Birthday gifts and a big finished project

My update was thwarted yesterday by a visit from an old friend. I hadn’t seen her for several months so by the time she left it was almost time for Paul to get home and I didn’t have the chance to finish what I’d started. Unfortunately, I woke up feeling all sorts of off kilter and paired with my laziness my pictures suck.

But, I managed to get all my gifts (or at least the ones I can remember off the top of my head!) into a picture. I wasn’t sure about posting 50 pictures so I crammed everything in to one shot.

I’ll start with one of my favorites. In the front, on the left is the bento that Hammie got for me. It’s really roomy and so I could use it to hold a few lunches or one big picnic lunch for a couple/few people. The penguin and Spiderman dog are mp3 player toys. I’ve wanted one for awhile because they’re so cute and Paul got me the Spi-dog. He liked it so much that we went and got the penguin to match so we both have one. (I took the penguin!) Let’s see….the purse is from my in-laws, the Nightmare on Elm Street figures are from Paul (One of my favorite horror movie series!) Behind the figures is a new food processor from my mom, Paul got me the pink tool kit (Cute, huh?!) The electric pot is from my mom, and the ds games and movies are from Paul. That’s a lot of stuff…jeez! The movie is Juno, with an cd of extra songs that didn’t make it on the soundtrack and Paul also got me season 4 of Nip/Tuck and the first season of Hell’s Kitchen.

Paul had to work for a while on Saturday morning. He had to be at work at 5 am, but he was home by 7:30. We got dressed and went to the swap meet and walked the entire thing. It’s bigger since I was there last. That’s where we found the ds games…for a steal! We got all four of the games for $15. Afterwards we went to my parents house and after visiting for awhile we went out to lunch. We’d originally planned to just go over for cake and coffee, but my mom was super butt-hurt over not getting to spend time with me on “her” day, so we went to lunch with them. After lunch we went to my In-laws house and opened gifts there. My mother in law wasn’t feeling well so I feel kind of bad that we stayed so long she had to go back to bed, but I got a nice surprise while I was there. Hammie, in her stealth mode, called my mother in law and asked for her address so she could hunt me down. The funny thing is that as soon as my mother in law got on the phone with her I knew it was her! But, Carmen was cute about it and said that she had a friend she wanted me to meet lol. When we finally left Carmen’s house, Paul, Hammie and I went back to our place and played Guitar Hero 3 for awhile. After Hammie left, Paul and I just kinda hung around and then later in the evening we did some shopping and came home to fall in to bed exhausted.

It was a really nice birthday overall and the best part is that I got to spend most of it with people I love.

Last night, after Paul went to bed and all was quiet, I was able to finish binding off on the Hemlock Ring. It took me about four hours or so to bind this sucker off. Look at what a nice little mess it is right now:

Looks great, doesn’t it? lol!  It looks so shriveled up and kinda jellyfish like, but it’ll look much better once I block it.  I need to clear off my table in order to block it, or I may wind up doing it on my bed since it’s going to be fairly large.  I also need to go on the hunt for lots and lots of pins because this sucker’s going to need them!  I can’t wait to see what it looks like all sorted out though, it should be nice.

 

Quick update

I just wanted to write a quick blog in the midst of some frantic cleaning to thank everyone for the birthday wishes and gifts.  It was a really great birthday, save for one pooey incident that I’m not going to waste my time explaining.  Jenn, in case you didn’t see the comment I left you; I got your card, thanks so much!  (By the way, I’m way envious of your handwriting lol!)

I’ll try to post a more detailed blog about my birthday weekend with some pictures later.  Thankfully, there are none of me!  Nobody took pictures during, so I’ll take some random shots of some of the good stuff I got and all that.

During short breaks of trying to get this messy place decent looking I’ve been slowly binding off the Hemlock Ring blanket.  I made it relatively small because if my mom is going to use it as a tablecloth I don’t want it hanging to the ground.  There’s 380 some odd stitches to cast off, and the way the cast off is done you make five stitches to create a decorative ring, so it’s very slow going.  Two cast off for every seven…ugh!  Looks pretty nice though and I can’t wait to block it.

