It's Just Jennifer...

How to find a lost item

2012-02-16T15:27:00.000-08:00

I mentioned before that I couldn't find my keys when I returned from my cruise. I was bummed because I really liked my keychain and I had to carry my husband's nuts instead. (Actually that makes me giggle... alot... and that link is 100% safe LOL)

My husband's nuts. Get your mind out of the gutter.

So, I broke down Valentine's Day and ordered a new keychain. I'm a little obsessed with European charms because of my new bracelet, especially the Murano glass ones. I found a keychain that came with three gorgeous blue glass beads. My intention was to put the blue beads on my bracelet and put my extra set of beads, which are green, on the keychain.

The keychain came in the mail today and I swapped around beads. Very happy me.

The flowery beads are new.

Then I went into the living room to work on my baby blanket and help Isabelle with her homework. My crochet hook was missing, so I figured it had slipped between the couch cushions.

No crochet hook. It was under the couch.

But my keys were there.

Of course. I had finally replaced them and there they were.

Don't ask me why I never checked the couch. I thoroughly checked the other couch. It just never occurred to me to check the other couch. I know. I'm a moron.

It's all fine and dandy. I have my funny fork keychain, a pretty sparkly green keychain, all my keys and my gym tag, and three new beads for my bracelet. Yay for me.

The moral of this story is... if you lose something, replace it. You'll find it right away.

A girl can dream...

2012-02-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

Zoe wore my little Purplelicious creation today to school. Bill called me after he dropped her off at school and said it was a show-stopper. He said she just walked in and whipped off her jacket, very proud of the dress. He said the director asked where we got it and was surprised that I made it. She even had to verify that with me when I picked her up. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and even got compliments, with only the bottom poking out of her jacket. My ego was well fed.

Days like today make me wish I could do this stuff full-time. I get so jealous of people who get to stay home with their kids and work from home. I know it would probably be harder work than what I do now, but the benefits would totally rock. Plus, I'm kind of bummed because I won't get to take any time off during the girls' Spring Break and I'm going to miss a field trip with Isabelle because other people are taking time off. I don't expect to get priority treatment on certain times just because I have kids, but that doesn't stop me from feeling sad about it.

Oh well.

Aside from a little melancholy daydreaming about the unfairness of having to pay bills, today has been really cool. I got my crochet books in today. I looked through my overlay crochet pattern book I bought - sight unseen - and am happy I made the purchase. I can't wait to try something out of here. Of course, it's all written to be jewelry, but it's also all written to be worked up in sewing thread. And that's just not going to happen... we'll make giant versions and then figure out what they'll be. Probably awesome looking pillows, but who doesn't need awesome looking pillows? There is one necklace in there that I think would make an amazing camera strap when worked large-scale. It might be my first project from it.

I also got news that my husband's aunt and grandmother may be coming to visit next month. That in itself is really fun, but it gets better.... His aunt has a serger that she has promised me and she'll bring it if they come. A serger! And a lot of fabric, too... it's stuff she bought to make ice skating costumes, but never really did anything with any of it. The serger is probably 10 years old but barely used.

Did I mention yesterday that I ordered some fabric? Yeah, Fabric.com had a good sale going on and I caved to temptation. I found some to attempt to make a scrub top with. I got some really neat looking astrological sign themed fabrics, one for each of the girls.

Source: fabric.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

For my Libra, Olivia. The blue reminds me of her eyes... she's my only blue-eyed baby.

Source: fabric.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

My Taurus, Isabelle. She's not crazy about it, but I can't help that it's her sign. Not my favorite, but I do like it.

Source: fabric.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

My Capricorn, Zoe. I'm not normally an orange lover, but I do love this.

And last, but certainly not least, my favorite selection of the day....

Source: fabric.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I showed it to a girl I work with and she instantly said, "Isabelle!" Isabelle, coincidentally, thinks it's the ugliest fabric ever. But it's so her. I'm afraid to make her something out of it for fear that she'll never wear it. So maybe it'll become a bag or something for me. Because I love it.

On a side note... because of the fabrics I bought, I looked up the girls' astrological signs and read the descriptions. Olivia didn't really strike me as a Libra by definition, but Isabelle and Zoe are very much like their signs' descriptions. I'm not really into astrology, but it's fascinating to me.

It's Purplelicious

2012-02-14T19:15:00.000-08:00

During one of my two runs to Hobby Lobby last week (yes, I know I have a problem), I saw a gorgeous purple-themed fat quarter pack.

I think that gingham-y one is so very out of place with the other 4 prints....

I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do, but I thought it would be pretty similar to a dress I made Zoe a while back... it's pretty much just a peasant dress and I can't find a picture of it, so just imagine a pink and brown patchwork peasant dress, OK? Good.

The longer I thought about it, the more I didn't want to do that and a new idea formed. It was kind of a mish-mash of one of the Easter dress patterns and two different tutorials I've used before. By the time I got home today, I just couldn't wait any longer and dove in. Even with the kids awake. I don't normally sew unless they're unconscious, for obvious reasons, but it was fine. They were very curious but didn't get in the way too much.

Everything came together just as planned. No glitches at all. It was quite shocking, really. And here we are... the Purplelicious top/dress (depends on who is wearing it)

Just imagine that I had remembered to either shut their bedroom door or pick up their dirty clothes, OK?

I love, love, love it. And I had just the tiniest scraps left over. I used Isabelle's chest measurement and made it a tad bigger than necessary so that they don't outgrow it in a week. It's way too big around for Olivia, though. She was really upset about that, but I promised to make her one. Different colors, of course. It's a perfect dress length for Zoe, a tad too short for Isabelle, but she can wear leggings under it.

It was really easy and didn't take much time either. I might use some knit for the next one and it will go even faster because I won't have to hem it and I won't be piecing the skirt.

In other news....

I started another baby blanket. I am basically finished with the Fruity Pebbles one... just need to weave in a few ends and I think I might make a matching hat. But I just really wanted to try a pattern from the Seamless Crochet book.

This pattern is amazing. I have finished the first row and the whole time I was saying "this is SO cool!" I'm not sure I'll ever do another granny square afghan without doing it this way. 13 squares in the first row and it just flows from one to the other without fastening off and weaving in ends. The only ends will be the beginning, the end, and where I have to join a new skein. It's just genius, I tell you. Genius. I feel like the book has paid for itself already and my own copy hasn't even arrived yet (I'm using my library copy).

So, that's what I've been doing... and not doing, apparently, from the picture of Isabelle and their dirty clothes. I swear I picked up the front of the house today. I just never made it all the way down the hall. =)

I need to sew.

2012-02-12T19:38:00.000-08:00

This will be the 4th year that I've made my girls' Easter dresses. The first year they were identical pillowcase dresses that they never wore again. I had just started sewing, too, so they weren't very impressive. The next two years, the dresses were identical patterns, different fabrics. So this year I have been thinking of trying three different patterns with the same fabric.

Hobby Lobby had their Simplicity patterns on sale ($.99 each) and I thought I would check it out. There are a lot of patterns I've found online, but patterns on Etsy run around $8-10 and multiply that by 3 plus fabric and I may as well just go buy some dresses. I love making things for them, but if it costs more to make it than to buy it, I just think that's kind of silly. That's why I sew mostly from tutorials or making things up myself. Patterns can be expensive. But $1 patterns, I can do that. =)

I found some patterns I liked and a pattern for scrubs.

The girls have all three fixated on one particular pattern though.

Source: simplicity.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I don't blame them, I love the handkerchief hem. My other ideas:

Source: simplicity.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

The petal top version in pink.

Source: simplicity.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

This will definitely be used if only for summer clothes.

So we may end up with the same dress, different fabrics after all. We'll see.

I mentioned to my husband that I need to make a trip to Marshall Dry Goods to buy fabric for the dresses and scrubs. Marshall Dry Goods is this ancient fabric store about an hour away that has the best fabric prices ever. Like $3 per yard on some things. As far as scrubs go, I need to find cheaper fabric or else it's pointless to make them. You can get scrub tops for $15... to spend $8+ a yard on fabric... well, it's just not worth the effort.

Anyway, when I mentioned going to buy fabric, my husband looked at me like I'd lost my mind. He mentioned all the fabric I bought last year when I made a trip to MDG with my sister and how quite a bit of it is still sitting unused. It's true. But most of it is just a yard each and I can barely make a simple dress for the girls with a yard anymore.

It's the first time my husband has pointed out that I have a bit of a hoarding problem with my craft supplies. Between my unused MDG fabrics and the fabric my sister gave me from her mother-in-law's stash when she passed away, I have quite a stash. But not much I can use for these particular projects.

So I guess I need to get to sewing to justify this trip I want to make.

Which means I need to work on cleaning up the disaster my kids have made of my bedroom so I can actually sit at the sewing machine.

About the cruise... Part 2: where we went

2012-02-10T16:45:00.000-08:00

We had three stops on our cruise.... Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Originally, we had planned to go on an excursion to see the Mayan ruins in Cozumel while the rest of our big group went snorkeling. After an almost-altercation with the guy at the excursion desk and realizing we'd spend a total of 4 hours driving to the ruins, we decided to just get off the boat and explore and shop on our own.

Getting off of the boat... crazy busy!

Shrunken head =)

We found a little beach and chilled for a while

Ahhhhhh....

My sister's best friend, my sister, me!

We only spent a few hours in Cozumel. We decided to go back on the boat and take advantage of the fact that most of the ship was off and enjoy the pool and water slide. Everything is much more fun without crowds!

We added two more to our pack for our trip to Grand Cayman.

Again, we had no excursion planned.... we just got off the boat without a plan. We had to be tendered here, meaning that we had to get off the boat into a smaller boat that took us to shore. I had pictured a row boat taking us up to the beach. I was pretty relieved to see this:

After we got off the little boat, we saw a very large man with a sign offering a tour of the island for $20 per person. We decided that would be fun. Well, I kind of decided that it was crazy, because this was a large, scary man and we were 5 women getting in a rickety old bus in a foreign country. He filled up the bus with other people though, and I felt less worried that we were going to disappear off the face of the earth.

Of course, we saw several iguanas roaming around

A wild chicken. Really... they roam the island freely. There are more chickens than people there.

We went to Hell. Seriously.

Our tour guide turned out to be a lot of fun and we had an awesome time.

Our last stop was Jamaica! We were stoked about this one. We actually purchased an excursion... the Irie Mon Beach Party complete with open bar and lunch buffet. My boss said "What are you going to do with an open bar? You've barely had any alcohol this week."

That's because I had to pay per drink. What did I do with an open bar?

Make friends with the bartender (aka, tip well)

Drink entirely too many Rum Punches and Rum & Cokes

I got my hair braided. Man, those Jamaican women can braid! I've never seen anyone braid that fast. They braid very tight, too. I felt like my hair was going to fall out. I lasted about 24 hours and had to take it out. I kind of liked the look after better than the braids themselves

So, that's it, folks. My Caribbean vacation. Hope you enjoyed the pictures and I hope you have the chance to live it for yourself one day!

Inspired

2012-02-09T19:31:00.000-08:00

I was hoping that while I was on vacation that I would find something amazing to inspire me to create. I figured the colors of the ocean and beach would, if nothing else. And it did, but in a way I never really thought it would.

I'm inspired to make some jewelry.

This is what kicked it off for me....

I saw this gorgeous necklace in a shop in Cozumel. I have no clue what it costs because my first thought was "I could totally make that." It's just seed beads with a few larger beads mixed in.

The Pandora-style bracelet I bought has stoked a bit of an obsession with lampwork glass beads. I spent way too long tonight browsing through Etsy, looking at some of the most beautiful pieces of glass. I've always loved glass, especially stained glass, so it's up my alley.

Source: etsy.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I've decided to reward myself for losing weight with jewelry as motivation. This might be my first little gift to myself. Lampwork glass bead and spoons. It's like it was made just for me. I love spoon jewelry. Forks, too. As a matter of fact, I'm a little distraught at the moment that I have lost my keys... because I had the most awesome key chain.... a fork stamped with "MY FORKIN' KEYS" I can replace it, the lady I bought it from has another one in her shop, but I'm still really sad about it.

I'm totally making something like this, too:

Source: etsy.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I also want to sew really badly. What do I want to sew? Scrubs. I need more scrubs, but I really don't like much of anything I've seen. The prints are so juvenile or loud. Of course, it's almost hard to justify the work because, depending on the fabric, it's almost more expensive to sew scrubs than to buy them. It would be more of having something I truly liked kind of thing, instead of being thrifty.

I just have so much I want to do. Maybe part of it is because it's my first week back at work after vacation, but I spend half my day daydreaming about working from home, making a living doing something I enjoy.... crocheting, sewing, things like that. Not stuck in a corner, trying to stay awake, punching numbers into the computer. C'est la vie.

Had to have them.

2012-02-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

I don't buy books very often. I don't like to have to make room for them and are free at the library. I especially don't buy pattern books very often, because it's hard for me to justify paying $15-$20 on a book unless there are several patterns that I like in the book. Instead, I check them out of the library, and if there is a pattern I have to have, I copy it. Shhh... don't send the book police after me.

The other day, I picked up a copy of this book from the library:

Source: interweavestore.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I've been on the wait list since before the book came out. I love Kristin Omdahl's designs, so I knew it would be an awesome book. Plus, it's seamless projects. Seamless. I am always so paranoid of my seams coming undone. Because it's happened.

And I was right... it is an awesome book. There are at least 4 patterns in here that I would love to make, and a few more that I would if there was an occasion to make them. That's a lot of copying. Plus, it comes with an instructional DVD. I might need some instruction, you know...

So I thought about it. And thought about it.

And looked at it on Amazon. Debated.

And I bought it.

I also bought something else. Without checking it out at the library. Mostly because my library doesn't have a copy. But I have wanted it for quite a while.

Source: amazon.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I just adore overlay crochet. I seriously, seriously doubt I'd make anything in this book with the recommended sewing thread. I'd probably just make pillow covers or something with worsted weight yarn. I am having a hard enough time not going cross-eyed using embroidery floss on my mandala.

I have one other pattern book in my sights, but I am going to check it out of the library first. I'm on the waiting list, but it's a short wait.

Source: amazon.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I've pinned a few sweaters from the book on Pinterest, so I have a feeling I'll have enough to justify the purchase eventually. Eventually. I am just itching to make stuff right now and it's killing me to have to actually be a responsible adult and go to work and clean my house and junk like that.

Do you have any favorite pattern books?

About the cruise... Part 1: the ship

2012-02-08T17:06:00.000-08:00

I think I'll try to smoosh my week into two posts... the ship and the places we went.

We cruised on the Carnival Magic, which I believe is one of their newest ships. It was HUGE. We were always the biggest cruise ship in port, everywhere we went.

I shared a stateroom with my sister and her best friend. There were only two beds, but the couch converted to a third bed. I took the couch. It was firmer than I like, but the beds seemed pretty much the same.

Our stateroom steward was named Pichit. I don't remember where he was from, but he was too cute. You meet people from all over the world on cruise ships. Our waitress was from Lithuania. But Pichit came in twice a day... in the morning to make our beds and at night to turn down the beds. I've never experienced turn down service before. I felt quite pampered =) When he turned down the beds, he left the itinerary for the next day and a towel creation for us....

We missed one night of towel creatures.... we all kind of passed out early after Jamaica so we didn't have turn down service that night. I'm not sure what we missed, because different rooms had different animals. I know some of our group got a penguin one night and some got a platypus. At breakfast one morning, I heard someone complaining about the towel animals and how they were a waste of towels. A waste of towels. Some people just are anti-fun, I tell you.

You had three options for meals... room service (which was excellent, but slow), the Lido deck (buffet-style and crowded), or the dining room.

Aside from breakfast and lunch being open-seating and having to sit with strangers with weird opinions, I don't know why you wouldn't want to eat like that every meal. =) We actually met a lot of really great people at breakfast, and the one time we went to lunch, we made friends with the sweetest old man who wanted us to mail him some wine.

I had a slight fascination for the fancy butter. It doesn't take much to impress me.

During dinner, the maitre'd would sing a song. He was Irish and sounded like Dean Martin. Everyone would twirl their napkins. Then the wait staff would do a "friendship dance" with whoever wanted to get up and dance with them. It was so fun.

I tried so many new foods. Sushi (no fish.... these were tofu and imitation crab. They were OK, but I think I'd love cucumber rolls), Mongolian, Indian, I had an awesome cucumber dill soup one night. I tried escargot. Won't do that again. I wasn't quite brave enough to try the alligator, shark, or a few other things. I'm not a very adventurous eater, but I did love most of the stuff I tried.

These are the ladies that I was on the cruise with, all dressed up for our first Elegant Dining evening. We all play Pokeno. What's Pokeno?

This is a Pokeno card. It's like Bingo, only instead of letters and numbers, the caller is flipping through a deck of cards. We did play on the ship... we had a conference room reserved on the "at sea" days for 3 hours. It drove me a little batty, especially the first day. I mean, it's my first time on a cruise ship and I'm confined to a little room instead of exploring. ;)

There was always something going on... there were shows every night - like musical numbers or there was an illusionist one night. There was a comedy club. Karaoke at least once a day... my sister sang Adele on our first "at sea" day and the group kept trying to get her to sing for the rest of the week. They tried to get me to sing too, but somehow I took too long choosing a song to sing and they ran out of time. Darn. ;)

You want water, there are pools (salt water, which was surprising when you're not expecting it), hot tubs, a water slide. You got water.

There's a casino on board, but I don't gamble, so the most experience I had with that was just walking through on the way to karaoke.

And shopping.... I'm not much of a shopper, but for some reason (probably because there wasn't much else for me to do sometimes since I don't gamble and had more than enough sun and water) I really enjoyed the shops. I have to say that I spent more money on myself than anyone else. My favorite purchases....

My "Pandora-style" bracelet and extra beads. According to the tags, it was $160 worth of jewelry. I paid $45.

I can't really think of much more. I had fun on the boat, but I think our shore excursions were more fun. Of course, it was much easier to get homesick on the boat.

Next up, what we did in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica. Well, what I remember of Jamaica anyway. ;)

An Idea More Than A Tutorial...

2012-02-07T15:00:00.000-08:00

I have lost my keys. I had them the Saturday before my cruise for sure, but I don't know where they are now. Bill handed me is spare key to the Old Man Truck (it's getting so old it's creaking and groaning) and I had forgotten all about the key chain he keeps it on. It was a Valentine's Day present I made for him a few years ago (pre-blogging era) and I thought it would be cute to share with you guys in case you have any men in your life who would get a kick out of something like it.

The tag reads "I'M NUTS ABOUT YOU, THE WIFE" That's what he calls me... "the wife." Better than "old lady" I suppose. =)

I can't take full credit for the idea. I saw a key chain like this in an Uncommon Goods catalog and had to have it for my mechanic hubby. But I thought it was a bit pricy for a key chain and realized I could totally make it on my own. So I did.

It's really simple.

Head to Home Depot, Lowe's, or you probably could find everything in the hardware section at Walmart. You need an eye bolt, about 2-3 inches long. You will need to make sure that the rest of the parts will fit onto this, so pay attention to the size. Get an assortment of nuts that are slightly larger than the eye bolt, some wing nuts, and some little nuts that will fit snugly onto the bolt. Try not to go crazy... if you get nuts and bolts that are huge, it's going to be really heavy and impractical. Just arrange everything on the bolt and tighten that little nut onto the end to keep everything from sliding off. If you have some Loc-tite, use it.

Next you will need some sort of keychain. This was kind of before I really got into crafting, so I didn't have any supplies and I never thought about making a key chain for it. Now I would go find a plain tag-style keychain at Hobby Lobby and stamp it myself. However, at the time I went and had one engraved. The nuts part was super cheap, just a few bucks at the hardware store. The tag.... well, let's just say I didn't get out of this much cheaper than buying it from the catalog.

But anyway, get just some plain tag keychain and stamp it yourself. You can find stamping kits and blank key chains way cheaper than having one engraved. My stamping set was $5 at Harbor Freights.

So there you have it....

Oh, and as a bonus, when you lose your keys and have to take your husband's keys to work with you, you can make punny innapropriate nut jokes.

You're welcome.

Fruity Pebbles

2012-02-06T19:09:00.000-08:00

I'm still busy sorting out pictures and stuff from vacation. I was asked to make a copy of my pictures for several of the women I was there with. I went with a group of 17 other women, but mostly did stuff with only 2 of them, so I'm sure the other 15 don't want a ton of pictures of my sister and her best friend. When I'm done, I'll probably just post a few highlights on here and a link to the bulk of the photos if you are interested in looking at them.

I took two projects with me... the baby blanket and the overlay mandala. I made really good progress on the blanket, not so much on the mandala.

I don't know if you can see it very well in this picture, but there is my mandala-in-progress, laying on top of my green and black hook bag. Not very big. =) Underneath it all is the baby blanket. It reminds me of Fruity Pebbles cereal. My gauge was off, as usual, so I'm going to need another skein of yarn. I really like it. Everyone else ooh-ed and ahh-ed over it. In fact, on the first flight, the flight attendant loved it so much that I ended up giving her the label so that she could give it to a friend of hers to have her own blanket made.

One of the ladies I traveled with is trying to learn how to crochet, and I tried to help her out a bit, but instead I told her I'd just give her a link to Craftyminx's Crochet School. I'm not the best teacher in the world and I hold my yarn funny.

I had decided before I left that I was going to take the stuffed stick man that I made on the trip to take pictures of in various places. I really had fun with it.... until I lost him. =( It's not a huge deal since I can always make a new one but the trip wasn't over yet and I still had plans for him. I put together a little album on Flickr of his adventures and you can go see it here.

My favorite photo of Stick Man

Honey! I'm home!

2012-02-05T18:46:00.000-08:00

I got home today and I'm so, so, so happy to be back with my babies and my husband. I was so homesick for them. I did have a wonderful time, which I'll tell you all about, but once I got over the guilt of being off having fun without them, I was missing them like crazy.

