What an exciting but challenging time of year September is. There's such a great feeling of possibility, of starting fresh on a new school year. Old friends to see, new friends to meet, a new teacher to get used to, and literally a clean slate in the classroom. But there's also so much activity that revolves around just getting the kids back to school--filling out forms; updating medical records; checking to see who has outgrown what and shopping and then shifting out summer clothes for fall; sifting through old school supplies and replenishing the supply; scheduling and shuttling kids to dentist, orthodontist, and doctor checkups, etc.
Add in a lot of motherly anxiety about my rambunctious youngest starting preschool and my sensitive middle one starting 4th grade, and for me that means insomnia and a very low level of tolerance for the ordinary quarrels that occur daily between the aforementioned boys.
So, for me, that means it's time for me to craft a little bit of alone time to try to gain some perspective so that I can get back to a feeling of appreciation for all that I have.
After a quick hot dog dinner and finally getting the excited kids to bed, here are some friends that I spent some time with last night:
I've been trying to teach myself to crochet for a while, but without a whole lot of success. I can chain 'til the cows come home. But I was just not getting the whole idea of where that darn crochet hook goes for a single crochet. 
For some reason, something clicked in the spatial part of my brain last night. Resurrection Fern's straightforward tutorial for her Crocheted Acorn Necklace turned out to be an easy first crochet project. After I studied her directions and looked through my crochet books for details on each step, it literally took me minutes to complete a necklace. The first one I did in a thicker cotton thread so that I could see what I was doing. But the pink necklace made from the finer gauge cotton was just as fast and easy. And it looks so sweet hanging from a vintage mirror and around my daughter's neck. I do hope it will bring her luck tomorrow on her first day back to school.
