Craftacular

Ze octopus, he is done. When the kids saw him this morning they shrieked, "how cute! Who is it for? Will you make me one? Can I take it to school?" Now, that's the kind of reaction a crafter is looking for.


So now I have an order for an orange one with a black smile for Evan.

Daily cards, week 4:

Hump Day!

Man, time flies. It's already Wednesday? We're busy this week finishing up all the monthlies - let's get em done and bill em out!

Yesterday we were downtown at a friend's house and saw the coolest thing. The building behind his place is all about alternative energy and they were putting up the first windmill in our area. The girl we were talking to called it an urban turbine - it's about 60 feet tall and the blades are 10 feet across. We got to watch them hoist it up with a crane. My camera was low on power and wouldn't let me take a picture, bummer. Tomorrow there is some big ceremony with the mayor and such. With the wind power and solar panels they plan to be at net zero by the end of the year. How cool is that? I want a windmill!

I'm almost done with my first amigurumi project - a crocheted purple octopus. He's pretty damn cute.

Also working on my rainbow swap cards, painting is fun and messy, love it. Did a little crackle action on these.


Hasta!

Master Of My Domain

That's right, you can just call me webmaster from now on. Or webmeister if you're funky. Spent the better part of yesterday on our website, junked the fugly old one and started from scratch. I think it looks pretty good. Check it out!

The Office last night cracked me up, the Hillary Swank bit was classic. And 30 Rock was good too. I was giggling as I crocheted flowers for the rainbow atc swap on SIS.

The cat is OUTTA CONTROL with the ribbon snatching. I need to find the lids to the jars I keep it in. Every morning I find ribbon all over the place, and of course at least one in the water bowl. Her habit is escalating.

It's raining again - two days in a row is some kind of record around here. We've got some more inside work to do, and a big inside job tomorrow so it's all good.

Our buddy Kent is taking off for Alaska, happened so fast we didn't even get a chance to throw him a going-away party! We'll miss that dude! He needed a place to park his bus, so the view out my office window has changed a bit-

Later-TGIF!

Thursday

Trying to catch up on some paperwork today, invoices and such that I couldn't do while the computer was down. Glad things are up and running but not that happy about the cost.

Working on our website, I think it's looking PRETty good. Will post a link when I'm all done.

It's raining! We need the water so bad, and thankfully we have some inside work to do today so I'm not going to complain about it. Poor Hannah though - her field trip today was canceled. She was bummed out this morning.

TV is getting good again!

• Watched Lost last night, glad to see that they are starting to answer some questions. (kind of)
  
• Looking forward to The Office tonight, last week was hilarious with the duel.
• The Big Love premiere did not disappoint. I love that show!
  
• Also enjoying re-runs of Arrested Development lately - a freakin' crack up!

Third week of daily cards (January is almost over? No way!)

Happy O Day!

We've got a new prez in da house! So glad to have new representation. I know he's got his work cut out for him, and I'm not naive enough to think he's the answer to all our country's problems. But I do feel hopeful. I feel like people are paying attention and ready for some real change. I know I am.


Peace.

Kayak Kid

Evan is getting more and more comfortable in the water, and he digs hanging out with his dad and the kayak crew. Here are some pics from yesterday downtown at the whitewater park. The water is flowing really low, and really cold - you can see the ice on the rocks. Crazy 'yakers!

Check It Out Now

This happens all the time. Ashley (the cat) gets ribbon from my scrap table in the other room, brings it into the kitchen and puts it...in the water bowl. Today she chose two lovely coordinating red ribbons.


Oh, and check my new grillz yo-


It's super hard to smile with these suckahs in, especially since the candy on the back is crapnasty! So, I decided to do a more serious photo-



Respect.

Holy Crap!

Jordan has been working on this project for months now in ceramics class, and it's finally done. The pics really don't do it justice, this thing is amazing! The top comes off kind of like a cookie jar. Dude's got talent!

My Lucky Day!

Check out this email I got, I am soooooo lucky!

