Cats Clutter & Crafts

Oh How They Grow

2009-12-13T17:38:00.001-08:00

thanksgiving 2
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Can you believe that my oldest has 4 inches to grow and we will be the same height? We already wear the same shoe size and she can wear my shirts too!? My youngest is wearing her sister's old size 6 clothes and she's only turned 5 in November. I do believe my youngest will be taller than her sister!
This was us on Thanksgiving. I insisted we have my husband take a photo of all of us because even in this modern age we rarely remember to take pictures.
Business here has been busy!!! I think we are getting out of the recession! Which eases my mind because business money has been tight and I've been having to allocate household funds to pay business bills. If that makes sense then I'm glad someone understands it!!!
Work has been eh.... I will be getting a second job to get away from my 1st boss. I love my 2nd boss but she just doesn't have the hours to give me and my 1st boss is totally incompetent. No one and I mean no one wants to work with her. If I plan my available hours right I can whittle down my time to 8-12 hours with her and 16 hours for the department I enjoy. We've just lost too many good workers, it breaks my heart and really makes me angry with the bosses who run the place. It proves you don't have to have brains just big boobs.
On a happier notes, my oldest will be in a school play, she has her 1st crush will only last about a month or 2, I predict. I remember my 1st crush in 6th grade. Which didn't last very long. My youngest is painfully shy in school and just last month started talking to the teacher. It turns out we know the teacher's father. He's woodworker we've known for years just never knew one of his kid's taught school. Hoping that she opens up more and participates but she's 5! I'm happy that she's just happy about going to school!
Till next time and yes I have pictures of the felted snowmen!!!

Grow Into Hat

2009-11-21T06:34:00.001-08:00

Grow Into Hat
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I was all ready to take pictures of my snowmen today and I realized that I couldn't find the camera. Then I couldn't find the orange wool to add a nose on the the other snowman.
Instead I have a hat I did for a friend. I have to look up the pattern but you are supposed to be able to use the other side as the opening and tie off this end and it will be bigger. (here it is modified since I used different yarn) Right now my little friend has ears. I love his face kind of like what? you want me to what?
I have see him recently wearing another hat I made and he's much more smiley!
Things here and rainy and chilly but I like it. Makes me want to cuddle up in bed and read. Next week is Thanksgiving and I heard maybe snow. Oh joy!! It's ok, I know what I'm wearing hopefully it will get here in time from Anthropologie. I bought the same shirt in two colors cuz the style got 5 stars and was sold out super fast. I'm super happy it was made in the USA and pretty reasonably priced too!
I hope everyone is enjoying there time before the holiday season rush. Work has been kind of slow which makes the managers all worried but our sales are up but down from what the projected for right now. If you can grasp what I said then Cheers to you, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it!!!
Have a great weekend and next picture, hopefully will have a Christmas theme!!!!!!

Giggling@Work

2009-11-14T07:29:00.001-08:00

Pennsylvania
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I have been around but not much. Driving then work have kept me very busy. Fun time, I don't know what that is. I did get to see the Premiere of the Elbert Hubbard Documentary my husband is in. It was good and lighting does make everything look better!
Funny things that have happened to me at work. I thought I would share.
I have 5 minutes before I have to leave for work so please forgive the mistakes.
The maintentance guys have switched shifts on the weekends and on Saturday's the younger guy works (not) and doesn't replace the toilet seat covers in the employees bathroom. Well the women's bathroom anyways. The one toilet spews water everytime you flush it. Can't help it from happening and so it soaks the toilet. Since the bathroom doesn't get clean, I use that toilet so the little old ladies who work their can have the handicap toilet. If I give them the spewing toilet they hover and miss. Then there is a puddle of pee all over the floor and no one wants to use that toilet then.
Well this one weekend there were noooooo toilet covers and I stand 8 hours running around, so when I can sit I do so. I carefully lined the seat with toilet paper and sit down. Finish my business and get back to work. An hour later the Pepsi vendor tells me I have toilet paper stuck to my butt! So I stand up, I had been crouching down to put tags on the bottom shelf. I skim my hands across my pants and thought I don't feel anything. I asked him are you sure? Yes but it's up higher cuz your jacket dropped down. Sure enough sticking our of my waistband and trailing over is toilet paper that had stuck to my butt from the wet toilet! I told him I had a cold and must have missed my back pocket and thank him! Needless to say, I check my rear end when I have to put down toilet paper!

Driving

2009-10-16T18:35:00.001-07:00

Pennsylvania
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I know I haven't blogged in a longggg time! It's because I have become the family taxi driver. With my new schedule, I drive everyone to school, including my husband. Go to work after dropping everyone off 3 days a week. Work 4 hours those 3 days. Pick up my youngest 5 days, eat lunch, try to get something done in that short amount of time and then pick my oldest and husband up again. 2 of those days I'm waiting for Art Club to end, so we get to hang around the Art rooms and listen to my husband help run the club. The other 2 days I am off and still driving everyone. Then hanging out in the car since my husband has to work at 7:15am, my oldest starts at 7:43am and the youngest doesn't start until 8:45am. Sounds fun and exciting, right?!?!
Unfortunately there is nothing open in the town where they go to school. Well unless you look at gas stations, fast food places and where I work at the grocery store as places to go. None of them really appeal to me to spend much time at since we don't eat fast food and who wants to hang out where they work. So I sit in the car and read. While my youngest plays with everything that isn't nailed down in the car!
After doing this for a month I realized I cannot do this for another 12 years. So we are fixing up our house, paying off debt and hope to put our house on the market in 2 years. Then pray there is a house in town that we can afford to buy and fits our requirements. For those who are interested they are, the house has to be smaller than the one we are in now! Easy enough this is 2800 sq feet, we would love a ranch. #2 it has to have an out building, either a garage or a barn so the studio can move out of the house! #3 It has to be easily accessible to walk/bike to my place of employment of other things in town. There are lots of playgrounds and they are still redoing the main street. Which has one block of bricked pavement! Super cool to drive over. The taxes are quite high but if we aren't using our car that much then it would make up for all the gas and maintenance we do in a year!
Hope to have pictures soon of the felted snowmen I am making for Christmas gifts!

What Would You Do?

2009-09-10T16:21:00.001-07:00

Pennsylvania
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Life has been crazy & busy. I'm driving the family to work and picking them up. My life is now being a taxi! woohoo!!
My daughter has a friend who is 14. I don't really care for her at all! When my oldest was 7 this girl told so many tall tales about how rich she was, had the all the American Girls Dolls, etc.. I could puke but I did talk to her about the lies because my daughter idolized her since she was 3 years older. Being young she was like why would she lie!!! I made the girl cry because I was honest and told her I don't appreciate lying. She did apologize and things were fine.
Now she calls every single day! Since we are all getting up in the 5am hour, I try to go to bed @ 8:30pm. Which means the girls have 6pm & 7pm bedtimes. She always calls right after my youngest goes to bed!
This Monday she came over to our house when I was at work. I received a text from my husband telling me she puked in our hallway. Now when I don't feel well I stay home. If I feel like puking I go into the bathroom and wait it out. She waited until it was too late and my husband had to clean it up! Plus send her home since she didn't get the clue that when you puke in someone's house the right thing to do is apologize & then go home!
She insisted on coming over the next day with another girl asking my daughter to play. My daughter not wanting to catch whatever she had declined. Gotta love school, she blamed her homework. She's been calling & calling. Giving my daughter grief that she won't play with her.
I told my daughter to be honest with her and tell her she doesn't want to play with her right now, after what has occurred. She just told her not to call after 6pm because she's busy the hour before going to bed. The I don't want to take crap from anyone side of me wants to tell her to back off & she's not welcome over here ever again!
But I'm biting my tongue. Or at least trying to.

Zucchini Is Not Supposed To Be This Big!

2009-09-01T05:11:00.001-07:00

Zucchini
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

This is the first year that I'm growing zucchini and well this one got lost in the vines and leaves. I haven't had that many flowers become squash because the critter's around here like eating the flowers! So when I found this baby hiding where all the vines twisted out in different directions, I was jumping for joy. Unfortunately if you let them get this big you can't use a knife to cut through it. A chain saw is need and well power tools like that are not allowed in the kitchen. So I cut a quarter of it and sent the rest to the compost.
My youngest was not happy that she was having her picture taken with the zucchini! I don't know why, I think at first she thought it was going to be fun. Then after feeling how heavy it was she changed her mind!

Altoids Tin Repurposed

2009-08-26T15:47:00.001-07:00

Altoids Tin Repurposed
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

So my youngest starts kindergarten in less than a week now. One of the items she need was a tin that held her money to use for counting. It had have her name on it. I decided to take it a step further and shrinky dink a cover for her. The shrinky dink plastic was the one that has the sandpapered back. So it wasn't see through until we expoxied it onto the tin. Kind of a bummer but I still like it. Next time I will color in in more, so less can be seen! I do like all the bugs too. She wasn't fond of the ants on the bottom but I think they are super cute!
Also when it says it shrinks to a third of the size not true. I measured the tin and I figured I needed 10.5" by 6.5" sheet to make it just barely cover the top. Well I had a least a quarter inch all around to cut off. Which I did using a jeweler's saw and then filed. Finally sanding the edge smooth with a fine grade sandpaper. So don't make my mistake. Next time, I'm going 9" by 5" inches.

Things That Are Finished!

2009-08-19T06:29:00.001-07:00

elastic waist wrap pants
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I made these super cute wrap shorts for my girls, unfortunately I couldn't locate my youngest pair to get them both in this shot. My oldest at first hated them! Once she worn them in this bloody hot weather she decided she loves them. Kids!!! They are Blue Prints or Indie Tutes, it says two different things on her blog page. She's my favorite person to check for new ideas and patterns that can easily be figured out. She does an excellent job. I did find this pattern a little hard to follow because I think she used two fabrics together. The material is the vintage hawaiian print my uncle gave me.
I also made this hat for a friend of mine who's son is now almost 3 months old! Yikes where does time go. I'm going over to her house today to try it on and make the 2nd tie. It was super easy to make! I used cotton so its nice and stretchy!
We also got our Drake back from hunt school training and he is anorexic! My SIL thinks he may have a digestion problem since he wasn't like this before but he was doing 10 miles a day of pacing in his pen. Before he went swimming and retrieving. He's going to the vet today. He's been on super calorie dog food. The stuff they feed to sled dogs when they are in training for the race! He inhales his food and he's been eating 3 times a day plus an egg to bulk him up.
I'm still running and trying to figure out when we will get running in when school starts. I was really hoping this year to work 4 hours in the morning before I had to pick up my youngest from school. Unfortunately we've run into a little problem and I won't know until Thursday if I can even do it. Since we don't live in the district where the girls go to school, we were told that they could not take a bus from the Boys & Girls Club before school program to get to school when it was time. Over the summer the Elementary school was remodeled and they were starting a program over there as well. I thought I could drop my oldest off at the club and the youngest off at the elementary school program.
Now they have moved all the kids to the elementary school program and will bus the kids going to the middle school when it's time for them to start. Since my oldest will have to be bussed I don't think she can participate since we were told for insurance reasons she can't ride. Which is kind ridiculous since she rides the district buses for school events! They won't allow her to walk since it's 3/4 of a mile away. Which I find that hard to believe since the school is 3 maybe for 4 blocks away eachother.
I really want to be home for dinner with the girls and my husband as well. I did the calculations for the months ahead and I need to work at least 24 hours a week. 32 would be awesome, so regardless I will be going to work 5 days a week. I'm hoping next year I can whittle it down to 4 days of work. Not much creating is happening around here! Hopefully with the girls in school and Tues plus Weds off I can catch up on things!!!

Playing and Working

2009-08-04T06:31:00.001-07:00

Pirate Child
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

There has been lots of Tom foolary going on around here. My youngest decided she was going to be a pirate. That included robbing and looting all the money she could find. Which wasn't much since change usually goes on tables and doesn't stay in pants pockets. Then there was lots of sword jabbing. Translation tapping someone with flag and running away just in case there were consequences for her actions! It was a good day.
I think I may have broken my toe. I tried taking a picture to show you but they pretty greens, purples and yellows were washed out. It happened last Wednesday when I was running around for our surprise guest. Since we opened up the downstairs, There is a floor height difference of about one inch, maybe two. Well I was running from our kitchen to be, to the old kitchen and stubbed my toe. It hurt so bad but I've been abusing my foot all summer long so I thought nothing of it. I also dropped a coffee grinder on that foot too! Well two days later, it still hurt it started turning colors. It's slightly swollen hurts but I have a high pain tolerance, at least that's what I keep telling myself. I go to the doctors on Thursday for a physical, I'm just going to show her my toe too.
This morning I went running (walking) with my husband. I didn't make it that far. Half a block and I had to walk, then started running again and I didn't feel good. He said I looked yellow, I sort of felt like throwing up. Probably doesn't help with my toe. Half way through it started bothering me, definitely should get it checked out!
The movie quote from before "You are a murderer of love" is from Dan In Real Life. His middle daughter says it to him or should I say screams it at him. I really enjoyed the movie it was really funny!
Also watched Righteous Kill last night that was also very good. Love a twist ending may watch it again because it's one of those movies where you don't know the characters. So when you get to the end you wonder did I miss this? Or did that character say that?
Lots of chores today. 3 more days before my husband leaves! 8 before the children go.

Time Flies

2009-08-01T07:56:00.001-07:00

Iris
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Wow it's August and my youngest is done with her pre Kindgergarden program. She's only 4 but will be turning 5 in November. I was afraid she would be a very clingy child when we dropped her off for the program. She's very shy around strangers but she has been opening up and making friends. So I expect no tears from her in September
My husband will be leaving for a 10 day trip to Kansas for a class. On his way he's going to visit some clients of ours and take pictures of the hardware he did for their bathroom. So it works out because they couldn't get any good pictures of what they had installed. Then off to Kansas for an engraving class, he's been wanting to take.
I have 5 days off from work and them my MIL will pick up the girls and take them to 1,000 islands to visit my SIL. Which means pool time and goofing off with their cousin. Unfortunately that means back to the work place for me! Oh well someone's got to make the money right?!
For our anniversary I got my husband Netflix which means I can catch up on all my horror movies. I will also be borrowing my SIL's dog Eli to keep me company when my husband's gone. I don't like being in the house at night without another adult around. It's just a quirk of mine but I figured a huge dog will keep me company. Also alert me if anything goes wrong right? Sound good in theory anyways!
We've been playing a game with one of my co-workers, you give a movie line and they guess which movie it's from. It's made me realize I do not listen to movies at all! Seriously unless something catches my interest I forget 3/4 of the lines. Last night we got a good one, can you guess which movie it's from? You are a murderer of love!!!!
I'll tell you next week which movie. No cheating. Of course the only down fall of this game is if you haven't seen the movie!

