Fall Crafts

Where have all the Fall Crafts gone. I understand that x-mas is just around the corner, but really?!?! I have a huge confession to make. Ready for it, Christmas and I are not friends. I'd skip it and go straight into New Years if I could. I love Halloween, and rather enjoy the relaxed (and food filled) atmosphere of Thanksgiving. No gifts no expectations. The thing about Fall crafts is that are good for Halloween and Thanksgiving so why don't we have more of them. Grrrrrrr. So I'm call all Fall crafts!!! Lets compile a great big list of great, fun, cute, good through fall crafts. Send me your links, ideas and what not. I'll get them all together and in September of 2011 I'll post a month of crafts!!!

Chicken Salad on the Freeway

I know, I keep dropping off the planet, sorry. Still on the Whole 30, I still want pancakes (not that I ever eat them) and a glass of cold cold milk. I haven't lost any weight, but do feel great. The thing about the whole 30 is going out to eat is nearly imposable because you have no clue what they stick in their food, and since we in America must put sugar in everything its hard to avoid. Its even harder to avoid things like potato, wheat and dairy when all you want is that steaming bowl of Ivars clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Yes you heard that right. On a super chilly, slightly windy night I found myself in the stands of Husky Stadium (we have season tickets to see college football at a school I did not attend and work for their rival). All I wanted was a hot chocolate and a chowder but not I got a cup of black bad coffee and a fleece blanket instead. The game dragged on and on, tied at 21-21 and then OVER TIME. Feeling in my fingers has long since gone away and the use of my legs questionable. BUT FINALLY, the Huskies blocked the drive and we could go home. As fate normally has it, break lights appear on the horizon as we traveled back to Tacoma. A huge frickin' wreak. *sigh* just stop the car and wait. Always prepared, and since dinner was a Larabar, I extract two forks and a tub of chicken salad from under the seat. So we moved at .000002 miles an hour at 12 am, eating chicken salad on I-5. Next game is the 18th of November, by then I'll be done with this diet experiment. I won't bring huge amounts of wheat or potatoes into my diet but for one chilly night I'll indulge by taste buds and tummy in one of the greatest NorthWestern traditions of Ivars Clam Chowder (served from a small air stream trailer called the "chowder wagon").

Serious lack of posts

Okay so I didn't post every day. I kinda forgot, kinda didn't have anything to talk about. My crafting has been lacking. Since I have been volunteering everyday, I just kinda forget. The lab is a strange place and if you never worked in one its hard to describe. Lots of machines and not any windows. I do have some projects in mind. Like a stuffed buffalo pattern, an upcycled snowman or other holiday themed creature and deconstructing a shrug that I love but wish was in a different color.
I did however finish my Lady February Sweater...

Trafficing across State Lines

In Lawton recycling is personal choice. No one picks it up for you nor do they have an easy way to drop it off. The towns main recycle center is on post. The other strange thing is, they don't take glass. No one takes glass. So once a month or so we pack up the Jeep and drive south into Texas with a boot full of glass bottles. It might just be the strangest thing I've done in the name of the being green. Sometimes we just leave other times we hit the Best Buy and the Target since Wichita Fall has about 13,000 more people than Lawton does it gets these stores. We have a um a Cato's. This time we went for dinner. It was rather uninspired but it wasn't a chain and it wasn't in Lawton which seemed to be two things going for it. WF's is also this giant mess of freeways which are poorly labeled and hard to navigate. I want to know what that planing session was like. "I wana make this city really confusing, so people just can leave so they stay"

Crafts and Cooties

Fridays are always a little lazy. Since learning about our coming move to Seattle the weather has responded and its been cool and gray, and thus adding to the Friday lazy's. Our lab was slow and peaceful, except for the constant chatter of the students and what they'll do with this weekend. One of the great perks of working in a post hospital is that you work very few weekends. It's very costly to employ civilians on nights and weekends but not the military. Though it sucks a little they rotate just like we do, just more.

After work I've been trying to keep my craft level up and not just get sucked into the computer. Since Turkey day is sneaking up on us, I started my major projects. Two finished one not.

Felt Thanksgiving Garland

TURKEY-LURKY

Buffalo

This was way easy, just felt cut outs and string. I'll make a template for the shapes if anyone wants one.

Fall Leaves Paper Wreath

I wanted a nice wreath but didn't want to spend a ton so I just got out the old craft paper and following some MS instructions knocked with out in like 20 minutes. I'm thinking about how I can make one for x-mas too, but since I have a holly outside the front door I might just steal some branches from it. My Thanxgiving table runner is still a work in progress but should be done soon.

Sooooooo

I know, I know I didn't blog yesterday. But since it was Veterans Day yesterday I thought I'd leave the Blog blank. Yes that is a picture of Mt. Rainer. We will be going home in March, finally. It's only taken us 5 long hard years and 24 months of deployment time to get there. I'm overwhelmed. I get to look for new grocery stores and yarn shops! I get to see my fam again.
Mainly I've been hanging around the lab and it has been fun. I just kinda float around and bug people and learn there systems. I think I'll find myself back in Chemistry. We here at RACH run the same analyzers that I ran at my first lab. They are people sensitive and if they like you, they like you. It might have something to do with my skill of killing Mercury Vapor lights. Tomorrow I think I'll go knock on the Micro lab door and introduce myself.

