The Skull Shawl

As you can see, I was a busy girl. I was going through Ravelry when I found the pattern to make this shawl. I was super excited that I was able to get my lovely self to work on something this wonderful. It took me about 4 hours to make this shawl. I am planning on making this into a blanket for a friend of mine instead of a shawl. It should be entertaining to see if I can get it on etsy since I have been busy with life changes. Lately, I haven't really been into the whole craft thing because I have been stressing about paying for our move, but I am coming up with some different ideas. I might start a raffle for something if I can get some things made just to get started somewhere new.

Other than that, my newer job has my stress level at a low I haven't seen since I quit fast food. I am enjoying working night shift again since I usually sleep better during the day and twelve hour shifts are WONDERFUL! I have more days off and I can work on things more since I am trying to get through my yarn collection again. I might post more pictures of things I get done once I get my lovely house back in order after having a house full of people. There may even be another new project here soon!

Moving! I am MOVING!

I know it has been a while since I have written a blog entry, but I have been very busy with work and getting the house together. I really haven’t had time to get ANY of my crafts together or finish them either. I feel so guilty because I don’t have anything for you people to see that I have created.

That being said, some excited news on the front of all of our hard work. My husband got a new job! He recently graduated with his Bachelor’s in Network Security and Forensics, so this new job will bring him the ability to move up in the company so he can use his degree. The only problem is that we are going to have to move over three hours away from our location at the moment to the wonderful Metropolitan of Nashville! Yes Nashville TN! I am super excited about it. There are so many places I can visit and see in Nashville that it will make a wonderful new home for me and my possible children. We cannot afford to have them at the moment. Heck, we cannot even afford to movethere really but we are going to have to in order for him to get his life setup.

Once we are out there, I can start looking at houses. And once we have a house, he said we can discuss the possibility of trying to have children! That is a plus right?

Everyone Struggles with Money

Don't let the rich people fool you: everyone struggles with money. What to do with it, how to invest it, and if you don't have enough to pay bills and eat, what are you going to do when it comes time to go grocery shopping? The rich people want you to believe that you will only get ahead in life if you go to college like they did and get a fancy degree. The poor people who crawled their way out of debt and into a now comfortable lifestyle will tell you that you cannot get ahead unless you work hard and break your back. It is a never ending circle of advise about money that seems to just fight with each other. I, for one, am one of the people who see both sides of the fence.

There was this girl a few years back who came out on the news about how she could not pay off her debt for the degree she earned. My philosophy has always been never take out any student loans that equaled more than one year of your salary. This girl took out way more than she could afford. Then, she appealed to the media to make it known that the problem of student debt was growing to astronomical amounts. Of course, she threw in her website for donations here and there so she could get free publicity out of it and maybe some more money. I never donated because I had (still have) my debts to various places to pay off. I often asked myself why I didn't email her and ask why she didn't go to a community college first? Why did she choose a private tuition college for her degree? I know when I finally go back to school I will be attending a community college so I can pay it out of pocket for the first couple of years. There is NO EXCUSE for someone to have six figures in student loans for four years of college. My husband has upper five figures from more than four years. That is just ridiculous. Rich people say "You have to spend money to make money, so this is a worthy investment." Oh really? Someone who makes around 40 to 50 thousand a year taking out 200,000 dollars in loans? I think your math is a little wrong there.

My friend, let's call him Rob because I don't want him to kill me for telling people his story and naming him, was homeless. He walked the road every day because his parents kicked him out when he turned 18 and had no where to go in our small town. His family said they could not take him in, they could not afford to help him with anything, so he slept where he could since our small town did not have a homeless shelter at the time. Eventually, he saved up enough scrap to buy a cheap car he could at least LIVE out of while he finished school. He would still walk EVERY DAMN DAY and pick up all the scrap he could. The kids at school found out and started saving every can they could for him. Eventually he did get a job and could get an apartment, but he looked at me one day and said, "You know, I don't wish what I had to go through on anyone. I worked hard, and yes it taught me things, but it isn't right. Someone should not have to work that hard just to be able to survive a couple of months. How can people say that hard work will get you everything you want when I had to collect two thousand cans a day just to be able to eat? I can't go to school because I can't pay for it. I got this job because someone at school said something to the manager. The world isn't set up for people like me to really succeed unless they get lucky. Where is the justice in that?" He still cannot go to school because he is pretty much trying to figure out how since he is working on his rental housing business, but he still thinks that working hard is not the way to really succeed.

