So much to do and so little time

One of my dilemmas are that I'm trying to fit reading into my daily activities. Reading was going well.  I was reading during my break at work but I had quit taking my break or when I did take it I used the time to make phone calls.  So other than listening to books on CD/Tape I wasn't physically reading anything.  Not all good books are available to listen to.  I have since found that out.  Also, no craft books are on CD and if they were would they really be any good.

My time at home should, right now, be designated on cleaning and getting my house in order for the holidays.  I don't have time to read at home at all and I have been working on making scarves for the craft shows that my mom and I are going to be in.  I was also going to make some Christmas presents this year.

I'm still making those scarves for the craft shows.  We just had a craft show a couple weekends ago and we just had two craft shows come up for us to attend! 

I started one of my Christmas presents when we first started meeting at my friend, Andrea's house for knitting but I haven't worked on that since that 2nd time we got together and I'm far from being done with it.

Oh and did I mention that I also joined NaNoWriMo.  What in the heck was I thinking!  This is the Month of November!  It is the middle of the month, just a little over the middle of the month and I have two holidays to get through.   Also, the job that I have...........yeah, I work full-time in corporate America......................Has end of month and end of year close.  So I'm going to be working my booty off!

Wow I can't believe I haven't posted since July!

I really thought that I've posted more recently than July.  Maybe I just think up things and think about posting it and then never getting around to it.  Tonight I'm on-line perusing (I hope I spelled that right!).  I had a sell on Etsy and decided to look around and see what was out there.  You know, finding stuff I would love to buy if I were a little bit richer....Okay, just a couple dollars richer would do!  Anyway, I found this Cowl that was $118.00.  I couldn't believe it.  Don't get me wrong.  This lady is a hand crafter.  She knits and crochets.  So I'm more than sure she deserves to get that amount for her product.  I guess I was just shell shocked because I'm a knitter and a crocheter and I have hand crocheted throws that I haven't asked that much for.  I need to get in gear!  I know what product she used to make her cowl so that was the more shocking.  I guess what I'm trying to say here is I'M NOT CHARGING ENOUGH! 

Okay,  now that I have gotten that out of my system...

What I've been up to:  I'm still knitting and crocheting.  More crocheting now than anything.  I have found that crocheting doesn't hurt my shoulder as much as knitting does and I can sit down and crochet for two hours straight without feeling pain whereas knitting I have to quit and rest after a half hour.  I've even tried holding my needles a different way and it still doesn't help. 

I've been crocheting/knitting at home, with  my friend Kristie when I can and with my Etsy girls.  I say that because so far only females have joined the knitting group and they have been only Etsy Team Columbus members.  We try to get together every two weeks but sometimes with everyone having something going on we try to get together when we can.

I have also been reading a lot.  Physical reading.  I listen to books on CD all the time at work and in the car but I have found some books (lots of books) aren't necessarily on CD so I've also been reading at home.  I've most recently finished reading a couple of books by Nora Roberts - which I need to update my Goodreads account.  I've also read some books about UFOs - Hello tonight, new season, Ancient Aliens on the History Channel, 10 PM. {I love to promote things I love!}

My house is still a work in progress.  I'm working between my bedroom and my craft room.  It's hard to say which room needs the most cleaning and organizing but they both affect me a lot so I want them both done NOW!

Oh, and I walked in the Strides Against Breast Cancer walk on Sunday.  It was a beautiful day and I was able to walk with friends so what more can I say!

I'm trying to dream up new products to make.  I've been looking through magazines to get my next project.  I have vowed to make one nice thing for myself every 6 months or so.  You can't knit, crochet and even sew all the time without doing something for yourself. 

That's all for now.  I need to save something to post for tomorrow, or Saturday or Sunday.......  :-)

