More pics of the baby!

Boy, y'all are really going to get tired of this kid! lol Anyhow, I talked to Berlyn, and realized that there might be some confusion for some of the members of the crochetlist that might take a look here, since they know (of) Berlyn by her actual name, which is Rachele. She said it was okay for me to put her real name on here, so that's how I'm going to be calling her!



So, anyway, here are some more pics of Tiny for you guys to look at!












Here's Tree holding Tiny for the first time!

My grandson...

And here is a picture of my new grandbaby:

He's soooo tiny! He is only 15 inches long, and I posted his weight earlier. He is doing well, though. He seems so out of proportion...his head, hands, and feet are so big compared to the rest of him! I think his official nickname will end up being "Tiny." My youngest daughter wants to call him "Tiny Tim," and Berlyn has said that's okay. : )

Book tag also...

Mouse tagged me, so I'm playing along! : )

Okay, the first book to hand is Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George.

Page 123 (funny, haven't gotten this far yet!), third sentence is:
Tobin winked at me as I approached, and I rolled my eyes by way of reply.

And the next 5 sentences are:
"Your Highness." I curtsied, my eyes downcast. When I raised them, I found that Luka had gotten to his feet and was grinning at me.
"Creel." He gave me a polite bow, clearly amused at my overly formal greeting. "I wanted to know how you were getting on here in Mistress Derda's fine establishment."
"I am enjoying my work very much," I said, hoping that he didn't notice how red and pricked my fingertips were.

And so now I tag Neo, Tah, Accipiter, OppieJoe, and LaMa.

Hmmm, all guys...lol

Meatloaf

Okay, someone was asking me how I make my meatloaf, which my kids LOVE (though they may be a little biased! lol), so I figured I'd put it on here for anyone who cares to try it. Mind you, the measurements are not exact, but more approximations. Oh, and remember, I'm cooking for an army, so the recipe makes a BIG meatloaf!

Shawna's Killer Meatloaf

5 lbs ground beef
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 10 oz (? not the tiny can, not the really big can) can tomato sauce
1 10 oz can diced tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
3 eggs
enough crackers or bread crumbs to absorb the moisture and hold it together (I normally end up using 2 to 3 sleeves of crackers)
Ketchup or tomato sauce to cover the top of the loaf before it goes in the oven
Shredded cheese for the top

Mix together everything but the shredded cheese and ketchup for the top. Put it in a casserole dish (you'll need a good-sized one), then spread ketchup or tomato sauce over the whole top.
Put the meatloaf in the oven at 350 (sorry, I don't have a degree key, and it's in Farenheit, for those of you who use Celsius) for about 70 minutes, depending on your oven. When you can cut into the center of the meatloaf and it's not really gooey, pull it out, top with shredded cheese, and put back in the oven for about 5 more minutes--long enough for the cheese to melt.
Serve with mashed potatoes, and whatever other sides you like with your meatloaf.
Serves: A LOT!

Like I said, the measurements aren't exact, but I know that last night I used 2 cans of the cheese soup and it was pretty gooey--I had to use a whole box of crackers to keep it from being too moist. If you use just the one can, and it seems too dry, you can add a little more tomato sauce to the meat.
Hope you try it and like it. If you do, feel free to leave a comment!

New baby!

At 5:09 a.m. today, Berlyn delivered her little boy by C-section. He is 2 lbs, 10 oz., and about 11 weeks premature, but otherwise healthy! : ) He is already breathing mostly on his own, and will probably be off the respirator by the end of the week. Then, once he is feeding well and gets to a certain weight, he will get to come home...probably within a couple weeks of his due date.

I will be going up to see him and Berlyn later today, most likely, and will probably post more about him later. Berlyn is doing well, except for being sore from having herself cut open and having stitches, etc.

Stuff...