So what does it take to really make the money you need to live? I know my husband and I are pretty much trying to do our best till the house I bought before I was married gets sold, but what does it really take? I know that not taking out more than you can handle in loans is one of them, and not leaving work early when you need the money to live, but think about it. Can any of you come up with a really good way to truly make enough money so you don't have to constantly sit with the check book and a bottle of jack going "Where is the money going and coming from? Where is it all going?" I would like to hear it if you know anything.

The Jayne Cobb Hat Drama

A few days ago, there was a news story that blew up my Facebook wall. It basically had to do with the fact the Fox TV Network are going after the makers of the Cunningly Knit Cap that was featured in the show "Firefly" that has become a cult following the science-fiction community.

Now, as someone who recently started to make them for fun and a "flan" myself, I am pretty upset about this. I understand the wanting to make some money off something that you have some sort of ownership, but isn't this taking it a little bit too far? One of the little ladies in my community who sells the hats a cons wonders if she will be arrested and shut down if she sets up her booth this year. She creates some of the most amazing creations that are inspired by the TV shows we love, but she worries that this one little thing will jeopardize her career. Her Cease and Desist letter has not made an appearance in her mail box yet, but she, like many of the others who make such items, have edited her Etsy shop and even taken down some of her items.

I am actually more pissed off at the fact that FOX did not care about the TV show when they cancelled it. The hat was featured in an episode that did not even air on the network. They canceled the show and wrote it off. Now that items from the show are making money, they are basically just trying to squeeze people out. I mean, seriously do they not think about the fact people took the time to write the pattern, find the yarn, and spent the energy in doing these things? What is next, making it so you cannot sell handmade items because the companies who make the yarn own the rights to the yarn you bought to make the blanket/hat/pillow and they have the right to the profits from the sale of the item? Is it a copyright infringement if they use a different pattern and yarn from the one that you see on the TV? Who knows?

Creative Punishment

I am sure that everyone has seen stories like this all over the news in the past couple of years. It is kind of hard not to miss because we are in such a plugged-in world out there. The difference in this article and some of the others we have seen is that the parents are getting bad attention for what they are doing to their child. I actually applaud this type of punishment.

Think about how the world works now for the older children. Everyone has a social media site, so they pretty much can talk to anyone they want and exchange information over the net. I saw a ten year old with an iPhone of his own the other day. My mother told me that she sees children the school she works at bring out cameras and just snap pictures all the time now without teachers punishing them. Now, remember all of this when I tell you about what a teacher of tenth graders told me.

He walks into the classroom a few minutes before the class needs to really start, so he told the kids to talk quietly among themselves while he did a couple of things that needed to get taken care of and write some math problems on the board. While doing so, he heard this conversation between two of his students, and I am just calling him Teacher for the sake of privacy:

Student 1: So, what did your mom do?
Student 2: She ground me for two weeks man.
Student 1: Aw, well guess you can't come to my house then.
Student 2: Yea, I can't, but we can still play on Xbox tonight. Mom said that I just can't leave the house. (At this point, Teacher is shocked because he remembers back in the day being grounded meant much more than just not going anywhere,and continues to write as while the kid continues to speaks more about his "punishment") She also said I have to eat dinner with the family instead of in my room (Which I was pissed off about as someone who wants the kids to NEVER eat outside of the kitchen) and I cannot talk on the phone past eleven anymore.
Student 1: She taking your phone man?
Student 2: Nah, I can still text but she said I can't talk on it.