Updating my Websites - Ravelry, Goodreads and LibraryThing

Last night and today I've been updating some of my websites.  On Ravelry (CrafterbyNight) I barely had anything on there, from projects to books to really anything. This is how it all started: I met up with some of my friends on Friday night and Cath (BeanCountKnitter) asked me if a book I was trying to tell them about was in my library on Ravelry.  Well to my dismay it was not and my fleeting memory could not remember the book's name.  I have a Goodreads account but I don't have a lot of my craft books on there.  So I got the idea to start tracking all of my books.  First I went to Ravelry and uploaded a few of the books that I had available at my fingertips.  One of the books that I was trying to upload couldn't be found so in the description of Add Books it said I could go to Librarything.com/export and upload their thingy to import books into my account.  Since I already had Goodreads I thought that I could use Librarything to keep track of just the books that I own, not including the books that I want to read.  I uploaded about 20 books and tried to upload the importer from Librarything and I got the message that it was either not working or the site was no longer available.  That really got my goat but I felt that I could still use Librarything for keeping track of my books.  So I went ahead and uploaded some more books on it last night and today just a few minutes ago.  I added more books to Ravelry and even finished reading a book a little earlier, I updated my Goodreads account and added more books that I wish to read to my account.  I say that's a lot for a good day of rest and relaxation!

Now I'm going to have a bowl of chili and watch a movie.  Happy Sunday!

Ashley's Wedding Present

I was finally able to give my "Little Sister", Ashley her wedding present.   Susi Soler made this wallhanging.  It is made in the Log Cabin Quilt fashion.  Hearth and Home!  It was made in Ashley's wedding colors.

Ashley and Chris, wishing you a very happy life together!

http://www.susiartquilts.etsy.com/

Saving Grace Show Finale

Is it me or did I just not get the whole last show.  I know I missed a couple of shows but my goodness, a lot of the end didn't make sense.  I guess I need to start from the beginning and watch everything.  Or maybe they just wrapped up the show too quickly.  Maybe it needed to be a 2 show finale.  Two 2 hour shows that is.  Anyway, the ending was sad.  I did have a tear in my eye.  Seeing Bobby cry made me cry a little harder.  Seeing Ham throw his phone made it worse.

The Gates

I watched The Gates on ABC last night.  I think that is going to be my new show.  It was interesting enough but doesn't tell everything.  I hope they keep it spellbinding so I will stay interested.  Even LOST lost me for a couple of years.  It got dumb in my opinion and then it got good again.  Happy Town I thought was going to be my new show but I think it is already getting dumb.  How long is the Magic Man going to haunt Haplin, I mean really.  When they catch him or her then who is the weird/crazy/mysterious being going to be.  And Tommy (the sherriff) shot his best friend.  Come On NOW!

Dorothy A Minter 1920-2010

Some of you know that my Grandma Minter passed away last month, but I wanted to share her obituary for those of you that may have known her and may not have known that she passed.   My Grandma had been in a lot of pain for the past several years and went home to God on May 15th. 

Wile E Coyote

Okay, please tell me I didn't just chase a coyote out of my backyard!  I was sitting on the loveseat, which is the closest piece of furniture to my back door.  I heard Brandy barking like a crazy woman and when I got up to check on her she was barking at something that looked like it was under the huge Christmas Tree I have in my Back/Side yard.  I step outside onto the back porch to see what's going on.  I just think Brandy is barking at 'our' bunny.  The bunny is sitting out in the yard right across from me so whatever Brandy is barking at is NOT the bunny.  I'm fussing at Brandy to quit barking.  I'm just thinking at this point she saw a branch move from the wind blowing and I see something from the corner of my eye.  Next thing I know the bunny is darting across the yard like a lightning bolt and I see this animal come up behind the hill (which is the very back of my yard).  That thing looked at me and I started yelling at it and it turns around and runs.  At first I thought it was a fox.  It wasn't very big.  It shot back across the street and was just standing there.  Across the street are more lights because there is a small store mall.  The thing had a white color to it.  And it was a little bit bigger than what I thought a fox would be.  While I'm outside looking at it, my Mom comes to the door and says, "Shit, that's a coyote." Get Brandy in the house right now.  You can't let her lay outside anymore...............So I get my dog in and now she is wanting to go back outside and kick some coyote butt!

2nd annual Camp Kon-O-Kwee Knit Camp 2010

Knitting Retreat - What can I say about it...That is was lovely!  Lots of women, lots of knitting!  Lots of goodies and a good "shop" day the day before camp.  I think the only thing that could have made it better was if there were some really cute, straight guys there that were also knitters....well, single hot guys anyway!  I'm sure that most of the women there were married.  At least it seemed to be that way....Anyway, I'm getting a little off topic aren't I!

