Random

Fire
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I'm waiting to go to work and everyone is sleeping, so I'm kind of bored.
I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. Mine was great we go out to eat, so no one (my mother) isn't stressed or fighting. It's definitely not appropriate to fight in a restaurant or at least we couldn't do it. So it's safe happy family time! We went here if you want to know of an awesome place in NYS. Seriously the food fantastic. The choices caviar, duck pate, venison stew, roast beef, turkey, ham, lots and lots of side dishes. A whole entire table of desserts and a chocolate fountain to dip your strawberries in! Woohoo!
I spent most of today looking for USA made down jackets. I found a few places here and here.

Sorry, I found more Canadian places that make down coats.  Check out the link all of them have some type of animal fur on them.  I don't know if I could wear it because something had to die.  Some of them you have to order them before they will make them. Smart, no waste but I have a hard time finding jackets. Plus since I'm so small and do not generate heat very well I need something built for climbing the Mount Everest. I love Spyder jackets but for the price I'm not sure if I trust the quality because they are made in China. I do not mind spending $600-$700 because it will last me the rest of my life.
My old LL Bean Parka has seen better days and I could return it to get it repaired (zipper pull is missing and inner pockets fell apart) but I just don't feel right about it and in other 10 years it will do the same thing. So it's become my outdoor chore jacket and in covered in wood dust and splinters. So not something I really want to wear out because it's a mess.
Like the picture? It's the inside of my wood stove. I just love opening the door to see the fire burning, the hot coals or lack of wood burning going on. I took a few pictures because different parts of of the fire were so cool. It's hard to catch the flickering flames since they are constantly moving. I think some of the photos look flat and didn't make the cut.
BTW the kitten is adapting to our home life. She's a little mouthy but my husband pointed out she is just a baby and babies cry a lot. She just exercising her right to cry. She has found out where to sleep for the comfiest warm place in the house. So she spent all day there while I worked to feed her. Well her and the kids! If you want to see cute kitten shots click here or here.
I'm posting this without reading it and will fix the grammatical errors tomorrow. Plus it's probably incoherent. Sorry lack of sleep!

A Little Bit Of Imagination...

Trees
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Can create something new. I have been working on this for a while and it's finally done. It used to be a tea container. Now it's a knitting needle holder. It has a lid, so one day I may do that up and make it into a pincushion top for this. For now it will hold my needles.
This is all hand stitched, using sweater scraps for the tree and the tree is from my neighbors quilting scraps. The purple fabric I took out of the trash from one of my jobs! Seriously, every change of season they would throw the fabric out! Men! I'm very happy with it!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who stops by!!! Hope you have a wonderful day! We finally have snow, so it feels like Thanksgiving is finally here. Took long enough!

Meet P

Persephone
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Look what I got yesterday! A new kitten! I named her Persephone except I think I should spell it Purrsephone. She's so loving and likes to nap in my lap! Her mom is a pure bred Himalayan and the dad must have been a tiger cat!
She goes to the vet today. I may post later if I finish my one project I'm working on!

Nica Wallet

Nica Wallet
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

It's here, my wallet! I was hoping it would arrive today. I love it! The leather is super soft and I love the tree and the birds. I think I'm going to be happy for a long time! If you want one you can go here to Anthropologie.
Does everyone feel overwhelmed this time of year? I'm adding up all the things I need to do before Christmas and wonder how I'm going to get it all done. I do not have to do anything for Thanksgiving! Woohoo. We are going out to eat at this place. So no dishes for us on that day.
The list of things that need to get done:
Scarf for my brother's birthday
Yankee Gift for the gift exchange, I'm thinking a hangable banner?
Tea cozy for my MIL
Kitchen towels with embroidery on it for my SIL (not for you Eva)
Plus gifts for gift bags, I have no clue what to put in them yet!
A cover for a repurposed container (almost done)
A shirt for my neice
3 wooden craft totes for the girls of the family!
I would like to make socks for my brother and SIL but I haven't been having luck with patterns!
Plus I've been wanting to do make one of those advent calendar elves like in Garnet Hill.
Lots to do! So little time!

