Well tonight was a wasted night in some ways and not wasted in others. Wasted because I didn't work on any craft stuff this evening. Not wasted as I got groceries for the next 2 weeks and did some reading in the etsy teams that I'm part of and found out some stuff about etsy that I wasn't aware of before now. So I guessed it wasn't really wasted after all.
I made a camouflage dragon today for my great nephew and have an afghan for our new grandson almost finished today. The dog and I also went for a nice walk twice today because it finally wasn't freezing out. I should have the blanket done by the afternoon tomorrow and have already picked out the pattern and yarn for the next afghan I'm going to do for my shop. I'm going to be working with a real pretty peach color that makes me feel like spring is really here as the calender says not as the weather has been saying. I bought some copper wire last week and I think I'm going to crochet a butterfly pin with it and maybe a dragonfly. I also am working on an idea for another quilted wall hanging I just haven't quite got it worked out in my head and then I have to get it on paper before it finally gets onto fabric. Hope to get it started in the next week or so.
I bought a lot of meat tonight for my latest endevour in losing weight. My son is doing a low carb program and so are quite a few other folks that I know and they are having really good results so I'm going to give it a try. I've always been a big meat eater so I'm pretty sure it will work for me. I'll keep track of how it's going on here.
Goodnight & Goddess Bless
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Finished baby afghan
I finished the baby afghan that I started on Friday. I figured out that it took about 20 hours to make it and that if I gave myself $10.00 an hour I would have to sell it for $200.00. I don't think that anyone would buy it for that much so I'm just not going to worry about paying me by the hour on any of my projects. I would be making afghans and dragons, etc. even if I wasn't selling them so at least I'm making something for them and they aren't just sitting on my shelves.
I listed another granny square afghan today and tomorrow I'm going to list a blue baby afghan and take pictures of the one I just finished. The one I just finished is a soft shade of blue and I'll port it on Wed. I'm starting another sage green one like the one that I sold and hope to have it done by the end of the week. I'm also going to make a camouflage dragon with some new yarn that I got last week.
I bought a few new pattern books last week to give me some ideas for some new creatures and afghans and other toys.
My flat rate boxes arrived today and after doing some reading I may end up weighing the item and if the postage is less that way I'll wrap the flat rate box in plan paper and ship it that way. I'm always going to give my customers the best deals on shipping that I can so I'll check it out both ways.
Well I've been doing pretty good with my eating mostly healthy but I'm still not getting the exercise that I need to do to help reshape my body and get me to where I want to be. The problem I'm having right now is that I feel I should be working on my craft business and getting stuff ready to put in the shop instead of taking the time to exercise. I need to find a way to make the time for both things in my day to day life.
Okay so that's whats going on in my neck of the woods as we say around here. Goodnight & Goddess Bless
I listed another granny square afghan today and tomorrow I'm going to list a blue baby afghan and take pictures of the one I just finished. The one I just finished is a soft shade of blue and I'll port it on Wed. I'm starting another sage green one like the one that I sold and hope to have it done by the end of the week. I'm also going to make a camouflage dragon with some new yarn that I got last week.
I bought a few new pattern books last week to give me some ideas for some new creatures and afghans and other toys.
My flat rate boxes arrived today and after doing some reading I may end up weighing the item and if the postage is less that way I'll wrap the flat rate box in plan paper and ship it that way. I'm always going to give my customers the best deals on shipping that I can so I'll check it out both ways.
Well I've been doing pretty good with my eating mostly healthy but I'm still not getting the exercise that I need to do to help reshape my body and get me to where I want to be. The problem I'm having right now is that I feel I should be working on my craft business and getting stuff ready to put in the shop instead of taking the time to exercise. I need to find a way to make the time for both things in my day to day life.
Okay so that's whats going on in my neck of the woods as we say around here. Goodnight & Goddess Bless
Friday, March 25, 2011
Well I love the postal service. Most folks don't but since I found that I can have my packages picked up at my house just by filling out a little form online instead of having to find a way to get to the post office I think they are great. Now I can do all of my shipping right from home I weigh the package, print out the postage label and they come to get it for me. This is making my home business much easier.
I started another afghan today like the one that I just sold in a nice blue. Yesterday I bought some sage green yarn so I can do another in the same color as the one that sold. I'm planning on spending the next two days doing almost nothing but knit so that I can finish the blue and get going onto the green. I also have another purple granny square afghan finished I just need to get some good pictures of it taken over the weekend and than I can get it posted to the shop.
I've slipped up a little on my healthy eatting this week. Yesterday I went out to Chinese and then I got Ben & Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and ate the whole thing while I watched Wipeout last night. Today has been better but still no real exercise except for a few small walks with the dog. I want to do more but I just can't seem to get myself to get up and do it. Oh well tomorrow is another day and I can only go forward not back.
Well I most likely won't post over the weekend because my fingers are going to be to busy knitting to take the time to do anything else.
Goodnight & Blessed Be
I started another afghan today like the one that I just sold in a nice blue. Yesterday I bought some sage green yarn so I can do another in the same color as the one that sold. I'm planning on spending the next two days doing almost nothing but knit so that I can finish the blue and get going onto the green. I also have another purple granny square afghan finished I just need to get some good pictures of it taken over the weekend and than I can get it posted to the shop.
I've slipped up a little on my healthy eatting this week. Yesterday I went out to Chinese and then I got Ben & Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and ate the whole thing while I watched Wipeout last night. Today has been better but still no real exercise except for a few small walks with the dog. I want to do more but I just can't seem to get myself to get up and do it. Oh well tomorrow is another day and I can only go forward not back.
Well I most likely won't post over the weekend because my fingers are going to be to busy knitting to take the time to do anything else.
Goodnight & Blessed Be
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Need more time
Just a quick one tonight. I sold another afghan and need to get going to get more done to post in the shop. The problem is that I have friends and family that call and want me to go "play" with them and I can't say no because I love to go out with them. I need to discipline myself into saying no when I need to be working on my business to keep growing it. I need to have stuff to post so I need to keep my hands working and get at least one afghan done every 3 to 5 days in order to be able to keep up with the demand. Anyways I hope this is going to be the trend of the business. Now off to get a new afghan going so I can get it done by Sunday and posted by Monday.
Goodnight & Blessed Be
Goodnight & Blessed Be
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Snow again
Woke up to snow today ,the calender says spring but Mother Nature is having fun with us. It didn't amount to much but its annoying to have to deal with and they say we may get more before the weeks out so I guess I need to keep the winter boots out a bit longer.
I haven't coughed for a whole day !!!!!!! I see light at the end of the tunnel with this being sick almost over. Now to get my strength back so I can really start working out again. I tried to do a tape today but couldn't make it through the whole thing. I did some standing push ups using the kitchen counter as a sort of bench to hold onto then I did some lunges, plies and more push ups. I can't do exercises where I have to be on my knees as I have a bum left one that can't do it so I figure other ways to do some things that I want to do. Tomorrow I hope to take the dog for a nice long walk if the weather cooperates, if not I'll do some stuff in the house like I did today.
I'm doing good with eatting though today I had 2 oranges and a nice big bowl of spagetti for dinner. I almost made popcorn but decided that the spagetti was enough carbs for the day and skipped it. Tomorrow I'm going to make a big bowl of air popped popcorn and put some of the Mrs Dash garlic herb stuff on it like I did the other night as that really made me feel like I was having some kind of decadent treat when I was having something that was in the long run good for me.
I have another granny square full size afghanalmost ready to put up in my etsy shop. It's purple, white, gray and black. I think it will appeal to someone as the one that I just sold was my most viewed item and was favorited by quite a few people. I also have a new itemtolist that I made this evening. It's a purple variegated flower, sort of a rose, with 2 leaves that I'm making into a pin to put on a hat or lapel or wherever someone wants to wear it. I played around with a couple of other flowers one is a pincushion and I haven't decided what the other one is going to be. I made these with a 4 ply yarn and there a little big but some folks like that size so I'm going to give them a try and see what happens. I'm going to make some with some fine cotten thread and see how they come out. I might wait to post them until I get the smaller ones done so I can judge what tocharge for the different sizes. It actually takes me more time to make the finer ones then the ones made with yarn and cost about the same to make so I want to charge the same price for both but I don't know if folks would understand that even though they are so different in size they are more or less the same. This is one of those conundrums of the crafting life.
