Here's our Christmas Tree! Isn't she lovely? Not bad for the $24.99 Salvation Army special, eh? 

Christmas 2010

I stumbled across this Crochet Flower Hot Pad on Ravelry.  I still had some of the Bad Acrylic Yarn left (okay, I'll be honest there was still a lot of the Bad Acrylic Yarn left -- I swear the stuff must be multiplying when I'm not looking because I feel like I've made thousands of projects with it already).

The pattern is easy enough to do once you figure out how to fold the darn thing.  I do have to admit though that mine definitely don't look as nice as the ones posted in the photo section on Ravelry.  I think mostly because a) I didn't use 2 or more colours and b) because my stitches were too tight and left gaps.  All the pretty ones have no gaps and lie so nice and flat.

I have been crafting like a crazy person for the last few weeks in preparation for Christmas. I have so much to share with everyone in Blogland.

I've made:

• a scarf & wrist warmers (aka fingerless gloves)
• countless potholders (& by countless I mean 5)
• all these little perler bead creations made to look like Mario characters
• Most of Andrew's name out of these perler beads (only the W left)
• about 4 dishcloths
• a few market/grocery bags - 1 looks awesome and the other 2 not so much
• and I'm in the process of making a scarf for Andrew (& hopefully I will have enough time to make him a pair of mitts and a toque as well).

If I have time (Hah!) I also want to make these baskets using old Christmas cards and a scarf for my young cousin.  Times a wasting!

**I started writing this post on December 11th...and I'm only finishing it now...on December 20th.  What can I say?  I'm super slow as molasses.**

It's been a long time since I've posted and much has happened since I last posted.  I'm not very good at regular posting.

•  My Mom sold her house and moved to an apartment.  It's been a relief not to have to worry about the house and her being in the house in the winter.
• I am still waiting on that job that I posted about almost a year ago.  The job was posted in December 2009.  I went for the test in April, the interview in July, they checked my references in October and a couple weeks ago I got an email about the position.  It told me that I met all the essential qualifications and that I was placed in a pool that may or may not be used to staff the position, blah, blah.  I can check the job poster to see if the position has been filled and so far it's still open.  So, I guess I'm still in the running?
• My Discernment Committee recommended to my Church Council that I become a Candidate for Diaconal Ministry!  The year long discernment process is over! It's mostly official now.  It still needs to be approved by Presbytery and I have to sit two candidacy interviews, but I am pleased that things are moving along.  If all goes well I can do the first module this May/June.  I hope to post more about the program I am undertaking and what it all involves.
• I applied for another position in a different department and I've gone to write the test for the position. 
• I've been super busy making things for Christmas.  I've got so many pictures to take and upload for everyone to see.  Andrew is super excited about Christmas this year.  He woke Husband and me up at 6:15 AM this morning to tell us that Christmas is coming in 4 days!  lol.

I've been a busy busy busy busy bee these last few weeks.  So much has been going on and I've been madly crafting for Christmas.  Before I post about all the deets of the last few weeks, just a teaser post.

I finished the box stitich scrapghan for my Mom a few weeks back.  I think it looks divine.  I hope my mom likes it.  I sure like it.

In the end I could have made it a few more rows. I still have scrap yarn leftover. But it's hard to estimate how much you will need when you're in the thick of things.  Looking at it as a finished object, I wish I had had more blues and purples and not so heavy on the pinks and yellows.
I already want to make another one.  But, on the next one I make I want to play with colour and have an actual colour pattern that i follow.

It's from this patten that I found on Ravelry.

I think I did not so bad on the costume. I made the hat and the overalls; the sweater is his.  We went to Boo At The Zoo on Saturday so it was our Pre-Halloween trial with the costume.  It was all great, except the overalls are about 8 sizes too big (even with pants on underneath) and the fleece straps stretched quite a bit (& quite quickly too).  I cut a big wide belt and slapped it on and tied it as tight as it would go.  I rolled the pants legs and did a horrible horrible hemming job.  With those fixes in place we headed out to the zoo. 

Overall the costume held up well through the evening.  the hemming job gave out close to the end, but the belt held him up.  He was definitely warm and definitely more stylish then the store bought Mario's and Luigi's.

There's the Kindergarten Halloween Party on Thursday and Trick Or Treating on Sunday, so I plan on doing a much better hemming job (I don't want to cut the material because hopefully he'll wear it next year too--or is that wishful thinking?) and maybe sewing the belt on?  We also need white gloves.  Forgot about the white gloves.  I'm not sure what to do with the stretchy straps though.

So, would I make another costume?  I don't know.  It was a lot of work and it wasn't any cheaper then a store bought one.  (although I have scads of leftover green felt and blue fleece--probably enough to make a super hero cape for Christmas) 

Super Mega Close Up!

I've decided that I love the library.

When I was a kid my parents and I went every 2 weeks. I would take out dozens and dozens of books of all different kinds. Mostly too old for me, I was always trying to challenge myself. Sometimes it worked. Most times it didn't. I was all over the place in the library, from Sci Fi to Fantasy to Biographies to Romance to Picture Books (hey, sometimes a picture book was what you needed when a kid). When I was 12 or 13 I discovered that I quite liked the author Harold Robbins and novelist Jackie Collins was soon to follow. I was always allowed to take out whatever I wanted. I cannot recall ever having my reading censored by my parents. I don't really remember ever liking classics, looking back I mostly read trashy, forgettable fiction.