At this point, Teacher is confused. How is this kid being punished? he thought to himself. A third student comes in at this point and hands him a note from another teacher because he was held over late. Student 3 proceeds to go over to Student 2 and HIGH FIVES the kid while saying "Dude, heard you got two weeks for getting caught smoking! Awesome! Lemme know when you are allowed out so we can hang." Teacher then becomes more furious as ALL of the students in his classroom treat the child like it is a badge of honor to get grounded, congratulating him for being so awesome and that they should totally hang out later. It took every ounce of his willpower to not lecture the children on how punishment is suppose to work, because it is really not his place. However, he was very vocal with me later on it.

"Remember when we were kids and sent to our rooms? Even though we had a TV we knew to not turn that on or we would get our asses tore up," he ranted. I could almost see him there, shaking with anger and eyes full of rage just from the tone of voice on his phone. "This kid, basically cannot leave the house, but everything else he can do. And the other kids? They are just as bad. If they get grounded, they don't care. They think it is pretty awesome to be in trouble."

"It was going on when we were kids too dude," I said.

"Yea, but the difference is that if our parents found out about it, we would get it worse than what we got," he said, which is true because several people we knew had that happen. "I have a feeling that parents just don't care anymore. They just don't want to parent. I swear when my kid gets older this will not happen."

"Well just stick to your guns bud," I laughed, knowing when we both have teenagers we might change our tune, but later on I thought about it. These parents, the ones sticking their kids with having to be humiliated as punishment are actually pioneers in a familiar territory other parents have forgotten. Back when I was a kid, all the kids in the neighborhood knew you were being punished because your mother would tell them. If you were caught even talking to them out of the window of your house, even just waving at them, you would get a worse punishment. Now, if your friends find out that you are grounded, most of the time you are congratulated by your peers and made out like a hero. Not allowed to play the Xbox? Dude, sweet punishment. Mom took your phone? Nice bro! Dad said you aren't allowed on the computer? Good going! It is like children are trying to get a worse punishment than their peers to impress them.

People blame this on the break down of not being able to spank their kids, but it really isn't just that. With the technology that is available now, it actually is really difficult for a parent to successfully punish an older child. If you spank your child, they immediately fly to the social media sites and tell everyone that you beat them, which could get you a lovely visit from DHS if the right people read it. The kids know this, which means spanking is out. Sending your kid to bed without supper because they misbehaved means that the kids can go to school and tell the teacher that Mom and Dad didn't feed them last night, which also can get you an afternoon tea date with a social worker. When you decide that your child cannot leave their room for the night, they can just go to school and tell people their parents locked them up all night. It is almost terrifying to know that adults are more afraid of their children now because children know they can get parents arrested.

So, the simple solution to this problem is what the parents in that article are doing. You have to humiliate them. Not just take away everything that the kid likes to do, but truly humiliate them. Instead of just not letting them go to their friends on the weekend, make sure that all of his or her friends know that they are cleaning around the house if they call. Have the child do yard work and call the other parents to bring the kids by to PLAY on gaming systems while they are outside working or in their room being punished. Let all the kids know that if they talk to the child and the child answers, they will be taken home and the parents will punish them as well. Make the punishment for the child so humiliating and lasting that they will not want to do anything like what they did again.What you are doing is not breaking any laws, the kids cannot say anything to anyone because they know that everything was perfectly sound as a punishment. It does not sound fair, but you cannot play fair as a parent. No one wants to be that parent when they grow up, but you don't realize that the only way to really teach your children anything is to become something that you never thought you could be: your own parents.

The Possible Pregnancy Waiting Game

For those of you who have missed your periods, you know how the waiting game is played. Some of us play it differently than others, but it is still the waiting game none the less.

A portion of us miss one period and are like "Eh, it is just one. It happens to all of us." and then go on with their lives like normal. They don't worry about it, they don't think about it, and they don't even try to think they are pregnant, even if they are like clockwork.

Some of us, like me, are OCD about it. I mark my calender, I count my days, and I even map how heavy my flow is on the days I have my period. I am like a clock you could always count on my friend to show up on time with a grand old cramp filled day. My husband can even tell when I am about to start. So, when my period was over a week late, I became a little concerned.