Oh well I'm going to work for a little longer on the afghan edge and try to go to bed before 6AM.
Goodnight & Goddess Bless
I haven't coughed for a whole day !!!!!!! I see light at the end of the tunnel with this being sick almost over. Now to get my strength back so I can really start working out again. I tried to do a tape today but couldn't make it through the whole thing. I did some standing push ups using the kitchen counter as a sort of bench to hold onto then I did some lunges, plies and more push ups. I can't do exercises where I have to be on my knees as I have a bum left one that can't do it so I figure other ways to do some things that I want to do. Tomorrow I hope to take the dog for a nice long walk if the weather cooperates, if not I'll do some stuff in the house like I did today.
I'm doing good with eatting though today I had 2 oranges and a nice big bowl of spagetti for dinner. I almost made popcorn but decided that the spagetti was enough carbs for the day and skipped it. Tomorrow I'm going to make a big bowl of air popped popcorn and put some of the Mrs Dash garlic herb stuff on it like I did the other night as that really made me feel like I was having some kind of decadent treat when I was having something that was in the long run good for me.
I have another granny square full size afghanalmost ready to put up in my etsy shop. It's purple, white, gray and black. I think it will appeal to someone as the one that I just sold was my most viewed item and was favorited by quite a few people. I also have a new itemtolist that I made this evening. It's a purple variegated flower, sort of a rose, with 2 leaves that I'm making into a pin to put on a hat or lapel or wherever someone wants to wear it. I played around with a couple of other flowers one is a pincushion and I haven't decided what the other one is going to be. I made these with a 4 ply yarn and there a little big but some folks like that size so I'm going to give them a try and see what happens. I'm going to make some with some fine cotten thread and see how they come out. I might wait to post them until I get the smaller ones done so I can judge what tocharge for the different sizes. It actually takes me more time to make the finer ones then the ones made with yarn and cost about the same to make so I want to charge the same price for both but I don't know if folks would understand that even though they are so different in size they are more or less the same. This is one of those conundrums of the crafting life.
Oh well I'm going to work for a little longer on the afghan edge and try to go to bed before 6AM.
Goodnight & Goddess Bless
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Shipping prices
Well today was a good day until about 20 minutes ago when I found out how much it's costing me to ship out my second sale from my etsy shop. I thought that by using my own box it would be cheaper but I didn't take into account how much the afghan weighed so it cost almost double what I charged my customer so I'm having to eat my misjudgement. As a result of this I just ordered some of the boxes from the post office that are flat rate if it fits it ships. I hope this will save me and my customers money have to wait and see.
I'm somewhat off my yarn diet!! I went to Frank's to get some stuffing and decided to just look at what he had for yarn and how his prices were compared to the other stores I go to. Well they were good and he had some of the basic colors that I always need ie; black, cream, white,and a few others that I just couldn't resist. So now to get to work on some more stuff to add to the shop. I'm thinking of at least 2 full size afghans and a few more lap size. I also bought 2 dolls that I'm going to dress and put up on the site. I got a book of crochet flowers, motifs and other fancy stitches that has given me all kinds of ideas.
I have come to the conclusion that I crochet much faster than I knit and I enjoy it more. The trouble is that I named my shop Nance's Knifty Knits so I feel I should have more knit items than crochet items in it. I asked my wise old Grandmother, she's 102, what she thought and she said it was okay because when she was young most people called both knitting unless they knew them apart so most people will still check out the shop and the name still applies so at this point I'm not going to worry about it.
Today I had 2 red grapefruit and about 8 cups of air popped popcorn to eat and took the dog for a short walk. I took a walk and danced in the moonlight back around 3 this morning so I'm counting that as exercise for today. I'm planning on either a walk, if the weather is good, or a Susan tape tomorrow.
Now back to tucking and trimming threads on the latest granny square afghan that I'm working on. I swear that they reattach themselves because they seem to be never ending!!
Goodnight & Goddess Bless
I'm somewhat off my yarn diet!! I went to Frank's to get some stuffing and decided to just look at what he had for yarn and how his prices were compared to the other stores I go to. Well they were good and he had some of the basic colors that I always need ie; black, cream, white,and a few others that I just couldn't resist. So now to get to work on some more stuff to add to the shop. I'm thinking of at least 2 full size afghans and a few more lap size. I also bought 2 dolls that I'm going to dress and put up on the site. I got a book of crochet flowers, motifs and other fancy stitches that has given me all kinds of ideas.
I have come to the conclusion that I crochet much faster than I knit and I enjoy it more. The trouble is that I named my shop Nance's Knifty Knits so I feel I should have more knit items than crochet items in it. I asked my wise old Grandmother, she's 102, what she thought and she said it was okay because when she was young most people called both knitting unless they knew them apart so most people will still check out the shop and the name still applies so at this point I'm not going to worry about it.
Today I had 2 red grapefruit and about 8 cups of air popped popcorn to eat and took the dog for a short walk. I took a walk and danced in the moonlight back around 3 this morning so I'm counting that as exercise for today. I'm planning on either a walk, if the weather is good, or a Susan tape tomorrow.
Now back to tucking and trimming threads on the latest granny square afghan that I'm working on. I swear that they reattach themselves because they seem to be never ending!!
Goodnight & Goddess Bless
The moon is so bright and very soon I'm going to go out and do my monthly moon dance. This moon is so bright because it's the closest it's been to earth since 1993. Can't wait till it gets warm enough to go moon dance in bare feet right now still to cold and still snow on the ground so I have to wait at least till next month.
The antibiotics are doing the trick I haven't cough much today and my chest doesn't feel so tight.I should have gone sooner but if I had I might have been told it was just a common cold and to go home and wait for it to go away and when it didn't I would have had to go again so its just as well that I waited.
I have a little pastel creature waiting to be sewn and stuffed tomorrow, I'm calling it a creature cause I won't know for sure what it is until it's all together and tells me what it wants to be. I'm at the point on a granny square afghan that I really dislike. I've got it almost all sewn together and then comes the tucking and trimming of all the little tails that I wasn't able to tuck in as I went along. It is the most tedious part of the whole project and takes the longest time to do. I've got a red chenille dragon, a green wool one that I'm going to felt ,and a purple sparkly one almost done just have to make the wings and spines and then take photos. I've got to go get some more stuffing I'm down to less then half a bag. After I get these done I've got another granny square in mind if I have the right colors. I'm still on my yarn diet so it will depend on what I have enough of to make what I have in my mind.
Today I had two yummy oranges for lunch and then air popped popcorn for dinner. I put about a tablespoon of real butter in 8 cups and then I sprinkled it with a new Mrs Dash that I got last week it has garlic and some other spices in it and it made it so good that I sat watching Being Human and The Graham Norton Show just munching away. Tomorrow I'm going to make some more and try a different spice combo on it. Monday I plan on going for a nice long walk unless the weather is bad than I'm going to do one of my Susan Powter tapes or dvds. So glad I'm feeling better.
Goodnight & Blessed Be
The antibiotics are doing the trick I haven't cough much today and my chest doesn't feel so tight.I should have gone sooner but if I had I might have been told it was just a common cold and to go home and wait for it to go away and when it didn't I would have had to go again so its just as well that I waited.
I have a little pastel creature waiting to be sewn and stuffed tomorrow, I'm calling it a creature cause I won't know for sure what it is until it's all together and tells me what it wants to be. I'm at the point on a granny square afghan that I really dislike. I've got it almost all sewn together and then comes the tucking and trimming of all the little tails that I wasn't able to tuck in as I went along. It is the most tedious part of the whole project and takes the longest time to do. I've got a red chenille dragon, a green wool one that I'm going to felt ,and a purple sparkly one almost done just have to make the wings and spines and then take photos. I've got to go get some more stuffing I'm down to less then half a bag. After I get these done I've got another granny square in mind if I have the right colors. I'm still on my yarn diet so it will depend on what I have enough of to make what I have in my mind.
Today I had two yummy oranges for lunch and then air popped popcorn for dinner. I put about a tablespoon of real butter in 8 cups and then I sprinkled it with a new Mrs Dash that I got last week it has garlic and some other spices in it and it made it so good that I sat watching Being Human and The Graham Norton Show just munching away. Tomorrow I'm going to make some more and try a different spice combo on it. Monday I plan on going for a nice long walk unless the weather is bad than I'm going to do one of my Susan Powter tapes or dvds. So glad I'm feeling better.
