But I don't want any lemonade!

I was super crafty yesterday and managed to pull all my notes together for tomorrow's in class presentation. My plan for today was to write it all up, clean a little and finish up a bunch of crafts. It looks like I'll be putting it all aside for today, Granny is headed to the hospital with chest pains. I hate phone calls that give me scary information. Granny is 94 years old and sometimes we joke she will out live us all but at the same time 94 is a momentus age and I worry about her all the time. Admittedly I get frustrated with the rest of the grandkids who don't offer much or anything at all. My sister is too far away and my brother is too busy I guess. As for my cousins, they don't even ask how she is doing which puts a whole different sadness into the mix. Anyway I juice these lemons it is going to be bittersweet. Send out your good thoughts and vibes for granny please. She can use all the lurve she can get.

It's Fall!

And it almost feels like it weather-wise. Our neighbor brought over this tasty treat on Saturday. It was super yummy and went especially well with the just baked gingerbread I had made. Saturday was a weird flukey day. We had a rainstorm that flooded the wee garden but once the rain stopped it cleared up leaving big swatches of mulch all willy nilly. The mister was trying to work in the garden and the big drops came in surges. It was an odd sight. Dark, gloomy but dry and then WHAM! Super powerful, heavy rain then silence and then it starts all over again. The poor mister would take to sitting under the shade tent until it stopped. At one point I donned my raincoat and went out sit with him. I love the rain...mostly...unless of course it has been raining for days and days then, not so much.

The days this week are pretty warm but the breeze is cool so it is super nice outside. The nights are cool yet warm still and all I need is a sheet until around three in the morning when it turns chilly enough for a blanket. I love this type of weather! My paper is finally finished and now I'm working on a bookmaking presentation. At least, I'm thinking about the presentation which I believe I need to do this Saturday but today I have set aside for swap crafting ,shop crafting and crafting crafting. I've got flicks from the library, an awesome, amazing book and a huge stack of magazines full of Halloween fun. Today is going to be a good day so go away bad brain. I don't want you hanging around, you hear?

Happy Wednesday folks!

the week in review: september 17-23
Wowza! There was whole lot of somethin' and then a whole lot of nothin' last week. Mostly methinks it is because I am so swell at procrastinating. That darn paper is driving me batty and then of course I remembered that my presentation is coming up also...yikes! which makes this week a week of schoolwork! I had better get off the computer and plan my presentation...but first let me share a little of what went down last week. You can click on the link to find out more about the pics if ya like.

Let's see, there was crafting and writing and a wee bit o' baking. There was mulch getting and a rainstorm followed movie watching and gingerbread eating. There were family visits and friendly visits and touristy stuff like museum going and t.v. show tapings. There were packages sent and packages received and oodles and bunches of monkey making. The mister and I, along with Jenny from Felt Club spent a day at the Los Angeles County Fair chatting up folks about the fine art of monkey making, the wonders of Craft magazine and the delightfulness of Felt Club. We talked monkeys, we made monkeys and we crafted up a sock critter storm with a most nifty crowd of youngsters. After the crafting we wandered the fair like silver balls in a pinball machine. We were jostled left, bounced right and shot all the way up to the barn where we saw baby goats, piglets and wee little lambs. It was so very nifty and there were all sorts of chickens! Yay for chickens! I'll upload pics at some point. Overall, last week was mighty busy and I can;t wait for a week of nothing. This week won't be it...drats!

Happy almost October folks!

Monkey Madness!

It's monkey time folks! If yer a local folk or at least somewhere in the Southern California vicinity, why don't you hop on down to Pamona to the L.A. County Fair tomorrow, where Mister A-go-go and I will be representing...Felt Club, that is.

From 11am-Noon, we will dazzle you with our monkey making skills. The mister will even be working on some honest to goodness Spazimals, I swear! You can get more info here and here!

Hope to see you there!