Now, some of you are like "Oh one week isn't so bad." and honestly, I thought that too. It has happened once before, and quite frankly I would have brushed it off if I had not started to feel sick to my stomach about Thursday. It has continued most of the weekend, and I even took a pregnancy test. It was negative, and when I went to the doctor the urine test there also said negative. However, I asked him to do a blood test just to be on the safe side. None of the other normal symptoms are coming up, and it is still technically early since it is only thirteen days, but I cannot help but FEEL like I am pregnant. I mean, I am trying to not psych myself up because it would be wonderful, but the waiting game is not kind to me at all. I think it is making my stomach is worse. I will be happy either way, because even though my husband and I cannot afford to have a child at this point, it would be wonderful that we get to have one when we thought that we could not get one you know?

Here is to hoping they call me tomorrow, or the urine test my husband picked up from the drug store says positive in the morning. However, for those of you who have been pregnant out there, I want to ask a few questions:

Did you burp more than normal? I have been burping up like CRAZY and it has been relieving some of the queasy feelings in my stomach briefly.

Where there dull cramps? Some people say they have felt it, but I want more people to tell me that it is okay.

How soon was your back pain? I am heavier, so I am not sure about the whole back pain being from that or work just stressing it out

Did foods taste different? I ate a strawberry and it tasted so funny, like it had fermented.

I may just be paranoid, but I just wanted to make sure. Now, off to try and get my anxious self to relax before I fall asleep

I have been such a slacker

I have seriously been slacking in my housework and crochet projects. I told the husband that I will probably take some time off in order to get some things done at some point in the coming weeks. However, today I was actually practicing the three C's: cleaning, creativity, and coffee. Those are the three things that I deem vital in order to practice being a good little housewife, even though I am not one quite yet. I loaded the picture of the things I finished while I was being so slacky on the projects. I only finished one project a week last week. I finished this hat in support of our local college team this week.

 I rather enjoyed the reactions that I got from posting this to my facebook when I finished about three of them.

Then, I made my Stitch 'N Bitch Challenge that they make something for their favorite animal in their life. Since my dogchildren would chew the little sweater off in less than two minutes, I made a little sweater/vest for the nurse I work with that has a yorkie. The pattern is from Red Hearts free pattern section and I had to modify it since I kind of messed it up in the beginning :/

 It fits her furry baby just great, but I don't have any pictures of her baby in it right now to post at the moment.

Then, I decided to try something new and once again I used this wonderful lady to get my inspiration to do something wonderful. I followed the theme that I made a family of owls, so I made an owl stuffed animal.

I will be letting this little one follow me around the house and get things done. It is so cute even my husband was excited to see it, and he usually doesn't get all the excited about me showing him something I make. He laughed and held it while holding it out to our children to sniff. I am pretty sure that I am going to be making more of them since everyone on facebook wants it.

I wish I had pictures of my sewing room when it was finished, but I have things strewn all over it right now from going through my yarn and getting things organized so I can start really getting into expanding my etsy shop beyond hats. I am hoping to bake a lot tonight as well. Here is to being a good little domestic for my husband and others!

Why I Observe Lent

I am not a Christian. I don't pretend to be one and I don't think I can try to ever be one. There are various reasons in my life that I will not discuss why I cannot walk into a church to this day without breaking out in hives. However, there are many people on my life who are, and some of them are Catholic or Orthodox Christian. I use to watch them torture themselves this time of year when they gave up something that they truly thought they could not live without, and I thought to myself, "Hey, how hard could this be?"

One year, they really wanted me to stop smoking completely. I wanted to as well, even though I could not see myself doing so without absolutely having to. I was not addicted to smoking as much as I just loved the taste of my clove cigarettes. So, they asked me if for lent that I would honor their request and give them up for lent. I was like "Sure why not? 40 days? I can go forty days without them!" and made the promise that I would not smoke them. I handed over the last of the pack I had on me and began the downward spiral known as "withdrawl".

