Spinning a Yarn.

My Plate.

2011-01-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

So I joined My Plate last year in an effort to lose some weight. I joined it again this year for the same reason. I got my sister Christy to join with me and we are "friends" on it and can see each others profile. I saw that Christy had actually written something in her diary. It was something cute like "I'm tired, but I'm still going" and I thought "I want to write in my diary!"

I went to my profile to edit it and I saw that something was already in the "about me" section. I figured I had written it last year when I joined. "Oh," I thought, "what a delight to look upon myself in 1/2010."

Here's what it said:

About Me:
I'm a LiveStrong.com member who has not yet written anything for my 'About Me.'

Ha! That's hilarious.

Anyway, I don't really have anything to talk about, but I found a photo of the cherry pie I made at Christmas and I thought it turned out really cute so I will share that with you.

Also, this year I have decided to hand make all my Christmas gifts for my twelve family members. It's going to be quite the project and it will be kind of a bummer because I won't be able to post what I am working on until after the end of the year.

I'm really excited about it though and have been combing through craft websites for inspiration. I'll also being trying new things so that will be fun and daunting at the same time.

Have a great day and wonderful weekend!

Wordless Wednesday: Gimli. Fetch!

2011-01-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

The Fish Hatchery.

2011-01-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I thought for the new year I would try and blog more. Yeah, I said try. I hope everybody had a nice new year weekend. I sure did. I drove up to the snow with my sister's family this weekend and it was really fun.

The snow was too dry to make a snowman, but we did have fun throwing rock hard ice balls at each other.

And Jasmine got to bury a flag she had made with our names on it in the snow.

Christy and the kids were hoping for snow to actually be falling from the sky, but it has actually been pretty dry here lately. It all worked out though because Ken can make it snow.

Then we headed out to a fish hatchery we had seen on the way up the mountain. I enjoy a good fish hatchery and while it was kind of off season there were still some fish in there and it was fun to actually be out and about on the weekend instead of on the couch.

There didn't seem to be anyone around so we wandered through the buildings and used the heated bathrooms which were surprisingly nice.

Then we went to another hatchery! Who knew there were so many so close together? This one wasn't very fun. It was completely fenced off. I took a nice photo of Christy's family though:

Jasmine got a souvenir frozen stick.

Mikey got a rock.

And Christy got a headache.

We had fun though and plan to go up to Bonneville Dam in two weeks to take some dam pictures and go to the fish hatchery. I've been to that one a few times before and it is always a good time.

My birthday is on Thursday. I'm turning 30!! I have the day off from work and Christy and I are going to hang out and go shopping. I'm also going to see Black Swan this weekend which I'm really looking forward to seeing. And of course... The first of the year diet. Which I will immediately go off for my birthday. Ugh! It's so inconveniently located.

Anyway, I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas and here's wishing for a wonderful 2011.

Wordless Wednesday: My sister's baby.

2010-09-15T07:13:00.000-07:00

Crafts in progress.

2010-09-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

I thought maybe I would do a post about some yarn and embroidery crafts I am working on. I think I have posted before about the bags my folks and I are making for the pregnancy center at Christmas time, but if not here is a re-cap. We are putting together some small diaper-like bags for under-privileged new mothers at Christmas time. My job is to get the 10 bags (5 girl, 5 boy) and make baby hats. As well as some monetary contributions for clothes. My mom is getting the clothes (about 2 sets for each bag) some small size baby toiletry items, a toy and a few diapers. We also want to put a little something in there for the moms, but are still working on that idea.

I wanted to start working on my embroidery so I decided to jazz up the canvas bags. I decided to do a small design as well as the word baby in blue and pink. Be kind, as this is my first real needlepoint project.

I got the designs from a small starter packet I bought at a cute craft store in NE Portland. They are created by Tigerpup Embroidery which is a business located here in Portland. It comes with the designs on large sheets of paper you can cut out as well as a large sheet of carbon paper. It costs about $4.50 and the designs were super cute. I had intended to get some Jenny Hart "Sublime Stitching" patterns as I saw her on She's Crafty and fell in love, but I thought Tigerpup designs were way cuter and were actually a little cheaper.

I think my favorite so far is the rocket and I will probably end up doing another one of those. I have to admit, the boy designs I got are a little bit cuter than the girl ones. I have some cute girl ones, but they are either really large or really detailed and I don't know if I can pull that off.

I am also still working on those apple hats. I actually decided to make red apples for the girls and green apples for the boys.

As you can see I haven't quite finished any of the boys hats yet. But I am working on them!! I'm making slow progress, but progress none the less. I think I am going to take a couple days off from work in October to finish up this project and also finish the kids Halloween costumes. They want to go as Garfield and Odie this year and I'm a little afraid I'm going to have the some problem as last year with keeping the ears standing straight up.

We ended up using skewers and that worked pretty well. And I'm a little worried about how we are going to keep Garfield's tail standing up. Something to ponder. All I have is the yarn right now which I just bought yesterday.

The lady at Joann's asked if I had a coupon and I told her I forgot them and she said she would throw a couple extra in my bag. I just went through my bag to take this photo and boy howdy. She sure did throw in a couple extra.

If anybody needs some coupons for next weekend, I'm your girl!

Labor Day Weekend.

2010-09-10T07:13:00.000-07:00

We had a big family BBQ on Sunday. I can't remember the last time all twelve us were together and it was really nice. Although I had to eat too much and then hole up in Mikey's room reading a book, but that is just a normal holiday for me.

Oh that would be funny if it weren't so darn true. I don't know how many Thanksgivings I have ended up in the back bedroom taking a nap. I have no self-control. I'm already stuffed to the gills on snacks before we even sit down to dinner. It really is a nightmare. But really, I can't wait until Thanksgiving.

I am gonna pig out!!

Wait. One celebration at a time!! We had a BBQ. I didn't get any photos of the food because... well... I seem to have lots of photos of food. And I don't want to be one of those people. Well I guess I already am one of those people, but I don't really want other people to know I am one of those people.

I was going to post some photos of food I had, but as I was scrolling through my archives I came across this photo I took of my belly a while ago. I took this photo with my belly completely sticking out (no sucking in!!) as some sort of motivational tool to lose weight. Now every time I see it, it just makes me sad. I remember this one time my friend Forrest said that every time we wanted to eat we should just go look at ourselves in the mirror naked. Theoretically that sounds good, but put into practice it is just a giant hassle. Who wants to take their pants off every time they want a sandwich?

BBQ, right... It was fun.

We played some Wii:

Took a family photo:

I wasn't actually going to post this photo because I took it so I had to run over and crouch down in what little room was available so I didn't have time to make myself thin (yes, it can be done, look how thin Christy looks, hiding completely behind Mikey.) But I emailed the photo to the family and Katie posted it on facebook, so I figure the jig is up. Is it jig or gig? Well, whatever.

I made the kids take photos with me. Mikey couldn't stop looking at the game being played on the tv screen.

Anyway, you remember when I was telling you I ended up in Mikey's bedroom reading a book. I didn't actually bring a book because I like to pretend I'm not the person who goes and hides out at a family function, so I ended up having to find something in Jasmine's room to read.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is surprisingly delightful. And it is a super quick read. I'm half way through the second book. I'm just waiting for the next family function to finish it.

Wordless Wednesday: Luna

2010-09-08T06:47:00.000-07:00

All is Vanity. And the winner is finally announced...

2010-09-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

I should probably announce the winner of my giveaway. Whoops! In my defense, I did let the winner know she won two weeks ago. Patti was the winner!! Yay!! Patti and I used to work at the newspaper together. And then she got smart and moved away. And then I got smart and moved away. Congratulations Patti! You'll be receiving your major award shortly.

Now onto other news. I went garage saling at the coast a few weeks ago and found this vanity for ten bucks. I have been looking for a vanity ever since I moved into my new place in March.

Years ago when I was living in a studio apartment, my mom was giving away her vanity. It was kind of large, solid wood and beautiful. She asked me if I wanted it and I said no, that I didn't have the room for it. I've been thinking about that vanity a lot lately.

Here are the before shots. You can't really tell from this picture, but the fabric covering the stool was stained.

And here is the finished project, all clean and reupholstered:

It doesn't really look right though, much too neat and tidy. This is better:

Wordless Wednesday: Niece.

2010-09-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

Oregonian Gurls, we're unforgettable...

2010-08-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

Brown Ugg boots with sweat pants on top.

Sometimes I do this. To make popular music more accessible to myself. I mean seriously, I don't care how great of a body you have, what do you wear more of, bikini tops or sweat pants... 'Nuff said.

The first time I saw someone write 'Nuff said, I thought "Nuff said what?"