Don't Let Us Shop For You!

2009-07-24T17:26:00.001-07:00

Maple
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I work in a grocery store for those who don't know. I work for 2 departments and the one department is called General Merchandise. When I work there I receive a lot of questions about products we have. Especially in the cold and tylenol section.
I had this gentlemen come up to me and ask if we carried migraine patches. Never heard of them and he didn't elaborate so I sent him to the pharmacy. Well the pharmacist comes back and shows him the tylenol section and asks me if I know where the cooling fever patches are.
Well if he told me that's what he was looking for I would have called the other lady I work with who works full time. Our department gets reset a lot and I knew we had them at one time but couldn't think of where they were. So I called the other woman and she comes right over.
She goes the shelf and pulls a box called Feverall. Explaining to him we had Cool Relief patches at one time and that this is all we had for now. It was the same thing but for babies. He looks at it and says he doesn't think it's going to work and leaves.
My co-worker and I start talking about the products they've discontinued. So she grabs the box and wonders why he didn't think it would work for him. She reads the label and gets really bright red. "OH NO" she states. I ask her what's wrong. "I should have read the package before handing it to him" I question her why. "These are infant suppositories!!! NOT fever patches like I thought they should be! No wonder why he couldn't use them! she says!
We proceed to laugh our asses off for the next 5 minutes because he never said told us that product wasn't what she thought it should be! Next time she's reading the box before offering it to a customer! That was one of the best days of work I have had in a long time!!!!!

Layout for house

2009-07-22T09:33:00.001-07:00

Layout for house
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Remember I said a long, long, long time ago we were remodeling? Well here is the layout to just our 1st floor. It doesn't have everything in it. Like the office has a closet in it, right in the upper corner because that was the old apartment's bedroom. Also this is the new design, so some of the walls aren't in the right place. My husband didn't include any windows, I don't know why. He's also missing the old kitchen's back door now that I look closer. Where off of that there is a very small enclosed porch.
If you can't read the writing here's the low down. The old kitchen, the blue area will be split into a laundry room and bathroom. Those are the wall that will be in place when he's done
The basement stairs which is the wall between the old kitchen and new kitchen pantry will be moved to the white area, under the stairs that go to the 2nd floor.
The green section will be our new kitchen with an alcove sitting area. There are windows on all 3 sides and we can see our driveway. We get enough wild life that it will be enjoyable. Also can keep an eye on the road. The fridge may be going into the pantry and there will be a full pull out shelving unit that will block the fridge when opened but when closed won't. That's where the basement stairs are now. We couldn't figure out any other place to put the fridge and pantry so they may move again. The kitchen gets an island and 2 stoves. That's what my husband has been working on lately. Ripping the plaster down, electric and putting in short walls to house the stoves.
The red area is our library, which has a woodstove in it already. There will be a back door for the wood some day. Hopefully a deck too, that the wood can sit on.
The foyer, we aren't sure what's going on there. Maybe a closet but not sure where or how.
Dining room and office not much will happen to them. The opening you are looking at between the two rooms is bigger than what's there right now.
We arrived back from Falling Water last night. Well or should I say this morning because it was 1am. It was really cool. I'm not a huge fan of Frank Lloyd Wright but I can appreciate his incorporating nature into his designs. Of course the last hour maybe half hour it poured! There were small rivers everywhere! Thankfully I wore my sandals. We did go the the point where you see the house and the waterfall. It was worth it. The dirty water flowing down matches the house exactly! Seriously, I wonder if that is why he made it that off color.
Unfortunately they do not allow any public posting of photos!!! Which sucks because it would want me to go visit some place more seeing photos. So I don't know what I'm going to do. I would love to show them off but ...
On totally off topic news, my husband won a design contest! For a beer label. It's big unveiling is in August but he will be away for it. So he wins bragging rights. Which makes him happy. It's from a local brewery and I'll give you more details when I know more!

Blackberry Freezer Pops

2009-07-19T13:50:00.001-07:00

Blackberry Freezer Pops
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I just love when kids are messy from eating. I know it's probably not normal but how can you not love how she looks with her homemade freezer pop all over her face? You don't get stained in that color from store bought ones!
Where is the summer going? My anniversary is this week and I can't believe how it's flown? Of course working 32 hours a week probably helps the time go quickly. I feel like everything is falling way behind. Making clothes for the girls, knitting hats for my friend's new son (who only received one knit hat), Christmas gifts and all that good stuff.
I maybe able to play catch on Tuesday when we drive down to PA for Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water. My husband paid extra so we can take pictures! I couldn't believe you have to pay more to take pictures but if I'm going to drive 6 hours, I want something to look back at. On the way we are going to stop at Anthropologie! Woohoo! The first time I will be able to go into to the store and not just look at the catalog. I've heard it's cheaper to go to the store for the sales than shop online. I will let you know what I found out.
On health news, my blood pressure is going up. It was getting scary low when I was working nights. When I was super tired it would be 93/57. I took it this weekend it was 112/67. A huge improvement since I've been sleeping nights and trying to go to sleep at 9pm when I have to get up at 5am or earlier!
Have I mentioned that I got my husband Netflix for our anniversary? I love it! We are catching up on a lot of movies. Well I am. My mother never let me watch movies that were PG-13 or above. Seriously I've never seen Caddyshack, The Graduate, Top Gun or any of those movies in that time period. I'm slowly catching up and loving it! If you don't have cable (like we do) I recommend it!
BTW it's our 13th year anniversary. I will be married longer than my parents were after this year. Woohoo! I'm sure we will be married for another 13 after this!

Alone In The House

2009-07-11T08:04:00.001-07:00

Letchworth
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I am currently alone in the house. No children, husband but 3 cats. My kids went to a family reunion in Maryland. My husband is teaching a class about chasing and I am waiting to start my day. Enjoying my coffee and listening to the thunderstorm roll into town!
I have been busy working 5 days a week only 32 hours. Which is fine with me. Trying to keep it to day's but I am working 1:30pm-10pm today because two kids gave their 2 weeks notice. I'm really bummed out because they are guys and I love working with guys. No PMS, nasty little comments or general bitchiness. The one guy and I will definitely stay in touch. Our love for dumb movies and Dane Cook will keep us in touch. Plus he likes a girl and he enjoys talking about her. I think it's interesting getting a guy's point of view on relationships! There's never any drama, just the facts and some goofiness added in to make it funny.
My sewing machine is in the shop for a tune up. A tune up that will cost me almost $100! Holy moly! I hope they are doing it with gold tools because I may have to get a job tuning up sewing machines. I can't be forking out $200 a year to have her looked at.
My 13 year anniversary is coming up on the 25th. I got my husband Netflix which we both have been enjoying! When we are waiting for movies to arrive, we are able to watch instant downloads. So in 2 weeks we've watched 10 movies. Plus the girls have watched The Muppets! I'm still fascinated with how they did all the puppetery!
My gift or should I say our gift from my husband is a trip to PA. Where we will see Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Waters! I'm excited! I would like to see all his buildings one day.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Shirt to Dress

2009-07-01T17:09:00.001-07:00

Shirt to Dress
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Here's another vintage item I received from my Uncle. A polyester blouse, I loved the pattern but didn't like the cut. It had shoulder pads, uber yuck! On the plus side it's nice and light weight for summer.
I cut the sleeves off, took another shirt from my daughter and measured the arm holes. Then guesstimated the length of the sleeve and traced it to the curve of the arm hole. Did a little A line action too. Sewed. Added domino ribbon for a belt with an albalone shell and voila. Cute summer dress in less than 1 hour!

Ch Ch Changes!

2009-07-01T10:01:00.001-07:00

Ceramic Bird Feeder
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

So we just did our yearly local summer artisan show and look at this cute ceramic bird feeder I picked up! I just love it and it looks like a fairy house to me, so even better. He did recommend changing the rope to metal because squirrels will chew through the rope. Well we don't have any squirrels and haven't for a long time. There's a fox hole very close to our house and they eat all the squirrels. Seriously we have seen red squirrels but they never are seen for more than a few days, that's how efficient they are.
Anyways if you are interested in getting one of these for yourself. Dutch Hill Pottery makes these. They live in NYS and I think this was their first year doing the show here . I could be wrong, there was 30 new vendors this year and sometimes I don't get so see everything all the time. They also do mugs, which may be something I will get next year. So take a look at what they have. I haven't even checked out there website yet!
I am hopefully moving to days! Woohoo! I work all days this week at least, since one of the ladies I work with is on vacation. So my schedule is a little wonky but I'm getting more sleep! Lots of running around now that school is over.
My oldest got herself grounded the 1st day of summer. She went to the creek with my permission but wasn't supposed to go over her knees since we just had major down pours early. My boss was coming over for dinner and I went to go find my daughter so she could get changed. Well I found her and her friends clothes but no children. I quickly dragged my youngest to my neighbors and ran a 1/2 mile back to the creek. I then tried fighting the current and proceeded up stream as fast as I could go. The current was strong because of the rains and unfortunately there is very little bank because it's in a mini ravine. I probably went a 1/2 mile up stream when I finally heard them! Never saw how far away they were because once I knew they were safe I just couldn't walk anymore. My feet were bruised, cut and sore since the creek is slimy and jagged!
On a positive note my boss has realized that her lifestyle wasn't helping her. She's trying to give up drinking (she comes from a long line of alcoholics, so I'm sure it's very hard to) and eat healthier. She dumped her friend and boyfriend who were getting her into serious drugs and toxic relationships. She has gone to planned parenthood and takes a cab when she's drunk! I'm really happy that she is finally making good choices. I'm hoping that she continues!
I have also decided that even though I love my mother our relationship is not healthy either. She always trying to bully me, put me down, etc... The finally straw happened 2 Fridays ago when she called early in the morning. I was still in bed but answered the phone. She's become a distributor for a MLM company that sells BioMats. The claims they are making are ridiculous, that there product detoxifies the body, cures cancer, etc... My mom has been trying to get me over her house for months to try it out. Now the company sent out a newsletter that the pope met the owners and approves of the BioMat. It's complete BS. I went to the site and they never met the pope, they received a photo of him. He doesn't approve of the BioMat he just thanked them for their donations to AIDS orphans in Africa. Big difference in stories.
I called her and told her I really wasn't interested in trying it out (finally)! She told me she wanted to help me and I told her I don't need help. There is nothing seriously wrong with me. Yes I have scoliosis but it really doesn't bother me unless I do something like trying to move to heavy totes at work. I thought we were fine and then she calls back to flip out on me. She took my "No" personally and went on to tell me I was a negative person. That I had to research everything and believe nothing. So we started arguing about science which really there was no point, she's not going to believe anything I say anyways. We ended it with a I love you but do not want to discuss this ever again with her.
I was greatly hurt by all that she said and I realized she doesn't know me at all. She never visits or sees her grandchildren, which saddens me because they are beautiful little girls. But they are children and do not fit into her perfectly neat house with white rugs. She can't have impromptu to visits because it doesn't fit into her extremely controlled schedule.
My brother's and I grew up with never being allowed to have friends over, no sleep overs, limited phone calls, etc... When we finally were allowed to date my mother thought we were all going out and having orgies I'm sure. She never said it but she always hinted that we were up to no good. Even in college I had to be home by 11pm when I was home for the summer. So my brother's and I learned to sneak out of the house. I don't want my daughter's to be part of the cycle anymore and I don't want them to hear the cruel things adults can say to each other. We will spend Christmas and Thanksgiving together but there won't be much outside of that.

One more thing, I forgot that changed around here. Our kitten isn't named Persephone, anymore. We have renamed her Scrappy Coco. After the character in Don't Mess With Zohan, we totally love the name and it fits her so much. She is a scrappy little punk with a good heart!

New Outfit

2009-06-23T15:06:00.001-07:00

New Outfit
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Look at this bright new outfit I made for my youngest. Of course the tutorial said the the top should only take an hour. It took me 3 because I put the quilt squares down the middle. So you have to check this amazing blog called Indie Tutes? Or Just Tutes which is what my bookmark tells me. Both these patterns are there. The top is the peasant blouse and the skirt is twirl skirt. Mine doesn't twirl that much because I goofed and didn't compensate for a big derriere!
It's a hot hot day here and soooo green, my daughter looks green too. The sun was just reflecting the grass color everywhere!

Another Vintage Item

2009-06-21T16:19:00.001-07:00

Another Vintage Item
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Here's another really cool vintage item that my oldest loves. A manual typewriter, which she uses everyday! Note if you want reasonably priced typewriter ribbon and do not want to pay $20 for 1 roll. Go to any office supply store and get it there. Note the size (I think we needed a half inch) and you may have to re-roll it but it a heck of a lot cheaper. We only paid $7 and a little bit of work.

One more note, we bought the ribbon at Office Max. I don't know if they are only in the US.
My schedule will be changing next week because no more school for the kids or the hubby! Woohoo more sleep for me! Maybe fore blogging and other things. This up coming weekend is a local art show that my husband does every year. I got off from work well technically my boss begged me to work Friday and then Sunday. Then my husband (cough lie) volunteered me to help with the show. He sets up the show layout and everyone always goes to him for everything even though the layout is all he does. So I'm sure I will be volunteering to do something sometime!
On a sad note one of the kids I work with is leaving. He's the one that showed me who Dane Cook is and how much I love dumb movies! Maybe I should say immature, nothing makes me laugh harder than a good immature movie! We are all kids at heart I believe.
The skirt I hoped to have done by now needs another panel. I shouldn't have measured my youngest waist. I should have measured her toosh! She has the biggest butt in the family and now I have to add another panel to get the skirt over her big butt!
I'm also trying to learn Spanish. Driving into work at midnight does have it's perks. I get to listen to radio that I wouldn't normally hear. Have you heard of lingq.com? Well I listened to it and I've always wanted to learn a 2nd language and the guy created this website to do so for free. There are parts that you do have to pay for but I think you can pretty much do it for free.