The first couple of days were fine. I wanted one, but thought "Eh, it has only been three or four days, I am good." Then, I hit that wall. Those of you who gave up something for lent know what wall I am talking about. About two weeks in, I had a really stressful day at work and wanted nothing more than to light up and inhale that sweet sweet nicotine. I cried, swore, and begged one of the girls I worked with to just give me a cigarette, any cigarette. I just wanted the feeling of calm. She refused. I eventually got over the feeling that night, and I drove home still upset at myself I threw such a fit and was a baby about it.

On the fortieth day, my friends told me they wanted me to write an essay about my experience. I wish I had it saved somewhere because it was actually in one of their church pamphlets, the title being something like "My Experience of Lent as a non-Christian" or something. It was in more depth about my personal journey and rediscovering myself a bit on the way. My blankets were done then, learning new patterns and such. I wrote a bit more. I took myself to the doctor when I realized that the smoking was helping with more underlying issues in my life and that my stomach just hurt all the time, not just from stress and smoking. My teeth are still yellow but I can fix that now if I just stopped with the coffee for a while. I actually got less winded too when I stopped the occasional smoking I use to do. I also find some sort of peace with myself when I realized that I have the power to control things that I did not think I could.

The next year, I stopped energy drinks. I was spending three hundred dollars a month on those and it was not healthy for my body or my wallet. The year after that, I tried to give up caffeine, but the girls at work put the no on that because my happy butt became a grumpy pants and they bought the caffeine for me to drink. This year, I am giving up fast food and soda. I am saying fast food meaning like Taco Bell and Burger King, I will still be eating out at other places that have healthier options. What started as a request by some friends to gain a better understanding of one of their religious observances and to gain more respect for what they do became a yearly tradition that I have been doing for about four years now. Pretty soon I will run out of things to give up entirely for Lent that I can go without all year round, but maybe the people who started Lent understood what they were doing when they created this fast. Maybe they created it because they knew that if someone gave up something that they had all year round for forty days that they could learn to go completely without it or make it so the person could learn to have what they went without in moderation once Lent was over. Perhaps they did not know people would use it to beat addictions or use it to try and kick unhealthy habits as a sole purpose, but I know that eventually there are things people do give up that are without a doubt something you cannot live without like dairy products or drinks other than water.

However, I can honestly say, without a shred of doubt, that Lent will always have a special place in this dirt-worshipping tree-hugging hippie pagan heart and no one will ever take that away from me, not because it helps me get healthy. I love it for what is stands for and says to me personally through this entire experience, and that is why I do Lent.

5 Valentine's Gift Ideas for The Crafty Person in Your Life

With the holiday coming up, my mother-in-law told me that she is going to get me gift cards for craft stores, and honestly that is a well appreciated gift since I eat through yarn and have a sewing machine I need to break in that I have yet to open and set out in my sewing room. However, sometimes I get a little tired of people just giving gift certificates. I know it is hard since we can make our own scarves and socks among other things. I can ever make my own jewelry and what I cannot make for myself, I usually barter the things I do make for things other crafty people do. I decided to make myself a list of things that I saw around the net and walking around town.

Old Clothing and Household Items
I know this idea sounds crazy, but hear me out on this okay? When I was younger, I walked into a friend of mine's room to find an organizer made out of back pockets of jeans. Yes, you read that correctly. She had markers, pens, crayons, notes, and other sundries of the teenage variety in it. I actually though it was adorable and she loved the fact that she could load it down without the pockets ripping like most of the other organizers out there. You can make memory quilts, get creative with fabric you have around the house hanging around, and use old college sports t-shirts that I know come out year after year to make a nice theme quilt if you cut the designs off the front of the shirt just right.  There are people who buy thrift store sweaters, unravel them, and reuse the yarn to make things because they like the yarn so much. Old silverware can be painted and turned into wind chimes. Old glasses lenses can be painted and wire wrapped for ornaments or also, wind chimes. The list goes on and one. Go through your closets and start handing things out.

Quirky and Twisted Humorous Things

A friend of mine pinned the bag from this particular shop on my Facebook wall. I had a great laugh about it. My husband told me that if I can make enough money off my craft things I am more than welcome to buy the shirt and the tote. It is cute, tongue in cheek, and absolutely something I would wear around town. I will probably get this to work out in even.