Death Of A Sock

Spiraling Coriolis
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

So if you are a knitter, when do you decide to rip a sock and start over? I seriously do not like this sock pattern. My sock looks nothing like the sock in the book. Which irks me to no end! I've followed the pattern to a T and still I've had to rip and knit because the pattern lies! I even did the test swatch and everything thing. So it even makes me more mad because I never do test swatches! Personally I think it's a cable stitch that is used not a k1f&b, to make the stitch!
So you knitter's out there, you may recognize this pattern, maybe not. I'm probably going to commit knitter suicide or be sacrilegious to the person who wrote the book because she is huge in the knitting world. I'm not impressed with the book and I was totally psyched about it when I got it. Since then it's been like a bad relationship with an abusive boyfriend. I do what he says and still have to start the damn sock over! GRRR!
So I'm ripping the Christmas gift for my husband. The sock doesn't fit right and it looks odd!
I've started on a sock for my daughter instead, to regain my love for knitting! Of course it took forever for her to pick out the yarn but I'm digging it. It's slowly coming back, the love that is.
Guess what I did today to make myself feel better? I bought a wallet, a real leather wallet. I've been using one of those hippy change purses since I owned a purse but there's a time in every girl's life when she's got to move to a grown up wallet. I guess my time is now. Plus I will be able to tell when something is missing from my wallet. Not money, I don't keep money in my wallet! Ha! I would spend it. My money is in a box next to the phone and if you are thinking of robbing me there's only $26 for an emergency. Not worth breaking in for, so save yourself the trouble. It will probably gone for Christmas anyways! Or for the next Girl Scout meeting because they too like my money!

A Quick Whip Up

Birthday Crown
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I whipped this reversible birthday crown up in 1 1/2 hours the night before my daughter's birthday party. She's been wearing her sister's crown, which is too big for her.
Unfortunately my Velcro is missing and I had to add snaps. Which I just quick stitched on. Thinking to myself, "If I add snaps I'll find my Velcro!" It's Thursday and still no Velcro siting! It may have been swallowed by the house!
I've had a super tiring and busy week. Tiring because the truck didn't come on Sunday night. So I only worked 1 1/2 hours. Then it came in the next night after the birthday party and I worked 4 hours (till 2am). Shouldn't have done that because I had 2 children at home who couldn't be quiet to save their lives! I may have gotten 4 hours of sleep after I settled into bed.
Then I went to a local gallery and decorated 2 Christmas trees! One with about 600-1000 glass ornaments (unfortunately all were from China). Then another one with fake poinsettia's and cranberries. I only broke one ornament from each tree. The 2nd time I blame on my children because they came back from a friend's and were unruly! I dropped off some of my handmade ornaments. I hope they all sell this year! I hope everyone is having a fun week! I'm finally catching up on my sleep tonight and preparing for a busy work weekend! Woohoo!

OMG I almost forgot to mention my terrible weekend at work.  One kid is getting kicked out of the department for lying, hiding tags and not hanging his piles!  Seriously it's about time, the one department I work in has been a huge mess since we've had major changes.  You know good workers leaving and the slackers, slacking off more.  Plus the store has been giving out refunds left and right because of him.  It wouldn't be that big of a deal but in our county if you are over charged you are allowed a super refund.  So say you were over charged .25 cents.  Multiply that by 10x's the amount and you get $2.50 back, plus your .25 cents.  It's capped off at $10 but some people look for super's to make money!

This weekend I worked in 2 different departments.  After I started in my main department, I was asked my the biggest slacker if he could leave because the work was almost done.  I was only  1 hour into my shift and I was shocked!  Seriously I didn't know what to say, so I was a bumbling idiot until I regrouped after he left.  Thankful I told him he had to ask the manager on duty to leave.  2nd time I saw him I was going on break and I told him and another guy, how the department was doing terrible and requests off now had to be approved by the perishable manager, etc... The assistant was coming back because of all the goof ups (no one really likes her because she's mean and bitchy) and anything else I could think of to scare them.  Well it must have scared the one kid good because after my break all these tags that needed to be hung appeared out of no where!  Seriously we had double amount appear after I came back from break!  I was pissed because I told the MOD (manager on duty) we were actually ahead and to not let anyone go home early because we could get a head start for Sunday!  So I felt like a HUGE liar!  I hate lying and I just felt like a big fool.  So I started going through tags that were supposed to be done.  I start finding piles that had been scribble on in the done pile.  They looked untouched!  

Well that was the last straw.  I still wasn't feeling well from donating blood and I probably should have been in bed resting!  So I talked to the MOD and he had a talking to all of us. How he was disappointed that he thought we were ahead and now we weren't, etc...  Needless to say when the major slacker punched out, he then went down the aisles I put up tags in and started harassing me!  I told him to mind his own business and put the tags back!  He was accusing me of putting up the wrong tags etc...  

The next day I had a long talk with my boss over what had happened.  He was written up because she went through his piles and he missed 25 tags!  He's been working the job over 1 year and that is just not acceptable plus he's been caught lying too many times.  Everyone is losing their key to the back office except me and the other girls who work during the week.  All the tags are being kept in the conference room so no one can hide in their and talk.  The guys like to listen to the football games on Sunday in the back office.  It sucks but at least it will be easier to keep an eye on  the other 2 who are toeing the line, in check.