Vintage Fabulous

2009-06-16T12:17:00.001-07:00

vintage
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Here's the first of the many vintage items I received from my Uncle. Three leather purses which are in excellent condition. The two black ones have mirrors glued in them, which is really cool. They are big and thick mirrors, it's cool to see how purses were made in those days. The one on the left does have a glue issue. The top separated from the locking enclosure but they can be glued back together.
Also check out the gorgeous Hawaiian fabric! I love the colors, my favorite green. I'm guessing it's from the early 70's or late 60's. I'm sure it was probably my mother's because I don't think my grandmother was into sewing. I know a lot of her stuff was packed up and put away when she passed away.
I've had enough of the late night shifts. I just can't do it anymore. My sleep debt is sky rocketing like our nation's debt and it has to stop.
I've asked to not work Weds overnights. My park jobs at home are getting worse and worse. My husband didn't think it was possible but I can park the car sideways when backing up! Also I've totally messed up paying 2 bills this month. I sent my phone bill check to the student loan billing place and the verizon check went to the ACS billing. Now ACS cashed the Verizon check but Verizon denies receiving payment. I'm guessing they tossed it out because the check should have been cashed a week ago. I've checked my check book and it's not there. I remember giving my husband both envelopes when he went to the post office. So there's a check out there that will expire in less than 60 days. I'm not going to cancel it because I'm not going to pay $50 for a check that no one can cash at this point. Also they have to match my Sharpie marker that I used to alter it.
There's my life, woohoo to catching up on my sleep.

Birthday In The Park

2009-06-10T12:50:00.001-07:00

Letchworth
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

This past Saturday we were invited to my SIL's niece's birthday party at Letchworth State Park. I had gone when I was very young or maybe I hadn't because I had gotten in trouble. Hmmm, anyways, we had a great time. The day was perfectly beautiful. If you've ever been to Buffalo or even certain parts of NYS, it can be perfect one minute and then the worst weather hits so quick that it makes you think the world is ending.
This picture was taken by the upper falls and this was just one of many rainbows that could be seen. My husband brought his polarizing filter so you can actually see the rainbows. He's so smart sometimes.
We walked a very small portion of it. We did go to the very top which had a nice bench and view of the road and trees. See this bridge? It's for trains not people but as we waited for the rest of the group to make it to the top, four guys rain across it. Just the thought of it is enough to make me nauseous! Plus how dangerous if they didn't time it right and a train had to go over it.
My youngest was fine walking all the way up but trying to get a her in a picture smiling, not likely to happen. I think she thought I was going to toss her over the edge. LOL
My oldest after looking at the 7 mile map declared we should walk to the lower falls. Hahaha which was only 5 miles away. Having only had 5 hours of sleep, it was quickly decided that we wouldn't be home in time for me to get any good sleep that night, if we did.
I have lots of things to show you. I've been sewing like a mad woman. Have received some great vintage purses, a table, lamp and fabric from my uncle. My family (biological mother's) are going to be putting my grandfather in a home soon. He has Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, his care is becoming more and more difficult for my uncle who is no spring chicken himself. My Aunt and Uncle's are cleaning out his house and repainting it. I wonder if they are going to get rid of the shag carpet. I'm curious but didn't want to ask. It kind of dates how old the house is. Plus the color is enough to make anyone go ewww. Seriously what were people thinking when they made orange shag carpet? It's not pretty at all!

Heat Plus Kitten Equals Misery

2009-06-07T16:01:00.001-07:00

Kitten Lion
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

It occurred to me when we had our 1st heat wave that the kitten would be miserable. It was 75 mild and humidity and she was lying on the floor stretched from toe to toe like she was stuck in the Sahara. If she was acting like that and it wasn't officially hot, how would she be when the weather did turn to the unbearable.
So we talked to some people who groom their dogs if it's possible to shear a cat. We came to the conclusion that it was depending upon her temperament. Since she's been with 2 children, one dog and 2 other cats we would give it a try. If she didn't like it we would not go through with it.
After all that worrying, she was fine with it. Her fur was sooooo thick that when we were done, it was like there was another kitten on the table. It did take longer than we had anticipated so we left her with the lioness look. She's a lot happier now. Her fur grows slow (we found this out when we got her fixed) so by the time the cool weather comes, she'll have a full fur coat to keep her warm.
Here's Luna checking out her new look. Smells like kitten, licks like kitten, yep it's a kitten!

Simply Perfect

2009-06-02T07:34:00.001-07:00

Iris
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Yesterday the girls picked the iris's in our backyard. They don't seem to last more than 24 hours once they bloom here. I sat down to eat dinner and I looked up and thought this is so beautiful. Doesn't it look like the flower is doing ballet? I had to take pictures. Flowers always look like they are made out of silk crepe to me. So thin and fine almost if you touched them they would disappear.
My life feels like the scene from Alice in Wonderland when they are playing crochet with the queen. Then toss in the insanity of the Mad Hatter and that's how work has been. It's hard to stand by and watch managers flip out on people. Seriously our one manager has MAJOR anger issues and he chooses the weak to prey on. Yesterday it was the 74 year old maintenance guy. Why?! because he took to long to get to the part of the store where he was needed. I think they are just trying to upset him so he quits. I know he can't because his wife has cancer. He only works weekends to get the medical coverage through the store. After he was cussed out (he is deeply religious too) so I'm sure he really didn't appreciate being talked to like that, he was told to go home.
Add to that, that my requests for days off have been disappearing and I'm really upset! I know the whole year in advance when I need to get off. Shows and when my husband teaches classes, toss in the occasional party or art opening and that's it. So in January I wrote down requests for the 1st 7 months. Which seems like a lot but it's not. I need those days off. Well someone has been throwing out my requests and other people in our department. Which coincides with when our manager wants off. I am taking those days and I told the other people who it happened to that we gave her months notice and she can and needs to find help.
I have a dream of owning my own small grocery store. I see all the dysfunction and know that there has to be a better way to run things. It would have natural lighting, sky lights, a pitched roof because it snow's here, a waterfall inside, an air purification system because grocery stores are filthy and do set off allergies, the employees would own part of the business so they would want it to do well and I would reserve the right to kick people out for bullying, stealing and just inappropriate behavior. Just because people go shopping doesn't mean they have to act like we are torturing them. By the time some customers get up to the registers they take their frustrations out of their cashiers. So many cashier's hate customers because of how they been treated. I've seen a new cashier who is working their first job go and be happy to help the customers, with a happy light in their eyes. Only to leave their shift in a daze because of how they've been treated. So if you are happy with your shopping experience let your cashier know. They will really appreciate it!

Home Renovations!

2009-05-28T10:39:00.001-07:00

Fern
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

With the weather heating up, our house remodeling is being thought out. Ok, who am I kidding, my husband and I are both artist's it probably thought about 10's a day!
Should I start off by telling you that when we first bought our house it was actually a house and an apartment? It would probably make more sense when I talk about the two kitchens. The front 2 rooms and the side room belonged to the apartment. It was okay but we are private people and after our last tenant (who we had to evict) we decided no more. Yes we would miss the money but we weren't getting paid on time anyways so it didn't make a huge dent in our finances. Then we opened up the walls. I will find a layout drawing we have someplace so it will be easier to follow.
Anyways we are moving our kitchen into the apartment kitchen. Our kitchen will become the laundry room (yeah), mud room and bathroom. Yes it's that big and awkward since there are no cupboards in our kitchen, not that there are cupboards in the other kitchen but you know we are used to it.
In our new kitchen we will have an island. I'm really psyched about it. We are scraping it together with materials we have around the house. Things always sound better in planning but when in use. You sometimes wonder what you were thinking. Can you tell we've done that before?
Plus I'm 5'3" and my husband's 6'3" there will be counter height issues no doubt.
On sewing news I have all the pieces cut out for my daughter's shorts. Is it me or are patterns becoming less instructive? Seriously, I'm looking at these shorts and they are using this one pattern piece for 3 things. Which is fine if they said 2 of the pieces need to be up and one down when cutting. Then when you put it together it doesn't really say it's piece 14. All of the sudden it jumps to, now that this is done and you have this sewn up already ... this is what you do next. Huh? Wait when did I sew this piece up? Oh wait it magically sews it's self! Awesome! I didn't know it was the magical pattern kit.
On Memorial Day I went up to my brother's and planted 3/4 of our shared garden with my sister in law. It took forever. How long is forever? 3 1/2 hours probably closer to over 4. Then we turned on the sprinkler and proceeded to empty their well out faster than it refilled. Opps. Luckily it had refilled by the morning for showers!
I hope everyone is having a beautiful and warm day!

Quilted Rug

2009-05-20T16:13:00.001-07:00

Quilted Rug
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Here's my kitchen rug. Nothing super fancy and really put together as quick as I could. It has a polar fleece blanket for the back. It's kind of why it doesn't fit a rectangle properly. The blanket had rounded corners.
It's sqooshy and that's what I wanted. Plus it's in the kitchen getting wet and easily dirty.
Other things I've been up to is making handmade deodarant. I took angry chicken's recipe (link later, I have to work in 15 minutes) modified it a little bit. I'm going to modify it more because I substituted 1 TBLS shea butter for 1 TBLS coconut oil and they have different melting temperatures. So it's super melty in parts and where the shea butter is not so melty in the beginning. I love the scents though and my oldest got to pick her own. Right now I'm using Rosewood and I can't remember the other scent I made. Maybe sandalwood. I also add tea tree oil because it's anti bacterial, anti viral and anti fungal. I haven't had any problems when I sweat. Thank goodness. Always disliked when my deodarant failed and I was out working or in public!

So Many Things So Little Time

2009-05-19T16:09:00.001-07:00

Felt Trees
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Do you ever feel so overwhelmed that you can't figure out if you'll ever have enough time to do everything you want? These trees are something I wanted to work on at Christmas time but it didn't happen. I had to catch up on season finale's of TV, so I decided now was the time. This is probably as far as they will get.
Last week when I thought I was sleep deprived (which I was) I also had hurt my back at work. I have scoliosis so sometimes I don't know that I did something until it's really painful or I feel really off. Usually when my back it out I have right knee pain and lower chest pain. The way my spine curves it actually makes my right leg longer and pops my rib out of wack. So it will pinch me. Not comfy at all. This time it's opposite of usually what happens and was in my neck. So I've been having dizzy spells. When I look up or down and sometimes to the left. Yesterday I went to the chiropractor and I go back next Tuesday.
The new system at work isn't working. I'm supposed to do signs only and the assistant to my boss is doing my job. Plus on Sunday's she's only giving me order codes for the signs and not what they should say or where they belong in the store. So I'm getting less done and slightly frustrated when I have to ask her where they go. She looks at the list and the sign and points at a UPC # where it belongs. I told her and I'm supposed to figure this out how? She told me I would get used to doing it. LOL, I guess I need a chip implanted in my brain so I can read UPC numbers.
In my other department corporate has acknowledge that the new warehouse is having issues with packing our merchandise that comes in. They are over packing, over stacking and then putting the super heavy items on top. Which is how I hurt myself. It's going to take them 6 months to solve the problem. That's a long time in my books.
So here's the really funny thing that I've been giggling about all weekend. Since the one department has downsized I work closely with this one kid who is 18. He's funny, really funny. Plus we like horrors movies and Dane Cook so we are always quoting lines from his movies. Which makes work a tiny bit more fun. Since he's a jokester, he decide about a month ago to dye his hair all blond. He had really dark hair before and he's super tall so he looked like a Q-tip with eyebrows. He then decided to give himself a mohawk and dye the blond part green. Well this has upset one of the managers in the store. The one who is in charge of the one department that is falling to pieces. So he gave the mohawk kid the riot act about his hair at the same time giving him a pep talk about being an individual and expressing his individuality. It was the oddest lecture I heard. So mohawk tells the manager, the guy who does the hiring and is in charge of dress code, didn't have a problem and told him he didn't have to wear a hat. So the manager kind of shakes his head and walks away.
Fast forward to this weekend. He re-dyes his mohawk blond and then dyes the blond pink. So the manager again comes into the office and starts flipping on him for doing it pink. My boss and her assistant are there for it . The assistant tells him that his mother has breast cancer and that it's his way of supporting her. He back tracks and is all "well breast cancer", well that's really noble. His mother doesn't have breast cancer, he just did it because he can. So now this manager thinks this kid is really great and etc... If he wasn't such a jerk someone would tell him but we'll let him think that for a while. Life, it's all about perspective!

The Way Things Go

2009-05-12T15:24:00.001-07:00

Grape Hyacinth
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I've had 2 nights off from work this week and I cut out early on Mother's Day! I will probably have to work tonight. Our truck has been missing for the one department I work in. It should have arrived Sunday night but as I got ready for work, I received a phone call to not come in. Well since I had taken a nap I couldn't get back to sleep until 1:30am. But I've been reading The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, so it was time well spent.
You don't realize how sleep deprived you are until you actually get sleep! It's amazing. No wonder I never feel 100%!
I've also been busy making a quilted kitchen rug for our house. I got the idea from Soul Mama. Since there is tons of fabric around here still and I have rectangles left over from the quilted dress, I thought this will work out great. I like circles, so I'm making lots of circles and using a polar fleece blanket as my backing.
I took pictures of the flowers from my neighbors garden. I love the colors and how they look like little balloons or skirts.

Patchwork Dress

2009-05-08T09:44:00.001-07:00

Patchwork Dress
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I finished! It's not as flowing as I wanted but the fabric was getting heavy. I was afraid that if it was too heavy she wouldn't wear it. It is a beautiful day today. I hope everyone has a gorgeous weekend!