If you cannot find something, you could always design something, stick it in a picture file of some sort, buy the t-shirt iron on things at Wal-Mart or the local craft store, and make your own for the lovely person you know. I am sure some of you that read my blog have the same twisted sense of humor that I do and would love something like this!

A New Habtit...I mean Hobby
I can attest to the fact that you can get burnt out doing the same thing over and over again. I usually stop crocheting when I hit about the third straight week of doing something. It gets old after a while and it is not all that fun when you have the same thing to work on over and over again.

So, walk around your local craft store. Get creative with yourself and see what you can come up with on your own. If you have to, get one of the pre-made kits that are littering the store somewhere that you see and know the person hasn't done yet. Or, pay for the class of something that you heard them talk about wanting to take, and let them know when the class is. Just double check with them on when your person has time off to take the class.

Hardware Stores are Your Friend
Crafty people do not stick just to Joann's and Michael's to get their supplies. I have been known to walk around the local hardware store and go "Hey, if I do this, get some of these, and figure out exactly how to build it correctly, I could make a killer coffee table!" when the mood strikes my fancy.

For this idea, I would take your crafty person with you unless you know what you need to buy for them. Yea, I am pretty sure that if your crafty person does not have power tools, giving them a starter set would be AWESOME as a gift idea since I know several crafty people who would like to get into the more heavy duty crafts. However, it might be a safe bet to assume that you need to have them go with you just to be on the safe side.

Offer Your Help 
I recently redid one of the rooms in my house to become my "craft" room. We re-purposed the old entertainment center to hold my yarn and to use the place where we put the television to hold my sewing machine that will hopefully make it up there probably sometime today. I could not have done this without my mother-in-law coming over and helping us get thing settled.

Money is a little tight for most people at the moment, so if you happen upon your crafty person and notice that they are having issues or need some help to...organize their yarn or something, offer help. Yes, you will probably get yelled at a lot while doing this, and yes, you will more than likely want to pull your hair out when you are through because you don't know why they want things they way they do and the person is making no sense, but trust me. A little help to your crafty person is worth it's weight in gold to someone who has something like yarn tangled in a mess in a box in their closet. I am guilty of that one myself. If they are stuck trying to come up with an idea, let them use you as a sounding board. Even better, work on a craft with them! You could release your inner crafty person that is bottled up and do something fun with them. They will still love you if you happen to do something wrong I promise! They will even fix it if you ask nicely!

Now that I have given you just a few ideas, go out and see what you can get or do yourself into! I would love to see what you got them or did with your crafty person, within reason of course.

Education Standards

So, as I am watching House of Cards, they keep bringing up Education and performance standards.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear before I start this, I know there are children out there who cannot do the same work as everyone else. I know there are kids who have learning disabilities. My brother, who I do not speak to anymore, cannot read. He will not read unless it is needed for something like school or work. This is not about children like that. I actually wish there were programs in schools that were for children like that.

Now, that being said, I think performance standards are SHIT. I know that you have to have some sort of standard for the teachers to follow so that you do not have someone just handing out papers and over half the class failing. However, I believe that if the students are not performing up to standards, it may not be the teacher's fault.

Take more example a shy student who does not understand the work. This shy student will not ask the teacher for help when the teacher asks if any of the students do not understand the work or the problem in say a math class. This student is also afraid to approach the teacher during down time in the classroom because they do not want to be seen as a teacher's pet by their peers. The student rides the bus, and goes home to the babysitter or parent, and then gets help there. The babysitter or parent may not have time due to housework or the other children that need more attention. The student falls behind and cannot catch up because that lesson is needed to complete the future work in the classroom. That student then effects the performance standard.