I'm still rocking like I am still on the boat. We had a very rocky cruise for most of the trip, but I don't get motion sickness at all apparently, so it was just a matter of trying not to fall into people most of the time.

I think maybe one day we might take a cruise as a family vacation, but other than that I'm not sure I'm cut out to be one of those people who cruise frequently. I enjoyed being pampered - and you do get very pampered - but there was just no way to escape and be alone very often. So. many. people. It's a bit overwhelming for an introvert like me. We met people who had been on dozens of cruises, though. One lady had her 5 year old grandson with her and it was his 13th cruise! It was her 28th on Carnival... and she'd been on almost every other cruise line multiple times also.

I'm interested to weigh in tomorrow. I ate very well, but we also walked and took the stairs a lot. My jeans today are literally falling off of me, but they were new and I hadn't worn them before the cruise, so it may just be that they aren't very true to size.

My house is a total disaster, there are about 4 loads of laundry to fold and many more to wash, and I'm really afraid to check the bank account, but it's good to be home. I have about 600 photos to go through, so be prepared!

Bon Voyage to me!

2012-01-28T20:18:00.000-08:00

I couldn't tell you if it was the zinc or the cinnamon/honey mixture, but I'm keeping my cold at bay. I woke up feeling better than I did when I went to bed, so that's good. I feel kind of icky every so often, but the zinc usually brings me back to life again. Today is my Daddy's 65th birthday and with all the stuff I had going on and this dumb cold, I couldn't go see him. But I did call him to tell him I love him and wish him a Happy Birthday. We'll celebrate birthdays in a few weeks.. he, my husband, and my brother-in-law all have birthdays within weeks of each other.

I'm pretty much packed except for those last minute things you can't pack until you're about to walk out the door. I have a card tacked up on the fridge with all the info Bill should need, complete with numbers to friends who have offered to help him if he needs it and the girls' doctors and schools. Just in case. I feel like writing out pages of instructions, but he is fully competent of taking care of them. I'm just nervous. =)

I can't tell how much my luggage weighs.... our scale is all jacked up. It says one of my bags is 17 lbs and I know it has to be more than that. Of course, even weighing myself and then weighing myself holding the bag, it was still about 17 lbs, but that just doesn't seem right. I'll compare it to what Isabelle weighs on it tomorrow. She's about 50 lbs, which is the limit for the plane.

I decided to leave a little treat for the girls each day. I put a Hug and a Kiss in a bag for each of them and put them all in a brown bag with a little note from me....

I made sure that the one for Saturday reminded them that it's their Daddy's birthday. I feel bad that I'll be gone for his birthday, but I figure since he forgot my 30th birthday (and 31st...) that it makes us even. ;) I thought about having something delivered to him for his birthday, but he's not a flower kind of guy and I don't know if he'd like one of those edible bouquets. If only they made a edible bouquet out of beef jerky and cheese....

Well, I need to get a few more things done before trying to sleep. I can't wait to share pictures and stories with you guys! Have a wonderful week....

NOOOOO!

2012-01-27T20:10:00.000-08:00

I have two words for the chick at work who came up in my front office sniffling and sneezing. And it's not "feel better."

I am sick.

I woke up this morning and I promise you I sneezed like 25 times in a 5 minute span. I took my Zyrtec, hoping maybe the allergens were just super bad today. But... alas... I just never felt better. I realized shortly before lunch that I was coming down with a cold. Two days before my cruise and I get sick.

Figures.

So, at lunch I ran to Walgreens and bought some zinc lozenges. Here's what I have to say about zinc lozenges.... while they actually do lessen your symptoms (shortening the duration is yet to be seen), I felt like I had picked up a stone to suck on. They are so gross and they dry your mouth out. It takes me almost half an hour to finish one off. But I do feel better for about an hour.

Oddly enough, before I realized that I had this cold coming on, I had stumbled across a pin on Pinterest about mixing honey and cinnamon as a cold remedy. So, after I got the kids in bed tonight, I tried to find it, unsuccessfully - but I am craving cinnamon rolls thanks to the search results - and just googled it. Apparently honey and cinnamon is a cure-all for everything. Who knew?

But it said for colds to mix about a tablespoon of honey and 1/4 a spoon (what kind of spoon? just a spoon, I guess) of cinnamon in lukewarm water.

Yes, I did it. I'm desperate. No one wants me snotting and sneezing all over the cruise ship.

Much to my dismay, I somehow do not have any regular clover honey. I have buckwheat honey, which I bought to use as a cough syrup for the girls. Which they refuse to take because it's nasty. I don't really care for honey all that much in the first place, but buckwheat honey tastes like liquid raisins and raisins taste like shriveled evil. But I figure honey is honey and even raisins taste better than zinc.

I might have actually enjoyed the drink if it had been clover honey. It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible.

Source: healthhomehappy.com via Linda on Pinterest

I finally found the pin. It was bugging me =)

We'll see how all this homeopathic stuff does for me. I need to feel human tomorrow - I have so much stuff to do. Laundry, grocery shopping, finish up packing, prepare as much as possible for my husband. I simply can't be sick right now.

Oh, and in case the mug has you curious... my dentist rocks. And he's cute.

Big Fat Chicken

2012-01-26T20:57:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness, y'all. I am freaking out. You can tell I'm freaking out because I said "y'all" and I can't stand that word.

Two days. Three sleeps. And I'm off to that big boat to sail far, far away. I could throw up already and I'm not even sloshing around on the ocean yet. (Actually, I'm hoping to not throw up at all - I don't recall ever getting motion sickness, but I have motion sickness pills just in case)

I went to the bank today to withdraw the cash I'm taking. It's that close. I have begun packing. It's that close.

Source: google.com via Kristie on Pinterest

Jamaica. Next Thursday, I will be there. Grand Cayman the day before that and Cozumel the day before that. So much blue and green and sand. This is such a dream come true.

I've been checking out the excursions online. You know, I'm going with a group of about 20 ladies, and the majority of them want to go snorkeling in Cozumel. Can I just share something with you? I am claustrophobic and kind of afraid of being underwater. Watching video shot underwater makes me hold my breath. Just the idea of snorkeling makes me feel panicky. I would end up having a panic attack, sucking water into my snorkel and drowning right there with Nemo and Dory laughing at me. It's just not happening. Luckily, my sister doesn't care to go snorkeling either, so I won't feel bad about bailing out on that.

One of the ladies also mentioned parasailing. Aside from the fact that I find it hard to justify paying $90 to fly in the air for 8 minutes, I don't think I could do that either. I like the idea of it. But I know how I am about heights. I took the girls on the Ferris Wheel at the state fair last year and if I thought they would have stopped it to let us off, I would have been screaming to get off. Instead I bit my tongue so the swearing I was doing wasn't as recognizable to the kids and held on so tight that I was sore the next day. So, yeah, parasailing... I'd probably pee on myself and then someone would get a picture of that and I'd be embarrassed forever.

(I'm sure that's a visual no one needed.)

So basically, I am a big chicken and need to do stuff that keeps my feet on dry ground.

I told my sister I don't want to be a drag and she doesn't have to feel like she can't do stuff because I don't want to. I honestly wouldn't mind exploring on my own. Right after Bill and I got married, he got shipped off to South Korea and I managed to save up the money to fly out to see him for a week. He still had to work, so I had to explore the area by myself. I had fun - well, as much as you can in South Korea. It's not exactly Disneyland. I'm sure I'll be very busy with my BFF Nikon.

I bought some yarn today for the baby blanket I'm going to work on while we are flying. I wanted something unisex and I wasn't feeling the pastels, which is the bulk of the colors of baby yarn. I ended up buying a really bright rainbow-colored variegated yarn. I'm not a big fan of variegated yarn. I think it is really tricky to find a good pattern for most of them. And I pretty much regretted buying the yarn right away, thinking it would just be a splotchy, clowny-looking mess. But I decided to get a head start on the blanket and I actually like it. It should be a bright, fun blanket. Babies like that =) I'll try to get a picture of what I have so far before I leave out. I may not be able to finish it on the plane, but I'll definitely have a good chunk of it done.

Did you know...?

2012-01-23T19:17:00.000-08:00

That you can take crochet hooks (and knitting needles) on airplanes?

I thought surely they would be prohibited. While I think a crochet hook would make a pretty crappy weapon unless you had a tiny steel hook, knitting needles could be kind of dangerous. I guess us crafty types aren't generally dangerous and those dangerous types look for better weapons than a G hook.

Anyway, just out of curiosity, I looked it up on the TSA website and it clearly states you can bring them. I might even print it out, just in case someone wants to give me lip. =) I'm sure that would get me a full body search, flapping a sheet of paper at them telling them they're wrong.

I've been asked if I would make a baby blanket to donate to a basket a friend of a friend is creating... it's for moms with babies who have Down's Syndrome. I think that would be a good project for doing on a plane... I have a soft spot in my heart for parents of special children like that. I think God hand-picks some really amazing people for that job.

So... just a handful of days to go until we set sail. I still can't really believe I'm getting to go. I'm excited, of course, but I can feel the worry and anxiety over leaving my family creeping up. My neck and shoulders are already bunching up. I know everything will be fine. I've tried to sit back a little more and watch my husband with the kids... he's so good at helping them with their homework and can somehow get them to pick up their messes better than I can. I don't see that all that much since we work opposite shifts. I know he's fully capable of keeping all four of them alive for a week, but it's hard to imagine that they won't suffer somehow without me to run the show. LOL I guess it's possible that they won't miss me nearly as much as I worry about... which is a whole other worry in and of itself.

I don't know how much of what I had planned to get done before my trip that will get done. I'm just not feeling the whole sewing thing right now. I was so excited to get back in front of the sewing machine and I just didn't feel it when I got there. I'm sure it will come. Crocheting is just easier to relax with. I can watch TV and it's quieter. Takes less space. Blah, blah, blah...

However, I did wrap the cords on the ear buds to my MP3 player. I saw a pin on Pinterest a long time ago of wrapped earbuds and decided to figure it out. I don't think I did it the same way, but it worked and I like it. It seemed a like an awful lot of work since I rarely use the thing and even then, I rarely have tangled cords. But now my pink Sansa has pale green cords and it's pretty. What else matters? =)

Why I haven't read Harry Potter yet...

2012-01-21T19:51:00.000-08:00

I love books. I love to just escape into a story. Sometimes a little too much.

I remember when I was growing up and my mother was sick, not having been diagnosed with MS yet. Her doctors thought she was literally crazy and put her on the mental health unit of the hospital. I remember her telling me that the doctor asked her how much she read (both my parents are also avid readers) and he told her he thought that he thought she had problems separating reality from fiction. It was total BS, she was genuinely ill, but I can see how some people can have that problem.

When I get into a book, it sometimes borders on obsession. And series are the worst for me. It's even more time spent getting to know this fictional character and when the book ends, or - even worse - the series ends, I'm all like, "wait! I miss you!" and feel all mopey because it's over.

I may possibly be crazy. My mother is not, but I wouldn't be surprised if I were.

I missed the boat with the whole Harry Potter craze. When the first few books came out, I dismissed them because I'm not into wizards and whatnot. My little sister has every one of the books, and I recently started to think maybe I'd read them. Why not see what the hoopla is all about? I haven't actually sat down to watch any of the movies, either. That should come as no surprise since I rarely watch movies anyway.

But I still haven't gotten around to asking for the books, so I started The Hunger Games trilogy.

And now I think I might push off reading Harry Potter for a while longer.

I was so into these books that they have literally left me an emotional wreck. I'm kind of embarrassed by the way I've acted today because I finished the series and it was so devastating. Actual tears were shed... not while reading the books, although it was close.... but hours after the fact. I had to get away and just let myself cry like a baby for these people in this book. It's ridiculous. It's really taken me all day to get a grip on myself.

I may not have read Harry Potter, but I have heard enough about the books to know I'd be getting into the same thing... getting attached to characters and something terrible happening to them. I can't do that to myself again for a while.

Luckily, it's not always like that. I've read all the Stephanie Plum series so far, and to be honest, I think it's past time for that series to end. I enjoyed them up until the past two or three and it's like the same story over and over. Sookie Stackhouse.... I'm glad there are only 2 more of those left because it's getting old, too. Plus, these people go through way too much death and destruction to be able to be functioning human beings. They should be in straight jackets by now.

I think I need something warm and fuzzy to read right now, though. Something without blood or death or tragedy. Go dig out a Ramona Quimby book or something. I actually do have a Junie B. Jones book that we haven't gotten around to yet.... Man, I love Junie.

Confidence

2012-01-19T20:03:00.000-08:00

I'm almost to the point where I need to start cutting and sewing on my cruise outfit I have planned.

And I'm seriously nervous about it.

I was playing around with the fabric and I really think it's going to be awesome. If it turns out the way I want.

Am I the only one this ridiculous? Any time I strike out on my own, I'm so pumped and then I just start second-guessing every move. Crocheting isn't as bad... I can always frog and haven't lost much in the process, but fabric.... well, once it's cut, it's cut.

I am telling myself that even if it doesn't turn out, there should be plenty of fabric to salvage to make something for the girls, so it won't be a total waste.

I gotta do it though. Tomorrow night, the sewing machine is back in action...

Don't start!

2012-01-18T18:39:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking of what kind of project to take with me on my cruise. I really don't know that I'll actually do anything like that, but I like to be prepared. I can't imagine an entire week of not hooking. But I don't want to take up too much room in my luggage with yarn. It gets a bit bulky, you know.

Then it hit me.

I've been wanting to do this for a loooong time, but just haven't had a time when I didn't feel like there was something more pressing I wanted to do.

I don't have a really good picture to show you... even the project page on Ravelry was pretty barren until I checked it yesterday. Here's the cover of the book the pattern comes from, which is a close up of what I want to do....

Source: ravelry.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I want to make this Overlay Mandala Pillow Cover. It's made with embroidery thread, not yarn. 40 skeins (are they called skeins?) of embroidery thread. Sounds like a lot, but it all fit in my hand.

Yes, I went out and got everything I need for it today, minus the actual pillow it would go on. And I felt really bad, picking out the thread..... the girl was trying to do inventory. It felt like watching someone count and then yelling out random numbers to screw them up. Hopefully since I only had to get 8 colors, she won't put up a picture of me with the caption "Shoot On Sight" in the break room at Hobby Lobby.

So, anyway... it'll take up less space than a skein of yarn, and it's a complicated pattern, so I don't think I could finish it in a matter of a few days. I think that's a winner.

Of course, now that I have everything to make it, I'm itching to get started. Must. restrain. myself. I have other things to do....

But, I did go ahead and prepare myself a little bag.... separated the thread by color, wound two skeins per color onto bobbins... stuck my pattern and teeny tiny hook in there and we're ready to cruise! Well, that is anyway. It's a bit early to pack anything else.

So that's what I'll be doing on the cruise, when I'm not reading or eating or taking 5000 photos or God knows what else....

I'll shut up about it now. I'm really trying to not be annoying about it, and I do know how annoying hearing about it can be.... I work with some of the most cruising-est people I've ever known and I always wanted to punch them in the head for going on about it. But it's just so exciting!!!

I have an idea.

2012-01-17T18:27:00.000-08:00

Today I had to take Olivia to the pediatric endocrinologist to be told that her pediatrician's office can't measure correctly. Yeah... half relieved that she doesn't have some hormone imbalance, half irked because I'm going to have to pay for that, mostly out-of-pocket because they are out-of-network. Oh well. She is underweight, but that's not something an endocrinologist deals with, and I think we'll try to deal with that ourselves before seeking out more medical advice.

Anyway, I took the rest of the day off to have lunch with Miss Liv (where she hate half a slider and declared herself stuffed... =/ ) and we did a little shopping. I hadn't been to Joann's in forever. I haven't really sewn in forever either. But I've been having the itch and wanted to make myself something for the cruise.

Wow, those colors are way dark in the picture.

I got some purple knit fabric and a pretty green cotton print. They were going to go together, but I have a plan developing and the green cotton is losing purpose.

Yes, the yarn is involved also.

I'm hoping this works out the way it is in my head. And that it looks good on me if it does. I'm anxious about it... I don't work with knit much. And I don't design for myself either.

Fingers crossed....

Oh no... I just realized if it does work out that I have to model it. Geez. I hate being in front of the camera.

Oh, oats...

2012-01-15T08:02:00.000-08:00

I hate oatmeal. I mean, I really, really want to like oatmeal. I love how it smells. I love eating out of bowls. Whenever I make it for the girls I wish it didn't make me gag. It's just so slimy and lumpy.

I'm not a Greek yogurt fan. I like yogurt, but the Greek kind is just a little too thick and tangy.

So I find this recipe...

Source: pbfingers.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Oats mixed with almond milk, greek yogurt, cocoa powder, and chia seeds, then left in the fridge overnight.

And for some reason, I think... "I should try this." My hope was that preparing the oats like this will make them less slimy. I mean, I really do want to like oatmeal.

And the chia seeds? I hadn't even heard of them until I saw this recipe. Yes, these are the things you smear on the chia pets. You can eat them. Who knew? Then I did a little research and they sound amazing. Really good for you. I was sure I'd have a hard time finding them unless I wanted to visit the hole-in-the-wall health food store. But there they were, in the bulk bins at Kroger. And since they were in the bulk bins, I didn't have to buy a lot... just in case. I got about 1/2 a cup of them and it cost me $.80. They have no taste, and if you soak them, they expand alot (haven't tried that yet) and you can make a pudding of sorts from it. They are supposed to help keep you full (since they expand so much) and are supposed to help regulate blood sugar.

I also bought almond milk, although I'm sure you could make it with just plain old cow's milk. But then I noticed that almond milk has far fewer carbs than regular milk, which is awesome for a diabetic like me. I love cereal, but you add the carbs of cereal to the carbs of milk and it's just more than I need in a meal. I had the girls taste it with me and no one thought it was gross. It doesn't taste just like cow's milk, but it would take a little getting used to if I were to try to drink it straight. I'm not a fan of just drinking milk anyway.

So what's the verdict of my mixing up old things that I think are gross and new things?

Well... it wasn't slimy. I tried... I had several bites before I gave up. I think I might have enjoyed it more with bananas, but I was pushing my carb limit as it was. It wasn't bad, but I didn't enjoy it and why eat something you don't enjoy?

Oh, oats... you have eluded me again. My sister has been saying I should try some steel-cut oats. It's worth a shot... if I don't like them, I'm sure she'll take the extra off my hands.

Wearing me out...

2012-01-14T06:13:00.000-08:00

That's what this year is doing to me so far. I'm just hoping we're getting the rough spots over now so that the rest of the year will be spectacular. I'll make it spectacular regardless.

My poor little Dodo is running a fever... with a sore throat. Of course this has to start on the weekend. This is her third time in less than 3 months to have what I'm sure is strep. So, in addition to looking at the possibility of Olivia having surgery in the next few months to remove and replace the tubes in her ears, I have a sinking feeling Zoe's going to end up with a tonsillectomy before too long.

I'm trying to really concentrate on improving the nutrition in our house... something accelerated by that beautiful kiddo. She's underweight, to the point that some of my friends and family have expressed concern about it. She may also be having some growth issues, too, according to her pediatrician. We're going to have it looked at, but hopefully it's nothing that improving her diet won't address.

I finished Zoe's shrug yesterday. She was so happy and wore it to bed. I had to take it off of her after a while... I was hoping that's why she was feeling a bit warm. Alas... This one fits a little snugger than the green one because I left off the extra rows of sc around the bottom and front. I didn't have enough yarn for that. She's fine with the short sleeves, too, so at least the two shrugs are more different than just color. I need to finish Isabelle's now... it's a different kind of yarn, so it will definitely have a different look to it.

Not much to say about my Isabelle right now.... except this is a good indication of her mood lately. Quite disagreeable most of the time. She doesn't want me to call her Izzy anymore. I can't really refuse. When I was little I hated being called Jenny, so I understand. I do so love calling her Izzy though. I have difficulty calling her by her new chosen nickname though. Velveeta may be a beautiful name to her, but it just cracks me up.

I wish I could have seen my own face

2012-01-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

I'm going to tell you about my embarrassing moment today, which I actually - for some bizarre reason - didn't get nearly as mortified about as you would think.

My aunt passed away last week and today was her funeral. I had recently bought a skirt while thrift shopping and had decided to wear it to the funeral. I never wear skirts or dresses. Up until the past few weeks, I didn't even own any. But I wanted something kind of dressy for the cruise and had picked up this skirt while looking for shorts. So this was the first time in several years that I've worn a skirt.

When I arrived at the church, there was a young guy and a younger boy outside. I walked around them, grabbed the door and as I opened it I felt like something was wrong. Like parts of my body were colder than I would think they should be. With my free hand I feel around my hip and notice there is no skirt there... my skirt had fallen down past my bottom! I look up, see my cousin (luckily one that I'm close to), grab my skirt, mouth "OH MY GOD!" and swing the door shut while trying to hike up my skirt... trying to ignore the fact that not only are there two males possibly staring at my backside (thank goodness for opaque tights is all I have to say) but who knows who else might have arrived in the parking lot.

Properly dressed again, I opened the door again and walked in like nothing had happened. My cousin is cracking up and my father is just shaking his head saying "I didn't just see that." Another cousin (my aunt's granddaughter) came up to me and gave me a hug and said "Thank you so much, you have no idea how much I needed that." I think that helped me to not be too embarrassed... at least it provided a little comic relief to an otherwise somber event. I'm just glad that (as far as I know) only 3 people witnessed it (not counting the guys outside).

When I was in the restroom, making sure my skirt was securely tucked into my tights' waistband, I noticed that it had been taken in at some point. Apparently the material stretches out as you wear it. I will have to alter it if I ever plan to wear it again... revise the waistband and put some elastic in there I guess. Or maybe this is just a sign that I don't need to wear skirts at all....

Aside from that, it was a lovely service and I got to see family and friends that I hadn't seen in a very long time. One of my aunt's sons is a pastor, so I got to hear him preach for the first time and his sons sing. It was all very beautiful.