I was going to write a whole long serious post about "what if"...but, really, I've had a lot of serious type posts on here, and no one is responding to them. I don't know if that means no one is reading them, or if I'm just depressing them, and they're going out and committing some kind of ritual suicide somewhere in the wilds of Iowa or someplace! : ) Honestly, I'm not sure which I wish for more....or less, rather...lol
I've decided that I need to do some serious cleaning. I can no longer find all of my jewelry stuff--and considering that I want to sell jewelry I make, that's not a good thing! I think that I need to enlist the help of some friendly brownies (no, not the ones who sell cookies) or house-elves.
A bit of an update on Berlyn: She is doing okay, but she has to go in for monitoring of the baby every day. Baby is doing well, lungs are developing just fine, as is the diaphragm--he apparently has the hiccups a lot--especially when Berlyn is trying to do kick counts...lol
Dave is also doing well, all things considered. He's been having a few high-pain days, but other than that, he's okay.
And as for the rest of the crew, my middle son (he's 17!!) has just signed up for the National Guard. He's going to go in for training as a firefighter, and he ships out for basic on April 1st. I'm proud of him, but I can't help but be worried about him. I know there's the chance of him being deployed somewhere, but there's also the fact that when he gets home from basic, it will be right in the middle of fire season here, and I'm sure that he'll be called on to help put those out. Scary stuff...
My middle daughter is in college, but is trying to decide if she should come home and finish her degree here. I'd like it if she could stick it out where she is, but it's her choice to make.
My oldest son is looking for a job, and enjoying spending time with his daughter.
My youngest daughter is doing great in homeschool! We're still having a tough time getting her to write, though!
Okay, this has gotten long again. : ) I'm going to go for now, and check back later. Don't know how much later...lol
Y'all have a great evening!

Bummed out...

The jewelry only sold for $7.95, plus $6.50 for S&H. The materials cost me almost $20, plus my time. Guess it's only worth $14.45. : ( At least this time, anyhow. Apparently I posted it wrong, so there weren't many people who could look at it. I'll remember to do it right the next time. Also I will remember to put a reserve price on anything I sell! The guy who won got a STEAL!!! Ah, well, lessons learned, I suppose....
Y'all have a good evening!

Time flies...

When you're having fun...or something like that, anyway! : )
Not a whole lot going on. My eBay auction isn't going as well as I'd hoped. Then again, I messed up a little and only posted it under "Crafts, Handcrafted Jewelry," which isn't the main jewelry section (I've since changed it so it's in both categories now, though), so it didn't get as much attention as it could have. It's only got about a day left, and I don't think it'll go for much more (if any!) than it's at right now. *sigh* Oh, well.
Oh! My youngest son, who is nearly 16, has won Youth of The Year (for the second year in a row!) is getting ready for the State competition being held this next weekend (the 28th and 29th). He didn't win State last year, but I think he's got a pretty good chance this year. Unfortunately, I can't afford to miss the time from work, so I won't be able to go. It'll be just him, his dad, and maybe both of his older brothers.
Anywho.....that's about it for now. Like I said, not a whole lot going on right now. If anyone's reading this, hope I didn't bore you too much! : )
Y'all have a good evening!

Yay! I'm officially a seller!

Dave and I sat down tonight and listed my jewelry set on eBay. Woohoo! I am officially a seller. You should be able to find it listed under thecraftydragon. Dave's pretty sure I'll be able to sell the stuff I make, and for a lot more than I think I'll be able to. We shall see. I kind of hope so--it would be pretty darn cool if other people love my jewelry as much as I do! : )
Oh, just to let you all know, Berlyn is home from the hospital--came home Monday. There isn't a whole lot they could do except keep her still and moniter her temperature and stuff like that, which she can do at home. So, she's attempting to rest while putting together a website about high-risk pregnancies and writing articles for eHow.com (you can look her up under Berlyn if you want to go take a look).
Dave is still bruised from his fall at the store last week, but is doing a bit better. Slow going, it's hard for him to recuperate from stuff like that.
Our youngest has been giving him fits lately--we're homeschooling her (well, Dave is mostly) and she really hates math and anything where she has to write.
Everyone's been enjoying having the new dog around--he's a rat terrier, and has lots of energy! He's also such a puppy, even though he's almost a year old. He's very smart, learns fast, and wants to play most of the day. He's still learning not to be freaked out about the many and various noises around our house (believe me, there are a ton of those!), as well as all the strange people who come in and out of the house. Can't expect much more than that, we've only had him for two weeks, and I'm sure that he'll get used to the craziness pretty quickly.
Nothing new about me or work, except I found out that I've got another reset in my jewelry department (that's the third one in 2 weeks!), but it shouldn't be too big a deal. Other than that, only 2 days until payday and the weekend, which I have off! Woohoo!!
Y'all have a great evening! (Night, day, whatever....)

No eBay tonight...

*sigh* DH asked me to please wait until tomorrow to post my jewelry so he can help me write up the "ad." So I guess I will wait. I'm just impatient, and would really like to get these on there. But Dave says he can do a really good write-up on these. We shall see. : )
Night all!

Grrr, argh and stuff!

I've been trying for two evenings to post a slideshow from Photobucket to my blog, with no luck. Anybody know how to fix this? I'm about to start cussing at this thing, and it's not the puter's fault!
Anyhow, here is the link to my slideshow at Photobucket, which I did manage to save okay.
http://s247.photobucket.com/albums/gg151/Thecraftydragon1/?action=view&current=f29c3ec4.pbw
The link works, so if you want to take a look, you can. Now I think I'm going to try and post these on eBay, and then I'm most likely going to call it a night.
Y'all have a good evening!