Now, take the kid who is super smart. This is the student who gets the problem on the first try and goofs off in class, doesn't do the homework, and makes decent grades on exams. They rarely do anything but goof off and distract other children who Because all of the grades across the board are not A's because they have zero's in spots for homework, that also effects performance standards. Hell, I was one of those kids in some of my classes. Not math, but most of them. I hated sitting in classrooms doing the same work I had been doing since I was ten years old. I remember slamming down the grammar packet on my English teacher in the first fifteen minutes of class on the first day of my Freshman class, completely finished mind you, and told her that if that was what the honors class was about I was going to fail because I refuse to do that work. She looked at the packet, looked back up at me, and sighed "Let me figure out something for you, because we cannot test you out of this class." She had at least two more of me in her classes. It was amusing to see her try to come up with something that was challenging for us while trying to do things for the rest of the class.

Then, there are the kids who do not give a shit. They are the kids that show up because they are forced to be there. I wish there was a way to factor them out somehow. I had a teacher who would make us write out a reason we did not do homework on the form, and sign it. She would then turn those papers in a file to the Dean of Students and when someone would ask why her performance standards were "low", out the file would come and it explained everything. Those kids are ALL OVER the classrooms in every school.

Those figures may be a small fraction of the standards, but think about it. It could be the small fraction that keeps a good teacher in a school instead of out. I am all for taking some of my time out of my day to volunteer after school for students who do not have the parents or someone else to help them at home, but that takes more manpower than most think. There are solutions to these performance standards problem, and let me tell you, it is not all on the teachers my friends.

My husband

I thought after reading this article I should tell you all about my husband.

I met him a little over two years ago. He was needing some help with something medical at home that his mother was not comfortable with, and at the time we were just mutual friends of a friend of mine. Friendship grew into something more and eventually we got married this past year. He had no idea what he got himself into when he did that.

The house was taken over by boxes, most of them just junk that I had I wanted to go through and did not have enough space to go through, but there were what he likes to refer to as "the others". I have like two boxes that have fabric I am going to use to make a quilt, and then I had the various boxes and bags of yarn.

He does put up with a lot. Sometimes, our kitchen table is covered in yarn when I am in a mood and work on several different hats at a time. When I go out and buy more yarn while I still have tons of it at home, he just gives me an indulgent smile. I swear I saw him wince when his mother actually got me a sewing machine for Christmas this year because he knew that I would be buying fabric too. I am sure that in his mind he saw that he would be coming home and finding the house redone in some goth like fabrics for the curtains and the table with some new place mats and a tablecloth to go with it. I am also pretty sure that he is dreading the day I actually get the time to do things like that because let's face it, we all know the day that comes when you decide to create things and the house is transformed.

But, he loves me. I know I will not have to fight him over my crafts, and he will encourage me to be creative as much as I can be. After all, the yarn has to be eaten away at somehow right?

Purple

Years ago, my mother asked me what I wanted to have for Christmas. I told her "Yarn" and when she asked what color I replied with "Purple". Little did I know that would be the last words I wish I spoke. I am not ungrateful for any yarn that I receive, but I was given about six of each of the colors I used in the following pictures.

I have been using these colors for about EVERYTHING that I can try it out on. Shawl pattern I want to figure out? Purple. New hat that I want to try and make? Purple. What about socks that someone sends me a pattern for? PURPLE! The answer is always purple.

However, my stash is slowly dwindling now. I am eating through it with determination so I may work with it on occasion instead of all the time. I may slowly come to love this color once again a couple of months down the road after the stash has run its course. Heck, I may even buy more of these colors just because it is familiar and it is easier to work with something like that. Who knows?

For now, the stash is slowly going down, and my pattern try list is growing. One day, someday soon, I will run out of these two colors, and I will have to find another go to color to use. And I will be confused.

The Joy of Sick Days

So, Sunday, I worked a double. I am usually awesome after those days. I had today off, so I was gonna do my normal soldier through on Mondays and be okay. Apparently, my body had other ideas.

When I awoke at about eleven yesterday morning, my stomach turned inside out and I made friends with the toilet. I called work, then went to sleep for a while before the dog children needed to go out. Then, my happy self camped out on my couch downstairs and turned on the TV till the husband came home.

The worst part about all of this, is I cannot do any housework. I want to do the dishes, laundry, and all that other fun things that I love to do in order to keep my house great. I got up a little bit ago and almost cried I was so sore. When you hurt like this, it is awful to even try to move. I wanted to bake a cake today too.