The funeral was held at the church I grew up in. It looks very different... it's expanded greatly since I was a kid. The whole area is different. But it was definitely a walk down memory lane driving out there and seeing people who watched me grow up. It made me miss being a kid and miss my Grandma and Pawpaw. Sometimes I cringe about the goofy and dorky things little Jenny did, but who doesn't? Obviously I'm still doing goofy and dorky things, but I stopped letting people call me Jenny long ago. I don't think I'd mind so much anymore, though.

Livi's Granny Shrug

2012-01-09T19:00:00.000-08:00

I've been slowly working on granny shrugs for the girls since New Year's. I have half of Zoe's finished, and half of Isabelle's finished.

And I just finished Olivia's.

She was picky. She wanted the sleeves longer and she had to be able to button it. She also wants a heart on one side and a flower on the other. I had to draw a line somewhere.

I picked the buttons because they actually go with both her shrug and Zoe's shrug. I only have one more button, so hopefully I can convince Zoe she just needs one. And that her sleeves are good short so I don't have to buy another skein of yarn.

I used Lion's Brand Hometown USA in Monterey Lime. I love this yarn... it's what I used for their Easter baskets. I am totally digging super bulky yarn lately. When I started working on my Mater hat, I had to double check that I hadn't accidentally grabbed some sport-weight yarn because it just looked so thin compared to what I've been playing with lately.

As modeled by the Dodo.... it clashed with Olivia's uniform (not that it kept her from wearing it to school today, which makes my heart happy)

I should have the other two finished soon, I think. They can't wait. =)

Mater is no longer a tater

2012-01-06T21:12:00.000-08:00

I had serious doubts that I would finish the Mater hat in time for my cousin's son's birthday party. To the point that I almost didn't even try to finish it. But, after making a fool out of myself Zumba-ing (privately, with the Wii... I try to avoid public humiliation), I felt like attempting to boost my seriously damaged ego (really, I can't dance. At all.) and try to fix my Mater Potato Head.

I didn't have time to do the tire ear flaps (bummer) but that's OK. I think it looks much more Mater-ish than it did, so I am happy. Plus, how can you look at this and not smile...

Making it 3D helped a bunch. And fixing his teeth.

Happy Birthday, Grant! (yeah, that's Zoe, not Grant. With all the kids and fun happening, I only got a very fuzzy shot of him with it on. He seemed to like it though. His 5 year old brothers liked it more, I think ;) )

My cozy little Kindle

2012-01-06T18:31:00.000-08:00

Holy smokes, Batman, what a horrid week this has been. I have two posts sitting in drafts that I've written the past few days, just pouring out everything, but I am not sure they'll ever get posted. While I know you'd be supportive, it's all really personal and sensitive. It's just been a very stressful and emotional week and I am hoping to be in better spirits soon.

In the meantime, while procrastinating on fixing dear Tater Mater, I made a little something.... get this... for me. Yeah, I know. I told you this week was off.

I bought some Bernat colorama yarn at Hancocks last week in a very rare and unexpected solo trip. It's a super bulky yarn in the most gorgeous blue color named Raging Sea. I had no real plans for it, just couldn't pass it by. The girls were suggesting things I could make for them with it and I just knew what I wanted to make and I knew it wasn't for them. I think I was feeling selfish because they've been wearing me out this week. Wearing me out, you hear? Dear God, I love those children, but they are killing me this week.

Anyway.

Here's what I made...

I need a button for the flap. I never have any buttons. I feel like, as a crafty person, I should have an abundance of buttons, however I have squeaked by with only buying what I need when I need it. Shhh, don't tell the craft police on me.

It was super duper easy to make. I just made a chain as wide as my Kindle +1, and then sc'd across and back around... then worked rows in sc until it was as tall as my Kindle. Then added a flap. I'm pretty sure there are about 347 tutorials on eReader sleeves so I'm not taxing my brain to write a formal pattern. There's really not much left right now to tax. I'm worn out, tapped out, wrung out.

TGIF, for real.

I have a different Kindle case planned... a fancier felt version... but this took like an hour to make and will work better if I want to just toss it in my purse. Since it's super bulky yarn, it's pretty well padded and nice and cozy. And, you know, if my brain is more permanently fried than I hope it is, I at least have one, just in case I don't get around to making my other one.

So here's to a better next week... if I disappear, don't worry. I'll just be taking a huggy jacket break in that pretty padded room.

Stupid Mater.

2012-01-04T20:36:00.000-08:00

I'm working on a new pattern. We're going to my cousin's son's 9th birthday party on Saturday and it's a Cars theme. So I thought I'd make him a Mater hat.

Only he doesn't look quite right to me so far...

He looks like a goofy potato or something.

I compared yarn to pictures and my rust-colored yarn was far more rustier-colored than the pictures. But this brown screams potato to me.

I think I need to make his mouth 3D. It just doesn't look right. And different teeth. Those are just a mess.

I'll work on him some more tomorrow night.

I'm pretty excited about my planned earflaps, though. They're going to be tires. *snicker*

Ear Flap Tutorial

2012-01-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

I have had a few people ask me for this. I'm very honored that you like my work enough to ask me for direction here. And I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get it up. I made plenty of them the past few weeks, but I have to have a nice quiet night to actually get good pictures, and that was rare. I finally had one of those nights and took pictures of the ear flaps I made for my daughter's zebra hat.

I've seen several ways to actually make ear flaps and, for me, my technique is easiest. I hope you think it's pretty simple, too.

Again, I was working on a zebra hat, so that's what you'll see here. The same directions apply to any hat you're adding ear flaps too, sock monkeys or whatever.

You will begin with your finished beanie. Fold it in half with the seam running up the back of the hat and mark the stitch in the crease, like so, with some scrap yarn.

Alternatively, you can also count, of course. I get distracted too easily, so this is easier

Decide how wide you want your ear flaps. For a child-sized beanie, which usually have 60 stitches in the last rows, I go with 13 stitches. For adult sizes, I bump it up to 15 or 17. I prefer odd numbers to start with, and you'll see why in a second, but it really doesn't matter. For this tutorial, I'm going to go with 13.

So, find one of your marked stitches. Count 6 stitches to the right and attach your yarn. (This is why I prefer odd numbers, so the marked stitch is the middle number and there is an equal number on either side of it, but that may just be a touch of OCD talking.)

Ch 1, HDC in the next 13 stitches. Ch 1, turn

When you begin each row from here on out, you will skip the first stitch to decrease. You could just do a decrease stitch, but I think it looks just fine skipping the first stitch.

You will decrease a stitch on each row until you get to a row with just 6 stitches. Finish off and weave in the ends.

If you are doing two or more colors, it's OK to just run the yarn up the sides when you switch colors. Then I suggest doing a row of HDC around the entire hat, just to smooth out the egdes. I don't usually do this with sock monkey hats, because I'm not switching colors, but it's a nice finishing touch. Finish off and weave in your ends. Next we will make the tassel.

I used a bulky yarn and used 6 strands per tassel. You will probably want to use 12 per tassel of worsted weight. The length will vary depending on how long you want. You want it about 2 1/2 times the desired finished length. Tie a piece (or two if worsted) of yarn into each of the six bottom row stitches.

Tie a knot into the tassel close to the earflap, like so.

I then braid the strands and tie a knot at the bottom.

You can trim the ends to be even. The knots can be a little tricky to get even, just remember to leave them loose until you get them into a good spot and then tighten them - and tighten them well. =)

There you go.... ear flaps for your hat! Like I said, you can use this on sock monkey hats, or just about any other hat that would benefit from ear flaps. Make them solid or multi-colored. Make the tassels solid or multi-colored. Just experiment and have fun.

If you have any questions, please feel free to send them my way! I tried to be as clear as possible, and I think it's a pretty simple process, but sometimes I confuse even myself.

January To Do...

2012-01-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

I am going to try to slow down a bit from the frantic pace I kept up in December, but probably not much. I leave for my cruise on the 29th and have a lot I want to get done before then. I'm so excited!

I want to rest my hooks a tiny bit and love on my sewing machine. She's been pretty neglected. But I don't think I'll be able to stay away from the yarn for long. Let's see what I have planned:

I need to finish the peg people I had planned for Christmas but ran out of time to finish. And I should make them a home, too...

Source: uklassinus.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I actually want to turn their bookcase into a doll house, too, but they need a travel home. ;)

Source: smilemonsters.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Make a cover for my Kindle

Source: etsy.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Make some travel accessories

Source: thecottagehome.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

My camera needs some beautification, maybe?

Make one last South Park set.

Source: blog.craftzine.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Work on trying to make a crocheted version of the BeeGees.

Source: anniehpilon.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Work on translating this awesomeness into some crochet patterns. And several other ideas...

Source: tangledhappy.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Make Granny Shrugs for the girls. This will be a super quick project.

I also need to figure out what kind of project to take on my cruise to work on. I won't be able to take too much yarn, and I might not even get a chance to work on it. I may just read in my down time. But just in case....

My Theme for 2012

2011-12-31T16:49:00.000-08:00

Wow, 2011 went by super fast! I know a lot of people who have had a really tough year, so I hope everyone has a spectacular 2012. I am planning on it. =)

Like a lot of people, I make New Year's Resolutions. And like almost as many people, I don't really keep them. But every year, and this year is no different, I try again.

This year I realized most of the things I was thinking about had a common theme, so I'm declaring that 2012 will be the year of Discipline.

Source: google.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I need to be much, much more disciplined in several areas of my life. It seems like lately I'm just in constant La-La-Land. I need to get things organized, get things into a routine, crack down a little more on the hyper smart-mouths developing over here, make healthier choices for the family....

Here are a few of my goals for the year:

Work on organizing the house bit by bit
Get a cleaning routine in place
Eliminate unhealthy foods in the house one by one
Get the girls on a good chore system
Get the girls in a routine to make sure homework and chores are done
Be more active
Stay on top of the budget

I have been seriously considering something over here, too. I have posted a few free patterns here on my blog, and they seem to be pretty well received. I have quite a few more ideas rattling around in my head, and while I do enjoy sharing my patterns, it would be nice to fund my yarn addiction. So I'm thinking of writing up some new patterns and starting an Etsy shop. I know there are a ton of crochet pattern sellers out there, but I hope I can come up with some fresh ideas. It will take some time to get everything in place, but hopefully by mid-year I'll be ready. I'll probably ask for pattern testers in the near future.

Well, I'm off to celebrate the New Year a few hours early with my 3 little girlfriends and some sparkling grape juice. The champagne will come later ;)

They say the way you ring in the New Year will be how you spend the rest of your year.... which would mean a lot of people would be drunk all year, but anyway... so make sure you ring in the New Year with a smile. Be safe and see you next year!

The Dodo is 4!

2011-12-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

Four years ago today, our family added it's 5th member... Little Miss Zoe Blain.

It doesn't seem that long ago. I found out I was pregnant with her because I had whooping cough and my husband suspected I was and wouldn't go get my prescriptions without me taking a test. The complications I had with Olivia's pregnancy combined with the complications I had with Isabelle to make it a pretty difficult pregnancy, but I think it was worth it. Just look at that chubby cheeked cherub. =)

And now she's 4 but still the baby. Always trying to keep up, always the short one, and still willing to cuddle a little bit with Mommy.

Yesterday I took her to get her big birthday present. It was supposed to be her present last year, but I totally chickened out.

She got her ears pierced.

You would not believe how amazing this child was. She didn't even flinch. They were wonderful, and pierced both ears at once. I was sure she'd jump off of the stool and fly to me to bawl her little head off, but not a single tear was shed over it.

I couldn't let her birthday get here without making her something, though. I wasn't sure I would get it done, but I did. I had planned on going to bed early last night, but I turned on some dumb movie and got to work instead.

Her favorite animal is a giraffe (pronounced "jrap" in Zoe-speak). That's what she got for Christmas. So, for her birthday, I went with her second-favorite animal. A zebra ("zeebwa"... of course).

I saw a zebra hat very similar on Pinterest and thought... I can figure that out. And I totally did. It's not an exact replica, but I'm understandably partial to this one ;)

I can't wait to see it on her.

Happy Birthday to my sweet little Dodo. I love you!

**I've had a few requests for an ear flap tutorial, so when I made this hat, I took pictures and will work on getting that up in the next few days!**

Where has the week gone?

2011-12-29T20:39:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow cannot be Friday. I mean, normally I look forward to Friday so I have no idea how it could have crept up on me like that.

Saturday is my baby's birthday. She's going to be 4. I can't believe that either. And I have made her NOTHING. I'm hoping to knock something out tomorrow night and something else Saturday night before her "party" on Sunday. It's really just people (family) coming over here and eating cake (oh, man, I have to make a cake!). If you think I'm decorating and having some fantastic theme and all that... sorry. It's so hard to do anything for a New Year's Eve birthday... it's so soon after Christmas. She always gets the short end of the stick, poor thing. Maybe this year I'll actually get her ears pierced this year (that was supposed to be her present last year and I chickened out).

The good news is that after that, I have no more deadlines! I can craft at leisure again. Kind of... I do have a few things I want to do before my cruise (1 month away now!!!), but at least if I don't do it I'm only letting myself down.

This week I have been working feverishly on another South Park set. Plus this little guy...

His name is Towelie and I really don't know much more about him since I don't watch South Park. He's a towel.

And here is a picture of my kids in their new shirts that I totally geeked out over. Poor Dodo is so short compared to her sisters. I love the "Nerdy But Cute" shirt....

Creamy Fruit Salad

2011-12-26T09:05:00.000-08:00

Yes, another recipe from the self-proclaimed Kitchen Disaster!

Sometime around Thanksgiving (and I'm too lazy to see when or why), I mentioned our family's tradition of having fruit salad with our meal at holidays and that it's probably one of the most unhealthy fruit salads ever.

But it's really good. And I was charge of making it this time. Scary thought.

I called my mother, who was spending some time with my grandpa on his 89th birthday (Happy Birthday, Grandpa!!), and she gave me the recipe so I thought I'd share it with you. Because, unhealthy or not, it's really good fruit salad.

Well, she gave me her method.... "recipe" is usually a stretch for my mom on most of our traditional recipes. It's like "a heaping serving spoon" or "a shake or two." I'll try to decode as much as possible. ;) It's super simple and I shouldn't have to call and ask her about it, but I have a mental block on recipes, for real.

Want to make some fruit salad? Let's go...

You need:

1 large or 2 regular cans of fruit cocktail, preferrably chunky-style. (drained)
2 apples, diced
2 bananas, sliced
2 oranges
a few handfuls of miniature marshmallows
2-3 "heaping serving spoons"** of mayonnaise (about 1 cup)

Cut one of the oranges in half and squeeze the juice over the apples and bananas to prevent browning. Section and cut the other half and the other orange and add to the apples and bananas. Drain and add the fruit cocktail and the marshmallows. Add the mayonnaise a little at a time until it's a creamy texture. Chill for about an hour and serve with your dinner, not as a dessert. ;)

Trust me, I know mayo in fruit salad sounds gross. But I promise, if you let it chill for about an hour, you don't even taste mayonnaise.

My brother-in-law doesn't like it, so we make him a slightly different version where we leave out the marshmallows and mayonnaise and mix everything with Cool Whip.

**heaping serving spoon = the big spoon in the table setting here...

Source: remodelista.com via Christina on Pinterest

Stick a fork in me.

2011-12-23T21:37:00.000-08:00

I declare the Christmas Crochet Marathon 2011 over. (wild applause)

I'd like to say I got everything accomplished, but I did not. My beard beanie for my brother-in-law is just a beanie. The peg people (although not crocheted, were on the list) are not finished. A Hello Kitty for my friends' daughter didn't make it, but I had warned them I may not finish it by Christmas. I'm still very proud. And very tired. I still have a few projects to finish up, but then I'm going to kiss my hooks goodbye for a few weeks.

Here are some of my last-minute finishes:

This is Olivia's cat. She actually has seen this picture of it and asked me where it came from. I plead ignorance. Why is it that my kids can figure out my phone 500 times faster than I can? She's supposed to have a big bow around her neck, but I figured I can just find some ribbon to substitute. I had to sacrifice a few details. I'm sure Olivia won't care.

This is Zoe's giraffe.

He's not very spotty, but I'm kind of sick of him right now so that's all the spots he's gonna get. His neck is also kind of floppy. The head is pretty heavy for such a long neck... I even stuffed a stick in there to help and it wasn't quite long enough. Now there's a stick lost inside of him. Oh well. He's also supposed to have a diaper, binky, and teddy bear, but since he's lucky to have spots, we all know that's not happening.

Both of the patterns are by Paola Navarro. I really adore all her patterns, but I have to confess that I hated the legs on both patterns. It's just a personal preference and the absolute adorableness of her designs overpower that detail anyway. Just look at that floppy giraffe's face.

I don't have a good picture of my mom's Granny Shrug, but it's finished. I don't like how it looks on me, but I think it will be beautiful on my mom.

I'm so relieved to be finished. I was really worried I wouldn't make it and have stuffed animal parts under the tree with a promise to finish them ASAP. Tomorrow I must make myself concentrate on laundry or else we will have a Merry Naked Christmas. And that just won't do.

I wish each an every one of you a Christmas full of love and happiness and amazing memories. =)

Help me, Santa...

2011-12-23T06:47:00.000-08:00

Do your kids buy into the whole Naughty/Nice list? Do they really think Santa will only bring them presents if they are on their best behavior?

Mine do not.

Or maybe this is their best behavior... God help me.

I've tried to hold Santa over their head all season and it's not helping.

I'm totally at a loss this morning. Because they're definitely on the Naughty List. So on the Naughty List.

We all know my kids are insane. Their antics are a constant source of amusement to friends and family everywhere. And I know that this morning is actually pretty funny. I almost took a picture of it, but it involved a naked child. It was one of those situations where I would have laughed myself into hysterics, but I was too mad.

The girls woke me up at 3:30am. They were all amazed that I was still home. Well, I am always home and asleep at 3:30am, and told them I was not happy to be awake so early especially since I didn't have to even be up at my normal 4:30am today. I gave them a lecture on getting out of bed before the sun comes up and put them back in bed. I went back to bed.

I woke up again at 6:30am to a lot of giggling. I was really irritated and was all geared up to scare the daylights out of three insomniacs. Then I saw the kitchen.

I found myself standing in something really gritty... kitty litter. Thankfully the cat hardly ever uses the litter box so I'm fairly sure it was clean. I see Olivia standing on a step stool at the sink.

I see Isabelle. Naked. In the sink. Having her hair washed.

Water everywhere. Paper towels everywhere. Chocolate milk and chocolate syrup. Everywhere.

I was just speechless. Once I regained some composure, I instructed them to get out of the kitchen and get dressed. I cleaned up as best as I can half-asleep and lectured them until 7:00 when I had to start getting ready for work.

Part of me wants to make sure none of the presents under the tree are from Santa. Part of me wants to take half their presents back to the store. Part of me feels like I'd scar them for life if I did that.

I don't know what I'll do. I told them they had to have the living room and their playroom cleaned up by the time I get home today and I better hear that they were little angels for their Daddy or I'll take the tree down. Of course, Bill's 2012 Snap On calendar was soaked in chocolate milk, so I guarantee a bad day for them once he sees that. You don't mess with the Snap On merchandise.

Moving on up and facing the facts.

2011-12-19T04:47:00.000-08:00

So... 6 sleeps until Christmas, huh? How's it going? I'm pretty frazzled over here. I'm not gonna lie. I am stressed out.

I knew when I kept piling things on my plate that it would be this way. But I never really listen to myself. I should try it sometime.

I think I'm OK in the non-kid department. I decided to leave the beard off of the beard hat and throw in a gift card. I tried the beard, but it wasn't working out right and I don't have time to fiddle with making it work. My mom's shrug is 75% complete. I need to try to squeeze a Hello Kitty hat in there if possible, but I'm not going to kill myself over it. I haven't done serious laundry in 2 weeks. Hello Kitty may take a backseat to some housework.

The girls' amis.... well, Hobbes is finished =) The thing with Zoe and Olivia's amis is that the pattern writer used DK weight yarn and came out with a fairly good size ami. I'm usuing worsted weight, so that good size ami is pretty big now. Zoe's giraffe is over 12" tall. Olivia's cat's head is big enough that Bill thought I was making a hat at first. This is my plan.... get the giraffe's body made (I'm short a leg and tail) and worry about the spots, mane, and accessories (he's supposed to have a binky and diaper) if I have time. I can always add them after Christmas. Then concentrate on the cat. It doesn't have nearly the amount of details as the giraffe, but it's huge.

Anyway...

Let's talk about some technology here...

I am not really big on tech. I love it, but I'm never that big on rushing out to get the newest gadget or anything. In fact, I'm usually one of the last. This month looks to be a huge month for us catching up with the rest of the world in terms of technology.

I have a smartphone. A very stupid smartphone. It runs on a Windows operating system, and if you know anything about smartphones, this means I don't get any good apps. My kids are stuck playing dice and popping bubbles on my phone. No Angry Birds. No Words With Friends. My phone sucks. And lately, it's decided it's all out of memory. No amount of deleting has fixed it either. I've removed as much as I can find to remove. It's to the point that I can't even send a text. Now my Swype is screwing up. I just can't handle this. So I ordered a Droid. Nothing fancy, it was even a free upgrade, so wahoo for free! My kids are going to be so excited.

I also got something techie for my hubby, but he occasionally reads this, so we'll just wait on that ;)

We got a Wii for "the girls" for Christmas. I think Daddy will get quite a bit of use out of it, too. We've never owned a video game system. Never. I'm not into video games and I resisted letting one into the house because I've seen so many friends fight with their boyfriends or husbands over the amount of time they spend on their games. But the girls are getting old enough to be a nuisance wanting to play on Barbie.com now, so I thought we'd give them another option. Plus, we got a dance game so maybe we can wear them out with it. =)

Aaaand... I got a Kindle for Christmas. Early. Because he figured since I knew what it was anyway. I held out on getting an ereader for a long time. I just like having a book. But my sister got one and after talking to her, I caved. I think my biggest reason is my upcoming cruise. I'm sure I can read two or three books in my downtime, and that takes up too much space. Need to leave some room for yarn in my bag. =)

Spicy Pretzels... two ways.

