Friday Fill In

So, this one is a little late...but if I haven't been to sleep yet, it's still Friday in my mind!

1. My boots are really flip flops.
2. I'd like to pay off all of my debt this century.
3. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
4. Can you walk the walk and talk (the talk)?
5. I'd like someone to organize my home for me.
6. What does it take to get over it?
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to beating my family in Shrek Sack Races on the Wii (Technically this already happened! Both Keri/Jay and Pete/Katie got Wiis for Christmas and we had a marathon of games tonight. I rocked at any of the racing games, but did horrible on most of the others!), tomorrow my plans include a little bit of shopping and a holiday party with the Misbehavin' crew and Sunday, I want to have fun at work!


Merry Christmas, everyone!

Friday Fill In

1. No, we will NOT stop dancin'. I really think I need to have a dance party soon. Even if it's in my kitchen by myself!
2. She sits reflecting on a life well lived at the old kitchen table.
3. I watched the steam rising from the hot cup of coffee (or tea) and thought: YES! I am finally getting it. My Starbucks training is going really well. I only had one meltdown- over steaming milk for a cappuccino. I just wasn't getting it. I ended up crying in the backroom for fifteen minutes. That was on Sunday. Yesterday, my manager said I made a perfect cappuccino. Woohoo!
4. Don't worry about a thing, it's going to be okay.
5. I'll take one of everything. Someday, I think it would be fun to have the money to walk in a store and say that and mean it!
6. Chocolate and peanut butter will make anything better, at least from my point of view.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to crafting (maybe with Mindy?), tomorrow my plans include hanging out with Papa and Grandma, taking them to see New Moon (hehe...suckers. I took Grandma to see Twilight last year, because no one else would go with me. She didn't quite get it, but she just loves to go to the movies.) and Sunday, I want to craft some more! I have all three days off of work and I just found that out last night. Three days of no plans or obligations. I really want to get things done and not be totally lazy. ;)

Friday Fill In

1. Good times: Flip Flip Flip Adelphia. (I just watched the IASIP season finale and it was hysterical.)
2. I need to clean my home.
3. Sleigh bells ring are you listening.
4. I wish I was still little.
5. Once more things are looking up again.
6. Will it ever end? (I love how this contradicts number five!)
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to knitting for me!, tomorrow my plans include working the Steward sale at the resort and Sunday, I want to make drinks and not screw them up!*


*Remember the crazy work stress/drama from last week? Things got better on Monday. The resort transferred me to Starbuck's. I wasn't too thrilled about it, but now that I'm there I love it! The people I work with are awesome and the majority of our customers are super happy-I think because they found a Starbuck's on an island that doesn't have anything else! My supervisor told me today that it's like working in a bar without dealing with drunks. I love that analogy.

Friday Fill In

1. You get what you deserve, most of the time.
2. Get right to the point.
3. It's never the right time.
4. The communication (or lack there of) has been ridiculous!
5. I feel more and more angry every minute regarding my work situation.
6. Sweet dreams...goodnight!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to babysitting Sydney and Austin (love those two!), tomorrow my plans include painting baseboards and doors at Keri's house and Sunday, I want to have fun helping Kelley out with her pottery party!

I wasn't that creative with my answers this week, stemming from the anger and bitterness caused by numbers four and five. I haven't been this stressed in a long time. I have worked my ass off for the past few months and am getting screwed over. As it stands right now, I think I may be unemployed. I don't know for sure because my phone calls are not getting returned. My store was forced to close earlier than expected, leaving me without a job. Supposedly I am going to be transferred, but I don't know when. No one tells me anything. So I sit and wait and get angry.

Friday Fill In

1. Wait! Wait, don't forget to save the date. (I felt the need to rhyme with this one.)
2. One large iced vanilla coffee followed at once by one extremely wired Kara. Yep, that's me today!
3. The trouble is Mom doesn't know how to make good mashed potatoes, but was too impatient to wait for me. I honestly don't know how she possibly messed them up as bad as she did, but they were a gluey paste. Yuck!
4. All of my best friends live many miles away.
5. With a faint pop the transformer blew and the entire island was out of power for nearly 24 hours- true story. Actually last Saturday night, it was more of a loud boom and light show.
6. After that, it was quiet, dark, shadowy and ominous.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to driving to Orlando, tomorrow my plans include Magic Kingdom with my family and Sunday, I want to be on time for work!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have been feeling bitter and ungrateful lately (even more than normal- hard to believe, I know), but in a time of reflection this morning on my way to work I decided to compose a list of things I am thanful for.* Anyone who knows me, knows I love lists almost as much as I love crossing things off of them. Sometimes, I write a list after I've already completed the tasks just to cross them off, but I digress...