Anyway! I am going to try to get some things done today while I am home, maybe even my novel might get worked on!

The Title Change

I had a friend tell me that I needed to change the title and address to my blog, because it was nothing to do with who I am outside my house. She actually said, "You can make things like this? What are you, The Goth Housewife?" while holding up one of my stripe hats. I even have a sewing machine to make things with now. So that is what is up with the change of name. I will post more later after I am done working this weekend.

Snow Day!

You know that feeling when you are a child and see snow coming down and knowing that you do not have to go to school that day? Well I am having it right now! I went out and ran around town for a little bit, because I started a Stitch 'N Bitch for some local people and I. I say at Panera Bread for a while with this lovely displayed on my table for people to find me.

But, no one showed much to my dismay. I cannot count on the first meeting going off without a hitch, so I suppose I will just keep on trying. I then went grocery shopping, which I then bought my darling Tim Burton's new movie, Frankenweenie. I watched it, and loved it of course. But I went to put out my dogs about 2, and saw this greeting me.

I rejoiced! I was off work for once and I did not have to go in! I could stay home and have a snow day! I could drink hot chocolate and have cookies and brownies and watch movies I adore!

Then, my husband texted me that he did not have to go to school that evening. I was elated! I could have an evening cooking for my husband. I immediately threw on my jacket and dashed out the door so I could get some sort of meat for me to have for our dinner.

I should have stayed at home.

I barely got home with the hills I have in the area. I was surprised that I did not see more wrecks on the way home with the way it was coming down. 

I really should have taken some pictures with my phone while I was out, because it turned from that little bit to this, which is around 4 o'clock.

I barely made it home due to the amount that snowed I was quite upset at the fact that I had to park in the street instead of my normal spot in the yard. As you can see in one of the pictures I did not have the ability to make it up the hill. My poor little birdhouse even got a good dusting of snow.

I let the children out, and they were so confused. Sheila, the white and black one tried to eat it. The brown one, Bunsen, was like "What is this stuff? It is cold! Mom, let me in!" You can still see some snow on Sheila, the older of the two children. She did not shake it off immediately like Bunsen did.

Now, I took these pictures an hour ago. Since then I have started dinner because the husband is hungry and on his way home. Here is what it has done since then on our back porch.

Even our little birdhouse got a good bit more on it.

I let our children out to play, and the older child was adventurous.

However, our younger child would not leave my side off the back porch.

It was even sticking in my hair.

The hubby made it home safely, so I might post another project later if he wants to watch a movie or something.

My mother always told me to get a head in life!

I was out with the mother-in-law today for our monthly outing and we stopped in at Hobby Lobby to just wander around, when I realized I needed a display for my hats if I was going to try to continue to sell them online. I picked up this lovely little beauty while out and about.

It should be interesting to see what I can do with it now. Plus, I can create patterns for the hats my brother has been wanting to have made for himself.

Cunning, don't you think?

I finally did something and finished it! I have been doing owl hats like mad for the last couple months, and I finally finished a Jayne Cobb hat. It took forever and there is a reason for that. You know how the pom-pom incident ended up? Well here is what happened: I bought the plastic pom-pom makers from Joann's. They are probably the best investment I have ever made in my life. It made these things so easy. It cost me about 7 bucks to get both of these

I almost cried in relief when the pom-pom came out and it was usable and nice. I thought it would absolutely be a train wreck again, but it wasn't. So now I have a nice little hat to give to someone such as a brother or cousin, or another Browncoat like myself who will like it. ^.^

My goal is to write a Knight Helm pattern and possibly sell it on Etsy since every other pattern is not "permission to sell" that I like. I want to sell them and my little brother would love one since he is like 23 and a nerd like that. So I might need to good pattern testers if anyone would like to suggest or point in my direction when I get the pattern finished.

I hope that I can get some of my yearly goals accomplished. I am trying very hard to be good and I am thinking I might actually succeed if I can just get myself started. It is the getting started part that is the problem with this whole plan.