WIP Wednesday

I have been diligently working on my UFOs for the crochet-along on Crochetville, but in addition to that, I have just a couple other things to show you:

First, a cool butterfly hair thing [pattern]. This flashy one is held in my hair with bobby pins, but I bought a skinny dowell to make sticks to poke into the next one I make. I have also made a larger pink one. I ♥ these, and plan to make lots more:





I have made this bookmark for my friend, Felicia, who was recently diagnosed with stage III Inflammatory Breast Cancer:





Other things on the hooks now include:
*poncho sweater for me
*Sunshine and Lace afghan
*sailboat doily
*pair of socks
*Mile-a-minute afghan

Swap news! I need to show you this package from Becky, one of my Spring Flower Swap partners! I received the box filled with lovely thread, yarn, and tissue paper flowers and some much-needed lotions, yesterday:






I stumbled onto this awesome site too, in my search for monster inspirations--Shawnimals. I decided to try to make some of my own. I need some work, that's for sure, but here is a beginning:

Introducing Willby

May I present you Willby, my monster entry for April's Month of Softies:






He is made out of an old blouse, and stuffed with a cut up t-shirt of Tim's, and 2 cut up onesies that have been outgrown. This stuffing makes him kind of lumpy and dense/heavy, which is PERFECT for this little beast. He is inspired by these ugly dolls.

Media Monday, and a Hallelujah!

Thank GOD the water thing "only" cost us $120. The massive flooding was due to a busted clamp that needed replaced. Of course there is --and was before this-- the giant rotting floor hole in the bathroom, covererd up elegantly with a piece of wood and a rug, which will run us at least $1000, but that is another matter.

Let's see. Media Monday--I have updated the books in the sidebar. I am reading

which, to me, is a totally fascinating book. I am using it for research for the book I am gonna write [someday]...

Lately the little kids have been in a dinosaur phase, so we've been playing with lots of little plastic dinos, and reading this flap book:

I think the illustrator is local to me, because my mom gave the kids a signed copy for Christmas... It's very cute!

There is an awesome list of some dude's top 25 moments in Sesame Street History. Click Super Grover to go there:

If you have a sewing machine, you MUST try this craft. Here are step by step instructions to making a stuffed dog out of a pair of socks. Mine's almost done, and I will show him to you soon.

Hasta la vista!

Help Meee............I'm Drowwwwningggg..........

Ok, and I mean drowning in two ways. First, I have been very busy at work. It drives me crazy, how my work goes in waves--I can be internet surfing Queen for two weeks, and then have more work than 3 people could handle for the next three weeks. It's maddening.

Drowning in the second way? Well, let's just say YET ANOTHER chunk of our house is falling apart. I had heard a different type of "drip...drip..." sound in the master bathroom for the last day or so. I inspected all the faucets, usual leaking places, but couldn't find anything. Tonight, I felt the tub's hot water faucet metal on the handle was warm. Hmmm? It usually isn't warm. Listen closer, and then open the linen closet right by the head of the tub. Move the piece of wall that comes out so I can see under the tub [we live in a mobile home]. And see........a giant puddle. SH*T. OMG this has been dripping in here for 2 days. And it fills up a cup in about an hour.

So, I called the plumber, and he is coming tomorrow morning. I sure hope it doesn't cost an arm and a let to fix. Funny thing is, when he arrives tomorrow, he will have to walk thru the master bedroom--you know, where our laundry is hanging since our dryer is also broken. We just can't get ahead.

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I have really and truly done tons of crochet, sewing, crafts, and even picture taking lately. I just haven't had posting time. I *should* get better at it soon, though, because right before we found the leak [we had decided we could do without the dryer for a while], literally, 3 days ago--we got a laptop!!! My home PC had died a month or so ago, and the parts were Gateway Relics apparently, so we couldn't fix it. We decided to use the last of or tax refund to purchase a laptop for me and Emma to use. I ((((love))) it. O. M. G. why didn't we get one of these a LONG time ago??!

Anyways, I have taken the . I promise to either my UnFinished Objects. I have about 5 UFOs that need finished up, and I am pledging to not start another [large] project til they are ALL done. I can do it, would you like to join me?

I have finished my and want to make antoher little scarfy to go with it before sending it off.