Goodnight & Blessed Be
Friday, March 18, 2011
Another sale today
Well after three weeks of this cough I gave in and went to the doctor and found out that I have broncitis and a mild case of pertisis,aka whooping cough. so I'm on antibiotics for the next five days. I hope it does the trick cause if it doesn't I'll have to go back again and I don't want to do that.
Good news when I got home when I checked my email. I made another sale form my etst shop. This time one of my afghans, the first item I put in my shop and the one that so many people have put into their favorites since the very beginning of the day I opened my shop. I have another one that is quite a bit like it almost done to add to the shop. I hope to finish it over the weekend and get going on another after that.
I like to add a little thank you to y packages and this time I decided to crochet a little sachet and fill it with lavender. I thought I'd put the directions on here for anyone that would like them.
Sachet Instructions
Size 1 steel hook
Size 10 crochet cotten
Chain15
Single crochet in 2nd ch & across (14 sc)
Rows 2-15: Ch 1 turn, sc across.
Make 2 the same only on second piece do not end off
Hold the 2 together & sc around 3 sides having 15 stitches on each side
Add about 2 teaspoons of lavender or whatever you like then sc closed
Next work 6 double crochet in next sc, skip 2 sc, sc in next, 6 dc in next repeat around. End off. You may have to play a little with the spacing of the scallop round .
I haven't writen out many patterns for others to read so I hope this makes sense. I jot down things as I work them out when I'm playing with a pattern in my own sort of shorthand and don't ever do a pattern the same way twice. As much as I try to I almost always decide to add or subtract stitches or rows even if both items are suppose to be the same. I do make sure if I'm doing 2 or 3 or more of the same item for someone that I follow the same pattern for all of them but it is really hard for me not to tweak them just a little.
On a different subject I've lost 17 pounds since the beginning of Feb. I asked to get weighed at the doctors office and I'm down that much. I'm surprised as I haven't been exercising other then the few little walks with the dog everyday and I've given into McDonalds and pizza and chinese. So even with that I guess I'm doing something right. As soon as I feel a little better and now that the weather is getting warmer I'm going to go out for longer walks with the dog and once the potholes have been filled and the frost heaves have gone away for the year I'm going to get out on my bike. I hope that by doing this I'll be down a few sizes and have more energy by the kids wedding in July.
That's all for today. Goodnight & Goddess Bless
Good news when I got home when I checked my email. I made another sale form my etst shop. This time one of my afghans, the first item I put in my shop and the one that so many people have put into their favorites since the very beginning of the day I opened my shop. I have another one that is quite a bit like it almost done to add to the shop. I hope to finish it over the weekend and get going on another after that.
I like to add a little thank you to y packages and this time I decided to crochet a little sachet and fill it with lavender. I thought I'd put the directions on here for anyone that would like them.
Sachet Instructions
Size 1 steel hook
Size 10 crochet cotten
Chain15
Single crochet in 2nd ch & across (14 sc)
Rows 2-15: Ch 1 turn, sc across.
Make 2 the same only on second piece do not end off
Hold the 2 together & sc around 3 sides having 15 stitches on each side
Add about 2 teaspoons of lavender or whatever you like then sc closed
Next work 6 double crochet in next sc, skip 2 sc, sc in next, 6 dc in next repeat around. End off. You may have to play a little with the spacing of the scallop round .
I haven't writen out many patterns for others to read so I hope this makes sense. I jot down things as I work them out when I'm playing with a pattern in my own sort of shorthand and don't ever do a pattern the same way twice. As much as I try to I almost always decide to add or subtract stitches or rows even if both items are suppose to be the same. I do make sure if I'm doing 2 or 3 or more of the same item for someone that I follow the same pattern for all of them but it is really hard for me not to tweak them just a little.
On a different subject I've lost 17 pounds since the beginning of Feb. I asked to get weighed at the doctors office and I'm down that much. I'm surprised as I haven't been exercising other then the few little walks with the dog everyday and I've given into McDonalds and pizza and chinese. So even with that I guess I'm doing something right. As soon as I feel a little better and now that the weather is getting warmer I'm going to go out for longer walks with the dog and once the potholes have been filled and the frost heaves have gone away for the year I'm going to get out on my bike. I hope that by doing this I'll be down a few sizes and have more energy by the kids wedding in July.
That's all for today. Goodnight & Goddess Bless
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
coughing sucks
Thought my cough was getting better but in the wee hours of the morning I started coughing and couldn't stop and it has continued all day long. The cough comes on from nowhere and lasts for about two minutes before it stops for a little while and then starts up again. I didn't sleep much today, maybe a total of three hours with the cough waking me up over and over again. I finally got up and tried to get a new project started. My Rosie thinks I need to make a knit teapot and cups, saucers and some food to go along with them so I started a purple and green set and I think I'll make some cookies or cupcakes to go with them. With this cough keeping in the house and awake I should be able to get a lot of things done in the next few days.
I've been checking out other blogs and still think mine is pretty lame in comparison to mine, but I'm really doing this for me and if any of it makes anyone else feel good or by mistake I teach something to someone then that will be a plus.
I've been featured in two treasuries in the last two days. I think I might need to figure out how to do one pretty soon to return the favor and show off some of the wonderful things that I've found on Etsy. I hope that they get my shop noticed a little bit as I don't know what else to do to promote it at this time.
Sorry this is a downer blog but its how I'm feeling today with the cough, lack of sleep and gloomy skies. I'm sure tomorrow will be better.
Goodnight & Goddess Bless
I've been checking out other blogs and still think mine is pretty lame in comparison to mine, but I'm really doing this for me and if any of it makes anyone else feel good or by mistake I teach something to someone then that will be a plus.
I've been featured in two treasuries in the last two days. I think I might need to figure out how to do one pretty soon to return the favor and show off some of the wonderful things that I've found on Etsy. I hope that they get my shop noticed a little bit as I don't know what else to do to promote it at this time.
Sorry this is a downer blog but its how I'm feeling today with the cough, lack of sleep and gloomy skies. I'm sure tomorrow will be better.
Goodnight & Goddess Bless
More tweaking
Well as it gets later into the wee hours of the morning my mind comes more alive. Most people unless they are at work at this hour are usually in bed but this is when I get some of my best ideas.
I've been playing with the way my blog looks tonight I added and rearranged the mini etsy thing until it looks how I want it to look, changed my background, added a picture of Bruce( the hubby), and an old picture of my boys that I like.
My guys are my inspiration as they have always supported and encouraged me in any of my crafting adventures over the years. The boys were my guinea pigs when they were young when I got an idea to try the item out before I made it to give to someone else wether it be sweaters, toys etc. They were asked what they thought of color combinations, if they liked the ruffles on something that I was making for some girlie item I may be working on, sometimes also trying the item on for a size comparisson, and through it all, sometimes with protest they always came through. I don't know where I would be without them.
I have to deal with the day to day reality of not having my youngest boy Barry aka The Bear around either to talk to on the phone or see him as he's been gone for over 7 years now. I don't let that keep me from talking to him though as he is always around even now. He's having fun on the other side and finds ways to make contact with me and others in the family by turning lights on & off, moving things on us so we can't find them and then when we give up lookinh the item is suddenly right where we thought it was in the first place. When this happens it's always when I or others are in a down mood and after it happens we always smile because you can just see Bear standing there with his little crooked grin and you can't help but feel better. I may be saying this wrong and some folks might think its just a mother morning her son but its what I believe and what others in the family have had happen to them. He also comes to me in dreams and we have wonderful talks like we did when he was here. His birthday is coming up on the 31st of March he would be 30 this year but instead of that he'll be forever 22. How I miss him!! The picture I added is one of my favorites of him and his big brother they were real close and still are.
I also added a picture of my husband doing one of his spring, summertime hobbies racing his sidecar rig. He does the driving now but I don't have any pictures of that so I put this one on where he is being the monkey. Maybe that should be my next animal that I make and put in my shop!!! I need a little icon of a lightbulb cause it just went off in my head.