Hope everyone else had a good weekend and with any luck, Monday’s going well too!

 

50 questions

Stolen from Jen!

1. How old will you be in 3 years?

33.

2. Do you think you’ll be married by then?

I better be, if Paul wants to live!

3. What do you look forward to most in the next 2 months?

The new album from the Dresden Dolls!

4. Who was the last person you called?

My mother in law.

5. Have you ever played a team sport?

Nope…I’m not a very sporty person.

6. Who was the last person to text you?

Couldn’t say…I haven’t had my cell on in a long long time.

7. Who was the last person you hugged?

Paul.

8. What were you doing at midnight last night?

Sleeping…for once!

9. Parents separated/divorced/married?

Well, my mom is married and I have a step-dad, but I consider him my “real” dad, so….uh…I’m confused.

10. Last time you saw your dad?

My “real” dad?  Last weekend.  My bio dad?  In 1995, about two weeks before he died.

11. What happened at 9:00 a.m. today?

I was commenting on Jen’s blog.

12. How many states have you visited?

Six or seven.

13. If you could be anywhere right now, where would it be?

In Eureka…I’m really missing it right now.

14. Do you prefer shoes, socks, or bare feet?

Bare feet…it feels better!

15. Are you a social person?

I used to be….not so much anymore.

16. What was the last thing you drank?

Coffee.

17. Favorite ice cream?

It’s a toss up between plain chocolate and Black cherry vanilla.

18. What is your favorite dessert?

Pepperidge Farms coconut cake!

19. Whats your favorite color?

Purple, but teal runs a very close second!

20. What Jelly do you put on your PBJ?

I like grape, but we rarely buy it because I almost never eat pb&j, so usually strawberry preserves because that’s what Paul eats.

21. Do you like coffee?

More than puppies!  (Okay, as much as puppies!)

22. How many glasses of water a day do you drink on average?

Ugh…NOT my strong suit lately…maybe two if I’m doing good?

23. What do you drink in the morning?

Coffee usually.

24. Would you rather kiss someone with or without a tongue ring?

I love tongue rings!  But Paul doesn’t have one, so we’re going with without.

25. Do you sleep on a certain side of the bed?

Yep, on the left.

26. Do you know how to play poker?

Yes, but I’m not very good at it.

27. Whats so good about Fridays?

Fridays are payday…duh!

28. Any plans to visit the green monkeys on GoofyAuctions.com?

I have absolutely no idea what that is…and I don’t care to find out

29. Do you eat out or at home more often?

At home.

30. How big is your TV?

We have a 40″ in the living room, and a 27″ that never gets turned on in the bedroom.

31. Ever stolen a street sign?

Does it count as stealing if it was already on the ground?

32. Do you keep a piggy bank?

Kinda…we use gallon wine bottles for pennies and silver change.

34. Have you ever been in an ambulance?

Yes, when Paul was air-vac’d to Phoenix.

35. Do you prefer an ocean or a pool?

Ocean.

36. Do you prefer a window seat or an aisle seat?

Window, for all two times I’ve flown.

38. What is your favorite thing to spend money on?

Stuff Paul likes, crafty stuff.  Boo/hiss to bills!

39. Do you wear any jewelry 24/7?

Nope, none.

40. Do you speak any other language?

Nope.  I’d like to though.

41. Can you roll your tongue?

Yep!

42. Who is the funniest person you know?

Paul…he’s such a dork you can’t not laugh!

43. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?

I used to, but now with a Paul, a Moxie and a Cord in bed with me, there’s just no room!

44. What is the main ring tone on your phone?

When I was using it, it was Classico by Tenacious D.

45. Do you still have clothes from when you were little?

I don’t think I’ve got anything from when I was little.

46. What is the color of your bedroom wall?

Two shades of aqua blue.

47. Do you shut off the water when you brush your teeth?

Yep.

48. Are you crushing on someone right now?

I always have a crush on some famous person.  I love Jack Black…he’s my fake famous husband!

