Highly Entertaining....

just like that...

.... life has to go and get in the way of blogging.

whats up with that??

anyway.

hopefully i'll develop some witty and cheerful post to share with you all, but not today. life just isn't cooperating.

wish me luck :p

sunday random

i went to a baby shower this morning.

stopped at my parents' house to pick up a crap load of stuffed mushrooms for bobio.

cruised through the grocery store.

made grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch.

whipped up a batch of KILLER kale soup for dinner (with portuguese rolls, of course).

kitted and stitched for my class tomorrow night.

chatted with a few friends on the phone.

snuggled with belle (the BEST snuggler in the world).

A SPIDER LANDED ON MY FACE.

i freaked out about the spider, which was GINORMOUS... much howling and flailing commenced, followed by me running up the stairs and DEMANDING that bob check my clothing and hair for the offending creature. this inspection was followed by much dust-buster-ing and vacuuming of the basement.

nice list :p

by popular demand...

... another installment of "Belle Tricks" :)

Poor Miss Buttons is on the sick list today... I took her to the vet this morning with a swolen lip. Turns out my little dog is allergicto... um, something. Not sure what caused the irritation, but she got a shot and some ointment to rectify the situation.

Get well soon, Belly!

just like that

... we have a brand-spankin'-new president. I'm looking forward to see what the next year(s) will bring. There have been uncertain times around these parts, and I can't help but feel a little bit of hope knowing that there is a fresh perspective and positive energy leading the powers that be. If nothing else, President Obama has inspired a nation to try harder, to work together, to heal wounds that have festered too long.

(image courtesy of me: taken of my tv, using my fancy camera. yeah, i got skills)

[[ hopping off my soap box]]

So yesterday, as Erin and I watched the festivities from the love seat in my livingroom, I started to teach her how to crochet. Single-crochet, to be exact. and how to "turn the corner" as Erin put it ;)

 

She even bought a spiffy book that she *tried* to teach herself from... and NO GOOD can come of that. I mean, have you ever tried to teach yourself to crochet using a book? NOT easy. Although the lady on the front cover certainly looks like she's having an amazing time with her crochet-skillzzzzzzzzzz, it's really just frustrating trying to decypher the diagrams.

Anyway.

My dear, sweet friend Erin decided that for her first ever crocheting project, she would attempt to make a full-size afghan  scarf for my dog.

 

Belle did, indeed, lend her assistance to Erin as she was trying to master the art of "single crochet"...

 

Then, unexpectedly, Erin and Belle started making out...

 

 

(I almost had to leave the room)

So, all in all the day was pretty successful. History was made with the inauguration of a new president, Erin learned to crochet, and she made out with my dog.

Way to celebrate ;)

history...

... is being made today.

I'm going to be a part of it by sitting on my couch and teaching Erin how to crochet while we watch the ceremonies and festivities.

... and we'll probably have chicken-chili for lunch.

Happy Inauguration Day :)

today...

i weighed in on my *unreliable* scale. down 7.6 pounds from last monday. gotta love that first week back on weight watchers ;)

i crocheted a few sets of cotton washcloths, and some teeny-tiny "face washer-uppers". hopefully i'll get them up in the etsy shop by tonight.

 

 

planning on finishing up a fun class sample for the march/april class schedule. anyone want to make four 2-page layouts to celebrate the seasons? watch for the new schedule sometime in february ;)

i feel motivated to sew. aprons, to be exact. it probably won't happen, but i'll keep thinking about it for a while, anyway ;)

i have pictures to edit that i thought i lost way back in september... yay me for rummaging through bags-o-crap and finding the missing compact flash!

happy monday :)

my dog, the acrobat.

Belle is NOT a fan of the snow (she takes after her auntie jenn). She has developed quite a defense mechanism for dealing with the white stuff when she absolutely HAS to go outside for, well, you know.

I think I'm gonna send this to AFV and win me $10,000. ANd I'm gonna email it to the Ellen show. Ellen loves animals. Belle is, in face, an animal. A talented one, at that.

I *knew* I was gonna be famous someday ;)

what was that? i have a blog, you say?

Yeah, so if you didn't notice, I'll quickly point out to you the fact that "maintaining a regular blog posting schedule" was NOT on my "just gonna try" list. Just sayin'.

You see, I've wanted to post. Really. But my baby camera is being a little bitch and has been completely uncooperative in the uploading of pictures to the interweb front. We have since rectified this situation. Now you get a blog post. You're welcome.

