Finding My Inspiration for Crochet Again

Well, well...  It is now late into the evening!  I hope everyone is having a Great Weekend.  I know we all are.  Today has been about eating and organizing more than anything.

This morning, we ate at a great breakfast/brunch spot called Wild Eggs.  It was so delicious.  It's somewhat expensive for breakfast, and I never order anything healthy, so we don't go often.  For lunch, we just worked through it and opted for an early dinner instead.  Dinner was sushi and hibachi grill at Fuji Japanese Steakhouse.  Sooooooo Gooooood!  I love sushi and it is a family owned business.  We know everyone there and they have known my Little Darling since she was a toddler.  I love ethnic food, but more than that, I love family owned restaurants.  Owners take so much more pride in the work they do and you can *feel* the sense of family when you go there.  We have a family owned spot for all of our favorite sorts of foods:  Family owned Persian place, Chinese place, Indian place, Mexican place, and now we have recently added a Vietnamese place to the list as well.  If I could just get a family owned Italian place, I might be completely to the moon in Food Bliss Heaven!

I have also been paying more attention to my balcony container garden.  It has been very hot here, with so little rain.  I have been out every evening to water the plants.  Soon, I saw this:

All of the tomato plants have grown ABOVE the little gate that we made.  In the last garden we planted, birds and a lot of squirrels broke the branches on all the tomatoes.  They didn't eat the fruits, they wanted the tomato branches and the leaves.  I was so upset!  We tried everything we could, but, in the end, the squirrels won. All of our tomatoes were thrown to the ground and all the branches were eaten.  This year, we came up with a great plan!  This cage...  This year, the tomatoes grew so large!  I have never gotten them to grow so big and SO many tomatoes!!!

These are the best tomatoes I have EVER tasted.  And I grew them myself!  Now, if I could just get them all to turn red at the same time :-)  This is from two days.  Right now, we have about 20 more green cherry tomatoes, waiting to ripen. I can't wait!  I can taste a summer salad already!

I have also be getting so busy with crochet!  I can't even keep up!! I have so many projects in my mind right now.  I am trying to sketch them out, make voice recordings, and maybe even create a few motifs so that I have an example of what I am trying to do.  Well, let me tell you, even with doing ALL of that, I am still unable to record all of my ideas.  Oh Man!!  I am so grateful to be inspired right now. I have taken quite a break from crochet because I couldn't think of anything to do.  I was bored with it. 

Now, I have a new purpose.  The main inspiration I have right now is GIFT GIVING!

So the other day, I look at my calendar and I come to the realization that my friend's baby shower is in just a few weeks!  I have not even thought about what to do for a gift!  I had some ideas, but then I changed my mind...and I had more ideas, but then she mentioned colors that would not fit.  And then I lost my inspiration and motivation.  Well, thank God I am ready to rock and roll with my Hook again because I finally came up with this design here.  My dear friend *A* is having a baby boy.

I am almost certain that *A* does not read my blog, so I feel comfortable showing this project here.  Sometimes, knowing that people aren't reading your blog makes it easier to really just document what you have going on creatively, rather than worrying about keeping secrets.  I love it.  And I love this little project here.  It's part of a set that I am doing for her Little Mister.

Making Grannies is easy and fast and fun.  But I don't want this to be "just another granny blanket", so I have something special planned for it to make it just a little more interesting!!!  But THAT will have to wait for some other day.  I don't want to give everything away all at one time...

I just love seeing the process of a Granny Square grow from one round to the next :-)

Since I will have to get this in the mail within the next 10 days, this project and everything else that is in the package to my friend *A* are my Priority!  There are some other things in the making as well.  I will be showing those other projects throughout the week! That way, if I completely lose my mind with all these ideas, then I can at least have my blog to remind me of the projects I have planned.  Hahaha!

Also!!!  If you have not entered my Giveaway and you are considering it, Please feel free to enter the Giveaway here.  Just leave a comment on the post, and I will be drawing a winner on Monday!

Have a Wonderful Weekend!

Baby Rainbows

Good Morning!

Well, I mentioned in my last post that I have been working on a new project.  It's a baby blanket :)  Well, in time, when I am completely finished, it will be more than a baby blanket.  I can't wait to finish it.  I haven't worked on a project in Months!  Probably some time in October was the last time I was working on anything.  It was a scarf...and not even one that I planned to wear! 

