Tomorrow is my first weigh-in for Weight Watchers.  I thought I would post a picture of myself from last month as a "before."  It's amazing how you can't see what you really look like until you see yourself in a photo.  Ironically enough, I didn't even eat any ice cream that day.  I just enjoyed the juxtaposition of the tiny puppy and the giant ice cream cone.  

I'm still working on my big crochet project.  I also cast on for another one of my gifts that is easier that I can take with me to the meeting tomorrow.  The other gift I have on the needles is the kind of project that requires my full attention.  It isn't that difficult, but for some reason it is very easy for me to get lost.

Class number four for Saffy was today.  We learned "come" and started with "stay."  We still need a lot of work on "sit" and "down" before we can really get into "stay."  She did great with "come!"  The other dogs were so cute.  Lulu, the Lab/Corgi mix and Winston the Yorkie really like each other.  When Lulu and her mom were working on "come," everytime the instructor let go of her leash, she made a bee-line to Winston instead of her mom and the treat.  Winston always seemed to try to run to Saffy.  Saffy spent the majority of the class standing on her hind legs and waving her front paws in the air (so CUTE!).  All the dogs were full of beans today.  We couldn't figure it out.  Maybe Sirius the Dog Star is in retrograde or something.  Who knows.

Not feeling that great this evening.  I have a killer headache.  My exciting news is that I got the 6" DPN Set I ordered from Knitpicks in the mail today.  They are so pretty.  I will definitely keep them away from Saffy.  I have been going through so many sock needles because of her, I had to find a less expensive solution to replacing them.  I feel a little guilty about not getting them at my LYS, but I just can't afford to keep buying new sock needles at $15 a pop.  Sorry Beverly.

I've been doing a lot of cooking lately what with the Weight Watchers and all.  I have to say I have discovered one of the best inventions EVER!  It's the Ziplock Steamer Bag.  I can perfectly steam a large portion of fresh veggies in the microwave in approximately 3 minutes.  I love steamed veggies, but I always have a tendency to over cook them in my stove-top steamer.  This takes all the guesswork out of steaming as it has all the cooking times printed on the side.  I highly recommend trying one out!

In craft news, I have been working really hard on my largest gift.  It's tons of small pieces that will require lots of finishing.  Luckily it's crochet so at least that part is going quickly.  I am just over halfway finished with the pieces.  I also laid a whole bunch of tile today.  Saffy wasn't happy about it.  She has been driving me nuts all day.  She has been very nippy and demanding of attention.  Tomorrow, I have knitting at my LYS so I will be taking a break from this tedious crochet project and crazy Chihuahua.  She's lucky I love her so much!

This weekend has been pretty nice.  Yesterday was rainy and icky outside, so Patrick and I had pajama day.  We watched TV and I worked on gifts.  Patrick also got some tile measured which he cut today so I will be laying tile this week (yay!).  I told Patrick that for Christmas, all I want is the floor downstairs and the downstairs bathroom to be completely finished.  Of course, this means a ton of work for me, but since I am not allowed to use the tile saw, I depend on Patrick to cut the tile for me so I can lay it and grout.  In case you are wondering, I am not allowed to use the tile saw because I am a klutz and I most recently almost glued my pants and underwear to my butt.  A wet saw with flying shards of ceramic is just tempting fate.

Weight Watchers is going OK.  I am finally getting used to it.  The good thing is that I haven't been hungry.  I pretty much can eat whatever I want provided I watch my points.  I've made it almost into a game to see how I can eat tons of food with the least amount of points.  The key is fruits and veggies.  I don't know why I can't do this not in a program, but hey, whatever works, right?

About my previous post, I know it wasn't very well written or cohesive.  I just want to reiterate how AWESOME my grandma is.  She really is incredible and even the most eloquently written praise of her could not convey the awesomeness which is my grandma.  

Two days ago, my grandma celebrated her 70th birthday.  She is one awesome lady.  She grew up on an Indian reservation in northern Wisconsin and ended up a single mother with six kids when she met my grandfather.  He said that she came into the garage that he was working in as a mechanic and all six kids were so well-groomed and well-behaved that he knew she was something special and fell in love with her right then.  Grandma has always been the kind of woman who will bend over backwards for her family.  If she can't be found at home, she is out driving someone around or playing bingo in Green Bay.  When she cooks one of her specialty meals (chicken and rice with fry bread is a favorite) an APB goes out all over Sheboygan and everyone shows up for dinner.  She is notorious for leaving her purse at my parents' house.  So much so that we once hid her purse from her and she didn't even notice she didn't have it when she left the house.  

My favorite thing to do with my grandma is to just talk and laugh.  Once her laugh gets started, everyone has to join in.  I lover her and miss her so much!  I really wish I could have been with her on her big day.  

I'm kinda tired tonight, so this will be a short post.  Last week I wrote about how I gave up soda and how I needed another goal.  Well, yesterday I joined Weight Watchers.  I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and was told that I am obese.  Not a nice thing to hear.  I basically decided to join on Wednesday and found a meeting in town on Thursday.  The nice thing was I ran into a woman that used to work at my LYS.  It was good to see a familiar face.  

I must admit that I don't like that I have to do this, but I really don't know what else is going to work for me.  It's hard, but I can do it.  The hardest part is that I am so impatient I want to see results RIGHT NOW!  Patrick has offered to surprise me with a (non-food) treat after every ten pounds lost.  Hopefully that will help!

Wish me luck!

This is my gratuitous, I'm too lazy to write a real post, Saffy post. Enjoy.


A while back I sent a card to Saffy's breeder along with her certificate of spay.  I wanted the breeder to know that Saffy was doing well, so I gave the card to Saffy and she chewed it all up and I mailed it like that.  Much easier than the stamp pad/paw print signature.  For some reason, I thought it would be really funny if I made Saffy her own business card and then let her chew on it.  Saffy is an accomplished paper shredder.  Our living room looks like the aftermath of a ticker tape parade.  I love my silly silly puppy!

 
 

BTW, her business card says "Blueboys Saffron Fuzzypants -Chihuahua Extraordinaire"

That's her actual registered AKC name.

I started another Christmas gift so that means I now have:

2 complete

3 in progress

4 not yet started

The one I started today is pretty big, so I will have to put in some extra woman-hours on it.  I am going to have to work almost non-stop between now and Christmas to get this all done.  It's crazy.  I just have to keep reminding myself how much money we are saving by me doing this. We are really planning on only buying gifts for the nieces and nephews.  All our saved money is going to our 10th anniversary gift to Sandals in the Bahamas.  I can't wait!