2011-12-14T16:46:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, I would block off a night or two to make all sorts of happy Holiday treats before Christmas. But this year, besides being crazy busy, I am trying to stay away from all the sweets. Oh, I am sure I'll get to sample some fudge and chocolate covered cherries at some point, but I'm not making them and I'm not keeping a stash in the house.

However, there is one thing I have to make. Spicy pretzels. I gave some to Isabelle's teacher last Christmas (when she was Olivia's teacher) and she requested that I send some for their Christmas party at school this year.

My boss also makes spicy pretzels, but uses a different recipe, so I thought I'd share both of them with you. They're addicting either way.

For either recipe you will need a bag of mini pretzel twists. The larger ones will work as well and probably the thin pretzel sticks, but I don't think the thicker rod type will work well. Dump the whole bag into a large roasting pan or split it into two smaller pans. Set the oven to 200* or the lowest your oven will go (my lowest setting is 240* and it works fine).

In a small bowl, mix one of these two sets of ingredients:

Mine

1 cup of vegetable oil

1 packet of dry Ranch dressing mix

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

My boss'

1 cup of vegetable oil

1 packet of dry Italian dressing mix

1 tsp lemon pepper seasoning

1 tsp garlic

Pour the oil mixture over the pretzels and toss to coat.

Bake for 2 hours, stirring the pretzels every half hour or so. Allow to cool (but they do taste really good warm) before storing.

I made two batches and filled up six 2lb treat tins (not that it's 2lbs of pretzels.... but I'm sure they hold 2lbs of something....).

So sleepy...

2011-12-13T21:07:00.000-08:00

My kids' sleeping patterns suck.

About a year ago, I had to start locking my bedroom door at night to keep the heathens out of my bed. We only have a full-size bed and it's just not big enough for more than 2 people. And, to be honest, my husband has been working nights so long that I'm so used to sleeping alone that it doesn't seem big enough for 2 people when he's home. I'm not sure why we stopped locking the door, but the visitors have been coming again. And my kids are the most obnoxious sleepers. How can a 5 year old take up the entire bed? She literally pushes me out. Zoe likes to sleep on top of my covers, which means I wake up without any. And I do the whole "one leg bent, one leg straight" position and sometimes she likes to make a nest in my legs.

Needless to say, I find my way to the couch quite often.

Zoe has been sick again. Strep. They said the first time they felt she had strep, but didn't test her, but if she did, this is the second time in less than a month. Add that to her normally enormous tonsils, and I'm thinking an ENT visit is in our future.

But, with her being sick, she's sleeping even worse than usual. She gets up after a few hours of sleep and it's a struggle to get her to go back to bed. It's either when I'm about to go to bed myself or when I'm working on her Christmas present. Of course.

So, I'm just a sleep-deprived bozo lately.

And I'm starting to stress out over my list of things I need to make. I think I can still get it all done, but it seems like there's always something popping up (like Zoe) to slow things down. Of course, there is the problem that I can't say "no." I had to work in three more sock monkey hats last week and someone else is asking for a Hello Kitty beanie. I'm only about halfway done with Zoe's present, halfway done with my mom's present, halfway with my brother-in-law's, almost done with my second set of South Park guys, haven't even started Olivia's present.....

And Christmas is less than 2 weeks away.

Plus I am in the middle of a really good, but really long book that is due back Thursday (late fees, here I come...). Plus Christmas parties for the girls at school and I haven't even gotten everything I need to send for that or finished up teacher's gifts. Plus Pokeno Thursday night (hello store-bought ornament because I don't have time to make anything).

It's no wonder my shoulders and neck are bunched up.

But I'll get it done. Yes I will. I may not sleep at all next week, but by golly, I'll get it all done. I'll catch up on my sleep on my cruise next month. ;)

Birthday Winner!

2011-12-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Drumroll please!

The winner is Amy!

Thank you so much to everyone! I really appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my ramblings and see what kind of nonsense I've been up to. I wish I could give everyone something. This has been a blast and I promise to do more in the not too distant future!

A History Lesson

2011-12-09T18:32:00.001-08:00

Today was a fairly mild day after having a couple of pretty chilly days. I decided it was the perfect day to take the girls to go see the Arkansas State Capitol in all it's holiday decorations.

Not only is it just a gorgeous building (even when it's not decorated), but it's where my husband and I got married. So it was really neat to be able to take the girls to see where their parents tied the knot.

Right on those steps =)

I was worried that the girls would be totally bored with it, but they were just in awe of everything. They loved all the marble and all the decorations were oversized, so they just thought it was magical.

Their patience with my camera wore out very quickly. They just wanted to explore. After we climbed all the staircases, we started to leave but the security guard stopped us and told us that if we went down to the basement, they had a little holiday scene set up for pictures down there. I think that was the girls favorite part... a setting with a tree complete with presents, a little rocking chair with a doll, fake milk and cookies, and a rocking horse. I didn't think I'd ever get them away.

Before we actually went into the Capitol, the girls saw a group of statues and went to explore them. It's a memorial for The Little Rock Nine.

As we left, the girls started asking me who they were, so we had a little history lesson when we got back to the van.

Now, I've never heard the girls ever talk about any of their friends being black or white. It's just not an issue. So it took me a minute to really think of how to explain it to them. I told them that years ago, people used to have to go to different schools based on how dark their skin was. Then they decided that people with dark skin could go to school with people with light skin and these statues are the first people who got to do that. I didn't really feel that they'd understand the conflict surrounding the event, so we didn't go into that.

Isabelle asked me what color skin we have. I told you, it's just not an issue with them... they don't even know "black" and "white."

Olivia said, "That's stupid. Elanea's hair isn't the same color as mine and we're still friends." I loved that. Skin color should have no more importance to people as hair color should. Out of the mouths of babes....

If only we all had such a simple view on life.

If I had a swear jar tonight, I'd go broke.

2011-12-07T18:41:00.001-08:00

Why did I say, "hey, I'll bake cookies!"

Because I have a bad memory. Maybe even early-onset dementia. That's what I'm thinking anyway.

I get tomorrow night off. Yes, you heard me. I am leaving my children with their Uncalee and pretending like I have a social life for a few hours. Thank goodness for a brother-in-law who takes pity on my poor soul once a year so I can go to Christmas Pokeno!

Ooooh, I just remembered, I have to go finish my ornament. Hang on a minute, will you?

OK. That's done. Wanna see?

Thank heavens for wired ribbon. I can't tie a pretty bow to save my life with regular ribbon.

So, anyway....

Our Christmas Pokeno is always a potluck kind of thing and everything had been assigned by the time I found out I could go. So I just offered to make cookies.

Seemed like a good idea. Until I realized that making cookies takes time and I just don't have much to spare. But let's do it anyway, OK?

I measure out my sugar and dump it on the butter.... measure out my flour into another bowl. Add the baking powder. And the baking soda.... where's the baking soda? I used it all up last time I made cookies.

RRRRRRR

OK, no problem, I have some self-rising flour. Take that baking soda. I don't need you after all. =P

Add eggs. Add vanilla... oh, come on... don't tell me I don't have any vanilla either....

RRRRRRR

Fine. We'll just pretend I "forgot" to add the vanilla. It's just a flavor thing and not really vital to it actually becoming a cookie, right?

So let's stir it all together.

Poof!

Flour everywhere. Of course.

I hate cooking. I should volunteer to bring paper plates.

I'm making 2 dozen and putting the rest of the dough away for later. Stupid cookies.

Aww, you guys...

2011-12-06T20:32:00.001-08:00

Your birthday memories are great! Thank you so much for sharing.

My day has been fairly quiet. Spent a little time with my little sister today and she brought me a surprise cake for my birthday. She was inspired to make a variation of a dump cake. Our mom always made dump cake with cherry pie filling, canned peaches, and yellow cake mix. Yummy. My sister made this one with apple pie filling, canned pears, and a carrot cake mix (because they didn't have a spice cake, but that's all carrot cake is really). It was so good.

I ordered a pizza for dinner. Pizza is kind of a birthday tradition for me, and I'll tell you the story behind it since I asked you to share a birthday memory and it's only fair for me to do the same. This one is funny now, but at the time it really wasn't. It's a good thing we can always look back and things and find the humor in them.

When I turned 31, things were not all that great in our little family. We had a really rough year or so.... we tried moving to Massachusetts and it was a failure, we had a surprise Isabelle and that was a miserable pregnancy, and my husband and I just really weren't getting along all that well. (Obviously, we got through it and things are better now... ) Poor Bill had actually forgotten my 30th birthday the year before, and pretty much had forgotten about this birthday as well until one of my friends called him up to remind him. I think he was really frustrated about forgetting it (again). I didn't hear from him all day and when I got home from work, he said, "Your birthday present is on the stove." No "Happy Birthday" or anything. So I went to see what was one the stove and it was half of a pizza. It didn't really go over all that well.

And he has yet to live it down. Every year since then, when my birthday rolls around, jokes about half-eaten pizzas abound. He even tried to get half a pizza delivered to me at work last year, but the pizza place wouldn't do it. Like I said, it's funny now....

Now, in my husband's defense... He's not so good at remembering what day it is, so holidays and anniversaries and birthdays kind of get lost in the mix. He's gotten Valentine's Day and Presidents Day confused.... he thought today was Dec. 3 for the first part of the day... it's not that he doesn't want to show his appreciation for me on special days, he just can't remember when they are. But he is excellent at just showing up out of the blue with flowers and doing little small things to let me know he appreciates me on just plain normal days. That's what really counts, to me anyway.

Guess what day it is!

2011-12-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

Do you know who this cutie pie is?

That's me. 36 years ago.

Yay! It's my birthday!

Man, I was a cute baby. =)

So... I was thinking. I've never done a giveaway. And I know that it being my birthday and all that I'm supposed to be getting presents, but I want to give a present to someone else. Maybe you....

Since I seem to be known for sock monkey hats, and I happen to have a few homeless hats, I'll give the winner a choice of:

A Mohawk Monkey... child-sized with a loopy mohawk.

A Sassy Monkey... child-sized

If you are willing to wait for me to make it, an adult or child-sized version of any sock monkey hat in my repertoire. That includes a regular ol' earlfap version, Pirate Monkey, Mowhawk Monkey, Sassy Monkey, or challenge me and give me something new to try! The Mohawk and Sassy child-sized versions above are already made and ready to go. They were also made before we added a cat to our household and have been in sealed plastic bags (in case you have pet allergies). Just remember that little fact if you pick the option for me to make you a hat and remember that it might take me a few weeks to make your prize, what with all my holiday projects going on presently.

To enter:

Leave me a comment with one of YOUR favorite birthday memory. And leave your email address.

I will pick a random winner sometime after midnight on Friday.

Good luck and where's my cake?

We've been adopted.

2011-12-05T17:18:00.001-08:00

Remember a while back when I introduced you to Serial Killer Kitty?

Well, she comes around every few days. Last week, she was at the back door just meowing like mad, and ran inside the house when I opened the door. I lured her back out with a can of tuna, which she devoured in no time. My husband was concerned about it being cold outside, so he got a box and a torn up pillow and old bathrobe and made her a little bed outside. I've found her outside a few times in it. She just looks at me like, "Thanks, but I bet it's warmer inside."

When we got home today, she was across the street and ran across the road to us as soon as she saw us. She parked herself by the door and wouldn't budge. I managed to get us all inside without her getting in and went about my business. The next thing I know, the girls are squealing and freaking out.

Killer Kitty was inside.

My husband said he didn't let her in, but he's a big fat liar. I know he did.

Olivia had a bowl of goldfish crackers, and the cat started following her around, so I gave her some more tuna and we tried to keep the girls from freaking her out.

She ate a little and then went exploring. The girls have been all up in her face, but she hasn't even hissed.

So....

I went and bought her a littler box and some real cat food. She's already housebroken, which just confirms my suspicions all along that she's been an indoor pet and was either dumped or put out. She doesn't look skinny, but she's a long-haired cat, so it's hard to tell. I don't believe in having an outdoor cat, so if someone around here put her out, I guess that's their loss now. She has shown no desire to go back outside.

The girls want to name her Sophia, but I think we're sticking with Killer Kitty. I'm not one for "normal" pet names. It's my only opportunity to have odd names since my husband wouldn't let me name Isabelle "Serendipity". =)

She's beautiful, isn't she?

I'm going to have a very special post tomorrow in honor of a very special day (to me), so be sure to check it out!

Crafty night!

2011-12-02T20:43:00.001-08:00

It's probably pretty ridiculous how excited I was all day thinking about all the fun I was going to have once I put the girls to bed tonight. I had to go to Hobby Lobby at lunch to get yarn to make more sock monkey hats, so I finally bought the stuff to make alcohol ink ornaments. I planned on also working on some peg people for the girls' Christmas and making some cinnamon ornaments.

They are lucky I didn't put them to bed early.

I started with the cinnamon ornaments, because why wouldn't I want my house to smell like cinnamon all night? This is the recipe I used.

This is the first time I've actually dried them in the oven. Normally I just set them out to dry for a few days, but I have serious space issues in my kitchen and didn't want to deal with it. I'll put a few on the tree, save a few to give away and I am thinking about putting one in the vehicles. A Christmas tree that smells like cinnamon beats a pine tree any day.

I worked on the peg people a little bit. They're looking a little creepy at this stage:

I'm not much of a painter, to be honest. These won't be super detailed. I will work on them here and there until I'm done.

I was most excited about the alcohol ink ornaments, though. I've been just dying to try it since I saw this on Pinterest:

Source: cricutholiday.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Alcohol ink is kind of expensive... about $10 for 3 little bottles (that will probably last me forever, but I'm a cheapskate sometimes). Let me just tell you a few things in case you get the urge to try this. 1) Be prepared for inky fingers. 2) Don't be stingy with the ink. I was barely putting a drop on the felt pad and was getting pretty frustrated with the results. 3) The ink dries darker than it goes on. 4) You'll probably go over each ornament several times.

The package I bought had three colors: Oregano, Mushroom, and some red color. Oregano is a muddy green. Mushroom is just mud. Red overpowers everything. I finally figured out how to make them look the way I wanted, but at first I thought I just wasted my money. It definitely is a trial and error kind of thing, but the good thing is that it's hard to mess it up. And they make a solution to remove the ink.. it's a blending solution or something. I didn't buy it, but I know they make it.

Here is what I have so far (I may work on them more later)

I finally stopped using red altogether. I liked the muddy green better, and you didn't really get it if you had even a drop of red.

In other news.... I got a picture of my latest finished crochet project:

The pattern was super easy (and free). It would be a great beginner amigurumi project. And he's just too cute. I think if I ever make another one, I'll make his belly out of felt instead of crocheting it.... it bugs me a little, but not enough to do anything about it. ;)

I began my mother's Christmas present... I hope she likes the colors. She's always struck me as a neutral kind of person, but then she goes out and buys turquoise and pink blouses, so I just don't know about her anymore.

Sorry for the blur. It's a Granny Shrug. It should be a fairly quick project...

Last but not least, my favorite ornament of the day.... which I did not even make. I had to drag my girls to half the stores in town in search of a white kids' sweatshirt for Zoe's Christmas program (never did find one, either) and I ran across this at Target...

Dude.... can you get much better than a lime green glittered rubber duck? Actually, he's plastic, but you know what I mean.

My Favorite

2011-11-28T18:35:00.001-08:00

Well, just so you know, I salvaged the chocolate pie and the dressing, which was almost as bad of a disaster, turned out pretty good also. Whew! I don't want to cook anything that requires a recipe for a while now.

I put our Christmas tree up on Friday, but we just got around to decorating it today. I didn't have enough lights to reach the top, so I had to get another set to finish that up first. I'll need to rearrange a little bit... the girls did most of it , so the ornaments stop at about 4 1/2 feet and are all grouped in about 1/4 of the circumference of the tree. They had fun, though. I only lost one ornament in the process, and while I'm kind of sad about it, I'm glad that was all.

I thought I'd share a picture of my favorite ornament with you. I'd like to introduce you to Creepy Santa...

Trust me, photographs do not do this ornament justice. Honestly, I should hate this ornament. Life-like things like that give me the willies, and he does too. Every time I hold it, my tummy feels a little funny. But for some reason, I love him. His skin looks so real... the crepe-y texture of the bags under his eyes... the eyes themselves.. the eyelashes. He's really disturbing. He goes near the top of the tree so no one else can touch him and he watches over us all Christmas. Really, it's like he's following you around the room. My husband can't stand him. If he goes missing, I know who did it.

I got Creepy Santa a few years ago at our Christmas Pokeno game. We all bring an ornament and play Dirty Santa. My sister brought Creepy Santa and it freaked everyone out. Me included. When I got him, I really didn't think I could handle having him close by. But, by the end of the night, I had fallen in love with him.

I normally have an aversion to things like this. I can't handle life-like paintings. There was a sit-com when I was growing up, I can't remember the name but it was about this guy who drew comic strips and his wife had red hair, his two daughters lived downstairs and they had a really bizarre neighbor named Monroe. I loved that show. Except for this one episode where someone gives the guy this painting and it talks to him. Scared the daylights out of little me. To this day, if a painted portrait isn't a little abstract, get it away from me.

And dolls. My dad has a lot of fun with my aversion to certain dolls. I can handle most of them, but I don't like ceramic babies or the ones that just look like dead babies. I also absolutely can't handle dolls that move. My friend gave his daughter a doll that looked like it was breathing. I almost had to leave the house when he showed it to me. My parents bought Olivia a doll a few years ago that would cry and wriggle around when you played with it. That was creepy. What was even creepier was the night I was sitting on the couch folding laundry and the doll was on the floor next to my foot and started writhing unprovoked and touched my foot. I came unglued. Which reminds me of the Dora phone they gave the girls that started talking to me one night. Oh my goodness that was awful.

Demonic toys, Stephen King novels, and Serial Killer kitties. The things that scare me when I'm home alone.... It's a good thing I have Creepy Santa to keep away the Boogie Man for the next month.

And here I was getting all cocky

2011-11-26T19:04:00.001-08:00

Here's a math lesson.

1 can of evaporated milk = 12 oz. 12 oz > 3/4 cup.

That means I have a bowl of what is basically chocolate evaporated milk on my counter instead of a chocolate pie in the oven.

This is why we can't eat nice things.

Why I shop alone...

2011-11-26T16:08:00.001-08:00

I had to take my kids grocery shopping with me today. Big deal, some of you would say... because you do it every week. I do not. I am very blessed that my husband watches them when I go, usually Saturday mornings, sometimes Sunday mornings. I enjoy this time to myself. Everyone hates grocery shopping, but I look forward to it. Until I get the total, but it's good the rest of the time. I do take the girls to the store sometimes during the week if we run out of something, but it's as quick as I can make it.

But my husband is on call this week and didn't get home from work until 5am this morning. So, I thought I would be nice and not wake him up at 9am so that I could get my shopping in before he had to go to work. I couldn't wait until tomorrow, because we're going to my parents' house for our Thanksgiving dinner and I needed some ingredients for my contributions. My only option was to either feed everyone Stove Top instead of real dressing or take the girls to the store. Considering that I'm the only one who really even cares about dressing, I should have gone that route. But I really like dressing.

It's not like I think my kids are any worse than anyone else's kids at the store. I'm sure they're not. But I'm not used to having to deal with it for the extent of a grocery shopping experience.

Within 5 minutes they were all proclaiming the need to go to the bathroom. I never know if I should believe them, because Isabelle and Zoe are just obsessed with public restrooms. We cannot go anywhere without them wanting to go to the bathroom. Even if they just went. And sometimes they ask after I've already taken them. And since we were at Walmart, of course - OF COURSE - the restrooms are where? Behind the toy department. With all the reasons there are to complain about shopping at Walmart, this is my biggest one. They are bastards (pardon my language) for making me drag my kids through the toys to go to the bathroom.

In the bathroom, which, mind you is only about 5 minutes into the trip, I line the girls up and remind them that I will abandon our cart and take them straight home if they can't figure out how to stop running and twirling and skipping and climbing on the cart.

About halfway through the trip, I have them lined up again by the canned foods, telling them that I will put every single food item they enjoy back on the shelf and they will have to eat saltine crackers all week.

Shortly after that, I text my husband and tell him that he owes me. He asks why. Why? You can tell he's never done this. I told him I was about to stuff the kids in the freezer case and just go home. He said OK.

Near the end, the girls are pretending to be ducks and mentioning that ducks don't wear clothes, which, by this point, I can't tell if they are just making an observation or plotting to be more realistic ducks and strip naked in the dairy section. They are hanging off of my shirt - literally - and I'm standing by the wine. I stood there for quite a while, debating. I don't drink very often, but they had literally driven me to drink. The only reason I didn't grab a bottle is that I remembered there is some Southern Comfort in the freezer at home.

Pie making is going to be quite an experience tonight.

Apple Pie and Huge Trees

2011-11-25T19:21:00.001-08:00

So, did you get out to do your Black Friday shopping today? I didn't. I just can't bring myself to torture myself with that many crazy people to save a few bucks. I really hated that certain stores chose to open Black Friday while it was still Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving should be about spending time with family, not trampling people to get to the hot item. That's just me though.... and I hate shopping and crowds in general, so you can take it for what it's worth. =)

I have an apple pie in the oven right now for my husband. My side of the family really doesn't care that much about apple pie... our Thanksgiving dessert menu is always pumpkin, pecan, and chocolate (and I only eat chocolate. I can't stand pecan or pumpkin. Gag). And fruit salad, but for some reason that always gets served with the meal. I never really understood that, but who am I to complain about it? My mom makes the best fruit salad ever (actually, my sister now... the torch has been passed LOL). Probably the most unhealthy fruit salad ever, as well, but oh well. It has mayonnaise in it. Sounds nasty, but, man, is it good.