Okay I'm really going to bed now. Goodnight & Blessed Be
I've been playing with the way my blog looks tonight I added and rearranged the mini etsy thing until it looks how I want it to look, changed my background, added a picture of Bruce( the hubby), and an old picture of my boys that I like.
My guys are my inspiration as they have always supported and encouraged me in any of my crafting adventures over the years. The boys were my guinea pigs when they were young when I got an idea to try the item out before I made it to give to someone else wether it be sweaters, toys etc. They were asked what they thought of color combinations, if they liked the ruffles on something that I was making for some girlie item I may be working on, sometimes also trying the item on for a size comparisson, and through it all, sometimes with protest they always came through. I don't know where I would be without them.
I have to deal with the day to day reality of not having my youngest boy Barry aka The Bear around either to talk to on the phone or see him as he's been gone for over 7 years now. I don't let that keep me from talking to him though as he is always around even now. He's having fun on the other side and finds ways to make contact with me and others in the family by turning lights on & off, moving things on us so we can't find them and then when we give up lookinh the item is suddenly right where we thought it was in the first place. When this happens it's always when I or others are in a down mood and after it happens we always smile because you can just see Bear standing there with his little crooked grin and you can't help but feel better. I may be saying this wrong and some folks might think its just a mother morning her son but its what I believe and what others in the family have had happen to them. He also comes to me in dreams and we have wonderful talks like we did when he was here. His birthday is coming up on the 31st of March he would be 30 this year but instead of that he'll be forever 22. How I miss him!! The picture I added is one of my favorites of him and his big brother they were real close and still are.
I also added a picture of my husband doing one of his spring, summertime hobbies racing his sidecar rig. He does the driving now but I don't have any pictures of that so I put this one on where he is being the monkey. Maybe that should be my next animal that I make and put in my shop!!! I need a little icon of a lightbulb cause it just went off in my head.
Okay I'm really going to bed now. Goodnight & Blessed Be
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Relisting and learning to add things to blog
Today was a good day for me. I got up early 1:30PM, for me, and took the dog for his first walk of the day. We went all the way down to Fort# 4 across the street and were able to go all the way down to the fence as the ice is gone. Now it's MUD but I can deal with that. Moogli is loving being able to check out some of his old spots now that the snow is going away, still a lot to go but if the weather keeps being as nice as this it won't take long before its all gone.
I took a few hours off and went out for chinese and the movie Gnomeo and Juliet . It was okay but not as good as some of the others I've seen in the last few months wouldn't take anyone under the age of 10 in my opinion .
Came back from our walk and did some dishes while my coffee was brewing and went into work my business for a while. Checked my email, answered a few that needed to be answered and then went to my etsy shop to do some work. First I reworded some of my descriptions and titles then I relisted everything in the shop. Next I added this little teapot set . I should have relisted half of the items today and the rest tomorrow but this is all new to me and I'm learning as I go so next time.
I took a few hours off and went out for chinese and the movie Gnomeo and Juliet . It was okay but not as good as some of the others I've seen in the last few months wouldn't take anyone under the age of 10 in my opinion . Got back and got right into the computer to try to figure out how to get the etsy mini thing onto my blog page. After a few missteps I finally figured it out so now anyone here can go to my etsy shop form here if they want to check out what I have there.
I want to put a big shout out to Amy of GBMGdesigns for all her help that she's been giving me , if you get a chance go check out the awesome things she has in her shop. She is the captain of the ETSY Newbies Team and you can find a lot more of her great advice there also.
I ate pretty healthy even if it was chinese tonight I had rice, chicken fingers, and chicken teriyaki, and I didn't go back for a second plate I also skipped having any popcorn at the movies. Its getting easier now that I've set some goals for myself and the weather is getting better.
The spring equinox is coming up time to add a few things to the alter to welcome spring. Some fresh flowers and start some seeds to put out in the garden when the ground thaws will be a nice addition.
All for tonight now to work on some crochet roses after I do a little search for some other flower patterns that I can give a try.
Goodnight and Blessed Be
Wasted day
Today was a wasted day for me in more ways than I can count. I was up all night with this frigging cough again and went into try to get some sleep at about 7AM. The phone woke me at 9 and again at 11 with gd sales messages but I was able to get back to sleep and than the next thing I know the phone rings and I look at the clock and its almost 2:30. I hadn't planned to sleep that late and the day just stayed that way I made my way into the couch with intentions of checking my email and my etsy page and then getting some housework done before getting some crafty stuff done. Well neither of those things happened instead I ended up flubbing around on the computer for well over an hour and then started to go through four boxes of old Workbasket magazines looking for some inspiration of what my next project for my shop should be and that took me the next four hours. So by now it was into the evening and I just couldn't get myself to get up and do anything.
I found about five or six patterns that I want to try from the old workbaskets, when I say old I'm talking 1963-1974, boy did we wear some bad clothes back then and don't get me going on the hair!!!! I made one flower and tomorrow I'm going to make a few more of the same one along with some tatted flowers, finally a way to use some of Grams crochet cotton that I've inherited. I think I'll make like a dozen of one style and color and offer them for sale at a rate for the whole dozen and see how they go. I should be able to get a dozen done in about an hour to an hour and a half once I get the pattern down so it will be a profitable endeavour at least. I like it when I can do a bunch of something like flowers that are fast and inexspensive to make so that I can then take some time to do some more complex items that take a while to get done.
I'm going to relist some of my items in my shop tomorrow and list a new one. Also I need to do some housework, the dish fairies are on stike, even though I can think of at least a hundred things I would rather do but it as to get done.
Haven't been doing to good with my diet and exercise as of late. I gave in last Teusday and got Ben & Jerrys when we went shopping and the rest of the week was sort of a yoyo of what I ate. Wensday I was good and had just a normal dish of food for dinner and didn't snack during the night and Thursday was pretty good but Friday and over the weekend I totally blew it. I had Bruce get me a Big Mac & a caramel frappe on friday, saturday and sunday and he just brought me a caramel frappe when he came home from playing pool tonight. I haven't exercised either as I just haven't felt motivated enough to do it. So I'm going to get serious about it starting in the morning. No more McDonalds or Ben& Jerrys!!! It's getting warmer outside so I'm going to start taking the dog for a walk around the block at least once a day maybe more and also start doing some weight training for my upper body. I hope that knowing that other people are reading this and following my progress that it will help me to keep at it and not make excuses.
I'm going to do some figuring out here on this blog site how to add a link to my etsy shop and some other things in the next few days but right now I'm going to take some nyquil and hopefully get some sleep so that I can get up and do the things that I've posted in here done tomorrow.
Godnight & Goddess Bless
I found about five or six patterns that I want to try from the old workbaskets, when I say old I'm talking 1963-1974, boy did we wear some bad clothes back then and don't get me going on the hair!!!! I made one flower and tomorrow I'm going to make a few more of the same one along with some tatted flowers, finally a way to use some of Grams crochet cotton that I've inherited. I think I'll make like a dozen of one style and color and offer them for sale at a rate for the whole dozen and see how they go. I should be able to get a dozen done in about an hour to an hour and a half once I get the pattern down so it will be a profitable endeavour at least. I like it when I can do a bunch of something like flowers that are fast and inexspensive to make so that I can then take some time to do some more complex items that take a while to get done.
I'm going to relist some of my items in my shop tomorrow and list a new one. Also I need to do some housework, the dish fairies are on stike, even though I can think of at least a hundred things I would rather do but it as to get done.
Haven't been doing to good with my diet and exercise as of late. I gave in last Teusday and got Ben & Jerrys when we went shopping and the rest of the week was sort of a yoyo of what I ate. Wensday I was good and had just a normal dish of food for dinner and didn't snack during the night and Thursday was pretty good but Friday and over the weekend I totally blew it. I had Bruce get me a Big Mac & a caramel frappe on friday, saturday and sunday and he just brought me a caramel frappe when he came home from playing pool tonight. I haven't exercised either as I just haven't felt motivated enough to do it. So I'm going to get serious about it starting in the morning. No more McDonalds or Ben& Jerrys!!! It's getting warmer outside so I'm going to start taking the dog for a walk around the block at least once a day maybe more and also start doing some weight training for my upper body. I hope that knowing that other people are reading this and following my progress that it will help me to keep at it and not make excuses.
