So this weekend I sent my girl (left) to a Homecoming Dance.
How on earth can you stall father time? He is running and I would settle for a nice crawl.
She came home just before her coach turned into a pumpkin having enjoyed her time as the bell of the ball.
Mel – thanks for the dress. It was super cute on her.
Me – I was dripping with teenage girls. DD finally got her birthday party – and I beat a hasty retreat to my sewing room.
I am finally attending the yarn tasteing at Knitted Peace after wanting to go to one for a while and not being able to – that and just the general disarray of my needles had been forming thoughts in my head for some time. I needed a way to keep track of my Options set so that I knew which points I had available.
There are times when I have something in mind and I sit down with random scrap fabric from my stash and just start cutting as sewing and ripping and experimenting until I get what I want. This time I hit the jackpot – I got what I wanted on the first try.
Looks pretty simple from the outside – but inside is where the goodness is…
The pockets around the outer edges hold 16 sets of needle tips! (More if I double small sizes in pockets 
Inside is enough room for all the other knit accessories I like to have handy – so finally I have a small accessory bag I can just throw in my knitting bag and run with. Actual size is 8″ x 5.5″ x 2″.
This one is truly providence as I expected to go through at least a couple of iterations before I got what I wanted. I didn’t even have a zipper on hand, and ended up using the zipper from one of those plastic bags sheets come in. (reason I save so much worthless crap – someday I might need it – and I DID So my zipper pull says “imex vinylpackaging” LOL.
Perhaps there is something to be said for letting ideas permeate for some time – I am truly happy this worked the first time, but if things keep working the first time, I may never get to my “good” fabric
Crazy scarf?
Embarrassing old lady shawl for a teenager?
Nope its a
snuggie for boy. Ever since he saw the infomercial he wanted one – size was no deterrent he had to have one. So in celebration of the cheesetastic everywhere I presented him with a mom crocheted green snuggie. Told you it was bad.
The public schools system of torturing parents everywhere. If we replaced waterboarding with repetitive back to school nights I am sure that we could get something out of those terrorists!
For all those parents who are thinking I am a wack job right now, let me ask what have you really ever gotten from going to back to school night? Usually for me it is just a heads up for which teachers my children are likely to hate. As of last year I am 100% dead on with girl – I can always tell who she will get along with.
Now Boy is in elementary school – so back to school night has a function – free ice cream Also boy likes to meet his teacher ahead of time and in elementary school back to school night is BEFORE they start school. With DD it falls after the start date so things are set in motion already, I am powerless to do anything but sit and listen to the teachers tell me their rules, usually things I have already read and signed – so why go? At least I have a pretty good idea of when the shit is gonna hit the fan.
For all those curious about the crafty side of mintlatte’s crafty space – soon my friends I shall be posting an object of unspeakable horror. I have been watching infomercials with my son – and we discovered something he couldn’t live without. A quick scan of internetville awakened me to the fact that there was a pattern for this item… I think it is probably the worst thing I have ever made – right behind this crazy flight of reason…
My Kacey girl is 15 today. She just started High School yesterday. When I left her at the school I longed to cry – or just drag her back into my arms and take her home, where I could protect her from the world at large. I didn’t do either. I just said goodbye and watched her walk off into the school that is basically her second home now.
All I can do now is trust her. And I do. She is smart and self aware – and I think she might even listen to her mother sometimes – for this she deserves some major teen points. It isn’t always easy to listen to your parents. But still my heart flutters just thinking bout what lies ahead for her. I look at her and I see big dreams, all of them within her grasp. I just hope I have it in me to support a big dreamer. Big dreamers can be squashed by doubt, there will be plenty of people in her life who will doubt her, so it is my job to believe in her. Every day that I see her work her way through the world it gets easier and easier to believe.