I have a special spoon exclusively for eating pudding. It's a Gerber baby food spoon I found in my keepsake box. I has a little imprint of the Gerber Baby on the handle and it's great for eating tapioca.

My favorite pudding is Tapioca. I love those little cloudy nubblets. I don't know what they are but they kind of look like the gross things you sometimes find in pepperoni, but they aren't gross, they are delicious.

When I first saw "The Departed" I had to keep calling my dad to ask what the derogatory words meant. I had never heard half of them and the half I had heard I didn't know if it was derogatory toward the Irish or the Italians. How's that for good parenting?

My nephew Andy plays the piano.

He plays really well.

And I'm posting my first video!

Please don't forget about my giveaway! Deadline doesn't end until Sunday!

Revenge of the weeds.

2010-08-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm trying to clean out the backyard of all those pesky weeds, but it is just too hard!! I cut down a bunch (chopped down would be more adequate, I've never seen stalks like that on a weed before) and laid them out to bag and throw away. They are all thorny and spiky though and would just rip the bags to shreds and I couldn't even really get them in there in first place. So I just took the giant stack of weeds and threw it on the other side of the yard. And I'm sitting here sweaty and itchy because I'm convinced THERE ARE SPIDERS CRAWLING ALL OVER ME.

I didn't take any photos because well, it looks the same as last time except the weeds are mostly brown now and half of them are hacked off and laying on top of the other half.

Oh golly. I really thought it looked the same as it did in June, but I am really wrong. Here is what it looked like in June:

Seems so cute and inviting. Here is what it looks like right now.

The really amazing part is what it looked like in March when I moved in.

Katie thought I was so lucky because I didn't have any grass to worry about. I bet you don't think I am lucky now!! I pray for grass. At least grass doesn't have thorns!! Or spider webs at the base of their giant trunks. Or dead things, Mikey, dead things! Anyway, I just want you all to know that I will be setting my yard on fire this afternoon. I'm just gonna douse it in lighter fluid, set it on fire, let it burn for like 30 seconds and then hose it off. What could go wrong? It's an ingenious plan!!

I've been working on the spare room this weekend too (see? I said that like I worked in the yard when we all know I really didn't.) The spare room for me is such a blessing and a curse. I love the extra space, but then I just dumping crap in there all the time.

So I spent a little time in there yesterday and organized it.

It's getting there. I was thinking about buying a futon or a twin bed for this room, but I have no idea where I would put it! This was originally suppose to be my craft room, but it has really become more of an office. It was funny because I called Katie to see if she had any straws and when came over to bring them to me she told me Jesse was taking a nap. I then proceeded to hang some pictures. They must love me as a neighbor!

Alright, I gotta go set my yard on fire. Don't forget to check out my giveaway!

Giveaway! Yay!

2010-08-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

Ok so I have decided to do a giveaway. The prize? Pac-man magnets made by moi.

They are made from perler beads and are very sturdy. I used the strong magnets so they aren't those lame ones that won't even hold up a piece of paper.

The deadline to win is Sunday 8/22/2010 at 11pm Pacific Standard Time.

There are a few rules. Only one entry per person. The winner will be drawn at random.

To win just leave a comment.**See below for more rules.

How long do you think is too long for installing a printer/scanner? I didn't have the installation cd so bear that in mind. And please don't say something like "15 minutes" because that would make me sad.

I did finally install my printer/scanner and I got to scan one of my favorite photos of Jasmine and Mikey.

I didn't clean the glass or even dust off the photo, but after FIFTEEN WHOLE MINUTES of installing I didn't feel like scanning any more photos.

**Also in order to win I will need some way to contact you. If you have a blogger account just go into your blogger profile ("edit profile" on your dashboard) and click the "show my email address" box.

That way I will be able to email you if you have won. If not, just check back on Monday 8/23/2010 and I will announce the winner and tell you how to contact me. Please make sure you leave your name as anonymous comments will not have a chance to win. As soon as I am able to contact you and obtain your mailing address I will ship your "major award."

Unsafe at any speed.

2010-08-13T07:23:00.000-07:00

Katie was in a car accident. She is fine and the lady who she pulled out in front of is fine too. I feel really bad for her because I know exactly how she feels. I took a left turn right in front of somebody too when I was 17. It is the worst feeling ever.

Luckily for Katie she has a very sympathetic family. As of yesterday every member of my family has been in a car accident that was our fault and totaled at least one car (in my case it was two.) It's weird because I wouldn't consider anybody in my family a bad driver (although the people we got into accidents with might disagree.)

After my first accident every adult child had already been in an accident and my mom made each of us a framed certificate and gave them to us for Christmas (my accident was on 12/3/1998.) There is a picture of a tow truck on it and it says "The Williams Family. Established 1973. Our Motto: Unsafe at any Speed."

My mother was really hoping her baby would avoid the Williams family fate. Unfortunately my father's bad luck with cars was genetically engineered into his children. And so here it is the day after the accident. A family made whole with mangled cars in our wake.

So here is a warning to the good people of Portland, Vancouver and Wilsonville. We are out there. We are driving in your neighbors, on your streets, in your school zones. I suggest you drive defensively because heaven knows, we aren't.

You have been warned.

Thrift Store Finds

2010-08-10T18:26:00.000-07:00

I went thrift storing a few days ago with my folks and found this:

Are you jealous yet?

How about now?

It's crazy old and never been used. It was six bucks which is really expensive for me, especially for something like this, but my clos-i is not tidy and I couldn't resist. My clos-i is actually like this:

This is my hall closet and it is completely unusable and it drives me mad inside my head. I just shove the vacuum in and I have all these coats that I never wear and I really just hated this closet.

Until... Wait for it.

The CLOS-I-TIDY!

Much better. Best six bucks ever spent. I moved all the coats into the spare room closet. It's so weird. When I first moved in I thought I had so much closet space, but now that all the closets are full of junk I'm convinced this place has the worst closet space possible.

My spare room is driving me crazy right now. With the exception of my desk, there is no order in this room and I basically have it laid out the same as the day I moved the furniture in. I did buy a new table for the tv I'm putting in there.

I tried to really zoom in, but you can still kind of see the disorder that is this room. I think I'm going to make it my project this weekend. Make it look nice in case someone wants to visit me. The table above was $7.50. It was half price day at Salvation Army. Oh yeah.

I also got this cool hamper.

And this teapot I thought was cute and now kind of hate.

Well, I don't know. It's still kind of cute. We shall see how it pours. Don't you hate those teapot that you go to pour and it shoots boiling hot tea 8 inches out. Don't people test those pour spouts before they send them out? If it pours funny it is going right in the trash. That's right teapot. You have been warned.

The television is calling to me so... you know. Smell ya later.

Clark County Fair 2010

2010-08-09T20:06:00.000-07:00

Annual trip to the Clark County Fair was yesterday. I always have a good time and then a miserable time and then a good time again there. It's the three stages of fair. You know, like the stages of grief, only not so depressing and nobody has to die.

Alright, nearly all my photos are of the kids. What can I say? They are cute and they will always smile when I ask them to.

The theme this year was Aliens and it was pretty cute. We went to the alien haunted house which was a lot like last year except there were aliens instead of like skeletons and stuff. Right near the end of the house there was an EXIT and instead of continuing through the complete blackness we decided to just hop out there. One of the alien workers said in a creepy (and I'm assuming alien tongue) "Thaaat's an exiiiit." It was hilarious. Not only are aliens scary, they are very helpful. And they let you take photos with them.

Then the kids got their faces painted.

Mikey got Mario

and Jazzy got a cat.

And then I made them take a photo with this lady.

Why do they never look into the camera?

I love the part of the fair where everybody's stuff is judged. They have the weirdest categories for stuff. They have the creepy dolls that look just like babies.

Barbie dolls having tea.

A complete Chinese restaurant in a box.

And my dad made entirely out of Legos.

My brother-in-law likes the home show stuff. I hate it. It's just people trying to get my phone number and make me buy hot tubs or sign up for cable television. I find it very uncomfortable. I don't like doing it. It makes me feel like this:

This is the miserable part of the day. But have no fear! Things got better.

We had to pull Ken away from some guy trying to sell him something so he could be Papa Worm.

Last year I took a picture of the kids with a cow. I did the same thing this year. Last years photo:

This years photo:

Cow got smaller. Mikey's shirt stayed the same. What can I say? He likes making tye dye shirts with his aunt Susie.

And here is the one photo I am in.

Why am I the only one looking at the camera?! And I have major Fair Hair. Fair Hair is when you spend the night at your sister's house the day before the fair and then after your morning shower you neither blow dry or straighten. I think it's just a fad, it won't catch on.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post. "Thrift store finds." It's sure to be riveting.

...There'd be happiness that no man could end...