I love making things for babies.  I don't know why, but as soon as some gets knocked up, I start cranking out ideas for new projects.  Lucky for me, I am positive that we are going through some sort of Baby Boom due to the economic crisis.  I have never seen so many women pregnant at the same time!  And that's good news for me because it gets my wheels turning, my mind goes into craft overdrive.  I guess there's something about creating a new life that gets me motivated.  Anything goes when it comes to kids.  Lots of colors, prints, designs.... I have a HUGE imagination, and I get to let it run completely wild when I am making things for children.

Whoa..... I just found out if you push "enter" and you aren't careful, your post will be published automatically.... very weird!

Enough babble, let me show you what I have so far... Be patient.  The lighting in my apartment is terrible, so I'll show two of each (with flash & without flash) but nothing is as true as seeing it right in front of you!

No flash

*Flash*

No flash

*Flash*

I really love the rainbow color on the outside of the flowers.  It's Simply Soft "Baby Brights".  As you know from some of my other projects, I am obsessed with rainbows.  My friend is very traditional and I think she would be more appreciative of pastel baby colors, so I worked with what I had in my hefty stash! 

I have been working on paying off my debts so that I can just start to save... I haven't been able to come up with a specific reason to save, but I am 100% committed to paying debt.  That means all of my projects will have to be very decisive.  No purchasing yarn just because I "think it would look good for a project one day".  It feels good to have to start exercising restraint and being responsible for a change.  It's been a long time since I have made a decision and followed through with it 100%. 

I will admit that I have been ...cheating.  I just NEVER EVER SET FOOT IN A CRAFT STORE!  I am running out of the off-white/cream color for the African Flowers.... I am going to have to walk into some store to get more of it.  That is when my restraint and discipline will truly be tested!  Stay tuned to see what happens....Will I sprint into the store like a maniac escaping the police, buy ONLY the off-white color I need and then run out of the store like my ass just caught fire?  Or... will I browse for an hour and leave the store with $100 worth of random items to use "for something one day"? Goodness, I really hope it's the second option! Wish me luck!!!

Remember Me?

Woke up late this morning, slightly dreading work.  We had this crazy storm that came from nowhere around 8am or something this morning.  Storms typically give me migraines, so my Little Darling and I hopped back in bed and slept until 11:45 this afternoon.  NICE!  Those moments are quite rare, as I am sure most can imagine, especially if they have children.
So I started my late day off the right way.... With some sugar cookies and milk!


My local bakery is Off.the.Chain!  It is soooooo good.  These soft, frosted, fresh-baked yummies are a great start to any day..... and unfortunately for me, they just so happen to be a great start to most of my days.  I am a true, bonafied COOKIE MONSTER!  I was a recovering cookie addict, but I have relapsed full throttle here lately.



As I have hinted about in previous posts, I have been preparing to homeschool my Little Darling.  She's 4, too young and too small to start kindergarten this year.  We wanted to do private or homeschooling with her anyway, when she was eligible for school.  I just figured, since she is totally ready and prepared mentally/cognitively for kindergarten that I would just do a year of homeschooling for her and see where she ends up around this time next year.  If she is ready, maybe she could skip into first grade, or if it goes well, I may continue to homeschool her for a couple of years longer.

This little morning board was sooooooooo much work!  I got a lot of print outs from different home school blogs, but then there was the cutting, the mounting, the laminating, re-cutting, etc.  And everything that wasn't pre-made, I had to make on my own.  I am so tech-retarded it's not even funny!  So I am sure some of you are shaking your head thinking, "This is what took you five days?"  It also took more time because it's a bilingual board, with the exception of the Bible verse.  I am teaching my daughter Spanish, or doing what I can at least. I am pretty proud of myself, and I am hoping to get some great use out of this as we go on our homeschool journey.  No worries!  I am not a Homeschool Blogger.  That would be terrible because 1- I'd be bored with the topic and 2- After blogging about schoolwork, I wouldn't have the energy or attention span to blog about arts/crafts, which is more recreational, as is this blog.

Speaking of which! REMEMBER THIS?

I can't even remember when I started it.  I just know that, at some point, I stopped working on it.  I think I got into some project as a gift or something.... Who knows!  Anyway, I had this little basket of hexies that I was supposed to make more of.  In fact, I think I needed about 80 more or something.  Just knowing I wasn't near the end was enough to drive me crazy.  So i just dropped it off into my dark abyss of a craft room.

