Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  Welcome, 2012! 

Normally, I'm not one to make new year's resolutions, but I figured, why not start?!  I made a few.

1.  Stop underestimating myself.  I always underestimate how awesome I have the potential to be and I really want to stop that.  I never have actual faith in myself, and I never really believe I am capable of what I set my mind to do.  I'm a second-guesser, and I'd like to work on that.

2.  Get Healthy!  I know, it's everyone's resolution, but for real this time.  I've spent years being overweight, and I've spent this last year really thinking about it, but still using excuses to get out of doing anything about it.  No more.  No more excuses, and no more playing around.  I'll figure out the best ways to do this, even if I'm not 100% right all the time.  It's a learning process because it's a lifestyle change.  I'm setting a small goal for myself first, which is to drop 10 lbs by the end of January.  If I can reasonably manage that, I'll make a new goal when and only when I reach the first goal.  I'm a big picture person, but sometimes I get lost in the picture rather than focusing on the details.  One step at a time, and it'll figure itself out.

3.  Encourage myself everyday.  If I'm not the one encouraging myself, who is going to do that for me?  Sure, I've got a lovely boyfriend, a network of friends and relatives that support me, but if I don't have that everyday, "Yes, you CAN do this,"  I know I'll get nowhere fast.  So everyday, I'll do something to encourage myself.  It's going to start by rewarding myself, writing myself notes, reading more about health/fitness/other goals to get tips, etc. 

I'm still going to be the same person, just a better version of that.  I can hear the doubts filling my head even I write this. 


"I am, a little bit insecure, a little unconfident
'Cause you don't understand I do what I can
But sometimes I don't make sense
I am, what you never want to say, but I've never had a doubt
It's like no matter what I do I can't convince you for once just to hear me out
So I, let go watching you turn your back like you always do
You face away and pretend I'm not
But I'll be here 'cause you're all that I've got"

I think that's me, talking to myself.  How appropriate.  Encouraging crazy to make me better? Ha... If only my therapist could hear me now!

Here's a picture of me with my Linus blanket that I carry around with me pretty much anywhere in the house.  It isn't allowed to go past the front porch unless I'm sick and going to the doctor/pharmacy to make me better.

Happy New Year, and good luck!

So Many People Telling Me to Stay...

I'm totally going to be late for work by posting on my bloggaroo, but I'm doing it anyway. :D  SOOOOO much more fun than entering invoices and filing papers and other crap like that.   But I just wanted to update a little bit on some things.  I'm excited about Robot Swappin', and I'm working on things for that already, even though I don't have my partner yet.  Regardless of whether they like it or not, I'm knitting it.  It is SO cute.  I won't post anything until after the swap is done, so I don't spoil the surprise.  If these people are anything like me, I've done a decent amount of researching on each person participating so I get an idea of where I could get some awesome stuff.  I think this swap will be fun for me in some interesting ways.  I'm usually a pretty boring person, going to the same places, etc, but lately I've been venturing around and discovering things about the city I've lived in for 5+ years learning about what new shops are around and whatnot.  It's been really fun! My boyfriend thinks I'm a little crazy with it all, but what does he know!

Here are some pictures of the gifts I made for my niece and nephew.  I didn't have a chance to get pictures of them playing with them, but they're 7 and 4, so they were bouncing around all over the place anyway, ha ha.  They are so cute!  (And I don't even like kids!)

The kitty picture was taken at night, so there was just the overhead light in that room and no flash on my phone camera, so it's a little dark, but that green is a lovely color, and I'm glad I bought that extra ball so I can make something nice for myself :)

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year, everyone!!

Tis the Season!

OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH it's Christmas.  :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD


So, I LOVE Christmas, like crazy love.  I have no idea why, but it gets me all squishy inside and I can't wait.  I love spending time thinking about gifts for people, hand making a lot of them, and taking the time to bake, or cook for those around me that I resent the majority of the year.  It's honestly the only time of year I'm a reasonable person. :P  (That's a direct quote from my boyfriend.. lovely, isn't he?)  I love the cold weather, I love all the holiday colors, and can't wait every year for this time to come around.  I start Christmas the day after Thanksgiving, and always put up my tree on my birthday, December first. 

