Monday, October 22, 2007

I love going up north!


Posted by PicasaAnd here I am at work. This is my view as I look out one of the windows. Its still pretty dark out. Thats what happens when you get up at the butt crack of dawn to go to work.

Ok, so how is everyone today? I am super happy because its my last day of work for a whole week. We head up north Wed. am, about 3 am. Once up North we are cut off from civilization. That is to say no Internet, no land line, and no cable. LOL. It is not completely horrible and it is good to disconnect. It forces you into a different mindset. Easier for the adults, but not so easy for the kids. Caveboy is content as long as he has a video games. But that takes up the one TV that is up there. So that leaves Pixie at loose ends. She will most likely color and draw. Maybe bring some dolls to play with.

And of course we will have the pups to play with, the men will be hunting and all the fun shopping the girls can do. Me I have plenty to keep me busy. I haven't been able to catch up on my DVr'd shows. So I have about 6 DVDs worth of taped programs to watch...LOL. And I hope to use this time to finish Caveboy's afghan that I started this past winter. And hopefully get a good start on Pixie's. And I hope to take advantage of my mother-in-law's knitting experience and get some hands on instruction.

Of course it never turns out the way its planned. There are nightly campfires, ATv's to be ridden, shopping excursions to be undertaken, relatives to be visited and hopefully a little time left over for some peace and quiet. I predict that when I get home Caveboy's afghan will still be unfinished, Pixie's un-started, and I will still have at least 3 DVD's worth of shows to still watch.

So anyway, I know I am not the best at regular blog posts, but for sure this will be my last post for probably at least a week. Unless I get access to a comp up north. We'll see. So everyone have a great week and weekend. Later.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

I Love Quiet Time

Well, I had a hard time choosing my topic today. It was between this, I Love Missouri and I Love Fall. But today I don't love fall so much as I did yesterday and I will be loving Missouri even more tomorrow when I am there so that is an entry for tomorrow or Fri.

So onto today. Right now it is peaceful and I love it. Kids are outside, house is shadowed (except for the light of my laptop) and the pups are asleep on the floor. I think I am the only person in my house that doesn't have to have some form of noise (usually the TV) blaring in the background. I enjoy, even crave the quiet. Not always, but usually.

So after I get done with this entry (which will be short so as to take advantage of said quiet) I will be using this time to, well, catch up on some DVR'd shows. I know, noise. But I have been enjoying the quiet for almost an hour now. And with the kids gone its not just the quiet I can enjoy but the empty house to do with what I want. So I am going to watch TV, feed the pups and then order some pizza for dinner.

Did I mention I love Wednesdays, as I don't have to cook dinner? Its pizza night! Yay!

Then on to packing for the mini trip to Missouri. Enjoy your night and may you get some quiet time.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

I Love Shopping for Craft Supplies

What I don't love is dropping $20 and walking out with a bag small enough to hold a sandwich. Hehehe. Thats ok though. I still got a lot for my money. Just small stuff. I am embarking on a new craft and wanted to get some things so that I could experiment. I am hoping it turns out because I am making them for a swap. Can't really go into detail though, just in case.

Back to why I love shopping for Craft Supplies. There is something exciting about buying new things to be made into something. Of course one of my favorite things to shop for is yarn because I crochet. I wander into the yarn section all the time and usually end up buying yarn with no set project in mind. Like the time I bought a multicolored skein that was all blues and greens with a little yellow thrown in. I only got one because thats all I had money for at the time. I ended up using it to crochet dozens of little flowers which I later attached to a shawl for Pixie. It turned out too cute.

In the summer my craft shopping habits change a little. I still look at yarn but don't feel that overwhelming "must have" urge. I don't crochet too much during the summer because who wants all that hot yarn on you when it is hot outside. But I did get into thread crocheting this summer. I made a sweet bookmark (love to read) and got the coolest pattern for these little butterflies. It is such a basic and easy pattern that even I could master it. (See I am a self taught crocheter and just started to brave reading patterns that were more complicated than say a granny square.)

When I got to a craft store I always take a detour down the bead aisle. I don't bead but dream of doing it some day. It seems like an expensive hobby, and not sure I could take on another one of those. But who can resist all those cute little beads and charms. Not I and tonight I didn't have to because they fell right into my new project. So now you see why my final purchase bag was so small (beads) I am going to start work on it tomorrow, meanwhile I am already planning my next trip to the craft store.

Any ideas?

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

I Love Swaps

I am new to the whole swapping thing. But I have quickly become addicted. It all started when my Twitter Knitter group decided we should do a yarn swap. To do so we had to join a site called Swap Bot. So I joined. Filled out my profile and then decided to click around a bit. I found that most swaps require you to already have experience. A lot of them had "No Newbies" requirements. Sigh.

How do you get experience when they won't let you in unless you HAVE experience. Finally I found one called Blog Exposure Swap. No experience required and it was an easy first swap. No mailing even required. Plus I will get extra traffic to my blog. The swap went well and I had 4 cool partners. Here is a list of their blogs.

Domicidal Tendencies
Macati
Rosey Little Things
Chronicles of a Sexy Beast

Now I have ratings and they are all good so I am free to join other swaps. Which of course I have! I just spent part of my TV viewing night making a matchbox pretty for a Matchbox swap. It was so fun! Who would have ever thought of making a little bitty 32 count matchbox into something fun? Not me for sure. But I sure had a blast doing it. I can't wait to find out who my swap partner is so I can fill the matchbox.

Also I am in the middle of the yarn swap and bought my yarn today. It was fun buying all that yarn and imagining the expression on my partners face when she opens her package. I can't go into any other detail in case she reads this. But I am doing something hand made also. Hope they turn out.

The other two swaps I am in won't be coming up until later this month. I can't wait to go shopping for them too. LOL. I love buying things for other people. So if you love that too, you should check out Swap Bot. And no I am not paid for this. I just think it is a good site to check out and have fun with.

Well time to get the pups to bed and hit the hay myself soon. Night everyone.