Organizing the house

Working on organizing the house and I have decided I am going to move my computer to my dad's old desk. But since it is stuffed full of all his old junk I am going to have to clean it out. I retrieved the boxes of file boxes from the attic, by myself, and two other throw away boxes, cleaned off the dining table for sorting purposes and then lost ambition.  So for now I've logged 45 minutes today. We'll see how that goes.

I'm of the opinion that if you are going to eat something at a party or whatever, even if you don't like all the components in say a snack food, you should not pick through and eat only the bits you like. It's inconsiderate! (If you are allergic that's different)

High School Photos

Here are some pictures from my yearbook. The first picture is of my older brother Evan. He wrote the comment below his picture.

The second picture is from the Art Club my 10th grade year.

The third picture is my 11th grade photo.

The 4th picture is my Senior (12th grade) photo.

Some Pictures

I was reviewing some of the pictures I've taken and I thought these deserved to be posted.

Jewelry Bonanza

These are the latest projects I've been working on. There are a lot more but I felt these were the best photographs.

I kind of went crazy and bought a ton of different colored Glass Pearls in size from 4 mm to 16 mm. I tried out this great idea I had for a bracelet. I think it turned out really good but the straight parts bend easy so I am a little disappointed in that. I need quality findings and since I'm fairly new at this I didn't know not to buy the cheap-o stuff at the local craft store.

My best friend DiVeena told me she would like to see what kind of jewelry I could make using my Tatting skills, so the star and the picture with the lavender pearls was my attempts. They both turned out really pretty but I still don't know how to block tatting, especially with beads in it.

The box is what I gave my Christmas gifts in. It was just a plain white box and I painted it and added rub-on transfers. It was so pretty, I wish I could have kept it.

The Curtain!

Though I am very happy with the end result of this curtain, I believe I tried too hard of a project right out of the gate. I know now that I should have followed the directions in the book as closely as possible instead of coming up with brilliant but unworkable ideas. The reason I had so much material that drooped down in the 4th picture was because I had made the center bit too big and the rings and pulling string couldn't hold it. I had to add dowels to hold everything in and give it that poofy gathered look.

I also spent way too much on this. I didn't know that trim was so freaking expensive!

It is beautiful and I am very pleased with the hard work I put into it. My mother finished it up about 25% after I discovered my mistakes. So I would like to say thank you to her.

The Monster Firework!

My Sister thought she bought a box of fireworks, but when she got home she discovered it was ONE firework. I'm having trouble uploading the video, so I will keep trying. Thank You for your patience.

I know, a long time since I posted!

I have been super busy making gifts for Christmas. I used Shrinky Dink paper that I can print stuff on to make a lot of the gifts but I also used craft punches to make a lot of the jewelry items also with the shrinky dink paper. I have been having so much fun and it was something I wanted to do more than play on my computer. I know BIG shocker!

Making Christmas Presents

I've been working hard on the Christmas presents this year. I will post pictures as soon as I can. I wouldn't want to give away the surprise for people getting the presents though, so I better wait 'til after Christmas.

Slacking

I know, I haven't posted for a long time. I've been a big slacker. I discovered Facebook after some urging from my brother and since I've been doing updates on there, updates were not being done here. I'm pretty excited because I've found friends I haven't talked to in ages and it's wonderful!

In regards to projects:

• The room/great room/dining room/project room is still in progress. A lot of furniture has been moved around and I think I have the final configuartion set up. There are still a lot of boxes that still need to be sorted/organized. I don't seem to get much done unless I have a "babysitter". I seem to need a person in the room with me, even if they are just sitting there talking to me. My brain doesn't seem to function without feedback from someone else.
• I have been working on painting table legs for the new computer table. They are these big cardboard tubes that will hold up a very large, very heavy oak door. I wanted to paint them gold and then do crackle paint with white paint. It just turned out looking not nice, so that has changed, but I got stuck deciding what color to paint it and haven't worked on it for a couple of weeks now-kind of frustrated with myself.
• Decided I had too many dishes and am trying to down-size. But getting overwhelmed with everything.
• Forcing myself to work on my tatting. Not enjoying it anymore. Can't figure out if it's because the project I've been working on for a year was too big/complicated, or I just don't like having to follow someone else's pattern rather than making up my own.
• Wanting to go back to school. Decided I want to be a costume designer for the ballet. So I was thinking my degree should be in Fashion Design/Costume Design/Theatre Design with possibly a minor in Graphic Arts and Theatre Management. I can't see any way to pay for it. I don't want to do full time work and full time school again. It really was too much last time I did that. Also, the whole stress=bad headaches is a bit of an obstacle.

So, if you can't tell I am seriously overwhelmed and frustrated with my life right now. I don't see any way to make my dreams come true. It's probably my perfectionist tendancies rearing it's ugly head. Gah!!!

