Hello!

I'm still here, really.

I am so very far behind on everything I must do before Christmas (giftmas, yule, winter solstice, whatever...) gets here I may never catch up!

I am determined to get my decorations done today, yadda yadda yadda.

Just wanted to let my interwebz stalkers know I haven't been eaten by rabid badgers or anything.

I am putting the children to work today (2/3 have been home from school all week with the plague, we did get to the doctor(s) yesterday to get excuses, they will be banished back to school Monday, woot!) and we should be good!

I finally got my hands on a drill so I can finish my tv dresser. And no, D never remembered to bring one home from the garage, D's Mom came to the rescue (in exchange for me fixing 3 computers). The painting of the dresser will have to wait till after the festivities, I do however have some fabric I can hide it with for now!

I would be alot further along on gifts if I wasn't so damned obsessive compulsive. I cannot tell you how many things I have gotten half-done and then proceeded to rip apart as I wasn't happy with them. At this very moment I'm considering replacing The Boy's hat with a cuter one. (I'm picturing ear flaps ala Elmer Fudd) Argh..... damned interwebz and all the cool things I must make!

Mini-Me is not helping any with that department as she keeps finding amigurumi patterns she wants and points them out to me. (Apparently she needs a David Tennant or she will just die, really) My biggest mistake last week was signing up for an account at Ravelry!! As if I need any more distractions!! Remind me later to show you the Monster Bag I crocheted on a whim! (I could fit a smallish child/largish dog into it!)

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!! There's birds in my attic!! I just heard them!!!  I walked past the bathroom and heard them through the vent. I am now picturing scenes from 'The Birds' when I go up there to get the decorations. Is this a sign that I should not decorate this year???

I'm going to go mainline some more coffee and deliberate.

Wish me luck..

Till then...

Poor Sad Chicken....

Sometimes I hate the internet....

I've been on a knitting binge, trying to get Yule presents done, and I was taking a look at a few patterns for ideas and I ran across Amigurumi. Yes, I am now obsessed.

According to Wikipedia:

Amigurumi (編みぐるみ^?, lit. knitted stuffed toy) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll. Amigurumi are typically animals, but can include artistic renderings or inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features.


So, first thing this morning, I attempted one. He took a few hours to do, I was surprised at how easy it way. However, I think its quite obviously a first attempt. One of my nieces loves chickens so I made this with her in mind, she is more than likely getting the second attempt though!

Mini-me has named him Cygnus and he's sad because he has no feet. 

 

 

All things considered, I have deemed him not too shabby. I have never crocheted before this morning. I could do a chain, sure, but I never actually crocheted before.

So, the next two weeks will consist of crocheting cuties in the am, housework in the afternoon and knitting at night. I should have everything done by 2 days before the big one!

Till then...

Word of the Day #16

No drumroll today.

 Today's word is  Nyquil.....

I have some bizarre combination of ear ache, head cold and stomach flu. I have found that while it's probably not advisable, one can take nyquil and pepto bismol at the same time.

I still haven't got my tv dresser done yet as I'm still waiting for the drill... Although, I have found that the remote still works when the dvd player is behind the tv, it's just a bit dodgy getting the disc changed.

I managed to finish Mini-Me's afghan:

It ended up being 5 feet by 5 feet. I use 4 strands of yarn on size 35 needles. I could probably knock one out in a day if I did nothing else. Usually it takes me 3 or 4 nights to finish one (luckily this one was already started!). 

I also managed to make The Boy a hat this afternoon (my first ever!). In all actuality it started out as a scarf, then I decided it was too wide and turned it into a hat. The coolest hat ever if I do say so myself! Against Mini-Me's advice I added a tassel to it. He is going to get a matching scarf with it! I'll get pics up as soon as I get the scarf done.

I'm off to be miserable. 

Till then...

Word of the Day #15

Happy Sunday interwebz!!
              Today's word (wait for it......)
                            Chaos!!
                 (wewt! revel! rejoice!)

The best laid plans.....  I'm sure you know how it goes, or you would if you had my attention span.

Once again what started out as one project has somehow snowballed into 5. The tiny dresser from the closet is going to work wonderfully for the tv and such, however I'm waiting (still waiting....) for the drill that is actually capable of drilling to make its way here from the garage (D is supposed to bring it home, we'll see).  

The big dresser will not work in the bedroom, no way, no how. As I hang most of my clothes anyway, I've given up my dresser for D and decided to redo my closet. I figure a shelf, some of those fabric storage bin/basket things will work perfectly (as of right now I'm using the everything shoved into laundry basket system, this project has been shoved down to number 5). I had considered putting the big dresser in the middle room, for fabric (and now yarn, we'll get to that) storage. I don't like it there, it doesn't work. I'm taking that bad boy back up to the attic.

Of course, this means the middle room is torn up, again. Reorganization is one of today's themes.

As I was in the attic, bringing the monster down to begin with, I came across the 4 cubic tons of yarn that I have and thought....  oooooo afghans! I should make a couple, there's one I started! So rather than bring the decorations down as I planned, I instead brought the yarn down. I knit, kinda. Ok, it is real knitting, but I use needles approximately the size of wooden stakes (if I'm ever attacked by a vampire while knitting, I'm good). I use 4 strands of yarn at a time and make cheater afghans. There very warm and I like the look of them, and it only takes 2 or 3 days to knock out an afghan. (The purple one is halfway done!) I'm hoping to get atleast 5 done by Yule.

Of course, there is still the matter of bringing out the decorations. After I take the monster dresser back upstairs, after I reorganize the middle room, after I get the purple afghan done, but before I do my closet.

I think I better get started.....

Till then...

Entertainment Center Revisited... (Updated)

There was the project that turned into what I like to call "The Media Center from Hell Disaster". I shouldn't complain, I did learn that while I lurve playing with power tools, I should not attempt building things from scratch right now. I don't have all the tools I need, nor the space to try. (Botched attempt is banished to the basement where it serves as half-assed shelves.

I have a dresser in the attic that is not currently in use. Right now we have a third dresser stashed in the closet for D's long johns, sweatshirts and the such. If I can figure out how to rearrange the bedroom to accommodate the dresser in the attic then I can swipe the closet dresser and convert it to a tv stand type thing. The dresser in the attic is too tall for the tv, I don't want that stuck in the movie theater first row neck pain every time I try to watch tv, and too big to stash in the closet.

I'm thinking of mish-mashing the original idea and the dresser conversion thing. It's just crazy enough to work. (Or I'm just crazy enough to think it'll work, whichever)

On a side note, I'm beginning to love the rearranged living room. It's amazing how just moving things around a bit make such a difference. I'm off to scheme. Look for pictures or rants, depending on how it turns out!

Till then...

Update!!
It's gonna work!!! Not the way I originally planned, things have snowballed like you would not believe. 3, possibly 4 rooms are being affected, this is going to be a weekend ordeal!!!  And, as an unbelievable bonus, I get my closet back!!!  Wewt!!  I'm off to do cartwheels and get busy!


Till then, again....