2010-07-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

I went to a concert Sunday. It was at the zoo and it was hot and in full sun, but it was also totally fun. Jacquie and I had too much wine, but thank goodness for Kim and Dave who drove us home. Although in my own defense I was never suppose to drive anybody home. I was designated for nothing. Actually I think I was the designated wine drinker. And I fulfilled my end of the bargain fo sho.
Kim and Jacquie said I can't use any photos of them that don't look good. So there will be no photos of them. Ha! Just joking!!

Why am I always flaring my nostrils in photos. Do I do that in a real life? Gosh, I hope not.

I'm looking at a weather report and it says the high temperature on Sunday was 90 degrees (I just typed digress, huh) and that is probably about what it was. But it seemed a little hotter when you are sitting in the sun for two hours waiting for the concert to start. Luckily none of us got any sun burns.

It was a surprisingly small lawn. With a surprisingly large amount of people sprawled across it.

The opening act was Gin Wigmore (or something very close to that.) I liked her, her voice sounded a lot like Juliette and the Licks and I've always loved Juliette Lewis. Gin also played the ukulele and who doesn't enjoy that?

And then Jamie played. That's who we went to see Jamie Cullum. I'm not a very big fan. Especially since I never heard any of his music until about a month ago, but there are a few songs that I really like. One of them being "If I Ruled the World." And he played it! Woot!

It was a really fun time.

And I almost didn't go because I had lost my original ticket. Oh gosh, I hate talking about this. And then I had to buy a brand new ticket because Ticketmaster is a service brought to you by the devil himself. But I'm so glad I sucked it up and bought a new ticket because it was super fun.

I don't have a picture of myself. Well I do have pictures of myself just not at this concert. Let's take a little trip to the land of make believe.

Here I am at the zoo concert. They just put in an ocean! Can you believe it?!!

Samson your hair, glistening like sun, oh would that it were mine...

2010-07-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

I got a haircut! I know it was about time. My hair was getting really long and annoying. I had started just always wearing it up or braided so I figured it was time for a change. I usually go to a hairdresser that is really close to my house. I always have the same lady and she isn't very nice and the cut costs forty bucks. I don't know why I kept going there. Wait, yes I do. It was close to home. And I would have gone there again except they are closed on Sundays and Mondays and those are my days off.

Katie always goes to this other place with my sister Christy. It's called Bishops and she really likes them. And now so do I. Here are some unflattering before shots:

I'm wearing too much face powder. Katie has her eyes closed. Man, that is a good before shot. It was pretty hot yesterday afternoon and as we are pulling into the parking lot at the hair salon I say to Katie, "I hope I don't have to shake hands with anyone because my hands are pretty sweaty." Katie says, "Why would you have to shake hands with anyone." I figured she was right, why would I?

We walk in and sign our names on a board and one minute later my hairdresser walks over and says, "Susan?" I stand up and he holds out his hand and says, "Hi, my name is Blah." Yeah, I don't remember what his name was. Not because my hands were sweaty, but because I'm really bad about people introducing themselves to me.

I loved Blah. We talked the whole time about Project Runway and ANTP. I think he expected me to be afraid about cutting my hair, but I never am. Maybe it's because the Williams women grow hair really fast. Maybe it's because I hacked all my hair off when I was sixteen and I didn't die. Maybe it's because I watch ANTP and every time they do the make-overs some snotty girl cries and it makes me mad inside my head.

Blah said his favorite thing was cutting off lots of hair. Yay for him, I guess. It took forever though and Katie came over after her haircut and we all chatted about Katie going to ComicCon and craft festivals and bodysuits. So yeah, go see Blah at Bishops, he's cool. Here's some after shots:

You like that facebook shot of me? Ugh, I hate when girls do that, but I totally see why. Look how cute I am!!

Anyway, we get in the car after our hair cut on the way to Sushi and Katie asks, "Did you have to shake hands with Blah?" Apparently she shook hands with her lady hairdresser too. Told you. It's the curse of sweaty hands.

If you hands are wet

You can surely bet

you'll be shaking hands

with Blah and Yvette.

Actually Katie's hairdresser's name was Annie. I remember because Katie wrote her name down when she signed in as her preferred hairdresser. I left mine blank because I didn't care. If I see the name written down I will remember because I will have a visual memory to look back on. Verbal doesn't do the trick.

Look who came to visit yesterday morning:

He looks scary in that photo like he is hissing, but he is just meowing.

Gosh, as if you don't get enough photos of Cinnamon on Katie's blog.

Burn the land and boil the sea.

2010-07-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

Will someone turn the heat down? My hands are sweaty and it's hard to write my blog.

I haven't figured out a way to get the cool air from the air conditioned room into my spare room where my computer is. I was going to take a photo of the current system, but my bedroom looks like a bomb exploded in there. IT'S TOO HOT TO CLEAN!

Great! Now the backs of my knees are getting sweaty. We better make this quick.

It's July. My favorite picture is on the calender. It's shows a piglet diving into a lake while a duck wrapped in a towel watches from the shore.

I started a new craft project. I wanted to start making some more things for mom's shop so they would be ready for Christmas shoppers. They are potholders. I know! Potholders? Sheesh. Haven't I made enough of those yet? But these are different and cool and I'm hoping they sell.

Oh and I want to say one thing about this Mel Gibson stuff. Everybody is all shocked and appalled by him and HELLO! he did the same thing five years ago when I originally started boycotting him (give or take, it's too hot to look up facts.) I have not knowingly watched a movie that Mel Gibson has been a part of for five years. Everybody always makes fun of my boycotting things, but if we all banded together things might actually change. If everybody canceled their cable tomorrow, you can bet your bottom dollar prices would come way down. But the fact remains that no one but me and Katie are willing to go without cable. Although she hasn't boycotted Mel Gibson one bit. Kept trying to talk me into seeing that Apocalypto movie. And NO, I HAVEN'T SEEN AVATAR BECAUSE I'M BOYCOTTING JAMES CAMERON FOR BEING A NOT VERY NICE PERSON.

Alright, I'm off. I'll leave you with this so you don't think I've gone mad.

The duck:

The pig:

The big picture:

I know I said I would write on Tuesday...

2010-07-08T18:01:00.000-07:00

It's getting hot here in Portland. About time. It's totally cool though, because I have a/c. And I finished the curtains in the bedroom.

So are you ready?

Ready for four-wheeling?

Well here we go.

Oh poor Christy. She really burnt her back this day. You can probably see why.

I love quading. It's really fun. I know it sounds silly and dangerous, but it is really loads of fun and we don't go very fast so it's really not that dangerous. Unless you are trying to take photos while driving. Then it might be a little dangerous. Trust me kids, don't try this at home. I am a trained professional. Ok, no I'm not, but it was really scary at some points so I really wouldn't recommend it.

Every time I stopped to take photos, Jas would ask if my quad had died. Because that is what you ask all trained professionals.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

He isn't dead. He is just doing what he did all weekend.

Oh that was fun. And a little scary. Mostly because I had to keep my right hand on the gas and take photos with my left. It would have been much easier if it were the other way around.

Oh my, I really do have a lot of photos. Sharon made Jasmine a summer dress that turned out beautiful.

I still have tons more photos of the weekend, but I think I'm just going to call it quits and leave you with this:

We designed our own shirts. Yeah, we're cool like that.

Towering Inferno or Arms on Fire.

2010-07-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

I'm back! I hope everybody had a safe and awesome 4th of July weekend! I did! Except for the fact that I burned my forearms to a crisp. They hurt. They hurt real bad. They are all swollen and hot. But they probably don't hurt nearly as much as Christy's back. Yikes!

I had a super fun weekend and I have tons of photos. I just don't know where to start. Most of the photos of me are really unflattering. Let's start there!:

Oh gosh, this photo is hilarious! Look at those legs. I think I am part albino. Don't worry about my arms though. I don't look like that anymore. They are bright red now. I just red myself. I just tried to take some photos of my sunburn, but you can't even tell in the photos that I am red. So you'll just have to take my word for it. I am red.

On Saturday we drove into Eugene and went to the mall. I rode in the back seat with the kids. I love riding back there because they love interacting with me. They tell me cute stories, we sing songs, we play road games. It's so much fun! Ok, that's not true. They do this:

It's riveting for me. So I make them look at me for pictures.

Take a look at the DDR picture again. I'm a big girl. And they stick me in the back seat while they ride in the lap of luxury with cup holders and the like.

Must be nice! Actually, I made Christy ride in the back for the rest of driving. I mean really, she is much smaller than I am. It just makes more sense.

Oh wait, we didn't go to the mall first. We went to Home Depot to do their building craft. Ken helped Jasmine while I helped Mikey. Christy took photos.