I'm going to do some figuring out here on this blog site how to add a link to my etsy shop and some other things in the next few days but right now I'm going to take some nyquil and hopefully get some sleep so that I can get up and do the things that I've posted in here done tomorrow.
Godnight & Goddess Bless
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Night owls and crafting
I've had a quiet day today with nothing really going on. Finally got out of bed about 1 pm but with the daylight savings deal it was really noon so not that bad for me. I'm a night owl always have been and as much as I try to change I don't seem to be able to, if only the rest of the world lived the same way it would be great. Only the rest of the world sleeps at night so I have to live in what every one, well mostly everyone, calls the real world. Why can't doctors, dentists, businesses, etc. have appointments or hours that work for us night owls so we don't have to get up in the wee hours of 9 AM to 5 PM? They may have some of these things in the big cities but not around the boonies of New Hampshire that I live in around here it's 9 to 5 unless its a 24 Hour Walmart or convenience store. Oh well just like being left handed I guess I'll have to be the one to deal with it.
I just took a couple of pictures of the pig that I made the other night by taking a crochet pattern and transferring it to a knit pattern. I think it came out pretty good for a first try. I'm going to do another one with a few changes to it so it has a little more definition between its head and body and also its nose.
I just took a couple of pictures of the pig that I made the other night by taking a crochet pattern and transferring it to a knit pattern. I think it came out pretty good for a first try. I'm going to do another one with a few changes to it so it has a little more definition between its head and body and also its nose.
I got a great convo on etsy today with some great ideas to help make my shop better. I had the hubby help me with one that I never would have thought of but that I couldn't do alone cause it had to do with math and I stink at that. The hint was to include metric measurements for my items, being from the US I never eventhink of those simple things , we are the only country that exclusively use the measurements that we do. I don't even know what it is called, how sad is that !!! Also some ideas to get a better idea of the size of the little stuffed animals as its hard to tell in my pictures. She suggested using a kid holding them but I don't have any around so I'm going to come up with some thing else . Maybe I could take and use my laptop as a background like I did with the pics I just took most people know the size of a laptop or some other item that is pretty much universally known for its size. I'll try a few different things tomorrow.
I hope the weather stays warm as its melting the snow and I can see the bare ground in a few places. Makes my heart feel that spring is finally on its way and soon there will be colors back in the world outside my windows. I like white and brown but after four and a half months I want greens, yellow, purple, pink, and all the other colors of the rainbow all within my eyesight and reach and to be able to go out barefoot and feel Mother Earth underneath me and hear the birds and other animals out and about.
My ADD is showing tonight as I'm all over the place with this blog but this is about me and this is me. My mind is always going in a million different directions at once and sometimes that works for me and other times it works against me. In my day to day life it can get in the way but as far as my creative life I think it works for me as I always have some kind of idea in the works for my next adventure into crafting that I want to try out. Like last night I got it in my mind that I should make some crochet and knit flowers to put up for sale cause others might like them to add to there pieces, so thats what I'm off to do now
Goodnight and Goddess Bless
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Crochet to knit
I ended up spending the night up in the living room with my cough so as not to wake the hubby and thought I'd get some sleep but sleep didn't come So I decided to try taking a crochet pattern and turn it into a knit pattern. Here's what I did, first I figured out what size needles would be equivalent to the hook and than I had to figure out how to start it. After a few trial and error starts I finally decided to use a magic circle and after doing the first round I picked up the stitches and put them onto three double pointed needles and just followed the pattern replacing the number of single crochet stitches with the same amount of knit stitches ( example; crochet row sc1, inc1,sc1 transferred to knit row as k1, kfb,k1), did the same with the number of rows. In the end it came out pretty good. I think I'll try it with some other patterns and see how they come out. One thing is I think I can only do this with single crochet as I don't know how I would go about transferring a double crochet into a knit stitch. I will keep trying this out and maybe even see if I can figure out the whole dc and how it would translate.
Our car is back on the road !!!!! Bruce can do anything he sets his mind to, he can now add rebuilding the electric battery of a Prious to his repertoire of things he has conquered. I think it took him about 10 hours in all and saved us at least $3500 that we would have paid if we had done it through the mechanic that wanted us to get a new battery instead of replacing the bad cells. My hubbs is the best!!!!
Today I did good as far as eating healthy I had a bagel, tomato soup with some saltines and a red grapefruit. I'm going to call Adrian tomorrow and get the details of the first week of the program he is following and give it a try to see if it will work as well for me as it is for him. I'll keep you informed as to how I do with it.
Now to play with my crochet to knit patterns for the evening. Good night
Our car is back on the road !!!!! Bruce can do anything he sets his mind to, he can now add rebuilding the electric battery of a Prious to his repertoire of things he has conquered. I think it took him about 10 hours in all and saved us at least $3500 that we would have paid if we had done it through the mechanic that wanted us to get a new battery instead of replacing the bad cells. My hubbs is the best!!!!
Today I did good as far as eating healthy I had a bagel, tomato soup with some saltines and a red grapefruit. I'm going to call Adrian tomorrow and get the details of the first week of the program he is following and give it a try to see if it will work as well for me as it is for him. I'll keep you informed as to how I do with it.
Now to play with my crochet to knit patterns for the evening. Good night
Friday, March 11, 2011
Rain, rain go away
Rain, rain go away we've had enough of you already!! The snow is melting cause its so warm out but its making huge puddles that have nowhere to go so they keep getting deeper. The weather is just crazy ,earthquakes , tsunamis, snow where they don't regulary get it and it seems that things keep getting stranger. Mother Nature is pissed about something and we need to listen to her before she really blows her top!!! It's super foggy around here and has been all day, strange for March and more rain is forcast for the weekend so the fog will most likely hang around too. Makes me want to go to bed and stat there until the sun comess out again.
Today I posted the last two dragons I made both of them are green. Was thinking why I've been using green so much lately and I think it has something to do with not seeing it outside for so long. Next I have woking with pink and purple maybe some yellow to help get me into a more happy place than I've been lately.
I'm going to do some knit things to add to the shop since my name is Nance's Knifty Knits and the last things I've been posting have been crocheted not knit. Knitting takes me a little longer so I need to get myself to bed and up earlier so I can get some stuff up and listed.
My cold still hangs on but the phlegm monster is getting smaller everyday. I think I'm winning the war even if I am lower in numbers of winning battles with this thing!
I still feel like my blog is just a bunch of my ramblings when I go to the other blog of the etsy folks that I've checking out, they all have ideas, causes that they support or other things and I'm just talking about my day to day stuff. Oh well I'm going to keep going with this as it is making me be honest about things.
Goodnight
Today I posted the last two dragons I made both of them are green. Was thinking why I've been using green so much lately and I think it has something to do with not seeing it outside for so long. Next I have woking with pink and purple maybe some yellow to help get me into a more happy place than I've been lately.
I'm going to do some knit things to add to the shop since my name is Nance's Knifty Knits and the last things I've been posting have been crocheted not knit. Knitting takes me a little longer so I need to get myself to bed and up earlier so I can get some stuff up and listed.
My cold still hangs on but the phlegm monster is getting smaller everyday. I think I'm winning the war even if I am lower in numbers of winning battles with this thing!
I still feel like my blog is just a bunch of my ramblings when I go to the other blog of the etsy folks that I've checking out, they all have ideas, causes that they support or other things and I'm just talking about my day to day stuff. Oh well I'm going to keep going with this as it is making me be honest about things.
Goodnight
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Rainy day blahs
I have had the blahs all day and now into the night cause I haven't seen the sun for two days and I miss it. My whole body and mind are in a funk and all I want to do is sleep but with my phlegm monster still making me cough so much that isn't even happening so I've just been sitting around on the couch with the blankets wrapped around me feeling sorry for myself. Enough already with the pity party!! The cold and bad weather will pass and the sun will come out and help make me feel better.
I shipped off my first sale today and finished another dragon. I hoped to post a few new things to my shop today but I still need to do some work on the pictures that I have and need to take pics of the last two dragons so maybe tomorrow.
