Oops...can't even blame the storm

Well, have been worrying about this tree since the day (actually even before) we moved in here. It was big, dead and had many dead branches hanging percariously over the house. We had a guy come out and tell us it would cost nearly $2000 to take it down. Well, sure, I'll just rip it out of my leg!! So months went by and we did nothing but worry aobut it. Last week, almost to the day, we had a storm here and a branch fell off the tree and went into the roof. It did not penetrate straight through so it didn't cost much to fix it but the worry grew bigger.

Yesterday DH got a good friend, who has been cutting down trees for years, to come out and help us get rid of it. We just were not experienced enough to take it down ourselves as we most likely would have taken off the whole corner of my youngest son's room, which would not have been good.

As always, all images are clickable.........

So far...so good

Here is the tree before it came down. If you look you can see the limbs hanging over the house and just how close it is to the house making it difficult to cut down.

TIMBER!!!! After about an hour, down it came. After attaching it to another tree and wenching it step by step so it would stay away from the house.

Oops..........not so good after all!!

After the tree fell I glanced to Austin's room and saw this. OMG!!!! I was going to put him to bed in his room but decided it would be too loud so I put him in my bed until we were done everything. Thank the Lord I decided to do that!! I just can't tell you.............. I actually felt sick to my stomach.

It's really not as bad as it looked at first. It's a small patch on the roof and that will be fixed today. The only thing was...it stormed last night. Thunderstorms! We put a temporary patch over it for the night, knowing it was going to rain, but the poor little fella got rained on. I had to put a bowl on his bed so he wouldn't get wet.

This is really what scared me. After things were cleaned up I had a chance to really look at the hole in the ceiling. If you look at the top bar of the bunk bed you will see a big dent in it....not good.

This is what I keep thinking...... the branch broke off the tree on the way down, not where it had stood this whole time. It came loose quite easily and landed like a torpedo in to the roof/ceiling. IF this had fallen off the tree where it stood, like during a storm or just because it felt like falling off that day, it could have landed right in the middle of the bed. Now, Austin usually sleeps on the bottom bunk, usually, but when my stepson comes over on the weekend he sleeps in the top bunk......it could have catastrophic!!

BUT, coulda shoulda woulda. The tree is down, it will take a couple of hours to fix the roof and ceiling and all will be fine again. Thank goodness we DID get this monster of a tree down in time!

On a lighter side: I found this website and thought it was just too cool. Check it out.

It's Prom day

What a time!! Thank goodness prom is today. My daughter was about to drive me C-R-A-Z-Y!!! This is her junior prom so I didn't feel the need to go 'all out'. When I took her to her best friends house to get driven to prom her BF was totall decked out...she even had a dang tiara on top of her head. I could have sworn she was about to walk down the aisle for crying out loud!! I'll go all out next year, for her Senior Prom, but just didn't feel it was appropriate for her junior prom. Am I wrong?? She picked the dress and my mother (Grammy) bought it, Viqui bought the shoes and I did her hair. The full length photo isn't that great...looks better in person. I hop she has a good time tonight...a safe time....but a fun time.

The making of a Daisy ghan

Well, I finished making this ghan today...thank goodness. It seemed to take forever...maybe because it was the ONLY thing I was making for the past month. I usually get bored and work on a few things at a time but I wanted to get this done. I made it for my daughters best friend's birthday, which was Wednesday so I'm only a few days late.

BUT, try putting all the squares together with this going on.....I'm tellin' ya!!

And.....drumroll please.............the finished product!!

I just love it....even though I HATE working with black but it just turned out so nice. I hope she likes it. And yes, that is Chico's butt in the picture...he came out and laid on it right away. I had to shoo him off so I could take a picture.

FYI: I got this FANTASTIC pattern from http://krochetkrystal.blogspot.com/

Yikes!! Dang storms!!

This is NOT what you want to see online....

UPDATE: Tornado Warning Moves East

Last Edited: Friday, 13 Apr 2007, 8:39 PM CDT
Created: Friday, 13 Apr 2007, 8:21 PM CDT

Updated 8:21 p.m.: The National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning for Hopkins, Raines, Van Zandt and Hunt counties until 9 p.m. A strong line of thunderstorms is producing baseball-sized hail and possible tornadoes. Residents are advised to take cover immediately

We are in Van Zandt county.