Then, the magic happened.  Whenever I finish something that I have been working terribly hard on (homeschool planning and morning board) I kind of come off that high and get restless.  You know, after a really long run, your muscles are achey and you are tired and mentally frazzled.... but the adrenaline from the run and the excitement over your accomplishment keeps you from being able to just crash on the couch in bliss.  That was me last night.  After finishing my planning and the damn board, I was like "Now what?  What can I do?  Gotta decompress.  Gotta get my crochet on.  Something. ANYTHING?!!"  I know, I am a little crazy, but I can't stand to not be busy.

So, I picked up some things that I had been working on.  I finished a hat and a cardigan and I thought about working on some baby booties.  I changed my mind because I was in the mood to finish things.  So I walked around my arsenal of craft leftovers...and I picked up this guy again!

I laid all the hexies on my floor, and it was so perfect!  It was symmetrical.  It was just the right size for a baby boy.  And I had exactly the right amount of hexagons!  Not one too many and not one less.  If that's not a calling I don't know what is!

So.... what happened?  Nothing!  LOL. I fastened them all off, put them in the pattern I wanted to attach them in...and then I hit a wall.  I have no idea how to attach them!!!!  I actually only know ONE way to attach motifs.  I know a whip stitch.  So I tried that without a border, but it looked pretty terrible to say the least.

Remember what they looked like with the border versus without?  I most definitely don't want to go back and add the navy border to all those hexies! Not a chance in hell that will happen (angry voice).  But, I think I will attempt to crochet them together or do some research on other ways to connect motifs.  If you know anything-- hook a girl up!
Until then.... the mystery of how to get connected will remain unresolved....

Oooh La La -- TA DAH!

I am not sure if I have been naming my Oooooh La Las or not.  I'm assuming not, since I am not all that great with coming up with names for my projects.  I'll change that soon though.  You just watch!

Anyway, I planned on  making this post uhm.... what?  Like, 3 days ago or something?  I totally can't remember.  Everything has been such a whirlwind!  I meant to take pictures of this blanket Thursday, but my husband surprised me with another day off from work.  You don't even know what that means.  He works so much, we never get time together as a whole family, so I was like "Yeeeeaaauuuh!  HOLLA!!!"  We all went swimming all day on Thursday and then I went to hell.... I mean work.

Work has been off.the.chain.  I have this special routine that I do when I am going to work:
Shower.  If my hair is braided, then I make sure the stray hairs aren't too wild.  If my hair is in an afro puff, then I wet it a little, product-it a little, and then pull it back.  If my hair is flat ironed, I brush it out and then pull it into a pony tail.  Hair routine for crazy day: finger-comb hair into tight bun so it doesn't get pulled out of my head by angry children.

Then I get dressed in something nice, yet comfortable.  I like dresses in the summer with leggings underneath.  It's easy and cute.  Since it's hot, I like sandals.  Attire for crazy day: 1 of the 3 pairs of jeans that are baggy enough for me wrestle in without making me look like a box-shaped lezbo.  A shirt that I am not particularly attached to emotionally that doesn't show ANY skin, plus another super long tank top underneath that I tuck waaaaay down into my jeans (you never know how your clothes may shift or get pulled when in a "situation" at work) a belt, and some closed-toe shoes so I don't break a toe.

Then I like make-up.  I have crazy acne, sensitive skin and I scar easily.  That means, on any given day, I am either broken out from some hormonal rampage that has chosen to seize my face rather than impair my ability to function as an emotionally stable person.  Or, I am broken out because someone touched me too much and my skin rejects oils of any sort, including my own personal home-grown right from my own flesh natural body oils.  If I touch my face throughout the day, I will go to bed fully broken out.  Or, when the coast is clear, you see the aftermath of whatever insane breakout has left on my poor, little face.  In short.  Make up is essential.  Nothing touches my actual skin that I can't wash off, and I don't touch my face because I don't want to smear anything.  I like eye make up.  It's fun to play around with.  Make for crazy day:  foundation, mascara, chapstick, MAYBE blush.  I stick with the basics so that if someone does touch my face, I can easily wash it off without experiencing the damage.