The Window Well Trap

I have had two visitors in my window well recently. Both times I was alerted to the visitor by my cats suddenly running to that window. The first time it was a baby robin who had fallen in and couldn't fly out again. My dad came and was trying to catch it, but he was hampered by the parents dive bombing his head. He kept throwing the robin up and it would land on the edge of the window well and then fall in again. I finally asked my dad to move and caught it. Holding it very carefully I went down the hall, up the stairs, and released it on the front porch. It flew across the road and landed in the grass. The parents of course were still going crazy, thinking it was in the window well. It just sat there for the longest time. I walked across the road and got about a foot away from it. It hopped through the fence, onto the golf course and then hopped along the fence until it's mom came and then they flew off into the trees.

I always look at the robins around here looking to see if it's "our" robin and hoping it survived.

The second one was really early in the morning, probably 3 or 4 am. I heard this rustling and my cats were at the window immediately. I pulled out the screen, (in the process it broke because it was wedged in there so tight I had to yank on it). Shining a flashlight out, the cats and I discovered what looked like a mouse. Well there was no way I wanted a mouse living in my window well and so I let the cats out. They both smelled it, looked at it, Myste lifted a paw and touched it. It gave this high pitched squeak and both my cats freaked out. The cats were afraid of this thing.

Then Myste decided it was more fun to jump out of the window well and go exploring. So I replaced the screen as best I could, it wouldn't stay, so I closed the window. I quickly ran upstairs and out the front door. Myste was prowling through the bushes and was very unhappy when I caught her and brought her back in. Since she has no claws and I am seriously paranoid about her getting run over I could not allow her to stay outside.

What to do about that mouse? We have a humane mouse trap in the garage so after some searching and moving heavy objects I found it. I brought it down and put it in the window well and then played AOE3 for a while. I then went and checked and there it was, in the trap. But there was something else in the trap too...

A dead mouse's snout was caught in the back of the mechanism, and I don't know how long it had been there. Oh ICK!

So I carefully took the trap out to the back porch and my nephew Tayler carried it across the road and released the live one, then brought the trap back. We left it on the patio for my dad to deal with. Ugh.

Turns out the mouse was actually a Vole. My dad says the short tail is the indicator for that.

GROSS!

So I was making some dinner and thought scrambled eggs sounded good. I got out the eggs, washed them, got the pan hot, and cracked the first egg. It had a thick membrane inside and so I had to kind of break that too. Out fell some egg yolk and a little white and a big, bloody, gross blob. I just about threw up right there. I hollered for my dad to come save me and ran out of the kitchen. I don't think I will choose to eat eggs for a LONG time.

ROFL!

I received this in an e-mail from an aquaintance:


The Children Are Our Future.

This is a list of comments from test papers, essays, etc. submitted to science and health teachers by elementary, junior high, high school, and college students. It is truly astonishing what weird science our young scholars can create under the pressure of time and grades. The spellings are the original ones.

1. H2O is hot water, and CO2 is cold water.
2. To collect fumes of sulphur, hold a deacon over a flame in a test tube.
3. When you smell an oderless gas, it is probably carbon monoxide.
4. Water is composed of two gins, Oxygin and Hydrogin. Oxygin is pure gin. Hydrogin is water and gin.
5. A super saturated solution is one that holds more than it can hold.
6. Liter: A nest of young puppies.
7. Magnet: Something you find crawling all over a dead cat.
8. Momentum: What you give a person when they are going away.
9. Vacuum: A large, empty space where the pope lives.
10. Artificial insemination is when the farmer does it to the cow instead of the bull.
11. The pisol of the flower is its only protection against insects.
12. A fossil is an extinct animal. The older it is, the more extinct it is.
13. To remove dust from the eye, pull the eye down over the nose.
14. For a nosebleed: Put the nose much lower than the heart until the heart stops.
15. For head colds: use an agonizer to spray the nose until it drops in your throat.
16. Germinate: To become a naturalized German.
17. The tides are a fight between the Earth and moon. All water tends towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight.
18. Blood flows down one leg and up the the other.

I laughed so much I had tears streaming down my face. Especially the second time when my mom read it out loud because I knew what was coming and it was so funny.

Moving Rooms

I decided to change where my bedroom is located in our house. Here is a video of the basic furniture moving.

Megan and her ATTITUDE!

My niece Megan has come to stay with me for a week or so. While walking, (see link list for more info) I took a video of her and we both thought it was funny. It has been really great having her here with me because she is always so encouraging and helpful. In fact she made French Toast for me today because I said I was tired. Yesterday she helped me do the grocery shopping and even pushed the cart. It was actually kind of funny because she's this little thing and she is pushing this big Sam's Club cart which, with all the groceries, probably weighed more than she did. But she insisted so I let her. I love my Megan!

Return of the Mack

I like this song, but I'm not sure I care for the music video.

Look at my ...

Food and exercise blog. It is in the Links list over to the left. :)

That song...

I can't find a song I remember from the 80's. It had lyrics like "mary, save a place for me in heaven." or "Mary, say a prayer for me." But I cannot find it anywhere. Does anyone else remember it?

Update!!! Erin found it on youtube Hooray for Erin!!!

Pics from Mother's Day

Mothers Day Card

I made this mothers day card for my mom. I took pictures of it with my camera which can select only one color to show and everything else in black and white.