It's a really neat thing Home Depot does. Every Saturday morning they have a children's building craft and it's totally free. Plus they get a free pin to put on their free apron (they left their aprons at home.)

Here are Mikey and I doing it right:

And Ken and Jazzy doing it wrong:

The first time. They did it wrong twice. Ken should have been doing a little more of this:

We made periscopes! They are really neat.

Then we went to the mall. Well first we went to Wal-mart, but I didn't get any photos of that. You seen one Wal-mart you seen 'em all. Right?

Would you like to see more DDR photos? Of course you would. This one I call Concentration, Consternation.

This one is called, pre-dance pep talk.

Perfect score (and notice Ken in the background playing):

Mikey went skiing.

It was hard:

But momma helped him:

Here's a cute shot. I call it "Heading to Tilt." or "Creepy Guy on the Left."

Alright. I have to go take a cool shower and I still have lots of photos, so I'll post again tomorrow. Here's a teaser of the quads (I have a lot of quad shots.) Wait. That doesn't sound right.

I'm ridiculous.

I am the maker of my destiny: I am the captain of my soul.

2010-07-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Hey! If you are enjoying this blog, please follow me. It's super easy if you have a gmail account, just log in using your google password. If you don't have a gmail account, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? It's the wave of the future. I think google sells your searching info to the government, but other than that it is totally awesome. So get a gmail account and then sign up to follow my blog. It's the right thing to do.

I just ate four otter pops.

A girl I work with said she didn't think she would have enough to blog about if she had a blog. I told her she didn't really need anything to blog about. Boy howdy, was I right.

I laid in bed for about ten minutes last night with the light on and admired my curtains. It's amazing how some curtains can really make a room look so much better. It's so nice having that pop of red on the walls. I wish I were a homeowner and could paint my walls. That would be so nice.

I really have nothing to write about. I'm packing for my trip right now and I'll be gone all weekend. Yay!! Hopefully I will come back and have photos and things to talk about.

I watched Invictus tonight. Is it bad to say that I found it really boring? And long? And for some reason I thought it was about a soccer team when it is actually about a rugby team. Did you know that? I'm sure you did, but I didn't. How do they play that game? It looks so bizarre. I really should read up about it on wikipedia. That thing where they all lock arms and push into each other, what was that about? Or they climb all over each other and make a pyramid and then throw the ball. It was so weird. It's like cricket. I have no idea how that is played either and I probably never will. I just don't care enough.

Alright, I'm off. Have a great weekend and a Happy 4th of July!!

All eyes on me, in the center of the ring, just like a circus.

2010-06-29T17:30:00.000-07:00

So last season of Project Runway they had a circus challenge. They had to make an outfit inspired by the circus. I loved the idea because I like strips and red and the circus seems to use a lot of that. I needed to make curtains for my bedroom. Bad. I mean really bad. Especially with the ugly air conditioner in.

Just joking, happiness. You know I love you! Happiness is my a/c's name. We're tight.

But seriously, look at that window. Doesn't it just make you sad?

I'm kind of broke. Well... Because... I spend a lot of money. I had tons of left over fabric from my curtains at my old place and the curtains I made for the living room. So I just decided to pull out the previous stitches and make it work! Oh Tim Gunn. Can you believe he has been to Portland AND Vancouver and I didn't even know about it until it was too late? Apparently they like the Pacific Northwest because both of the contestants from these two places have won.

Anyway, I wanted to do a play on a circus tent with red and white fabric. They were quite different fabrics and it turned out to be a giant pain in the neck every time I crossed the seam between the two fabrics as I had to change the top thread and the bobbin. And man oh man do I hate my bobbin. I wish I had a machine where you just set it in the top instead of having to remove that stupid metal part off the side and fiddle with it until it pops back in. Ugh. It's super annoying.

I think they turned out pretty good. Here's a photo, please disregard the wonky hem at the bottom. I didn't feel like pinning. I did iron the top before I did it so that part is a lot straighter than the bottom.

And here's how it looks when the a/c is in use.

I actually think it looks better like this. It also kind of reminds me of the Queen of Heart skirt in Alice in Wonderland. The Disney cartoon one. I haven't seen the new one yet. Although, I was told it wasn't very good.

And Birdy where are you? We miss you here in Portland! I hope you are doing well! And making lots of cool stuff!

And she speaks inside a cloud.

2010-06-28T14:21:00.000-07:00

I can't believe the weekend is almost over. I am actually getting a lot of stuff accomplished. This may surprise you, but I can be rather lazy about housework and crafts. I love a clean house and completed crafts, but the whole process of getting there can be too tedious for me sometimes.

I had a ton of laundry to do, I did it. My bathroom was dirty, I cleaned it. My eyebrows needed plucking, I plucked them. Curtains needed to be made for the bedroom, I made them. Well I'm in the process of making them. I got a little frustrated and then decided to clean the bathroom. You don't have to measure anything to clean the bathroom. Now I have the shower curtain soaking in soapy bleach water in the tub. And my eyes are red because I'm allergic to bleach. At least I remembered to wear rubber gloves this time.

I'm going out of town next weekend for 4th of July. I'm excited because I haven't been out of town since before Christmas. And it's also kind of why I'm doing a big push to get all this little stuff done. I don't want to come home from vacation with a filthy house waiting for me. Been there, done that. It's a sure trigger for depression.

So I was just going to have a bit of a lie down last night at 8pm and I woke up at 6:30 this morning. Whoops! That sounds like something an old person would do. And I woke up a little disoriented because the last thing I remember thinking was, oh I'm not tired after all, maybe I will watch a movie. That's the thing about being an insomniac, if you don't need the sleep, you will get it, if you do need it, you won't.

Alright, I have to rinse that shower curtain and get started on folding this mountain of laundry.

Stay tuned for pictures of the new bedroom curtains. If I ever figure out how to actually sew in a straight line. Which is surprisingly difficult.

Oh and if you need something new to listen to try Gamma Ray by Beck. I forgot how much I love Beck. This song makes me want to take a road trip.

Things I love.

2010-06-24T19:56:00.000-07:00

1) Remember the Monday after Easter how mom would always pack an egg salad sandwich in your lunch and you would be so excited to eat it that you would eat half of it at the bus stop and then be horribly disappointed at lunch time when you only had half a sandwich left? No? Well then I'm a pig.

2) Or when mom was sick and dad had to pack your lunch and when you opened your sandwich it was one thick slice of ham on rye bread with a glob of mayo and that's it. Also horribly disappointing. I didn't love it then, but it makes me smile now. Every kid needs a dad to pack their lunch every once in while so they will appreciate mom more.

3) That wonderful feeling after taking a shower, putting on clean pj's and crawling into brand new, clean, crisp sheets. Will someone change my sheets? I'll be in the shower.

4) This:

Bouncy Castles are exhausting!!

5) The fact that Ken asked if adults could jump on them too and the girl said yes.

6) I love that dad thinks Junior Mints give you kidney stones.

7) And the fact that mom shaved her legs before going to hospital. Even though she was already in labor with Ben.

8) That the sun is out finally and maybe I can hang up some clothes on my clothes line this weekend.

9) That sometimes I can hear Katie doing DDR at her house at night.

10) And angry eyes.

SOAP. It's what's for dinner.

2010-06-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

So Katie came over on Sunday night to make soap.

It was melt and pour soap, so you'll notice in the background (not the messy kitchen background) the chunks of soap we had cut up. Then you melt it in a double boiler.

Don't we look happy? Here's a creepy eye shot of the soap cubes.

We also made some shampoo and liquid hand soap. Right as I was taking a photo of it Katie asked how her arm fat looked in the previous shot. I said it looked like this:

Doesn't that look like bacon fat? This stuff was really easy. You just mix it with filtered water. Watch how Katie demonstrates:

Liquid soap turd. You just blend that stuff up and put it into bottles. We added a little orange oil to the hand soap to make it smell nice and just left the shampoo plain. I didn't make any shampoo so you'll have to ask Katie if that stuff is any good. Mom says it is fantastic though.

Now here are some cute photos of us cutting the soap. Hey side-note... You know what's hard? Writing a blog on commercial breaks from Hell's Kitchen. Takes you like 1.5 minutes to figure out what you were talking about and by the time you start getting your rhythm again, the show is back on.

These photos are funny because first Katie pretended to cut and then I did. Oh aren't we just the thing!

This photo is pretty unflattering, but I thought it was too cute to just not post it. This is what I really look like. Extra chins and all. Plus the chef's knife. I always pack one of those in case of zombies.

Look at the precision cutting technique Katie has. Yummy. That soap looks delicious!

That girl has mad skillz.

