Marvie's Crochet Corner

Just rambling lol

Happy belated 4th lol. I didn't make it here yesterday to say it, but I hope ya'll had a great day =)

We almost got rained out, the day started out sunny with a nice breeze but turned into thunderstorms and yuk shortly after noon. We of course had a big cookout planned, another family in our building and the neighbor across the hall, plus some friends of the other family... 12 of us all together. By three we were stressing over how we were going to handle it, since none of our apartments will hold that many ppl and there is no covered area for grilling. Then the skies opened up with a vengance, it got very dark, the rains came, thunder and lightning... the whole shebang. Our basement flooded, as did parts of the attic and at least two apartments that I know of. It seems the seals on a lot of the windows didn't hold up to the force of the wind blowing the rain at them, and the rain hit so fast and so hard that the drains in the basement back flowed. Then it was over. Lasted about 20 minutes and it left. Didn't get sunny, but the rain quit long enough for the guys to cook and then for us all to eat before it opened up again.

The kids were stressing over the fireworks, "what happens if it's raining?" etc. but they did evenutally have a show. It started at 10:50 and was over at 11:05. B complains that it's such a short show, but like I explained to him... this isn't a show put on by the city like back home, this is put on by the Army or some part of the army comunity, and they don't have the budget to put on a half hour or hour long show. Not to mention they probably have to get permission from the local gov't to do it at all. If we're still here come New Year's he'll get to see a huge show. The entire city lights up then and from the hill we sit on you can see them in all directions and it goes on for a good hour.

It's starting to look like we'll be here for New Year's too. Hubby is not getting anything from his detailer (that's the guy who gives out new orders to new duty stations) so he's going to get, or try to get, some of the officers he works with to get involved but he's not acting very positive about it. I'm not giving up hope yet, not till he comes home and tells me in no uncertain terms that we're stuck here.

And if we do have to stay, we are going to start dong some stuff. I refuse to let the entire three years be a waste of time. So if we have another year and a half, I'm going to put it to use. Especially since I'm homeschooling B now. He wants to study WWII next year, and how many kids get the opportunity to actually see the places where battles happened, see the old tanks and stuff, visit the sites where the concentration camps were? There are plenty of things to show him right here in our city, Stuttgart was pretty much leveled back then. The bases where we live and shop were German bases in those days. The apartment we live in once housed a German family.

Not to mention, part of the reason we picked this posting was because it's so close to so many other countries. We're right down at the southern part of Germany, so Switzerland is only an hour and a half from us, France is just a couple of hours too, 7 hours to the coast of France where hubby went for D-day recently. Italy is only an 8 hour drive. Then there's flights... you can get a plane ticket wayyyyy cheap over here. We know ppl who have taken a family of four to Ireland for less than $100! If you watch, you can get a ticket to London for a freakin euro, that's one euro!

With homescholing, we're free to travel at the drop of a hat. Wherever we choose to go I can work it into our lesson plans somehow lol. So if we have to stay, I plan to make the most of it. Hubby even told the family therapist that he'll go along with outings and trips if I plan them *g* and I am going to hold him at his word!

Gosh it sure is quiet this morning. I let B spend the night with his best friend last night, the first time since he got in trouble. Hubby went back to work after four days off, so I have the house all to myself till noon. This is the first alone time I have had since the last day of school. Oh, B goes ut to play so I have quiet hours here and there, but I know he'll be home to check in or whatever at any given moment. This is quite peaceful lol. Though I can't help but worry that I'll get a phone call later today telling me he took something or did something stupid. I pray that doesn't happen though. I don't think it will. The mom knows B's history, and frankly that's the only reason I allowed him to sleep over. She would have made sure there was nothing to tempt him first. I hesitated a bit even still. But I figure he has to be in situations where he can choose the right thing in order to earn trust back, and that's not going to hapen if I keep him attached to my hip at all times. Hubby didn't think I should have let him sleep over yet, he thinks it's too soon to allow all B's priviliges back. He's afraid I'm going to fast. I don't know if I am or not, but the kid has been very good. He deserves rewards for that or it won't continue. I let B know that just because I allowed this does not mean I am going to let him sleep over at just anyone's home whenever he wants. This was a trial run and we'll see how things go from here. I've let him go inside one other friend's house a couple of times, again, the parents and siblings know his history, but that family I don't know as well as the friend he spent the night with, so I haven't allowed him to sleep over there yet. Baby steps. So far so good though =)

Well, I crocheted a bit more this weekend. I made a couple of thread bookmarks. One for hubby's mom for her birthday this month and another for his aunt as a thank-you. She is the one who taught me to read patterns and helped me with my first pattern project, which was a ripple ghan I made for hubby a couple of years ago. She and his mom both saw my first ever completed project, which I've showed here before. It's the crookedest thing I have ever seen, and has huge holes where I skipped stitches, but they both praised me and encouraged me to continue my efforts. So I think they will both appreciate how far I have come from that mess to making delicate little thread bookmarks =) I'll take pics of them in a while, if my camera will take some that show them well.

For now, I need to go make more coffee and enjoy my last hour of quiet time =) Hope ya'll have a great week!

posted by Marvie at 2:56 AM