Well, at about 8:30pm tonight I heard the words I've been dreading ever since I moved to Texas........'If you live in Wills Point take cover immediately'........I think I must have had racing stripes in my undies. I hoarded the kids into a closet with pillows over their heads while I tried to find some news about it on the radio because our 'dish' went out...great timing for that,huh? DH went outside to see if he could see or hear anything and I got the closet in our bedroom ready for us to take cover in. Sam was on the phone with her best friend, who's TV link had not gone out, and she kept us up to date as to what was being said about our area, seeing how it had already passed her area. We ended up being just fine and it never came to us it went just north of us about 10 miles, if that. BUT, I've never been so scared in my life. It was such a helpless feeling, just walking around waiting for a storm to come and take everything away from me. It shook me up quite badly, to say the least.

And had to include a couple of 'awwww' pics....

If you look closely in the above picture you will see what I saw when I was sick, laying on the couch for the past few days...yes, I was sick AGAIN...I hope I'm done with that 'stuff' now!! Belle, Chico, Patches and Bo...all keeping me company in my 'sick bed'. Too funny!

This was just too cute. Patches laying with Belle. She looks so cute.

Crochetville Secret Pal Revealed

Thank you so much Donna....flowerpower06....
I received my reveal package yesterday from my secret pal on Crochetville, but my camera battery was dead so I had to charge it before posting on here.
I got so many great goodies over this swap and the reveal package was certainly no exception!!

As a matter of fact, I'm wearing the Florida shirt as I'm writing this...fits great!
The Toblerone bar didn't stand a chance in this house...the vultures (aka my children) were swarming before I even got the box opened...'if there's candy I call it'...uh huh!!
The earrings are so 'me' ...you just don't know!!
I've never had handspun/handdyed yarn before so getting 2 hanks was a real treat. I'll have to make something special with them for sure.
My daughter is already after me for the bangle. She loves it as much as I do.
The candles are the perfect scent too....vanilla and lavender/sage...so nice!
Rounding it out....2 picture frames, a key chain, Florida tote bag, and some great patterns.
I loved everything so much...I really did!!
Even better....getting to know you over this swap and becoming friends.

I can't believe I didn't do this already

I'm totally redfaced.......Viqui sent me some stuff a couple of weeks ago, when I sick (I guess that's why I forgot) and I didn't post it on here. Geesh......She sent me 3 angels that we are going to design a dress for, with her designing 90% of it I'm sure..lol
She sent me 4 great squares....yes Chico had to get nosy and 'see' who had them first. I guess he smelled her furbabies on them! They'll be great for the blanket I'll be making as soon as soon as I get enough squares.
And then there's this shawl...........how pretty is this?? I just LOVE it!! It came at the perfect time, when I was sick, and I wore it every morning when I was laid up on the couch and cold. It was just perfect for this time of year. It's going to be chilly starting tomorrow again too so I'm sure I'll get much more use out of it. It is so soft, I wish you could feel it!
And this does not include all the goodies she included for everyone. Austin got the movie 'How to Eat Fried Worm' and laughed his butt off when he watched it, while eating the gummy worms she'd attached to the movie. He got some other stuff too, as did the other kids and even dh got a big bag of Snickers. She also sent me 3 beautiful tops and some yarn and some other goodies. Thank so much Viqui....you are just way to kind to me!! I'm so sorry I forgot to post this. I was sick...that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!!!

Another Monday

Well, it's been 'a day'. First a few pics...this Belle playing...as you can see she likes yarn already. In the bag is the yarn for the afghan I'm making for my daughter's best friend for her birthday.

Here are the 4 colored squares I'm using for the ghan...I like it so far.

It wasn't all a bad day. I got this awesome Crochetville bag from a FGM at the Ville. I was so excited when my dh came home with a big puffy. It was such a horrible horrible day and this made my day, without a doubt. I hope she knows what it meant to me, it was awesome!

When I think of Texas....

This is what I think of. I have lived here for 4 years now (on May 2nd) and have yet to be able to get a good picture of a Longhorn. They're not that common in this part of Texas so when I was 'lucky' enough to see them I (for some unknown reason, because dh bugs me that I sleep with the dang thing) didn't have my camera. Today we drove by this Longhorn ranch that we'd never seen before AND I actually had my camera on me...imagine that!! I know everyone might not think this is a big thing, dh included, but I thought it was cool.