Here are some finished pieces. I made some face soaps. Hold on, show is back on. Whoa. Chef was mad!! Ok, where was I? Oh yeah, we made some face soaps with oatmeal in them. Tip: if you let the soap set too long and then add moisture absorbing oatmeal, things might thicken up way fast. But they still turned out pretty good.

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out and they smell wonderful.

I thought it might be fun to start posting a random photo from my archives at the end of blogs. So here is this one. It's our pumpkins we carved last Halloween. Mine is the clown face at the end. It started as one that was much more difficult, but I didn't realize how crummy my carving skills were so I just turned the pumpkin around and started over with the "easy" pattern. Yeah. I did that.

The only good thing about the rain is I don't have to shave my legs.

2010-06-20T18:49:00.000-07:00

A guy at work told me a couple days ago that we aren't going to have a summer this year in Portland. I wrote him off mostly because he lives in Boring and I'm not even sure that town exists. Although I was really surprised when I didn't have to dial a one before the phone number. Where is this place called Boring that is so close the phone number isn't long distance? I have no idea, but I'm certainly not going to trust some guy from this mythical land. Plus, I mean, come on! Of course we will have a summer!

After today's weather I'm starting to think maybe the Boring man might be right.

This is the vivid color setting on my camera. Apparently vivid means blue. I wrote a limerick about the man from Boring.

There once was a man from Boring

Who went outside, it was pouring

He went back to bed

With thoughts of warmth is his head

When the sun came out he was snoring

I know I have been bad about writing blogs lately, but I'm really going to try and do better. Mostly because Jessica said she is going to become one of my followers if I started posting semi-regularly.

It's hard though, trying to be interesting when all you have to look at is this:

"Come on Susan. Be funny. Be interesting. Say something smart."

I don't have anything smart to say. So look how gross my kitchen is:

I'm making soap with Katie tonight so I'm going to take photos of that and maybe make a post out of it. But I should probably clean my kitchen first.

My yard has turned into quite the jungle. I'm not sure what to do about that. I should probably whack some weeds or something. But I kind of like it. Plus it's easier to not do anything. Those weeds are huge though. I didn't know they got that big.

Look at those suckers. They be ginormous! I should enter them in the county fair or something.

I am the eggman.

2010-05-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

I have a recurring nightmare. It involves heat, newspapers and an egg. I was recently telling Katie and Birdy about it at one of our craft nights and it was weird telling people about it because I don't think I ever have. It one of those things about dreams. While I find mine haunting and fascinating I find other people's lame and boring. And I don't think it is because other people's dreams are boring, it's just that other people's dreams are boring. Wait. Does that make sense? Let me try this again. It's not that I find hearing about dreams boring, I'm just surprised how other people seem to have boring dreams. Well, it makes sense inside my head. (it makes me mad inside my head.)

I think I had the dream for the first time when I was eleven, maybe twelve. I was doing my brother's paper route while he was at the National Guard during the summer. Oh wait, this isn't the dream, all this stuff is true, I'm just setting up where I was at when I had it. There was this creepy looking house on the corner one block up from my house. I forget the name of the street, I think it started with a C. I'm not even sure I delivered a paper to that house, but I always found it creepy because it was old and the paint was peeling off the walls and the yard was completely overgrown and scary looking. Plus, I had heard lots of rumors about who lived it that house. Double Plus, I had just read To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time, so I imagine I had Boo on the brain. I used to always hold my breath when I rode my bike by the house. And when I used to walk up to the bus stop in Junior High I could swear I heard noises coming from the yard, but by that point I had already started having the dream so that might have had something to do with it.

Anyhoot, here's the dream:

It's like 3 in the afternoon and I am doing my paper route and when I come to that house some old creepy looking guy hollers at me to come up because he wanted to pay his paper bill (us paper route kids didn't collect the money for the Mail Tribune, so that part is inaccurate and I'm not even sure I delivered to that house in the first place, but you have to make some allowances because this is only a dream.) It was REALLY hot that day (like every summer in Medford) and I'm sweaty and creeped out, but I still walk up the driveway to the house. The old guy is just standing there and he is all sweaty and creepy. He is really tall and thin and is wearing a stained white tee-shirt and smiling all gross like a pedophile or something. Then he starts talking about how hot it is and how you could fry an egg out here.

Then the screen door opens and I look up at the front door and this disturbing fella comes out onto the porch. He is all messed up. Big guy and kind of hunched over and he has this enormous, misshapen head. He is bald and sweat is dripping down his face. The old guy goes "oh, that's just my brother" and then the brother pulls an egg out of his pocket, cracks it on his head and it sizzles like it just hit a hot frying pan.

And then I wake up. Horrified. It's always the same dream and I've had it now for 18 years. I just started realizing that I have it when it is really hot because I don't think I had the dream very often when I lived on the coast, but the first summer I had in Portland I had the dream like 3 times. What is really disturbing is how well I can picture those guys faces. I mean even to the liver spots on the eggman's head. Yes. Liver spots. As if it wasn't disturbing enough, he had to have those growdy things.

So... Does anybody else get recurring dreams? I have a couple, but they are never newer dreams. They are always dreams I had when I was a kid. And by recurring I mean more than twice, because I notice I usually will have the same dream twice. I have it and within 7 days I have it again. I don't know why. It's like a double feature of the same film. Or like when you don't have cable and they show the same movie of the week on ION for 3 months.

I don't have any photos to show. Wait, I can take some. Why do I look so much better in sephia than in techicolor?:

Admit it. It's true. God grant me a colorless world.

Anyway, I just wanted to say it's kind of warm today. Not crack an egg on your head warm. But kind of warm. It's nice.

It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate son.

2010-04-14T07:35:00.000-07:00

You know what is fun? What is really, really fun? Taking a hundred bucks to Ikea and pretending you are rich. You can get a lot of crap there for a hundred bucks. I'm really trying to resist the urge to list off all the things I got there because I don't think anyone would find that remotely interesting. Or would they? Maybe I should. No. Definitely Not.

I will tell you this though, I did find an 8 foot long curtain rod for my front window.

And I bought this gorgeous red fabric to make curtains for my front window.

I actually did that thing my mom always does that makes the ruffles at the top of the curtain. Man, that sure makes them look better than not doing that. The fabric was $8.50 a yard and I had a 25% off coupon so it actually wasn't bad on the money front. I bought 5 yards though when I actually only needed 4, but I always worry about not having enough fabric. Better safe than sorry. I watch Project Runway so I know what happens when you don't buy enough fabric. Some poor model has to wear an obscene skirt down the runway. It's not a catwalk, it's a street walk. And all because you skimped on the chiffon so you could get more boning for the bodice. Nobody is looking at the bodice. We are all looking at that model's behind.

Anyhoot, here's the curtains:

I couldn't get them to look right, so I closed the shades and took one with a flash:

I love them! I love the color which I am glad because sometimes I will buy fabric and by the time I get it home I am already second guessing my choices, but this is perfect. The fabric has a good weight and hangs very well too. Lori helped me pick it out. Yes, my friend Lori was in town this weekend. Yay!! No photos. Not one. Can you stand it? Oh was I bummed out about that after she left and I realized I had no photos. Luckily I have all my Ikea crap to remind me of her visit.

It was so nice having her here and having a much bigger apartment to entertain. I also made her watch the North & South British miniseries that I love and we got some crafting in so it was pretty darn fun. I can't believe all the beautiful sweaters she is knitting. I remember back when I MADE her learn how to crochet and now she is way better at yarn crafts then I could ever imagine being.

We skipped all over town shopping on Sunday. Ikea, Michaels, The Mall, Mill End Store, Scrap and Target. It was pretty fabulous because I had been saving money for the last few months anticipating this and what is even better is I got everything I wanted and I didn't even go over budget. I even have fabric for the office window and I think I have enough left over fabric to make some curtains for the kitchen as well.

Is it wrong that I totally want to get this set? I just can't think of anything cooler for my bathroom. I don't know if my mother would approve.

The family that crafts together...

2010-04-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

Man, am I tired!! I had the best weekend though because I got to spend it with my niece and nephew Jasmine and Mikey. Not only are they sweet and kind and little anti-depressants, they are also crafty. Especially Jasmine. She was constantly asking me for scissors and pipe cleaners and every time I turned around she had finished another craft project. It was pretty awesome.

The first thing Jasmine made was a diorama of a lion's habitat while Mikey made dinner for all his puffles in his tent.

Jazzy crafting:

Mikey being crazy:

Jazzy crafting:

Mikey being crazy:

I was really impressed with how well her diorama turned out. That girl has mad skillz.

It was a project to earn a girl scout badge and you had to make a habitat including food and water. So she put a zebra in for food. That girl kills me.

On Sunday it was raining pretty hard all day so we stayed inside and played Uno and Parcheesi all morning.

Aren't they just the cutest? It's 11am and they are still wearing their pajamas.