Thursday my Mom and I rode with Kristie to Pittsburgh to meet up with and stay with Kristie's sister Sarah.  For those of you that don't know Kristie ( I don't remember all of my blog posts and I don't exactly think that all of you read all of my blogs), but Kristie is a friend of mine.  Over the years, I've gotten to know Sarah because she is Kristie's sister and I consider her a friend too.  We met for lunch, then we all went together to Knit One (yarn shop) in Squirrel Hill and then to Natural Stitches (I'm not sure of the general location of Natural Stitches and really don't feel like looking it up now).  Knit One is fun!  It is a fun place.  There are always some really nice yarns there and I'm amazed everytime I go there of all of the pretty yarns that they carry.  They normally carry bags but the owner says that they can barely keep them in the shop because they sell so fast.  After leaving Knit One we went to Natural Stitches and they had quite a few good yarns marked down.  It was such a hard decision for me to make of what I wanted to buy.  There were several things there that I liked but didn't want to spend all of my money before I got to camp.  I wanted to save some money for when Raspberry Farms came with their Alpaca.  I did buy some sock yarn from R.F. and I bought some tweed at N.S. and I have no idea what I'm going to make with it.  But I like it and I love the color!

After a stop at Trader Joes and doing dinner, we called it a night.  Friday morning we got up, had breakfast and headed out.  Sewickley and Yarns Unlimited was our first stop and then onto camp.  Yarns Unlimited is a cute little shop.  I have no qualms about it but for some reason after going to the first two shops, that shop didn't really excite me.  What I didn't know is that they had an upstairs with all of their marked down yarns.  I'm sure if I would have went up there I would have enjoyed the treasure hunt whether or not I bought anything!  Oh well.  Maybe I'll get there again.  Who knows. 

Onto camp.  It was a nice little drive.  I actually think I dozed off at some point.  I wasn't feeling the best.  Mother Nature was calling but I wasn't sure of the ringtone at first.  I took a lot of pain killers and prayed.  I was hoping I didn't get sick like I normally do on my first two days.  After moving around a bit I did feel better.  After meeting all the "girls" that lifted me up some too.  Funny, you forget how much pain you're in sometimes just based on the company that you keep. 

Just a few words about camp in general.  I learned how to do fairisle.  That was nice.  It was much easier than I thought it would be.  It has inspired me to do more.  I have a drawstring purse pattern that I bought at Knitter's Connection two years ago that I want to do now.  I'm not afraid to do it now!  Just getting together with other creative people always gives me inspiration and right now that is what I need.  I need to be inspired by my surroundings so that I trek ahead with all the ideas that I have!

Thanks Kristie for driving and thanks Sarah for giving us a place to stay! 

Meeting Notes

I just had to share this before I went to bed this very early morning:  I had a meeting at work the other day.  I had taken real notes.....Before this meeting our department had a super huge lunch and everyone was stuffed....without further ado...Here is a portion of my notes....

WOW! I NEED TO KEEP WRITING SO THAT I WILL STAY AWAKE.  WHERE IS THE CAFFEINE! I NEED SOMETHING.  I'M GONNA' PASS OUT.  WHEW! EVERY TIME I BLINK MY EYES THEY STICK! WONDER IF MY HEAD BANGS THE TABLE.  THAT WOULD HURT. GEE WHIZ! DR PEPPER, COKE, PEPSI AT THIS POINT I'LL SETTLE FOR A MOUNTAIN DEW.  MAYBE CHERRY COKE/COLA GENERIC - RED HOTS, LEMON DROPS, GUM...MY FAVORITE!

Yes, I really wrote this down!  I believed that if I just kept writing, no matter what I wrote, I would not fall asleep.  I did blink once and I think I did doze off for a half second. I really wondered if I would conk my head on the table I was sitting at.  I don't know if my head bopped or not but it felt like it.  As far as Mountain Dew goes, if I say I would drink it that means I was really desperate.  I haven't drank that since I was a kid and drank myself sick.

Good Morning!

Okay, it is 1:47 a.m. and I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open.  I wanted to come home, I was out visiting with friends, and finish downloading some stuff onto my iTunes.....Of course, I can't sit still and wait so I had to get on my Etsy website to see if I had anyone convo me or even better, actually buy something....Then after Etsy, Oh, I forgot........Before Etsy I entered the Dream Home Sweepstakes.....then after Etsy, I logged into my e-mail, saw e-mails from Facebook posts and had to get on there for a minute....Now I'm just waiting for my downloads to finish and then I'm in bed......