Saffy and I had class today and the trainer worked extra with her on "sit."  Today we worked on "down" and discovered that Saffy thinks the hand sign for "sit" actually is "down."  So we are switching for her and now I just need to find a new hand sign that works for her with "sit."  We also worked on "leave it" and "take it."  Next week is "come," which will come in handy.  Saffy can be fast! 

My husband and I met in July of 1998 when we were both in the Army.  We were stationed at Fort Lewis, WA.  I was in the 14th Combat Engineering Battalion and he was in the 9th Finance Division.  Our barracks were across from each other with Patrick's unit being a tenant unit in our barracks.  Thanks to First Sergeant Mabini, I was on on duty in Patrick's barracks on a Friday in late July.  Barracks CQ duty was a 24 hour shift from 9am-9am.  During non-working hours we were allowed to bring our TV to the desk and watch videos.  The week prior to this fateful night I had taken a trip to Las Vegas and won over $300 with which I bought the entire series of Blackadder videos.  I popped the first one in after dinner when all residents in the barracks were coming in to pick up their mail.  A guy with gray hair and glasses came up to me and started asking me about my videos and actually seemed to be familiar with Blackadder.  I didn't really think much about it.  Being in a unit with about 500 men and 30 women, I got used to random men coming up and talking to me or asking me out on dates.  Most of the night passed as normal, watching TV and writing letters to friends.  About midnight, the gray haired guy came back.  This time he was wearing THE most obnoxious shirt I have ever seen.  It was a short sleeved silk shirt with swirls of hot pink, purple and all the other colors you would imagine make up entrails.  We started chatting and he started telling me about his two ex-wives and all manor of things you don't tell someone you just met.  About 5am he actually got up the guts to ask me out and against all my reservations, I accepted, as a meal outside the dining hall paid for someone other than me was too good a deal to pass up.  I really didn't want to date anyone and wasn't sure about this guy at all.  I thought he was some sort of weird serial marry-er or something.  However, he eventually won me over.  This coming March, we will be married for 10 years

I find it quite amazing that we had been living across from each other eight months and our paths had never crossed.  About a month before that night I had been dating someone else and Patrick had been previously married to someone else.  Thanks to fate, the US Army and First Sergeant Mabini, I met my soulmate.

Happy Veteran's Day.

Me and Patrick, Christmas 2001

Happy Monday to everyone!  I am in a good mood today because Patrick isn't going back to Bangor until Wednesday and he finished installing the microwave over the stove this afternoon.  I got a few things done myself.  I finished a gift, worked on two other gifts and made dinner.

I just ate an absolutely delicious dinner.  I thought I would try to make good use out of my rarely used Crock Pot and made a pot roast.  I just got a 2 1/2 lb. roast and tossed it in the pot with a sliced onion, chopped celery and some carrots, poured a can of beef stock over the top and cooked it on low for 8 hours.  It turned out wonderful.  I served it with mashed potatoes, gravy, steamed carrots and crescent rolls.  Patrick made us drinks (vodka tonic for me, gin and tonic for him) and we had a lovely dinner.  

My first four eBay auction items end tonight.  It's so exciting!  I'm making about $40 off the four items, so I can't complain too much.

I'm pretty proud that I have been actually posting every day!  I also really enjoy reading all of my new Ravelry friend's blogs.  Keep up the good blogging, girls!

Not a whole lot happened today.  I mostly just chilled and went to the grocery store during the Pat's game so I knew it wouldn't be too crowded.  Saffy spent the day perfecting her shark impersonation and Patrick installed the outlet box above the stove so we can put the microwave up there.

In Etsy news, I have decided from today until December 31 I am offering free shipping on all the items in my shop.  Check it out and shop early for the holidays!  I am also planning on adding lots of new items so keep checking back!

I woke up Patrick at 9am this morning and told him he needs to get up and take me out for breakfast.  We had a nice breakfast together and we are having a movie date tonight.  We are going to see Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

This afternoon my bra was so painful I picked up and went to a lingerie shop to get fitted for some new bras.  I was wearing a full band size and cup size too small.  Now I have really really pretty Prima Donna bras.  Very expensive, but I probably won't ever go to a less expensive model if these work out for me like I believe they will.  Being the size I am, it is very difficult to find something pretty and supportive.  

Patrick started working on installing the microwave over the stove today.  When he pulled out the hood we discovered that the contractors that built our house just busted a hole in the wall to wire the hood in place instead of wiring an outlet box into the cabinet above as they were supposed to.  As we are working on the house, we are discovering all the shoddy work that was done on the house which is making our work more expensive.  Thanks guys!

Today marks my second week without soda.  I honestly believe that I had a little bit of a Diet Coke addiction.  Last week I was even dreaming about drinking it!  It has gotten much better and now when I think about having one, it just reminds me how hard it was to stop and I don't even feel tempted.  I decided that the best way to make changes in my life was to do it a little at a time.  Now I just need to decide what's next and when to start.

I got a call from the guy who was in charge of the volunteers at the Milford polling station yesterday.  He set up a blog for everyone who volunteered in Milford to post thoughts and pictures.  If you want to check it out, here's the link.

Here's the homemade Christmas gift count: 1 finished, 2 half finished, 1 three-quarters finished, and 5 not even started yet.  I've been working on the three-quarters finished gift and I hope to have it finished within a day or two.

Patrick comes home today for the weekend!  I'm so glad.  I miss him.

Last night around 9pm the phone rang.  I assumed it was Patrick calling to tell me good night and that he loves me.  Surprise, surprise!  It was my friend Sara Jo that I have known since first grade.  I haven't seen her since my Junior year of college.  We've emailed now and then over the years.  She has just moved to Syracuse from Germany and we have reconnected thanks to Facebook.  It was really great talking to her.  We actually spent an hour and a half on the phone.  It was interesting reminiscing and finding out that she didn't even remember not talking to me in seventh grade.  Of course, from my perspective, it's kind of hard to forget.  Anyway, I'm planning a visit for a couple of days next month once Saffy's school is done.  

I've been working on sit with her today and I realize what the problem is.  I'm supposed to use just the hand signal which is open palm in front of her nose and then over her head.  However, instead of sitting down and looking up at my hand which triggers the click and reward, she stands up on her back legs and tries to get the treat out of my open palm.  So, I need some new ideas on getting her to sit.  Any suggestions?

I have been so tired today.  I had every intention of going to bed early last night, but got sucked into watching the returns.  Of course, Obama being declared the winner at 11pm didn't settle my mind.  I kept expecting to wake up to hear that McCain had won.  I've been smiling all day particularly every time I hear the words "President Elect Barack Obama."  