Ok, that's plenty for now, I think.

Happy {Belated} Birthday, Brenda!

Happy birthday, to my sister Brenda! Sorry I didn't call or post this on your exact birthday date. I am glad to hear you are getting use out of and enjoying your presents!

Your Inner European is Irish!

Sprited and boisterous! You drink everyone under the table.

Who's Your Inner European?

Ha! I highly doubt I could drink anyone under the table, but I do like the thought of being Irish. And I really do have Scottish ancestry, so that's close, right? ;)

WIP Thursday (I Missed Wednesday, oops!)

WIP=Works in Progress, fyi...

Let's see:
1) I got mad at the Sunshine Lace afghan because I had to frog about 3+ hours of work. I haven't picked it up again yet.

2) Sailboat doily is coming along. I ♥ this one. I want to make more of them and ones like it, with motifs around the edge--as you can see, I have only finished one boat so far. It is a blocker's dream doily, too. I am not a super-blocker, by any means, but I do love to see transformations happen in front of my eyes!




3) Two ponchos, both of which I ran out of yarn half way through--this time it's for me (brown one) and Emma (purple one):





4) Softie--Recycled Monster--I have named him Willby, and he is being made out of an old blouse. I plan to give him to Ryan, even though he probably will show no interest in him (anyone else have this problem with their kids sometimes? You work forever on a toy or item for them, and they prefer their Happy Meal toy to it? AARGH!):





Ending with a quiz today--it's been a whilse since I have seen a quiz I've been interested in taking:

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English

25% Yankee

15% Upper Midwestern

5% Dixie

5% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Media Monday (ok, I know it's Tuesday)....

Listening:
A band I LOVE LOVE LOVE is Flogging Molly, and they are playing in Rochester tomorrow (I won't be able to see them, sadly). They had one of the singers on the radio this morning, and he said he was influenced a lot by Tom Waits. Then they played some of his music too, and I liked it a lot too. I have got to get a cheapo cd player for work....I can't stand listening to headphones on cd drive. If anyone has any Tom Waits cds they want to find a good home for, send 'em my way ;o)

Reading:
Right now I am reading

It is a OK culinary mystery (I'm only on page 60, but I'm not chomping at the bit to read it at night, so I know the series is not gonna stick with me.)

I am biding my time til

and

come out.
Ohh! I see that Ms. Fowler has a new hardcover coming out too!! Awesome!


Surfing:
Check OUT these cool mugs! I must have The Body in the Library one:



Watching:
I cannot really explain it, but I faithfully tune in to The Bachelor every Monday night. Actually, I think I watch it to prove to myself how totally unlike those women I am. Oh. My. God. They practically scream, "I'm desperate, and even though I am pretty I am such a psycho that I can't maintain a relationship!" Watching it and guffawing at every other thing out of their mouths (and at almost every article of clothing that they wear) makes me feel like more of a well-rounded woman. On the plus side, though, one of them knits on the show sometimes--that's kinda cool to see...

Family Friday News

I don't have much time to post today, I have to stop at the post office on the way home from work to mail some RAOK's and my Flower Swap packages. Then pick up Emma, and then be home in time for Tim to go to work. I still have some ACTUAL work to do here also, lol!

First of all, my "good" boss gave her notice on Monday. Her last day here will be next Friday. I am pretty depressed about this, as we had a terrible one before her, and it was like pulling teeth to get HR to do anything about it. Now we're open targets again for another loser boss. There are only a few good ones here, and I doubt any would want to transfer to the team I'm on. So either we get a sucky transfer or a newby. CRAP.

Secong piece of "good news" (can't you just hear the sarcasm?) is that our dryer broke. Again. Now, the thing is probably 20 years old, but we don't want to replace it. It just needs to eek out a few more working years. Pretty please?! So, since it still is snowing on and off here in NY, we've rigged up a drying rack over our bed (which has a frame to hang curtains on it). So this is what it looks like in our bedroom now:


And this is what I see when I wake up (albeit much blurrier without my contacts):



Ryan took a nap with a ballpoint pen, unbeknownst to us, last week. He drew on his wall covering a 3 foot by 1 foot area, little bugger. Lucky for him I had planned to paint that wall this coming summer. I hope you can see his art in these cruddy photos:





Okey dokey, gotta run now. Talk to you soon!