Silly Kacey – Your mom loves you and thinks you are brilliant. Happy Birthday
Yeah. So no apologies here. I am guiltless blogger, blogging only when I feel the need. Right about now I am feeling awful needy. I can’t help but feel that things at the day job are not going so hot – and it is things that are far beyond my control. None the less I am bucking up and doing what I always do which is whatever work throws my way
Despite the work situation other things in my life are becoming VERY clear. My daughter has been possessed by a psycho teenager. Let’s face it – the most important thing in the world right now is HER – in fact the entire frickin’ universe revolves around the status of her hair. Sans the flavor of the moment (blue. I just finished dying her hair blue.) there was no way she was going to start school. Seriously. Her little world would have crashed around her over blue hair.
Now I do remember the frantic feeling of a bad hair day way back when. When my awesome wall o’ bang cut with the fiercely hairsprayed side slick back just didn’t work. Days when my perms were too frizzy (I find it hard to believe there was such a thing as too frizzy and yet my perms always were too damn frizzy). These days the fact that my hair is intact on my head is enough, I would go to work with bed head most days and it wouldn’t matter one whit. So I find myself far removed from what she is experiencing right now – and yet am trying so hard to be properly sympathetic without losing sight of all the things that are important.
I have spent a lot of time reading lately, and it seems I have discovered a lost love. I have buried myself in books as though I have been starved for them for some time. Any books, even the crazy trashy beach reads are holding me like they were high literature. Which means no book reviews from me. Seriously a guilty pleasure is just that – guilty. I will say that I did read pride prejudice and zombies – and I completely understand the hype. Freakin’ awesomely crazy good and true to the original in some very bizarre ways.
And with that I leave you to wonder just how bad my taste truly is. One thing I know is this – at least my hair isn’t blue
Ok, so there are lots of bloggers and some of them post pictures of all their gourmet cooking. Food in glorious photos that highlight the color, the texture, the beauty that the blogger has found deep within the food. Photos that highlight the blogger’s skill with foods, staged with lovely plates and table settings. I was pretty sure I would never be one of those people until I wandered into my kitchen and created this.
Note the reflection of the krispy wrap on the retro laminate table top, the way the light plays on the subtle nutella waves, the sheen of a machined square krispy treat.
Foodies unite… just not in my kitchen.
has been placed under my nose…..and folks….there is fog on it.
first things first…. Thanks Marin! I needed that. (more on that later…)
What I been up to: (this post exceed standard acceptable length limits…you have been warned.)
Work.
Ok not that. I am completely blocking that out today
There are these…..
Essentially created so that boy can slide in the hallway. One of the cool things about my felted clogs is the slide factor, boy was envious of the slide factor. These were made for sliding Super fast super easy… the pattern is from the new Interweave Holiday Knits, which I am actually kind of Meh about, but I can never turn down a collection of relatively quick knits. Cheap yarn from the stash
OK, then there are These
These are none other than the famous Pomotomus by Cookie A.
I am not exactly ignorant of the problem here which is that I chose a very busy yarn to knit a very busy pattern. These took just shy of a year to finish. When I made the first one, I was still lacking the ability to read my knitting. So the second one languished for some time. Finishing the second proved to be very liberating. There are way fewer mistakes in the second sock than in the first and it was way easier, as the ability to spot a yo or a k2tog in a prev. row can really make this one easier - in ways it won’t if you are relying on your ability to count. Not only that but I was able to follow the same pattern twice, with results so similar they actually appear to be a pair. The fit is great, so despite the fug, I will be wearing these babies proudly.
All this knitting has happened in the last two weeks, which is also liberating. For a while there I was kind of stalled on the knitting front. Stalled is not good. Stalled is frustrating. I have half a hey teach that wouldn;t fit anyone to show for it. It may merit a frogged post of its own, or it may languish in punishment until I figure out WTF I did wrong. (um…gauge anyone?)
Anyhoo…while stalled on the knitting and frustrated with the job, blogging took a distant back seat. I was reading and keeping up….but just not writing anything myself.
