Mother’s Day Memories 2017

Mother’s day May 14, 2017 is a good day to reflect upon even if it’s the day after. I had a good Mother’s Day. I got a visit from my Dottr, GrandDottr (2 years), and future son-in-law. My Dottr, GrandDottr, and I spent time going through a tub of clothing that was given to her. Before we get into all that, let me rewind a bit. Now, I’ve already checked Facebook and Craigslist, so for the time being I’m done with that until much later. My Dottr hands me her phone and says, I assume you missed this post. I think perhaps a quarter of the way in my eyes turn into Niagara Falls. She posted a lovely thank you to me on Facebook. She wrote:

“A mother’s job is never done. A mother’s love is unconditional and without end. Her understanding and acceptance is unparalleled. Her patience, although it may wear thin, is ever-present. And there is love in everything she does, even the hard parts like discipline and arguments. She wants the best for her children. And even the happiest woman in the world will always wish an even better life for her children.

I didn’t always understand you like I do now. I didn’t always appreciate your constant worrying about me – “I’m not a child mom! I can do this on my own!”. I didn’t realize why you wouldn’t let me do all the things I wanted to – because I surely knew what was best for me at 16. I couldn’t fathom how someone’s heart could be so overwhelmed that a simple sappy commercial or an episode of a TV show about a child could move someone to real tears. There were so many things I didn’t understand.

And now I’m a mother myself! I watch over my daughter and worry over every possibility. I set bounds for her and discipline based on what is best for her. I cry every time a child is hurt, scared, or lost on a tv show and think about all the times I called you a “marshmallow”!

And what I’ve come to understand the most, is that a child never stops needing their mother. I will be 30 and still need you. I will be 50 and still need you. I will be an old woman with grandchildren and greatgrandchildren of my own and still need my mother’s wisdom and advice.

We’ve always had a unique relationship. A mother-daughter relationship that didn’t stop there – a best friend kind of relationship formed where I knew I could come to you with anything and everything. My catty gossip and drama, my relationship issues, my sadness and triumphs. Something happens and I still can’t wait to go and tell my Muddr! We’ve had our hard times too. The times where we fight and scream and disagree and say things we don’t mean. Times where we don’t trust one another. Times where we wonder if the other will ever understand things from our point of view. But it is balanced.

And I want you to know that I love you. I appreciate you. I will never stop needing you.
And I want you to know that I understand now.

(2 hearts emoticons)I love you Muddr! Happy Muddr’s Day!!(2 heart emoticons)

**P. S. Y’all I sincerely apologize for how incredibly goofy I look in these pictures! (Oh the horrible duck-face!) They are old ha ha but they were the only ones I had on my phone! (2 crying faces) my mother on the other hand LOOKS FABULOUS!! Which is why I used them anyways! (2 heart emoticons)”

I was in tears throughout the rest of the post and it was getting very difficult to read it, but I persevered. It was nice to know that she really appreciated me and finally knew what I’ve known for 26 years. I’m not a marshmallow, I’m a mother. But if it makes me a marshmallow, so be it, I like being a marshmallow.

Original post: 

We love hand-me-downs…especially when they fit. Being a plus size girl, it’s not very often that I can find something that I actually like before I try it on. I really would love to see something I like instead of just looking at the size first, but that’s another blog. This was a hilarious time because baby girl wanted to try on clothes too and we didn’t have anything that would fit her. So I took one of the skirts and took her shirt off and put the skirt over her chest, folded it over in the back and used one of my hair clips to hold it in place. However, I didn’t make it tight enough, so it kept sliding down.

I eventually readjusted the fold and the clip so that it didn’t slide down and she was just so thrilled. When Papa tried to put her shirt back on she slams her tiny little hand on the breakfast nook table and says “NO!” We both got a really good laugh out of that one.

I received a homemade gift from my GrandDottr. My Dottr loves to be crafty and feels that a homemade gift from Annabelle surpasses a gift from her, but honestly it is from her too, simply because it was her idea and she took the time to do it. On a piece of scrapbook paper we have a field with pockets of hands, GrandDottr’s hands!!! I love GrandDottr’s hands!!! Those hands contain scrapbook roses in yellow and a statement, “You are appreciated.” “You are loved.” “You are awesome!” “You are thoughtful.” All of which, I am, but it’s awesome that they think so too. (The white squares indicate the magnets that are not part of the gift.)