From: MR. V H C CHENG. Email: (vincheggg@yahoo.com.hk) Good Day I am Mr. Vincent Cheng Hoi Chuen, GBS, JP Chairman of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited. Gen Zaiki Taha Abdel, a businessman, also who was with the Iraqi forces and our Client, made a fixed deposit of Thirty million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars only in my branch, a number of notices was sent to him after the war, which began in 2003 , but no response came from him till date. We later found out that the General along with his family had been killed in a bomb blast that hit their home. After more inquiry it was also discovered that the late Gen. did not declare any next of kin in his official papers including the paper work of his bank deposit. What bothers me most is according to the laws of my country at the expiration of 6 years the funds will be revert to the ownership of the Hong Kong Government if nobody comes for the funds, Against this scenery, I have all the information needed to claim these funds and I want you to act as the beneficiary of the deposit, there is no risk involved in this matter, as we are going to adopt a legitimate method and the attorney will prepare all the necessary documents. All I require is your honest co-operation and I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect us from any breach of the law. Please accept my apologies, keep my confidence and disregard this email if you do not appreciate this proposition I have offered you. All confirmable documents to back up this funds shall be made available to you, as soon as I receive your reply, I shall let you know what is required of you. Your earliest response to this letter will be appreciated via (vincheggg@yahoo.com.hk). Regards from, Mr. Vincent Cheng.

Eyeroll. Maybe I can get a job as spell/grammar checker for internet scammers.

Got a hot date with my man tonight at the pool hall. His team is in the playoffs and this is a do or die tournament so cross your fingers!

Feeling pretty good and hopeful about work, got some new leads and an invitation to attend a free business expo at my friend's school. It's a private school at the largest Catholic church here so it could be great exposure for us. Brainstorming, brochures, coupons, etc. Maybe I'll have Jordan (the resident artist) do a display of some kind. The weather is fantastic. Sorry all you in the Midwest.

Week two of daily cards:

What Up?

Had a pretty productive day, got some errands done, went grocery shopping, made a batch of crack. Yeah, that's right, crack. It's a delicious, wickedly addictive concoction of chex cereal, coconut, and cashews smothered in caramel. Mmmmmm.

Up to my ears in crochet projects at the moment. Just finished Mom's birthday gift on Sunday and since then I've made three beanies and started a "market bag" - all for the kids' friends. And these are paid orders, woo-hoo! Guess that makes me a professional hooker. hehe

All set for the inauguration, ready for the new administration to get on with it already. Wonder what's going to happen on the Bush countdown meter over on the sidebar when it reaches 0:00 - will it just stop or will it do a trick?

You know I'm all for Obama and everything, but I kinda think it's weird all the merchandise being hocked everywhere with his name on it. Like I don't think I'll be sporting an Obama t-shirt now. Before the election, ok, but now? And I don't ever remember a politician having a logo before. I'm just saying...it's a little odd.

Speaking of political merchandise -

TGIFF!

Happy Friday! I'm so glad the week is over and tomorrow is sleeping in day! It's been hard getting back into the old routine after the holiday break.

Thoughts of the day:

• Facebook is freakin awesome! Today I chatted with some old friends, people I haven't talked to in like 20 years - so crazy cool.
  
• Youtube is also wicked cool. Anything you could ever want to see is on there - old music videos, flushing jello, live concert footage, people falling on their asses - it's all there. Such sweetness.
• I've been spending too much time online (see above two items).
• So glad the washer is working again, actually enjoying doing laundry and having clean clothes!
• Reading A Fine Balance, it is so good. Heartbreaking, but good.
• Jordan has been watching all these Armageddon shows on The History Channel - me no likey. I've got enough to worry about thank you very much!
• 24 and Big Love are about to start up again, finally something to watch! TV has been lame lately.
  
• Getting ready to return the dirt to Dr. Zhivago. Yeah, that's right!
• Soup for dinner. Yum!
  

Later-

Finally

So long, see ya next year!


Yep, finally packed up the Christmas decorations. We have accumulated about 5 boxfuls over the years. It's good to get it down and get things back to normal.

Keeping up with the daily cards, and enjoying it. I really think that doing just a small project every day keeps the creative juices flowing. I think I'll post them weekly here, then I have to stay on top of it!

Daily Cards 2009 - Week 1


There, I blogged. Eat it, TreeGirl!

Monday

Taking a little break from my extensive to-do list-

I do have a few things crossed off, feeling pretty productive today. Scheduled some work too, woo-hoo! January 09 is already looking busier than January 08, so the year is off to a good start. Now if last month's invoices would just start coming in... Getting ready to do those tax forms, big huge fun.

Watched Rock Of Love Bus last night, that show has got class out the ass, my friends.

Ok, back to work.