"Happy, uh... Birthday-Christmas?"

Anyway, so I'm  hosting a cute little Christmas shindig at the house this Saturday, which I'm super excited about.  I'm making all kinds of holiday treats and snacks and we'll have music and games and wine and it will be fun.  Convinced the boyfriend to take off work to come, and my roommate is actually participating!  We're going to do a Yankee swap? I'm not certain what that is, but I was instructed to make 11 ornaments, which I'm almost (not even close to being) done with, so you know.. no stress there or anything.  I could just buy them, I suppose, but I felt like knitting them would be nicer.  Most of my friends don't know what I'm into in terms of that kind of thing; I don't know any other close knitting or crocheting or crafting friends. 

Whoaaa Thanksgiving!

Wow! Thanksgiving has come and gone!  Unlike most people, I prefer a quiet Thanksgiving.  I didn't go visit my family, and no one came to visit me.  Sad, some might say, but I think it's great.  No crazy relatives, no one to please but myself.. It's nice, and I will enjoy it while I can.  I get stuck working open to close the days before and after Thanksgiving at work all the time, so it's really not a big deal.  It'd be an all day event just trying to find a ride to and from where my family lives, so it works itself out.  I usually spend a ridiculous amount of time with them around Christmas time, so it kind of makes up for it.  I'm a psycho for Christmas, though.... Not a Black Friday shopper, though, and NEVER plan to be!  Did anyone read where people got SHOT and MACED at Wal-Marts, people got beat up and arrested.... what the HELL!  No thank you!  I'll stick to shopping in my underpants in the comfort of my own home.  Or someone else's house, I really don't care. :)

ANYWAY ABOUT CRAFTING


Lately I've been getting a lot of work done!  I reformed my Christmas crafting list so it made sense and didn't make me want to knit a noose and hang myself...  Even then, I don't think I could have found time for that, anyway.  Currently working on my dear roommate's gifts.  I haven't talked about my roommate here yet... He's special.  He's a big ol' nerd like I am; though he geeks over movies, Tina Fey, Lady Gaga, Glee, Harry Potter, the dog, and of course, Pokemon.  So, his birthday is a little less than two weeks after mine, which is FAST approaching!  I'm knitting him a Pokeball plushie that will have a knitted Squirtle inside!  I'm adapting
this pattern to knit instead of crochet because, let's be honest, crochet doesn't make a damn bit of sense.  Mine is always SO lumpy, so I went with knitting it.  I'll write out my pattern as soon as it is done and tested, so look for that soon!  The Pokeball will be an adapted form of this, with some minor additions of some stuffing and a lining.  I'll describe all that too, once I'm finished and it's looking good. :)

Also, I've been working on a lot of clay stuff that I'm excited about too!  I got some neat cutters and stamps I'm excited to get to using, and I got a whole bunch of new colors to play with.  I'll update with some pictures of all that too, when I'm done, of course.  I like the in-progress photos, but all you'd see for now is a messy desk... So I'll wait on those :)

Truly hope everyone had a spectacular Thanksgiving, with family or even all by yourself!

Happy Halloween!

Feels more like winter, to me.  SO freakin cold here, you have no idea.  And, I'm cheap, so not turning on the heat until mid-November!  My roommate hates me...

As I sit here, not-so-slowly putting myself into a diabetic coma with all these Halloween treats, I'm staring at these super cute pumpkins my roommate, boyfriend and I made the other day, and I realize how much I love them.  Pumpkins are like.. the best vegetable.  Or fruit, or whatever it is.  It is the best.  I'm currently making some pumpkin spice CHOCOLATE DIPPED cookies to surprise my roommate. (We've been on not-so-nice terms lately, I figured, let's break the ice with cookies! And who doesn't love cookies??!!)