Anyway, that's been my week.  I have fantastic family time, and then I shower and rush into work, where I chase and manage children who could otherwise choose to behave so that I don't have to dress like a boy and they don't have to be bored with restrictions.  I love what I do-- NEVER MISTAKE THAT!
So...  Here we are on Saturday, my day off.  I wanted to get out and take some pictures of my blanket, but then all hell broke loose!  The sky went black and there was rain, winds, thunder, lightening. It was straight up Wildness.com outside my window!

This is some of the aftermath.  My sister was out driving around and she came to have me walk the streets, looking at the damage.  There was more as we continued walking through neighborhoods.  A friend was unfortunate enough to be caught driving in it as trees were literally being uprooted and falling across the street!

So I had to, despite the terrible lighting, take these photos indoors.  I am pretty gutsy, but I never fuck with Mother Nature.  N.E.V.E.R.  But, I have been thinking about things, and I have got to set up some sort of a lighting system for photos.

43 rounds total, with 6 rounds for the border

I am really pumped about the spike stitch border.  I have experimented a little with the spike stitch before, but I have never made it a part of a finished project.  I will most definitely be using this interesting and fun stitch more often....and, by "more often", I mean within the next week for some new projects I have planned!

The only thing I am not super excited about is how the edges curl a little.  I have to sort out how to get that under control LOL.  I plan to make 2 more giant grannies. One with the pinks, that I showed you a while ago, and then another one with browns, off-white, and maybe a light orangey sherbet looking color...  I haven't worked out the kinks on the last one of the trio.  I will have different borders on all of them, and I am hoping that I can get it right so the corners don't curl.

After some thought, I think I have have answer to the curled edges problem, but I am not even going to attempt to work out this issue until I get over my blanket blues!  I need to work on something other than blankets, and after rounds and rounds and rounds of blue hues, I need to get away from that color too!!! 

Sucrette.  If you are just blog hopping and have some spare time after my long rambling, you should definitely check out her blog!!!  She has all these free patterns on there and tutorials.  Nothing makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside as when a person offers something to the craft community for free!  So THANK YOU, THANK YOU to Sucrette for coming up with the idea and giving me the opportunity to come out of my shell and try something new!

Happy Hooking!

MEGA GRANNY - Update

Hey, hey!  I guess I should have made this post yesterday, or something.  If you have read any two posts of mine in a row, you should know by now that I just do what I want each day-- no real plan, no real commitments other than being a good person and doing right by my family & community.  With that said, sometimes I make a post when I should...and other times, like yesterday, I watch Heroes.
Ooooh, which makes me think of an Amazeballs post to make one day!  I am obsessed with super heroes and vampires and things like that.  I know, I know.... how could just a cool/savvy woman who is capable of making such cute creations just be a *GEEK* in reality?  Ha!  I fooled you!

But more on that later...

For now, I am all about this mega granny group that I joined.  I can't remember what the group's real name is.  In all reality, I have so many different projects at any given time, I usually forget that I joined something or that I am working on something specific.

While losing brain cells on watching prime time television on DVD, I sat and spent the day working on this.  I am not a zombie, by any means.  I totally took breaks in between to play with my Little Darling and to eat.

This is my "sidewalk" view.  I can't tell which I like better, but I guess both shots of the blanket are valuable. 

Here is my plan for the pattern.  I wanted it to be for a baby.  So I think the colors should be light & bright.  However, at some point in the future, I do want to experiment with darker colors for baby items as well. 

I am really on a mission to change the look of baby items.  I am tired of the pinks for girls and blues for boys.  It's such a boring way to think about things.  And really, it's such an "American" way to think about things, being all locked away in gender-specific stereotypes and all.   But I am also tired of all the "baby colors".... the "baby" blue and the "soft" greens, and the "baby precious" pinks.  Babies are just mini people. Would you want to be washed out in pastels all the time?  Uhm-- NOOOOO!!!  "Big People" usually like to live wild and live in vivid, living color.  Free to wear whatever suits them.  There is no "Grown Man" navy or "Adult working woman" brown....  so why not grant the same colortastic liberties to babies?

I am on a mission to liven it up.  Change up the norm.  Every time someone sees a project that I am working on, someone sooner or later always mentions, "Hmm.  I would have never thought of those colors for a baby" or "I would have never come up with such a color combination". 