Sewing Is My Zen

2009-05-05T09:57:00.001-07:00

Patchwork Skirt
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

So here's the 8 tiers I have finished. My cat decided to slide underneath and get into the photo. On the right is her peeking out at the camera. With my other cat in the background ignoring all that is going on. The kitten is sleeping. She's already tired out from running around and terrorizing the house this morning.
I'm start the decreasing rows first. I think and hope it's easier to figure those out first and then add on more length. I've already had to rip and re-sew 2 tiers on because I didn't pay attention to the way the curve was going.
So a refresher for anyone who wonders what I'm doing and a reminder to myself. I cut 2" by 3" rectangles. I then made marks on every other rectangle so I would sew them into trapezoids. So it's giving the skirt curve and reminds me which way is up.
I'm currently sewing on all the tiers I have to figure out if I need to cut more rectangles or not.

Kitten In A Basket

2009-05-04T15:39:00.001-07:00

Kitten In A Basket
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Nothing is cuter than a kitten in a basket. Well to me at least. Here's Persiphone but we really don't use that name. We still call her kitten. Maybe when she's older it will stick but for right now she's kitten.
You'll probably notice that her belly is shaved. She was fixed 3 weeks ago and was fine at first. She had complications and we don't know exactly why. Her stitches healed but her belly swelled up where the stitches were. She had a fever and wasn't eating, unless you put canned food on her finger and fed her that way. She had her stitches removed early and went on antibiotics. She's doing great now. I was worried because she lost a lot of weight. When you only weigh a little over 6 pounds you can't shed a lot.
At work our whole way of doing things in the one department has changed. We are mirroring the way another store does their work load. Which is fine but the responsibility of signs for the weekend is put all on me. I'm a mover, shaker and I don't not enjoy being cooped up in a cold office where the cold air return is. Plus our computers are one step above the 1st computers ever invented. Seriously remember or can you remember the first computers made? They were big bulky and had black screens and the green letters for typing things in? That's are how ours are but a step or 2 above because we don't have to c/: to do anything. We have menus to pick numbers and can flip through their.
My one boss has been asked to quit her other job so she can work till midnights on Saturdays and they are giving her 48 hours a week so she is making up for that lost money. All this sounds great but she's still partying 3 nights a week like a rock star. I'm sure she's drinking and driving. I thought she had only one incident with hard core drugs but now it seems like it happens more often than she wants to admit. Plus one of her good friends put her drug stash in my bosses purse.
I've tried telling her that this person is not a friend but she keeps pointing out her good qualities.
I honestly hope she gets arrested. Seriously, I think it's the wake up call she needs or has a brush with the police. I've tried telling her that some people are no good, evil, etc... That they are selfish and only look out for themselves. It falls on deaf ears.
Looking back at my life I shouldn't be surprised that she's like this. It took a friend 2 years to realize he was messing up his life. A trip to the psyche ward was his first scare and he hated his family and thought his father was his savior for bailing him out. After living with his even more psycho girl friend he realized how low people can go and he didn't want craziness to define his life.
On the positive side I am working on the dress squares. I have 5 tiers done. I'm going to be ironing today to see how many more I can add on. I thought I would need like 570 squares, I maybe need more than that! Yikes!!!

Playing Instead Of Sleeping

2009-04-29T07:48:00.001-07:00

melia1
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

So this is what happens at our house when we are supposed to be sleeping. I had to work on Sunday night and peeked in on my youngest and this how I found her. She had taken a Crayola washable marker to bed and drawn all over herself. Her legs match her face. She got a quick washcloth bath and then soaked in the tub yesterday. The blue is gone. All the hair is in her face because she tried hiding under the blanket when we proceeded to get her up for the washing. Big thanks go out to my husband for taking care of her so I wasn't late for work.
I'm working on her patchwork dress and have tons of little squares. Still not sure how many I will need. It was super hot yesterday and I planted lettuce and peas in the garden.
I was supposed to have a nice Sunday off because my husband was teaching a class. Unfortunately we failed our pre-audit for pricing and are "supposedly" not allowed to ask off anymore. I had to work from 6pm Saturday to 2:30am Sunday. I've had my fill of working in my one department. My boss doesn't have a backbone and shouldn't be in charge she's young and needs to grow up. Her inability to take a look at what's wrong and how can it be fixed is really hurting the department. She decided on Friday or Thursday that no one would have the weekend off but didn't tell everyone. So one of the kids didn't show up for his shift. He had asked for the whole weekend off and since he was given Friday and Saturday off why shouldn't he have Sunday off too? I know he's going to be written up but I do not think he was at fault at all. He was never told that his request was denied nor was he called Sunday morning to be told he was late.
I hope my boss realizes she's not doing a good job and steps job down. We need some one with more experience and one who can over see all that needs to be done. Without worrying if anyone gets angry with for telling them things need to be done differently.

About 570ish

2009-04-21T11:25:00.001-07:00

Quilting Squares
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

So here is my progress on the patchwork tank dress. I did some quick (bad) math and will probably need 570 rectangles. Give or take 100. I decided to make the rectangles 2 inches by 3 inches. The 1st row will probably be 4 feet long and get shorter as they go up.
I'm saving all my mini scraps from the cuts. I just don't want to throw the stuff out that can be used. They range from 1/4 inch by 2 inches, to much bigger. If anyone is in need of mini scraps for doll quilts, mini appliqués, e-mail or leave a comment. I'd be willing to help out anyone who wants these left overs. I will probably be done cutting this weekend.
Should I mention, I'll pay for shipping!?

Look What I Bought

2009-04-17T09:58:00.001-07:00

Heather Ross Mendocino
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I know I've been slow in blogging but I think about it all the time. This week I've been sick. Seriously winter is almost over and I end up with a fever on Saturday/Sunday. Now I'm still congested and losing my voice! Yeah, plus my oldest is off from school and I can't yell when she's terrorizing her sister. Ugh. Today I'm finally feeling like I may recover sometime soon. Woot!
I did buy fabric for the girls to make some summer clothes. The fabric on the right will be shorts. If I ordered properly I may be able to use all 3 to make a top like I saw in Garnet Hill. The Crisscross Camisole for those interested. The link may not work but I will post a picture at a later date.
I'm thinking the sea horse fabric (bottom left) for the top and the shorts fabric for the tie. Leaving the mermaids for the bottom of the camisole. Of course this is all in my head. I still have to figure out a pattern.
I need like 2 weeks off from work to work on this and the dress for my youngest. I know you are think what dress. Here is my inspiration! I just love it! Have a great weekend!

No Self Worth, Don't Add Alcohol

2009-04-15T07:03:00.001-07:00

My Birthday 2009
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

This is me and my brother on my birthday. I don't drink a lot and well neither does he. We were just goofing off.
This is a very serious blog entry, where some may disagree. It's just my thoughts & observations and actually doesn't have anything to do with me or my family but it's something I have observed and wanted to tell what I've seen.
As most of you know I work with people of all ages but mostly underage (aka 18) and early 20's.
Before I quit my job 3 years ago, I was aware of the underage drinking that went on but never really thought it was a problem. Now that I'm back, I'm amazed at how many teenagers there are participating in it. I feel if you drink, do it responsibly. Teenagers are like mice, they will find a way to do what they want. By lying, sneaking around, etc... I know my girl's will one day be faced with choices like these kids are facing today. I expect them to be honest. If they are going to at a party and there's going to be drinking let me know. If they need a ride, I will pick them up. I'd rather them be safe than in the hospital or worse.
There's tons of uncaught DWI's going on around here. I always tell the drinkers of age & under no DWI's. It falls on deaf ears for the ones who think they are invincible. Others totally agree because they are scared to get caught drinking.
I think tons of stupid decisions are made when drinking. I always knew my limit and stopped. I'm amazed at those who are of age, who do the dumbest things! Seriously, you have a new boyfriend and you were making out with your girlfriend who's boyfriend was taking pictures of you guys when you were drunk on your new boyfriend's camera? I just can not feel pity for you. I have bit my tongue many times because of dumb situations like this. I do not think you can blame alcohol. One because if you are a girl and you have no interest in girls, then why in the world are you doing it?! Also you have a new boyfriend who has trust issues.... I wonder why? Does he sense you can't say no when alcohol is involved? Grow a pair and stand up for yourself because people are and will walk all over you.
I don't need to watch soap opera's there is enough drama around here, I don't have to watch.
My observations is that most parents have stopped communicating to with their children about these issues. It's no, you may not do it, we are not going to talk about (sex included), there are sooo many parents who don't talk to their kids about having safe sex! Which pisses them off and they carry it into their 20's with them. So they don't talk about it still with their parents and do not have relationships where they can be truly honest. They have to drink themselves into stupors and blame the drinking. It wasn't my fault, I was taken advantage of. I can't be held responsible I was not there cognitively!
So I have started talking early to my oldest because she's receptive to listening. I know you think that is way to young but I know of someone who started drinking in 5th grade. Seriously that's how old my daughter is. I can't imagine her getting alcohol and consuming it but it does happen.
It's a big scary world we live in and I worry. I worry for those teenagers who don't make good decisions. Those who are in their 20's who still are on the road of bad decisions. Then I worry my children will ignore their common sense and keep me up at night.

Crocus

2009-04-08T15:35:00.001-07:00

Crocus
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

About a week ago we had beautiful spring time weather. Now the frozen spring flowers are all that we have here. Everyday I take the dog out in the morning and he sniffs at these poor little crocus's. I'm surprised he hasn't tried to eat them yet.
So it's April and that means tomorrow is my birthday. I've decided I'm definitely not counting how old I am. I'm just going to add, which means I'm eight this year! Woohoo. If you have no clue what I'm talking about here's where you need to go.
I finally delivered the baby gifts yesterday and they are well loved. Plus I found out no one has given her any cloth diapers yet. She's having another shower so she's hoping to get some then. I will finish using up all my yarn and make at least 3 more newborn ones.
In September my youngest will be heading out for a half day of kindergarden and I will get a chance to work days. There is a before school program that I can sign the girls up for so I can work a 4 hour shift. I've let all my bosses know (yes I have 3 bosses now) that this is what is going on. I really want to stop doing 8 hours on Sundays. Plus the 2am or 4am ending shifts are not fun at all. It takes a toll on me on Monday's, Tuesday's and sometimes Wednesday's. So is the working the 32 hours a week but I think if my sleep schedule was the same almost all the time, I could deal with it better.
So the change is in the air and I'm definitely looking forward to it. Another positive note, I will have paid off my last credit card this month! So excited. Of course the car needs new tires and the kitten needs to get fixed but that frees up a large sum of money. Next to conquer is helping my husband with business debt. Plus the building next to us is going to be for sale next year. It would open up a lot of teaching opportunities for my husband. He will be able to do week long classes if people are interested in the summer.

More Baby Gifts

2009-04-06T17:28:00.001-07:00

Curly Purly Woolie
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

So tomorrow is the day I drop off the baby gifts and I'm still working on a knit woolie by Curly Purly. They knit up fast I just made a booboo with the pattern. It's what happens when you are tired and trying to read patterns and can't remember what you just read.
So I decided to put an N on the woolie so they'd know what size it was. I'm working on a small right now and tired parents don't always pay attention to details. The bib is just like the yellow bib below except double the size and I added a pocket to catch food. So it becomes a toddler bib. I will never knit a bib again. They take way to much time and patience and right now, I need fast projects to get everything done I want to.

Knitted Bibs

2009-04-01T10:21:00.001-07:00

Knitted Bibs
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Here is part of my extremely late baby shower gifts for my friend who is having her first child. They do not look like the bibs in the books I made them from. I followed the patterns but the neck area looks too small. Is it because my youngest is making them look to small since she's 4? I don't know. The other problem with these is they have to be ironed to lay flat. How many mother's want to iron bibs? I'm hoping my friend has an ironing fetish like I do and is willing to do it for these bibs. Or maybe I need to offer to come over and iron them!
I have one more bib that is toddler sized. At least I'm hoping it will be! Drying in the dryer. All it needs is a button and to be ironed and it will be complete!
The last part of her gift is woolies for the baby to be. She's going all natural and is using cloth diapers. I figured she wouldn't get many of those. So they are last on my to knit list for her.
See the blue fabric in back?! From my quilting neighbor who is letting me borrow blue fabrics for my next sewing project. I'm super psyched and can't wait to show you my inspiration! I'm also sick of knitting and need to get sewing. Plus my machine needs a tune up too. So much to do sooo little time! Anyone feeling the spring time pressure?

Don't Read The News, Read Blogs!

2009-03-30T17:17:00.001-07:00

Hand Sewn Slippers
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I am great disappointed in the news lately and the people in the news. It's all death and destruction! Ugh how depressing. Have people gone mad lately or are they just letting their inner evil out. If you read the news then you know I'm talking about the gunman & nursing home and the brother harming his sisters. This happened in the last few days! My thoughts go out to the families, friends and all involved!
So I would rather read blogs than the news. At least they are cheery, positive and good reads! Take note news people, that's why we want! Even if the other stuff is happening too.
So I made these slippers months ago for my youngest. Strange thing about slippers and socks in this house. Once they're made, they can never be together in the same room. It's just not possible. So I cornered both of these girls and rounded them up. They are made from the Martha Stewart patterns found here. She uses felt but I thought those slippers are for sissies, not real children. Mine are made from felted sweaters. They have 2 layers for the soles and are about an inch too big but I'm going to wash them and dry them to shrink them down. I love wool!
My youngest insisted they have butterflies, which are also found on the Martha Stewart website. It's almost like she consulted my youngest about what she should make!
In other news. Yesterday it was 50, today 30 and snow. Tomorrow 50. Oh mother nature does love to play with us in NYS! There will be gardening soon though, whether she decides to cooperate or not! We are going to get free goat manure from our farmer friend! So I will be working hard on Thursday with my hubby and SIL. She's sharing a 25' by 45' garden plot with us! I'm psyched! I will probably be taking care of 4 garden's this year! Hoping that the veggies from her garden will be in the freezer for this winter. I do not like buying frozen veggies if I know I can grow them. Just haven't had the room to do so!
I'm off today by my doing. We didn't have a truck at midnight last night and I should have gone home but I had a nap. Do you really think I could go to sleep?! So me and another co-worker stayed and cleaned! Boring but I was going to do work and get paid. So the hubby and I are relaxing and watching TV tonight! Hope everyone is having a Marvelous Monday too!