My new friends on facebook and etsy are so encouraging, whenever I feel like giving up they help remind me that "I can do it" and it keeps me going. Take today for example I finally dragged my butt out of bed at noon and instead of doing the dishes and folding the laundry I made my way to the couch, after taking the dog out & fixing coffee, and turned on the tv. This is where I have been for the rest of the day with the exception of potty breaks and heating up leftovers for dinner. I had planned on starting a wall hanging of an eagle today but with the gray skies and my gray mood it didn't happen. Instead of feeling defeated because I didn't do what I had planned I just decided that today wasn't meant to be the start of the wall hanging for one reason or the other and just let it slide instead of get me down. So I only got a dragon finished and wasted the rest of the day reading stuff on the computer and watching tv but its okay!
Just reread this and some of it may not make sence to anyone reading this that doesn't really know me or my history so let me explain a little. I have manic depression and in the past something as simple as not starting something on my list of things to do could send me into a tail spin and put me in bed for a week or more but with the encouragement and compliments from my family and the new family that I'm making on etsy and facebook I can just say the famous line from Gone With The Wind " Tomorrow is another day" and just go on with my day.
Now for my healthy eatting that I'm trying to stick to. Adrian is on some new program that seems to be working so I'm going to get the info and as soon as I do give it a try. I got oranges and red grapefruit when we went shopping the other day and that's what I'm having for a snack tonight. I bought a hot air popcorn popper and need to get some popcorn so that I can have that for a snack as its better then chips or ice cream and will keep me happy as I love it. I need to get myself back into some kind of exercising regime as right now all I'm doing is small walks with the dog and it isn't enough.
Well nothing else to say tonight so sweet dreams.
I shipped off my first sale today and finished another dragon. I hoped to post a few new things to my shop today but I still need to do some work on the pictures that I have and need to take pics of the last two dragons so maybe tomorrow.
My new friends on facebook and etsy are so encouraging, whenever I feel like giving up they help remind me that "I can do it" and it keeps me going. Take today for example I finally dragged my butt out of bed at noon and instead of doing the dishes and folding the laundry I made my way to the couch, after taking the dog out & fixing coffee, and turned on the tv. This is where I have been for the rest of the day with the exception of potty breaks and heating up leftovers for dinner. I had planned on starting a wall hanging of an eagle today but with the gray skies and my gray mood it didn't happen. Instead of feeling defeated because I didn't do what I had planned I just decided that today wasn't meant to be the start of the wall hanging for one reason or the other and just let it slide instead of get me down. So I only got a dragon finished and wasted the rest of the day reading stuff on the computer and watching tv but its okay!
Just reread this and some of it may not make sence to anyone reading this that doesn't really know me or my history so let me explain a little. I have manic depression and in the past something as simple as not starting something on my list of things to do could send me into a tail spin and put me in bed for a week or more but with the encouragement and compliments from my family and the new family that I'm making on etsy and facebook I can just say the famous line from Gone With The Wind " Tomorrow is another day" and just go on with my day.
Now for my healthy eatting that I'm trying to stick to. Adrian is on some new program that seems to be working so I'm going to get the info and as soon as I do give it a try. I got oranges and red grapefruit when we went shopping the other day and that's what I'm having for a snack tonight. I bought a hot air popcorn popper and need to get some popcorn so that I can have that for a snack as its better then chips or ice cream and will keep me happy as I love it. I need to get myself back into some kind of exercising regime as right now all I'm doing is small walks with the dog and it isn't enough.
Well nothing else to say tonight so sweet dreams.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Cold and sleep
I just spent the last hour checking out a bunch of blogs from people in the new etsian team and they are all so enlightening compared to mine but I'm still here. Just going to keep doing things my way like I do boring or not. Maybe I can share some wisdom of being an old married lady, crone, crafter, etc.
So today I washed the little green dragon along with another green one, a red one, a dozen butterflies, a red teapot with its 2 cups and saucers. The little green dragon then got put into a box to be mailed out to its new home tomorrow, I wrapped him in tissue paper and added a little note along with a lavender sachetand he's ready for shipping. I got to use my stamps.com account to print out the shipping label ,weigh it and pay the postage so that Bruce can bring it to the post office in the morning. The scale that I got is fun it hooks into the computer you put the box on it and all the info goes onto a form without having to do anything then you just fill out the rest of the form and bam its all done. So much easier then having to wait inline at the post office and have them get you to pay more then you need to pay ie: upgrade no more for me anymore now I can do it all at home.
No sleep lastnight with the cough again so I made another little green dragon to replace the one that sold I'll take pictures tomorrow and get it, the red one and the teapot set posted to my shop. I needto do some refiguring on my prices everyone that I talk to says I've got things priced to low but my fear is if I price things higher that I'll scare people off but I know that at the prices I have my dragons at that I'm not really making any money and that's what I'm trying to do here after all so I guess when I post the new ones I'm going to up thr price just a little and see what happens.
Well Bruce and the boys are right I will use anything that I can to knit or crochet something out of. I came across some wire lastnight and I made a butterfly. Maybe I'll make it into a pin, who knows!!
I'm going to get a wall hanging going tomorrow to add to the site. I have an idea to do an eagle on a piece of light colored batik that I have, the piece of material is a white background with blue and green running through it that sort of looks like the sky and trees.
Well now to finish another dragon and hopefully sleep tonight without the coughing. The phlegm monster is getting smaller and will be gone soon cause I'm getting tired of having him in my chest and nose. I want it gone I hope by friday cause I'm suppose to go out with my sis-in-law unless we get the heavy rain and flooding that they are talking about have to wait and see.
The weather guy is saying snow, sleet and then to rain for later tonight ,well actually tomorrow as it's getting onto midnight, and that the rain is going to hang around until maybe Saturday. I thought it was April showers bring May flowers not March!!!
Goodnight & enjoy
So today I washed the little green dragon along with another green one, a red one, a dozen butterflies, a red teapot with its 2 cups and saucers. The little green dragon then got put into a box to be mailed out to its new home tomorrow, I wrapped him in tissue paper and added a little note along with a lavender sachetand he's ready for shipping. I got to use my stamps.com account to print out the shipping label ,weigh it and pay the postage so that Bruce can bring it to the post office in the morning. The scale that I got is fun it hooks into the computer you put the box on it and all the info goes onto a form without having to do anything then you just fill out the rest of the form and bam its all done. So much easier then having to wait inline at the post office and have them get you to pay more then you need to pay ie: upgrade no more for me anymore now I can do it all at home.
No sleep lastnight with the cough again so I made another little green dragon to replace the one that sold I'll take pictures tomorrow and get it, the red one and the teapot set posted to my shop. I needto do some refiguring on my prices everyone that I talk to says I've got things priced to low but my fear is if I price things higher that I'll scare people off but I know that at the prices I have my dragons at that I'm not really making any money and that's what I'm trying to do here after all so I guess when I post the new ones I'm going to up thr price just a little and see what happens.
I'm going to get a wall hanging going tomorrow to add to the site. I have an idea to do an eagle on a piece of light colored batik that I have, the piece of material is a white background with blue and green running through it that sort of looks like the sky and trees.
Well now to finish another dragon and hopefully sleep tonight without the coughing. The phlegm monster is getting smaller and will be gone soon cause I'm getting tired of having him in my chest and nose. I want it gone I hope by friday cause I'm suppose to go out with my sis-in-law unless we get the heavy rain and flooding that they are talking about have to wait and see.
The weather guy is saying snow, sleet and then to rain for later tonight ,well actually tomorrow as it's getting onto midnight, and that the rain is going to hang around until maybe Saturday. I thought it was April showers bring May flowers not March!!!
Goodnight & enjoy
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
First sale
Well it finally happened I made my first sale in my etsy shop, my little green dragon will be shipping off to a new home on Thursday. I've been keeping positive thoughts and continueing to believe that it would happen and it did. Now I know that this was the right thing to do and the right time. So now to make more dragons, etc. to keep it going.
My cold still holds on to me and feels like it is never going to go away. I know that it will but as they say "it's just getting old", and I'm getting impatient for it to be gone already.
Today I went for 2 short walks with Moogli, the dog, and can't wait to be able to go out for longer walks as the weather gets nicer. Still a little scary to go to far as we still have some ice on the roads. They say we are suppose to get rain in the next few days that will melt more of the snow but if it gets below freezing than we will get ice again so I hope we don't get to much rain .