Photobooth Friday: Fifteen Years of Friendship

This picture is from a strip taken in 2005 at my very first birthday bash just a few days before Mister a-go-go and I got married.That's The Leets in there with me, we're doing the platypus pout which never fails to crack us up. Each time we do it, it takes us back to that first time about fifteen years ago. that first time was soooo funny to us probably because we were at work and in the breakroom and this breakroom always managed to make us punch drunk. We had way too much fun in that room. The stories we tell and continue to laugh at make me feel like a lucky girl. This post is for you Leets, I wish I could come with ya to the wee doctor's and hold yer hand or sing or perform kicks from West Side story for you. I'm sending along good vibes and channeling Santa-b who wants me to tell you "brrrrrokh!"

More booth madness can be found here
and here

Exhausted!

Ellen was a blast! We got in and proceeded to dance until the cows came home. I even won a t-shirt I rock so much. Along with all that dancing, not to mention the couple of miles we walked to go to Bob's, I have been stitching, stuffing and crafting up a storm. I am exhausted! Seriously! It's also a lovely gray day which makes me want to bake and be lazy. I want to read magazines and fluffy chick lit and watch cheesy movie after movie. I have even already taken care of three loads of laundry, some general straightening and have rewritten two pages of my paper. Phew! I think I deserve a mini break. What shall I do? Read, watch or bake? How about all three? here's a sneak-a-roo at what I have been stitch, stitch, stitching...

We're on Standby

Calamity & I are heading out to The Ellen Show. We aren't guaranteed seats or anything so we will geekily get there early, play uno and practice our dance moves. Me? I'll pony and Calamity will do the Robot. If we don't get into the studio, our next best guess is for the Riff Raff room and if that doesn't happen I guess we'll go get ice cream at Bob's Big Boy. No cameras allowed so unfortunately this won't be a part of my week in review. Now, what shall I wear?

Self Portrait Challenge: September 17

There's something special about my bathroom mirror. It is the only mirror in this tiny casa that makes me not cringe at what I see. Some days are better than others and some days just a wee fraction of myself in the mirror is all I can take. Today was one of those days. At least the necklaces sure look purdy!

More folks in bathrooms over at SPC

The Week in Review: September 10-16

The Week in Review: September 10-16

Last week was a week of crafting and cleaning with a little bit of friend fun squeezed in. Phew! This week will be much of the same with a lot of writing thrown in for school. I've been busy stitching up a storm and dreaming up other things to make. The casa is a disaster of precarious piles of fabric and ribbon tumbling about. There are probably oodles of pins and needles in the sofa and of course I keep misplacing the scissors. At least, the weather is changing which makes for a more difficult wake up in the morning. Why should I wake up so early when the air is just chill enough to stay burrowed in the warm covers? Not to mention the fabulously bizarre dreams I've been having with cars falling from the sky and crazy bookstore managers yelling at me whilst the car is careening towards my head of all places. This break in the heat also makes it possible to bake, bake, bake away! Yay! I love baking and can't wait to try this cake.

There was no traveling this weekend other than errands. The mister and I actually ate all three meals at the table yesterday. How nice was that? We got more mulch for the garden, ate nifty homemade meals and watched a fabulous movie and a very bad movie (I know it was suppose to be cheesy but really, it was just bad. John Waters it ain't). I read a little for school and play and have sheepishly acknowledged that the mister is right, I need a thimble, my thumb is killing me! This week we are prepping for some Felt Club fun at the L.A. County Fair, If you're coming on down on Sunday, check out our Sock Critter demo in the Tapestry Building, we've got itty bitty socks for you to play with!

Have a happy change-of-seasons-kind-of-week!

Photobooth Friday: Hiding

Sort of...I start my new school tomorrow and I have all sorts of butterflies flittering about. Yeeps! Today I want to hide on the sofa, nap, bake and read. I am so nervous about tomorrow! I took this booth picture in 2004 and I love that crazy scarf. I am in need of a new crazy scarf. If only I could knit or crochet..does anyone out there wanna make me a scarf? I'll make you a patchwork scarf.

Yesterday was spent gallivanting around the valley with the caffeine fiend. We had a blast and made some nifty thrift shop scores, ate amazing coconut cupcakes and babbled till our throats were sore. Today I will only halfway hide..I have to finish reading a book for class anyway and of course as always, there is crafting to do.