While I would love to, I can't say that I take all the credit for this.  It's just inspiration that I reinterpret into what I think works and fits.  I read sooooo many craft blogs (Holla @ Google Translate!!!) and I am always on etsy and always on flickr just to see what the possibilities are.  And although I usually can't figure out how to do the vast majority of what I see out there myself, all these creations that people pull out of their amazing imaginations, I can still use this...even if in the end it's just a reminder that:

there are no limits when it comes to creativity, only the ones we place on ourselves.

So thanks, all my fellow crafters worldwide.  Thanks for being an inspiration :)

Oooh La La -- TA DAH!

HELLLLOOOOO!!!!  I guess I don't have to tell you that I am totally a few days late in my post.  All sorts of crazy-town things have been happening.First, a few days ago, I lost internet connection.  I have no idea how or why...and I also have no clue how The Hubs got it back together.  All in all, I am happy to be back online and connected to the world out there.

Also, over the weekend, I found out that my dryer broke because the outlet it was plugged into basically scorched itself.  When they brought the new dryer, I was told that I was lucky the whole building didn't burn down.  And then the guy pulled out the cord.... It was basically melted.  So I had to wait until the other day to get that sorted and now, I can do laundry!!!  So excited!  I have been hauling wet clothes to the nearest laundromat for weeks!  Oh, and yeaaa... My arms are getting some definition!

Then, over the weekend, somehow, my air conditioner was cut down to the lowest, which broke it.... Considering that we have been experiencing heat indexes up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit, a broken AC is soooo not what I needed.  They fixed it promptly, but the water spilled into the hall and the carpet basically smells like funky, mustard, onion mothballs.  GROSS!  I am working on getting the smell out.

Now, I just have to worry about the boil-water advisory that we were placed under due to a main water line that spontaneously burst.  We were lucky that our water was never cut off.  And we were lucky that we weren't affected by the floods, but it was pretty terrible.  Now, I am just trying to find things to eat/drink that don't have me boiling water so I don't run the risk of turning into a cyclops overnight due to drinking infected water.  More importantly, I am praying for those who got the worst of the main water line breakage and for those who didn't know about the boil-water advisory and drank the water, like my younger sister.

So....... Now, I am out of the crazy-town moment, and I am back in the Land of the Carefree & Happy, here to bring you some photos of the latest completed project.

I have to warn you-- these are not the best pictures.  The best light that I could find to really show the colors was outside.  You lose so much without natural light.  Colors start to fade and turn into different colors.

I chose the picot edging.  I just learned how to do it, and you know how it goes when you learn how to do something for the first time.... you just can't help but to do it again and again and again... You know, just to get better at it, to see how many different ways you can do it.  

But for serious--- I am loving the picot edging.  It's so cute and frilly.  Perfect for little girls items.  So get prepared to see lots more of this....and to see some things that work and some things that really don't work, as I try out as many options as possible with the picot edging.

I will admit.... I am sort of in love with this blanket.  I want to keep it forever and ever, but I have to stick with the plan that I created for this little delight that I made.  It's a part of my super-secret surprise.  I have about.... 5-6 more projects to finish and then I will tell what the surprise is and I will show it as well.

I took the pictures outside between the sidewalk and some grassy areas on a bedsheet in front of my apartment.  48 squares.  All different.  All cute.  All working together happily framed by this pink & green.

I'm excited to hear what anyone thinks about this.  I love it.  I hope others do too!

Tomorrow, another finished projects and/or an update on my Mega Giant Granny Square group thing that I am participating in!

Have a blessed day :)

Oooh La La -- TA DAH!

I am happy to be on such a roll with finishing things that I start.  I wanna do a Happy Dance and yell, "Waahooooo-hhhhuuuuhhh Yeaaaaauuuuhhh!"  I will have to hold on that because it is nap time for my Little Darling.
I am all about Rainbows right now.  I think they are really sweet and make everyone feel happy.  I don't think that rainbows are just for little girls.  I am all about a color-revival for little boys.  Why not?  Seriously, all the black, white, brown, green, grey, and blues gets to be a little BORING!!!  There's no life to something that looks like a jungle...or a storm gray evening...  They will enjoy all the brightness too!  Rainbows get everyone excited!!!