Here they are at 3pm painting their bird and butterfly houses in their pajamas.

I love watching Jasmine work. She is so serious and really takes a lot of time working on things. Mikey is more of a fly by the seat of your pants crafter. It's more about how fast you can do it than how it looks when it is done. He did do a pretty awesome job on his though. He painted his puffles on the side of his house.

If you don't know what a puffle is, it looks like this:

And Katie and Jesse bought Mikey a new puffle on Saturday so he was pretty stoked at how many he had. I think he did a pretty awesome job capturing them in his paintings.

I really liked how Jasmine birdhouse turned out too. Those kids are awesome.

I'm just going to start posting photos because they are so cute.

Then we tyedyed some new clothes. I forgot to take photos because tyedyeing by yourself with two small children can be really stressful. I did remember at the end of the day, but then I forgot to take photos of the completed work, but it was really fun and the kids did awesome.

Alright, that's all I got right now. I'll try and do better about writing. I've just been so busy lately!! I did start a new craft project though and I'm totally loving it, so hopefully I will share soon!!

My conscious and unconscious self.

2010-03-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I think about being able to split myself in two people. And by sometimes I mean, I think about it a lot. Mostly in ways to remain lazy. Currently my favorite split personality fantasy is when my alarm goes off in the morning at 5:30. I set it for that time because what I should do is get up and work-out, but what I really do is reset it for 6 and think about how nice it would be to split myself. Wait. That doesn't sound right.

So here is how it would go down. My unconscious self would get up and go work out while my conscious self would go back to being unconscious. So I guess both myselfs would be unconscious. How lazy am I? My fantasies are of me being lazy. Wow. My fantasies are totally achievable!!

I was actually able to drag my conscious self up to finally put that shelf in the pantry. It was all very technical. The first thing you have to do is find a stud. I couldn't find one so I had to do it myself. HAHAHAHAHA! Oh goodness, I slay myself.

No, really. First thing is to get some tools. I hate this drill. It drives me insane. But it was free so I really can't complain. Well, I really shouldn't complain. And then you like, drill some holes and screw some screws in.

And then you get distracted by a freakish screw.

Look! It has a parasitic twin!! Perfect opportunity to use my cameras macro feature:

Yeah, and then you get back to what you are doing which is really just a lot of screwing and in my case stripping out a lot of screws. Oh my! This post sounds so dirty!!

And then viola! You have a pantry shelf:

It's like magic!!

Who knew tea shops could be so dangerous?

2010-03-24T07:02:00.000-07:00

I love books. I wouldn't say I was a great reader, but I do like to read and have read many of the classics. I have enjoyed reading since I was a child and go through periods of reading abundantly to not reading at all. Most of the books I read I am not ashamed of. I would happily recommend them to others and feel a sense of pride in my selections. My favorite books are all classics. Jane Eyre, To Kill a Mockingbird, Frankenstein. And yet... there is a whole other side of my reading that most people don't know about.

I like to read crap. I mean really stupid garbage, junky, rot your brain, reality television-esque type books. Case in point; the book I am reading right now.

It is a murder mystery set in a tea shop. Well, I guess if I am going to be truthful I should be totally truthful. It's a series of murder mysteries set in a tea shop. This is actually book 4. Oh my. I actually tried to get my mom to read the first book "Death by Darjeeling." She started it and then gave it back saying it was trite and insipid and the characters were predictable and it was just a sugary sweet book where nothing bad ever happened. She is right and that is exactly why I love them so much.

Nothing bad ever happens! Well except for the dead guy, but the readers don't know the dead guy. Sure, the main characters know him in some obscure and abstract way and the carry on as though they feel really bad about the death, but it doesn't really elicit any real emotion from me. And then the murder is solved and everybody comes back to the Indigo Tea Shop for a nice pot of tea and some cranberry scones. The books even have recipes!!

Yes, the books. I may have more than one. I may have this many:

I love the way this goes. 1984, The Catcher in the Rye, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, my Indigo Tea Shop mysteries and then Gone with the Wind. Classic. Literally.

So if you enjoy a book with insipid plots where nothing bad ever happens, may I recommend this Laura Childs gems? I hear she has a series of books about a knitting group. Can't wait!!

All the right friends in all the right places, so yeah, we're going down...

2010-03-22T16:29:00.000-07:00

It's funny the types of things people obsess about. It really depends on the person. My dad had many obsessions when I was a child. They mostly involved ants. But there were also the forays into beer brewing, goats, science projects and the all-consuming Volkswagen repair. Although that was less an obsession and more of a necessity. But since my father spent every weekend since I was 4 until I was 12 repairing our various Volkswagens I'm going to call it an obsession.

My current obsession is my clothes line. I can't explain it. I find it fascinating.

Now if my yard weren't such a disaster I could really enjoy it. But I really enjoy it now.

I love the way the wind blows the cloths around. I love the sun shining on them.

What I don't really love is finding cherry blossoms stuck in the pocket that fitted sheet makes and then having them littered all over my house. But other than that I completely love my clothes line.

On to other news. I finished some Mario coasters for mom's shop. I made eight of them and they turned out pretty good I think:

I had only made a set of 6 for my sister (see craftster post) so I needed to add 2 more images. I chose the ghost and the feather. And yes, I did notice that the feather is off center, but I decided not to care. But deciding not to care and actually not caring are two very different animals. My mom will be selling them in sets of 4. I made the decision on the set and they are as follows.

Set #1:

And Set #2:

So please visit my mom's shop if you are interested in buying them. All proceeds go to World Vision for helping the people of Africa. They even have cork backing so it won't drip through the cracks and onto your table that you are trying to protect with a coaster in the first place.

I just had a wonderful lunch with my old co-workers Lynne and Cheryl (I meant to take photos, I even remembered my camera, but I completely forgot as per usual.) And now I need to hang that shelf in my pantry because cans are starting to pile up on my counter tops.

We shall see how that goes!!

The shopping won't stop until the money runs out.

2010-03-09T19:00:00.000-08:00

Isn't shopping the best? I've been doing that a lot lately. I'm starting to worry I won't be able to stop, but for right now I have the money so why not? And I keep adding things to my list of "must haves." It's quite long. you have labored on it since, it is a ponderous chain! Ah. I wish it were Christmas again.

So went shopping with the folks yesterday. Hit all my favorite thrift shops and Joann's. I found one of those knitting bags that my mom used to have. I meant to take a photo before I tore it apart, but I complete forgot so here is where I remembered. This is the icky, faded fabric that was originally on it.

And then here are a couple photos of the frame:

I bought some new fabric at Joann's and then just hand washed it in the sink and hung it out on my NEW CLOTHES LINE! Yes. First day up and I already got to use it.

They dried really fast. I can't wait until it's nice enough to start hanging more clothes out. I had to borrow Katie's sewing machine and luckily she was home from lunch. I sat down to use it and couldn't remember the last time I had used a sewing machine. 8th grade Home Ec? Has it been that long? Luckily it had pictures that showed you had to thread the machine. It turned out to be quite a pain in the ass because I had to hand sew nearly the whole thing. The way the frame works you have to like weave the fabric around it and then sew it into place. I used the old fabric as my pattern and that worked really well.

Insane amount of pinning though. Anyway, my hand sewing was piss poor, but it turned out pretty good and I'm really happy with it. I can't wait to take it to craft night!!

Action Shot ^

I also found this really cool bench at Salvation Army. I was thinking about painting it, but it also looks pretty good the way it is and I really need more side tables so I was really happy to find it.

It has these really weird side details, like wagon wheels or a crib or something.

So yeah, pretty happy with my purchases. Can't wait to go back out and shop some more!!

A Brand New Day.

2010-03-01T15:59:00.000-08:00

It is finished. I wanted to show the whole kit and kaboodle, but I was such a wreck yesterday all I could think was "load, load, load... UNLOAD. load, load, load... UNLOAD." Although on the up side, I finally realize why they called those makeup storage cases Kaboodles. It's like all the pieces finally fell together and the world makes sense.

This is the view from my front window. But it isn't from today. I took this yesterday. I took one today too, but it's cloudy out today so this one looks much better. I meant to get photos of all my helpers, but I forgot (because I was a wreck) until the only people left were the Smiths. So here they are:

I think Christy was afraid she was going to smile ugly in this photo. I do that. I have so many photos where I am making this exact expression. It reads "God, please let me look thin and pretty." Don't you hate when someone has a really horrible photo of you where you look so fat and hideous that you hardly recognize yourself and they say "here's a good one of you!" And then you realize you actually look like that. And then you quietly resent that person for the rest of your relationship.

And now for the tour!! The spare room/office/craft room. It's the least set up of the bunch. I got the computer up (obviously!!) and got the closet pretty much organized, but it's pretty empty.

