Hey, hey, two in one day!

After spending a few hours shopping around in Michael's and Tuesday Morning and WalMart I got an idea. I'm going to make a stole from Vanna's Choice fancy shiny yarn in black. I'll use a ripple pattern and make it fairly open and lacy. Then I'll do a picot edging around it. On each of the points of the ripple, I'll crochet in one of those necklace clasps. That way I can add and change out charms and beads as I want. The thing on Friday is for Toyscape, which does things with Legos. The fashion show part is all stuff inspired by legos. So I'm going to get some of the thin 1x3 legos and drill the circle out of one end and put them on as charms. The clasps will be great because otherwise I wouldn't be able to do such an esoteric thing.

I did my first attempt at smokey eyes this evening. I think with another practice session or two I will be ready. I really don't like eyeliner pencils but that's what came with the kit. I like the liquid better but I only have that in brown. Oh well.


Here are some of us at work dressed up for halloween



I tried to get more photos but I can't figure out how to get them from my phone to my computer. It's late. I'll try again later.

It appears as though life is settling down a little. I have never had an October like that one! Usually October is one of my favorite times of the year but I am ready to be rid of this one.

Almost all my houseplants are inside for the winter. We got the upstairs room cleaned out. It has a large west window so it's the perfect place to keep my plants. Last year I had no trouble finding room downstairs for my plants but I had a windfall.

My interests go in spurts. I'm doing less with the plants now and more crocheting. I found patterns I like for a baby winter gear set. There are two babies showing up soon. One is a girl but the other is unknown. They thought it would be a nice suprise. But how am I supposed to know what color yarn to use?! Well I have an idea. I'm making the main color of the hat, mittens, and booties in cream, then once the kid is born I can make the embellishments in the appropriate color. The mitts and booties have ties that I can add afterwards and I figure I can just make a single crochet rim around the bottom of the hat. It has flaps and ties so I'll... well I can't really explain it well with words so I'll just post a picture when it is done. It looks good in my head so hopefully it'll work in real life.

I'm working on an adult beret/slouchy hat right now. I'm thinking about making hats for Christmas presents for my Dad's side of the family. I've made one hat from this pattern before but I don't know where it went so I'm doing this one. If I like it, and I don't find another pattern I like better, I'll make it for the women. However, I did find another pattern for a hat that isn't slouchy and has a cuffed brim thing. I can switch out yarn to an eyelash or something for the brim and it might be a nice hat too. It'll be an easier pattern and take less yarn. I don't know. And then there's the guys. Men are hard to make things for. I found a cool pattern but I'd have to pay for it. I'm not sure I want to pay for it.

Last night I took some fuzzy yarn and some silver shiny yarn and made a scarf. I was trying to make a stole but I decided a couple of rows in that it wasn't going to look right. So it became a scarf. But then I ran out of silver yarn about a foot from the end. I'm not sure if it's going to be a problem or not. I might just rip it out and make the scarf a little shorter so I'll have enough. It turned out a little curly which looks cool.

So I need to get some black yarn to make a stole. I have a fancy fundraiser thingy to go to this Friday and I don't have a nice over-thing. It will probably be too cool to have my shoulders bare.

I'm taking DH to work here in a few minutes (he has a trial to get ready for) and then I'll go to Michael's to find some yarn, and then to WalMart to find some evening makeup. I have everyday/Sunday type makeup but I want to do smokey eyes. I also need nail polish to go with my shoes. Red shoes are fun! Sometimes it's fun to dress up like a girl. I'm sure glad I don't have to do this very often. It would get real old real quick! I am such a tomboy but sometimes I like to be a girl.

Right now I have black nail polish on because I thought it would be fun for Haloween. I forget how much I hate nail polish! It makes my fingers feel heavy and the pigment scratches off onto paper at work so I can't grab things normally. Blech! I was complaining about it to Mark at work on Friday and he was laughing at me. He has a very girly wife and daughter so he's not used to those complaints I guess.

Today I need to get all the dead plant material out of the front beds, figure out a watering system for the upstairs plants, do a little repotting of things, and maybe plant some seeds. I have been gathering seeds for a few weeks. When we visited Froggi's parents a few weeks ago I got bitten by the bonsai bug. Her dad has been doing bonsai for about 15 years. He's got some really amazing specimins. Now I want to bonsai everything! LOL! I figure this winter I can start some of these ornamental plant seeds I got. During the winter I get really antsy and want to start things from seed waaay to early for planting outdoors. Maybe this way I can keep that urge in check. It may not work out too well for the plants but the seeds are free.