Saffy and I had obedience class this afternoon.  Saffy did not do so well with "sit."  We also did an exercise where we had to stand in one place, no talking, and every time our dog looked at us we had to click and give a treat.  Saffy figured that game out pretty quickly.  She just stood there and stared at me for a while.  She is no fool.  I like taking her to class as it wears her out.  She really enjoys playing with the other puppies.  There is a Yorkie named Winston and a Lab/Corgi mix named Lulu.  They are all friends.  Saffy is the oldest and the smallest.

Still knitting away on the Christmas gifts.  I got new size 1 dpns that I keep very far away from the puppy's mouth!  I've also got 9 items up on eBay and have about five more to list.  All the items are listed under the username "ivory_knight" if you are interested in taking a look.  

It's been a busy day, for me at least.  I left the house about 9am to vote.  It took about a half an hour and the majority of the time was spent trying to get into the parking lot.  I got very emotional when I got in the voting booth and I teared up a little.  I'm sure I am not the only one.  The stress of this election cycle has been insane.  I definitely agree with the comment on my previous post that there is a lot hold over from 2000 and 2004.

After I voted, I headed over to Starbucks for my free coffee and to Target to return a curtain I bought for the kitchen that was the wrong color.  Then it was off to Nashua for my knitting group.  I left early to spend a little time with Saffron before I had to head back to the polls to volunteer as a poll checker.  I had a really nice time poll checking.  Everyone was really nice.  The Milford poll moderator brought over a ballot that a woman had cut out of the newspaper and given to her three-year old because he wanted to "vote" too.  He colored all over it with red and blue crayon and then gave it to old man collecting the ballots.  It was very cute.  As of 3pm, there were over 5000 votes counted in Milford.  There are about 13,000 people in town, so there was quite an impressive turnout.  

Tomorrow I have a little less happening.  Just Saffy's obedience class.  I'm not talking to her right now because she is driving me crazy.  

Today I decided to join NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month) which means I pledged to post one blog entry a day for 30 days.  I started a day late so I guess I will be wrapping one day into December.  I've also joined with a group of bloggers on Ravelry to make sure we all comment on one another's blogs so we don't feel like we are writing just for our own amusement.  

Patrick left this morning for Bangor.  He hasn't been in almost a month.  He was very glad to not have to fly.  I'm not sure if he'll have to do any major traveling in November or not.  I do think I will get a nice long weekend with him for Thanksgiving.  I miss him so much and I wish I could spend more than two days a week with him.  

I am still working on all the Christmas gifts.  I got a phone call this afternoon and I put my knitting down quickly and Saffy got ahold of it and chewed of the ends of two of my size 1 dpns.  So, I'll be putting the knitting aside for the evening and taking up the crocheting.

I can't wait for this election to be over.  My tummy has been nervous for the past week.  Don't forget to vote tomorrow!!!  Go Obama!  

After being down and depressed not so long ago, I have been working on making some changes in my life. Most of these changes involve getting off of my butt and doing things that I have been putting off. Of course, these means that I have updated my Etsy shop and have at least four more pieces that I need to list. Doing the photographs is the major pain but I have been taking care of that and the new camera I have (10 megapixels!) makes the photos turn out very nice.   Here's my pink origami necklace that I will be listing later this week.


I have also been going through the house and finding things to post on eBay. This week I will be listing some random Lia Sophia jewelry, RMWC collectibles, and other various things for sale.  Here are a few of the items up for bid on my own personal version of the price is right:

Framed RMWC postcard from 1907:

A lot of assorted Swatch watches from the early 1990's:

Lia Sophia "Toasted" necklace:

I am also volunteering as a poll checker for the DNC at the Milford voting site, so if you see me, don't say hi, I'm not supposed to talk to the voters.  Last but not least, I have cancelled my gym membership because we just couldn't afford it anymore.  I have decided to re-take up power yoga to help me in my weight control battle.  It's Diana vs. Hypothyroidism/Chronic Depression.  A hard battle which can be frustrating and seem futile at times.

Thanks to everyone who sent me kind words of support over the last couple of weeks.  I really appreciate everything and am so very lucky to have such wonderful and caring friends and family.

I have been busy making gifts for birthdays and for Christmas. I sent my sister-in-law her gift and she loved it so I can finally post pictures here.

The fingerless gloves and hat are my very first venture into Fair Isle.  I think it turned out pretty good and I need to start working on more complicated Fair Isle patterns.  I'll have to wait until after the holidays though.

I've been thinking a lot about my childhood and my friends from school lately. For the most part I really liked them and enjoyed being their friends but a lot of my memories tend to be tainted with something that is a little uncomfortable or off. Of course in middle school, we all liked the same band, but had to like different members of the band so as not to encroach on the other girls' territory. The guy I "liked" I didn't really like because my friends would be mad if I let my true feelings be known. My whole life seemed to be about pleasing my friends and changing myself so I would be liked. When I look back, I realize that I might have been the group joke. I was never as smart or as pretty or as well off as the rest of the group and was constantly putting myself down and making myself into a joke to ingratiate myself with the other girls. I took everything I wished I was and turned it around into a joke. I was a horrible singer, the world's worst ballet dancer, and a lover of the guy in our favorite band that no one else liked.

In seventh grade, my friends all dumped me for no good reason that I could see. No one spoke with me or interacted with me for a whole year. It hurt me so bad. There I was, trying to be everything to those people to no avail. During that time, I lost who I was and wondered if I would ever figure out who I was supposed to be. Unfortunately, I still have no idea who I am or what I am supposed to do with my life. I honestly believe that those years of my life formed a lot of who I believe myself to be today. A lot of the struggles I have had with myself really stemmed from those experiences.

I don't have a lot of self-confidence or belief in myself. If I had more, I wouldn't have believed the Sergeant in the Army that told me that nobody liked me because I thought I was better than everyone else (when the opposite was true). She made me believe I was worthless and deserved to be treated like dirt.

I'm so scared of rejection, I don't want to put myself into a position where I could succeed. I'm scared of trying to sell my jewelry outside of my Etsy shop, scared to try to share my creativity with the wider world. It's easier to sit at home with 20 pieces of new jewelry that hasn't been photographed or put online and say it's because I'm lazy. The truth is I am terrified that the things I create and are so very personal to me will be rejected by the outside world and it will feel like a rejection of me.

Sorry to be such a downer in this post, but I really want to use this blog to track my progress in both the craft world and my life. Right now the two are very closely intertwined and my success in the craft world is dependent on success in myself and belief in myself.