The my bedroom, it's also pretty empty. I haven't gotten any pictures up yet:

The bathroom:

The living room:

Yeah, I know. I have a lot of rocking chairs. I don't know how it happened but I think I'm collecting them now. Ken and Christy bought me the brown one and I really wanted it for the back patio, but it's so nice I don't really want to put it out there to rot.

Here's the dining room (I need a dining table and chairs for a good price. FYI):

And the kitchen:

Here are some photos of the backyard, I know it looks kind of crappy, but I'm hoping to clean it up this summer so I'll post photos as that comes along. I also want to put a clothesline in so that will be fun.

Tada!! I'm so glad the moving is over and now I can get back to crafting. I have nothing to show on that front, but I bought a ton of perler beads that were on clearance at Joann's so hopefully I'll come up with something really cool to do with those. Alright, peace out.

A definition.

2010-02-25T21:09:00.000-08:00

I thought it was self-explanatory. I was wrong. See mom? There are people who understand things less than I do!

Definition of the phrase "Spinning a Yarn": Tell a story, especially a long drawn-out or totally fanciful one, as in This author really knows how to spin a yarn, or Whenever he's late he spins some yarn about a crisis. Originally a nautical term dating from about 1800, this expression probably owes its life to the fact that it embodies a double meaning, yarn signifying both "spun fiber" and "a tale."

I thought everybody knew that. So if you didn't know that and expect blogs about me sitting at my spinning wheel turning straw into gold. Don't go on... Go back, while you still can... This is not the way... Take heed, and go no further... Beware, beware... Soon it will be too late...
Ah, don't pay any attention to them, they're just false alarms. You get a lot of them in the Labyrinth, especially when you're on the right track.
Oh, no you're not!
Oh, shut up.

The end.

She's crafty like ice is cold.

2010-02-23T07:34:00.001-08:00

Let's take a little break from moving to talk about craft night. I have a craft night! And it's with actual people, not my imaginary British friends. Yes. I have imaginary friends. And they are British. We've been doing craft night for several months now. But it's gotten more regular lately. We meet up every Wednesday night. Usually we meet at my place and watch a movie or Arrested Development or Firefly and chat and work on our current projects.

It's fun and I really enjoy doing it. But last week we went public (technically Katie and Birdy went public the week before me. I canceled for some reason I can't remember now. I'm sure it was good though.) We meet at a local coffee shop, order chai tea and get our yarn art on.

I love doing crafts. I love crocheting.

I love thinking of an idea and actually being able to make it work.

I love being able to make things for the people I love.

And I love craft night.

The haunting revisited.

2010-02-22T13:12:00.000-08:00

It's getting down to crunch time. I have the keys. I have the way. Do I have the will? I can out-think, I can out-play, but can I out-last? How did all this crap get in my house? I feel like I went out of town for a while and somebody came in and hid all this garbage in the deep, dark corners of my apartment. Only they didn't because I recognize the stuff and still can't bring myself to just throw it out.

This is all I have pictures off. Moving stuff. Boxes. My closets. I have a goal today since it is my day off and I'm going to try and make stuff happen. I want to get my bedroom closet cleaned out.

I want to get the bathroom dismantled and the under counter cleared out.

I want to clean the kitchen counters off (except the coffee pot) and get the crud off the top of the fridge (except the microwave.)

I haven't even touched the bedroom yet besides the closet. Ugh. Still got a long way to go.

Alright, I gotta go get some more stuff done. Wish me luck!!

The biggest shop on the block or Puppy Palace. It's the cats meow.

2010-02-16T15:14:00.001-08:00

I'm sure you have all been wondering what is going on down at SirBitesALot. Well. I'm happy to inform you that I now own the biggest shop on the block. Woot! How you like me now? So yeah, business is booming. People love my cheerful service and delightful puppies. It has inspired people to open their own shops. Sugar has been enjoying the game herself:

Although she wonders why they don't also sell kittens? And though she feels slighted by this oversight she can't help but enjoy the game.

She settles in for hours of amusement. She finds it difficult to hold the pen and therefore uses her nose to navigate the touch screen.

Oh no! Caught in the act. See how she turns away and pretends to watch the television. She can't fool me. I know she has an aversion to Sponge Bob. She only watches the tv when iCarly is on.

Looking at these photos I can't help but feel deja vu. Where have I seen this before?

Ah, yes. I remember now.

Why there is a small brown stain on the seat of my car.

2010-02-15T13:55:00.001-08:00

It's not as gross as it sounds.

A few months ago I was on a road trip and had stopped to get gas. I'm sitting in my car talking to the guy pumping my gas and I'm refilling my coffee mug with coffee from my thermos and then for some unknown reason (brain tumor? Parkinson's?) I completely pour almost the entire contents all over the front of my shirt. It ran down my front into the crotch of my pants and soaked into the seat of my car. It was hot. It was humiliating. It was... typical.

I thank God for the old man pumping my gas. He pretend as though my white shirt was not soaked in coffee and just went along checking the pressure of my front tire (it was fine, I told him it would be, can't I just tuck my tail between my legs and leave?) Even if the pressure had been low I would have been like "Forget this! I'm outta here." It would have been death by car accident or death by embarrassment.

So I peeled out of there and started driving. My shirt was soaked, my undershirt was soaked, my pants were soaked, my underwear were soaked. Then I remembered a playground in the town I was driving through. I remembered there was a bathroom there. I remembered hardly ever were there people there. So I took a little detour. Got a change of clothes out of my suitcase and changed my clothes in the completely empty bathroom of the playground. Then I put down the towel I always keep in my car on my seat. Always keep a towel in your car. Right, Katie? Then I gathered together what was left of my dignity and coffee and headed back out on the road. And then I laughed. And then I vowed never to go to that gas station again. Which is a bummer because they have a really clean bathroom.

I'm packing. More on that later. Here's what is going on outside my kitchen window:

It's a beautiful day. I wouldn't know though because I got my head in a box.

The haunting.

2010-02-12T20:05:00.000-08:00

Fact: I'm moving.
Fact: I want to.
Fact: I'm moving.
Fact: I don't want to.
Fact: I pretend I'm an organized person.
Fact: I am not an organized person.
Fact: I will never move again.
Fact: I've said that before. I've said that every time I move.
Fact: This time I mean it.
Fact: I probably don't.

So yeah, I'm moving. Again. In my own defense I haven't moved in nearly three years. Nearly. So really it's just 2 and change. But nearly three. But I'm not going to move again unless I move away from Portland. I mean it. Really, I do. And that's a fact.

Katie got me some boxes from work.

They've been sitting there for 2 days. I don't have any packing tape. I need to go to Target. What I really need to do is go on vacation for 3 weeks and come back to have all my stuff moved to my new place. Especially the books. Oh the books...

They are everywhere.

Just when you think you've found them all, all these others show up.

Mocking you. Haunting your dreams at night. "You will have to lug me all over again. You will think you haven't loaded the boxes too heavy, but you will be wrong. We will make your family hate you. You do not own us. WE OWN YOU."

And then there are the pictures. I had no idea it had gotten so out of hand. I knew I was buying a lot, but I had no idea.

I got this cool map at an estate sale. I plan to use it to decoupage, but haven't gotten around to it. I hung it up so I wouldn't feel so bad about having it shoved in a closet somewhere.

More.

And more...

It just never stops! I think I have a mental illness. This is not my cluttered house. These are not my cluttered walls. This is not my beautiful wife. Who sings that song? I can't remember for the life of me. But wait, I'm getting off track.

There are more pictures. A disturbing amount more:

Oh, for shame!! Oh, the humanity!! Who is going to move all this crap? Because it certainly won't be me! I'm not the one who bought the ballerina picture at a garage sale in Canada because I thought it looked creepy and thought it would be fun when someone asked me where I got it I could say "I bought it at a garage sale in Canada! It cost 5 bucks, but don't worry. It wasn't really money. I was just Canadian funny money."

My friend Annette's daughter Alex drew this. It's cool.

Thrift store find.

Um, yeah.

Mommy? Are we done yet? I need to go see my therapist. Next up I'll show you my closets. And then you probably won't want to ever read my blog again. Yeah. This is what I show the world. You can only begin to imagine the horrors I hide from it.

Carpooling.

2010-02-09T07:17:00.000-08:00

When I was younger (and a smoker) I loved to drive. I would hop into my '87 Ford Tempo, drive down to the beach and slowly smoke my life away. Over the years I've starting to like driving less and less. And even with the addition of my new car I haven't really gotten the urge to drive back.

Driving in the city is the worst. Plus I haven't really spent any time trying to figure out how to get around Portland besides my little corner of it. So I get lost a lot when I venture out to the greater East Side.