Things I am thankful for this week:
~ A free latte this morning at Starbucks! Thanks Shandella!
~ Setting selling goals and beating them
~ Nice customers
~ Papa was released from the hospital on Saturday and seems to be in great spirits- not his normal grumpy self!
~ Kate is healing nicely. She is still swollen, but able to talk. I had a nice phone conversation with her on Tuesday and she was pleasant and laughing a lot.
~ Pete and his family are at the Happiest Place in the World for Thanksgiving (Walt Disney World)
~ I get to join them tomorrow night and spend Saturday at one of the parks
~ My Disney pass is valid thru Saturday. Yay for fate!
~ My trip will be virtually free (just have to pay for fuel and maybe a meal or two)
~ My sister who spoils me- feeds me and gives me a free place to crash
~ My store is closing two hours early today
~ It's quiet enough right now for me to compose this post while at work (well over the course of an hour or so)
~ Not having to contribute much to our Thanksgiving feast except for the Quorn "Turkey Breast" and the mashed potatoes
~ MASHED POTATOES!!!
~ I am getting up before the crack of dawn to go shopping tomorrow with Keri
~ This is possible because my store doesn't open until 10am
~ Shandella works again Friday morning (fingers crossed for another free latte- I'm going to need it to survive my Friday!)
~ Having internet at work
~ Itunes shuffle...this morning my iPod delievered a great mix of 90s alternative rock with a bit of Death Cab, Anberlin, and Jack's Mannequin. That makes for a great commute!

What are you thankful for?


*So cliche, but whatever!

Friday Fill In

1. We need to have a dance party.
2. I received an email from my boss today that said, "Send the bad hats to the Basement" and it made me smile. *
3. If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself.
4. I now have to work on Black Friday because Mark is being pulled to work in another department.
5. Massachusetts has a proposed 5% sales tax on elective cosmetic surgery; I think it should be even higher than that.
6. Having the day off makes for a happy holiday.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to opening a swap package full of craft supplies, tomorrow my plans include work and then painting snowmen at Kelley's house with the Paint Misbehavin' crew and Sunday, I want to not deal with inventory and transfers at work! **

*My store is now being called "The South Seas Basement". We are the clearance center/outlet store for the resort. The hats in question were embroidered with the wrong color thread. The way the sentence was written made me think that the hats were being punished and sent to the basement and that made me laugh.
** Not likely.

Maybe if I act like a five year old...

A girl with her lolly and dolly
Originally uploaded by imafundork

I won't have to deal with adult responsibilities and hardships?!

Nope, doesn't work.

Why is it that things always seem to go wrong around the holidays?

Just in the last week three people who are very dear to me have had some sort of surgery or medical procedure.
Kate had her jaw surgery yesterday. I haven't talked to her yet, but heard she is doing well from Annie.
Pete (my older brother) had another larger biopsy last week to *hopefully* find out if he really has cancer or not. I believe he goes back in next week for the results and they may schedule surgery then.
I also found out last night that Papa (my mother's father) has to have a blood transfusion which if I understand correctly is an all day event today. He has about half of the amount of blood he should have, but they don't know where the missing blood has gone. So after the transfusion, more tests will be run to see where the internal bleeding is.
What am I doing about all of this? Escaping into a fantasy world and pretending to be a child again. Oh and praying...lots of praying.

Weekend Update

Yes, I understand that it is Wednesday. Better late than never, right?

As planned, I drove across the state to Rachel's house on Friday night. I was thrilled because the drive lasted 2 hrs. 59 mins. I could have sworn it usually takes me 3 1/2 hours to get there. Shortly after I arrived Kate showed up. I hadn't seen either of them in over five months. It was great catching up on life.

Saturday we headed over to the Sebastian Municipal Airport for a little geocaching. Roslyn came along and enjoy her first adventure in geocaching.

Roslyn even found the second cache of the day.

In it was a pony that she begged me to take home.

But the highlight of the weekend was when we drove to Melbourne to see Donald Miller and Susan Isaacs on their Million Miles book tour. They were both amazing!

Here's Kate and I with Don.

Friday Fill In

I have been reading Sara's blog, Lazy Knits and Purls for a few months and each Friday she participates in Friday Fill-Ins. I love reading what she has to say and have been inspired to do write my own Friday Fill-in each week. Plus, if I actually remember to do it each week, it may help me to compose other posts throughout the week...maybe...