Thankfully Marin decided to check this little corner of the blogiverse for signs of life. So here I am breathing on the mirror…..
The item that was passed on to me is none other than the 7 weird things meme. I have weirded myself out before, but still felt compelled to do so again.
1. I love wind up toys. I use any excuse possible to get little wind up toys for my kids. Hoppers, flippers, rollers, I just find wind-ups incredibly amusing. My favorite is a Godzilla wind up that spits sparks. I originally got it for my son, but then I never brought it home. He lives at my desk and takes sparky walks at least once a week.
2. We know others have sleep issues. I have less severe sleep issues, but mine are kind of rare. I am a morning waker. I can fall asleep as soon as I put my head on a pillow regardless of my surroundings. I just wake up at 2 or three in the morning. It is a 50/50 shot at going back to sleep.
3. No matter how hard I try to be neat it is impossible. I often lunch in my car, just to get out of the office, and I have had to resort to keeping a kitchen towel in the car to use as a bib. Food has the uncanny ability to highlight my breasts in the most embarrassing manner possible. If what I am eating matches my clothes, I am highly unlikely to spill. If I am wearing a white shirt and eating something with ketchup, the ketchup will land in nipple vicinity. Every time.
4. I have hair issues. I never know what to do with it so I just let it grow. Right now I have hair past my shoulders, and I can’t remember when I last got my hair cut. I do know the last time I went in they had purged me from their database. I only get away with it because I have straight thick hair that tends towards the oily side. My hair sucks for styling, but rocks at just growing out straight. Plus since I am just growing it out straight, I usually don’t blow dry or style too much. I guess it kind of works for me.
5. I love magazines. Actually I am somewhat saved in this since the library now lets you check out past issues. it is not unlike me to check out several months of the same magazine.
6. I read in streaks. If I go through a reading phase I will read practically non stop, usually till early in the morning. After 7-8 books my appetite is usually sated and I can move on for a while (about a week . Oddly enough, I find reading almost as good a sleep during these times. I know for a fact I can’t hang with the partiers anymore, (see No. 2) but for some reason I could read practically all night long and I don’t seem to be tired the next day.
7. I have a thing about the phone people. I live to spite the phone people. Qwest is practically my nemesis. It started a few years age when they told me the lines in my house were not suitable for DSL. I would have to have the house rewired if I wanted that service. I said no to rewiring. Later that day I took the modem and kit I was supposed to send back, went outside and rewired my phone lines at my box, doing everything the way they told me not to. I then hooked up the modem, and DSL has worked seamlessly since. Except when they come to do any work at my house, which is frequent because we have old overhead lines that go out all the time. Each time they “fix” my box and I have to go out and rewire it. They recently discontinued my old modem, and insisted on sending me a router modem combo that didn’t work with my set up. Despite their promise of no support, I forced the thing to work on my terms. I would switch, but my general impression is that my experience is pretty par for the course, so I choose the entertainment value instead.
Anyway, here is where I am supposed to tag 7 others. And here is where I revolt. I interact with the blogosphere is a slightly passive aggressive manner. I don’t want to call anyone out….. that and as far as I can tell there aren’t too many blogs downhill from me to tag
If you have made it this far you totally deserve a medal.
About a week ago I was in despair. Utter and complete despair. There were moments where I could feel my taste-buds dying a slow death, deprived of their last wish… desperate to soothe them I would head to the garden only to see:
Notice how the color is all wrong… my garden was FULL of these, and since we live in Colorado I was afraid that tomato season would come and go without a hint of red. Finally on Monday night, I found this:
Which was shortly followed up by this: 
If that weren’t enough, there was this: 
And these:
Plus the abundance of peppers, in two different varieties, carrots, beans, peas, radishes….I think that hubby and I may finally be figuring out gardening in Colorado.
And if… by some chance you had tomatoes weeks ago, I don’t want to know about it.
It is probably best not to tell me.
I love freezer paper stenciling
