Cheap Frills

As part of my "use up the yarn stash" effort, I present to you, a CROCHETED scarf that I'm calling "Cheap Frills"

It's like crocheting a giant curly pasta noodle, but it is a fun little project. The yarn is Red Heart Symphony, in all it's acrylic wonder. I remember buying this on sale somewhere. I have no idea what I bought it for. (and only one ball?? It's a mystery, but at least it's getting used up!!)

I've also finished one of the three Christmas stockings I need to make. This is unblocked, as are all my projects lately. I need to have a blocking afternoon sometime soon. This stocking also, obviously, needs it's top crocheted on and some other embellishment. It's definitely plain vanilla right now!

And lest you think that my life is all fun and games and flowers lately, I present you with this evidence to the contrary!

UGH!


10.08.05 @ 09:43 AM PST [link]

The things we do for love

I've always been an animal person. My mother was always the one with some sad little creature in a box with a heating pad trying to nurse it back to health. Growing up, the neighborhood kids knew to bring sick or injured animals to her, and an amazing number of strays found their way into our house.

My maternal grandfather, I swear, was an animal charmer. When you hear someone described as "being able to charm the birds out of the trees" that was him, to a "T"

I come by the animal thing honestly, I do. I've had all sorts of pets, adopted and otherwise. At the current time we have relatively few creatures. A breeding pair of cockatiels and one of their offspring, two cats, and Puf. Pictured above.

Puf is theoretically my daughter's bunny, a gift for her 10th birthday. Notice the coat on this guy, this isn't even his FULL coat, as he shed copiously and amazingly just about six weeks ago. I've never seen a creature shed like that, ever. It was more like a small scale explosion of a fur bomb.

Anyhow, I'm sure you can envision that Puf is a bit of a diva. High maintenance doesn't even begin to describe this creature. Like all good divas, it's a good thing he's so damned cute, because no one would put up with his demands for long otherwise!
The grooming on this dude is something else altogether, and daughter is at her dad's house for half the week so guess who gets to take on the bunny care chores?

He's forever getting stuff caught in his fur, everything. Let me say that again. EVERYTHING!
I'm beginning to believe that one of the key ingredients of bunnies is velcro!
We spend a good deal of time picking stuff off him, all sorts of bedding, his food, and, unfortunately his own droppings. (Say it with me...eww!) I really thought I was done wiping butts for a while since my kids are grown enough to be out of diapers. We have no grandbabies yet. And...my husband, while quite a bit older than me, is thankfully continent. (hee!)

Anyhow, part of my extensive grooming of the bunny includes a thorough trimming of his fur around his, uh...more delicate areas.

Yes. My bunny has a brazilian.

Let's just think about this for a while. The woman who can't even manage to keep her own eyebrows plucked on a regular basis has a PET with immaculately manicured lower regions that would make a porn star proud. He could wear a high cut swimsuit or a thong with no fear. Okay the tail might present a problem, but you get the drift here.

I'm seriously thinking about changing the title of my blog to "I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried!"
10.06.05 @ 07:34 PM PST [link]

Woooohooo!

My hubby is taking me to Vegas for my birthday next month. I'm soooo excited! He's just the BEST!
Four whole nights of gambling and eating and partying. (without the children!!)

It's our first getaway in two years and I am sooooo looking forward to it! yippee!
I'm off to do the happy dance and brush up on my mad blackjack skills! :)
10.05.05 @ 06:39 PM PST [link]

Uh... the cake is STARING at me!
We had a busy weekend here! The boychild had his birthday party with friends and family on Sunday. (as opposed to the opening of the presents and the cake that we had here at home on his actual birthday!)

We have a really good candy store nearby and the last time we were in there, my son saw a bunch of candied insects (!!!) and decided that he wanted a "fear factor" theme to his birthday party. Uh, okay!

Now I'm always one for a theme party, and I had a lot of fun shopping for "gross out" kinds of things to eat! In addition to the real insects from the candy store, I got a bunch of strange gummy candies that look kind of gross and disgusting, and I made a dirt cake with worms and other nasty gummy creatures. The gummy eyeballs were the most revolting thing though! I was having flashbacks about the field trips our elementary school used to take to the Exploratorium in San Francisco, where we would dissect a cow eyeball as a science project. Ugh!

The party was a hit with all the kids and most of them were good sports about eating at least one bug! My kids both told me afterwards how much they enjoyed it, so I'm really happy (and glad it's over! whew!)
Here are a few photos.

The "Buffet of Barf!"

The buffet menu! I had to put a page protector on it because of the mess factor!

Everyone eats bugs! (and worms!)

Smile, the cake is watching you!

Disgusting, huh? Perfect for an 8 year old boy!






10.03.05 @ 01:36 PM PST [link]