Happy Friday folks! Have a looksie over at the Photobooth Friday Flickr Pool why don'tcha?

Beware of kitty

Methinks the Witch Baby is ready for a rumble. She's been tearing all over the casa with a major case of the crazies and then sits at the front door doing that wierd "ma-aa-aa-aa" clicking, chirping, voiceless meowing only with volume. Then a low growl swells up then a snort and then she tears all over the place again. Truthfully, I find it wierd and disconcerting, when I crouch down on the floor and look out the front door with her I see no evidence of squirrels, morning doves or invader kitty so who knows what's up with her? (and yes, I do crouch down on my belly to peek through the glass of the front door as I ask the kitty what's up. I talk to her as if she is about to answer me and sometimes she does, mostly in disgust...)

Today I am finally, finally, finally mailing off tardy FAA packages, coloriffic and other stuff. Ya know how you get behind so you think you want to make it extra special but then the trying to make it extra special makes you even more behind so that you are running around in a vicious circle? That has been my whole summer though I like to think I was polka-ing around, that at least feels more whimsical to me. Applications for Felt Club Holiday are now being accepted and I want to finish up a sample of what I'm hoping to sell so that I have new pictures for my application. Which means a quick jaunt to the fabric store because of course none of the oodles and oodles of swatches and bits I currently have teetering every-which-way will work. Wish me luck!

I wonder if it's okay to leave the Witch-Baby alone? What if I return to a kitty shaped hole in the front door and a massacre of hollyhock plants all over the courtyard?

The Week in Review: September 3-9

The Week in Review September 3-9

Phew! What a week. It was chock full o' frenzy, anxiety and fun. The mister and I took a mini road trip lookin' for those thunderstorms I wrote about last week and I visited with friends and a brand spankin' new baby. I crafted, crafted, crafted. Watched fabulously bad television on DVD and angsted myself out over my first paper for class. Hee's a mini review clockwise from the top left of the picture:

*We drove up to Tehachapi just for kicks. We left around 5am and did our best to beat the heat. This pic is from old town Tehachapi. It's a nice little town with not much more than a cafe, a handful of motels and a quilt shop oh and they have three thrift shops (closed, for the holiday, bummer!)! Hmm..houses there are almost affordable!

*We have sooo many grapes from the vine. they are super sweet and yummy. They are slip skins and fun to eat. We sit outside and spit the seeds all over the place. You may not want to visit our garden now...

*I cleaned out my closet when I should have been writing or sewing. I donated four bags o' clothes to Goodwill and feel a little less anxious over my sloppy clothes hadnling ways...

*On our mini road trip we stopped for a picnic lunch by the side of the Kern river. The water was flowing pretty fast and there were oodles of folks out and about. Unfortunately the oodles of folks left oodles of trash which led to oodles of flies and yellow jackets trying to attack us. Makes me so sad. Why oh why do people not pick up after themselves?

*this young lady is my new lurve. Lookie her eyes! She's so sweet and smells so delightfully. I need to visit with her and the mama jay soon.

*I made up a batch of new cozie cozies...don't ya love that fabric? I wish I had picked up more. I can't find it anymore.

*This is where we went...

*I pulled out this box o' green bean cakes to top off some green tea muffins. They have a savory sweet flavor that doesn't immediately please my mouth but at least they are pretty!

*The mornings have been nice and crisp. It looks like I'll be pulling out the fall bedding soon. This is our summer bedding...

*Driving home from Tehachapi we finally encounter some amazing clouds. Only a few drops plopped on us but it was enough to take a side trek to Fort Tejon.

*Both the mister and I napped a bit. Here's the mister couch napping in his new SPZML shirt, artwork courtesy of the amazing Ander.

*Both the mister and I have plushies making their way to Seattle for Plush You. These are mine.

*And that's us...goofing off as we leave for a walk and some dinner at Palermo's.

Hope y'all had a most productive and pleasant week. Happy Monday!