As usual, the camera doesn't do it anywhere near enough justice.  There are.... I think 12 colors on this blankie. It is about.... nearly 40 inches from point to point and about 101cm.  Pretty large for just one hexagon!

I am still undecided about the edging.... I keep thinking about these popcorn stitches... I don't know if I like them very much.  Also, I made some small mistakes in the rows with the popcorns (hmmm, that sounds fantastic right about now for lunch!!!)  I can't tell you where the mistakes are....but just know they exist and it is making me question whether I should figure out how to fix them (and they are easily fixable!) or whether I should just take the whole 3-4 rows off and just go with a stripe instead...

I may change my mind and just make it a solid blue stripe!

**Sigh! I just wish I knew something more interesting for finishing off blankies for Little Boys..... Hmmm.... I guess that means you can stay tuned for an "Ideas/ Inspirations" post. I'm gonna crack the code on what edgings work well with Cute Little Boy Blankies!

What do you think???  Popcorn edging?  Solid blue stripe edging???

Until then...... Have a great Friday!  Tomorrow, another TA-DAH moment will be shared and then yet another on Sunday!  I'm on a rolllllll :)

MEGA GRANNY GROUP

Despite the fun I had typing that title in ALL-CAPS, I now realize that's not the right name for the group at all.

Anyway, this ADORABLE person, Angie, writes this ADORABLE craft blog: Le Monde De Sucrette, and she has started this fun Challenge about making a huge granny square.  I wanted to post some pictures of the largest grannies I have made, and I will later on, but I was excited that I got started on the Giant Granny Challenge and joined the Flickr group :)  Mind you, I have had a Flickr account forever, but I never felt like uploading pictures.  I got it so I could view and *Like* others' pictures.  So I am pumped to finally be adding my own pictures to the mix for the first time on Flickr!

But.... uuhhmmmm... it's gonna have to happen tomorrow because The Hubs just walked in with Blizzards from Dairy Queen!  Yeeaaaaahhhhyuuuuuhhh!

 You always run this risk of trying to capture the true colors of the yarns, when you use a camera.  It's white, light blue, medium blue, blue, turquoise, and navy blue.

So I am trying to get it closer so you can see

Here is my Giant Granny so far.  It will be another baby blanket.  For a Boy.  My goal is at least 50 rounds.  The most rounds for a single granny square that I have ever made is... I think 28 or something!

So far, I have 12 rows on this square by now.... I guess I have quite a ways to go!  But I plan to have some fun all the way.

I definitely want the blanket to be lighter, so I will be adding more rows of the white, the light blue, and the medium blue than the darker colors.  We will see what pattern I come up with in regards to the rows, but I am not too worried about the logistics now.  Now, it's all about the thrill of adding rounds and rounds and rounds to grow my baby granny blankie!

A Few Laughs- Why Not?

Well, some funny things have happened to me in the past 24 hours.  I just want to toss this disclaimer out there:  I am the Goddess of Embarrassing Events.  No, seriously, I could write a book about all the hilarious moments that comprise my life.
The difference between me and other goofballs is that I am not afraid to make my little mishaps and adventures with Shame known to the public.  The way I see it, there are so many people out there who have these terrible days.  Why not share something that you know is HILARIOUS in an effort to make someone feel better?

So this is what will happen after this post... One of these things:
1-- Someone is having a horrible day, and they will read this and fall out laughing so hard that they forget whatever was troubling them, if only for the moment.
2-- Someone will be grossed out and decide that I am not lady-like.  Well, the best embarrassing stories are the ones that are 50% shame 50% comedy 30% inappropriate 20% icky and 100% humiliating!  Ok, that's like 400% or something, but you get the idea..... in the end, someone will be offended.
3-- Someone will be snooty and leave a comment about how, if it was so embarrassing, why I made it public knowledge.  My reply:  Who gives a Fuck?  A laugh is a Laugh, even if it is at my own personal expense.


With that rambled.....

