he’ll get used to it eventually.

Jake started middle school and is excited about several of his classes.  Among the tops, for him, is science.  Why?  Because they are sitting on yoga / exercise balls this year, instead of regular chairs.  Maybe he’ll strengthen his core muscles this year.    Other exciting stuff involves him starting band this year.  He’s playing a trumpet / cornet.  They finally get to start playing their instruments this week and he’s looking forward to it. But not to carrying his instrument to school and back every day. 

I’m getting used to working at PetSmart.  It’s not as horrible as I had imagined it would be.  Ok, so it’s not horrible at all.  Everyone is really nice, even the customers, and the kids like to hear about all the dogs I meet each day.   The best part about working is the paycheck, which allowed us to book a vacation to go see Dave, Jen and Max this fall!  Can’t wait!!!  The bad part is that I think I’m allergic to everything in that store…  Keeping my fingers crossed that my Claritin continues to work well!

Wes is great and is still working. Looks like things may be starting to pick back up in the housing market.  Woot!

That’s about all for now.

Later,
Sherri

I figure someday, someone will wonder what I was doing on September 11, the day of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon and the plane that crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.

I’m writing this exactly six months later and I pretty much remember everything that happened that day.  Will I ever forget that day?  Don’t people still talk about what they were doing when JFK  was shot?

I remember I got the kids up and we were getting ready for school.  We were still not quite used to having to be at the bus stop at 8:30 am to get Camden off to first grade, and had our usual struggles to get there on time.  But we did, and after the bus came, I drove Jake up to KinderCare in Eldersburg. 

After dropping him off at “preschool” I went happily on my way to yoga class in Columbia.  I remember I was on Marriottsville Road heading south, almost to the Route 70 on ramp when I first heard about it.  I would have been a little after 9:00 am.  The news person came on the radio with the report.  She said that a second plane had crashed into the second WTC building and it was now considered a terrorist attack. 

I was stunned.  My heart started beating fast and it was hard to breath!  How could someone launch a terrorist attack on American soil?  My head spun as I continued to drive to my yoga class.  I was sure the two towers would collapse.  How could they not when two planes had crashed into them?

I got to The Yoga Center parking lot around 9:30 am.  I sat in the car listening to a Washington, DC radio station.  They were getting reports that a plane may have crashed into the Pentagon!  This was getting close to home.  Very scary stuff.  As it was time to go inside they had confirmations that a third plane had indeed hit the Pentagon.  I knew I had to go inside if only so I could dedicate the energies of my practice to the victims and their families.

In class, we all huddled around and talked about how scary the morning’s happenings were and how we were feeling about it.

I have to say, Kathy Donnelly did a fabulous job of getting us through a grounding practice and relieving some of our anxieties.  But as we were doing our ending relaxing meditations, I had the horrible thought that David could be called to war if things escalated and we retaliated!  That brought me to tears.  She ended the class with a group hug. 

(A few weeks later, one of the girls in class admitted she had no idea what was going on that day and didn’t understand at the time what all the fuss was about.  Poor thing.)

I drove home in a hurry, listening to the news for further updates.  I heard that a plane had crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, and it was thought to have been headed for another, unknown site and may have been foiled by passengers.  I also heard that they were closing schools in the area since we were so close to DC. 

I stopped by home to see if Dave had gotten home or if I needed to pick him up.  He was there watching the news.  I grabbed him and we hugged, I was crying.  We discussed what was going on.  He was the one who told me the two towers had indeed fallen, just a short time before I got home.  We watched a short bit of the news on TV, then he went with me to get Camden at school.

There were already quite a few parents at the school, getting their own and neighbors kids.  When I picked up Jake at KinderCare, the teachers explained that one child had come in to school after having heard about the crashes on TV and had told the children what had happened.  But the teachers had given the children a basic, matter-of-fact account of the happenings (almost exactly what I ended up telling them later) and they had seemed happy with that.  Ah, the bliss of the four-year old!

I told the kids on the way home, that all the parents were worried and scared today cause some bad men had stolen some airplanes and made them crash into two different buildings.  That made lots of people die and it was scary, but that WE were safe and sound at home and they shouldn’t worry.  Camden seemed a bit concerned, but Jake was fine.

Wes came home for a short period of time to make sure we were all safe (he couldn’t get through on the cell phone — lines were tied up), but then had to return to work to restore order and normalcy!  The rest of the day was spent watching news reports in my room, and try to make life normal for the kids.  School resumed as normal the next day.

Over the next few weeks, I tried not to listen to news accounts on the radio or watch extensive amounts of TV coverage in front of the boys.  I didn’t think their young minds needed to be crowded with the images and horror of it all.   But I still kept them updated when something big happened, and they saw some pictures of “ground zero”, so they knew what was going on.