Late X-mas Socks

2009-03-25T13:36:00.001-07:00

Late X-mas Socks
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Tada!!!! These are finally done! Very late socks for my husband. Next time I'm not using such fine yarn. Can anyone suggest nice thicker yarn? The dark blue yarn is from Lotus Knits and the bi-colored yarn is from Damknit.

Bumblebee Winner Is...

2009-03-24T09:02:00.001-07:00

Blue Ridge Mountains
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Rachael who wrote "Hooray spring! I love it because the world is waking up and the colors are beautiful. Not to mention the weather! Not hot, not cold, but just right. :p"
So e-mail me your address and I will get this into the mail ASAP!
I know I haven't blogged in a while. Again. There's been major drama at work. Which I don't like and I wasn't being taken seriously about it by 2 of the managers. Which just upset me even more. To the point I actually cried at work! Then I was taken seriously. Who knew that tears work better than being honest and upfront! Men...
The one problem is gone. Which makes me very relieved because I feel safe working at night again.
Still processing all that has gone on. I will post more regularly! I'm almost done with my husband's Christmas socks! Woohoo!

Bumblebee

2009-03-16T13:56:00.001-07:00

Bumblebee
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

This little Wee Folk Bumblebee Ornament is flying around to spread spring cheer! You can win this buzzy friend by posting a comment below. Tell me why you like spring so much and enter to win this little bug. I will be accepting comments until March 23. One comment person please! Good luck!

Wee Folk Bunnies

2009-03-11T14:20:00.001-07:00

Wee Folk Bunnies
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I feel that I have been slacking on blogging. I've been picking up hours at work to compensate for the show. Plus the food co-ops are starting up and the money goes quickly! But I won't have to buy much during the summer/fall months.
These cute little bunnies are for Easter and going to a local gallery to be sold. Well hopefully! I wanted 10 but they take forever to make! Needle felting while fun, just doesn't go quickly. Well at least for me but I've very picky!
I am going to make a few alterations to make these guys easier to make. So next time they will go a little bit quicker?
I am going to be having a give away next week for a bee ornament I made! It has a quirk and I would like it to go to a good home! So tell you friends and Monday I will post! Hopefully!
I'm going back to working Sunday overnights so hopefully I won't be so bloody tired. Our company is looking to save money on having things delivered and our store went through a trial run. Our shelves looked soooo bare. Also it doesn't help that the only other grocery store in town closed at the end of February. So that means a lot more customers!!!! At all times of the night! It doesn't bother me, I just wish the younger kids would have a better work ethic! Seriously, I have never heard so many negative thoughts in my life. All I can think is you are sooo lucky to have a job right now.
If our store paid more they would have more of an adult workers but they start .25 cents more than minimum so no adult wants to work here! Plus the management never does anything about the poor attitudes, taking of long breaks, goofing off, etc....
Which brings me to what am I going to do when my youngest is in school full time in 2 years?!!? I do not want to work full time. I don't want a real job with real responsibilities! Family life already fulfills that for me. I like that I can work in 2 different departments and not be bogged down by the problems that go on in both. I like that I'm active and walk around a lot in the one department and that the other one is very physical! It makes me feel like I'm not such a wimp!
Thank goodness there is still over a year left! Lots of time for contemplation!

Sunday Laundry Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-03-05T10:58:00.000-08:00

I love this dress! It's sooo freaking cute and another fantastic give away from Grosgrain! I don't comment often because well I don't really need anything but it's nice to want things right?! Check out this awesome silk dress! I may win and if I do, I may have to find a slip!

Sunday Laundry Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY!!!!

Hello? Sorry It's Been A While!

2009-03-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

I know, I haven't posted in a week, maybe more! I've been busy! I've picked up more hours at work because the show didn't go as well as hoped. So I'm working 40 hours this week. Maybe the whole month if I do a good job in the Dairy Frozen Department. It's D/Frozen month and they need the help!

So back to the show with pictures of the booth! Here's the space we work with before we put anything into it!
Don't we have a nice view of the other wing? Plus the stairs and porch areas leading to the spa!

So here's the display board and all the other stuff to make the magic happen. I get to guard while my husband brings it in! woohoo!
Here it is with all the merchandise. Kind of dark and we don't leave the iMac box there, my husband transports the computer to and from the show. We are very high tech and can print out receipts while the customer's pay! The clocks are not fully done by my husband, he just does the copper work on them.
The show had lots of people but they were uneducated about the Arts & Crafts movement. An antique dealer friend of ours said the stuff he's been toting around for years because it's junk sold out! The people who were buying it thought it was a steal. So it goes to show you that someone's trash is someone else's treasure.
My husband had way too many high end items and not enough middle to low end pieces. Plus I'm really bored with what he's doing. I told him I was uninspired by his work lately and he needed to move in a different direction. Something like this, which was a custom order!
Bronze bracelet with a silver overlay, chased details and set garnet! It's what Heintz used to do for his vases. Love the green rose vase! Beautiful and a wonderful patina! So my husband has added an etsy shop to his website and blog to drum up sales. Filled the local gallery and thankfully we have 150 switch plates to make!! Woohoo!
Plus we picked up some Ephraim pottery! Plus ornaments which are so freaking cute and cool! I think we picked up my MIL the one with the red berries on it, as a thank you for taking the kids. We choose one that is not on the site but I will take pictures of it and our vase!
Besides of that, I'm trying to finish my very late Christmas socks for my husband but I've ran into big knots in the hank. It's because I decide to make it more transportable by making it into a ball of yarn! Plus bunny ornaments for a local gallery for Easter but I lost my felting needles so I'm waiting for the new ones to arrive!
Have a great week!

Anthropolification Boyer Cream Cardi GIVEAWAY!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-02-25T16:27:00.000-08:00

Isn't this cardigan fantastic? I would love to win it but it sounds super easy to make too! If you are small to extra small please enter to win!

Anthropolification Boyer Cream Cardi GIVEAWAY!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!

We're Back!

2009-02-24T11:47:00.001-08:00

Blue Ridge Mountains
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

We got back yesterday afternoon! It was a long day but I'm glad to be back home. The show was ok. I have pictures of our booth that I will put up later! I did have a great time though! We spent our down time seeing lectures, eating with friends, etc...
Thank you for the dining suggestions. We didn't end up going because we were so busy and didn't have time to. We will be going next year and will plan on going there before the show starts. We did get delicious food from Green Life! Which is an awesome health food store and they have a deli section!
I did get a bib done on the trip for the baby shower I'm invited to.
One more random thought... We saw 20 minutes of the Elbert Hubbard footage for the PBS documentary and in last 3 minutes was my husband! It was really cool! They made his shop look way better than it does in real life. It goes to show that lighting is very important. The special will be done late in 2009 to early 2010. Looking forward to watching the whole thing!
Now I need a week to recover from all the missed sleep.

Loose Ends

2009-02-17T09:53:00.001-08:00

ACT Swap for kids
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

So tomorrow we are leaving and am I packing?! Hahaha! Sort of! I'm taking care of loose ends. This being one of them. I signed my oldest up for this kids ATC Or ACT Trading Card Swap. My daughter decided to do dragons. It's supposed to be her best work but I think she felt rushed! They are done and way before the deadline which is Feb. 28th.
When you go on a trip do you have to have a crafting bag to keep you busy? I do! In my bag is yarn for baby bibs, the makings of bunny ornaments which will be for easter, an accidental felt tree pattern, a sock to measure the sock yarn in my purse, and I think that is it! I feel like I'm missing something but can't think of it! Oh well.
My outfits are picked out and packed. I'm hopefully getting my hair cut today! I have an appointment but they never called to confirm! So I maybe throwing a huge crying fit! My hair is wayyyyyy over do for a cut! Then I work for 4 hours and then I'm done! Well I do have to go back next week.....
See you next week.

Places To Eat In Asheville NC?!

2009-02-12T18:30:00.001-08:00

Parrot Kitten
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I need help finding good places to eat in Asheville NC. We are downsizing our food budget and I do not want to spend $50 on lunch or $100 on dinner. Which is super easy to do there! I've tried looking for affordable places on google but I'm not finding anything that is meeting our wants. Lots of places are highly recommended but they don't say affordable!
I like anything except Thai, Chinese and Indian! Plus they need to be places that come recommend by real people who have eaten their!
Isn't this a cute picture! The kitten went through a parrot phase!! The husband easily falls asleep and well what a perfect place to perch!
I have a funny story to share, I'm hoping others with children find it hilarious too! So my oldest comes home this week all upset! Complaining that her teacher wants her to shower, change her clothes and that means her socks! I started laughing at this because I have been trying to encourage her to have better hygiene forever. I thought he had singled her out! It turns out ALL the 5th grade classes received this talk because they don't do those things! I was so relieved that my daughter wasn't the only child who was torturing her parents!!
Now if I only had professors like that in college! Well things are always different in college aren't they?! I was an art major and while I showered everyday, I didn't wash my clothes as often as I should have. I did have a rule. Once food touched my clothes, they went into the wash pile! If you have ever worked with plaster you know plaster is a dirt repellant once it works it's self into your clothes.

Valentine's Gifts

2009-02-11T17:57:00.001-08:00

Valentine's Gifts
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I know it's early but I work on the weekends and only see the girls in passing. Also I knew that my oldest would want to wear this shirt for the school party. The shirt is made out of one piece of fabric. I used this pattern which is for a doll and applied the math for a bigger shirt. The only thing is that I didn't know how much space she needed for the armholes and it's a little snug. I'll know next time.
The skirt was the youngest gift. I used another easy pattern but only had enough ribbon for the front so I used two panels instead of one piece. Also I didn't sew the ribbon on like the pattern. I hemmed the skirt and then sewed it on top.
Can you tell it's bed time when I took this picture? My youngest has her hand on her bing (aka blankie). Also my camera died after I took this shot so is the only shot.
I am leaving in a week for our big Arts and Crafts show down in North Carolina at the Grove Park Inn. So I am working up a storm here! I have to pack for 3. The girls are going to my MIL's while we are gone. Plus I've been working on clock faces, switch plates and napkin holders.
Numbers are down for the class my husband teaches while we are down there. I'm hoping more locals will be up going and willing to spend their money!
So if the blog seems quiet for a while you know where I am. We will have internet at the hotel but my husband is wary about using it for stuff like this.
So Happy Valentine's Day!!! Even though it's early.

Birthday PJ's

2009-02-05T10:12:00.001-08:00

Birthday PJ's
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I know it was two days early (technically one day now) but I had to give these to my daughter so I could see her in them! See how much she's enjoying them! She's pretending she's sasquatch. They bring out the goofiness in her! Well it could be the 11 year old self her shining through early!
Can you believe (well you may be able to) I made these by not using a pattern! Seriously! I used Amanda Soule's pattern from the creative family for the pants. Then used 2 shirts to make the shirt pattern. I used 2 because the one shirt was too short in the arms. It was a PJ top she had grown out of but loved it so much she would not stop wearing it. It fit in the body but not in the arm length!
So Happy Birthday!
Unfortunately I have to work all weekend and will only see her in passing! Well at least Sunday is her party! Hopefully I will be awake for it!

Oh Monday!

2009-02-02T18:58:00.001-08:00

Kimono Top
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

You can not get me down! Sometimes Monday's are really rough and this Monday was no exception. After working till 4am I woke up to both my girls playing semi nicely. I get up and walk around the house and smell gas?! I go into our kitchen and check the burners. Nothing wrong there. I go into the 2nd kitchen and woah that's definitely gas! Someone had bumped the stove and the gas was leaking. We don't use this stove a lot so it's usually unplugged and the gas is turned off.
I guess it didn't happen the last time I used it. So all the windows and doors had to be opened for an hour! Thankfully there was a warm spell today! Not extremely warm but still warmer than the teens, like it's been.
I did finish this kimono top that has been sitting in my "please finish me pile!" I love the pattern on it and the color! My oldest liked it too.
I also finished my niece's birthday gift and I'm working on my oldest birthday PJ's. I hope to finish them before Friday. Then a Valentine's skirt and shirt! I'm hoping I can get all of this done with the children of the house not taking note of what is going on!
To keep my spirits up Ingrid Michaelson! I just love her! She has a beautiful voice. Keep Breathing helps me keep my cool when times become stressful. Be Ok is just up lifting!
Hope your Monday was better than mine!

BTW Love her glasses!

Where Did January Go?

2009-01-29T16:57:00.001-08:00

Evil Kitten
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

OMG, what happened, it can't be the end of January already! I have so much to do! 3 birthday's in February, Valentine's Day gifts to make, an Arts & Crafts show to go to in Asheville, NC and I need to alter some clothes! I have nothing to wear!
Plus look at my evil kitten who is not helping me get any work done. This was me trying to make a shirt for my niece's birthday gift! I have 4 of 7 parts done! I'm hoping she's all tuckered out from harassing me this afternoon, so I can get work done this evening!
I visited my neighbor last night and I learned so much I just have to share! She bought this awesome book called The Knitter's Book of Yarn. Which tells you everything you could ever want to know about yarn, there weights, how warm they are, etc... I learned that wool is not the friend I thought it was. It will not keep me as warm as angora from a rabbit. Which is 8 times warmer than wool! Seriously that's a lot when it's in the negative numbers! Or alpaca which I think is eight times warmer than wool but is much denser so an alpaca sweater will weigh a ton compared to a wool sweater! The info can go on and on. So I need this book but it has to wait until I have the time to sit and read! I can tell there will be some serious knitting changes around here in the up coming year!
So good bye January, Helloooooo February!

Little Conversations

2009-01-27T19:11:00.001-08:00

After Bath Head
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

These are conversations between my husband and my youngest who is 4.
Her on potty problems to my husband.
Dad I'm a great poop wiper, it's the front that drips a little sometimes.
Her on being born.
Dad who came out of your belly?
My husband, No one came out of my belly. You came out of your mother's belly. You are 50% genetically mine. I gave you your blue eyes! Your welcome!
My daughter, Thanks?!??????? As she walks away trying to figure out what the heck he was talking about!

Be Quiet...