We finish the clothing session and move on to Mocha coffee and some fresh outdoors. For the first 5 minutes my Dottr is letting her Dottr in and out of the house and finally she says…”Make up your mind, in or out!” This totally brought back memories! She eventually propped open the back door and Baby Girl moved freely in and out without an issue.

We chatted, she texted, then she started taking photos and when I asked her what she was doing, she said “Snap chat.” I said “What’s that?” She says, “Hang on a sec and I’ll show you. You should use the time to download Snap Chat.”  Baby Girl is sneaking her cup of Mocha coffee, and I tell her and she says, “It’s ok, let her have it.”  Baby Girl drinks mama’s mocha and then announces she is going to put the cup on the counter inside.  She takes off, careful to put the cup down on the steps before she begins to climb. She makes it up the 3 steps and into the house.

She comes back and strategically places herself between me and my cup of mocha coffee. What she doesn’t know is that I’m watching and she’s too late, I drank it all. I see her cut her eyes from the cup to me and then she realizes I’m watching her. She grins and I say, “Baby Girl, Nana already drank it all, but do you want to take the cup in the house and put it on the counter?” She’s a bit disappointed until the end of my question and she squeals, “YES!” “I do it!” I laugh at her and she’s off, repeating the earlier process.

Dottr is preparing to leave, so I get up to go inside and she asks The Hubs aka Papa to carry a tote of clothing to the car. He agrees and picks up the tote and goes out the door. I turn and see both coffee cups on the counter side by side in front of the Keurig. I started to smile and as I did I heard my GrandDottr giggling outside. These moments are what make life so enjoyable and I am very grateful.

It’s totally the condensed version as they were here for a few hours and I really did enjoy having everyone here.  I spoke with my son later in the day when he called me to wish me Happy Mother’s Day. I told him Happy Birthday since it was his 20^th birthday. I told him I would have called him earlier but I didn’t want to wake him as he works nights. He lives in FL and that’s a 12 hour trip from where I am. My other son messaged me numerous times earlier that day before we actually spoke on the phone. He lives here but I wasn’t going anywhere and it’s important for them to learn that having a license is an important thing and maybe he will never get one but I hope he changes his mind.

Anyway, if you read my post, I appreciate it very much. I was moved by my daughter’s post to me on Facebook that it was important to share. Your kids may never tell you, but most likely they appreciate you once they have kids, they realize all that you did for them. 

 

Happy Day, ya’ll!!!

OneNote 2010

I wanted to discuss OneNote 2010 because it is a staple in my computer. I think I would be lost without my OneNote 2010. I like OneNote 2010 because I can save the crochet patterns I find online as well as the patterns I purchase. I also save a page from the crochet magazine I subscribe to that shows all the patterns in the issue. That way I can choose the pattern I like and access the appropriate PDF. I use OneDrive to access my OneNote 2010 notebook when I’m away from home. I can view my notebook on my phone or tablet, or another computer. All I have to do is sign into my email account. I can sync my notebook whenever I want, but OneNote 2010 usually does that work for me.

I have prepared some photos to show you how I use my OneNote 2010 notebook. I am not attempting to fringe on anyone’s copyrights. I have scribbled out pattern directions but have left some links and photos on the pages with scribbles. I wanted the photos to be nice, but then I thought about copyrights and I definitely do not want to casue a problem.

 

The above photo shows OneNote on my computer. The first arrow on the left is pointing to the sections within the current open OneNote notebook. The second arrow is pointing to the current open OneNote notebook. The large arrow on the right is pointing to all the pages contained within the ‘A’ section of my notebook. Each page contains all pages of that specific pattern. (I hope moogly doesn’t mind that I did not scribble over their photo. I only wanted to show a page in my notebook and the photo was too nice to ruin with scribble.) #moogly

 

Again, the first arrow on the left is pointing to the sections contained within the open notebook (arrow 2 on left). These are my paid patterns. As you can see on the right are the pages within the Paid Crochet Patterns notebook. I have not given this notebook individual A-Z sections becasue I do not have enough paid patterns to warrant this work. I did not scribble this photo because it’s a paid pattern and no information is visible. Someone may want a 2 hour foot warmer pattern and now they know where to go get one.