Workin' on Wednesday

So, today's the day I show off what I've been slaving away at. To start with, here's the beginning of a Sailboat Doily, which I saw on Chie's website. I can't find the link to the free pattern anymore, but I know it was originally in Japanese.






The yellow blob is an AJ Wrist Bag, which I found a pattern for at Crochetville. I will definitely be making more of these bags, it's so easy and cool. Thumbs up!

I've also begun practicing my Redwork. I have quite a bit of practice to do, but it's so easy and quick, that it's fun for me. Below are 2 nearly completed pieces, and one that I have just penciled that pattern onto muslin:









And finally, here's my entry for last month's Month of Softies entry. I urge my crochet readers to join this too, it really stirs up the creative juices, and you can enter crochet submissions too! The theme for March was "Portrait of the Artist as a Young [Wo]Man," so here I am as a "Book Girl":

Media Mondays

This is a book that I'm reading now, along with my husband.  We are putting into practice almost every single bit of parenting advice written here, and watching the show every Monday night.  It is fantastic--sensible, direct, and moderately easy to put into practice.  The main ideas are simple, but it's amazing how many people don't follow them at all:

• have a routine, and stick to it


• make sure bad behavior has consequences


• don't give in to whining

If these are followed, not only will your kids be better behaved, but they will sleep better, probably do better in school, and they will be able to develop better bonds with others.  It used to make me scream inside, when I worked at Borders, to have parents shopping at midnight come up to the information desk WITH THEIR BADLY BEHAVING CHILDREN IN TOW and demand books on how to make their kids sleep better.  DUH. PUT THEM TO BED AT A KID BEDTIME, MORON. I really wish I had said that to one of them before I quit.  *sigh*

Fridays Are For Families

I know you've heard this before, but I'm gonna post more regulary now. I've made a schedule for myself, which hopefully will organize me enough to get on here.... I'm not gonna tell you my schedule, though, so you can't tell if I'm meeting my goal or not. I don't need pressure! I am a rabid list-maker, planner, scheduler, and I love to try to organize my (ok, and others') life by making lists. I can't help it....

Today is Family Friday, and my plan is to focus on posting kid pictures, what we're all doing, funny (or not) stories that happened the past week.

Unfortunately, many of our Easter day pictures are still on the camera card, so I only have a couple things to show you today.

Here is the kids' Easter Eve preparations:
First, "Bunny Ears" to eat for snack (kinda gross, but they loved 'em, lol!). Graham crackers with white and pink frosting blobbed on them:


Next, Easter baskets (bags) that Emma, Holly, and Ryan made. We are starting a tradition where they make their basket/bag, and leave it for the bunny to fill with goodies. Emma, 11, then wrote a note to leave along with a snack (carrots, apple slice, fig newton) she prepared for him. The note says, "Here's a snack for all your hopping. Please hide some eggs for us to find, and fill our bags with candy. Thank you, love, Emma, Holly, and Ryan." Then the bunny came during the night, hid 24 eggs and ate the snack. He left a thank you note to the kids. ;o)



A week ago we had about 4 inches of "heart attack" snow--heavy, wet, yuck. BUT it makes for great packing. I made these mini-snowmen, all under 10 inches tall. From left to right, they are Holly, Emma, Tim, me, Ryan.




The snow melted by the weekend, but we're now we have a winter storm watch in place for tomorrow. When will it be over?!

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I want to introduce you to a new member of our family:


We've named him Gilbert, and he sits on our front steps until the kids go outside to play. Then he sits at the end of the driveway and hopefully alerts the jackass, too fast drivers that come down our street to slow down. This photo is from the step 2 website (click the picture of Gilbert), we have not got such a lush lawn, lol! I got him at Toys "R" Us for $20 (we had gift card leftovers).

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Do any of my readers have experience with EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)? I would like to hear from supportive users of this technique. I am trying it to help with my OCD and anxiety.... I think I am seeing improvements, but am not sure if I am seeing placebo effects or the real thing. So far though, it is the only thing that has helped my with OCD tendencies (I still have loads of them, and am already on Prozac....).

Phew! Well, that is enough from me now, don't ya think?! I am going to try to post on Monday next....see you then!