On to the Fill In:

1. The last band I saw live was Jack’s Mannequin. **



2. What I look forward to most on Thanksgiving is mashed potatoes. Pretty pathetic, I know.
3. My Christmas/holiday shopping is spent with Keri.
4. Thoughts of escaping fill my head.
5. I wish I could wear the clothes I wore in college.
6. Bagpipes and kilts.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to driving to Sebastian to have a “big girl” slumber party with Rachel and Kate, tomorrow my plans include geocaching and meeting the man of my dreams (Donald Miller book tour!!) and Sunday, I want to go to Rachel’s church and not rush home.


**The picture is of Jack's Mannequin in West Palm Beach at the Blue Martini on Sept. 26. I actually saw them (Well, only Andy) again on Sept. 28 at Icabod's in Fort Myers. Sorry for the poor photo quality!

Introducing Roslyn

Pretty Girl
Originally uploaded by imafundork

I have been enamored with Blythe dolls for quite awhile now, but never seem to have the money to purchase one. Those who know me, know that I am horrible at saving money and shop on impulse frequently. My lust for Blythe grew so strongly that a couple of months ago, I decided that I would begin saving for her. It also helped that I worked one day a week at the Marina during October. The marina staff make tips...all of my tip money went into the Blythe jar! After countless hours of research, I decided I wanted Urban Cowgirl Blythe as my first. She'll be released at the end of this month. Of course my impatience got the best of me and I went ahead an ordered an ADG Aztec Arrival instead. She was considerably more reasonably priced than Urban Cowgirl and I had just enough saved to get her.

So that is the backstory and now I introduced to you, Roslyn. Isn't she beautiful?! Roslyn also has her own set over at Flickr.

I knit her hat and dress. Both the hat and dress were free patterns and are on Ravelry as well. I do believe an entire knit wardobe is in her future and maybe she'll even inspire me to put my sewing machine to work again.

Roslyn is named for my late grandmother, Rosalinda. In my research of names I discovered that Roslin means "Red Haired" and Roslyn is Spanish derived and means "Beautiful; pretty rose". It's perfect and a lovely way to honor my Nana.

I'm hoping Roslyn will give me the push I need to update my blog more frequently as well as to learn how to take amazing photographs!

MYB Round 11

I totally forgot to post pictures of what the lovely Kimberly sent me in the Magic Yarn Ball swap.
She sent two MYBs complete with two patterns. One for an Owl Dishcloth that I have already made and the other is for a Hermione Cabled Hat. I still need to purchase circular needles for the hat and I keep forgetting.



Full of all sorts of goodies, including the best gummy bears I have ever had (and they're vegetarian!) and the tiniest turtle that has become a friend for Goldie.







Goldie is only about 4 inches tall and the turtle is about the size of a quarter! I can't even imagine crocheting something that small! It's has gotten me somewhat obsessed with tiny things lately though. I think Goldie is going to need a proper home soon to house her new playthings!

DRT Update

It's been awhile since I've written. I am so bad about keeping this updated. Oh well.

Anyway, Dish Rag Tag is in full swing and my team is rockin'! We've been tied for second place with about half of the other teams pretty much since the beginning. BUT we just stolen the lead! Woohoo! Three more people need to get the box before it heads home to Emily, but I'm feeling more and more confident about it now! Our fearless leader, Amanda, has been incredible. My first DRT experience has been great thus far.

My one hesitation is that I'm going to hold up the team somehow as I have yet to receive the box. Enough with the negative and back to the positive...

Needling Ninjas are wickedly awesome and stealthy!!! And I'm happy to be one!

Needling Ninjas

Ninja_Knitter
Originally uploaded by imafundork

Dish Rag Tag is getting ready to begin. My team decided to call ourselves, "Needling Ninjas". Our team captain, Amanda, had her husband design this logo for us. How fun is that?!

I'm feeling really good about this and think we have a great team. We have a good mix of veteran taggers and some newbies. As it stands now, I'll be second to last in the relay. I do believe that it's a lesson in patience.

Team #2 is going to be #1 in the end!

Son of a Dish Rag Tag

My partner in the MYB Round 11 Swap, Kimberly, tweeted about something called Dish Rag Tag a few weeks ago. I had no idea what it was, but decided to investigate. It's a swap/race organized by Emily of Yarn Miracle. There are twenty teams that set out to knit dish rags and pass them along relay race style. It sounded like a lot of fun, so of course I signed up! This is the third year Emily has organized the race. Teams were assigned on Wednesday and I am on Team #2. I have my yarn and box already. I also have an idea of what I'm going to make for the extra treat to send to the person I tag. This will be my first non-Craftster swap other than the traveling scarf swap I organized with my girls from college. Which reminds me, I need to post pictures and share about that...