It was awesome to see how the country came together at this time.  Stores with changeable signs all had a patriotic saying, “God Bless America” or “Pray for the victims families” or “Proud to be American”.  Everyone was flying flags right off the bat.  It was so inspiring.  This was the first time in my life that I wanted to fly an American flag, and I was ashamed that I didn’t own one.  They flew off the store shelves, too, and were hard to find.   I did find a car flag within the week.  I found a big one to hang in my bedroom window within a few weeks. 

Even three months later, at Christmas time, flags were still part of the decorations.  And red, white and blue Christmas lights were the norm, it seemed.  It was so cool and touching to see such extended shows of patriotism.

Well, I guess that the biggest news is that after 4 years of homeschooling, Jake is back in public school.  He had been talking of going back for 7th grade, but when Camden transferred from the science magnet to the school in our district, Jake decided he’d like to go back at the same time.  He’s doing really, really well.  He had a rough start, because of things like having no clue about how to work a locker, poor guy.  But his grades now rival Camden’s and he’s completely comfortable.  We’re really proud of him for being so adaptable.  He’s going to be in band next year, and at try outs last week he settled on the trumpet.  This should be fun!

Like I mentioned above, Camden transferred out of the science magnet program he had been attending so he could finish out 8th grade at our local school.  He’s finally got his head out of his butt, and is doing well and getting good grades again.  Thank goodness, because he’d been grounded and without a cell phone for the last 9 months and it was getting really old.  Ha ha. He already knew most of the people who go to this school, so he had no trouble fitting in.

Believe it or not, Camden will be in high school next year.  Gosh, where did the time go? He’ll be going to the newest high school in the district and we went there for orientation and it’s really pretty.  Gorgeous architecture! He hasn’t settled on a schedule yet, still trying to figure out what electives he wants to take…

Did you hear Wes got really sick a couple months ago? We had all gone to the beach (a really nice day in March, oh, the joys of living in Houston) and on the way home he started feeling bad.  He ended up in bed by dinner time and … excuse me saying this … but he had bloody diarrhea by bed time.  We had him to the emergency room the next morning and they ran all kinds of tests, pumped him full of antibiotics and pain meds and eventually sent him home with a referral to a gastroenterologist.  That doc ended up doing an endoscopy and colonoscopy, and came to the conclusion that he had gotten a hemorraging e-coli from eating some raw oysters the Friday before he got sick. He’s back to normal now, thank goodness.  That was pretty scary.

Wes’ job is going good … for now.  Even though his job is to supply builders with things like appliances, windows and doors (and most builders are not doing well right now), he’s doing pretty well.  He’s a real hard worker and is always out looking for new ways to get business.  He’s been working with apartment buildings recently since apartments are hot right now.

I’ve been looking for a job (outside of running my websites) since Jake went back to school.  It took 5 months, but I finally found one.  I just started working at PetSmart here in League City.  The people all seem really nice and I think it will be a fun, part-time job.  We’re hoping I can earn us some vacation money so we can go back and see Dave and Jen, or have them all fly down here to visit.

Speaking of Dave, Jen, and Max … Max will be 1 year old on May 28th!  Hard to believe a whole year has already gone by. We talk to Dave and Jen and she sends up pictures frequently.  She’s a good daughter-in-law!

John and Pat visited in February.  While they were here we went to the Mardi Gras down on Galveston.  It was our first time to do Mardi Gras and we had a blast.  There were day time festivities, including a parade, so we were all loaded down with necklaces, crazy hats and goodies.  We also checked out some boutique shops here in League City one day, then went out to Kemah, which was also hit hard by Hurricane Ike, and hit up some shops out there.  We had a fun day of shopping that day.  Another day we went to Old Town Spring, where there are a lot of craft and antique type touristy shops.  I’d never heard of it, but Wes told us about it and even met us for lunch that day.

Wes and I are both on Facebook now.  If you look to the right, at “Our Links” you can find links to our Facebook pages.  We both update frequently so you are more likely to be up to date with us if you friend us there.   I post pictures there, too, so you’ll see more of us as well.

I think that’s about all for now.  Hopefully I’ll update again before Christmas. 

Love,
Sherri

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday, Dear Jakie,

Happy Birthday to you!!!!

… And many more, on channel 4 …

]]> http://www.sherribush.com/2009/01/31/happy-12th-birthday-jake/feed/ 0 http://www.sherribush.com/2009/01/26/one-week-of-a-new-school-and-everybody-is-sick/ http://www.sherribush.com/2009/01/26/one-week-of-a-new-school-and-everybody-is-sick/#comments Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:25:44 +0000 Sherri http://www.sherribush.com/?p=131 So, Jake’s been in public school, and Camden’s been at a new school, for one whole week.  Five days.  And they are both sick!!!

