Janis Joplin - Me and Bobby McGee
Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waiting for a train

Circa 1996-2008

My best friend, sings this song when she's drunk. She especially sings it while drunk in the car on the way home from the bar. In my car, our friends cars, even taxis. I've heard her sing this song many times...dozens. She's a good singer. I've sang it with her--drunk and sober too. It's a good song to sing.

Tonight we are staying in sans child (he's gone to Grandma and Grandpas for a sleepover), watching Bones Season 2 and eating Spinach & Artichoke Dip with Taco chips. Yum-o!

Our income was not as much as expected this week so we are slightly poor. this is our version of saving money.

I went to Safeway after work tonight and somehow walked out spending 46.10! 46.10?!? How the heck is that saving money? I'm flabbergasted. What did I buy you ask? Not much...

Beef Jerky - 9.98 (total impulse buy and this is where I went wrong)
Tortilla Chips - 3.09
Pineapple Bits - 4/5.00 (another not-so-wise purchase. i wanted to get 1 can of pineapple chunks so i could make sweet & sour chicken another day...and got sucked into the 4/5 deal...which is not as great as I initially thought)
Artichoke Hearts - 3.52
Cream cheese - 7.38 (I got 2 packages...and I don't think I need to for the recipe, but I didn't want to run short...)
Frozen Spinach - 1.79
Mozzarella - 6.49 (again, this is more cheese then needed for the recipe but the little blocks of cheese were the same price as this big one so I went with the big one)
Parmesan - 4.49 (holy jeebers expensive!)
Frozen Potstickers - 3.99 (these were on clearance...regular 11.99)

For the total of 46.10. I want to divide this up and figure out how much this meal at home is costing...When I add up all the ingredients that will be used in this dish (not factoring in the leftover component of cream cheese and mozzarella) we get 26.76. Divide that by 2 and we get 13.38! Add in the the 3.99 potstickers which I am also going to cook tonight and we get a meal that is 16 dollars each for me and Steve (30.75 total). Steve will probably pick up some beers (but he would have done that regardless) and I might have a rye and coke (which I already have on hand). So even if we add in say 10 bucks for Beer then it is 40 bucks and we're still coming out ahead! Even more ahead because we have the beautiful LEFTOVERS. I love leftovers.

This is WAY cheaper then our usual Friday night fare. Generally when we go out to eat on a Friday or Saturday night we drop 60 bucks minimum. Minimum. Often it is closer to 100 bucks.

I'm feeling better about staying in tonight already now.

Now on to the 15.99 chicken wings. Steve really likes chicken wings so I was going to pick up a box of frozen wings to go along with the artichoke dip but holy crap they were 15.99!!!!! 15.99. So I ditched the idea of the wings and bought the 3.99 potstickers. When did frozen chicken wings become so expensive? I definitely noticed that the price of food seems higher then it used to. I'm also hoping that items were more expensive at Safeway because it's Safeway and more upscale then Superstore where we do 995 of our shopping at.

Now I'm off to make the dip. I hope it tastes marvelous...

I am pleased to report that I currently have the following crafty orders on the go right now...

1. 10 dishcloths for A (1 done now)
2. 12 dishcloths for C (10 done now)
3. 2 dishcloths for K (done!)
4. 1 plarn messenger bag (found a pattern--sort of--will start Friday night)
5. 1 plarn bag for A (i have one done for her)

Not to shabby. I can't wait to take pictures of all the stuff once I'm finished.

Once I finish all that I want to start making Andrew's other slipper for Christmas. I also made one slipper for my aunt so I need to make the other one now. Really, I still have a ton of Christmas presents to make.

I've also got this crafty plan to make a bag for my aunt out of a t-shirt she gave Andrew for Christmas a few years ago (I've seen some neat bags like that on Etsy and here but haven't had the time to try anything yet). Can we say crafters ADD? hah!

I have not forgotten about the idea posts I've made and not followed through yet. We have the cutlery case plan that I still plan on making, and I am still eager to fuse plastic. Not enough hours in the day to do all the crafting that I want.

I've also got to finish a swack of cross stitches for Christmas...I think I've taken on more then I can handle...again...

Johnny Cash-- Hurt

Every time I hear this song I thing of Phillips.

Phillips was singer I met right after the debacle of Serge and right before Chris. He was gorgeous and smart and funny and intelligent and best of all he liked me. We never really went out, but we hung out and fooled around for a few weeks. They were an amazing few weeks. We talked for hours about incredibly serious topics and he sang to me and I sang back and he encouraged me to sing even though I am tone deaf, we went out and had fun. He had just broken up with a girl and I was still screwed up from Paul.