I don't brag much about my cooking, but I do take pride in my apple pie. I'm trying something a little different this time... I'm making it in a skillet. But the filling is what matters, really. I think there are two important keys to a good apple pie. First, you have to use the right apples. Granny Smith. They have to be tart apples or it's just too sweet. Secondly, and most important, is ground cloves. Just 1/4 tsp is all you need, but you do need it. Cinnamon and apple pie spice just isn't enough.

I got our tree put up today. My husband won't let me do it any sooner. We tried the whole real tree business last year and I vowed we would never do that again. It was such a pain getting it home and I swear it was in the back of my husband's truck for weeks after we took it down until one of his coworkers got rid of it. We did the real tree thing because all I had was a white artificial tree and I hated it. So, when Christmas was over and everything was on sale, I bought a new one.

Now, here's another handy fact about me... I am a terrible judge of measurement. It's probably one of my downfalls in cooking, to be honest. So, all those numbers on the box really didn't mean much to me. I didn't care how tall it was because I couldn't tell you how tall the last tree was. I really should have done some measuring or something...

It's a 7.5 foot tree. Our ceiling, as I discovered today, is 7.5 feet. The thing takes up half of the living room. I've been trying to rearrange things to make it fit, but we have two couches and I can't move the entertainment center because the cable cord won't read anywhere else. It's 4.5 feet wide. My kids can stretch out beneath it. Dude.

I also took the girls' picture for our Christmas card. I loved the pictures I've seen of kids wrapped up in lights, so I stole the idea. I liked this one until I realized how demented Olivia looks:

I'll probably use this one... maybe. Or did I upload the wrong one? I don't know. It's not as sharp and they had messed up my lights by then. Uncooperative children, they are.

I didn't get too many decent shots. I have one other idea, something I wanted to do when Olivia was a baby and didn't get to do because she scratched her face something terrible the day before I put up the tree. So we will see. I have to decorate the beast of a tree first.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T20:00:00.001-08:00

I hope everyone has had a wonderful day. Ours was very quiet. No big family get-together. Don't be sad... it'll happen on Sunday. One reason we are waiting is that normally Mr. Bill has to work Thursday night, regardless of whether or not it is a holiday. But they decided to shut the shop down for a change and he ended up at home. We threw together a mini Thanksgiving dinner, complete with a mini turkey (a cajun seasoned breast that was already fully cooked).

Someone pea'd on the table. ;) Zoe called them "green corn."

I haven't had many crafty things to show lately. Mainly because I haven't finished anything but a few sock monkey hats and a mohawk hat. I do have a WIP - Hobbes for Isabelle - that is going way too slow. But I finally have a couple of things to show...

Olivia's BFF has a birthday coming up soon and I know she loves Hello Kitty, so I improvised a hat for her. Olivia wanted me to make her a doll, but I needed it to be a quicker project.

why, oh, why is that closet always open?

I think if I make another one, I need to make the eyes and nose smaller. I like how the corners of the hat form ears without having to actually attach ears.

I also have part of my brother-in-law's Christmas present finished. I'm making him a beard hat, but the beard will be detachable. Because, while he'll get a kick out of a beard hat for sure, I don't see him getting much use out of it. I wanted the hat to be blue and orange... he's a big fan of the Bears. I tried one pattern and didn't like the way it was turning out, so I decided to try the Brain Waves pattern from Playin' Hooky Designs. I ended up adding another stripe because it fit me better that way, and there is no way his head is smaller than mine, so I figured it would fit him better that way, too. I like this much better...

Man, that's a bad picture...

I made little loops inside to attach the beard to once I get that worked out. I thought about just sewing buttons in the hat to attach the beard to, but I thought that wouldn't be really comfortable.

I'm actually making really good progress on all my Christmas projects. Well, aside from Hobbes. He's not hard, I've just been really tired this week and can only work on him after the girls go to bed. But I have half a leg and the tail to go and then I can put him together and move on.

I think I'm going to postpone making the flower scarves for the girls. Isabelle caught sight of some peg dolls on Pinterest (my entire family - husband included - loves that site) and wants some.

Source: etsy.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

So I've ordered some blanks and some paint and I'll make some instead of the scarves. I can't resist... they remind me of the old school Little People that I had when I was little... before they make them less of a choking hazard. I do believe we're past the eating of the toys around here. Plus, at some point I'm going to need to do something other than crochet all night or I'll burn out, you know? I'm still going to make the scarves, but it will probably be after Christmas.

Of course, after finding this today, I kind of question why I make anything for the girls:

For once, that wasn't Isabelle's handiwork. I don't know why Olivia impaled her doll on a knitting needle... my sister asked if she's started practicing Voodoo. If anyone starts complaining of shoulder pain anytime soon, we'll know for sure.

There goes my MOTY...

2011-11-23T09:49:00.001-08:00

(that's Mother of the Year, btw...)

If I had to pick the one thing that consistently makes me feel like a bad mother, it has to be Olivia's ears.

Now, I know I'm not a bad mother, but everyone has their moments when you just feel like someone needs to stamp "FAIL" on your forehead.

Olivia has been plagued with ear infections her whole life. Not really all that unusual, but she never complains about them. I would take her in for just a routine check up when she was a baby and the doctor would look at me like I was nuts when I said she hadn't been fussy... because she'd have a raging ear infection. We finally had tubes put in her ears when she was about 20 months old. We didn't have many problems with the tubes, just some drainage when she was sick. And let me tell you, if you've never seen snot oozing from your child's ear, you're missing out on one of the finest parenting experiences. Gross.

In April of 2010, she had to have tubes placed again. Her old ones had fallen out after a good, long run (most of them fall out in a year's time) and she started having ear infections again. We were hoping she'd grow out of them by then, but it wasn't meant to be.

We have to go to the ENT doctor every six months to have her ears checked. Now, I'm not a big fan of our ENT. She was not my first choice, but the doctor I wanted wouldn't do the surgery where I wanted (where I work). I got really annoyed after our last visit when I got a bill in the mail. We paid our copay, but since she had seen the audiologist and the doctor, we were charged more. We weren't given the option and it was totally unnecessary since her ears were perfectly fine. So, when it came time for her check up this time, I was pretty grumpy about it. I almost just canceled it, but she has had some drainage lately, so I thought I better keep the appointment. Reluctantly.

Her whole office is very non-kid-friendly. No kids' magazines or book, no TV, no toys, nothing. Boring as can be for a 7 year old, especially when they are always at least a half-hour behind (even if you are the first appointment... ) We waited, with Olivia being antsy because she's bored, and me being cranky because I think this is just a waste of time and money and Olivia's driving me batty since she's bored.

Finally we get to the room and the audiologist won't check Olivia's hearing because of all the drainage in her ear. She said she'd have the doctor clean it up first. Then the doctor comes in and looks and immediately looks at me and says "well, have you had her treated for this?" No. The drainage didn't hurt anything before and she has not once complained of her ears hurting. Well, her ears are all kind of gross, tubes clogged, nasty infection going on. Of course. We have to treat her with antibiotics and ear drops (heaven help me... she hates ear drops almost as much as eye drops and she'd rather pluck her eyes out than have eye drops). Then in two weeks, the doctor will decide if she can just remove the tubes right then and there and just hope for the best or if she is going to need another set of tubes, in which case means surgery. For the third time.

I'm feeling like a moron for not taking her to the doctor when she had drainage to begin with. We maybe could have avoided the possibility of surgery if I had. I know the surgery is about as minor as you can get, but I still feel terrible that she's only 7 and is looking at maybe having her third surgery.

And then the icing on the cake.... Olivia and Isabelle have matching Hello Kitty sparkly shoes. Apparently they couldn't find a complete pair today, so Olivia was wearing two left shoes. Since she was dressed and in her jacket by the time I saw her today, I did not notice this until shortly before the doctor pointed it out.

Yup. I'm batting 1000 over here today.

Ugh... people

2011-11-21T20:18:00.001-08:00

Here's a little soapbox moment from me...

I try very hard not to be judgmental towards other parents. I try.... it doesn't always happen. It's difficult when I see some of these parents who drag their 2 year old in for full-mouth dental work at my job not to be. But I know that parenting styles differ as greatly as people do in general. And it's none of my business.

But not everyone tries to keep their opinions to themselves. Especially on the internet.

I saw a video today about these two little boys who got into the flour and covered half the house in it. Everyone was calling "hoax" and/or calling the mom a bad parent for being so calm about it. "There's no way there would be such an even coating of flour." "There's no way those kids could carry a 5lb bag of flour." "It was up on the wall... there's no way they could have gotten it up like that.. and in clumps, even!"

A few years ago, Isabelle got a bag of powdered sugar out of the pantry and coated half my living room in it. It looked just like that video. There was powdered sugar on the ceiling. And it wasn't even a full bag of sugar... a little powdered sugar (and flour) goes a long way. Plus, my 3 year old can carry a full gallon of milk, which is heavier than a 5lb sack of flour.

You know what my reaction was....

.........

I was too shocked to scream or yell.

I normally don't read comments on articles. People are just ugly and I don't like getting worked up over how stupid people can be. But, for some reason, I started reading the comments on this video. They were horrible. People just lose all sense of "being nice" when they are online sometimes.

So, you know, I learned from all this that, according the internet population, I'm a bad mom. Among a multitude of other reasons that I gleaned from CafeMom before I decided it was best for my mental well-being to stop dealing with that website. Whatever. At least on CafeMom the judgmental people were actual mothers and I would bet most of the people commenting on that article don't have kids.

Isabelle makes messes. It's just her. She's tried to make coffee for her Daddy using half my spice cabinet. I found her making carrot cake in her bedroom one morning. The powdered sugar incident.... and more. I have had all kinds of reactions, across the board from being stunned into silence to screaming like a banshee. She is just too curious and consequences be damned. Am I a bad mother? No. I don't question that. She's a handful, but she's hardly ever in trouble at school. She's kind and helpful. Do I need to find better ways of channeling that curiosity? Absolutely. But she's always going to be like this and, to be honest, I wouldn't change that. I just need her to explore in ways that don't involve me renting a Rug Doctor when I don't even own a rug.

But, it did help to remind me about trying to not be so judgmental. Yes, I can disagree with parents who give their kids so much candy and soda that their teeth rot before they are even all in, BUT they could be infinitely better at other aspects of parenting than I am. I know there are things I do or let my kids do that people could take issue with, but I feel that I'm raising some pretty awesome kids.

Baking Tips from the Culinarily Challenged

2011-11-20T18:15:00.001-08:00

At first, when I thought about sharing this idea I had with you, I decided it was pretty ridiculous for me... the self-professed disaster in the kitchen... to pass on cooking tips. But then again, maybe it's not so ridiculous. I mean, if something worked out for me, of all people, then it surely will work out for you, too. Right?

Whatever.

When Fall hits, I start craving everything apple. I want to eat apples, stuff with apples in them, stuff in apples, smell apples... you get the idea. And, even though I'm no great cook, I have a few things I can make well and one is apple pie. Not that that has anything to do with the subject of this post, I just wanted to put that out there.

I found this recipe on Pinterest that I wanted to try. Because it involves apples. Well not really apples, but the flavor anyway:

Source: scrambledhenfruit.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Behold - The Stuffed Caramel Apple Cider cookie.

I had to make something for Zoe's Thanksgiving lunch potluck at Mother's Day Out, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out the recipe. And they are super yummy. No lie. However, there were two problems...

One... once they cool down, the center is extremely chewy. Chewy as in you take a bite, someone comes up to talk to you and you're all like "hold on, give me 5 minutes to stop chewing this cookie." They should be eaten warm, for sure. Not a problem at home, but at a potluck, you just can't heat up cookies.

Two... well, let me go off on a tangent for a minute. You remember that recipe for chocolate chip cookies that used to go around claiming to be the recipe for Neiman Marcus' cookies? My sister and I dubbed them PITA (Pain In The.... you get where I'm going here, right?) cookies. They are so good, but who really wants to grate chocolate bars? These cookies are PITA Cookies - The Non-Chocolate Edition. Seriously... you unwrap 4 dozen or so caramels, ball up the dough, flatten the dough, wrap the dough around the caramels, then the whole process of getting them off the parchment paper at just the right time so they don't stick. They are good cookies, but come on... I'm just not that dedicated.

I have yet another potluck tomorrow at work, and I had kind of promised more of these cookies before I really thought about how much I detest doing anything on Sunday nights. So I wondered if there was any way around this. I went grocery shopping this morning and I saw the answer and the sky opened up and the angels started to sing:

Instead of a caramel center, why not just spread the caramel goodness throughout with little bits? That way, when it cools, you don't have a glob of chewy right there in the middle. And... no stuffing the caramel into the dough. And... you don't have to worry about the parchment paper, unless you are just really into that. I'm not. It makes loud crinkly noises that offend my ears. Same awesome taste, but faster and less messy.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the stuffed caramel cookies. If I weren't so freaking lazy, I would make them like that all the time.

One more tip: (and you can try this with chocolate chip cookies, too) Don't add the caramel bits after the flour. Add them to the wet ingredients before you mix in the flour. It's so much easier. I used to hate making chocolate chip cookies for the simple fact that my arm was already falling off by the time all the flour was incorporated and then I still had the chips to add. Of course, if you have a handy dandy mixer, you probably don't care. =P LOL

PS... To be fair, I'm not really a bad cook. In fact, my husband thinks I'm a pretty darn good one. If I have a good recipe and want to cook. And, as a general rule, I don't ever want to cook.

I've got to move my jacket...

2011-11-19T18:31:00.001-08:00

Today the girls and I went to a baby shower/1st birthday party. My cousin's daughter is having a baby in a few weeks and her firstborn just turned 1. I feel for her. I thought having kids 19 months apart was rough...

We had fun. The girls adored baby Caleb and couldn't get enough of him or his toys. Isabelle said "Mom, I'm going to miss that little baby. I wanted to keep him." Sweet, baby, but no. No babies. Sorry.

Caleb got his little boots and everything thought they were just too cute. I had fretted over the size... I made the Baby Goshalosh boots in the biggest size (6 - 12 months) but I worried that since he was already 12 months that they'd be too small. But he's a tiny fellow, so they were fine... even with room to spare.

It was kind of chaotic and I missed her opening my gift for the new baby, which was diapers and the teeny tiny boots. I was worried about the boots getting mixed up with the rest of the tissue paper, since they were so tiny. I hadn't heard anyone say anything about them, so I really worried about it. I didn't want to assume that people would make a fuss over them, but I didn't want the boots to be thrown out. I kind of peeked at the list of gifts they were making for thank you cards and my gift wasn't on it at all. I think the card got lost when the girls were dragging the present in. Luckily, I found the boots (they did get tossed with all the tissue paper) and she thought it was really sweet that they had matching boots.

On the way home, Maroon 5 came on the radio and Olivia fell in love with the song "Moves Like Jagger." I like Maroon 5, but the song is somewhat annoying because it just makes no sense to me and it's so catchy that I can't get it out of my head. But I thought it was cute to hear Olivia singing along. Of course, that was until I heard Isabelle singing. "I've got to move my jacket, I've got to move my jacket."

It's hard to drive when you're laughing that hard. I don't know what cracked me up more today... that or her operatic singing bit this morning. She's a nut.

Oh my tiny goodness!

2011-11-16T20:29:00.001-08:00

I've been invited to a baby shower this coming weekend. My cousin's daughter is having her second baby. It's mostly a diaper & wipes shower, but I can't resist the opportunity to indulge in my need to make something tiny.

People, look at these little bitty things:

I almost died from the cuteness. I can't believe my kids' feet were ever that tiny. Of course, we are a big-footed family, so they may not have ever been quite that small...

I used this pattern. Remember my post about the free boot pattern that made me feel like I had some head trauma that left me with no recollection of how to crochet? Yeah. These look 500 times better. They're very easy, the pattern is very clear. I'm glad I spent the money on the pattern and I'll definitely have it on hand for future baby gifts. They are just adorable.

I have one more pair to make... a matching pair for the older brother who just turned 1. These just took me a few hours, so surely I can get the other pair finished in addition to keeping to my schedule. Yes... schedule. I decided that insane list over there to the side ----> was going to become a 1st class disaster if I didn't make a plan. I think I have it under control. If you don't hear from me in a while, I'm probably tangled up in all that yarn....

Hidy Ho!

2011-11-14T20:28:00.001-08:00

Would it be totally wrong of me to use Mr. Hankey as our "elf on a shelf"?

Stick a fork in me

2011-11-11T21:31:00.001-08:00

The South Park kids (set #1 of four) are done!

They are about 4 1/2 inches tall, the ones with pompoms on their hats a little close to 5 inches. Despite stuffing beans in the bottom, they are too top-heavy to stand up alone, but really, what do you expect when your head is 3 times the size of your body?

I hated buying the pattern for those guys at first, but it looks like I'm getting my money's worth out of it.

My list over there ----> is getting pretty long, but I don't feel overwhelmed. I'm pretty excited about all of it, really. I got the yarn to start on Hobbes today and I'm itching to start it. But I need to work Mr. Hankey out first and I've gotten a really good start on him. He's going with the guys and Michael Myers to Bill's aunt. I see more of him in my future if I can find the time. And Towelie. I had never heard of Towelie before tonight, but one of my friends who wanted a set asked if I could make a Towelie as well. I went to the South Park website and let's just say I got a good education on what I've missed since I haven't seen the show in years. Wow.

So, anyway.... I would have finished the guys up earlier this week, but I kind of took Wednesday and Thursday nights off. This afternoon, I picked up a hat I was working on and I had crocheted exactly 4 stitches yesterday. Maybe 2 rows Wednesday. That was the total of my work those two days. I made up for it today. Lots of hooking going on... =)

I told you.

2011-11-08T20:08:00.000-08:00

It came to me the other night. I remembered old Michael Myers in the closet, waiting to be shipped off to Bill's aunt. I had just finished Kenny's head... I just couldn't help myself.

I ended up crocheting a knife for Michael. I didn't have any gray or brown felt, so I just sat down and it happened. I even made it look bloody. Who would have thought I'd ever crochet a bloody knife? I don't put anything past me nowadays.

Don't worry... in true South Park fashion, Kenny managed to put himself together and is chilling with Cartman and Stan. Kyle's head is finished.... just need to make his body and Set #1 is complete. Well, after I make Mr. Hankey, that is. Can't send off the package without some Christmas poo.

Bloody knives and poop. I don't think there's anything more I can say about that.

Scratching my head...

2011-11-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to figure out what to make the girls for Christmas. I think I can probably finish all my commissioned work in the next week or so if I push, which gives me more time than I anticipated to work on personal stuff.

I know that I want to make them some scarves, which probably won't ever be worn, but it's worth a try. This is the pattern I'm thinking about...

Source: twinstitches.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Maybe, if I have time, a coordinating hat. Not the usual novelty-type beanies I do, something more "grown up." We'll see. I'm not looking into it seriously until I know I have the time.

Zoe is into giraffes lately. So I want to make her a giraffe. I thought about this:

Source: fiberdoodles.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

But it doesn't have a long neck. When we were talking about giraffes today, she said they had long necks and polka dots, so I don't think a short-necked giraffe will do. Then I saw this and I think she'd love the stuff out of it:

Source: ravelry.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I've never made any of this designer's patterns, but I've adored them forever. I think it's about time.

I've had a few ideas for Isabelle, starting with a green kangaroo (if you get that reference, I'll give you a high five), but I think I've settled on this:

Source: sukigirl74.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

She's my little Calvin, for sure. So she needs a Hobbes, I think. Plus, I have soft spot for C&H and need an excuse to make it anyway =)

But Olivia... I'm stumped. I just made her a doll for her birthday. She said she likes cats, but I haven't found a cat pattern that I like. I thought about a mermaid, but that's more Izzy's thing. I can come up with a bunch of Isabelle ideas, but nothing for Olivia. I think I'm just going to have to watch her closely and see if I pick up any clues. Or maybe I'll make this baby, because the feet make me laugh. My child does have big feet (she gets it naturally, I wear size 11)

Source: ravelry.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I've made one of her patterns before... Dotje. And I have a half-finished Jester that I should finish one of these days. Depending on who I end up with in our Christmas name-draw, they might end up with him.

OK.. enough thinking. I need to work on my South Park kiddos. Cartman and Stan are finished. Kenny is armless still and Kyle's hat won't fit and he has no body yet. Before I finish Kenny, I need to stage a picture of him and Michael Myers. I need a "Oh no! They killed Kenny!" shot. Because I'm a dork.

Babies on the brain

2011-11-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

I've been wishing for babies. Not my own... that's not going to happen short of a miracle. I do have to cop to a little, tiny bit of baby fever now that Zoe is definitely not a baby anymore. But I just have to conjure up the memories of sleepwalking with babies, poopy diapers and washing bottles and I'm pretty much over it in no time. I really want do a baby to borrow, though.

My children have been very effective birth control for my sister, who has sworn off ever having kids. (That's not really the reason, but there are times I wouldn't blame her if it was) My older sister is out of the baby-making business. I was the last of my friends to have kids. So it's slim pickings around here trying to find people to spawn and satisfy my desire for baby love.

Luckily, my cousin's daughter is having a baby soon. And a good internet pal of mine is pregnant. So I get to at least make some baby stuff, even if I may not get any good cuddle time out of these babies. I found out that they are having a shower for my cousin's daughter next weekend, so I was looking for something to make for a little boy. Sara at Tangled Happy has a new sponsor, The Lovely Crow, and she has the cutest little galoshes pattern. I was all set to buy it when she posted on facebook that she was about to release a cowboy boot pattern. Score!

Well, before I went to buy the pattern, I found this on Pinterest:

Source: ravelry.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

A free cowboy boot pattern. I don't mind buying patterns, but here was a free one. I'm all about not having to pay for stuff. =)

I got what I paid for. This pattern made me feel stupid. I know I have only been crocheting a year and a half, and I'm not trying to sound conceited or anything, but I think I can hang with the pros most of the time. I've worked advanced patterns before. But I don't know how anyone managed to make these blasted boots. I hate ripping out my work and starting over. And over. And over. Nothing I did could make these books look like that picture up there. I even improvised a bit here and there to try to make it work. It just wasn't happening. Stupid boots.