Jake has not been to a doctor in 4 years.  When I’m in the doctors office with Camden, they ask me about Jake — “Do you still have Jake?  We haven’t seen him in years…”   Now, he’s got strep throat.  The boy is miserable!  Poor thing.

In addition, Camden feels very warm, although the thermometer says he’s not feverish.  He felt bad all day at school.  Wes feels like he’s coming down with a sinus infection and for the last couple hours, I’ve started feeling nauseous and achy.

Anyone want to come over and take care of us?

Sherri

Jake and Cam, with whipped cream on their noses while eating Fried Ice Cream at a Mexican restaurant.

Well, Camden has been “trying” to do it for the whole year now and he’s finally accomplished his task. He’s gotten such bad grades that he’s being kicked out of the science magnet middle school program. Today, Friday, January 16th, is his last day there. As of Monday, he will be attending the local middle school (which just so happens to be across the street.)

Jake has been talking about going back to public school for a few weeks now. We thought he’d do it at the beginning of next year. But since Camden will be attending the same school starting next Monday, Jake, Wes and I think this would be just as good a time for him to go back as well; maybe better, because he’ll have Camden there to sort of guide him.

I can’t decide if I’m happy, nervous, sad.  Wes has been bugging me for years to get a job, so now I guess I’ll have to get one…  It won’t be a “real” office type job, though.  I’m thinking Starbucks or McDonalds (I’ve done that before, and it was kind of fun), or one of the new craft stores opening up around me here.  Good news is we’ll have vacation money now.  Look out Max!  Here we come!!

Sherri

Apparently, they had been undergoing extensive remodeling when Hurricane Ike hit and did even more damage.  We had never been to an opera house (didn’t even know Galveston had one) and we had received gift certificates to Joe’s Crab Shack for Christmas (thanks John and Pat) so we decided to take a drive down to Galveston for the day.

We arrived in Galveston around lunch time.  To get to Joe’s, we had to drive a short distance on Seawall Blvd, which, as it’s name implies, runs beside the beach along the Gulf of Mexico.  We caught a glimpse of something big washed up on the shore and decided to go back after lunch to see what it was.

The weather was beautiful!  We sat out on Joe’s patio enjoying the sunshine and surf (love the smell of the beach, don’t you???), getting sunburned while we got a full belly.  The beach is across the street behind Jake and I in the picture, but it’s hard to see with the glare of the sun…  (Oh, sorry to those of you in snowy climates … ) I had a cobb salad, Jake had a fish sandwich and Wes and Cam shared crabs.   For dessert, we had a Sea Turtle sundae and OMG, it was so good.  The best dessert I’ve had in years.

Anyway, after lunch we drove back down the beach to see what that big dead thing was.  Wes and I said it was a dolphin, but Camden and Jake predicted it would be a shark.  Turns out it was a dolphin.  There was only one and no one appeared to have called authorities.  It had no signs of why it died.  Lots of people were looking at it…  We also saw a big dead fish further down the beach.  (Last summer, we found a dead shark on the beach when we stayed at the time share in San Leon.)

We walked down one of the jetty’s on the beach.  They are comprised of huge squares of granite stacked next to each other.

By then, it was 1:30 PM and the opera house was only supposed to be open until 2 PM, so we had to skidaddle.  We weren’t sure where it was, but we found it.  It’s really pretty on the inside.  Everything is new and shiny.  They had cake and lemonade.  We got to go in the balconies and those cool seats they have on the sides (why can’t I remember what they are called???) You know, where the rich people usually sit???

Anywho … after that we went home.

Someone asked me how Galveston looks these days.  Actually, Galveston looks pretty damned good!  All the boats and debris that were piled along the freeway are gone.  All the piles of trash, debris and old furniture that were piled along every street are gone.  Most stores are back open again.  People seem to be getting their homes back in order.  The beaches, while they are not as big as they used to be due to massive erosion from Ike, are clear and clean and pretty again.

I’ll admit it now, before you read too far … I was lame with the Christmas pictures this year.  This is all I got…

We had a great Christmas.  We stayed home this year, didn’t travel anywhere.  Wes cooked us a delicious dinner of turkey, stuffing, gravy and a boat load of other stuff.  It was all very good.  We all got good presents — Wes got fishing gear so he can go surf fishing; I got a brand new cruiser bike; Camden got a bass guitar, gift cards, and an iTunes gift card; Jake got Lego’s from Santa, a new DS, money and gift cards; and the dogs got new toys.

Sherri