Funny Thing #1:
Last night, while eating dinner, The Hubs and I were talking about having another baby.  My Little Darling casually asks when.  I casually respond with, "Whenever Daddy will give me one".  Of course this leads to the question of how Daddy could give me a baby.  The Hubs turns about eight shades of red and begins to mouth "No, no, no!!!"  to me...because he knows that I am always under the belief that you can explain things to kids.  Why not?  I would rather my child learn everything from me in a loving, moral, safe environment than gallivanting the streets falling prey to whatever ridiculous insane thoughts, values, and behaviors are out there.  In a nice, pleasant voice, I say "Mommy & Daddy are in love and we are married.  We want to grow our little family and have another little baby that we can love so very much.  That happens when Daddy puts his penis in my vagina and sometimes a baby comes from it.  A baby won't come every time Mommy & Daddy make love, but sometimes there is a baby.  That's how Mommy got you inside her belly, when you were a baby".  The Hubs all but falls out.  No color to his face for  a few minutes.  What brought him back around was my Little Darling's yelling, "Bwwwaaaaah! Hahahahaha!  That's silly!  Daddy puts his pee in Mommy's pee and we get babies?  Hahahahaha!"  Needless to say, my first attempt at the Birds & the Bees was a FAIL. The Hubs, on the other hand was not amused.  He was mortified and declared no more sex talk with our four year old for another 10 years.  I got some odd sense of satisfaction from watching him struggle to finish his dinner as our daughter grinned at him like she had just found out his precious little secret!

Funny Thing #2:
I have been in and out of town on several road trips, here and there this past 6 weeks.  On this last trip I went on, I decided that I worms.  I am crazy, and I won't even get into why or how I thought my intestines were ambushed by worms, but I was convinced.  Since I couldn't bare looking in the toilet knowing that there could be little squiggly things having a pool party of sorts, I didn't use the bathroom.  I wanted to, but I couldn't!

So, here it is, going on two weeks later and I still feel.... erm.... congested.  So I found these "Women's Laxative Pills".  I had no idea what exactly that meant, but I figured how bad could it be?  They are for women.   I am a woman.  There's not some creepy name "Plyo-polypoopapill" or "Hemroiditisblowoutfungal syrup". They are pretty pink little pills.  That's always promising.  And the best part is they are off-brand grocery store pills, so they couldn't be too terrible on my stomach.  The dose said take 1-3 pills at once.  I figured I would take 2...it'd been a while, and they weren't even brand name, so I might need the extra help........

Then my stomach made this gargle noise... and it bubbled... and then it made a "blahuuuurp" sound, and next thing I know -- MY BUNGHOLE EXPLODED!!!!  Without going into the gory details, I can assure you of this:  It was Baaaaaddddd!

As if that wasn't enough, my allergies are on a serious He-Man level madness.  It rained and that makes my high allergy to grass and trees off the chain.  So I am coughing and sneezing like a crazy person, all the while trying desperately trying not to poo my pants.  And to put a cherry on top of the disaster.... I had to explain why my stomach was violently growling at my Little Darling during our homeschooling this morning and why I kept holding my arse as I ran at top speed to the bathroom over and over.  Needless to say, I spent the whole day inside.  Not necessarily because of my bowel disturbances, but because my daughter would totally be telling everyone about it!!!  Kind of the way she walked into the bank this morning as we deposited some cash and proudly announced to all the tellers, "My Daddy mix his pee with my Mommy's pee for babies!"

Before this ends.... I just wanted to share at least one image:

I am happy to announce that I have finally finished putting at 48 of these squares together for what turned out to be SUCH an awesome blanket.  I need to do an edging before I make another "Oh La La TA-DAHHH" post showcasing all the colorful wonderfulness of this baby blanket.  And I am so very looking forward to the little boy version of this same pattern/layout :)

Too-da-looooooo to youuuuu!  And if you were having a shitty day (get it--hahahaha shitty day??) I hope reading about my little embarrassing moments helped brighten things up for a moment.

Feeling the Rainbow

Wellps, it's been 4-5 weeks since I have been staying home.  Time really flies.  Aside from some small accomplishments, I haven't done much at all.  In fact, I get more done when I am working and trying to maintain a social life. Ha!  Knowing I will be home all day makes me think, "Why work so hard right here and now?  I have tomorrow and the next day and the next day...."
The funny thing about all this is that at one point, I used to think to myself: "All these beautiful blogs that I love!  Who's writing them all?  Oh, wait.  Stay at home moms and single women and college students.  That's what makes them so great!  These people have so much time on their hands!!!"  Well, here I am now, with just as much time....and well, the truth is the amazing authors of the blogs I enjoy are just plain phenomenal, interesting, and inspiring individuals, despite their situations.  So!  That is what I have learned in the past 4 weeks or so.  Now, we can talk about what I have DONE!'