Moving is no longer a certainty.  The way Patrick's job has been going, he will only be in Bangor a week or so a month.  So far this month, he has been there two days.  He was in Atlanta last week, he is in Dodge City, Kansas this week and will be back in Atlanta next week.  I miss him a lot.  This weekend we are planning on going to see the Art Nouveau jewelry exhibit at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston.  Anything we can do to make our limited time together "quality" time.  

Yesterday, I took Saffron to the Howl-o-ween Party at Petsmart.  She had a great time.  She was the smallest dog there, but was not shy in meeting the other dogs at all.  Some of the big dogs were actually scared of her.  It was kind of funny.  She wore her pumpkin shirt.  There were a lot of other pumpkin dogs so she didn't win the costume contest.  The dog that won was a Chinese Crested dressed as a biker.  He was actually wearing leather chaps and doggles.  I think he totally deserved the win.  Saffy passed out asleep when we got home.  All of the meeting and greeting wore her out.  Next week, Saffy and I are starting beginner obedience class.  

Been working on trying to get the house straightened up.  It is so messy.  All of the flat surfaces are covered in papers and junk and I have to go through everything.  I'm also working hard on Christmas gifts.

This past weekend was absolutely beautiful.  Patrick and I were naughty and took a break from working around the house and went to the Milford Pumpkin Festival.  I decided that Saffy should get out of the house after her traumatic spaying experience.  She was healed enough and no longer wearing her cone so she was very happy to be out on the town.  Because it was the Pumpkin Festival, I decided that Saffy needed an appropriate outfit for the occasion, so I whipped up a little pumpkin shirt with some polar fleece, felt, and velcro.  She didn't seem to mind it at all and was a huge hit at the festival.  

Here's a picture of Saffy in her new shirt meeting a new friend: Rebecca the Irish Wolfhound.

Lots of craftiness going on lately.  The major projects being the kitchen and the bathroom.  All the full-sized tiles in the rooms are laid and lot of the cut tiles are also down.  I have grouted about half of the kitchen.  I am pretty tired out from all this work.  I need to paint the upstairs bathrooms and the hallway once I am done downstairs.  

Here's a before and during of the kitchen.  The before was taken after Patrick cut some of the backerboard in the house.  It raised a lot of dust.  

I'm amazed how much brighter and cleaner the kitchen looks with the paint and the new appliances.  We do have an over the stove microwave/hood combo to install.  I'm very pleased with how everything is turning out.  

In actual craft news, I finished Patrick's socks as well as the Monkey socks I was working on.  

I have also started work on my many many Christmas projects.   None of which will be posted here until after the holiday of course.  

Since this economy has been really fun lately and I have no idea if we are moving to Maine or staying here. . .  I will be signing up with a temp agency soon to try to make a little extra money.  I will be living in NH for the time being, but may need to put the house on the market in the near future.  Right now, my deepest wish is for there to be a little certainty in my life.  Oh well.

Since I need to start getting things cleared out of the house before putting it on the market, I have been making lots of piles of things to donate and to sell. I have about six big bags of clothes going to the Salvation Army tomorrow and I have posted some cake pans and cake decorating supplies on craigslist. Check it out and let me know if you are interested. If you need things to be shipped I can work something out.

Here are the pictures of what I am offering. I didn't post them in the ad since the server wasn't letting me. . .

Update: The round and oval pans have been bought.  Thanks!

Snuggles

Snuggles
Originally uploaded by coveykeating

Here is my personal Cute Overload. Saffy and Gus were best buds the whole time we were in Sheboygan. . . or should I say Saffy loved Gus and Gus tolerated Saffy. She loved snuggling him and using him as a step stool to jump onto the couch. They also enjoyed stealing each others toys.

Well, it has been quite awhile since I last posted.  I got home from Wisconsin on Tuesday night and am starting to get back in the swing of things around here.  It has been difficult to get all the wedding stuff off my mind but it is happening slowly.  Andrea and Paul's wedding was beautiful.  I am very happy that I was able to be a part of such a wonderful event and had a hand in making it great.  I really enjoyed spending a whole month in Sheboygan with my family.  It was like being a kid again.

Now that I am back we are getting the house ready to either rent or put on the market so the three of us can make the big move to Bangor, Maine.  All of our new appliances are just about finished being installed.  We just have to put some cut tile under the stove so we can grout and push it all the way back.  The kitchen looks about a billion times better than it did with those old yellow ugly appliances.  I almost don't hate it anymore!  The other thing that I have been busy doing is playing with the best birthday present ever, my new Wii!  I just kicked some major butt at boxing and was sweating and hot at the end.  I also have Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Rock Band which Patrick and I are planning on busting out tonight.

I'm taking a break from all my work and car shopping and cleaning up paper towel shreds from the puppy.  I found this meme on a random blog and thought I would do it.  Enjoy!

1.  What was I doing 10 years ago?  

It was a week before I met my future husband.  I was in the Army and I went on a trip to Vegas with my parents.

2.  What are 5 things on my To-Do list for today?

Make four necklaces and four pairs of earrings

Finish sister's wedding gift

Finish sister's bachelorette party gift

Play with puppy

Laundry

3.  Snacks I enjoy:

Nacho Cheese Doritos, Take 5 candy bars, movie popcorn, Diet Coke, B&J's Oatmeal Cookie Chunk ice cream

4.  Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Set up trust funds for everyone in my family and my husband's family so they are all taken care of for the rest of their lives.  Get more Chihuahua puppies, set up a full jewelry/metalsmithing workshop, take a really nice vacation, get pampered at a spa.

5.  Places I have lived:

Sheboygan, WI

Lynchburg, VA

Reading, England

Ft. Lewis, WA

DuPont, WA

Lynnwood, WA

Milford, NH

6. Jobs I have had: 

Waitress at lunch counter

Kitchen staff at GS Camp

Camp Counselor

Accounts Payable/Data Entry

Receptionist

Supply Specialist in Army

Temp

Administrative assistant/events coordinator

Stock Broker

Unpaid artist ;-)

(Wow!  I have had a lot of jobs!)

Holy crap.  The calm is definitely over and I am smack dab in the middle of the storm!  Last week Friday we headed down to Maryland for our new nephew's christening.  Patrick is the Godfather.  We also brought six cases of left over flooring with us to give to the in-laws.  Saffy was a great traveler!  She adapted well to every place we brought her and stole everyone's heart.  We need to get puppy lo-jack because she is so lovable everyone wants to keep her.  