End Of Vacation Blues

Yesterday we went out shopping so the kids could spend their Christmas money. Finally made it into Scheels. Holy crap! It is huge, I mean HUGE. It has everything sports/camping/fitness/hunting related that you can imagine, and then some. And, it also has one of these:


Note Evan's super cool outfit. He's all geared up for kayaking - we were there to buy him some gloves to keep his hands from freezing off. Shane took him to the whitewater park later and it was chillllly. Nutty boys!

Back to school/work tomorrow, and I am so not ready for that alarm clock in the morning. We've all been staying up way too late, sleeping in way too long - it's gonna be rough getting back into ze routine. You play, you pay, right?

Later-

Yo Yo Yo

I did it, cleaned the office yesterday. Took most of the day but it's worth it, so much better. I can actually see my desk!

Hopelessly addicted to the Bouncing Balls mind jolt game on facebook. It's good for zoning out and decompressing. And I kinda shred at it.

Also made a daily card yesterday, whoot! So I'm currently up to date for the year, or I will be after I make one today. Better get on that.


Other projects:

This hat, for me-


Mittens for the fam. One pair down, four to go-


We have had the most bizarre weather today, high winds, rain, snow, sun, slush, no wind at all. Think we about covered the whole weather spectrum.

Oh, and a special thanks to Kate for turning me on to The Tree Man. Lovely.

New Year's Housekeeping

OK, time to clean up le blog and get ready for the new year. I am personally glad to put '08 behind us and move the hell on. On my very first to-do list of the year:

• Take better care of myself. This means exercising and eating healthy food. Simple, right? Yeah.
• Clean up this office! No wonder I can't seem to get any work done.
• Start making daily cards again - it's a great way to stay in the scrappy mood. I miss my favorite hobby!

I'm not calling those resolutions, because that word just has too much expectation attached. Words I do not want to hear this year:

• Economy. Everyone, everywhere is talking about the "new economy," the "state of our economy," the "bad economy" - e-freakin'-nuff already! This is not raising consumer confidence and is stressing me right out.
• Bail Out. If you need a refresher on where I stand here, check last week's post.
• Hope/Change. Let's not overuse these two very important words.
  
• Jigglypuff. My son has taken to chanting this lately. Over it.

Switching gears. I didn't quite make my goal of 50 books last year. For 2009 I'm going with a goal of 26 books, one for every two weeks. Making a new list over on the side bar but for record's sake, here is a recap of last year's reads, with my favorites in bold:

37. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
36. Snow Flower And The Secret Fan (Lisa See)
35. The Broker (John Grisham)
34. The Motel Life (Willy Vlautin)
33. The Heretic's Daughter (Kathleen Kent)
32. Three Bags Full (Leonie Swann)
31. Fearless Fourteen (Janet Evanovich)
30. A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini)
29. Stitch N Bitch Crochet (Debbie Stoller)
28. Worse Than Watergate - The Secret Presidency George W. Bush (John W. Dean)
27. I lock My Door Upon Myself (Joyce Carol Oates)
26. No Time For Goodbye (Linwood Barclay)
25. Boy Still Missing (John Searles)
24. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwater)
23. 84, Charing Cross Road (Helene Hanff)
22. Black Out (Lisa Unger)
21. The Tent (Margaret Atwater)
20. Dead Sleep (Greg Iles)
19. The Book Of Lost Things (John Connolly)
18. Sharp Objects (Gillian Flynn)
17. Zombie (Joyce Carol Oates)
16. The Fourth Hand (John Irving)
15. A Friend Of The Earth (T.C. Boyle)
14. The Courage Consort (Michel Faber)
13. Tallgrass (Sandra Dallas)
12. T Is For Trespass (Sue Grafton)
11. The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova)
10. Lean Mean Thirteen (Janet Evanovich)
9. The Forest Lover (Susan Vreeland)
8. The Rapture Of Canaan (Sheri Reynolds)
7. I Am The Messenger (Markus Zusak)
6. The Madonnas Of Leningrad (Debra Dean)
5. Blood Memory (Greg Iles)
4. True Evil (Greg Iles)
3. Extremely Close And Incredibly Loud (Jonathan Safron Foer)
2. Fierce Invalids Back From Hot Climates (Tom Robbins)
1. Mortal Fear (Greg Iles)

Happy New Year! Crossing fingers for a peaceful, prosperous 2009.

PS I wonder how many blogs are playing this song right now?