The First Day Of The Rest Of My Life!
April 12, 2008
Hello, and Welcome!
My name is Carol McCrow and I’m excited! It’s been a positive, encouraging day so far. We finally got some decent weather in my area after an unusually snowbound winter!
I thought I’d share a little bit about myself. So here goes….
I am a divorced, almost 49-year-old daughter, mother, and grandmother. I moved my mom in with me two years ago and have been her caregiver since. She is a stroke x 2 victim and requires assisted living which I am so happy to provide for her. I’ve always cherished my mom and my relationship with her. It saddens me deeply the amount of memory loss she has suffered as a result of brain damage due to the strokes. She is able to walk with a cane, which I’m very thankful for, but with so much snow this last winter she hasn’t been able to get out at all. With the weather getting nicer that is about to change…….!
I have four awesome and beautiful grown children: Kimberly is 30, Danny is 24, Azia is 22 and Amber is almost 19.
Kimberly has Angela, age 10 and Calob, age 26 mos. Kim works very hard managing a local Chevron station. Angela is my oldest grandchild and Calob is my first grandson. I will have a Photo Gallery or something similar on my page very soon.
Danny is single and currently in the Navy. He is my only son and I am so ridiculously proud of him! He’s on the USS Mitscher out of Virginia and has less than two years left to go. He’s the genius of the family and has quite a future in front of him!
Azia has been married to her teenage sweetheart Woody for five years (also in the navy), but they’ve been together for nine years and had Erika together at a young age. I’m glad they waited to get married even though they already had a child together. Erika was their Flower Girl at their wedding- a beautiful memory she cherishes!
And then there’s the baby of the family - my baby! She’ll be 19 in June - three days before her wedding to Aaron, a great guy I’ll be proud to call my son-in-law. They are expecting their first baby (my 2nd grandson!) in August. His name is going to be Tyler Thomas. That will make four grandchildren for me and I couldn’t be happier!
Even though I’ve used the internet off and on for over ten years, I had only used it for very specific things: email, comparison shopping, family tree research and MySpace. I never took the time to understand how to do much- I guess you could say I wasn’t interested in anything about the how-to’s of the internet aside from the project I was working on……. until about two years ago.
That was when I started using Amber’s pc for online banking. What a concept! I live 50 miles from my credit union which was terribly inconvenient until I signed up for online banking. Now I go to the actual credit union maybe two or three times a year.
That opened a can of worms for me and I started getting curious. I realized I could safely pay my bills easier than the way I’d been paying them. That really got me going. I’ve learned more about computing in the last year than I have since the first time I laid eyes on one! I know I still have much to learn but its getting easier and less overwhelming, therefore making it more fun and interesting!
I have lived in Washington most of my life. I love the four seasons and especially love and appreciate the peacefulness of the little mountain town I live in. The population is around 200 and we have a store/post office as our only established business. We’re in between two other small towns, so we’re not that isolated! I know dial-up was the only internet connection available until recently. I got high speed internet just three months ago and have been busy since then! What a difference!
My hobbies are geneology (family trees), crocheting, gardening, writing, rock collecting, and animals. I started working on my family tree again recently after a five year break. My interest is peaked again and due to more extensive records being available, am doing pretty good with it! I’ve found some interesting relatives and even more interesting ancestors.
I took up crocheting almost four years ago and have found it to be very relaxing for me. I’ve made about two dozen afghans that I’ve given to friends and family (I kept one for myself) and a lot of catnip-stuffed fish toys for my spoiled cats. I’ve made handbags, ponchos, potholders, Christmas stockings, and a few other items.
I don’t do much rockhounding anymore, but I still have a shed full of raw material from the good ol’ days (about six years ago) including holley blue agate. That was an adventure I’ll never forget! We went down to Holley, Oregon, the only place you can find this particular agate and dug a whole bunch of it out of clay and dirt. We also would go to this place called Walker Valley and find geodes, some with quartz crystals and amethyst crystals in them. I ended up with most of the collection after my partner and I decided to go our own ways, and I still have most of it waiting for the day I decide to get into it again. The interesting thing about the Holley blue agate is they have since closed the area most of it was found, which means I’ve been sitting on some great and not-so-great quality of this particular agate. My friend Steve, who was a part of those adventures, is a roommate now so he probably will start doing something with it soon. I hope so - it can be an incredibly beautiful gem, from a light blue to a deep gel-like purple with the purple being the highest quality.
I have an overwhelming love for cats- they are the ultimate pet! I somehow ended up with too many of them and am looking for excellent homes for at least three or four of them. I had one cat, Tom, when I moved up here over five years ago. To date I’m actually embarrassed to say I have a total of ten cats that come and go through a cat door and one (actually is my neighbor’s cat) that insists on living on my porch! (I know - that makes 11) I do rescue cats and that’s how I ended up with that many. I’m telling you- I think there’s a cat running the neighborhood telling all the homeless ones to go to Carol’s house cuz she’ll feed you! Despite the count, every one I call mine I’ve had fixed and have been wormed. I can’t afford the shots right now, but that is next.
Fortunately the whole block happens to be full of kitty lovers and even if they don’t favor them as I do, everyone is totally aware of not having river rats (I’m two doors down from the river) because my cats took care of that.
The cats are one thing but they aren’t the only ones I seem to be attracting. I also have raccoons (two little ones in particular) that come around looking for food. They come right up to my door!
I have pictures I want to post and will do very soon. In my opinion, I’ve got some rare shots of my little buddy the raccoon- she’s a little ham and seems to like being photographed! Watch for the pictures- I’ll have them up soon!
Wow! I hope I haven’t bored anyone too much! My main intent was to introduce myself and tell you enough about me to hopefully attract others with like interests that may wish to share stories or adventures with me.
I am pretty new to reaching out on the web or saying much about myself- I think it was a bit scarey for me at first. I’m getting over it though.
I’d love to hear from others, even if they don’t like cats or rocks or crocheting.
Because,
TODAY TRULY IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE, AND I INTEND TO IMPROVE ON EACH DAY FROM HERE ON OUT!
Best Wishes,
Carol McCrow
You may email me at:
carolmccrow@yahoo.com