I finally finished the 48 squares I needed for the baby rainbow blanket...but now, I am constantly pep talking myself into putting them together.  This blanket is HUGE!  It nearly takes over my dining room table.  Ha!  I have to learn to gauge my measurements better.  One square always seems so small, so I feel like I need a lot....but then I get a lil' crazy! 

It's like Crochet Gone Wild on my dining room table!  I will be so pumped when I finish it!

I have only finished connecting two and a half rows.  But now that I can see the layout, and I stopped fretting about what order to lie the squares, the connection just got a lil easier.  These squares are so colorful, it's nearly impossible to make sure that each row and column just has one color or one order... So, I am letting go and just putting the damned things together already!

In the mean time, so that I don't go bananas with square placements, I started a project inspired by a glimpse of something I saw in a booklet, while shopping for yarn.

I saw this in a book for baby accessories.  It wasn't this color, but it was a huge hexagon blanket.  I loved it.  Since I am really obsessed with working with LOTS & LOTS of color right now, I made it a rainbow blankie.  Mine also won't be gargantuan.  Ha!  Definitely not after the rainbow monster blanket on my dining room table.  I am having thoughts of serving dinner on my balcony at the moment.  I pity the fool who DARES move those squares from the table! 

I started this last Sunday.  I am almost finished with it.  There are 12 colors in it.  It's for a boy... I have so much blue and green in this lil blankie.  I have an idea about the edging.  I am so excited about it.  I hope what I have in my mind is something I can re-create.  I have this crazy habit of dreaming up sensational ideas that are waaaay beyond my skill level!  This is the first large Hexagon blanket I have ever made.  I'm so happy about all the colors!!!  I am going to make one in the girlie colors too, with the pinks and the purples.  And I am terrified of this reality.... but I am also going to make a Rainbow Monster blanket for a little boy too.  I'm seeing nothing but pretty rainbows ....  It's really great not to be tied to one color scheme!

And I hit a wall with my dining room design.  My table cloth is finished.  I need to go to the fabric store for a plastic cover.  Now, I am concerned with the walls.  I want to add some art!  I was all about the pears & eggplants.  Then, my husband brought me this calendar full of flowers in bloom and bouquets.  I really love flowers and birds, so now, I am thinking of changing things.

This would be the logical choice.  It has the purples and the greens from the table cloth.  But, I have no idea what those flowers are.  It's an interesting composition, but I dunno.... It seems uninviting somehow.  Like the flowers are some version of Venus fly traps with hidden teeth.  Ok, that's my crazy imagination taking over, but I'm just sayin....

I love lilies!  This is really pinkish though.  I could always paint it to have more of a purple hue.  This is so much more beautiful and inviting than the other, I think.

This one is my favorite.  I don't know why, but I am really drawn to it. I am not interested in the roses particularly, but I just love the composition and the color pallet.  Since I was born without that "Make A Homey Space" gene, I have no clue if it will go well with the eggplant and green table cloth that I have.  It's just so warm and inviting.  I love to cook and entertain, and I feel like this would encourage people to sit, eat, and kick back a while....Maybe I can infuse some yellows in the seat cushions that I make.  Hmmm.... And maybe some yellow table runners and a yellow vase with some green, purple, and yellow fake flowers....  Thoughts, thoughts...decisions, decisions....

All righty!  It's nap time for me and my Little Darling!  Have a great weekend!  I know I will!!



Little Boy Hexies

I have been seriously thinking about these little boy hexagons. I always do granny something. Granny squares, puffy granny hexagons, granny hexagons, granny smith apples.... oh wait, that was food. But at any rate, 90% of my crochet items are some how related to GRANNIES!


In my last post, I mentioned that I didn't like the hexies I had finished, and this is what they looked like. The more of them I made, the more irritated I became with the outcome.
So then I decided to use a smaller hook, take out one of the double crochets in the clusters, so it's more like a V-stitch, and I added a color...

These are the same color combinations and everything, but I like the smaller one much better!


I guess I should have made another one, but I was so excited about how cute they were that I had to stop and share!

So now, I just have to decide if I want to connect them with the navy border, or without it. I am really feeling like I might try to connect them without the border. That will give me more color options.... let's see what happens!