Anyway, the real "excitement" started when we got to Frostburg on Monday to deliver the flooring.  The car was acting up and it turned out that we had a leak in the transmission.  Our intention was to head home on Tuesday morning but, we ended up taking the car to the local Ford dealer and they tightened up everything.  We left on Tuesday afternoon around 3:30pm.  About three hours into the drive I started smelling something like burning rubber.  When we pulled over to get gas, it turned out that the transmission was leaking again.  So, while I took Saffy to go potty, Patrick dumped two bottles of transmission fluid into the car.  All was good.  Two hours later, the same thing.  By 11:30 we had emptied six bottles into the car and was smoking like the car was on fire and literally had a trail of fluid marking our trip from Maryland to Hartford, CT.  We stopped for the night with the intention of having the car towed the last 12o miles home until we found out it would cost us $800.  We decided to chance it.  We had to stop three times during the last two hours to add fluid and did a lot of praying and willing the car up hills.  The closer we got to home, the more the car struggled and smoked.  About halfway up the final hill, it just wouldn't go any farther.  Patrick hopped out and pushed the car the last 30 feet to the house.  I still can't believe we made it.  Right now, we have one working vehicle. . . Patrick's motorcycle.  The good news is I get a new car for my trip to Wisconsin next week.  Yay!

On Tuesday, Patrick found out that he got a new job with Fairpoint Communications in Bangor, Maine.  He hasn't received his offer letter yet, so we don't know when he will start, but the plan is that he will get an apartment up there while I finish getting the house ready for sale.  We hope to put the house on the market in the new year.  Hopefully the market will be a little better by then.  

The final countdown to my trip to Wisconsin is on.  I have one crochet project, one knitting project, two paper projects and jewelry to make before Wednesday.  I also have to take Saffron to the vet, pick up my bridesmaid dress from the tailor and get a new car.  Nothing to get to worried about.  Actually, why am I typing this and not working?

Ah, the calm before the storm.  Patrick and I had a very quiet 4th.  We went to Lowe's to buy grout.  That's about it.  I finished laying all the full-sized tile yesterday so all we need to do is get the tiles cut down for the edges of the room and then grout.  Right now all of the appliances are in the middle of the kitchen so I can't wait to get them moved into place.  I am getting tired of eating either sandwiches or eating out all the time.  

This week it is going to start getting crazy.  Tomorrow I am going to Boston for the day to hang out with Kate, Tuesday I have knitting, Wednesday Patrick has to go to Portland, ME and Thursday we are leaving to go to MD for the weekend.  When we get back, it'll be a week before I leave for Wisconsin for a month.  I am still working on all the wedding projects as well as the house.  It is kind of difficult because Saffy is always VERY interested in helping me with any knitting or crocheting I am working on.  

I know my posts are boring lately.  Not a whole lot of new or exciting things going on.  Just the same old, same old.  

I love stress so much.  Especially the way it affects my body.  I have TMJ and lately my jaw has been killing me.  The last couple of days I haven't been able to eat without being in quite a lot of pain.  

I have been busy and I have a ton of things to do.  We are still working on the house.  The tiling is about half done and we are waiting for new appliances to be delivered.  I have about three large projects to work on for my sister's wedding that I would like to get done before I head to Wisconsin at the end of July.  All these things are contributing to my stress.  I'm trying to break it down and do little bits at a time.

Saffron has been with us for about a week and a half now.  She's a very good girl.  She is pretty well potty trained.  We have a crate lined with newspaper that she uses.  We can tell she is getting much more comfortable with us as she is crazy!  She runs around like a nut for about two hours at a time and then passes out.  Right now she is sleeping on the top of the back of the couch behind me.  She likes to sit back there and chew on my hair.  

I don't really have a whole lot else to say, just thought I would post a quick update.

Lots of news lately.  The bracelet that was featured in New Hampshire Magazine sold on Friday so that was good.  On Saturday morning, we were awoken by a phone call from the breeder I've been in touch with.  She called to ask us if we would like to visit a puppy.  Of course we did!  We are now the proud parents of a baby girl we named Saffron.  She gets to come home with us on June 16.  Because of her impending arrival, we are in overdrive working on getting the tiling done downstairs.  The last thing we need is a traumatized little doggie on our hands.  Jesus totally freaked when we put in the hardwoods, so Saffron is a great excuse to do the tile.  

Here she is with her daddy:

Patrick and I got home from Austin on Sunday.  It was a really good trip.  We ate lots of good food, did some shopping, checked out the National Wildflower Center (beautiful) and did a lot of walking!  I also got to indulge in the most decadent 3-hour spa treatment in the world.  I was basically a big pile of mush when it was over.  It consisted of a deep-tissue massage, facial, hand and foot massage, mud wrap, scalp massage and a vichy shower.  I highly recommend all of these things to everyone.  I did finish my first sock from my flat feet yarn while I was in Austin.  I used the Hedera pattern from Knitty.  I am about a quarter of the way through the second sock now.  It was great for the plane and for the hotel room.  

Now that I am back in NH I have been taking a break from knitting and have been crocheting.  I am part of a crochet-a-long on Ravelry which involves making a new 12-inch granny square every month.  I had only done the first two, so I have been catching up and am finishing up the May square right now.  I am using up scraps from all the baby items I made earlier this year.  I also have 6-inch squares (either knit or crochet) to make for a charity project I am working on through Ewe'll Love It!  I got the Vogue Knitting Stitchionary Vol. 1 to learn new stitch patterns to make the squares.  The book is very beautifully done and if anyone is looking for a gift for me, there are three more volumes.  (hint hint)

I got a surprise yesterday.  My pink Fat Bottom Bag was featured on the Crochet Liberation Front's blog and labeled as "Hookalicious."  Looking at all the other projects that were featured on the blog, I am very honored to be in such amazing company!

Happy May Day!  New Hampshire Magazine has updated their site with the May issue so if you want to check out the article on Etsy along with a photo of my bracelet: look here.

Life is slowly tipping the scales from the bad over to the good.  My big news is that my Mah Jong Tile Bracelet was featured in an article on Etsy in the May issue of New Hampshire Magazine.  It's not on the newstand yet and the website is still showing the April issue, but I will be sure to post an update here.  I could scan my copy, but I have been too lazy.

The Souhegan Valley Chorus Spring concert is this Saturday.  The theme is "Broadway" and it should be a great concert.  If you are local and want to go, it is at Souhegan High School in Amherst, NH at 7:30pm.  Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children and senior citizens.