So, when I can get to a printer, I'm going with the other pattern. Debating between the galoshes and the cowboy boots.... They're very similar and I cold probably figure out how to adapt one to make the other. I should have just gone with that in the first place, the pictures of the finished projects on Ravelry looked better to start with, but I was willing to sacrifice a tad for a free pattern. But not my sanity.

By the way, The Lovely Crow has no clue who I am or what I am saying about her pattern, I'm just running my head to avoid working on those darn South Park kids. =)

Quickie cowl

2011-11-03T18:25:00.000-07:00

So today, my coworker starts trying to describe a cowl/neck warmer she bought recently and said that she had told herself, "I bet Jennifer could make this." Then she told me that if I was interested in making some that she'd sneak them into her nephew's booth at the Memphis Flea Market to see how they would sell. I told her I'd think about it, but that I really didn't have much free time right now. Then curiosity got the better of me and I did a little search to see what kind of quick-looking patterns I could find.

I saw a few that reminded me of those tshirt scarves I've seen on Pinterest. You know, you cut a tshirt into strips and twist them together. Voila, a scarf. The crocheted ones are just a long chain wrapped around and around. I thought it was really cool looking. So when I got home, I went digging through my stash for some chunky yarn to experiment with.

I found a dark red, probably 3/4 of a skein or so. I just sat there and made the longest chain I've ever made since I was a kid and didn't know how to make it past the chain stitch so I just chained until I ran out of yarn. Seriously, that's it. An hour or so later, I ran out yarn, joined it into a huge circle, looped it around and around, secured it by just wrapping the yarn ends around the bundle and tying them off. Voila!... a cowl.

You don't even really have to secure it... it would be adjustable if you didn't. But it would just turn into a huge knot around here if I hadn't.

I may or may not have dozed off a few times doing it... I'm kind of sleepy today and it's chilly out and chain stitching is kind of monotonous. But I think it's cute. Comfy too. Long enough to keep the back of my neck warm and not make me feel like I'm being strangled. Isabelle loves it. She wore it most of the evening.

I'll show it to my coworker and see what she thinks. I could probably churn out a few of these before the next flea market without making it impossible to finish the things I'm obligated to. I don't know. We'll see.

Warm hands

2011-11-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I have ever told you this, but I am freakishly warm. All the time. I rarely have to wear a heavy jacket, even in the middle of winter (being in the South helps with that, too). When I was little, my younger sister and I shared a bed and she would get so mad if my legs touched hers because they were so hot. I don't know if I just have excellent circulation or what. The girls seem to have inherited it, though. I have, on more than one occasion, checked their temperature when they got up in the morning because I thought they had fever. It's not easy to get them to dress warmly. It's funny... the one person in the house that was raised to endure the cold North Country (my husband is from upstate NY) is always the one to freeze around here.

My hands are especially warm. No one likes to hold hands with me for very long because I make their hands sweat in no time flat. It's not always bad... I don't need a heating pad when Isabelle wakes up with growing pains. In a matter of seconds, I can melt a freezer pop so that the girls can slide them up the tube without any trouble. I would probably make a killer masseuse, if I could stand touching strangers that intimately.

But sometimes it's not so great. There are times my hands are so warm that it's uncomfortable. I will just sit and hold a cold soda can for a few minutes just because it feels so good to have something cold in my hands. My fingers do get cold, but my palms are always so warm that gloves are just beyond uncomfortable.

I love fingerless gloves. I wish like crazy I could wear them. I might be able to get away with the more mesh-y patterns. But I need something more like palm-less gloves. I think that would look a little silly, but maybe I'll try it one day. Because I'm just weird like that. Anyway, I do love how fingerless gloves look and I jump when I get the chance to make them.

One of my friends asked me to make her a pair, along with that silly chicken hat which wasn't supposed to look like a chicken. Luckily she loves the hat. I made her a pair of fingerless gloves last spring and so this time I asked if she minded if I tried another pattern. She said she wanted them to be camouflage and the rest was up to me. The only camouflage yarn I could find was Red Heart, aka Strings of Sandpaper. I knew I could soften up the finished project, so I just went ahead and used it.

I used a free pattern : Gauntlet Style Fingerless Gloves Now, I hate giving a not-so-great review about a pattern, because I've written a few and I know it's hard to write them. But I wasn't crazy about the pattern. It was slightly confusing. Add that to the sandpaper yarn, and it took me a while to actually complete the set of gloves because I was so over it after the first one. I finally finished them tonight.

Now I just need to get my friend to give me her approval and I'll send them off. I seriously need to work on my South Park amis now.... they'll need to be shipped off soon. And 4 hats to make and ship off before Christmas. I think I need to stop accepting requests now, if I plan on doing any crocheting for the girls for Christmas... and if I want to make any decorations.

PS... Exciting day! My flight to get to the cruise was booked today. Woo hoo! Less than three months! I'm really excited and at the same time really anxious about leaving the girls for a week. I'll be homesick before I can get seasick.

How many more teeth does she have?

2011-11-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

Today was Olivia's regular dental check up. My kids adore going to the dentist. I don't blame them. Our hygienist and the dentist are super nice and they are great with the kids. Isabelle and Zoe's first appointments were actually just impromptu "hey, let me up in that chair!" situations. I'm always hearing what good little patients they are.

Well, when we went in today, Olivia's remaining front tooth was really loose.... "just hanging in there by her imagination" as the hygienist put it. Remember, Olivia won't wiggle her loose teeth and it's high drama when it's time for the tooth to come out. The hygienist told me that she'd just go ahead and get the tooth out for me and I felt like flying across the chair to hug her. I was envisioning this peaceful easy tooth plucking done by someone other than me. I got the "someone other than me" part right.

During the cleaning, Olivia bit down on "Mr. Thirsty" with her tooth and it started bleeding. Our visit went downhill pretty fast from there. Miss Charlotte told her she'd put some "blue medicine" (topical anesthetic) on it for her so it wouldn't hurt. She barely got to finish the cleaning and the dentist came in to verify no cavities. Olivia was whimpering the whole time about her tooth.

Mind you, it's numb, OK?

So Miss Charlotte put a little more blue medicine on it, grabbed the tooth and yanked. Apparently Olivia's imagination is stronger than Miss Charlotte thought, because the tooth didn't just yank out. She had to grab on to it again and pull. Olivia is screaming and bleeding everywhere. Dental employees come flocking to see what all the fuss is about. Olivia is in hysterics, I'm laughing because the alternative is being mortified that my "model patient" is being so ridiculous, and everyone is just looking at us like we are insane.

I'm really glad that they told me that I should leave the other two in the waiting room and they'd watch them during Olivia's appointment. (I told you, my dentist office rocks) The girls are super protective of each other (they're the only ones allowed to hurt each other), so I'm sure it would have been pure insanity.

On the plus side, I already have Olivia's Tooth Fairy present (we do small - like dollar store - gifts instead of money) so we're set. And I can go around singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" to her! Awesome.

Trick or Treat!

2011-10-31T19:54:00.000-07:00

I just was not into Halloween this year. I only made costumes because I was too cheap to buy them. And felt that I would be failing as a crafty mommy if I didn't. I feel like I have set expectations, especially after knitting three mermaid costumes last year. I'm sure people would understand me not going that far this year, but I had to do something.

So, after much debate and having the girls veto every cool idea I had, plus me realizing I didn't really want to sew Jem costumes or a gnome costume, we went with fairies. I just made some tutu dresses (basically long tutus pulled up to their armpits and cinched in at the waist), bought some wings and that's that. The tutu dresses were super fast, because I used the 6" spools of tulle.

I wasn't going to paint their faces, but Isabelle found the face paint from last year and insisted. She was my first attempt at making a butterfly.

Ummm... it didn't go so well. I offered to wash it off and start again once I figured it out, but she was completely happy looking like I shot her in the face with a paint ball gun.

The girls wanted their hair colored. Until I started actually spraying it and they realized how awful it smelled.

They would have been just fine without all the paint and color, and definitely easier to clean up afterwards. Which reminds me... I need to scrub the tub. It's pink.

The girls waved at everyone who drove past while we were waiting on Daddy to walk with us to my sister's house.

She only lives a few houses down and is always our first stop for Halloween. The girls insist.

That wasn't the first candy in their buckets this year, though. Our across the street neighbor came out while we started out down the road to give the girls some candy even though they don't pass out candy. I thought that was really sweet. We also hit a couple other houses on our way back home, which was a first. We don't go door-to-door usually. We loaded up after that and worked a couple "trunk or treats" at local churches. Their buckets are pretty full. We somehow managed to keep them from eating everything as soon as they got it.

And, up on my soapbox for a minute... I swear if my girls ever try to leave the house in a costume that barely covers their bottom when they are teenagers, I'll be the scariest thing they've ever seen on Halloween. We were at a church, for Pete's sake. You would think they'd have at least a little respect. I know it's "cool" to dress slutty for Halloween, I know I probably went overboard a time or two, but come on... at a church? Off my soapbox...

Anyway, now my kiddos are all scrubbed up, in bed (much later than normal - they are used to a 7:30 bedtime), and this Momma is wiped out. I hope all of you had a wonderful Halloween!

After the afghan...

2011-10-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

Do you ever feel the need for a break after a big project? Now that my Stained Glass is finished, I have a ton of Christmas stuff to work on. But what have I been doing all weekend? Reading. Except for last night when I got the urge to learn the crocodile stitch. I did... I'm just making a triangle of stitches out of a skein of yarn that I bought for something else that didn't pan out. So it won't be big enough to be a shawl or anything useful, but it looks neat. Very fall colored... kind of reminds me of owl feathers. I'll take a picture sometime.

I don't have time for all that, but I just need a break. I need to work on my South Park amis... they're frustrating me though. I have one fingerless glove finished and need to make the other one, but the pattern is pretty boring. Then I'll have three sock monkeys and a mohawk, not to mention the things I hope to make for the girls. I don't have time to read or experiment.

But sometimes you just have to.

I'm reading Eve by Iris Johansen. I picked up the first of her Eve Duncan series forever ago and really liked it and read about half of them. But I guess my tastes in writing style have changed, because her style drives me a little crazy now. But this is like all the back story, and I'm too curious, so I'm trying to get past it to read this one and the two that follow. You know, it's like some people can come up with great stories, but can't deliver them well. I want to read the story, but her dialogue makes me cringe. I don't care about the rest of the series that I gave up on. I think one of her books was the second book I have ever just put down unfinished. The first was The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway. I detest Hemingway. My teacher assigned it to me when I finished A Farewell to Arms early and I decided there was not enough extra credit in the world to convince me to finish that book. It's rare that I don't finish a book, even if I don't really enjoy it.

The most recent was one that I didn't finish of the most recent Sookie books. I had to return it to the library before I finished it and I haven't even put myself back on the waiting list so I can finish it. It's not that I didn't like it, but that I read some of Charlaine Harris' other series and they really turned me off. I think she sold her soul to the devil for that series, because the rest of what I've tried to read of hers just was awful. Or maybe she just finally figured out how to make a female character that wasn't totally unlikeable. I guess I should give her some credit.

Stephen King has a new book coming out very soon and I'm super excited. And Bag of Bones is going to be a miniseries on some network in December and I can't wait. I know I loved the book, but I honestly can't remember much about it, so I might be able to enjoy the miniseries without comparing it to the book. I have reading amnesia, I think. I forget books almost as soon as I finish them. I don't reread a lot of books, but I have been able to reread a few books and be just as amazed by them as the first time.

I guess my brain just can't absorb much more than what's already in it. Too many medical billing codes and song lyrics rattling around up there, I guess. I can spout off colonoscopy codes like nobody's business and sing along with songs I don't even like, but I can't remember what the book I read last month was even remotely about. It's kind of scary since soon I'll have to learn an entire new set of diagnosis codes when they switch from ICD-9 to ICD-10 (yeah, it's all Greek to me, too... don't feel bad). My brain is going to short circuit. They'll find me at work, under my desk, chewing on electrical cords or something. I wonder if a nervous breakdown would be covered by worker's comp?

Stained Glass Window - the finale!

2011-10-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

I gave myself a deadline of Thanksgiving to finish it. I felt that it was a pretty generous deadline, but I'm always nervous of deadlines when it comes to my crafting because I tend to crack under pressure and flake out. It turned out it was very generous. I told myself Friday morning that I'd probably have it finished by the end of the weekend. I finished it Friday night. Almost a month ahead of my deadline! Go me!

I began this afghan on our Florida vacation at the beginning of August. So it only took me 3 months. My other afghans have taken me 5 months each. This one is quite a bit smaller, but far more complicated, so I think it's still impressive.

This is my third afghan... well 4th if you count the baby-sized one that I made last Christmas, but it was so boring to make that I always forget that I even made it. It was shell stitch all the way... row after row after row. I think that's why my others have all been squares. They're not so monotonous. It's also one reason I'm still a little reluctant to try a ripple blanket, I'm afraid I'll get bored really quickly. That and I just can't get the image out of my head of the ugly, scratchy brown and orange chevron afghan my mom had when I was growing up. I've seen such gorgeous ripple patterns lately that I am very tempted to try.

I digress.

Yes, I know my curtains are different lengths. I didn't pay attention when I bought them. Yes, I know I own a sewing machine and can fix that. I'm too lazy and apathetic.

I really loved making this afghan. It was definitely challenging, but not so much that it was frustrating. The pattern is from a big book of patterns, and two of the pages from this pattern eventually just fell out of the book from me flipping back and forth.

Even though it's finished now, I will probably still hang on to this until Thanksgiving before I give it to my boss.

I really want to make another one for myself, possibly in a different color scheme and probably bigger... at least another row of three to fit across the end of my bed. I saw a pink and green variation on Ravelry that caught my eye... not quite so stained glass-esque, but still very pretty. It will be a little while before I can, though. After my enormous list of Christmas crocheting, I have promised to make afghans for Olivia and Isabelle. My plate is full, but I absolutely love it.

Not to freak you out or anything...

2011-10-25T05:03:00.000-07:00

... but do you realize it's only 2 months until Christmas? *gasp!*

For most people that's no big deal, but for crafty people who try to make a lot of their gifts, this is crunch time.

If you look over to the right, I've started a little To Do list for myself. I'm extremely honored that I've had a few people commission me to make things for them this year. So far, that's what's on the list. There will be more. I have to make stuff for the girls, and Zoe's birthday is right after Christmas, so I have to keep that in mind also. (People with post-Christmas birthdays always get the short end of the stick, don't they?) And I'd love to sneak in a few decorations. We'll see how it goes.

But today.... today I really need to make the girls' Halloween costumes. I've been procrastinating because I am totally not excited about them. They vetoed every exciting idea I had. Now they're just going to be fairies (possibly wing-less) in tutu dresses. Meh. At least they'll be easy.

On a different note... we had parent-teacher conferences yesterday. It always blows me away to hear how my kids are at school. Heaven knows that at home they're crazy little goblins, but at school they're just everything I could ever hope they would be. Sweet, patient, smart, helpful. Olivia's apparently painfully shy in class, which she comes by naturally, but that was probably the worst thing I heard out of their teachers. I am a very proud Momma.

He's really just a softie...

2011-10-23T08:29:00.000-07:00

When Bill's aunt requested that I make a Michael Myers amigurumi, I was kind of nervous. I knew I wasn't going to be able to find a pattern and would have to wing it. The only amigurumi I've ever improvised was my stuffed stick figure, which was pretty much just a ball and some tubes. But I was determined to give it a try.

After getting really frustrated trying to improvise South Park dolls (I broke down and bought the pattern... I couldn't get the proportions right and was tired of ripping out my work), I grabbed a ball of light gray yarn and decided to take my frustrations out on the serial killer.

It took me a few tries to get the nose to not look too button-like. Then I decided I would try to do this without having to sew on arms or legs, because I really hate sewing on body parts. I've done this with legs before, but never arms.

The arms were almost more trouble to do this way than if I had worked them separately and sewn them on. I should have made them a tad bigger to make it a little less fiddly, but I think they look OK.

I tied his hair on but, unlike Olivia's doll, I decided to not go overboard. I knew the yarn I was using would fluff out enough to cover any bald spots. I originally was going to use felt for the eyes, because I'm not really good at embroidery, but I didn't have any black felt. Well, I probably do.... buried somewhere. I was in my "I'm almost done so I must not stop for anything" mode, so I didn't do a thorough search.

I still need to make him a knife. I thought about crocheting one... I have some sport-weight silver yarn that would work. I thought about some lightweight cardboard. A friend of mine suggested felt. I'll have to see if I have any thing that will work.

I think he looks more cute than creepy. I'm not sure I'll add details to his coveralls. He was fun to make and I'm pretty sure I could make more like that. I didn't write down a pattern or anything, but it wasn't all that complicated.

Confession: Until yesterday, I didn't even know what horror movie franchise Michael Myers was in. I don't watch them. If asked, I would have said Jason was the Halloween guy. Now I feel a little obligated to actually watch at least one Halloween movie to know what I just made. I have never seen a single Halloween movie. You'd be amazed at the number of popular movies I just have never seen. Netflix doesn't have the original on instant play, so I set the DVR to record it on Monday so I'll get to watch it Tuesday (maybe). Unfortunately, my husband will not watch horror flicks (I've never minded... I'm not big on being scared myself), so I'm on my own here. Let's hope I don't end up calling my sister and brother-in-law to check under the bed and in the closets before I go to bed.

Motherhood = insanity

2011-10-20T21:11:00.000-07:00

Olivia is going on her first sleepover tomorrow night. She's going to stay with the girl that came over here a few weeks ago. At first, when it was planned, I thought it would be really cool. I would have a little bit more attention to share with the other two that night.

But now that it's almost here, I would love for it to fall through and keep her home. Or for her to get homesick and ask to come home. The one and only time she's spent the night away from us was when I was in the hospital after having Isabelle and she stayed with my sister. Bill didn't even stay with me when I had Zoe... he stayed with the older two. My parents can't handle keeping a kid overnight and Bill's family is too far away. So this is new territory and I don't like it much right at the moment.

I would never describe myself as an overprotective parent. I'm not all that paranoid. I probably let my kids do things that a lot of parents wouldn't agree with... like let them play outside without my constant supervision. But this... this is freaking me out.

I just imagine every possible terrible thing that could happen while she's gone, from her losing her manners to things I won't even make myself put into words.

And, at the risk of sounding really judgmental, the girl comes from a really messed up family situation. She lives part-time with her grandparents... and that's where Olivia is going, the grandparents' house. To be honest, I am not sure I'd want her to go to the girl's mother's house at all. Just the things I've been told and the bits and pieces I've heard from Olivia, I just think it's a shame that the poor girl has to deal with it all. Growing up, I had quite a few friends who came from broken homes and dealt with similar situations.... I always kind of felt that I was a bit of an anchor from them, being from a very stable, relatively drama-free home. And Bill and I strive to provide that type of home for our kids. I should be proud that I'm raising children who can be that type of friend, but in some ways it makes me a little sad that anyone would need an anchor.

I try to keep an open mind, but it is just very difficult for me to comprehend people handing their children over to their parents to raise. I can't imagine going to bed at night not having kissed my kids goodnight. I mean, I think about this cruise I'm going on in a few months and really think I will at some point have a breakdown from being away from my kids that long. Obviously... here I am worrying about ONE kid being gone ONE night. I don't know how I'll handle over a week without the three of them.

I am sure that all will go well.... she'll come back happy as a lark, in one piece, with a good report on how well-behaved she is. Until she is back, I'll worry though. It's my job....

Oh, happy day!

2011-10-18T15:21:00.000-07:00

My husband stopped by our local camera shop yesterday while he was out and about on his day off. He didn't have my camera, however, but they told him to bring it in with the charger so they could take a look at it. He said he'd do it today after dropping the girls off at school, but I was pretty sure that he'd forget. I forgot to ask him about it when I talked to him, so I certainly couldn't blame him for forgetting about it himself.

Well, I got home today, opened the door and Bill went all paparazzi on me with my now-working camera!! It was a bad battery. They don't last forever apparently. He just had to buy a new battery, which has to be much less expensive than a repair and definitely less expensive than a new camera.

I'm a happy girl. And I'm so grateful for a husband who is so supportive of something that means so much to me. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't even have the camera... he insisted on it.

I think one reason he was so adamant that we get the camera working is that he knows how many pictures I normally take this time of year. We went to the state fair last night and I had to make do with the camera on my phone. I think he was more disappointed than I was that I didn't get a lot of good pictures of the girls enjoying the rides for the first time. Of course, I'm sure they'll appreciate one day that there aren't more pictures of their panic on the kiddie roller coaster.

All systems are go for our pumpkin patch visit... this weekend hopefully. =)

I've made some serious progress on the ol' Stained Glass Window.

I actually have one more attached since I took that picture and I'm working on the 5th one today. They way the pattern is written to attach the squares is a little confusing, and different from any other method. But I'm still loving it. I'm setting a goal of having it finished by Thanksgiving. Shouldn't be a problem, I don't think.

Serial Killer

2011-10-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

I am not one of those people who get freaked out having to be home alone (aside from the kids) at night. I've had lots of friends who are like that and it's just not something I really understand. And it's good that I'm not like that since my husband works nights. 5 nights a week, I'm alone. No big deal.

Usually.

I remember one night I was reading a Stephen King book. The title escapes me, but it's the one where the woman who gets trapped handcuffed to a bed. I got to this one part and got so scared I slammed the book shut and threw it across the couch. I was freaked out to be home alone that night.

So, tonight is just a quiet night here at the house. Me alone. The girls are asleep. Watched a bizarre movie that I didn't get. Just kind of in my own little head trying to decide what to do until Bill gets home or I go to bed. I opened the carport door and we have a porch swing right outside the door. And it was swinging like mad. It wasn't windy or anything, that thing was just swinging by itself. I slammed that door like I was in a horror flick and ran to the farthest room in the house.