Grocery shopping for the first time in 3 weeks and we were out of so many things that the cart was overflowing. I did good as far as getting healthy stuff for the most part, I gave into my nemesis Ben & Gerry but I'm going to try and make it last for 2 or 3 days instead of eatting it all at one sitting. I got red grapefruit and oranges because thats what I've been craving instead of sweets and other junk foods, also veggies and lean beef and pork cutlets. I know so many people say I should go vegetarian but when I tried that in the past my body didn't like it , I need my meat, so now I only get super lean and cook it by either broiling or marinating and cooking in the microwave.
My life continues to go in the right direction right now. My son is happy and in love with a wonderful lady and is getting married in July. Bruce is healthy and we are in love like we were when we first got married. I'm feeling positive about my choice to start my craft shop on etsy and since November of 2010 I've lost 20 pounds and I only have 50 more to go and its coming off slow and steady so I know this is going to be the time that works for the long run.
I'm going to make another little green dragon tomorrow to replace the one that sold and also a few other colors.
Nothing else to say tonight so goodnight.
My cold still holds on to me and feels like it is never going to go away. I know that it will but as they say "it's just getting old", and I'm getting impatient for it to be gone already.
Today I went for 2 short walks with Moogli, the dog, and can't wait to be able to go out for longer walks as the weather gets nicer. Still a little scary to go to far as we still have some ice on the roads. They say we are suppose to get rain in the next few days that will melt more of the snow but if it gets below freezing than we will get ice again so I hope we don't get to much rain .
Grocery shopping for the first time in 3 weeks and we were out of so many things that the cart was overflowing. I did good as far as getting healthy stuff for the most part, I gave into my nemesis Ben & Gerry but I'm going to try and make it last for 2 or 3 days instead of eatting it all at one sitting. I got red grapefruit and oranges because thats what I've been craving instead of sweets and other junk foods, also veggies and lean beef and pork cutlets. I know so many people say I should go vegetarian but when I tried that in the past my body didn't like it , I need my meat, so now I only get super lean and cook it by either broiling or marinating and cooking in the microwave.
My life continues to go in the right direction right now. My son is happy and in love with a wonderful lady and is getting married in July. Bruce is healthy and we are in love like we were when we first got married. I'm feeling positive about my choice to start my craft shop on etsy and since November of 2010 I've lost 20 pounds and I only have 50 more to go and its coming off slow and steady so I know this is going to be the time that works for the long run.
I'm going to make another little green dragon tomorrow to replace the one that sold and also a few other colors.
Nothing else to say tonight so goodnight.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Food
I've been doing some reading and thinking of another way that I can use this blog and it came to me!!! I'll use it to keep track of getting back in shape and healthy again. I have been losing and gain the same baby weight for almost 34 years and its time I stop making excuses and just deal with it so here goes...
This cold is really helping as it has made everything taste the same. I've given into McDonalds caramel frappes a few times in the last week but I've also been keeping my other eating to good stuff so I guess it balances out in the long run.
I have the perfect inspiration to get me going.... the kids wedding in July and being able to go out hiking with Bruce and the kids. I know my cholesterol will go down when I lose weight and my printzmetal's angina would be better under control so thats what I'm going to set for goals. I'm not going to obsess about how many pounds I lose in such in such a time I'm just going to keep going everyday until I get to where I need to be. I think by knowing other people can see this and follow along with my triumphs and failures,there will be some I know, that will keep me honest with myself .
Tomorrow is Day 1...
Here is the little phlegm monster that I tried to put in my earlier post. I used spel check and it didn't correct the way I'm spelling phlegm so I guess its right but it doesn't look right to me.
Chant to the monster::
Phlegm monster, phlegm monster go away,
I don't want to play with you today!
Phlegm monster, phlegm monster your no fun,
I'm going to kick you in the bum!!
Yes this cold and cough is driving me crazy.Or should I say crazier than normal:)
This cold is really helping as it has made everything taste the same. I've given into McDonalds caramel frappes a few times in the last week but I've also been keeping my other eating to good stuff so I guess it balances out in the long run.
I have the perfect inspiration to get me going.... the kids wedding in July and being able to go out hiking with Bruce and the kids. I know my cholesterol will go down when I lose weight and my printzmetal's angina would be better under control so thats what I'm going to set for goals. I'm not going to obsess about how many pounds I lose in such in such a time I'm just going to keep going everyday until I get to where I need to be. I think by knowing other people can see this and follow along with my triumphs and failures,there will be some I know, that will keep me honest with myself .
Here is the little phlegm monster that I tried to put in my earlier post. I used spel check and it didn't correct the way I'm spelling phlegm so I guess its right but it doesn't look right to me.
Chant to the monster::
Phlegm monster, phlegm monster go away,
I don't want to play with you today!
Phlegm monster, phlegm monster your no fun,
I'm going to kick you in the bum!!
Yes this cold and cough is driving me crazy.Or should I say crazier than normal:)
Learning more & making friends
Today wasn't a total lose I did some dishes and fixed pasta for supper, pretty good considering I have a Phlegm Monster in my chest and stayed up all night. The dog was scared because of the wind and sleet that was rattling the house and I was coughing up a lung and blowing my nose so we stayed in the livingroom so as not to wake Bruce. Went to bed at about 7:30 this morning and slept until about 1:00.
During the night I tried my hand at making an elephant. Here it is, I don't like the nose so I'm going to try again in the next few days. I don't know why but I come up with some of my best ideas in the middle of the night or when I don't feel good.
My cold from hell is not getting any better and now I know why Rosie calls it a phlem monster when she gets stuffed up. It feels like this goo is stuck and won't go up or down but is also coming out of your nose and making your whole body ache. So today I made a phlegm monster that I can throw, squish and just treat bad!!! I tried to post a pic of it but for some reason my computer isn't cooperating with me right now so I'll post it some other time. I just took some yarn and started making a blob of stitches until it was the size that I liked stuffed it and closed it up , put a face on it and that was that.
I posted another dragon in my etsy shop today. Still no sales but I'm going to keep plugging along and they will come. I am now following some fellow etsy bloggers and I've done a facebook page for the shop so all I can do now is sit back and wait and keep making more things.
On a totally different subject it was so pretty out this afternoon when the sun came out for a little while, the trees had ice crystals on them and were making little rainbows and shimmering like diamonds. Days like this are so beautiful except for the roads being dangerous and not being able to go out and enjoy it becauseI'm afaid of falling and breaking some part of me. Why can't we have the beauty of the ice and snow on the trees without the danger of driving or walking? I want the best of both worlds!!!
I'm slowly learning how to do things on here and on my etsy page as well as I hope in my life. Now to a quiet night of watching tv and working on something,don't know what as I don't have anything started right now.
Goodnight
My cold from hell is not getting any better and now I know why Rosie calls it a phlem monster when she gets stuffed up. It feels like this goo is stuck and won't go up or down but is also coming out of your nose and making your whole body ache. So today I made a phlegm monster that I can throw, squish and just treat bad!!! I tried to post a pic of it but for some reason my computer isn't cooperating with me right now so I'll post it some other time. I just took some yarn and started making a blob of stitches until it was the size that I liked stuffed it and closed it up , put a face on it and that was that.
I posted another dragon in my etsy shop today. Still no sales but I'm going to keep plugging along and they will come. I am now following some fellow etsy bloggers and I've done a facebook page for the shop so all I can do now is sit back and wait and keep making more things.
On a totally different subject it was so pretty out this afternoon when the sun came out for a little while, the trees had ice crystals on them and were making little rainbows and shimmering like diamonds. Days like this are so beautiful except for the roads being dangerous and not being able to go out and enjoy it becauseI'm afaid of falling and breaking some part of me. Why can't we have the beauty of the ice and snow on the trees without the danger of driving or walking? I want the best of both worlds!!!
I'm slowly learning how to do things on here and on my etsy page as well as I hope in my life. Now to a quiet night of watching tv and working on something,don't know what as I don't have anything started right now.
Goodnight
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Lazy Sunday
Well I woke up still all stuffed up and coughing but determined to get a few things done around the house and also do some work on my craft stuff.
So while my coffee was brewing I did some dishes and planned my next step of the day only to be side tracked by the dog wanting to go out. Okay, on with the coat and boots put the dog on his leash and out we go, into the rain!!! Mud and puddles and does he do his business nice & quick, Nooo... he wants to go all the way down to the fort and check out all the places that have been under snow. Okay 20 minutes later I'm back in the house, towel off and finally sit down to my coffee.