I had a great idea with this notebook. I had so many issues of Crochet World in PDF that I never knew what patterns were in the issue. Each issue has a page that shows a photo of all the patterns in the issue. So I made a new notebook (arrow 2 on left) and just the one section(arrow 1 on left). The yellow arrow is pointing to the pages within the notebook, you cannot see all the pages, but it’s ok, you already know you can scroll down.  Anyway, I have labeled the individual page with the month and year of the issue and used the print feature in the PDF to print to OneNote. OneNote will print that individual page on the page I choose in OneNote. So when I look for a pattern all I need to do is find the pattern, look at the page title and then go to OneDrive and open the PDF that matches the page title. I absolutely love this!

I’m hoping that here on this photo you cannot read it because scribbling would take away from the lesson. Here is a pattern I found to copy and paste into OneNote. Most of us know how to copy and paste, but there are some old fashioned people and people who just do not get on a computer as much as others. Copy is generally left click & hold, then drag to the end of what you want to copy, then release. Being careful not to click the page again, move the mouse to a blue highlighted area that does not contain a link or photo. Right click and select copy. Or you can press and hold Ctrl then press the ‘c’ key.

Now that you have copied your pattern you can minimize the browser and open up OneNote. You can prepare you OneNote page before you copy that way you can just click the OneNote icon and just paste. I usually open a page where I want it within my notebook and type the title in the title box.

I right click under the title and (black circle on left) I select the first paste option. The second one will merge the formatting and the third one will keep only the text. I prefer to save it as it was on the webpage.

If you notice, the up arrow is pointing to the section tab ‘M’, which is where I put the pattern, and the right arrow is pointing to the pages within the ‘M’ section of my crochet notebook. You can see it’s in alphabetical order. I find it easier if it’s organized.

This photo shows the print button that is quite common on many sites that have free patterns. I always preset my OneNote 2010 before I click the print button. I want the pattern to go in a specific place because I don’t want to have to move it later. OneNote 2010 does give you options of where to print it but I’ll show you that later.

Here is the preset page for the pattern.

I have clicked the print button on the webpate and a new window pops up. Sorry for the scribble, trying to respect copyrights. In the new window you can click the print button on the upper left and it will open a print window.

The print window is under the current window (circled in yellow) showing, but that is because I clicked the change button on the print window to change what printer to use. The change button I’ve circled in red. If the open window wasn’t there the button would be more visible. Anyway, you choose the Print to OneNote 2010, that’s in the black rectangle.

More respecting copyright scribble. In the lime green box it indicates it will take 3 sheets of paper. When printing in OneNote 2010, this only means there will be 3 individual pages on the page you print to in OneNote, no actual paper is being used. The red rectangle is showing you the print and cancel buttons. Avoid clicking those until you are sure where your printing is going. Under it, in the blue box you will see that the printer is going to Send to OneNote 2010. Always be mindful of the # of pages. You might not want to print the comments. Review your pages before you print.

Once you click print either this screen will pop up or your OneNote 2010 icon on the task bar will flash. Once you click the OneNote 2010 icon you will see this window. The new pattern page is highlighted, so if you click ok, OneNote 2010 will print on that page. If something else is highlighted, you’ll need to select the correct page before you click ok.

More respecting copyright scribble.  You can see the outline of a page on this OneNote 2010 page in the current notebook. I was sad to have to ruin that photo, but it was necessary to respect copyright. I was able to find 3 patterns not in the correct order, so I fixed that while preparing this photo. The other 2 pages of this pattern are under the one you can see, you just have to scroll, there is not a page on the right that you need to access.

I did some erasing so that I’m not reproducing a copyrighted pattern. In the purple box you can barely see that the words for round 1 are cut off. I did not do that with the eraser. I did mutilate the photos. Sometimes when you print to OneNote 2010 the pages get cut off, that’s usually due to white space, incorrect margins, or it’s just a flaw you cannot correct. This is why copy/paste is so handy. You don’t have to worry about cut of directions. I try to use Send to OneNote 2010 for patterns that are in a PDF or the webpage will not allow me to copy.

I prefer to copy and past into OneNote. This is the upper part of the page that I pasted into OneNote. As you can see there are no individual pages. I can also select row one by left clicking and holding while dragging to the end and then I can use the tools to highlight what I have selected. This keeps me on track within my pattern. I tend to get lost in a printed pattern and if I use a pencil/pen to check a line or draw through the line, I’ve messed up my printed copy. I could laminate the page or put it in a page protector, but that’s more money and I already own OneNote 2010. I can change the layout of the pattern if I choose to because I copied/pasted the information onto the page.