I really like singing in the choir, particular getting out of the house and meeting new people.  Lately, however, I have been having a conflict with another member of the group which is making it not so much fun anymore.  I really don't want to go into details here, but if things don't turn around with her, I might quit.  I'm at a point in my life where I know it is better for me to just get rid of the negative people in my life, particularly when they make me miserable and feel bad about myself.  

The other big news is that I finally finished my sweater!  It still ended up being a little big on me, but it is warm and cozy and that's the important part.

I have started working on my sister's wedding gift, which will not be posted on here any time soon.  Too bad so sad.  I am also working on my first pair of socks.  There was a special sock kit available at Ewe'll Love It! to benefit the Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk.  The yarn is beautiful: pink, brown and gray varigated.  Beverly, the owner of the shop designed the pattern.  The original pattern has two ribbons on the side, but I only did one repeat to keep the sock a little shorter.  I am almost done with the first one.  It is very exciting!

I also bought some really cool sock yarn called "Flat Feet" to bring along as a project when I go to Austin with Patrick in two weeks.  The yarn is machine knit into a flat and then handpainted.  You work directly from the flat which removes the need to wind the yarn into a ball and minimizes tangling.  I got these gorgeous Autumn-y colors that will match my sweater.

Time to go grocery shopping.  We have practically no food in our house.  Unless you count Jell-o and pretzels. . . 

I have returned home from my last minute trip to Wisconsin.  I got home on Tuesday and pretty much went straight to choir rehearsal.  The concert is in less than three weeks so there is a lot of work to be done!

The visit with my family was very nice, it is always unfortunate to get together with family at a funeral, but it was good to see everyone and I really needed their love and support.  I was able to be with my brother to celebrate his 30th birthday and I got to meet my brand-new niece, Autumn.  She's a beautiful and very sweet little girl.  She is also very strong!

My good news is that I am almost finished with the second sleeve of my sweater.  Once the sleeves are done, all I need to do is the neck and block the sleeves and then sew them on.  I might actually get to wear it before the weather gets too warm.  

It's been very windy lately.  Last night it felt like the wind would blow our house down.  Today I wished that the wind would blow me away.  I've been very sick with the flu for the past week and woke up to the news that my grandfather had passed away this morning.  I'll be heading to Wisconsin tomorrow armed with dramamine and hoping the stress of trying to get healthy and dealing with yet another loss in my life won't get me sick again. 

 

Patrick says we are due a cosmic dose of good karma any day now.  I'm waiting. . .

In other news, my sister-in-law had her baby boy on Saturday night and loved the blanket I made her.  Here's an in-process picture:

The pattern is called "The Curve of Pursuit" and is also the mathematical name of this design.  It represents four dogs chasing each other's tails around a field starting from the four corners.  If the dogs were to keep going, they would eventually crash in the middle.  I figured a mathematical pattern would be good for the geeky-ness that are my in-laws.  I found the pattern and the info about the mathematical concept on Woolly Thoughts.

Welcome to this edition of Craftastic Cribs!  Today we are going to take a look at the room in which I create many of my crafts.  
Here we have a general overview of my craft room.  This room is actually intended to be a formal sitting room in my house, but who the heck uses a formal sitting room.  The bookshelves were purchased at the unfinished wood store and were painstakingly stained and varnished by me and my friend Erica.  The shelves are home to our books, my yarn stash, gem stones, papercrafting supplies, photo albums, and many other random items of crafty significance.  My craft table was found in the clearance room of Ethan Allen for $199.  It is very heavy duty and was in perfect condition.  I still can't believe what a deal that was!  The table is very messy because it seems to be the place in the house where we throw random stuff and I haven't gotten around to cleaning it up.  Anyway, who has a clean craft room?  Also, check out the wicked awesome hardwood floor that I installed all by myself.  
Here we have my jewelry corner.  Here is where I keep all of my beads, wires, and other findings.  I have found the tool boxes to be the best place to keep all my beads and I have even labeled some of the drawers!  The white bike basket was given to me by Patrick to go on the front of my Harley.  Unfortunately, we had to remove it to pass inspection so it now is employed as an earring holder.
The next stop is where I keep the majority of my completed jewelry.  Basically I took a piece of plywood, covered it with several layers of quilt batting and some canvas fabric from an old tablecloth and embellished with some ribbon and voila a jewelry-hanging thingy!  I use T-pins to hold the jewelry in place.  I am working on a larger solution now that my inventory is growing and hope to have it up soon.
Our last stop on this craftastic tour is my kick-ass rubber stamp shelf.  Patrick and I built this for all my rubber stamps.  I have all my jewelry hanging below it.  Once I move my jewelry, I will be building another shelf to house the stamps that do not yet have a home.  

I hope you enjoyed this tour of my craft room.  Now everyone get out so I can get back to work!

Copper Bowl--Complete!

Copper Bowl--Complete!
Originally uploaded by coveykeating

Just as I promised. The copper bowl in all its glory. Patrick cut the base in half for me. Thanks sweetie! I spent almost two hours shaping it and getting it ready to solder to the bowl. My instructor and I soldered the whole thing in one shot which was awesome. I cleaned it up and waxed it to protect the patina and it now lives on one of our shelves. Yay!

So I went to knitting on Tuesday and showed Beverly (the LYS owner) my sweater sans sleeves.  It is WAAAAAY too big for me.  There is at least 10 extra inches around.  I am going to have to sew up the sides, make the sleeve holes smaller and rewrite the pattern for the sleeves.  Oh well, what ya gonna do?

I finished my bowl on Thursday.  It looks awesome, but I have been too lazy to take pictures.  Patrick cut half of the base off so it looks much neater now.  It still took me two hours to make the base fit to the bottom of the bowl close enough to solder the two pieces together.

The weather here is starting to get a little more spring-like.  The snow is starting to melt.  I can't wait for the weather to get warmer so I can get my Harley out.  It will definitely help save money on gas to ride instead of drive.  This weekend we need to clean out the basement and garage as I don't want a repeat of the post flooding mess we had last year.  Luckily, most of the stuff that needs to be cleaned up is going straight to Goodwill as it is left over from our garage sale.  Fun!

They say that when March comes in like a lamb it goes out like a lion.  What happens when March comes in like raging, psycho, insane bull?  I was over the snow two storms ago and we probably have several more in our future.  Lucky lucky us!  Our plow guy is making a mint off us this year!