Photobooth Friday: the first booth

This was the first time I was in a photobooth. I believe I am one here but I might not be. I'm currently in the anxiety filled world of paper writing for class. My first paper is due Monday and I need to hash out a 10 page saga of my development and I cannot for the life of me think of where to start. Do I start young? Do I start with the broken home story? Do I detail my anxiety over friends and misconceptions? Do I write about the two years I spent in a not-so-good-for-me relationship? Do I write about my mother's death? My current happiness? Photoboothing? Now there's a thought, maybe I should write about the boothing. I think I'm aware of the emotional impact it has made on my conscious thought and development but then again my brain sems to seriously want to take a nap, or a vacation or a bath. Something. Yesterday was spent completely addled. Anxiety up to my eyeballs and super emotions tearing up the place. I couldn't get anything out. I sat infront of the keyboard and nothing came to me. I sat down to sew and I couldn't. I lost two piles of packaged goodies. Not lost-lost but misplaced. They're here somewhere only I can't see them. It is like they are hiding from me. I feel like I'm looking out the window from a many-storied building and my stomach is flip-slopping all over the place and I am not sure why. This program I am starting is intense. The writing that will be required of me is scary and the vulnerablilty that will visit in the classroom is making me weepy already. I have a knot in my back and I cannot focus...on anything. Not even a quick trip to the kitchen to bake some shortbread will help. I'm always up for a revisit to my past but picking one element to write about intimidates me. OAnd, of course there is the house that needs cleaning, food that needs cooking, projects that need making and packages that really need to be mailed already. I can't focus on any of them. I'm having a difficult time focusing on this small blurb I'm writing right now. I'm drowsy and snacky and so very very addled. Maybe a nap or some reading is in order. I don't know, does anyone of a good method for getting your brain to cooperate? I could use a little help or push or maybe kick in the pants. Toodles for now. Wish me luck and click here for more details on the picture and if you have a moment, take a gander at the flickr pool and visit Hula's Photobooth Friday.

Keeping busy and hiding from the heat

I've been frantically working on projects galore. I shouldn't be, I should be ahead of the game but this heat has thrown me off and I guess I just work better under pressure. Not exactly a good way to go about it but it all gets done in the end. My plushies have been sent of for Plush You and all my other goodies are on their way to Chicago for the FList. I had wanted to send new stuff to Chicago but other projects kept me from completing everything so I sent Halloween-esque goodies instead. Gosh I hope things sell. If you're in Chicago you should check it out. Lots of nifty artist and designers and of course my cozies and foo-foo bunnies.

I'm furiously working on my first paper for school and class doesn't even start until September 15. I need to mail in a 10 page paper by the 11th. TEN PAGES! Yikes! I'm eeking it out bit by bit but of course now is the time I want to work on stuff for the shop or maybe bake something. Today is the first day it has felt chilly in a long while. I hope it stays on the cool side today. I was stymied into turning on my air conditioner earlier this week after much struggle and deliberation in regards to being a conscious energy consumer. I worried that what if when I turned on our air unit, it overloaded the circuit thingamabob and caused the power to go out? It was so, so, so hot and one of my neighbors is in her nineties so I worried but then, after raindrops of sweat kept trickling down my back and it felt like I was in a clay oven I decided to try it and thankfully nothing adverse happened. Thank you, Southern California Edison for adding those four new power out source thingies. Phew! It had been so hot I was reduced to making jello with fizzy water and while I like fizzy water, I don't particularly like jello. We were downing popsicles as if we were never going to enjoy the frozen concoctions ever again. They were yummy. I mixed cranberry juice with grapefruit juice. Perfect for crazy hot heat.

Today will be more of the same. I've got buggie pillows to stitch up, embroidery to do, a paper to work on, some flicks to watch and I guess I should probably clean up this tiny casa. There is fabric everywhere and I have not been returning the scissors to the scissor drawer so there are scissors hiding all over the place. We have about six pair and none are in the drawer. My pinking shears I think are ready to call it quits and if I jab a needle into my finger one more time I just may fall into a hundred years sleep. Yeah, I've got things to do,stitches to stitch and witch-baby's to shoo off of my sewing machine. I wish you all a productive Thursday! Toodles!

The Week in Review: August 27-September 2

We just got back from thunderstorm chasing and I am so, so, so tired! Too tired to recap last week os here are some visuals. click here for some tiny details.