Settled into the couch with my blankets over my legs and a scarf wrapped around my neck I find the camera and take a few photos of my latest creatons that I'll be posting to my etsy shop only to discover that the little green dragon isn't finished, the poor thing has no wings. The red dragon won't photogragh the way I want it to, no matter how hard I try it looks blurry and out of focus. So I give up on the pictures for today I'll try again tomorrow.
Okay so I make wings for the green dragon and sew one on and as I'm getting ready to sew on the other one Bruce comes in from the garage where he is working on the car and ask for help. Put down the dragon and ask what he needs, he brings over these little copper pieces that have 2 holes in each of them and asks if I can clean them using a razorblade.
How many of these do I need to clean the glue and yuk off of 36 and also while your at it would you mind cleaning these 50 screws. So for the next 4 hours I scrape and sand these things. I guess its the least I can do since he's out in the garage trying to rebuild the big electic battery for the Priuus to hopefully save us tons of money and fix the car. He's like a mad scientist out there with all of the cells and everything that needs to be played around with to get the job done.
It's now later in the evening and we are both relaxing Bruce at his computer after going out and playing a little bit of pool after working on the car all day and me cuddled up on my couch with the dog finally getting back to sewing the second wing on the green dragon and making wings for the blue dragon thats almost done. So I guess the day wasn't a totally lazy Sunday and I did get some things accomplished just not in the way I thought I would.
So thats it for another day in my ordinary and boring life. Anyone that comes across this and decides to stay and read the whole thing be warned you won't find any mind blowing philosophy or wonderful causes being written about just a wife and mothers day to day musings about her life and her crochet and other crafts that she does.
So while my coffee was brewing I did some dishes and planned my next step of the day only to be side tracked by the dog wanting to go out. Okay, on with the coat and boots put the dog on his leash and out we go, into the rain!!! Mud and puddles and does he do his business nice & quick, Nooo... he wants to go all the way down to the fort and check out all the places that have been under snow. Okay 20 minutes later I'm back in the house, towel off and finally sit down to my coffee.
Settled into the couch with my blankets over my legs and a scarf wrapped around my neck I find the camera and take a few photos of my latest creatons that I'll be posting to my etsy shop only to discover that the little green dragon isn't finished, the poor thing has no wings. The red dragon won't photogragh the way I want it to, no matter how hard I try it looks blurry and out of focus. So I give up on the pictures for today I'll try again tomorrow.
Okay so I make wings for the green dragon and sew one on and as I'm getting ready to sew on the other one Bruce comes in from the garage where he is working on the car and ask for help. Put down the dragon and ask what he needs, he brings over these little copper pieces that have 2 holes in each of them and asks if I can clean them using a razorblade.
How many of these do I need to clean the glue and yuk off of 36 and also while your at it would you mind cleaning these 50 screws. So for the next 4 hours I scrape and sand these things. I guess its the least I can do since he's out in the garage trying to rebuild the big electic battery for the Priuus to hopefully save us tons of money and fix the car. He's like a mad scientist out there with all of the cells and everything that needs to be played around with to get the job done.
It's now later in the evening and we are both relaxing Bruce at his computer after going out and playing a little bit of pool after working on the car all day and me cuddled up on my couch with the dog finally getting back to sewing the second wing on the green dragon and making wings for the blue dragon thats almost done. So I guess the day wasn't a totally lazy Sunday and I did get some things accomplished just not in the way I thought I would.
So thats it for another day in my ordinary and boring life. Anyone that comes across this and decides to stay and read the whole thing be warned you won't find any mind blowing philosophy or wonderful causes being written about just a wife and mothers day to day musings about her life and her crochet and other crafts that she does.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Stuffy noses
My chest feels like I have a huge ball of phlegm stuck in it. The gunk won't go up or down and so far nothing is helping with the cough. The coughing is making my throat hurt and the whole thing is making me not want to eat anything so at least there is one good thing about it.
I finished a red dragon today and tomorrow I'm going to post it along with the green one and the teapot set.
Tomorrow I also need to take some better photos of the butterflys and the brown dragon.
I've fallen in love with the BBC version Being Human. The characters are so well written and each week they manage to keep me interested for the full time of the show.
What a boring life I lead when the high point of the whole day is that I finished making a dragon and that I watched a television show.
That's all for today maybe tomorrow I'll do something more interesting.
I finished a red dragon today and tomorrow I'm going to post it along with the green one and the teapot set.
Tomorrow I also need to take some better photos of the butterflys and the brown dragon.
I've fallen in love with the BBC version Being Human. The characters are so well written and each week they manage to keep me interested for the full time of the show.
What a boring life I lead when the high point of the whole day is that I finished making a dragon and that I watched a television show.
That's all for today maybe tomorrow I'll do something more interesting.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Friday
Today has been a good day for me. I did some dishes finished putting the faces on a green dragon and 10 butterflies.Then I decided to make a crocheted teapot in bright red, finished it and now I'm going to make 2 cups and saucers to go with it. They are going to have a pink edging on them as I put a pink edge on the pot and the pot lid.
Bruce brought home pizza, he's such a great hubby. I think I love him even more now then 39 years ago. Yesterday was the anniversary of our first date, thats hard to believe if anyone had told me when I was 16 that I'd be lucky enough to find the love of my life I most likely would have laughed at them but thats exactly what happened and I couldn't be happier.
So I guess that along with talking about my crafts on here I'm going to also include some of the things not only from my life as it is now but also some of what has made me well me.
Bruce brought home pizza, he's such a great hubby. I think I love him even more now then 39 years ago. Yesterday was the anniversary of our first date, thats hard to believe if anyone had told me when I was 16 that I'd be lucky enough to find the love of my life I most likely would have laughed at them but thats exactly what happened and I couldn't be happier.
So I guess that along with talking about my crafts on here I'm going to also include some of the things not only from my life as it is now but also some of what has made me well me.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Crafting & Life in General
Today I finished 12 butterflys and hope to finish the green dragon that I'm working on.
Decided to include my thoughts about life along with my craft stuff on here. Today I watched Julie & Julia and it gave me some insight into things. If it took Julia Childs 8 years to get her first cookbook published along with many rewrites and rejection letters than I shouldn't be worrying that after only 1 month on etsy that I haven't sold anything.
The sun was warm as I walked the dog today but it was deceiving because it was cold out!!!! I've been eatting healthy and need to get to exercising again. Maybe tomorrow.
To anyone who reads this don't expect to be learning anything or finding any life altering revelations this is basically just about my boring little life.
Decided to include my thoughts about life along with my craft stuff on here. Today I watched Julie & Julia and it gave me some insight into things. If it took Julia Childs 8 years to get her first cookbook published along with many rewrites and rejection letters than I shouldn't be worrying that after only 1 month on etsy that I haven't sold anything.
The sun was warm as I walked the dog today but it was deceiving because it was cold out!!!! I've been eatting healthy and need to get to exercising again. Maybe tomorrow.
To anyone who reads this don't expect to be learning anything or finding any life altering revelations this is basically just about my boring little life.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
First time blog
Okay so I decided to start a blog about my etsy shop and crafting in general.
Today I woke up with a sore throat and the sniffles but went to work on a new design of the little stuffed animals that I've been making. I got the body of the dragonfly how I want it and started playing with the wings. I did the upper wings but not real happy with them so tomorrow I'm going to redo them
I wrote out my first pattern into what I hope is understandable language for the little dragon to send to Dina. I hope she can understand it I have my own way of writting things down and don't know if I did it right. I'll find out after I email it to her.
I made a business facebook page today that I hope will bring me some people who will actually buy something.
Enough for tonight now to work on another dragon and watch Criminal Minds.
Today I woke up with a sore throat and the sniffles but went to work on a new design of the little stuffed animals that I've been making. I got the body of the dragonfly how I want it and started playing with the wings. I did the upper wings but not real happy with them so tomorrow I'm going to redo them
I wrote out my first pattern into what I hope is understandable language for the little dragon to send to Dina. I hope she can understand it I have my own way of writting things down and don't know if I did it right. I'll find out after I email it to her.
I made a business facebook page today that I hope will bring me some people who will actually buy something.
Enough for tonight now to work on another dragon and watch Criminal Minds.
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