2009-01-24T07:01:00.001-08:00

Persephone
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

So the voices in my head can talk! Is what I wanted to tell my one coworker today! Unfortunately she's not right in the head and I was afraid she would start telling me about all the voices in her head and then Oi!
I try not to judge people but having met many people from all walks of life you know when someone is just not right. No matter how nice they are, you need to put a wall between you and them so they don't follow you home.
One of my co worker's is named Mary aka Crazy Mary because she is bloody talkative you can't get her to be quiet. She trapped me today in the break room. I sat down for dinner and I made the biggest mistake of my life. I looked her right in the eyes!
We all know the story of Medusa and how you should never look her in the eyes or you will turn to stone. Well this is what happened to me. I frozen, trapped at the table to eat my dinner in nods and uhh huh's! Too scared to tell her to go away and I had too much crap to make a run for it. Thankfully she has a bum hip so in the future I'm going to run.
I had heard all the stories from other coworkers how they had gotten trapped and heard about her maniac depression and all the meds she was on. I got to hear about everything else. I didn't even need to talk. I think the only 2 things I said was drive home carefully and yes I've been knitting for 20 years.
So my peaceful dinner was anything but peaceful. My lovely coworkers who are guys came up to watch me trapped. Not offering to help at all just to sit back and laugh! No knitting was accomplished either, I didn't want to make any sudden movements!
I thought this picture was appropriate. When we received the kitten she was having upset stomach issues and the meds we gave she didn't like! I've never seen a cat drool!

One Sock Two Socks, Two Mismatching Socks

2009-01-20T19:39:00.001-08:00

M's Socks
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I finished these last night but then couldn't find a needle to sew the ends up with. Darn you Murphy's Law!!!!! Then when I did find the needle I couldn't get them on the child's feed. Her concern. They don't match! They aren't supposed to is what I had to explain to her. After thinking about it they went on and I think she likes them. I didn't realize there was a hole until I took the picture. The other sock doesn't any holes and I thought I did the same thing because I knit them at the same time. Opps. There's always next time to fix the problem. I did not knit the heels at the same time. One sock does have 40 stitches for the ribbing while the other one 38. Oh well they just need to keep her warm!
Hope everyone is staying warm. I am totally missing our wood stove! The house felt warm, well at least there were really warm parts in the house. Now it's cold, frigid and frigid freaking cold! Can't wait for the part to arrive!

Warm Happy Thoughts

2009-01-16T22:30:00.001-08:00

Fire
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Of course the weather plunges into the coldest part of the winter months and our wood stove is in need of a new baffle. What does this mean? You ask... The top of the firebox looks like it's melting. So it's sinking lower and lower and lower. Thankfully they can be replaced! We've order one and it will only set us back $150 plus shipping. Still under $200. Take that old furnace! Anyone who has replaced a furnace knows that you can't get away with anything as cheap as that.
If you have a wood stove and have any questions that you can't find an answer to I highly recommend this website Hearth.com. It's board of those who love wood stoves, pellet stoves etc... You have a question you will get all sorts of answers but these guys know there stuff. They hooked me up with websites and all sorts of other things. Of course they want me to upgrade to an EPA approved stove but it's not happening anytime soon.
I do not enjoy being stressed out! I know some people thrive off it. Not me. Last week my husband's union called a meeting to talk about all the job cuts because of the budget problems. Well there was a snow day last week, so it was postponed until this week. I don't know if I'm happy about what they told him or even more worried now. They are going to try to keep all the full time teachers. Which he is but he may only be working just enough to keep his benefits which means he loses a big chunk of his salary. So it's like I'm sort of happy but how are we going to make up for the lost wages? Yes he does own his own business but just because he makes things doesn't mean they will sell.
It just takes me back to my childhood and the instability of my life. Our constant moving, would there be food on our plates, would there be clothes on our backs for the next school year?
Thankfully my health is way better than my mother's! Plus I'm very resourceful. Which means lots of gardening! On the super plus side my SIL has offered me a plot to plant my vegetable garden at her house! I'm going to take her up on that offer. I hope she realizes that I will be working my butt off up there!

Cloth Lunch Bag

2009-01-11T14:05:00.001-08:00

Cloth Lunch Bag
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Another project that is done and just needed to be photographed in my fabric lunch bag. It is really big. Bigger than I intended but I couldn't find the paper bag I wanted it to match so I took a small one and guessed on the measurements. Now I know what size it needs to be and will make one over the summer? It still needs a handle or a tie of some sort. I figure if I use it, the solution will reveal it's self.
So the next one will be perfect?
This was sooo easy to make! It took maybe 2 hours. Well technically it took 6 hours but 3-4 of those hours were spent making dinner, eating dinner and putting children to bed. If I come up with a good design for the handle and ties I may make a tutorial. Please don't hold your breathe. Time here very limited for that sort of thing. If you can't wait, leave a comment and I can tell you how I went about it. This only has 6 panels and technically it's reversible. How great is that?! It practically makes it's self!

Done And Hopefully Worn A Lot!

2009-01-10T18:00:00.001-08:00

R socks
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I finally finished these socks for my oldest. It took forever. She never makes things easy for me. She didn't want wool socks, so we had to look through tons of acrylic yarn that I was given. What I had and what she wanted were 2 different things. She picked out super finger weight yarn. So I had to combine 2 yarns to make one manageable yarn to work with. Then I started running out of the one weight (the red, white and pink) thin stuff. So the last sock that is all red has a heavier weight red in it. Hopefully she will wear these.
Today was the funeral, so I had off from work. It was really nicer than I expected it to be. I didn't have to say anything. Which probably wouldn't have happened because my mom spoke and our whole row lost it. Ever notice when you go to a funeral no one has tissues?! I was passing them out to my brother, my SIL and my oldest! Thankfully my nose runs a lot in cold weather so I have a good stash of unused (sometimes used) tissues! Then the funeral director gave a really awesome speech. Seriously this guy was good! He talked about how his father passed away and how angry he was. It took him 7 years to grieve. He really put life and death in a perspective we don't usually think about.

Pirate Melia

2009-01-07T09:34:00.001-08:00

Pirate Melia
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Yesterday my youngest was complaining there was something in her eye. So I looked in it and saw nothing. Washed it out to the best of my ability. Four year old's idea of washing and an adults idea of washing are two totally different concepts.
I noticed she had a scratch on her nose. I asked her about it and she told me the kitten scratched her. She has been forbidden to pick up the kitten because she ends up getting scratched for being to rough with the the kitten. She unfortunately has not taken the wounds seriously because I'm positive the kitten scratched her eye. So I call the doctor as she cries every 5 minutes because her eye hurts. The only way she is happy is covering her eye. Which I let her, unfortunately she's applying too much pressure and by the we see the doctor it's extremely swollen and red.
To make a tragic story short and an experience I would like to forget. The doctor couldn't find a scratch after putting the dye in the eye and shining the light. If you think my daughter sat still like she was in a coma you are very wrong. More like Tasmanian devil on drugs! It was bad! The doctor thinks she is allergic to the kitten and she wasn't scratched. I think she's wrong because she never complained of itching just lots and lots of pain! Hence lots of tears and clutching only one eye not two. So she's on antibiotics galore.
Her eye is feeling much better today. I bought the patch because she didn't want to let go of her eye or if she did she was walking around with both eyes closed! It was very pathetic picking up her prescription because I told her no more holding her eye. So she walked around holding my hand with her eyes closed! Yes we received many strange looks but she was happy and not crying.
I am so behind on house work from waiting on her hand and foot yesterday! Plus spending a good portion wrestling her down to get eye drops in both eyes!

A Moment Of Silence

2009-01-03T09:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my grandmother past away. I haven't seen her in 2 years, which I kind of feel bad about but not terribly horrible. She had dementia and once she sold her house and moved into a senior living apartments it was downhill from there. She didn't stay long because the change didn't help her mental health.

The home she moved into was a locked down unit. The only time I visited her was Christmas Day and she thought I was her SIL. It was a nice visit and the girls had fun. When we went to leave there was no one at the desk and my grandmother was going to walk us out. She couldn't go past the doors but there was no one at the desk to let us out. The lobby was right there and all the residents were sitting there. There was on gentleman who was laughing maniacally! It was extremely uncomfortable and took forever for someone to show up to let us out and redirect my grandmother.

I'm relieved she went quickly.

Cathy Carron's Berry Bobble Hat

2009-01-01T14:45:00.001-08:00

Cathy Carron's Berry Bobble Hat
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Look it's the hat that took FOREVAH! All those little bobbles are a pain in the butt! Which is why it took so long. There's 6 knits into one stitch for everyone of those puppies! I didn't follow the pattern exactly because my yarn was a heavier weight than was recommended but I like how it turned out.
Want to knit it? It's from Interweave Knits Holiday 2008. They have some nice fingerless gloves too that I need to knit for work! It's cold when I hang tags in the freezer section!
The yarn in from Lotus Knits Big Ass Yarn Club. It was November's yarn called Mulled Wine! I think?!
I worked during the day and it is sooooo boring seriously my brain turned off because there was nothing to do except stock! Hope you all are nice and warm. Temperature going to work this morning, Negative 2!!! Now that is cold!

Art Supply Caddy

2008-12-31T14:55:00.001-08:00

Art Supply Caddy
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Here's the Christmas gifts that almost didn't make it. They still need handles but they made it in time for Christmas. I do like the simple design. It worked really well with what I bought and placed in them. Good guessing on size and great job on the work from my husband!
I've had the last 3 days off and I've just been relaxing and trying to catch up on my sleep from working the 10pm-6:30am shift on Sunday. I'm hoping my boss won't do that again! Seriously I was miserable.
On the upside, I finished my hat and will have pictures soon? I do have to sew in the loose threads but that's nothing.
Working on socks for my oldest and I maybe able to mark something off my 2009 list! Woohoo!
Wishing everyone a safe and happy New Year!

Enjoying My Time

2008-12-26T11:05:00.001-08:00

Persiphone
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

This was the best Christmas ever! That was said by my ten year old who is in love with her Smencils!!! She was disappointed at my mother's because she was given stuff she thought she wouldn't be into. Now that she's read the whole Spiderwick series (Yes, she reads that fast) she's much much happier! Plus she received a Fairy tale. Literally it's a book about a fairy or two, it won a Newbury Award.
So if I haven't plugged them enough already, Smencils should on everyone's Christmas list next year. I can already tell my girls are going to need new ones next year! They've been drawing up a store and sharpening away!
I am so in love with this kitten! She is seriously the best kitten I have ever had. She's a lover and sometimes a fighter. She loves to sit and my lap and sleep. Which is what is currently what she's doing. I hate to move her so I decided to blog! She loves being pet but don't touch her belly or she will cut your hand off! I'm so glad my husband told me that the farm we go to was giving away kittens!
This year my daughter's Girl Scout troop has picked the SPCA to be their organization to support. Last meeting they made cat and dog toys for the animals. They will be going to deliver them in January and have a tour of the facilities. With times being tough for us, the animals have it even rougher. Pets get abandoned at alarming rates because people can't afford to take care of them anymore. I'm sure you've read stories nation wide and local. So this holiday season give your pet companion some extra love! They need it too!

Tricycling In The Snow

2008-12-25T16:43:00.001-08:00

Tricycling In The Snow
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Happy Holidays! What better way to celebrate than tricycling in the snow! Which is what happens around here when it's time to move the wood in. Mom works and the youngest plays. While big sister helps. She gets the better job because she does all the inside work. In her opinion it's not but trust me it's cold out here!
I hope everyone is having fun! We've opened presents at my mom's and just the In laws to go! The Smencils went over great! We decided to put the art supply holders in front of the wood stove since they weren't drying quick enough. The just need handles now but the girls LOVE them!
I'm trying to knit up a storm because tomorrow I have to work very early. How early it's up to me. I'm supposed to start at 6am but I may go in at 4am. It's easier to do my job when there aren't any shoppers!
It's been a very knitterly Christmas for me. My husband bought me 2 Yarn Harlot books and my mom gave me a gift certificate to a yarn store! As soon as I get hats, mittens and socks down around here I will be off to buy more.
Eva would you like to check out this shop?!
If I don't get a post in, I hope everyone has a safe and fun New Year's!
I'll be working since it's a shipment night. Which is fine because usually I'm in bed before the ball drops!

Snow Day And Finishing Up!

2008-12-19T10:09:00.001-08:00

Felt Pencil Rolls
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Today is a snow day and I though OH NO! I'm never going to get these felt pencil rolls done without the girls knowing! (My youngest already saw the blue one and said it was hers!) Thankfully I agreed to deliver a vase to a customer. Since we are having a snow storm, my husband offered to take it and the girls. Which left me free to finish these. The ones on both ends are for my daughter's and the middle one for my niece. They have their initials on it so there's no trading. Also I gave my youngest the longest ties because she's only 4 and needs some extra help!
I only have one more gift to go and I'm done for the 2008! Seriously, next year gifts are being started during the summer so I have more time to knit socks! Or scarves, or anything I want to!
I have to add that the art caddies that are supposed to hold all the goodies I bought may not be made. Not because of anything we did or did not do but a friend of ours is supposed to cut out the pieces. Unfortunately he has been so sick that he hasn't been to his studio in days! Since it's more of a favor to us, I don't expect him to get them done before his Christmas orders. So the girls may have a late gift coming.
Now I'm off to to wrap gift and work on cards!

**Just wanted to add that my husband got all the way to where the vase was supposed to be delivered and the place is closed. As he's pulling into the parking lot the radio announces a driving ban for the town he is in! We try calling the guy and it's his work phone number so there's no answer. Kind of rude that he didn't call, knowing we were going to drop it off that day! The shipping address is the same place we tried dropping it off and his voice mail says he won't be in until January 6th.

Project 4 Awesome

2008-12-17T08:44:00.000-08:00

I love Youtube and today is the day the Nerd Fighter's take over Youtube. Once a year a bunch of people who really want to decrease the levels of world suck, get together and post the charities they support, this the 2nd year it's happening. Since Youtube rates the videos by comments and ratings, it's very important for those who don't know about it to go and watch videos. I've watched 20 and have learned about many interesting charities. A free one that will donate rice is FreeRice.com how easy is that? There are going to be hundreds, maybe even thousands of videos today.