Decisions, decisions...and grumbles about work

I am such a procrastinator! I have several projects I should be doing, as well as housework that needs to get done, and I don't wanna! : ) I think tomorrow I am going to make a few more jewelry items, and then get started on the dress Berlyn wants me to make for her daughter. The only thing is that she wants it done for Easter if at all possible. Yeep! That's two weeks away! Holy buckets, that's not much time!
Oh, wait, she says that if I can't get it done by Easter, that's okay, because there are so many pretty, fluffy little girls' dresses at the store and she wants one of those too. So if I can't get the crocheted dress done, she will buy one, and then I can get the dress made in time for the munchkin's birthday (2 already!). If I do get it done, then she will buy a dress for the birthday instead. How's that for a convoluted sentence? ; )
Work was not a lot of fun today. We had a couple people call in, so I got stuck at the cash register for about half my day. There are some days when I wouldn't mind so much, but it seems like whenever I'm away from my area for any length of time, more stuff gets stolen. Today I think it was almost 40 dollars' worth of jewelry findings--mostly the sterling silver stuff. I know it's not my fault, and there's nothing I can really do to stop it, but it's frustrating beyond all belief! I just don't understand why people feel the need to steal. I know the teenagers do it just because they can, and can get away with it, but what about the adults? What kind of example are they setting for their kids?
Not to mention those people who make a mess and leave it for the employees to clean up. I'm sorry, I'm not your maid, darn it! My mom taught me something: "If you're not going to buy it, keep your flippin' (yep, her words) hands off of it!" And I think more people ought to follow that rule. Or at least put things away neatly when they're done looking/feeling/whatever. I totally understand that sometimes you just have to get a "feel" for what you (maybe) want to buy, and that's okay. But for the love of Pete ask someone before you randomly open stuff and then leave a pile of plastic wrappers and paper backings all over the place! The employees are much more likely to do a neat job of opening, not to mention closing everything up again should you decide against buying said item, and then it won't look like it's been through a warzone, or else had half its stuff stolen, and the next person might actually buy it.
Can you tell that really bugs me?
Ah, well...nuff said. Let's move on. I won't mention this again, I promise.
Anyhow.......I think that's it for tonight. Sorry about the rant. I'll post pics tomorrow (maybe?) of any jewelry I make. And I'm also going to (hopefully) get them posted on eBay, so you'll have to go check there and see what I've got. Then you'll have to let me know what you think!
Y'all have a good evening!

Random chit-chat

Okay, if you'll look to your right (no, silly, on the screen!) you'll notice that I've added some links to a few other blogs, as well as a place filled with people as kooky as I am--some are kookier! : )
Work was, well, work. Not a fantastic evening, but not a bad one, either. I ended up going home early, though, because my oldest daughter had to make a trip to the hospital. Looks like she'll be there over the weekend. Pregnancy complications are so much fun, aren't they? : ( Anyhow, dh (dear hubby if you didn't already know) wasn't up to watching her two older kidlets--he's got chronic pain and fell at the store today, so was spending the evening trying not to hurt. Not much fun. : (
Have to go to work in the morning. I really miss having weekends off. But at least I get every other one off, and every Sunday as well, so it's not all bad. Not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow, but I do know it will involve rearranging something! lol
No other plans for the rest of the weekend, besides trying to get some cleaning done, if I can ever drag myself off the computer! ; ) I'm having way too much fun with it lately! But I guess that's all for tonight. I'm going to go for now, read some email, nothing special.
Y'all have a good evening!

My first blog...I'm turning into such a nerd...

Well, I have officially started a blog. My kids would say it's about darn time I joined the rest of the world...lol There really isn't all that much going on in my world that's of tons of interest to anyone else, but if you're reading this and feel like leaving a comment, feel free.
About me: I'm married to the guy whose 5 kids I babysat, and we have since had a girl of our own. I've been married for nearly 13 years now. My kids range in age from 23 to 9, and I have 3 grandkids with one more on the way. Despite that, I still refuse to ever grow up! : )
I'm a sci-fi/fantasy fan, mostly books and movies. My favorite series currently is The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.
I spend my free time crocheting and making jewelry. I'm going to try to sell some of my jewelry on eBay. We'll see how that goes. I eventually plan to get some pictures posted here of the things I've made, works in progress (or as the crochet list calls them, WIPs), as well as me and my family.
I guess that's all for now. I'll probably come back with random whinings about work and laughs about the various antics of my kids.
Y'all have a great day!