Tips on Crochet

I recently just took a crochet refresher course from my mom. My sister enrolled in the class as well, and here are the tips we gained from our session:

a. use some concentration, especially if wearing long sparkly fingernails
b. it's normal to get mad
c. anger usually fosters mistakes
d. try not to fall asleep
e. once you get the hang of it, it's fun!
f. pay attention to the teacher
g. laugh when your mom does a wild demo of your technique
h-k. act completely normal if anyone is capturing it on film
l. keep your mouth open long enough near a crochet hook and you get free dental work

Go Cougars

Steve and I attended the BYU vs. Colorado game a couple weekends ago with his brother and wife. It was my 4th--yes, 4th ever--BYU football game. I'm a huge fan of BYU (love it), but not so much a fan of football. It seems simple: dudes piling on top of each other for four hours, yet I get lost quite easily. The amount of focusing it takes for me to even locate the ball on the field is way more work than 'recreation' should require. This is why I watch approximately 1 game per year. This year's game was exciting since I got to be there in person! and in great company.

Proof

This is for all the people (like the former Ms. Larsen) who thought I was exaggerating about my recent falling out with baking. I made these. Notice they're so thin you can see through them. They were a big hit, as you can see by the excitement written on this consumer's face.

Who's the Fairest?

ahhh...the fair. Several years ago it was the culminating event for months of mine and my sisters' 4-H projects in sewing, baking, cake decorating, and theater. I once submitted what I affectionately named "clown pajamas" which I meticulously stitched out of spare scraps of flannel. Another year I entered snickerdoodles, which I'll have you know, won a blue ribbon even though I was too young for such a prize. I was a big fan of 4-H and have fond memories of learning new skills with neighborhood kids from our talented parents.

Nowadays going to the fair means jewelry shopping (which was unproductive this year!), an excuse to wear cowboy boots, ogling at animals, and people watching. It had been a long time since I'd seen a crop top/tight wrangler combo. My favorite find this year was a demo of a mixing/chopping device that can be used without electricity. I'm kind of sad a little that I didn't buy one.

Day of Caring

Every fall I participate in United Way's Day of Caring. This year I volunteered at El Shaddi Gardens, one of the Houston gardens that provides fresh produce to the Target Hunger project. I didn't know anyone when I got there, but there was plenty of time for conversation while we weeded, planted, and mulched.

We started the morning by doing a tai chi group stretch...

The men went off to tame the jungle and compost while the women weeded.

Here's the whole group at the end of the day.

It looks like I didn't get the memo on this one, but I assure you, the instructions were "do a funny pose." It's weird...everyone else's funny pose looks a lot like their regular pose, leaving me looking like a dork wad. Give it up for me!