Village Frock From Sugar City Journal

Village Frock
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I just finished this today for my daughter's birthday! I love it. It's crazy and silky. I have no clue what kind of fabric it is. It's wrinkled from being left on the work table wet. I was carrying it around working on the buttons and accidentally spilled water on it. Opps.
Sorry about the intense background but my house is a bloody mess! On the weekends when I work the girls have a free for all and seriously trash the place! I just do not want to be the maid anymore! So what's a mom to do? Forever be a slave to my children's disasters? Or leave them to pick up their own messes? Seriously, how do you other mom's deal with children who are forever wrecking the house?
The Village Frock is available here!

The Good And The Bad

So I gave blood today for the 3rd time of my life.  I really didn't want to today.  So I hemmed and hawed and finally went to do it.  I got there and realized I forgot my ID.  So I walked back home and found $50 on the side walk!  Seriously a $50 bill!  So I thought now I have to donate because it was meant to be.

Well everything was going fine.  Skimmed through the boring pamphlet that you're supposed to read.  Answered the questions that are always the same.  I'm up on the table and she puts the needle in.  Which I watch because I think it's cool.  Then it hits me, this time it really freaking hurts!!!!  Seriously the pain isn't going away.  So I try to talk to myself and tell me to buck it up, I'm being a wimp.  It's just because I'm tired from working till 2am or 4am shifts and that's why it hurts.  In  my pain I feel like my hand is loosing feeling and it's getting harder and harder to squeeze the ball.  So I get a little panicky because this has never happened.  My hand starts to go cold too.  

I finally mention something to the phlebotomist who is cleaning up the other table from working on another person.  She can't do anything because she didn't put the needle in my arm.  I've been drinking water through out this whole thing and I've gone through about 1/2 a liter.  So when my lady is done helping her other donor she comes over to me.  

My tourniquet is too tight and every time my heart beat it moves the needle to hit the wall of my vein.  I think there was more going on.  So she fixes it and it's a little better just slightly.  I don't have to squeeze the ball because I think the blood is pouring out of my vein too quickly too.  Well then she starts filling the tubes and my fingers start looking yellow from having no blood go to them.  It just hits me like running into a wall because every time she attaches one of the vials it hurts majorly, again.  We are talking about labor pain, pains.  The kind that make you spew crazy things.  So I go stark white and feel nausea from it.  They lay me down and give me a cool compress.  I only wanted a piece of gum so I can get the sour taste out of my mouth.  Plus I know when I feel sick, I need to eat. It's how I am. Well they won't let me do any of that until the color comes back to  my face.  Which it does and by that time she is finally done with my arm!  Which I'm sure means that now I'm going to have a massive bruise from this experience.  She was really nice but I think she goofed up because she got really quiet when she realized filling the tubes was causing me super pain.

I do not know if I'm going to do it again.  I've given 2x's before and it didn't hurt this bad.  Even the woman who marked my arm with and x before she put the needle in didn't hurt at all.  She worried me the most!  So I hope everyone has a better weekend than my Friday has been!  Hey at least I'm $50 richer, which is going to groceries for my daughter's party.  

Anyone know if you donate blood for money if they are more compassionate?  I don't know if I can go through that again!

Happy Blogiversary To Me!

Well I thought next week was when I started my blog.  Little did I realize it was before my youngest birthday.  I have been working like a little elf, trying to finish a birthday dress for her!  I'm in the final phase.  I have to leave for work in ten minutes, so I think it's going to be coming with me.  Since I'm trying to clear out my clutter.... I will be giving away some things that have lost themselves in the mess of my  house.  I originally would have done it on my blogiversary but no time.  Plus, like my last give away I need people to spread the so I have people give stuff to!  So after the 10th, I will be posting some cute and fun stuff to win!  Pass it on!  Unless you want it all to yourself! 

I Voted Today!

Mystery Birds
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I voted and while people usually shun from telling who they voted for. I'm going to tell you! I vote the Green Party and all Democratic. My crazy reasoning is because I felt the that neither candidate really spoke to me. It was like choosing to be inflicted with crabs or syphilis! I do not want to get either and now I can bitch if things are crappy. If things go great then well I can't complain now. I would have voted for Obama if I had to pick between only the two but luckily there were other choices. Also I think we need a really conservative Congress who will penny pinch the crap out of the budget. Cut back on unnecessary spending and hopefully turn this country around. That's all my political talk because I honestly do not know what I'm talking about.
Has anyone heard about these "Passive Homes" that the Germany government is telling new builders they must create? Plus giving incentives for existing home owners to remodel their homes to be compliant! Plus these homes are crazy energy efficient! Like 80-90%. It's insane! It has to do with super insulation and some other things. On top of all this great stuff I've found they use Rockwool to insulate! I've never heard of it and what you've never heard of it either? It sounds way safer than fiber glass & way more energy efficient. Of course it's more expensive. Well I guess you can never have your cake and eat it too!