Want to learn more about Nerd Fighter's because I really didn't do a good job of explaining it. Just click on the their name! Hope you have time to checkout some videos and can donate to charities this Christmas season. Just look for Project 4 Awesome on Youtube!

Yankee Gift Exchange

2008-12-17T08:33:00.001-08:00

Yankee Gift Exchange
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Here's the goodies I received from the party. A box, a sheep, ribbon and this cute Dick and Jane fabric. I can't decide if I want to make a skirt out of this or an apron for my youngest. I have many things to finish up, so I have time to decide.
To finish my last gifts I had to place an order at Superbuzzy. I've always wanted to want to buy something from Superbuzzy after seeing all the cute purchase from Wee Wonderfuls and many other blogs. But I never have really needed anything until now. I bought lots of trim to finish my felt pencil rolls for my daughter's and neice. The idea is from the creative family by Amanda Soule. It's so easy to make, the hardest part is how to decorate them. Plus they are in pieces so I can work on it in front of my children and they have no clue what I'm doing.

Last Bought Gift

2008-12-15T18:22:00.001-08:00

Purse
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

This is the last gift that I had to buy, my husband has to take care of his father's gift bag. So I am off the hook! Isn't it pretty? I love the color, the fabrics and the ribbons! I think I may buy myself one in June when my friend does the summer show in town.
It's really well made and she loves making them. So I couldn't resist buying one for my SIL. I hope she likes it.
With Christmas right around the corner, I've been thinking of next year and things I want to do. I think I'm going to make a list for myself on the side bar. There's so many projects and well if it's not nailed down around here the lists disappear into my children's hands.

Birthday Scarf

2008-12-13T11:08:00.001-08:00

Birthday Scarf
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Here's my brother's scarf that has been done for a while, just sitting in a pile of clean laundry. Not that, that happens often around here. lol
I made one last year for my other brother and it was so well received by the both brother's. Which means the oldest brother was fondling it telling me what a nice scarf it was and how warm it felt. It was a Linus moment from The Peanuts when Linus is fondling and loving his blanket. I felt bad that I didn't make him one last year.
So now he will be happy and content. Since it gets bloody cold around here and they live on a hill where it's always windy, I lined it with polar fleece.
I did make it to the Yankee Gift Exchange and I gave the gift I ended up getting away. I didn't want my heart getting broken by not getting a certain gift like some people did. Seriously there was a woman on the verge of tears because she didn't want to part with her gift. So I went for the gifts with the coolest wrapping. I ended up with nice ribbon, Dick and Jane fabric plus an angel box. I received very nice handmade ornaments but we don't do ornaments in our house. Why?! I just do not like ornaments on the tree and our tree is soooooo old, I'm afraid it would fall over from the weight of them. If you need to see pictures of our sad tree here they are. It's even worse this year because the girls put the tree together and strung the beads on. I put the lights on to counterweight the beading job but the tree has some serious leaning problems going on.
I'm hoping a cat will not decide that the tree looks good enough to climb! Hope everyone is having a great weekend

Christmas Garland

2008-12-12T09:47:00.001-08:00

Christmas Banner
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

It's finally done! This is my gift for the yankee gift exchange tonight. It took 2 weeks too long. When making a gift and you only have 3 weeks to get it done. Don't go over board like I did!
I took AllSorts pattern for her Christmas stars and converted it into children wearing buntings (aka I just added wool felted faces). Shrunk the star pattern to make 2" stars and voila. Hope it goes over well because right now. I don't care if I ever see it again!
I hope I make it tonight. I'm feeling under the weather. Seriously, I never go out and I finally have a chance and I feel sick to my stomach! Keeping my fingers crossed!

How Funny!

2008-12-09T19:44:00.000-08:00

You Are a Chocolate Chip Muffin

You are an interesting set of contradictions.

You are innocent yet bold. Funky yet predictable.

You are a bit dramatic and showy. You love attention.

And you know how to charm people into giving you what you want.

You are very determined and ambitious... but you're also lazy.

Success tends to come easily for you. You often "luck out".

What Kind of Muffin Are You?

So I was reading from daily blog list and came across this cute post from Lorenzo Knits A Tomato. It made me laugh a lot because I'm constantly doing things. Just never house work. Does that count as lazy?

Christmas Gifts Bought

2008-12-08T18:02:00.001-08:00

Leah Corey Earrings
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Look what I bought this past weekend! The snowmen earrings are for my SIL's gift bag. We do gift bags every year with my husband's family. The goal is to try to put things in it that the other person would like but wouldn't buy for themselves. I just love these and I think she will too. They are made mostly of Swarovski Crystal Beads, even the black hats. The red wire has the tiniest beads holding the wires together.
The other set is for me because I just fell in love with them and I love post earrings! They have a beautiful grey Swarovski Crystal bead in the middle! So sparkly in the light.
I'm super happy with all my purchases this weekend. I'll hopefully post the little bag picture tomorrow, that I bought also for my SIL.
Want to know who created these beauties? My good friend Leah Corey, her website is here!

The New Year, Can't Wait

2008-12-03T09:05:00.001-08:00

Fire
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I am seriously getting psyched up for 2009. For us it's going to have some major changes. Not moving or anything that extreme but maybe more house repairs...
In March I plan on paying off my last credit card and then helping my husband pay off his big 3. I know you are probably in shock and horror that we have credit card debit?!?! Ahh yes we do and at one point it was up to almost $50,000. Running a business is not that easy and if you goof up on your accounting, well let's just say it doesn't make the government happy. Well actually it makes them very happy because they love getting paid. It didn't make us happy because we didn't have the money but had to put what we owed them on a credit card. Then it was a downward spiral of more debt adding up. Copper and silver needed to be bought to pay off the other credit card and he is a one man studio. He just can't keep up with the work he gets.
So after his debit is paid, he is revamping his website and going to stop doing business with some of our 3rd party people. Plus raising his prices which he really didn't do when copper almost quadrupled in price. He did raise prices with most of our silver pieces because silver went way high! We couldn't afford to buy silver to make anything.
We are going to be snobs in choosing what jobs he does. Which should elevate a lot of his stress. Plus we won't have to worry about people hounding us for small things. Which is all my husband gets from his 3rd party orders anyways. I do not think people understand that handmade means we do not keep inventory because we are busy filling other orders. Also he's a teacher and the school year months are busy busy. Which all his companies know but still demand a 2 week turn around. It is also posted on his website. Seriously people we spend no quality time together!
So I'm psyched for 2009! Plus, don't tell anyone but I'm really enjoying my job. My midnight shift once a week are my favorite. I love the ladies I work with and they make it worth being overtired to show up and throw stock. As I told the one lady I work with, I should really be paying my boss for working because it's so much fun.
Going to get my hair cut today! It needs it majorly!
Another fire picture. Have I mentioned I'm addicted to taking pictures of burning wood now? I shot a whole bunch of pictures yesterday that need to be uploaded! Don't worry I'm not turning into a pyromaniac or anything like that.

Where I Am Going In August

2008-12-02T09:06:00.001-08:00

Persiphone & Sasha
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

My husband signed up for an engraving class in August. No, I'm not going to Kansas with him. Instead the girls and I are taking a train from Buffalo to Sandpoint Idaho. Then we are either going to rent a car (may be a problem since our train arrives at 12am) or be picked up by my best friend. Well actually probably her husband because she is having baby #4!!! So we will be heading to Lewiston Idaho in August!
The only problems I foresee is getting the the train station at midnight. (HI Eva, wanna give us a ride, please?!?!) Since my husband will be driving to Kansas. Can the girls keep quiet in our seats while we travel from Buffalo,NY to Chicago,IL? If we took a room it would cost $460 compared to $118. I'm definitely getting a room from Chicago to Sandpoint,ID. I do not want to force my crank children on any passengers after the first day!
So I'm excited, I really have never traveled growing up. Yes I have been to Disneyland in Florida and I've been to Kansas to visit my Uncle and then to North Carolina to visit him again. But we never took family vacations. So I will get to see a big chunk of the USA. Plus my best friend and her growing family!
My husband will be driving to Lewiston to pick us up and head back to NY. Along the way we will probably see Mount Rushmore maybe Yosemite. We shall see! I pretty much need to make the reservations within the next 24 hours because the rooms are selling out 9 months in advance! I already have to postpone the trip by 1 day because there are no rooms available. Yikes!

I just received an e-mail asking to make my trip shorter or do it another time. My bff and her husband teach and they start August 20th. So it's like the worst time to visit. With the money I'll be spending I can't see making the trip any shorter plus if I did come at another time I would have to drive from NY to ID. Take extra time off from work etc... Since my husband is taking his trip no matter what, I thought I would try to combine the two. OH well maybe next year! :(

Random

2008-11-30T20:15:00.001-08:00

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...

2008-11-26T12:49:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-25T09:35:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-21T10:36:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-18T09:13:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-13T10:36:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-08T11:01:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-07T11:57:00.001-08:00

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!

2008-11-05T18:23:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-04T13:01:00.001-08:00

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!

Mystery Bird

2008-10-31T12:33:00.001-07:00

Mystery Bird
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Look at this cute little birdie that was eating my raspberries. I don't know what it is. I almost think it's related to a cardinal because of the mask it has around it's eyes but see the bright yellow on the tail, I'm clueless. There was a whole flock of them and unfortunately my back kitchen window is extremely dirty. So the shots look kind of hazy. I took lots of pictures before they saw me and scattered. Only 3 came out and the 3rd one has a bird in motion but I thought it was cool.
So I know today is Halloween, Happy Halloween to all. I have to work which is okay because we only get 4 trick or treats. I also didn't decorate because of the puppy. I'm afraid his tail would take out my really nice decorations I put in the windows by the front door. A puppy's tail can seriously do some damage, without having a clue that the tail is the cause of the damage.
I'm working on the Village Frock right now and hope to be done Sunday evening. I'm probably being way optimistic considering I have to work 8 hour shifts between now and Sunday. It's good to have goals.
I'm wondering what other people are working on for winter. This fall, have you started Holiday projects yet?

Stubbypencil.com

2008-10-30T14:58:00.001-07:00

Stubbypencil.com
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Here's the abridged version of what I bought for Christmas. I'll work clockwise and start at the top. The bird notebook I bought for my girls and my niece. It's made from 100% recycled paper. The smaller Les Chiens notebook is for my brothers and my SIL also 100% recycled paper. The large triangular pencils in the package are for my youngest. The Plan City shape pencils were a freebie (the 4 individual pencils hanging out there)! Woohoo! In the center are holiday Smencils. They smell delicious! I also bought everyone a pencil sharpener that has 3 sizes for different their sharpening needs. Last but the yummiest is the Colored Smencils for all. These smell so good, I want to lick them but that would be wrong. My brother and SIL I figured can share them. At least I hope so! I also received a free tote bag because I spent over $100. I really am super duper pleased with my purchases. They are definitely on my must buy from again list. Maybe for me and the hubby next year!

I was just links items from their store and it seems they don't offer the Plan City shape pencils as a freebie anymore. It is now a keychain.

Woohoo, I'm Not Totally Imcompatent!

2008-10-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

Look at my side link. I finally linked it to my mini etsy shop. It only took forever and I didn't know it was called a mini etsy shop. I thought it was an rss feed. Don't ask why, I did a search and it made me believe that how you advertise. Yes I know I'm a bloody moron but I try not to assume things. So that means I end up running all over the web to do things. I was getting desperate. Desperate enough to offer free chocolate for a clue! But I found the answer so the chocolate is all mine! Actually there was no chocolate, I was going to have to buy it!

So some of my kits are up and bookmarks. I'm trying to clean the house out, so I will be adding yarn from Japan. Plus who knows what else I have made around here.

I Want A Kitten!

2008-10-28T06:36:00.001-07:00

Dog Toy Love
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while but I've been a tiny bit busy. I have had it with the puppy. He's not bad or anything, well naughty would be more like it. He gets into everything, eats my jade plant. Steals the sticks and then eats them out of the kindle box. Plus he's stinky. We have had a zap collar on him for a while now. He is very mouthy and when he hear's my youngest voice, it would set him off barking. No one wants to be awoken by loud barking. He has calmed the barking down and now we use it because my youngest voice also makes him hyper. He would hear the shrill over her voice when she was upset because he was nipping her or standing on top of her, etc... A few zaps when he gets out of line when he touches her the wrong way, works great.
He is a very good puppy but I like independent creatures. Ones I don't have to take out in the freezing cold and wait for them to finish their business. Animals who won't jump on me or pop my knee (I really do not like that) because they like to head butt. Creatures who I don't have to count the hours or minutes for when they need to be let out. Sounds like a child almost doesn't it!?!?

He is a very good puppy for a 4 month old my SIL is very impressed with what we've done with him. He will not eat until you tell him to. I know you are questioning why would a dog need this control? For hunting, there are times when patience is need for getting a bird. It's for the dog's safety. You do not want a dog who can't wait because it could be jumping into a dangerous situation. Dogs have been so determined to go after a duck in the swamp and have been carried away by the current, to never come back. So it's really important for the owner to have control and the dog have the ability to wait.
This is day #2 for my youngest being gone! Woohoo. I've been straightening and taking pictures left and right. Wrapping Christmas gifts and folding fabric. Making lists, trying to catch up on sleep(hasn't happened yet), getting kits together, tried to teach my SIL how to knit on metal needles (she wants to make socks) and started the fireplace.
The trying not to heat the house didn't last, it snowed last week. It will snow again today and tomorrow. I can't keep myself warm enough in a 50 degree house. Thankfully it will be almost 60 for Halloween.
I just got this awesome pattern in the mail! The link says it's sold out but it's not yet as of today. I can't wait to make a birthday dress for my youngest. She's turning 4 on Nov 10 and I think on the 11 or 12 is my 1 year blogiversary! I'm trying to think of give aways. Did I mention I'm trying to get rid of the clutter?
I hope everyone is staying warm. I finished my daughter's hat, it needs to be washed and stretched.