After the whole bizarre courtship-that-didn't-go-anywhere ended we decided to be friends and one night he took me to meet his friends where I saw this video for the first time.

I remember it being on the computer and me and Phillips stood in the doorway and watched it. It's overwhelming and powerful and I remember we held hands and felt sobered by the beauty of the song and the beauty of the graphics.

That moments is frozen in time for me. It was short. 4 Minutes only. But it was a long 4 minutes.

This is my 100th post! Yay for me!

Sunday I did the craft sale at St. James Civic Centre. I think it went well. I had a good time I made enough to go to Micheal's and get my punch for business cards. If my co-worker does indeed purchase my scarf like she has said she will then i will have enough to buy the stamp that I've been coveting off etsy...

I saw a lot of beautiful crafts that were being sold for way too little. It was sad. I wish crafters would realize the value of their work. I saw such a variety of items as well. Magnets and cards and clips and bags and hats and dolls and towels, the items people had went on and on. I was also amazed by how much stock people had for their tables. Dozens of hats and scarves and mitts all in different colours and styles. I learned the importance of business cards and having that variety in your stock. I also realize that craft shows are not the way to make money. All you want to do is spend all your profit! It took great self control not to run around and buy everything.

On the horizon I have some orders for dishcloths. 12 of them! Yes, 12!!! I'm going to get busy on those.

This week I have been preparing for a craft show. I have a pre-order for 3 slippers (2 adults & 1 baby). Tonight I made the price tags and everything is in the box ready to go tomorrow. I still have to finish up one of the baby booties and find my shelf and covering for the table. Oh, and I need change. I guess Steve will be in charge of that tomorrow (tee hee--way to make him involved). If I have time I also want to finish up a tea cozy that I started making months ago but lost interest.

So wish me luck for tomorrow. I hope to make some money so I can purchase a cutter to make business cards and a customized stamp for my business cards. That's my goal.

I Would Die For You - Jann Arden

This beautiful song takes me back to that night standing in Paul's empty apartment, days after he had left his wife and moved in to the tiny space so we could be together.

I had discovered my love for Jann Arden during round 1 of mine and Paul's relationship. I listened to her a lot during those first two and a half years we went out. We parted, he got married to another woman, and I waited. Dunno why, but I did. Probably had to do with self-esteem issues. One year later we were fooling around and then we were suddenly in a relationship again. It was very overwhelming but something that I thought I wanted. For years I thought that.

Anyways...I remember that moment of that night in his empty new apartment, furnished with old car seats and a mattress on the floor. I had that CD playing and we were slow dancing and he held my face in his hands and looked at me for a long time. He didn't say anything until I broke that moment. We stopped dancing and he said, "You know I couldn't hear any of her music without crying when we weren't together."

I know I shouldn't have, but I felt glad. Happy. Vindicated that he had not spent our time apart in a state of bliss. I was pleased that I made such an impact on this man's life. & especially pleased that even a marriage could not keep us apart.

I had so much to learn from that moment on.

We are still potty training (but nearly done now! yippee!).

After every poo on the toilet he gets a a smartie. this is how the conversation goes:

andrew: andrew gets a smartie.
me: yes, because you pooed in the toilet
andrew: does andrew get 2 smarties?
me: ok, you did a BIG poo and get 2 marties.
andrew: does andrew get ALL the smarties?

always.

ps. he always refers to himself in the third person. sometimes he replaces andrew with 'your little boy'. it's adorable. "mommy! your little boy is hungry".

I love making Dishcloths. I love the simplicity, the beauty, the colours, the sizes, the variety. I love working with the cotton. I espeically love the variegated cotton. I think it looks so pretty and bright. I always think of warm sunny days when I see all the different colour combinations.

I started crocheting Dishcloths about 5 years ago. When I was a novice crocheter they were about the only project that I could ever finish. Now I like them because it is a good way to try out new stitches and patterns. If you're not sure how to make a cluster stitch or a double treble crochet then a dishcloth is the perfect way to try it out. It's even more appropriate if you're not sure if you would be able to read say, a diamond pattern for a larger project. Try it out with a dishcloth! If worse comes to worse you just unravel a dozen short rows and pick another pattern. Crochet Pattern Central has loads to choose from or if you want you can make your own. It's easy enough to do. Just pick a stitch and away you go.
I always give dozens as Christmas gifts every year. It's become 'my' thing now. My grandma claims she has too many now and my friends get upset if they don't get a pair at Christmas. So far this year I haven't been crocheting any. I haven't had time...and my crocheting skills and ability to read patterns have both drastically improved so I've been making slippers and hats and bags and other more complicated items. But when I get frustrated with a pattern or don't know what to make next, I always return to the Dishcloth. :)

I hope you enjoy the pictures. Cheers!