My mother always took out Mysteries. Always. It was rare for her to take out a book of another genre. My Dad liked spy novels and computer magazines.

As I got older we went to the library less and less. I don't really remember why. My Dad was often working nights or evenings, My Mom was busy being involved with the Church, and I had a busy schedule with Ringette. I suppose all that together made for less library time and less family time.

As I got older it became something of a thing for me to OWN books. We never really had money so I spent a lot of time purchasing books at garage sales and used books stores. I loved being surrounded by books. I discovered a lot of authors between the ages of like 15 and 20. John Saul, Robin Cook, Carol Shields, Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, Alice Munro, Di Brandt, Margaret Sweatman. University helped with that list as well. I took quite a few English classes and added more authors.

I often went to the library at the U of W, but it was different. It wasn't for leisure, it was for school and study. It was different. Libraries changed for me. They became, in a way, a place of work, not leisure. After I graduated from University I just kind of stopped going to libraries. I still had books (frigging a ton of them from buying them used--oh those used book sales were a curse. I'd come home with 15 or 20 books every time) and I still bought new ones.

After I had Andrew, I didn't read for a very long time. I think in his first 3 years I only read the final 2 books of the Harry Potter series. There is seriously no time to read when you have an infant or toddler. 

When I started back to work there was no time to read again.  There is definitely no time to read when you are a new Mom who has just returned back to to work and is trying to manage everything.

That's why I'm glad that this year I have been focussing on reading.  I've had a good mix too I think.  Some academic, some literature (sort of), some fluff, and some stuff for my job.  I love spending time at the library again.  I love wandering down in the stacks and randomly pulling out books to see what they're about and if they're interesting.  I love passing a rack of Fiction and deciding to give one of the books a chance.  I love bringing Andrew and letting him go wild with the books.  I love reading together.  I love that Andrew loves going to the library (even though it's because he gets to take out kids movies).  I love it all.

The only thing I don't love is the overdue fines.  I'm real bad at returning things on time.  I'm trying to look at the fines as my way of donating to the library.  :P  Husband doesn't see it that way though.

Lovefool by The Cardigans
August, 2004.



This song brings me to 1 week after meeting the Husband--maybe even less. We're at Eddy's Garage. Andrea is singing Lovefool as she always does. The lyric goes, 'love me, love me, just say that you love me' over and over again. I'm sitting at one of the high tables. He is standing with a beer in his hands.

I remember thinking, wouldn't it be really weird if he leaned over and said, 'you know I love you'.

And then he did. I will always remember the surrealness of that moment.

The Before

 I went through my stash and pulled out all the little & medium balls of leftover yarn and put them in my basket.  Immediately I realized 2 things:  A)  A lot of my little bits of yarn are not even from things I have made, but rather leftovers that others have given me and B)  I need to do something with all these odds n ends.

The Basket is overflowing.  I also have a75% completed Hexagon Baby Sweater Disaster to unravel and an unused Dog Sweater to unravel.  The Basket has yellows, reds, beiges, black, and white.  There's not too many blues and greens, which I am a little worried about, but I am hoping that it will resolve itself...or that I will find some more yarn in those colors.
My Mom is moving to an apartment in November, so I decided that I should make her a lap blanket for her new place using the Box Stitch (which I am in LOVE with).  I figure it will be a good way to use up all these little bits of yarn, even the ones that only wrap around my fingers a couple times.

This is the beginning...
The During

This is it today.  I've started decreasing.  I plan on doing a fairly wide border.  I think it's looking very pretty.  I love all the colours together.  I think having a rainbow in a blanket is something everyone needs.

Add caption

The basket is also looking emptier, which is nice.  I love destashing and knowing that I am making something cute and fun out of leftovers.

Super Mega Close UP!!!!

I've got 2 metres of bright blue fleece, 1 metre of bright green soft felt, 2 internet tutorials, and a somewhat shaky plan to make this as Andrew's Halloween Costume...

Andrew loves all things Mario and cannot stop talking about going as Luigi for Halloween.  Lets see if I can do this...

I've been doing the curly girl thing for a couple months now.  I mostly only use conditioner with the first application being a good scalp rub and the second application focusing on the strands/tips.  I would say I shampoo my hair about 10% of the time.  I don't dry my hair very much.  I put it up in a towel loosely for about 5 minutes and then put clear gel in it.  & that's it.  There's no brushing, no blow drying, no styling.  just condition twice, sort of plop, gel, and go!

This whole thing was kind of slow going becuase for a couple weeks I thought I was using conditioner but it was actually shampoo, even though it sure looked like conditioner.  Then, when I went back to the store I ended up buying shampoo+conditioner instead of straight conditioner.  And of course it took me about a week to realize that it wasn't just straight conditioner.  in all it took me about a month to really get on track.

I love how much life my hair seems to have.  The curls bounce and everything falls where it falls and it feels good!  I love it!

my 'before' shots are here.