Things I've completed lately:

I knitted a little owlie baby toy for our good friend Matt's soon to come new addition.  It's a puppy!  No, it's not.  

I finished the surprise present I can't say exists yet until I give it to him because I think he reads this sometimes when he's bored and I don't want to ruin it yet.  Unless I already have and forgot.  Which, you know, happens sometimes.

I've been trying to knit up these socks for holiday presents coming up, because socks are relatively easy, comfy, and awesome to knit up, but I can't find the right yarn, or maybe the pattern, or needles... sock knitting just isn't coming together for me yet.  So I'm hoping I can get on it soon, since most of my holiday gifts this year will be of the sock variety.  In fact, everyone on my list gets socks.  Minus like.. one person. Ha.  I hate myself for being so damn creative. 

I'm in the process of finishing the paper mache Halloween spectacular costume for my roommate.  I plan on sitting on my porch wrapped in a blanket, going, of course, as someone who is sick, you know, because I am sick, and he'll be out partyin down the streets in a ridiculous costume that I've so lovingly made for him.  South Park, Coon and Friends, he's going as Mint Berry Crunch.  So, still have some sewing to do, still have some gluing, painting, and the like, but, it'll be complete before 8pm.  So I should probably get working now instead of whatever the hell I'm doing now....

Whaaaaaaaaaat

I'm going to write my own pattern!  I am in the process of designing and working on this super awesome present for ze boyfrann for his birthday (In like 3 weeks!) and I've never seen anything like it on ravelry or anywhere else!  I'm going to be double checking and making sure... but I definitely didn't follow any set pattern while making this potentially awesome thing! :)

Also, I have 3 hats completed for charity, so I'm feeling pretty accomplished.  They both only took two or three evenings to complete, so I"m definitely looking forward to finishing more, especially since most of my projects are quicker knits than I'm used to.  I've always had this idea that knitting takes a ton of time, but maybe because I haven't been so good at it until now.  Practice makes perfect!  I've finally figured out how to do increases and decreases pretty cleanly, and I've learned a few new techniques that I'm super excited about every time I use them (Uuuh, why did it take me so long to cable cast on, really?!)

I'm also going to take this coming weekend to work on some really sweet crafty things with the materials I brought back from the beach.  Maybe I'll actually post some things on etsy, like I've been planning.  I've got a decent pile of things adding up that just need to be photographed and posted, but I've been putting it off until I fixed my camera, then got more than 3 or 4.  I should have closer to 10 or 12 by the weekend's passing.  I'd love to make some extra cash for the coming holiday season, and I have an ever-growing list of things I want for myself that I can't afford at the moment!  (I do so love Amazon!)

And the Crafting Begins!

Ah, I'll start out by saying... What a wonderful vacation!  Very refreshing, indeed.  But, I have lots to catch up on! So many ideas flowed through my  head and I was not smart enough to bring a notebook to write anything down.  Plus, with allergy attack in full swing, my brain has been quite confuddled with mucous and the like, so crafting hasn't been on the immediate agenda, but I'm still off work for another day and a half, so I'll make the most of it for resting and writing.  I'm starting to prioritize my Christmas/Birthday knitting list, and I'm super excited to get working on it. I'm planning to challenge myself by establishing early finish deadlines (with room for error, of course) and new techniques to work with along the way.  I'm excited to start the shopping process for the yarns and things, but I'm also excited to get some new things to start making more jewelry with too.

My next project is decorating a cute little box to put the now finished scarf in for boyfriend's mom.  I haven't uploaded pictures from vacation yet, (Camera batteries died) but I'll get that done, along with pictures of the box once I finish it, and the scarf inside!

I got my special edition of Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine while I was away, so I spent most of my resting day looking over that and thinking about Thanksgiving!!  I re-read through the Halloween issue, and realized how adorable Halloween can be!!  I'm still debating a costume for this year, something inexpensive.  I've almost settled, but I'm not 100% decided yet.  I'll throw something together soon!