I thought I was going to die.

After a few minutes of trying to reason with myself, I decided that I knew what had set the swing off and I should at least go check it out.

Yeah, I'm that stupid person that dies first in the horror movies because they have to go check things out.

(Don't worry, I obviously didn't get murdered... in case you were getting concerned)

I turned on the outside light and eased the door open. And I was right about what caused my heart attack (my reasonable guess, not the serial killer first conclusion).

Please excuse my messy carport... the girls were out there playing earlier today.

This cat has been hanging around for a few weeks. And it's not the first time she has scared me. I actually don't know if it's a boy or girl, but for simplicity's sake, it's a girl. She likes to chill out on the car booster seat at night. She likes me. When I convinced myself that Michael Myers was not about to jump out at me, I opened the door and stepped out. The kitty came up and rubbed against my legs. She has no collar, but she's fat and fairly clean, so someone takes care of her probably.

As much as I would love to have a cat, the landlady would have a stroke, so I'll just have to enjoy the Carport Kitty when she's not scaring the bejeezus out of me. I even gave her a name.

Serial Killer.

That way I won't feel so silly the next time I think a serial killer is outside. She probably will be.

Since Zoe's a punk...

2011-10-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

Well, you know that Zoe decided that we cannot give my boss the Daisy afghan after all. I felt a little bad, since my boss really liked it. But then I had a brainstorm.

I've had the idea to make a sample of the afghans when I complete them, so when I was making the Daisy afghan, I made 4 extra squares, one in each color. Then I joined them into a big square and added the border.

Did you know that tomorrow is Boss's Day? Yeah, on a Sunday of all days.... I realized it earlier this week and we forgot last year, so I wanted to make sure we didn't forget this year. And as part of our gift, I put my little sample afghan into a shadow box and am giving it to her.

I told them that it would be about 12" square, in hopes that they'd get a 15x15 box, but they got a 12x12. It fit, but just barely. She'll come in Monday to this and a gift card to a local salon.

She's still getting the Stained Glass Window afghan... I've been working on it today, in fact.

I think when I remake this sample for myself, and for my future ones, I will just use a picture frame and take the glass out. Or not. I'll just have to see how it looks, I guess. It might be a while before I do it anyway. I'm a little worn out by it right now. =)

The Sky Is Falling!

2011-10-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

One of my oldest friends requested that I make her a hat. This is what she asked for: a pink hat with a cute little face, simple flirty eyes and a cute mouth.

This is what my hook created:

I thought at first that it was just me being my usual overly critical self. Then the girls started asking me who the chicken hat was for. So it isn't just me. It is a little bit Chicken Little. It's cute... it fulfills the requirements, so long as you think a beak is a cute mouth. It's supposed to be puckered lips, really.

Putting it on didn't make it any less foul. *snicker* I'm a dork, sorry. But there's a picture of me in all my unbrushed glory... it wouldn't fit over my half-bun, half-pony I had going on. A picture of me with a chicken on my head.

Bock.

Goin' down to South Park...

2011-10-13T20:33:00.000-07:00

My husband's aunt has commissioned my newest project. One of her daughters is a huge South Park fan and Aunt A wants me to make the boys - amigurumi style - for a Christmas present.

There is a pattern for them, but it's kind of steep.... $12 for the set of 4. They're not very big, so I just thought that was a little more than I would like to pay. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind paying for a pattern. But I've studied the pictures on Ravelry of the finished dolls and I've studied pictures of the characters and I think I can do this without the pattern. Kenny might give me fits with his hood, but I'm going to give it a try.

I've been stockpiling the different colors for a few weeks and I sat down today to do some serious planning. Just a side note... I like South Park, but I rarely watch it. Until today I don't think I would be able to tell you which was Stan and which was Kyle. And after this is all said and done, I probably would still not be able to. The girls came in while I was sketching and asked if they could watch a video. That would be a negative, girls. Believe it or not kids, not all cartoons are made for the innocent. Especially South Park.

I decided to start with Stan. I finished it and now, looking at pictures again, my proportions are way off.. He needs a bigger head and smaller body.

Sure... he's Stan-esque, but he's just not shaped right. No big deal. The girls were dying to get their hands on him.

Back to the drawing board....

The Daisy Afghan... complete!

2011-10-12T20:23:00.000-07:00

I had hoped that this afghan would take me less than the 5 months that it took me to complete Babette, but it's been 5 months. But it is finished!

I am going to try to get better pictures. But I'm just so excited to show it off.

I decided to bring the yellow and white from the flowers out into the border. I tweaked it slightly from the pattern so it was a little more petal-like. I still think this would be amazing in a solid background color (like the green, especially). Maybe one day, but not anytime soon. It's time to move on.

I am going to make four more squares, one of each color, and make a little sampler of it. I've decided I might do this will all my afghans from now on... make a little sample version to frame. I think it would be a neat decoration and a good way for me to have a reminder of the afghans I give away.

And, of course, Zoe has decided she can't live without it, so it looks like the SGW is back to being my boss's gift again. I have neglected that for a few weeks, so I need to get back on it. Can we beat 5 months on this one? It is possible... it's only been a little over 2 months since I started it and I've made good progress. I have a bunch of other projects to work on at the same time, though, so we will just have to see.

Sad face

2011-10-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

Something awful happened today. I was sitting in Zoe's classroom at school, waiting to go on her field trip to the pumpkin patch, when tragedy struck. I had my precious Nikon D80, snapped a picture and

it died.

The screen went blank, the viewfinder went dark, dead.

There is something about going on field trips with Zoe. It's the second field trip that I've brought my camera on and had to put it away because it wouldn't work.

I turned it off and back on. Nothing. I took out the battery and put it back in. Nothing. The battery wasn't dead, I checked it before I left. It wasn't fully charged, but it was enough for the day.

I am willing to admit that I abuse it. I hardly ever put it in its cushy bag. The kids have banged their heads into it more times than I can count while it's around my neck. I've had it at least 3 years and have never had it cleaned. I've been meaning to since our trip to the beach, just in case it got some sand or saltwater in it despite my efforts to protect it. But I didn't.

And now it's dead.

I don't know what to do. I can't really afford to replace it at the moment. Who knows how much it would cost to repair? And the store's website where we got it said it would take 6-8 WEEKS for most repairs. What am I supposed to do without a camera for two months? Go crazy, that's what.

So, for now all my pictures will be cell phone pics. I'm disappointed because I have something to show you and the pictures suck. Boo. I'm such a spoiled brat.

Toasty legs

2011-10-11T04:39:00.000-07:00

I finally got a picture of Liv in her legwarmers. She says she loves them and has thanked me repeatedly for them, but I can't seem to get her to wear them for more than 10 minutes. Of course, it's still fairly warm around here. Maybe once it gets colder. She says she can't wear them to school, but I don't see why not. I didn't see anything in the dress code against them and if that chick I saw yesterday wearing knee-high "Beiber Fever" socks was any indication, they aren't picky about leg-wear.

A picture of her looking like a little girl!!!

I'm very, very excited. I am this close to being finished with the body of the Daisy afghan. I cold have finished it up last night but I decided to go to bed before 11pm for a change. I just have to attach the last row. That's it. Then on to the border. I need more yarn for the border... I didn't anticipate being ready for it until the weekend. And now that I'm here, I can't stop. I must finish it. It's going to make me insane otherwise. So I'll have to make a run to get some at lunch.

So excited.

I can't think of a title...

2011-10-08T22:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I survived our first ever sleepover. It wasn't too bad. They didn't stay up very late... my kids are usually in bed at 7:30pm, so they're kind of lightweights in the staying up department. Olivia was asking when they could go to bed about 9pm, and who am I to argue? The morning was a bit of a test of patience since I'm generally a pretty cranky person first thing in the morning and I didn't want to leave the poor child with the impression that I'm Monster Momma. Olivia wasn't the best hostess ever. I had to remind her several times that she needed to play with her friend. Luckily, the other two were more than willing to step in. Olivia would either get caught up in the television or go off to play alone.

We have a tentative reciprocal sleepover in two weeks. The girl's grandfather invited her to come stay the night, but I want to confirm it with her grandmother first. Make sure everyone's on the same page.

I was thinking about it and I don't think Olivia has ever spent the night away from us other than when Isabelle was born. My parents aren't up to keeping the kids overnight and Bill's family is too far away. It'll be so weird for her to not be here.

With the kids occupied with their visitor, I had a chance to put in some good progress on the Daisy afghan.

I'm kind of chilly right now, so that looks so cozy to me.

I'm thinking I'll have it all finished and put together by the end of the week and then I can start the border. That won't take long, I wouldn't think.

I need to pick up my neglected SGW. I haven't touched it in two weeks or more. I actually brought it out to work on it last night and got distracted by the book I was reading. I hit that point in the book where I had to finish it. Now I'm bookless for a few days. I hate that.

Seven

2011-10-06T20:21:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or do kids age exponentially? I mean, 7 seems years older than 6, not just 365 days.

6 year old Olivia

So much changes in a year.

7 year old Olivia

So much stays the same.

She's still so dramatic, which is good and bad. She loves to find a corner to play in with a few stuffed animals and you can overhear the tragic and fantastic tales she spins. But she doesn't even remember her imaginary Grandmother. Man, I miss those stories. Grandmudder was awesome. She is still a little couch potato, although her taste in television has evolved from Maggie and the Ferocious Beast to iCarly. She's interested in music more. Still sharp as a tack.

It's nearly impossible to get a picture of her looking like a little girl. Now she looks like a miniature teenager.

She loves her doll. She named her Lilly Blain. She was pretty sure I had made her a doll (since she did ask for one) and was planning the name on our ride home. Everything is named Lilly around here. And everyone's middle name is Blain to them (actually, only Zoe's middle name is Blain, but they can't pronounce Izzy's middle name so they have replaced it... which led to them just assuming it's everyone's middle name).

I finished the legwarmers, but she won't get them until Sunday. I'll take pictures of them then. Legwarmers just are better modeled.

I can't believe my first born is 7. Such a big number.

Olivia Grace, Happy Birthday! It's going to be a great year, I know it.

The Doll

2011-10-05T18:17:00.000-07:00

I finished Olivia's birthday present last night. I spent more than three, yes three, hours knotting hair into this doll's head.

You know when you get an idea and think it's a great idea until you are halfway through it and then you realize that it was the stupidest idea ever? That was me about 2 hours into the hair. Originally I wanted to crochet corkscrew curls for her hair, but I decided that there would be no way I'd get it done in time. For once, I was realistic. But I did want her to have a nice, full head of hair. Well... she definitely has that. I used probably more yarn on just her hair than the rest of the doll. Insanity, I tell you.

But I kind of like it now that I'm not in the process of making a billion knots. And her hair isn't fluffed out or anything, there's just that much of it. I have pretty thick hair myself and I'm jealous of this doll.

It was a labor of love. A week and a half of my nights devoted to this doll. It's a great pattern... I'd never used a chart like that before and I think I kind of prefer it. In fact, when I am copying a pattern down from the internet (I don't have a printer at home and sometimes I'm too impatient to wait until I get to work to print something), I often abbreviate things down to just stitch counts for a row anyway. It's not like most amigurumi patterns have complicated stitch patterns. It's all sc, inc, and dec for the most part.

I did make the shoes, but forgot to put them on. They won't stay on unless I sew them onto her so they'll be lost in no time anyway. No big deal, I think she looks fine without them.

I did go off on my own a little bit with the dress. It's by the pattern for the most part, but I was tired and ended up just lacing up the back and carrying the yarn over to make skinny straps instead of crocheting them and sewing on buttons. I like it though. She's a tad goth-looking with the gray and dark red and black. Working on the Daisy afghan, I'm a little burned out on pastels and I had these colors on hand. I gotta mix it up.

I've decided I might crochet amigurumi a bit too tight. I hardly ever use my G hook, but I pulled it out for the dress. I had last used my G hook on a different (and unfinished) ami project.... and it was warped. I bent my hook crocheting. So maybe I go a bit overboard on the tension. Just a little.

I see two more doll requests in my future, so I'm already scoping out other patterns. I can't make the same pattern over and over. Here are two options I'm looking at:

Source: ravelry.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I'm not overly fond of the head... I might make it rounder.

Source: ravelry.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

She looks like a Lalaloopsy doll =) And that's the hair I wanted to do...

I still have to finish up the legwarmers.... I have one leg finished and about 1/4 of the other. I am thinking it might not happen tonight, so she probably won't get them until Sunday when we have our family birthday celebration. They are also using more yarn than I anticipated, so it's debatable if I even have enough yarn! I'm a horrible judge of these things.

Awesome weekend

2011-10-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

I love October. After December, it's my favorite month. We always have so much going on in October that it's hard to fit it all in... the State Fair, pumpkin patch, Liv's birthday, Halloween. It's usually my biggest photo-taking month.

This month is looking like it will be no different. It's only two days into the month and I've snapped over 300 photos, and none of our big events has even happened yet. I'm so excited to see what the rest of the month will bring.

On Saturday, my best friend invited us to come join his family at the park. I oh-so-reluctantly abandoned my laundry ;) and threw the girls into the van. We went to a park we had never been to before. It was really neat. It's an older park, with tire swings, lots of slides, tunnels, odd looking swings with handlebars.... the girls were just in awe.

How bizarre is that? It made me nervous because it was blacktop underneath, but the girls weren't really big enough to get them going so they lost interest quickly. (Zoe was being pushed in that picture)

Isabelle and Abby... they are three weeks apart, Abby is older. She's Zoe's size, though. Little bitty thing.

The tunnels were fun, especially when they wanted to escape us and go to the other side of the park and us adults had to walk the long way around.

They found some sidewalk chalk and started decorating the tunnels.

You know how people always marry off their kids to their friends' kids? These two are like that. He's the sweetest kid and they've always been super great friends. Olivia loves her some Gabe.

Today was our Family Fun Day. They opened up a new pedestrian bridge this weekend at the Clinton Presidential Library. I've always wanted to take the girls there because they have the most awesome little park full of steep hills. So we went to go check out the bridge and do some hill-rolling.

The new bridge is an old railroad bridge that has been renovated and converted into a walking bridge. There are 4 (I think) pedestrian bridges crossing the river now. I'm loving them.

View from the bridge... that's downtown Little Rock. It was a perfect day, if you can't tell.

Izzy wasn't too keen on crossing the bridge, so I had to promise her a trip to the fountain in front of the library.

And then much rolling....

And belly-sliding on the steeper hills, was had by all (well, the kids anyway).

Little Obsession

2011-10-01T18:23:00.000-07:00

There is a potholder pattern that I've been wanting to adapt into a beanie for a good little while now...

Stir Me Up Potholder

The past few days, for some reason it became a little bit of an obsession. When I'm working on something with a deadline I seem to always need a quick project to break up the monotony. Plus, I can't work on Olivia's presents while she's awake and I also needed an afghan break. I love these afghans, but making squares can get a tad boring at times.

So, I dug into my yarn tote and picked out some colors and set to work.

Not entirely thrilled with the color combo, but it was just an experiment.

Making swirls is pretty fun. Starting out is extremely fiddly and I don't have any stitch markers (I use scrap yarn to mark rows in amigurumi), but I managed without them. Working with four strands of color meant that I had to be really careful to avoid a massive tangle-up and it was kind of annoying when my yellow yarn kept trying to run away from me, but the girls were nice enough to chase the ball and bring it back. It's was like having a cat! ;)

I want to make a candy cane colored one for Christmas, and maybe then I'll work up a pattern, but basically all you do is follow the potholder pattern until you feel it's big enough, then stop the increases and keep swirling away until it fits. It makes me want to find other circular potholder patterns to see if I can turn them into hats.

It worked up really fast, but it's too small for my kids. It took me a minute to get the math right in my head to figure out where I made my mistake, but I did, so I'll be able to make them one that will fit. This one will probably go to the children's hospital or some other charity.

Luckily, one of the girls' teddy bears was willing to help me out as a model.

I was told it reminded someone of a hacky sack.

Thank you Pink Fuzzy Bear (if the stuffed animals around here have names, no one has let it slip around me) for your assistance. You have been, by far, the easiest model.

Dented

2011-09-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

For the past three nights, I've put in about 2 hours a night into this doll for Olivia. I have the legs and the body finished. I'm aiming for a body part a night. I haven't amigurumi'd since making Wonder Woman for Isabelle in April, so I'm out of the habit of crocheting so tight and I'm feeling it. My thumb on my right hand is dented from pushing the hook into the tight stitches and my forefinger on my left hand is dented from holding so much tension in the yarn. It'll be gone by morning, but I'm convinced by the time this doll is finished that I'll have permanent dents. And carpal tunnel syndrome. Good thing I know good ortho docs, huh? LOL

I pulled out the Daisy (formerly known as Zoe's) afghan yesterday and Olivia asked me if that was what I was working on and wanted to know why I wasn't working on her birthday present yet. She's a harsh task master, that one. I told her I wasn't going to work on it with her around... it has to be a surprise. She also actually asked me for legwarmers, too, so I was pretty proud of myself that I've started a pair of those for her also. I'm working on those at work, and hoping I can get them done in addition to the doll.

Now I have to show you something that has been added to my list that I hope to accomplish by Christmas. I've mentioned before that my husband's aunt has asked me to make the kids from South Park. There is a pattern for them, but as I'm working on this doll, I'm more and more convinced that I might be able to figure it out on my own, since they aren't very complicated-looking shape-wise. She's also requested Michael Myers, which I will have to make up on my own. That will be a challenge.

And then I saw this on Pinterest the other day:

Source: blog.craftzine.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

The BeeGees! My husband loves The BeeGees. This is knit, of course, so I'd have to make the pattern up on my own, but they have chest hair. Oh my gracious, I can't handle it. Seriously, how hilarious would it be to make a doll with chest hair? My cousins have already put in their requests if I figure it out for their own sets. I am just dying over here. Chest hair. I can make a tutorial: How to make chest hair for your amigurumi.

I am losing it, folks.

Blog Award

2011-09-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

Well, lookie there, Sam from Not Your Gram's Afghan awarded me The Versatile Blogger award. Thank you, Sam!

In order to accept the award, I am supposed to tell you 7 interesting things about me and then nominate 15 other blogs for the award. Well, I'll do the 7 things, but I don't have 15 blogs to nominate. I mean, a lot of the blogs I read are pretty popular blogs and I interpreted this to be for fairly new or undiscovered blogs. No biggie. I'm honored all the same and I will nominate a few blogs because I'm interested in their 7 things. I'm nosy like that. =) (and if you don't do them, it won't hurt my feelings... I'm also easy like that)

So... here are 7 possibly interesting things about me:

1) I was my high school class Valedictorian. AND I dropped out of college. I mostly felt that I was racking up student loan debt for no reason because I didn't know then and I still don't know now what I want to be when I grow up.

2) Once upon a time I did know what I wanted to be... and that was a fashion designer. I still have most of my designs. This was middle school era. I wanted to go to the Rhode Island School of Design. Then I decided I needed to be all practical and stuff and you see where that's gotten me. LOL

3) I have 6 tattoos, or 10 if you count the symbols individually. Left ankle: dragonfly and Kanji symbols for "dream" and "love". Right ankle: Pink Twiddlebug. Right boob: falling star. Left boob: little blue flower. Back: ugly sun and moon that I'm going to get covered eventually. Neck: a stick man and Kanji symbols for "believe" and "happy". And yes, I do want more.

4) I hate the word "y'all". I especially hate it when people say things like this: "I need y'all's number." First of all, that's too many apostrophes in one word to possibly be right anyway, and secondly, that just sounds awful. I'm Southern born and bred, but I just can't handle that word.

5) I once lived in a haunted house. That's a really long story, but there is no way you can convince me that it wasn't haunted.

6) I have never watched, and do not ever plan to ever watch any of the Star Wars movies. I've seen enough parodies and clips to have a pretty good idea of what it's about and I don't really care to watch them. In fact, when I worked at Toys R Us, and had to deal with the action figure collectors, I vowed to never watch anything that made people that obnoxious and insane.

7) I sleepwalk. My mom said I've done it since I was a kid and I even had friends see me do it during sleepovers. When Olivia was a baby, we had to move her into our bedroom because I was getting up and walking across the house with her to bring her to our bed and I never woke up. I thought for the longest time Bill was doing it. I've never tried to leave the house, but I have awakened in the middle of making a mayonnaise and peanut butter sandwich in the middle of the night, so I'm seriously hoping that I don't sleep cook often. I hope even more I don't eat it if I do.

So, I'm going to give the award to these chickies....

Tabby @ Buzzing Around the Apple Tree
Amanda @ Our "Normal" Family
Amy @ Sitting At Our Kitchen Table
Jen @ Tw-In Stitches

And anyone else that wants to share 7 things, please do. I love reading about people =)

My Little Soapbox

2011-09-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

Flu shot season is speeding towards us quickly, and I wanted to just give out a little PSA...

You have a choice to have a shot, which is a dead virus, or the FluMist, which is a weakened live virus. If you have contact with someone who has a weakened immune system, please consider getting the shot over the virus. While the chance is low that you can transmit the live virus from the FluMist, it is possible. I honestly don't care how low the chance is, the flu can be deadly to people who don't have healthy immune systems and any chance is too much when it comes to people I care about. Shot suck, trust me, I hate them with a passion and I know how hard it is to inflict them on children, but at least think about it. Not everyone with immune deficiencies look sickly.

Here is a link to the CDC information on the immunization:

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/nasalspray.htm

Goofballs

2011-09-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

My kids were watching MegaMind today, which is one of Iz's favorite movies - mainly because of the music. She got up and started dancing, which quickly turned into them asking me to turn off the movie and put on some music. What started out as a little dance party somehow turned into a fashion show. They ran to grab some skirts to wear as little capelets (and if I were to make them actual capelets, they'd never wear them) and sashayed up and down the hall, stopping to pose for me.