49. Do you currently hate someone?

Hate is a strong word.  That said, absolutely! ;)  (That’s tongue in cheek people!)

50. Why do you take surveys?

Because I needed something to post on my blog and I was bored.

 

I wish!

It’s old news to a lot of yarnies, but can I just say that I would kill to own a stash like this?  I know that to some, it may seem like overkill, but holy cow!  Enough yarn at any one time to knit pretty much anything you could possibly want?  Paul tolerates my yarn room throwing up and taking over half the house, but he’d probably have me committed if I ever accumulated that much.  Still, a girl can wish, right?

 

Guitar hero, now with more pink!

My guitar is done, and I’m fairly pleased with it despite the problems I ran in to.

The first problem I ran in to was with the pink paint. It had a much thicker consistency than the black (maybe due to it being a different brand…I don’t know) and even after a test spray it coated my face plate with a bit of a lumpy texture, so I got some bumps I wasn’t really happy about. It’s a satin finish…not sure if that has anything to do with it either. A few coats took the worst of it away though. You can still see small bumps/imperfections, but in person it looks far less worse than in pictures.

I used the Dresden Dolls plane logo for part of the design. They’re my favorite band and I love that logo! If you haven’t heard of them, please visit their site!

This is where I ran in to my second problem. I used some packing labels Paul brought home from work for the stencils I used. They’re sticky, but not too sticky because I wanted to be able to remove the stencils without marring the paint. Apparently they weren’t quite sticky enough for the detailed work I was trying to do because the paint feathered all along the edges You can really see what I’m talking about in the next picture.

Dirty Business is the name of a song by the Dresden Dolls. I love it, so I chose to name my guitar after it You can see the way the paint feathered out under the stencil. In retrospect I should have used masking tape and many many thin coats of paint instead of four or five thicker coats. I sprayed some paint into a paper cup and hand painted around the plane logo to clean it up, but I decided to leave the feathering on the words because it just seemed fitting. It was an unexpected design element!

I even did detail work on the rest of the guitar:

Details were hand painted. They’re a bit shaky, but I liked making it all match. I learned a lot with this project. I learned to test my paint better, do many thinner coats instead of a few thicker ones. I learned to be more fastidious with my stencils and that spray paint is near impossible to wash out of paint brushes. I still love the way it turned out, despite it’s unexpected design elements

I finished the pink cabled strap too.

I’m probably going to have to wind up lining the back side because it’s a little stretchier than I expected. It turned out pretty well though!

I also started two more knit projects this weekend.

I pulled the Valpuri top that I was making for my Mom apart, and started a new project with the yarn.

I just kept having this nagging feeling she wouldn’t care for the top, so I started the Hemlock Ring Blanket. I’m actually using the instructions here though, instead of the original instructions from the vintage pattern. I think this will be much more to my Mom’s liking and she can use it for whatever she likes. It’s a pretty nice cotton yarn so she could use it as a tablecloth, a blanket, a shawl, whatever she wants. It’ll probably wind up a giant doily or a tablecloth for her outdoor table. Mom and Dad just bought a new gazebo/pavilion so they’ll be spending a lot of time out there this summer. I have a feeling she’ll probably use it out there. it’s a beautiful pattern and I may queue it up again later to make one for myself!

I also started work on my Burridge Lake Aran Afghan.

I got a pretty good amount of it started for as little as I worked on it this weekend. I’m using the no cable needle method and I’m liking it much more than if I had to knit, move stitches to cable needle, knit, knit stitches from cable needle, repeat. I can move the stitches over into a twist and then knit them all in a row. It’s an interesting technique…maybe I’ll do a video on it one of these days.

So, that’s what I did this weekend! I wanted to update yesterday but I spent a good chunk of the day laying in bed in agony from a friggin’ migraine. They always seem to hit me when I’ve got plans that don’t involve cleaning house.

**And to you WordPress. Shame on you!!! You don’t log someone out halfway through a big assed post where they lose half the damned thing when they try to publish! You suck right now!

 

Crafty Weekend Ahead!