If I want to bullet the “rounds” all I have to do is select the rounds and then click the bulleted list icon in the OneNote toolbar. I can bold the text within the parentheses to make them more visible. I can increase the white space between the “rounds” if I choose to do so. What I love about OneNote 2010 when I copy/paste, is that it puts the link of the webpage at the bottom of the pattern. I can access the webpage just by clickingthe link. All the links are active. I intentionally scribbled and erased within the pattern to respect the copyrights of the pattern owner.

This is the bottom half of  the same page in the previous picture. You can see the photos have links as well as the original webpage link for the pattern at the very bottom. This information is great to have so that when you crochet a pattern and post a picture of your creation online, you can give appropriate credit to the pattern writer.  The scribbling you see is my way of respecting the copyrights of the webpage by not reproducing the pattern. I couldn’t bear to mess up the photo since it is showing how the item looks once complete.

This is to show you why it’s important to pay attention to your page count when you Send to OneNote 2010. In the red box it states 24 pages. That patttern is not 24 pages long. It’s 4 pages long. So you would want to select the box and type 1-4 before you click the print button. See the next photo.

Now you can click print to save the pattern to OneNote 2010.

Not paying attention to the writing on the page being shown in the picture, focus on the smaller window where the arrow & box are. The arrow is pointing to where you want to print the pattern and once that’s highlighted you can click ok. I didn’t actually print it using the print button on the webpage. I prefer the copy/paste method so that I can keep track of where I am. If you use the print button on the webpage and it prints it as an individual page in OneNote 2010 you cannot make any changes to the written words. No bolding words, no highlighting rows you’ve copleted. It’s a page that you can only read.

OneNote 2010 always saves automatically, but you have to sync it periodically. I sync mine to my OneDrive so that I can access it on my phone, my tablet, or another computer when I’m away from home. I also have it saved on an external hard drive in case something happens to my OneDrive copy or my computer. I always save my notebook as a OneNote 2010 file because saving it as a PDF ruins the organization.  I did, however, save my OneNote 2010 notebook as a PDF just to find out how many patterns I have collected since I began crocheting in October 2014. I started atttempting this around 4:20 pm est and by 7:15 pm est, I still was not able to save it as a PDF. Apparently the file is too big. It just says (not responding). But I can save it as a onenote package!

I love Microsoft OneNote 2010 so much that I decided to try to make a tutorial to show how useful it is.  This is my first tutorial and my second blog post. Whoot-whoot!!

 

Happy Day, ya’ll!!!

 

First blog post

I  must say I thought this would be easier to do. I still haven’t found a tutorial. It’s a shame that my first blog post is subjected to my frustration with setting up the site. Perhaps once I figure this out I’ll have better things to discuss.

Let me move away from the annoying setting up a blog page. What I need to discuss is what brought me to the blog.  Earlier today I was surfing the web and came across a photo of a crocheted circle vest that really stood out.

 

No, that’s not my work nor is it my picture. I found it on Pinterest and Pinterest said I could save it. Anyway, I am mesmerized by the beautiful mandala in the center of this circle vest. I do a Google search to see if I can find the pattern. No luck on the vest pattern, however, I did find the mandala that started this vest.

Now, I’m proud of myself so I decide that I want to share this awesome photo of this beautiful circle vest in a crochet group on Facebook. I take the time to explain it is not my work and there is no known pattern to follow. Then I get a few loves and likes and then a couple of “gorgeous” comments. Then their eyes close and all they can see is the photo. Comment after comment about can I post a pattern, a link to the pattern, a picture of the front of the vest, how much yarn will it take?,  etc.

I began to comment to their questions. “No, I don’t have a pattern”, “no I can’t post a picture of the front of the vest”, “I have no idea how much yarn it will take”. Another woman was reposting the link to the Starflower Mandala pattern that I had included with my photo, but they just couldn’t see it. It wasn’t a picture. People don’t read! Why am I wasting my time writing now??? Because it’s good for the soul to get your thoughts out. Regardless of whether someone likes it or reads it, it’s good for your soul, or maybe that’s sanity.