Today has been a long..........DAY!

So tired but can't quit typing!

I'm up and playing on the computer.  What I'm supposed to be doing is editing my pictures so that I can put them on Etsy.  I was actually hoping to be done with this earlier and have at least 5 to 10 different items listed on Etsy before I went to bed.

But......I had to pick up Michael down the street so I had to wait for the kid down the street to finish shoveling out my driveway.....Yes, I could do it myself, but I'm not supposed to because of my bad shoulder.....anyway, he was a cute kid that was looking to make an extra couple of bucks and he did a really good job on the driveway.  Then I pick him up and I'm trying to get back home to get back on the computer to finish fixing the pictures and then the phone rings.  So while I'm chit chatting on the phone, I decided to play Zuma....Because you know, I can't do just one thing!  I have to always be entertaining myself!

Then I checked my e-mail.  Saw a couple of mails from a friend.  So I had to e-mail her back then we were chit chatting with each other via e-mail.  Then I finally had to go with her and then I saw some updates from Facebook, so I had to log onto that.  Then I was visiting a friend's wall and saw she had FamilyLink so that tripped my trigger so then I had to log onto that...............WHEW!   and now I'm back doing my pictures because as soon as I finish editing them I'm taking my CAKES to bed!

Oh and did I mention that it took me 1/2 of the daylight hours to take the pictures of the almost 40 craft items.......This is hard work!

Okay, I'm done talking...........at least for the moment.  Can you tell I've had too much caffeine today!

Good Night!

Tomorrow

Just checking out my blog.  I need to take some pictures tomorrow and get some stuff posted on ETSY.  Vacation is OVER!  Also, I realized, I don't have that many pictures of my Mom.  Probably need to take a couple more of her.  

Playing on Facebook!  I love catching up with friends, it is so much nicer than being on the phone all day everyday or trying to write snail mail.  Even though I'll be the first one to say I really don't mind it all that much and I really enjoy getting it when it's not bills or unsolicited mail.

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person.. When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, To aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on. Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.. Believe it. It is real. But only for a season. LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant. Thank you for being a part of my life, whether you were a reason, a season or a lifetime.

 

January 1, 2010

I woke up early today.  I heard a lot of clanging going on in the kitchen.  I believe Brandy, my dog, whined before I heard all the noise but I was trying to ignore her so that I could sleep in a little bit.  Funny, no one let the dog out or cooked me breakfast................whine......

I should have went back to bed, but I didn't.  I went into the living room, snuggled up on the loveseat, while my Mom and her boyfriend, Michael, watched the classic Looney Tunes.  I guess there was a marathon on today.  After they watched two cartoons, Mom went back to bed because she still isn't feeling well and about 10 minutes after that Michael also went to lay back down.  I stayed in the living room with Brandy and pulled out some of my Organizing books.  Yes, I decided I'm going to bring the New Year in right!  (lol)

I read and I watched some HGTV.  I started to get a little bored with it after Candice Olson went off.  She's my favorite designer.  I have not disliked one makeover she has done.  If I had the money to buy the house of my dreams I would hire her to do all the decorating!  After she went off, I kind of ignored the TV for awhile and did some reading.  I tried to watch this show on NatGeo about how the earth was formed, but it got boring so I did some channel surfing.  I found Criminal Minds, which I assume was another marathon and watched it for a couple of shows before I gave up and came into my craft room to get on the computer.  And here I've been off and on all day.

I watched most of the Rose Parade.  I did miss the Marching Band for the Blind School that is located here in Columbus.  I really wanted to see them as this is the first big parade that they have been invited to, or so my sources say.  I did get to see the Ohio State Marching Band, The Ohio U Marching Band and the Pickerington HS Marching Band - Congrats to all, you were fabulous! 

Since then, I've watched more HGTV, The Buckeyes win the Rose Bowl! Can I get an Amen! and read some more.  I'm watching The Outside Room with Jamie Durie right now.  He is a cutie pie!  And I love men with Aussie Accents.  Whew Hew!

I'm out...........I think I'm going to bed soon.  Too tired to even try and stay up.  Maybe I'll get up early tomorrow and do something more productive.  Right now, I'm just enjoying not being at work and it being a very laid back day.

Good Night!  Happy New Year!