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.