After errands (okay, before errands, but don’t tell!) I did some craft shopping. Shopping in general really, but crafty stuff was obtained as well. When getting ready to take Paul to work today I realized I had pretty much nothing to wear. One of my last presentable tops had fallen off the line on Tuesday and dear Moxie dragged it through the mud. Since I hadn’t washed it yet I resorted to wearing a paint stained tank top with my hoodie over it to cover the worst of it. I decided that it was time to find at least a couple of decent tops.

I found one adorable top at Walmart. It’s white with red and coral-ish plaid, poof-ish sleeves and a scoop neck. It buttons down the front. BAAAD description, but it’s really quite cute. I probably look pregnant in it because it dips in under the bust, but I don’t care. I also stopped at a thrift store and was really pleased to find five shirts and a brand new pair of pants. It should have come up to about $13.00, but they were doing half off today so I got everything for $6.50 and they threw in a purse for free. I’m not complaining! I also found several pairs of pants that’ll fit Paul so I’m going to go pick them up later today.

Back to the crafty stuff though…

I picked up the paint to mod my guitar faceplate!

I’m kind of scared! I doubt I’ll be able to screw it up completely and even if I do I’ll still be able to play my guitar once it’s dry, but I hate failing and once I start with this I can’t really go back. Wish me luck, seriously! I’m excited, but nervous!

I also found some beads:

They were on clearance for $1.50, which is about half of what they cost originally. I wouldn’t have bought them otherwise! I like the different greens in the package and I thought it might be fun to do a shawl or wrap with random beads thrown in. Now I just have to find an appropriate yarn.

I also picked up yarn for a blanket I’ve been wanting to make for awhile now:

It’s just plain old Red Heart SS, but I really loved the color. I always stop and look at it when we go to Walmart and I finally bought some. I just checked the pattern and it looks like I’ll need about twice the amount I bought…whoops! Anyway, the afghan I’ve been itching to make is this one here. It was originally (as far as I know) in MAGknits, but since magknits was pulled down the designer is hosting the pattern on ravelry as well as a pdf on her own blog. Now, I hate making cables, but I absolutely adore the way they look, so I’m going to try to start this project with a positive disposition and hope I find it enjoyable. I WANT to love cables, I really do! I just get irritated with the fiddling of the cable needle slowing down my knitting. I’ve learned how to do cables without a cable needle, so I’ll have to really look at the pattern and see if I can do it that way.

So! I’m going to quit blabbering and go put my first coat of paint on my guitar faceplate. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

Better with time

I was just browsing through one of my old photobucket accounts and came across a lot of older projects I did. They’re not so bad (especially for just starting out) but the picture quality is horrible. I’m not really thrilled with a lot of my pictures NOW, but these were just awful. Take a look:

Those were all taken with a camera that my friend Kara gave me. It was my first digital camera and I was just happy to have something to use to post pictures online with. It definitely served it’s purpose and it worked hard, for what I tried to make it do.

These were from a slightly better camera. It was the first one I bought myself and the quality was a little better, but far from excellent lol.

The one I’ve got now isn’t top of the line either, but it’s the best one I’ve had yet. It’s a Polaroid 6.0 megapixel and it takes pretty clear photos. It’s also the first camera I’ve ever owned that can do macro and god do I love that feature.

One of these days I’ll be able to afford a big bad super camera, but for now mine does the trick. I originally started looking through old pictures to see if I could find one of the very first real crochet project I’d done, but I think it’s been lost in cyberland. Maybe I’ll steal over to my mom’s this weekend and take a picture of it.

 

poo

I was going to try something different today and add a slide show of what I’ve been doing, but apparently wordpress has issues with flash and I don’t feel like taking the time to figure out how to circumvent it.

So, the last week, in picture form:

I spent time with my adorable family

Took Moxie to the vet for her shots. Afterwards Gutter stared Moxie down

Then he got lovey with a chair leg

Dr. Evil says “Hi”. He used to have a mini-me, but he committed suicide.

I worked on Valpuri for mom. I love it, (hate the cables, but love the top) but I’m really unsure if she’ll like it. I haven’t decided if I’ll continue with it or not.