The pictures are terrible.... I knew if I got up to grab the real camera that they'd stop doing it, so I took advantage of it with the camera phone.

This child's runway walk is primo!

Odd poses are her strong suit.

She hasn't quite mastered her sister's runway booty shake, but she's getting there.

I love having these three goofy girls. I'm sure there has to be things that boys do that would amuse me, but I can't for the life of me think of anything better than having little girls.

We Interrupt This Program...

2011-09-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

I always seem to realize about a week or so before my kids' birthdays that I need to get on the ball and make them something. Olivia's birthday is in 12 days and, well, it's time for me to get busy. I am going to make her an amigurumi doll like this:

Source: stitch.hellooperator.net via Jennifer on Pinterest

It's a free pattern... bonus! I prefer Caron Simply Soft to work amigurumi, so I need to see what I have on hand. If I buy more, it's going to have to be in the colors I need for my aunt's South Park amis I need to get started on.

I made my first amigurumi a year ago... a bunny for Olivia's birthday. I stayed up very late working on that thing. It's now on my dresser waiting for a new eye and it's arms reattached. If you want to see it, you can go here.

I can't work on this while Olivia's up, so it will have to replace my SGW as my evening project. Amigurumi requires a bit too much concentration to take it to work to do at lunch. On occasion, someone wants to sit and talk to me while I'm there (I eat lunch so early, though, that I'm normally alone) so I need something that doesn't require referring to a pattern frequently.

I hate stopping work on the SGW, I really do. I crocheted myself a headache last night getting all the corner motifs finished. Now on to the borders to finish up the squares, which means I'm now working square to square instead of all of them at once. One one hand I feel like I'm almost finished, but on the other hand I still have about 2 skeins of black that have to go into this thing, so I know I'm not.

PS...

2011-09-22T20:47:00.000-07:00

After an awesome suggestion, I have put three of my crocheting patterns on Ravelry. It's pretty exciting to see how many people have marked them as favorites and how many queues my patterns are in. I really can't wait to see some finished projects.

I'm kind of geeked out about it, if you can't tell. ;) It makes me want to come up with more patterns. And you know I just have so much time for that.

You can find me on Ravelry here: Silvertears

Someone just decide for me, OK?

2011-09-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

I am probably the most indecisive person I know. I really don't know how I get anything done. :::sigh:::

Let's revisit the drama around making a gift for my boss. Or rather, let's not... let's just let it suffice that it took me a ridiculous amount of time to commit to the Stained Glass Window afghan. Just keep that in mind as I tell this story, which is long and convoluted and probably really confusing.

As I have mentioned before, I take part of Zoe's afghan to work with me to work on at lunch. It's my little stress-buster because there are parts of my job I dislike and I work with some really negative people. It's nice to take a break and do something I really enjoy in peace and quiet (sometimes). Because of this, my boss is quite familiar with the project. She also crochets, but to my knowledge, she only does chevron baby blankets. So she's pretty amazed at how this is all coming together - she probably didn't even know half the stitches I use existed. She's told me before that she thinks it's gorgeous, and I just graciously accept the compliment and move on.

Today, I was eating lunch at my desk, and therefore not really able to crochet, so I was doing some preliminary planning to Olivia's afghan. I think I have found the patterns that I want to use for Olivia and Isabelle's afghans.

Source: yarnyinspiration.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Olivia's.... but in different colors, of course

Source: tangledness.com via Heidi on Pinterest

Isabelle's... in pretty much those colors

First of all, I am thinking of doing these two afghans at the same time. Like I am with the SGW and Zoe's afghan. I know they both want to get the next afghan and I can't decide who should get it, honestly. I was doing Zoe's first because she doesn't have a twin-sized quilt from my sister yet. Olivia does have one and my sister is working on Isabelle's. So it's a toss up. I think I will use the same basic color scheme for both, to simplify things. My only problem is that if their afghans coordinate, it just bums me out a tiny bit that Zoe's doesn't. Their afghans will be all loud and bright and hers is soft and pastel. It's not that they have to all match, but it was just an "I wish I had thought of this sooner" kind of thing.

Anyway.. back to the story...

My boss asked me what I was doing while I was working on my plans for Olivia's and we talked about it for a minute. Then she said again how much she loves Zoe's afghan and how she loves the colors (which is odd because I never pegged her for a pastel person). Like I said, she's mentioned how much she likes it before, but today it kind of struck me in a "Man, I wish I had one like that" kind of way.

And the wheels start turning...

Here's what we have: an afghan for Zoe that doesn't match her sisters but my boss is in love with and an afghan she may or may not love but I love.

Why not give her Zoe's afghan, keep the SGW afghan, and make a different afghan for Zoe in the same color scheme as her sisters' afghans? Zoe won't really care. She thinks everything I make is the coolest thing ever... God bless 3 year olds. =)

Am I crazy? I am going to just finish both afghans up as planned and decide then. Maybe I'll see if I can get a reaction to the SGW afghan... maybe be like, "hey look at this pattern, how gorgeous is this?" and see if I get a stronger reaction to that.

Oh, and if I do give her Zoe's afghan, I already have a plan for her new one...

Source: sewisee.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Spiderweb Beanie Pattern

2011-09-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

Are you getting ready for Halloween? We are in the planning stages on costumes... trying to break out of dressing all three girls the same. But you can't be in costume every day - unfortunate, isn't it? - so you have to sneak in some spookiness where you can.

If it's getting chilly in your neck of the woods (sadly, not in mine), here is a spooky spiderweb hat that will help your little one keep the Halloween spirit when they can't run around in your Spiderman costume. (Or yourself, if you know how to enlarge a child-sized pattern) In fact, this might make a cool part of a Spiderman costume if you do it in red and blue. And you could do it in a single color if you just like the texture of it and want to wear it throughout the chilly seasons.

I would consider this an intermediate skill pattern. It might be a little much for a beginner. But give it a try... you can't expand your skills if you don't try. =)

On some rows, you will be crocheting in the back loops only. Normally, when you make a crochet stitch, you slip your hook between both loops on the previous row. Crocheting in the back loops only (BLO) leaves the front loops free and we will be using some of those.

On some rows, you will be making a TC down to a previous row. If you are a tight crocheter, you will need to concentrate on making these loose or you will end up with a bunched up hat. Maybe keep a hook handy a few sizes bigger, if need be.

You can fasten off for each color change, or carry your yarn up to the next row of that color. I prefer to just carry the yarn up on things like this where it won't show. But it's your preference.

Supplies:

Worsted weight yarn in two colors (I chose black and orange)
H hook or your usual trusty beanie-making hook
Scissors

Join all rows with a slip stitch in the first stitch.

Make a magic ring or ch4 and join in ch farthest from the hook to form a ring.

Row 1: (in web color - WC) ch1, 10 hdc in ring
Row 2: (in background color - BC) ch1, 2 hdc in back loops only (BLO) in each st around

Row 3: (BC) ch1, *1 hdc, 2 hdc in next stitch, rep from * around
Row 4: (WC) ch1, *3 hdc, tc in front loop of Row 1 stitch**, rep from * around

**yo twice, draw up yarn through the front loop on previous round and work tc loosely. The tc should lay on top of the two previous rows

Row 5: (BC) ch1, in BLO - *3 hdc, 2 hdc in next stitch, rep from * around
Row 6: (BC) ch1, *4 hdc, 2 hdc in next stitch, rep from * around
Row 7: (WC) ch1, *5hdc, tc in front loop of tc on Row 4, skip next stitch on working round, rep from * around
Row 8: (BC) ch1, hdc BLO around
Row 9: (BC) ch1, hdc around
Row 10: (WC) ch1, *5hdc, tc in front loop of tc on Row 7, skip next stitch on working round, rep from * around
Row 11: (BC) ch1, hdc BLO around
Row 12: (BC) ch1, hdc around
Row 13: (WC) ch1, *tc in front loop of tc on Row 10, skip next stitch on working round, hdc in next 5 stitches, rep from * around
Row 14: (BC) ch 1, hdc BLO around
Row 15: (BC) ch 1, hdc around
Row 16: (WC) ch1, hdc, *tc in front loop of next tc on Row 10, skip next stitch on working round, hdc in next 5 stitches, rep from * 9 times, tc in front loop of next tc on Row 10, skip next stitch on working round, hdc in next 4 stitches.
Row 17: (BC) ch 1, hdc BLO around
Row 18: (BC) ch 1, hdc around
Row 19: (WC) ch1, hdc in first 2 stitches, *tc in front loop of next tc on Row 16, skip next stitch on working round, hdc in next 5 stitches, rep from * 9 times, tc in front loop of next tc on Row 16, skip next stitch on working round, hdc in next 3 stitches.
Row 20: (BC) ch 1, hdc BLO around
Row 21: (BC) ch 1, hdc around
Row 22: (WC) ch1, hdc in first 3 stitches, *tc in front loop of next tc on Row 19, skip next stitch on working round, hdc in next 5 stitches, rep from * 9 times, tc in front loop of next tc on Row 19, skip next stitch on working round, hdc in next 2 stitches.
Row 23: (WC) sl st to first tc, *(hdc, dc, hdc) in stitch, sl st next 5 stitches, rep to end. Fasten off and weave in ends.

Happy Hooking!

Woulda, coulda, shoulda....

2011-09-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

Today was interim report day for Iz and Liv. Olivia has straight A's. I figured as much, seeing the work they are doing. I'm worried about her getting really bored with it, to be honest. Her teacher didn't request a conference, but I might email her just to kind of voice my concern over her needing to be challenged more and see what kind of suggestions her teacher has. She seems to enjoy her homework more when it's things I haven't seen her do for the past two years.

Isabelle's report kind of made me feel bad. She doesn't get grades, but her teacher did mention that she needs some work with her letters. We sent Olivia to PreK, but didn't send Isabelle. We assumed, incorrectly, that her Mother's Day Out teacher would teach her some of the basics... but she didn't and Isabelle couldn't even write her name the first day of Kindergarten. Even Zoe is learning that already. I really wish we had sent her to PreK now. Or at least worked on it with her ourselves. I know I shouldn't compare Isabelle to Olivia, but I just feel like she's so far behind where Olivia was at this time. I know she'll catch up, she's definitely a smart cookie, but I still think she missed out on a huge advantage.

Iz's teacher did request a conference. She has an amazing teacher and I know she'll have all kinds of advice. I'm interested in just hearing what she has to say about Izzy.... she had Olivia in her class last year and Isabelle is such a different child. Definitely the spirited child of my three.

But Daddy, upon hearing that Izzy was having trouble at school, scored mucho points when he went straight to the computer and looked up some online educational games for her to play. He sat and helped her for a good little while.

Then he took them outside and built them a tree swing.

My Weekend

2011-09-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well, our last Saturday Family Fun Day didn't go as planned. It actually didn't go at all. I was feeling really yucky. I'm better now, thank goodness. A visit to the doctor is just not something I am feeling right now.

I did have a pretty productive weekend though...

All the green squares for Zoe's afghan are completed. I also made all the centers for the last 12 pink squares. Since I'm doing most of the work on this at work during lunch lately, I decided to just take it one color at a time for transportability's sake. I'm making really good progress on this even as my second priority.

I also have all my centers finished for the Stained Glass Window afghan. I have to do the corner motifs and then I'm stuck until I go get more black yarn. The majority of the rest of it is black.

My landlords came by today to check on a problem we have with the floor and the landlady seemed a little shocked that I crochet. I seem to forget sometimes that so many people think it's an "old lady" craft. I see it all over the place online, but in my real life, I hardly know anyone who does it on a regular basis.

And Olivia finally lost that tooth on Saturday. It was as traumatic as she could make it. And even though Daddy was home, he refused to pull it, so it fell to me to do the deed. He's just as squeamish about it as I am. Olivia doesn't make it any easier. She bit into something and it started bleeding again. You would have thought I was performing mouth surgery without anesthetic with all the blood and screaming going on. I seriously wanted to just throw up. But I did it and managed to not show how freaked out about it I was myself. All I know is that I hope she's the only one of the three who will be so dramatic about the whole thing. Isabelle should start losing teeth soon and we'll be having teeth falling out left and right - I can't handle the freak out on a regular basis.

While I was feeling puny on Saturday, Bill did take the girls out to get a movie so that we could at least have a movie night. On their way home, they pulled over and picked me some wildflowers. How sweet is that? Olivia and Zoe ran into the house and Olivia told me that Isabelle was bringing in a surprise for me and she was not going to tell me what it was. Zoe piped up, "But it's going to be flowers." She's the cutest.

So, aside from my body going on strike on Saturday, it was a good weekend. I have been working on the pattern for the Spiderweb Beanie. I have the actual pattern written out, but I need to finish the beanie for pictures. And I'm debating giving the finished hat away when I post the pattern. I've never done a giveaway... we shall see...

Oh what a tangled web we weave....

2011-09-15T18:13:00.000-07:00

Last night, as I was drifting off to sleep, I had an idea for a hat. It's inspired by the Stained Glass Window afghan pattern, with the overlay crochet techniques. I was thinking how the black looks a bit like a spider web.... and Halloween is coming up... a spider web hat would be awesome. I knew I had to get it out of my head as quickly as possible. So, even though I am pressing myself to stay focused on the afghans I'm working on, I had to take part of this evening to work this out before it left me.

These pictures are my "first draft." There will be some changes, and I definitely would choose a bigger contrast in color, but I couldn't find any white yarn (aside from the white in Zoe's afghan, which I don't like making hats with) and I wasn't going to use my black, since I need a ton of it for the SGW. I found light gray and dark gray and went with that. It's a bit like a dusty cobweb to me.

I am going to try to put together a pattern for it. It will be a little more complicated than normal, with the overlay stitches. I like the 3D effect of the web, though. I could work it into a snowflake for Christmas, also. So be on the lookout... hopefully it won't take me too long.

Linking up here:

Oh, heavens, the drama!

2011-09-14T20:54:00.000-07:00

So, tonight I was making some Buffalo Chicken bites, per my husband's request. My hands are all eggy and floury and Panko-y. I hear a panicked cry and Olivia comes running into the kitchen with a half-eaten cookie and blood coming out of her mouth. "My tooth! My tooth! I bit my cookie and my wiggly tooth is really wiggly now!"

This is not excitement. This is full-on freak out.

This tooth has been loose for going on 6 months now. I'm not exaggerating one bit. I checked... I had made her a tooth fairy door as soon as she told me it was loose and I uploaded the picture on March 31. But she refuses to wiggle it. I felt it that day... it really was loose. I'm surprised her permanent tooth hasn't come in behind it as long as this has drawn out.

I can't deal with loose teeth. It makes me really squeamish. I lucked out on her first two teeth.... one came out in the morning when it was just Bill to deal with it and the other fell out at school. I won't even keep their baby teeth as keepsakes for the girls. That just grosses me out.

But I try to keep my cool about it. She's flipping out enough for both of us (and then some). I wash my hands and get her some paper towels and assess the situation. It is really wiggly, but not to the point that I can just pull it out easily. I asked for help on facebook and was told to do the whole tie a string on her tooth and to a doorknob and shut the door. I can't do that. Are you crazy? I did try another suggestion of sticky candy... I gave her some Bit O Honey.

She told me she forgot how to bite down.

Drama. I'm not making this up.

She told me to call her father. (Like he's going to rush home from work to have her not let him touch her)

She told me to call her teacher and tell her she can't come to school tomorrow. (Oh yes, I remember "loose teeth" on the list of things to keep your kid home from school for)

I can only imagine puberty with this child. If they make gray hair dye, I need to just go get some and get this over with.

Due to the fact that I absolutely can't bring myself to pull this tooth and the fact that she absolutely won't wiggle it, she is now in bed with all of her teeth still in her head. Daddy can deal with it in the morning.

They kind of look like ugly potholders right now. =)

Busy Little Bee

2011-09-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

Yup, that's me.

This afghan might not take me 5 months to complete! Woo hoo! I even got an orange round on two of them... the ugliest round of them all. I'm not a fan of orange in the least. And I snuck (sneaked?) in two of Zoe's squares, too. I try to work on her blanket during lunch at work, but today I had a choice of working on the blanket while I ate my turkey Lunchable or eat Olive Garden. Come on, is that really a choice?

I cannot type "Olive" without accidentally typing "Olivia."

My children were entirely too loud this evening. We're talking way beyond outside voices inside. I was yelling and couldn't hear myself. It kind of made me wonder why on earth I am willing to add a fourth noisemaker in a few weeks.... Olivia is going to have her first overnight guest. Her birthday is coming up and I just don't want to even think about a big party. So I had this idea that instead of a party, I'd let her have a friend spend the night. I haven't talked to the girl's mother, other than a note that I sent with Olivia to give to her BFF to give to her mom, but I have talked to the girl's grandmother when I picked Olivia up and she said the mom was fine with it. I am really excited about it for them. I didn't mention to Olivia what my plan was or what the note said, but they pretty much figured it out. Why else would I be sending a note to the kid's mom? So, they have the whole thing planned out already, including makeovers. I'm sure it will be a blast (and probably sound like one too...)

Is it weird...

2011-09-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

... that I want to frame one of my Stained Glass Window squares?

I pinned my finished square on the wall and I don't want to take it down. It's going to be so hard to give this afghan away.

When I was working on the squares last week, I was missing one of them. So I just started another one. Then I found it yesterday. So I caught it up with the other 11. Now I have 12 in progress and the finished one. I'm keeping one. It's just too pretty. I can't help it. I may never make another full afghan from the pattern, so I want something other than pictures of it.

My book is falling apart now... I've been using it so much. If you ever spend money on an afghan pattern book, I can't recommend this enough. The pattern for Zoe's afghan is in there as well as the Stained Glass Window afghan. There are quite a few others in the book that I would like to make. I don't normally buy pattern books... there just aren't usually enough patterns in them that I like to justify the cost, especially when you can find so many great patterns online for free.

Source: amazon.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Did you know that today (Monday 9/12) was International Crochet Day? I didn't until tonight. I definitely celebrated. I crocheted my way into a headache, I crocheted so much. And that was after cleaning. I'm being super productive lately. We better enjoy this while it lasts. ;)

Saturday Family Fun Day

2011-09-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

This was our next-to-last Saturday Family Fun Day. *pouty face* Next Saturday is Bill's last Saturday off. They are switching his days off to Sunday and Monday. So we'll have to start having Sunday Family Fun Days. *happy face*

Of course, this means I'm going to have to get into a new routine. Right now, Sunday is my big laundry day. No matter how hard I try, I can't get into the habit of doing a load a day, and even when I do, there's still several to do at the end of the week. I swear, sometimes I feel like there are more than 5 people in this family on laundry day. So I'm going to have to get into the habit of doing laundry on Saturday so that I don't have that hanging over my head on Sunday. I'm not a big fan of changing my routine.

And I liked that the two nights a week that I can stay up late and don't have the extra tasks of getting things ready for the next day were the same nights that my hubby is home. Sometimes I really dislike my husband's bosses. OK, most of the time. The man never calls in, always comes in when asked, actually takes being on call seriously, spends his own free time taking certification tests and whatnot... yet he's always the one that gets uprooted and thrown around when people quit. Because he'll do it without making a fuss. I just hate that the people who are the most difficult to work with always get their way... just because it's easiest.

Enough complaining... let's get back to the topic at hand. =)

Bill had been planning our Fun Day all week. Or at least the first part of it... going to an antique tractor show. He loves tractors, having practically been raised on a dairy farm. He can tell you just about anything you'd want to know about any kind of farm tractor. So we took a little drive out to Scott, AR to look at some tractors...

They had a little plot of cotton planted. I don't think I've ever been up close to cotton plants before, but I've heard my dad talk about having to pick it before...

It's actually quite pretty, I think.

Little cotton balls =)

There is a cypress swamp in the area... I think it's quite pretty, too.

We left there and had lunch at a new burger place that everyone keeps raving about. I wasn't that impressed. In fact, I had a bit of a tummy ache afterwards. I had mentioned earlier that there was a new walking bridge that had opened recently, so we decided to check it out.

Now, ever since I was little, I thought that the land that this bridge connects to was an island and I always wanted to go on this island. It's actually just a little peninsula, but it was still really exciting to be able to just go walk over to it now.

There is a walking trail once you get over the bridge. It's actually a part of a huge trail system in the area. We didn't make it to the end of this particular part of the trail, but I think we were close because we were seeing people coming back that had passed us (because we were sloooooow.)

The reason we were slow. Short little legs and short little patience. This was when we decided to turn around.

And this was when we got near the end. Poor little Dodo was not happy. It sucks to be the littlest person. She told me several times that we should have brought the stroller or wagon. And maybe I would have if we had actually planned that part of the trip, but it was kind of a "what can we do now?" decision.

It definitely got me wanting to take more walks, even with all the whining. I love trails. Walking trails, nature trails, walking bridges. It's one of my favorite parts of where we live, so many trails. =)

Can you hear the angels singing?

2011-09-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

I got a lot of crocheting finished while we had company. I finished the sixth row of Zoe's afghan, which is the halfway point (not counting the border). And I worked all 12 of my Stained Glass Window squares to the point where I needed new colors.

Darn it all, had to go to Hobby Lobby. What torture. =)

I decided to just grab the 3 remaining colors and more black all at once. No more stressing over my color choices. Just get it and be done. And since I had all the colors, I thought I'd finish a square completely to see if what I made would even look like what is in the book.

Want to see? Do you? Do you?

Here it is...

I am not going to lie. This is a very challenging pattern. But it is fun. On one hand, I'm thinking "I have to make 11 more of these?", but the fun factor makes it not so daunting.

It's also huge. It's about 10 inches... I think. I couldn't find anything to measure it with, but it was about as tall as my 8x10 picture close to it.

When I had the center of it finished with all the colors, I was not sure I liked it at all. The yellowish color just seemed "off" to me. But then I got the corner motifs on and it looked so much better... it just tied it together perfectly. I completely love it. This is going to be such an amazing afghan. It will be so hard to give it away.