In other news, I am almost done with my sweater!  I hope to have it done by the end of the upcoming week.  Lucky for me, winter is showing no sign of going away, so I will have plenty of time to wear it.  My metalsmithing class is going well.  It can be frustrating at times when things don't come out like I want them to.  I made a beautiful bowl and am working on a base.  I will be doing major reconstruction on the base as it doesn't look like I want and the soldered seam keeps splitting.  I should be able to fix it on Monday during open studio.  The bowl was completely handshaped using hammers.  My arm was very tired after two and a half hours of straight hammering.  I did a lot of cleaning up of the bowl on Thursday between bouts of wanting to scream and throw the base out the window.  

You can see the size of the bowl and the base in relation to my laptop.  I'll repost photos of the redone bowl base.  

Last night I went to Friday Night Knitting Club at Ewe'll Love It in Nashua.  It was a good time.  Erica's birthday is today so I baked cupcakes in her honor.  My new friend Holly also came and it was really good to get to see her again.  Next month's knitting club is going to be a cookie bake off.  Make way for the champion ladies!!!

I'm back!  The visit from my mom and sister went very well.  I did feel like a third wheel at times since they live so close together and spend so much time together, they have a lot of little "in" jokes.  We found a bridesmaid dress for Andrea's wedding after two marathon days of Diana trying to squeeze her ginormous breasts into sample sized gowns.  Here's the link to the dress.  The color is Ocean Blue.  It looks good with my pale pale skin and my red hair.  We also looked at paper for invitations.  Drea originally wanted to make them herself, but with all the work and the cost, we are figuring that it might be just as cost effective to buy them.  

I am still missing Jesus a lot.  He has been gone for a month now and my life is getting quite stressful.  Of course, I can't go into any of it here until things settle down and things are figured out.  We will probably get a puppy once our lives settle down and return to normal.  Once the snow melts would be easier too!

In craft news, I am still working on my sweater. 

 

I finished the back and am on the left front. 

I also started work on my sister-in-law's baby gift (Patrick's brother's wife).  She's due in April and I want to make sure it is done in time.  It is pretty involved and will take some time.  I wish I could link to some photos, but I want it to be a surprise just in case Teri is reading this.  I also need to start coming up with ideas for bridesmaid jewelry.

Just a quick question from the couch tonight.  Is it just me or is American Gladiators the most homo-erotic thing on TV right now?

I know it has been two weeks since I last wrote.  I have been working through my sadness in losing Jesus.  The house still seems empty without him.  I have taken to sitting on the couch with pillows on my side because it doesn't feel right with nothing there. 

 

In other news, both my best friend and my sister in law had babies this week.  Erica's son was born on Monday evening.  She had a little boy who is very beautiful and sweet.  Andrea, my sister-in-law had her daughter on Wednesday afternoon.  From her photos, she is a beautiful healthy little girl.  I haven't met her yet as my whole family lives in Wisconsin.  All the babies have taken my mind off my sadness, but in other ways, they have made me feel more sad and empty.  

As a gift for Erica, I made her a bracelet with the birthstones of everyone in her family.  It's not really a mother's bracelet, but more of a family bracelet.  It has garnet, amythyst, quartz (I didn't have diamond beads for April) and aquamarine.  It turned out very nice.  I had also made her a pair of mittens that I was making for her from yarn I got on sale at our LYS and finished them in time to bring them to her in the hospital.  

I am still working on my sweater.  Last night I bumped my elbow somehow and ended up pulling a couple rows of stitches off my needle.  After about an hour of messing around I figured that I can't fix it myself and will have to go in the the LYS on Tuesday to have the owner help me out. 

On Thursday I was supposed to start my Jewelry Making II class at the Sharon Arts Center, but it was cancelled because not enough people signed up.  Instead I am taking a metalsmithing class with the same instructor.  I think it will really help my metal shaping ability and will hopefully give me more jewelry inspiration.

My next big project is getting my house clean for the upcoming visit from my mom and sister.  

Just a quick entry to say that last night Jesus lost his fight against Congestive Heart Failure.  He was a wonderful little doggie and I will miss him with all my heart.

Yay!  I am done with knitting and crocheting for other people for now!  As my reward, I bought enough yarn to make myself a sweater.  The yarn is a beautiful rust color with little bits of yellow in the fiber.  The pattern is by Norah Gaughan.  A picture of the sweater is here.  I am about two inches into the back of the sweater.  I did have to pull it apart three times for dropped stitches and the like.  I went to the knitting lunch at the yarn store today and bought the UGLIEST yarn ever.  It called to me to make something fabulous from it.  It is varigated and sewn together with metallic thread.  I don't know how to describe it better than that.  Beverly, the shop owner, gave me a very strange look when I went to buy it.  I don't mind. 

Next up, I am going to try to get all my new jewelry onto Etsy.  I just have to photograph it.  I hate doing the photography.  It is such a pain in the butt.  I try to make a ton of stuff before I haul out my photo tent and lights to take pictures.  

On January 15, I am starting an advanced jewelry making class at the Sharon Arts Center.  I should be a lot of fun.  Among the new things I will be learning is setting faceted stones!  Can't wait to post photos of everything I'll be making.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!  The last week has been insane finishing up the last of the holiday crafting.  I also spent a lot of time at the post office shipping off the family's gifts.  Thank you post office employees!  We have been having crazy insane weather lately.  I think we have had more snow this month than we had in the last two years combined.  The snow is taller than Jesus, but he is a good boy and has no problem going out since we shoveled the grass for him.  Tomorrow we have been lucky enough to have lived with Jesus for two years.  

Currently crafting...I am working on another baby blanket for one of Patrick's co-workers who is expecting.  I got the Vanna's Choice Lion Brand yarn and it works up pretty nice.  I recently got my invitation to join Ravelry.com which is awesome!  I am so impressed by that site.  I was actually planning on starting some sort of journal to catalogue all of my projects.  Ravelry has all the tools to keep track of finished projects, wips, pattern books, and needles and hooks.  There are also lots of great forums and groups to join.  I highly recommend getting on the waiting list (I had to wait about three weeks to get the invite) if you knit, crochet or spin.  

Just a quick post tonight to announce that my first felting project worked.  I can't say what it is because it is a gift, but it is AWESOME!  I am so excited I just had to post about it here.  I crocheted, threw it in the washer with an old towel and magic.  It would have really sucked if it hadn't worked right as it took me two days to do the crocheting.  

I'll post pics after Christmas.  I will say that I took a couple of patterns from SNB: Happy Hooker and mixed them up a little bit to create a fabulous new item.

YAY!

If you knew me and saw me recently, you would know that my butt is much smaller (not really) because I've been working it off!  This year, because I haven't been working, I am making most of our Christmas gifts and am getting close to being finished.  Dollar-wise, we are spending less than $500 for all of our family and friends' gifts.  Usually we spend about two to three times that amount.  I am very happy with how everything is turning out.  I'll post more than a taste (see previous post) after the holidays are over.