Mermaid Skirt

2008-10-24T10:08:00.001-07:00

Mermaid Skirt
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

This skirt been done for a little while. I have been soooo busy that I just haven't had time to blog about. Seriously. While I'm blogging, I'm listening to the new episode of Grey's Anatomy. So please forgive the grammatical errors or sentences that make no sense.
The fabric came from the huge stash that my friend Leah gave to me. The girls fought over it and the youngest won out. Because she wears what I make her and loves it. Once the skirt was made I thought it needed something. So I went through the scrap stash from my neighbor and came up with the beautiful mermaid It worked out so perfectly, it's freaky!
I finally have a day off tomorrow! Woohoo! Today I'm making laundry detergent, so I can start doing lots of laundry. Working in the cheese shop was very very messy. I have been working everyday and haven't had time to even look at laundry. Did you know that Gorgonzola cheese is super messy! I didn't until I was cutting it up. If you want info on how to make your own laundry detergent the link is here! (I couldn't open site the where I got my original recipe. This link has 10 recipes. I use #2 on the list) It's easy, super cheap and I really haven't noticed a difference in washing. I've probably been spending $1.50 per batch of detergent.
I'm knitting a hat while working on socks for Christmas. I'm using the pattern from Soule Mama but reversing it because I'm not a big fan of purl. Also I received my order from Stubby Pencil! I'll take pictures later once the kids are in bed or gone. My MIL is taking my youngest on Sunday. So I hope to have bookmarks up in etsy and her outgrown clothes on eBay!

Stacking Wood

2008-10-20T10:02:00.001-07:00

Stacked Wood
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Stacking wood seems so hard when you look at it as a bunch of puzzle pieces needing to make a wall. There's no right or wrong way to do it. It just may fall down if mis-stacked. I love stacking though because once you get into the groove of it, it looks like this. All the pieces are fitting together perfectly in the wall puzzle you are trying to make. We did this probably the last warm day we had in October. A week ago? My husband has been looking to get 5 more cords of wood but the prices are outrageous. We are taking the 10 cord of wood challenge this winter. Can we make it? We shall see. So the heat has yet to go on.
My youngest said the oddest thing today when I handed her her scrambled eggs with lots of cheese on it. "OH look, it looks like an ice cream puzzle." I'm assuming an ice cream cone that has been melted and run over a few times.
This week is going to be busy. I work everyday except Saturday. I originally had 3 days off but then a woman from the cheese shop had a stroke. At least that's what the cheese shop manager thinks happened. She hasn't heard anything from the family since they called in to say they were taking the woman to the hospital. I hope she's alright and my thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family!
Since the manager is a good friend of mine she asked me to help her out in the evenings. I will grating cheese today and packaging it up. Tomorrow I get to unload the shipment and put it out! I get to work by myself! Woohoo! It was a rough weekend. The teenagers have been awfully hormonal lately! Playing lets hide my water bottle! Seriously I have much better things to do than try to figure out where it is! Thankfully I keep another one in the break room!
Hope all the pieces of the puzzle of life fit together for you this week!

Fall Gardens

2008-10-14T17:49:00.001-07:00

McCoy Planter
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

With the gardening season coming to an end, I bought this cute planter over the summer to help it continue. The little sprouts in it are lettuce and they seem to love where they are. They sprouted in a few days, unlike when they are outside where it takes a week.
I love salads with my meals, everyday if I had it my way. Once winter hits and the prices start to rise, well it's hard to stay in love with paying so much for lettuce. Doing research this summer on gardening led to an article on winter gardening. I wish I remembered what I was looking up so I could link it. It talked about bringing cool weather plants inside and raising them. Lettuce being one of those.
So I went on search for the perfect planter. I realized after searching for weeks that I wasn't going to be happy with anything new. So I went searching for antique planters and found this cutie. It's small but I think it's perfect for lettuce. It's by McCoy #2406, I think. I would have loved another one and will keep my eye out for one. It wasn't terribly expensive. I hear antique and think woah too much!
It's in the apartment kitchen and will get light from the left and behind. I think it's in the perfect spot and I hope to have pictures in the future of my indoor garden!

Kimono

2008-10-09T08:11:00.001-07:00

Kimono
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Here it is the kimono top I made without a pattern. The shirt has 2 full front panels and has a hidden tie inside on the right. The fabric I used for the ties is still from the huge scrap pile my neighbor gave me. I cut many of the pieces to size myself! It was a little tricky since I don't quilt but I don't think you can tell. The sleeves are in 2 parts. The first time I made the shoulder it was too small. So I remade the upper portion and just added the quilted strip to hide the seam.
Now that I know what I'm doing. I'm going to do some alterations mainly at the neck and shoulders. I wanted it to b e more fitted and it's sort of too wide for her. Plus the hidden tie, I may add button instead!

Kimono Tie Top

2008-10-07T13:12:00.001-07:00

kimono
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I know I haven't posted anything lately that I've made. I really haven't had time to do anything. I finished this yesterday and couldn't get M to try it on. So I took a picture of it without her in it. I have pictures now but my camera is on the verge of dying. So details about this will come later. The only thing I will tell you is, I did this without a pattern!

When You Give A Ten Year Old A Camera...

2008-10-07T10:15:00.001-07:00

dogshow19
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

This is what may happen. See this picture of my butt? This is how almost all of the pictures my daughter took from the dog show look like! Seriously! If it's not my butt, it's my SIL's butt or crotch shots. You would think that she was a teenage boy with raging hormones. I don't think she realized what was in frame and how it was going to look. All the close up shots are of behinds or headless people. I got a good laugh out of this! I'm going to show her when she gets home. There is a puppy in the picture, really. You just see the stinky end!
I will be updating my etsy shop in a week or two. I'm going to be stocking it with recycled sweater book mark kits and wee folk doll kits. I know that people are hurting for $$$ and I thought I can keep my prices lower if I make kits. Plus it's more enjoyable when the boring stuff like cutting and wrapping of the doll body is done for you!
In awesome news I have 2 days off this week. More like 3 because I worked Sunday at midnight till 4am Monday morning! So I'm working on getting the kits and instructions together and I'm having testers line up. I've been making both of these for a while. So I want to get a fresh look at what problems might come up!

The Best Sunday, Ever!

2008-09-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

I've been keeping this on the down low because my mother doesn't have a lot of money and couldn't invite a lot of people. This weekend her and her fiancee were married. It was so sweet and touching, many times I had to fight back the tears. I so happy for her for finding love again! If he can put up with us (I mean me, my 2 brothers plus my SIL and my husband) he's great in our book!

I finally met his family finally and ehhh you know, it's the family you see all the time that really count. For those who have know him almost all his life they seemed pretty darn somber. I have to feel bad for them because I don't think they were very happy about the union. Especially his daughter who wouldn't even look at the bride and groom during the ceremony. It's her loss. Her father is really a great guy and I hope she realizes it someday!

We had lots of fun and it was wonderful to spend it with my little brother who I don't get to see that often, my other brother and his wife, plus my husband too. We really don't need a party to have fun when we are all together!

I hope to have a picture of the wedding cake soon. I totally forgot my camera. I only had 4 hours of sleep the night before. There were 2 photographers who were like the bloody paparazzi! We (me, my husband, my 2 brother's and my SIL) arrived really early. Have you ever been photographed every 3 seconds?!? It's very annoying and hard too see with all the flashing going on. I hope to have great pictures up someday. There had better be some with 2 cameras going all the time. Of course I was the only one who kept closing my eyes during each picture. We had to do duplicate shots because of me. Sorry I blink a lot when I'm nervous!

With all that's happening in the financial world my SIL and I have decided not to go to Rhinebeck. She needs a roof, I should pay off my credit card and going up wouldn't really benefit either of us. Besides my husband was telling me credit cards could raise the % you pay up to 40%? I don't know if he was talking on defaulted cards or everyone. I was a little too freaked out to ask.

Early Halloween

2008-09-23T20:10:00.001-07:00

P B Skull glasses
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

I saw this in the Pottery Barn catalog and had to have them! Unfortunately they weren't for sale yet. It greatly pisses me off when someone advertises something for sale and then it's unavailable. Well I checked the website on a whim today and the glasses are for sale! Woo hoo! I ordered 2 sets because we have children and I'm not going to let them near them. Just in case they do get near them, we have back ups! I still want the shaker but it's not available.
We have my SIL's puppy this week. He's already been to the vet once because he was sick. Puked up his lunch yesterday and was just very lethargic. She thought he may have eaten a rock, so my brother picked him up and took him. Turns out he didn't eat a rock, he's just constipated. Oh joy. Plus he probably picked up a bug from the dog show we were just at. So there will be very little blogging this week. Taking care of two dogs is exhausting! Plus our pup is now sick. He thankfully didn't puke, yet. He hasn't been that hungry for dinner so. Hopefully he will feel better tomorrow.

Since nothing is happening here, you may enjoy reading this. An article about my husband in a local newspaper, it talks about what he does.

Fashion Dilemma

2008-09-18T16:41:00.000-07:00

My husband often has to dress himself for school without my do's and don'ts of fashion blunders. Today was one examples of those times. It is Open House and he's running slightly late. I glance over from doing the dishes and he's wearing light brown pants, (that's fine) a lighter green shirt (that doesn't go with the pants) and a bright blue Jerry Garcia tie. All my do's and don'ts start going off. Do I let him leave the house like this and stand in front parents who do not know him and let them judge him based on his appearance? Even though the parent's have had the talk to their children to not judge a book by their cover, they won't be doing the same thing when they look at him. He could have gotten away with it if it was a room full of men but you know it's most like going to be couples. The women will be listening and wondering how could his wife let him leave like this? Not paying attention to his well prepared speech of what their child will be learning that year, etc...

So I opened my mouth and told him it didn't look good at all. He was mad but he'll thank me later when he's not conscious of what he's wearing. dilemma

I'm going to be making my youngest a kimono tie top. I've made the back pattern and I'm going to be sketching out the front tonight. The puppy is finally letting me know when he has to go to the bathroom. It makes me not so paranoid and now I feel like I can slide a little.

Dog Or Cat Toy?

2008-09-16T18:34:00.001-07:00

Dog Cat Toy Love
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

So I originally made this dog bone toy for the dog but I added a secret ingredient. Yeah it's more like a stick toy. The secret ingredient is catnip because the puppy steals all the catnip toys! So I thought I would make him his own toys with a little kick! He wasn't as thrilled as I thought he'd be. To get this picture it took a lot of coaxing for him to be interested in the toy. He must know it was for him. Little bugger that he is!
Anyways the cat loves it. After he went to bed, she came out and was in love it. Even with dog slobber on it! Cats they never disappoint. So I'm pleased that one of the three animals enjoys it.
I've been busy making Christmas lists and buying presents. I'll have pictures soon. I also bought glass pickle barrels to put the cat and dog food in. The crazy cat LOVES the dog food and well the dog loves everything it puts in his mouth. I love them and I am waiting for the rest of my kitchen stuff to arrive.
Have I mentioned we had 3 cupboards when we bought our house? Well when we looked at our house before we bought it, it had lots of cupboards. When we arrived the cupboards were gone. I'm guessing they were on rollers and since they weren't attached to the walls, the previous owners took them. We've gotten hand me down cupboards with no doors and counters since then. Hey free is good when you can't afford things. So I need storage that looks good and won't be easily gotten into.

Look Who Came To Visit

2008-09-14T17:18:00.001-07:00

frog
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

Two weeks ago we let the water drain out of our pool. It didn't fully drain out, so the kids and dogs have been enjoying wading in it. We were taking a backyard romp and look who we found. A big frog! A good hopper and swimmer. Of course we had to say hello and picked him up. He wasn't to happy with us but nothing is more slimy than a frog. Well slugs are probably the bug equivalent of it.
Also up are pictures from my trip to Graycliff. Sorry it took so long but we've been crazy busy here.
My mom gets married on the 28th of this month. I also almost went to see the B-52's because my husband won free tickets for next Saturday. I really don't like their new stuff and wasn't thrilled to see them back in the 90's. Don't get me wrong I love their old stuff but the new stuff just doesn't make me want to get and dance. I would rather work since I'm buying my mother's wedding cake. An extra expense to our budget for this month. Even though my mother drives me up the wall, I do love her and her to a memorable time!

Seriously, What Will They Think Of Next?

2008-09-13T12:20:00.001-07:00

I love fashion like the next girl. Heels, cool but only for special occasions because of the problems they cause. Then I saw this! I think this has gone way over being PC. Does anyone else think this is setting women back to the days when we couldn't own property? Or am I just over reacting?

Puppy Show

2008-09-08T19:12:00.001-07:00

D&E
Originally uploaded by catscluttercrafts

See these cute brothers, well they are going to be in their 1st puppy show next weekend. I am going to be showing Drake, who's on the left. My SIL wants to get them used be being handled and I received a very quick training today. It was a lot to absorb. Thankfully my SIL will be right ahead of me so I can cheat and do what she does. Not that I've had the training that she has and I'm socially uncomfortable being in crowds, where I'm being judged. Well actually I won't be, but all eyes will be on the puppy which means they will be looking at how I handle him. Yikes. I hope I don't buckle under the pressure. Thankfully they are puppies and not going to be cooperative so my inexperience may not even be known!
So that's dog show #1. Dog show #2 is happening the same weekend as Rhinebeck. We are getting free lodging and have to take my SIL's Ridgeback to Massachusetts for a show too. She said it will be quick, so we should be back to catch quite a bit of Rhinebeck on Saturday. So I'll be saying a quick hello to Mass. and then heading back to NY. I've never been there and will probably only be there for a few hours.
We haven't seen Emmet for a week and boy has he changed. I'll have to take pictures. He's like the sports car of dogs, while Drake is the SUV of dogs. They don't even look like brother's anymore. They are so very different. We had way to many accidents today. I'm not a happy camper. Mostly from Drake, Emmett was very good boy! He spent a lot of time playing with dogs for a week and now he's like eh you're not a dog, whatever. Also he's not as affectionate as Drake. Drake wants lots and lots of loving. Emmet could care less if he's a good boy!
Well I hope you all had a good Monday. I'm hoping to walk around in poop less shoes tomorrow. Nothing like realizing your shoes have poop on the bottom in a car where the AC is on and recirculating. On the way to a doctor's appointment. Woohoo! I may look okay, just don't take a big whiff of me!