First Pair of Fingerless Mitts

First Pair of Fingerless Mitts
Originally uploaded by imafundork

I participated in the Craftster Magic Yarn Ball Round 10 Swap back in March. My partner sent me this yarn and a pattern for crochet fingerless mittens. Apparently, she overlooked the fact that I said I had tried to learn to crochet, but never could grasp it. So anyway, the yarn has been sitting here for months waiting to be turned into something fun. Since my partner had intended for the yarn to become fingerless mitts, I felt it was only right to knit them. I had never used DPNs before, but found a pattern that seemed really simple so I gave it a shot. I think they turned out well. The yarn really isn't to my taste so they will probably be a gift for someone.
Despite MYB 10 being rather disapointing, I decided to give it another chance. This time around I'm the organizer so I got to choose my partner for Round 11! About a week and a half left until send outs and I'll post pics of what I send and receive then.

Stalking her prey.

Going in for the kill.
Originally uploaded by imafundork

I bought "Wendy Knits" by Wendy D. Johnson this morning at Border's. In the book, Wendy has a pattern for a very simple catnip mouse. I decided to make it this afternoon with some random acrylic yarn I had in my stash. Mischa wasn't too sure what to think about the mouse, but Brody was all over it!

More pics here.

Tree Love

I joined the Tree Swap over on Craftster and was lucky enough to be paired with lafemmefatale who lives only two hours away. We decided to swap our tree goodness in person. I drove up to meet her and spend the afternoon.
Jessa made me this awesome cork/tree wall art! Isn't it fabulous?!
There are more pictures of what we made over in the gallery.

We had a yummy vegetarian lunch at The Moon Under Water and then explored St. Pete while geocaching.
The first cache we found was at a Banyan tree-my favorite type of tree!



How cute is she?!

The final cache we found was high up in a tree! Jessa gave me a boost and despite my fears I climbed the tree and got it down!



It was a great afternoon and I'm really glad we decided to meet in person. I definitely gained a new friend after this swap!

Colorful Dots

Gift cards and envelopes
Originally uploaded by imafundork

To continue with my destashing, I made notecards and matching envelopes yesterday afternoon. It didn't use up a lot of stash, but they are so fun, I'm sure I'll be making more soon. The problem is I have tons of note cards so I'll have to give them away as gifts.

This set is for Kelley's birthday. Hopefully, Kelley will enjoy writing notes in them as much as I enjoyed making them!

I learned how to cable knit!

Since learning how to knit five years ago, I've wanted to learn how to do cables. I always thought it was going to be difficult so I've stuck with basic stitches. Over the New Year's holiday, I was talking to Tara about it because she was working on a cabled scarf. She told me it really wasn't that hard once you got the hang of it and knew how to hold your cable needle. After I got home, I purchased some cable needles and set out to find a beginner pattern. I found a pattern for dishcloths here.

I made one in Bernat Organic Cotton in Muslin. I made a few mistakes, but overall I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. It turned out to be much smaller than I anticipated. Instead of a dishcloth, it seems more like a baby washcloth to me. I was so excited with cables that I modified the pattern and made another washcloth in Bernat Organic Cotton in Cactus.

Destash

My new year's resolution is to destash in 2009. I have way more stuff than any one person needs. This includes clothing, movies, music, books and CRAFT supplies. So, I've been selling things on ebay, donating to thrift stores and crafting like mad. ;) My other resolution was to make at least one new project a week; so 52 for the year. I believe I'm up to 11 projects done and there's still another week left in January! There are a few craft-alongs over at Craftster that are helping me along with my goals. There's a Destash-along, Color Craftalong, 50 Projects in a Year, and Holiday Handmade Crusade. The ladies at Craftster are so encouraging. It's nice to know that there are people out there working towards your same goals. I've posted some pics over there already and will try to get some up over here soon.


Wow...two posts in one night...I wonder how long it'll be until I post again... ;)

I'm a horrible slacker and...

I don't post nearly as often as I should. So for whatever reason, I decided to start another blog...

Okay so here's the scoop, I was trying to use this as a crafty blog but then incorporated life's other ordeals. I couldn't find a balance and wasn't liking the format/structure it was taking on. So from here on out this will be a crafty blog. No more talking about losing my job (However, I did get a new one! Orientation is on Tuesday) or other randomness. This is strictly my crafting endeavors, successes and failures. My new blog will be about life's other pleasures. It's home is here.
Oh and I really need to learn how to format my posts better so that they are more pleasing to the eye. Any suggestions, Katie? I think you're the only one who reads this anyway! ;)