I spent Friday and Saturday cropping at the store, and had a fabulous time. I haven't scrapped anything for several months, and it felt good to play with paper for a while. I'm soooooooooooo not quite "feeling it" yet, but had a few semi-successful pages pop outta my crafty fingertips:

 

 

As I look at the others, I see they are totally and completely missing elements. As in, they are so not finished. I think I have learned that while I enjoy cropping with others.. the giggling and fun times are fabulous... I just *work* better at home. Duly noted, self. Hopefully somewhere in the near future I will unpack from the scrappy weekend and re-assemble my space so I can be productive again... I'm starting to get that ceative itch that I haven't really felt for a while. Gonna try to run with it.

In other news:

I'm totally psyched that Nip/Tuck has resumed. Week two of "Melissa and Drew's Nip/Tuck Adventure" took place last night at the BBC, and it was lovely. Meaning, Adrian Mc Mahon was lovely. Yes, I know Christian is a complete womanizing ass, but I can't help but *heart* him. Sean is just a whiny bitch. 'nuff said.

Also, Bobio DVR'd American Idol for me last night, because I was surely too busy making *dollar-dollar-bills, yo* to stop and enjoy the season premier. You better bet that I will be catching up on AI tonight :)

P.S. The dog turned 2 on Monday. I took pictures, but they're on the CF from the big-girl camera, which is upstairs, and you're lucky enough I got the baby camera to upload properly today. We'll work on Miss Button's birthdat post a little later. Don't hassle me ;)

baby it's COLD outside

Dude. I just spent approximately 6 minutes outside, taking pics of new scarves to update my etsy shop with, and I can't even feel my freaking fingertips. NOT FUN.

That, and the fact that I had to dodge about seventy puppy-landmines across the yard on my way to my picture-taking-spot because the flippin' dog won't touch the snow to "do her business". TMI, I know, but if I have to deal with it, I'm gonna take you down with me :p

 

These are my new pretty ladies, all in a row. Tons of texture. Tons of personality. I want to keep them all. However, My personal scarf collection is ridiculously ginormous, so I must part with these sweet babes. I try to make each one a little bit different, whether it is by altering the length or width or by combining yarns. I'm not aiming at inconsistency here. I really think that each fiber has it's own mind, and that I'm just the one who gets to turn it into what it wants to become. Cheesy? Yes. But it's how I work :)

just gonna try

Hey there, blogland. Way to fall off the bloggin' wagon so early in the year, huh?! ;)

So, Happy New Year and all that jazz. My 2008 ended on a completely UNeventful note, just waking up in time to be utterly creeped out by Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest, and that Taylor Swift girl looking like she was gonna freeze her skinny legs off (combined with having to stand on the same stage with the Jo Bros, knowing she was all break-y-up-y with one of them)....

Anyway.

Happy 2009, y'all.

I decided this year that instead of making unrealistic goals for myself that I would totally fail at, making me feel WORSE about things instead of inspiring me to do better, I was gonna take a more approachable route. Like John Mayer stated when he read our lame sign from the third row..."Thats a great philosophy.Way to aim low. That way you'll never be disappointed"... or something along those lines. (Hey, we got him to read our sign, right?!?!)

Instead of committing to losing 50 lbs, I'm just gonna try to eat more veggies and less, um, crap.

Instead of committing to taking a picture a day for 365 days, I'm just gonna try to write a few highlights form each day in my journal-y thing (although my cameras have been severely neglected as of late...).

Instead of chosing a "word" or "mantra" for the year, I'm gonna try to just chill out and be more open to appreciating the things I already have going for me. Chosing another thing to focus on is like throwing gasoline on the fire... totally burning out of control (and probably singing my eyebrows off inthe process...).

I DO need to try to stay more organized and prioritize, and crap like that. But that's not fun to talk about, so we won't. ;)

Maybe someday you'll actually get a blog post that includes a picture... but not today (requires more photo taking, AND organization... and I think we've already talked about those issues ;).

I have to get my scrap-on today... class samples still need to be finished, and I'm actually inspired to scrap something for myself for once... it's been MONTHS since I've done anything scrappy. I did sign up for the Winter Studio Crop at the store (Friday and Saturday, if you wanna be a cool kid like me!)... so I'm hoping to get some scrappage accomplished then. Wish me luck.

Oliveira.... OUT.

p.s. Hey, Stickles... this one is for you...