Crocheted Dishcloths

After knitting or crocheting several afghans last year, lately I've been enjoying smaller projects. Cotton yarn (which I love to work with) is great for making dishcloths, so when I came across The Big Book of Dishcloths pattern book, I couldn't resist trying my hand at some of them. There are patterns for 99 different dishcloths in the book. So far, I've made 9 of them! It would be fun to try them all, but I'll probably get tired of such small projects before I make it through the whole book. Besides, what in the world would I do with 99 dishcloths? Save 'em for my daughters' hope chests, I guess. Anyway, it will be a fun book to have on hand for when I'm in the mood for something small in between larger projects.

So. For Show & Tell Friday, here is a picture of the first "batch" I've whipped up. Which one is your favorite?

Thursday Thirteen - Edition #16 - "E"

Continuing with my alphabet theme, here are 13 things in my life that start with the letter E:

1. Easley. My mother's family.
2. Education. I love to learn... and teach!
3. Eldest. I am the "big sister"! I have 4 younger siblings.
4. Elena. My cute little red-haired niece.
   
5. Elizabeth. My other cute little even redder-haired niece.
   
6. Email. What did we ever do without it?
7. Emily. One of my favorite girl's names.
8. English. My best subject in school.
9. Eternity. What I strive to keep in view.
10. Europe. Where my ancestors came from many generations ago.
    
11. Evening. My favorite time of day.
12. Exploring. We like to get off the beaten path and explore back roads.
    
13. Ezell. My dad's family.
    

Spring Bag

Isn't this a sweet little tote bag for spring? I came across a free crochet pattern at the Sugar'n Cream Yarn website and just had to try it. And, just like a recipe, I had to make my own modifications as I went along. (Nothing major. I just used a different method for joining the squares, and I made the strap to suit myself!) I thought it turned out cute. It's just the right size for a little (or big!) girl to carry her Bible to church in.

Cougars in the Woods

A couple of school boys, probably about 10 or 12 years old, were walking past our house a few minutes ago when I let the dog out. She ran out to chase them and it startled them, so I ran after her. I assured the little boys that the dog wouldn't hurt them, and she backed off with her tail between her legs like the timid little critter she is. The boys were relieved that the dog wasn't going to attack them, but they asked me, "Are there any cougars in the woods back there?"

Since we live in town and the said woods are only about an acre in size I told them, "No. I don't think so. I've never seen or heard of any."

They were utterly convinced that the woods are inhabited by cougars because, "We saw their tracks." They were serious.

No doubt they expected me to freak out and run screaming back to the house, letting the "big strong men" protect the women and children from large invading wild cats. "I think you probably saw kitty-cat tracks," I told them.

"No!" They were sure there were much bigger cats lurking. "The tracks were this big!" And they held up their hands to indicate tracks the size of saucers.

"Oh, yes," I said. "But, see, when the snow starts melting it makes the tracks look bigger than they really are."

Yeah, they had to admit I was probably right. Guess I shouldn't have spoiled their adventure, huh? What a story they had to tell all their friends, until some boring ol' mom came out and explained all the excitement away.

The picture is one I took of our cat's tracks in the snow back in January, when the snow was fresh. I was out taking pictures of it and Tabitha was stalking me. I thought her little cat tracks in the snow were so cute, that I snapped a picture of them. I haven't been out to the woods to investigate the alleged cougar tracks.

Buying a House

Such excitement! It's been a whirlwind weekend... but I think I should probably explain my cryptic post of Saturday night. I was talking to my Mother on the phone yesterday. She said, "Would you please interpret what you posted on your blog? What does that mean? Is it Spanish?" No. It isn't Spanish. It's Latin. And it means "Glory to God alone."

You see, we've been living in northern Idaho for nearly 10 years and all this time we've been renting. We've lived in 4 different houses, some more comfortable than others. By the time we had lived here long enough that we thought we might be in a position to buy a house, the market was just terrible with over-inflated prices. So we decided to wait it out. Recently we have been told that "now is the time", so we started looking again.

Buying a house Signing papers for that much money is a scary thing to me. I had almost talked my husband out of even starting to look, when I felt a check from God about letting my husband lead. So I told my husband, "Okay. Let's go for it, but proceed with caution. At the first sign of a red light, the deal is off." He agreed to that and made appointments for us to talk to the banker and look at property. The banker gave us a green light, so that was the first door to open. The first house we considered was a modular home. The banker said we could get a better loan on a "stick built" house in the same price range, so we kept looking. The next house was too cramped and laid out weird. It would drive me crazy. The third house was cute, but again too crowded. The fourth house was "just right" so we made an offer on it. (No, it's not my dream house. My dream house includes a wrap-around porch and a fireplace :0) ...but our family will be very comfortable in this house, and I'm content with that.)

We found out Saturday evening that the sellers accepted our offer... and if all goes well we will be closing on it in less than 3 weeks!! Tomorrow we go for the home inspection, and I think that will be the last main hurdle before closing.

I am trying to be excited about what God is doing, and trust Him to work out all the details. My worry doesn't help anything.