Saturday night was my first performance with the Souhegan Valley Chorus and the Valleyaires at the Nashua Holiday Stroll.  Everything went well except for my out-of-tune "solo" during the Valleyaires performance of "Hang the Holly."

Our big concert is on December 9th at 7:30pm at Souhegan High School in Amherst.  Directions are available at the Souhegan Valley Chorus Website

I had my last knitting class on Thursday. Everyone graduated! The instructor said that she was very impressed with all the work we all did. Everyone in the class signed up for knitting with a teacher starting a week after Thanksgiving until the end of the year. I am going to make mittens. I am excited!

I am still hard at work making Christmas gifts for everyone. I finished my sister's and I am half finished with my brother's gift. I just finished my last craft swap on Craftster for a while. I had the very best partner. She sent me a great package. Especially this apron she made out of her husband's old jeans.



Thanks Jennyleigh!

Recently, I signed the Buy Handmade Pledge (see sidebar). I am very happy I did so. This year, as I tried to start making a living through my jewelry, I realized how many amazing craftspeople and artists are in this world who deserve our support. I am going to try to buy handmade for all the gifts that I don't actually make myself. Back to working my butt off!

Happy Veteran's Day. I want to thank all the service people who have given their lives and their freedom to ensure the freedom of people all over the world. Regardless of how I feel about the war or about war in general the troops deserve our support and our respect. I spent three years in the US Army. Those years gave me an insight into what life with limited amounts of freedom is like. Every day I am incredibly thankful for the freedoms so many people in this country take for granted.

To the woman who left the thank you card on my windshield at the mall, thank you, it touched me.

In crafty news, I have been working very hard making Christmas gifts and just playing around with beads. I took a whole bunch of old glass beads and made a cool bracelet:



Here's some hints of the crocheting I have been doing:





Jealous much? Bet you want more than taste, huh? Too bad, so sad!

And last but not least, a cute blanket and hat combo I made for a friend's baby:





OK, so I have one more picture, a gratuitous shot of my baby sleeping:

The in-laws have gone home and life is now returning to normal. I am knitting knitting knitting for my class and I found out that after I was practicing for a week that I was doing it all wrong! I know what I am doing now for the most part and am about a third of the way through my scarf.



I am so awesome. Soon, there will be no craft I cannot do! HA!

Happy November! I know it has been a while, but not a lot of crafty things have been happening. My in-laws are visiting for a long weekend so most of my time is devoted to them.

I went to my first knitting class last week and knitting is much easier than I thought it would be. I look forward to making lots of lovely things with all the gorgeous yarn that is available in this world.

In doggie news, Jesus is doing well. He is on a low sodium diet and on lots of medication to keep his heart in check and to keep his lungs from filling up with fluid. He is extra spoiled and now gets to sleep in bed with mommy and daddy every night. He has to be touching one of us at all times. He especially loves all the attention he is getting from his grandma and grandpa right now.

I got another sale today. Unfortunately the good news was kind of marred by the fact that my Chihuahua was in the hospital for two days and was diagnosed with end stage congestive heart failure. According to the vet, the average length of time a dog can be expected to live with the condition is about six months. This news was especially hard since we lost our other dog, Petie, in June to kidney failure. Our new goal is to spoil our little Jesus with lots of love and affection and make the most of every day we have left with him. I know he'll be here with me for a while longer, but my heart is still breaking over the thought of losing him.

Yippee!! I got my first Etsy sale on Friday! I was so excited I freaked my husband out in the shower.

In other news, I spent most of the day yesterday making origami for new jewelry pieces. I am still working on the origami so I haven't made any new pieces yet. Tomorrow, Patrick and I are heading down to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts to see the Jewelry by Artists exhibit. I am then going over to my friend Kate's house for a little stitch and bitch session. Should be a good day. We were going to go to the museum today, but with the Red Sox craziness we decided to stay out of the city. Hopefully I will get some inspiration as I am kind of in a jewelry making slump right now.

Yes, I know. I promised that I would post one new item a day for the month of October on my Etsy site. I see you checking there every day for the past four days wondering where oh where is the newest jewelry offering? Sorry to say, I ran out of items on Sunday and haven't had a chance to make anything new until yesterday. I will be working all day tomorrow as well so expect more items out this weekend.

As you can see, I have also decided to forego proper punctuation for the time being. I don't have time to do everything! Gosh! What do you people expect of me?

In other news, three crocheted baby projects are finished! One has already been delivered (and was well loved as far as I could see) and the other two will be mailed out shortly. I also signed up for a knitting class which starts in two weeks. Hopefully I won't impale myself on the needles, or poke an eye out or something. I can be a klutz.

I am working my booty off! In the next couple of months there are babies babies babies being born to many friends and family members. So I have been crocheting like a madwoman. I'm not going to mention what I am making or post photos yet because a lot of the receipients of the items might be reading this blog. I'm also making lots of Christmas presents and jewelry. Come January, I'm going to need a vacation for my hands.

I have to admit, my favorite part about crochet is that I can do it while I am sitting on the couch in front of the TV. I am such a TV-aholic. I'm from that generation whose parents just tossed their kids in front of a TV as a babysitter. Not that that's a bad thing, just an observation. Right now I'm watching the Red Sox kick Cleveland's butt in game 1 of the ALCS.

In other news, I have posted new items everyday so far in October on my Etsy shop. I also posted an ad on Craig's List and sent out some e-mails. I should post some bulletins on Myspace as well. Hopefully I'll start getting sales soon.

Sorry for the random rambling of this post, just wanted to remind everyone that I am still here...

Feminist Swap items
Originally uploaded by coveykeating

I guess I promised to post everything I sent for the feminist swap. I think I sent a lot of great items and received TONS of complements from everyone in the swap, except for my swap partner. I have no idea when/if she will even be sending a package in return since I haven't heard from her in a while. I really hope she likes everything she received and the reason she hasn't been in contact is because she is so absolutely amazed and astounded by everything I sent that she has been rendered speechless (or e-mail-less or unable to type or something). Yeah, we'll say that.

So here's everything I sent: I sent the "Fashion First Aid Bag" from the Stitch and Bitch Happy Hooker, a Wonder Woman Accordian book, feminist quote artwork, and a female symbol necklace. I made the pendant out of sterling silver and the necklace itself is amethyst, rose quartz and swarovski crystal strung on silk.

As I said, I hope she liked it.