When Mondays are good

Sometimes Mondays are good, sometimes they can start something that will make the rest of the week. I'm ignoring the super wet back yard and my HUGE water bill (I've called the landlord). Celebration cupcakes are in order today. It was a delicious little cupcake too. The runt of the litter I frosted it first, then ate it. The red cross was dragging its big feet so I went to "help" out this morning and push them into getting my placement. It didn't take long, I went to the lab around 10:30. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, the feeling of being somewhere needed and wanted passes over you. I played around in Hematology which appears to be my new home. It was lovely. Then when I got home I got my order of lovely Blueface lester wool! (pictures later) and an email about the Lab job I applied for. So I made cupcakes of celebration!

Weekends

I'm going to count the weekends as one day, since I know most readership is done at work.

These are the long over due shots of the Hew Shrug.

I'm not sure where to start about this shrug, but don't make it. I'm all for it hurts so good knitting. Hell I drive a stick shift and like it, but this shrug was just stupid. Cast on some 200+ stitches for the ties WTF? It doesn't have a good picture nor anyway to know what this baby is going to look like. The directions kinda suck. I'll wear it but don't make it. I think I'm getting old and cranky in my knitting. I want projects that are well thought out and test knit, I want good directions and looks of maps and measurements. It could be the cabinet makers daughter in me, but I want to know what things should be.

That said, I've been working on my Thanksgiving crafts and am quickly understanding that x-mas is getting ever closer and thus need to start making those gifts. Eeeek!

Photo-Friday

Keeping Track

Still no word on the MT volunteer gig so I figured I'd make the best of the 70 degree day and sit on the back porch with a blanket and the giant house spider. So far so good. In order to feel like I'm actually doing something with myself and to keep me from getting distracted by the internet or the like three hours of the New Detectives on the ID channel, I keep a calendar. You know for all my super important meetings, and power lunches that I have with those other ladies who lunch. Please try not to laugh so hard that anything comes out your nose, it really hurts. No really I do have all sorts of silly things written on the calendar, like, "dishes" and "post to etsy" and "spin" so that when I do these things I can cross them off and feel good. I've worked this way since childhood. I made my own homework sheet in middle school, with boxes for each class (algebra, lit, religion, what do you want I went to a catholic school and yes we had religion homework) it was very popular, I made copies for people. Sometimes a try using oh say one of the two electronics that I have on me at all times, my crackberry or my iTouch. Alas nothing is a satisfying as paper. I can flip back to last week or two weeks ahead. You don't get that from your crackberry. This also means I've taken to carrying a very large purse too. Its damn handy

Speaking of purses, I love purses, bags, pouches, whatever you want to call it. On this fine day I got around to taking some pictures of the super carry all I made some time back from the fantastic learn to sew book, SEW.

I ordered the fabric some time back, like when I lived in TN, from Sew, Mama, Sew. They have some of the cutest fabric plus they have a great blog. I've got some good size scraps leftover too which I think will find themselves as more drawstring bags.

Any way, the wind is starting to pick up out here and I've gotten all the vitamin D that I need.

Craftig

So I was puttering around my strange collection of blogs I read, and I came across this, Craftig !
It's a rather nifty world of crafts of all kinds and a way for everyone to find your "story". A Story is anything, a funny story about how your dog ate all the yarn you bought for the wrap or the pattern for the wrap. I've already posted my original Mint Chip Purse Pattern (don't worry I'll put a link on the side bar). Thanks to Carina and her super craftblog, since she was the one who interviewed the founder of Craftig, Kristen. I can't wait to check it out more.
Remember it is also the third year of HandMade Holidays over at Sew, Mama, Sew! with a daily installment of great gifts to make, buy and NOM!
So other than my wasting time on the soul-sucker that is the internet, I've been trying to line up a reason to get out of bed. I haven't had any sales from the etsy site so I haven't been making much of anything. Instead I've had my blood drawn, spent an hour of death by powerpoint, and then went up and down back and forth to become an American Red Cross Volunteer. As neat as a paycheck is, working at the JC Penny's in the mall is just not going to cut it on my already sad resume so to the LAB. Okay so not the real lab, and not any test, or any real responsibility. I'm back to the world of blood letting. Not leaches, just normal phlebotomy. But mark my words the first smart mouth who calls me a "vampire" is getting an 18 gauge to that little vein that runs your pinkie and ring finger.

November Challenge

So for the month of November, I plan on blogging daily. Yes once a day. I just can't seem to get in a groove with the world of blogging. I'll work on updating my blog, getting more current pictures up, getting those finished project on the left up. Showing you all sorts of not so great lawton stuff. Well, I'll be seeing you!