I need to make some banana muffins today and maybe something else. There's still a lot of candy at work though, so perhaps I'll wait. I'm really trying to watch what I eat so that when I do have to splurge during the holidays it won't be so bad. It is so difficult to maintain a decent weight during the normal times and holidays are so much worse! I am about 25-30 pounds heavier than I want to be. I'll lose about 10 pounds and then get tired of being hungry and gain it all back. So frustrating! When I was younger I told myself I'd never let my weight get out of control so I wouldn't have to go through the torture of dieting but then I got on Zoloft and it made me really hungry and I gained about 20 pounds in a year without realizing it. I had never been the type to overeat. I just eat when I get hungry, but the meds made me really hungry. Grr...

So anyway, I'm taking DH to work now.

There have been things going on that I don't really want to put on the internet. But I think they're about over. I learned some valuable lessons: Coworkers and friends are two different things and stupid people don't learn lessons.

We got a new guy in bindery. He spent the last 30 years running a print shop in Los Angeles. But his shop didn't do the bindery so he's learning lots of new things. His goals in life are to spend quality time with his family and get money for retirement. I think he'll do pretty well.

I am tired this evening. We're careening toward the end of the month so business is picking up. Tomorrow looks crazy and Friday is sure to be crazy too.

There's a frost forecasted for tonight so I have to bring plants in.

Oh, and I made some baby booties. I found an easy pattern on ravelry.com.

So that's about it. I'm really tired tonight!

Tomorrow is boss's day. So I'm baking. I seem to only blog when I'm baking. I guess that's the time when I need to wait around near the oven and have nothing better to do.

Also tomorrow is my supervisor's last day. He's going to be hospice for his brother who's dying of Hepatitis C. He got it at 18 after a blood transfusion from a motorcycle wreck and it went undiagnosed until last year. He's got 3-6 months. That kind of thing makes me angry. He went through countless doctors and none of them checked his liver. Ever. Grr.

So anyway. Work is changing a little. It'll just be two of us in bindery. Robbie and I work really efficiently together so I'm not worried. My supervisor and I have been having trouble getting along lately. I think this is for the best.

This last weekend we went camping with Dave and Froggi. We went to Fort Smith- like the army fort historic site thing. We also went to Pea Ridge and Wilson's Creek battlefields. All of the state parks were full so we camped in the Ozark National Forest the first night. I cooked a pork chop on a stick. It was really funny cause I kept dropping it in the fire. The next two nights we camped in Froggi's parents' backyard. Dave taught me some nuances of building a fire. DH learned a lot about general camping. We want to practice before winter so we're going to my parents' house this weekend. There's a creek on the property so we'll find a spot there. It should be fun.

That is all. :-)

This has been a lazy weekend. I sure needed it! I feel like I'm getting some spoons built back up. Friday night we went to Ted's for yummy Mexican with Dave and Froggi and Froggi's mom, then we all came back and hung out at our place until about 9:00. Then we were all old and tired so they left and we went to sleep. That's a crazy Friday night when you're old!

Saturday I got up about 10:30 and lazed about all day. I didn't leave the house until the evening when I went to the pharmacy and to Braum's. Today I got out of bed about 12:30. DH had to go to work to work on a trial he's doing next week. I went and got some supplies at Wal Mart and made some sugar cookie dough. Now I'm eating some ravioli. Next I'm going to work on the front flowerbeds a little and then I'm going to bake the cookies. I'll type more then.

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I wish gardening didn't make me itchy.

DH is upset about his trial this week. He says there isn't very much evidence in his favor. I don't know if that's all he's upset about or not. He won't talk about it. He's been having so much trouble lately. I wish I could help but I don't know how. I can't read his mind and he won't talk to me. Or anyone else. I'm worried about him.

We've got a frost advisory tonight so I brought in all my plants. There are plants EVERYWHERE. The dining room table is completely full. I was doing well with my plants until I got that huge donation from the vet college and then I got overwhelmed. When I get overwhelmed I stick my head in the sand. My plants have suffered neglect because I can't handle overwhelming things. I wish I wasn't like that. It would make life much easier for me and the people around me. And my poor plants.

I guess I should go to bed now.