Katie lives right across the street from me. I have actually hollered across the street at her when I saw her washing her truck one day ala Desperate Housewives. Then some poor pedestrian walked by and it got awkward.

I started a new job recently and it's right on the way to Katie's work. So after much deliberation and Katie buying a new car (she blogged about that!) we are now carpooling.

She's a hands-free driver:

It's been going pretty good. I just walk across the street every morning and go get the keys then I go warm up the car until Katie comes out and then we leave. I just kill some time after five at the office and then Katie comes and picks me up. And then I just give her 5 bucks at the end of the week. It's fabulous!

These are my knees, being passengers:

They are so good at that.

Hey! I'm moving! I'm having small panic attacks thinking about moving all my stuff again. But more on this later.

Here is what is going on outside my kitchen window:

Looks like it is going to be another beautiful day!

The kids. And a movie review.

2010-02-05T07:06:00.000-08:00

Here is my beautiful niece Jasmine:

It's hard to believe she is already 9. It's hard to believe she almost fits into her mom's size 10 shoes.

I finally watched Julie and Julia. I really liked it. Meryl was amazing, as always and I just love Amy Adams. But what I found really surprising was I didn't really like the character of Julie (based on the real Julie Powell.) Amy was adorable and would generally make me love her, but she seemed so wrapped up in herself it really turned me off. I don't know if that is really the case and it's possible the movie hit me on the wrong day (I am 29 now, you know, menopause is right around the corner), it just seemed like "Hey, it's just food, it's just a blog, why are you taking it so seriously."

It did inspire me to start working on this blog more. I just feel so exhausted after work and in the morning before work I can't seem to think of anything to write about. And I'm lazy about taking pictures. But yeah. I'm going to start trying harder this month. But I really did like the movie. I found it comforting and charming and I would definitely recommend it.

Here is a picture of my adorable nephew Mikey:

He is 6. He uses big words like mechanical and surprisingly. He has giant feet too. And he is recovering from strep throat right now. Poor baby.

Oh I had the best "That's what she said" joke ever. I won't repeat it because my mom reads this blog, but it was gooooooood. Am i right Katie or am I right?

Alright, here's another one down. And then there were two:

These pictures make them look a lot more pink than they actually are. I'll try to start another project, but these are so quick and easy I am totally digging them right now.

And here's what is going on outside my kitchen window:

I see the Green Lantern is out and about.

Ways I am being robbed.

2010-02-02T07:27:00.001-08:00

My current on-site manager at my apartment complex is retiring. She's old, she deserves it. Before we always dropped our rent payments off in a box in the laundry room. Now the owner wants us to mail in our payments to a PO Box in Portland. That's fine. I had to do that once before in a studio apartment I lived in in Coos Bay. The difference is, in Coos Bay the owner sent us stamped and pre-addressed envelopes to mail our checks in. It's just common courtesy. Now I'm expected to use my own envelope, dink around looking for that stupid address and use my OWN STAMP!! It's outrageous! I feel like docking my rent payment a dollar every month for a shipping and handling charge.

I just signed up with T-mobile. I switched over from AT&T because T-mobile is cheaper and my sister uses it and seems to really like them. After having the phone for 2 days I placed a call at 8:55pm to my friend Jessica in Brookings. We talked for 105 minutes. That is a lot. Way more than normal. But it's cool because nights start at 9. Oh wait, I should have mentioned I'm on the 500 minute plan. I had 900 with AT&T which was way too much and had a ton of roll-over minutes so for the last 3+ years I have never worried about going over my minutes. Anyway, I decided to check my minutes and after just one week I had used 190 of my whenever minutes. I couldn't phantom how that was possible. I'll tell you how. If you place a call before 9 it doesn't switch over to night minutes automatically. WHAT?? That is insane I told the nice Christine working at the T-mobile call center. She was empathetic, but I really don't think she cared. I'm really not knocking T-mobile though because besides that everything has been great and even if I have to switch to the 700 minute plan I will still be saving money. But that is really an insane policy.

I got a fancy new phone though. Here's my old phone:

And here's the new beauty:

I makes me feel bad though and I know you shouldn't feel bad about animate objects, but I so frequently do. I feel like my old phone (which I had for 3.5 years) is like the loyal and loving wife who is suddenly left for the twenty year old bimbo. But what a beautiful bimbo. It's like the DVD player I gave my sister and brother in law 2 years ago when I bought a new one. I'm now on my third DVD player since then and that junker is still playing movies in their bedroom. It breaks a previous owners heart. And wallet. I should really invest more money into quality electronics. I'm just loading up garbage dumps with this cheesy crap. But that sticker price is so inviting.

All I have in the craft department is unfinished projects. But as we all know, unfinished projects are my specialty. I want to try the new Debbie Stoller Stitch Nation yarn. They look fun and are pretty reasonably priced. Has anyone tried them? (question directed at my only 2 readers Katie and Birdy.) I really want to paint my chair too:

It has definitely seen better days and needs a fresh coat of... something.

Here's what going on outside my kitchen window:

Ah, that's a pretty one.

Puppy Palace.

2010-02-01T13:33:00.000-08:00

My niece and nephew got Nintendo DS's (DSes? DSs'?) for Christmas this year and a few new games. One of the ones that Mikey got was a game called Puppy Palace. He doesn't usually play it anymore because, well... it's a little on the dull side. I, on the other hand, can not stop playing that stupid game. I go up to visit my sister and her family and I end up on one side of the couch cleaning, training and selling puppies in my pet shop Sir BitesALot. Please don't look up this game, I don't think my ego can take it.

I think (no, I know) this game is for preschool aged children. I know it's lame. I know I go home and my right arm hurts a little from holding that small plastic pen. I know Barkos aren't real money and I know that it is a lot more work to bathe a dog than just waving a magic wand over him. But I can't stop playing. The puppies need me to clean them and teach them social skills. The people rely upon me to sell them quality dogs that are happy and healthy. And I want my pet shop to be the biggest shop on the block (not there yet, you have to have like 3000 sales or something outrageous.) Don't worry puppies!! I plan to be back on Sunday, so wait for me.

I haven't really done anything crafty this week except for this:

It's one of 20 hats I need to make before next Christmas. I'm making 10 of these for girls and I need to find a boy pattern and make 10 of those. Mom, Dad and I have decided to make little care packages for new mothers in our local communities. I think it's a fun project, but I wanted to finish 3 a month and I have this one and one barely started. They are quick though and if I get cracking I know I can get them done.

And here's what is going on outside my kitchen window:

Boom. A semi-truck. Score. And Katie is home for lunch.

The island of unwanted toys.

2010-01-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

Or more appropriately, the chest of unwanted crafts.

Oh where do I begin? I have a chest. It sits in my living room. It doubles as a coffee table. I painted it blue last year with my sister. From the outside it is cute and functional.

But on the inside, like many things, it holds dirty little secrets of shame.

On top there are a couple skeins of yarn I'm currently making a project with, so that is ok, but on both sides you can start to see the signs of shame. Failure. Rejection. Horror. Sheesh, I hope nobody finds this crap after I die.

Dig down and you will find some patterns.

And then we come to the projects. Here is the first one. It's big. It's about half way finished. It's double crochet. It's... it's... it's....

depressing.

There are a few reasons why this one ended up on the island. My skill level improved. I ran out of that gray yarn. I realized I didn't need a giant double crocheted blanket. But after all that work I couldn't bear to give it up.

Ah, number two.

Number two is a knitting project. I learned a lot of valuable lessons with this failure. Knitting is hard. Knitting is unforgivable. I'm not sure I like knitting so much. Which is why this project is still attached to the needles and in the chest.

Number three is probably the oldest one of the group. I had just learned how to crochet and went out and bought two skeins of really pretty yarn. It took me forever to finally finish those skeins and when I went to buy more they didn't have any. So I tacked on some white.

And then gave up.

I actually really like these colors and would really like to finish this blanket. I should see if I can match the colors online.

Number four is the newest member. I actually have the yarn I need and it is almost completed, so I think we may see this one completed someday.

I'm actually really surprised all those things can fit into that chest. Although they don't fit as well now that I pulled them all out.

Ugh. It's just sad really.

Ah. That's better.

Welcome!

2010-01-14T07:36:00.000-08:00

Hiya! Welcome to my blog. I only have 5 minutes before I have to leave for work, but I wanted to get my blog in motion, so please stay tuned for good things. Or, kind of ok things. It depends on a lot of factors, but definitely things. For sure.

Here is a photo:

I took of Katie when we were grocery shopping. Yes, I grocery shop. Didn't I tell you good things were coming? Be prepared. Also I hate the title of my blog and I hope I can change that. I felt pressured for time.

Have a great day!!