I started a soft ball for the dogs to play with. If they like it and don’t tear it apart in a day I’ll make them more.

I’ve been knitting garter stitch squares on the bias. They’re quick, colorful and completely mindless knitting. These are about 4×4 inches I think, and I can work on them while watching tv or reading without worrying if I’m going to screw them up.

I had this cute crocheted strawberry in my queue on ravelry and decided to make it the other night while my hands were itchy for something to do. It literally only took about 20 minutes to make.

I got to spend some much needed hang out time with Hammie last Thursday and she had me try Guitar Hero 3 on her ps3. I loved it so much (and Paul and I had been talking about it…it wasn’t completely spur of the moment) that I went out the next day and bought the game and two guitars. We spent most of the weekend playing.

All my game gear needs handmade stuff. I’m working on two guitar straps:

A pink cabled one for me, and a green and navy one…for me too (because Paul probably won’t use it)

I’m also planning on modding the face plate because it’s removable. I’m thinking pink, with a Dresden Dolls plane logo, but that may change.

I also spent some time outside. I didn’t do the much needed yard cleaning I should have been doing, but I enjoyed the good stuff that was blooming. Not this though:

Stupid weeds. They literally just started cropping up about a week ago. I’ll probably have Paul take them out with the weed eater, but I’ve contemplated leaving them and telling people I’m cultivating all the green I can.

There’s beautiful stuff growing too though. I have a tea rose bush in my back yard

The flowers are so delicate and beautiful. The bush itself is a behemoth…this is only about half of it:

It’s taking over a whole corner of the yard and while I’d really love to leave it to overgrow and beautify an otherwise ugly yard, I’m going to have to either trim it back or tie it because it’s perilously close to the air conditioner.

My grape vines are doing fabulous, despite me not watering them properly. One of these days when I’m feeling adventurous I’ll fertilize the bed and set up a drip system for them so we can have some decent grapes. The birds ate most of them last year.

These lilacs are in my front yard. They smell wonderful and I love the pale purple of the flowers. I admit now, I’m a total lazy ass and don’t tend things like I should. If I did, I’d have three huge lilac bushes thriving in my front yard instead of the one at the end. I don’t water them and I should. That’s my confession for the day.

I know it’s a lot of pictures, but hopefully no one is on dial-up! I just haven’t been in a blogging mood lately and wanted to catch up. I’ve noticed that I don’t feel like pulling out my camera much lately, but when I do, and when I get my ass on wordpress I want to blog, but it’s getting me there that seems to be the trouble. ugh! I’m going to try to be better about it, if for nothing else than to keep a log of what the heck I’ve been up to!

 

Slacker

I really suck :(  I haven’t been keeping up with anyone’s blog or even visiting my own the past week.  I promise I’ll visit everyone tomorrow!

 

Busy with boring stuff

I’ve spent pretty much the entire day between reading the best of Craigslist and catching up on cleaning from the weekend. It’s been made slightly less boring by a link that Vegas Jenn sent me. At Chore Wars you can create a character, join/create a horde and get experience points and gold for doing chores. If for nothing else, it prompts me to get my butt in gear and try to get some much needed cleaning done.

My bento for today isn’t very pretty, but it’s functional and tasty:

Homemade chicken and rice soup with carrots and celery, whole wheat saltines and chocolate pudding for dessert.  My tummy has been off for the past few days, more than likely because of the nacho cheese we used on our homemade shredded beef nachos we made on Friday night.  They bothered Paul too and I think it might be due to the spiciness of the cheese.  I’m a total wimp when it comes to hot stuff and Paul doesn’t really care for it either so we almost never eat spicy stuff.  Oh well…that’s what we get for caving to our cravings.

That’s about it.  Nothing exciting happened over the weekend, we stayed home and I slept a good portion of it away.  I started a top for my mom for her birthday.  It’s called Valpuri, from Berroco.  No, I still haven’t learned my lesson about hating cables.  They’re beautiful and I think my mom will like the top (at least I hope she does) so it’ll be worth it.  If I can finish it without throwing it across the room.  We’ll see.