Well Then...

Every week I think that things might calm down. I've been thinking this for oh... well...I dunno... a few years or so now. It doesn't seem to be calming down. Last week involved a trip to the dentist (I need a crown), the eye doctor (a corneal ulcer) and Urgent Care (luckily that was my sister, and she's fine). As of today, I've officially don't two whole days without some sort of disaster. Here's to making it three. :)

Meanwhile, while life has been insane, I've been knitting like crazy. I think just about every relative I have is having a child this spring and summer. So, my fingers have been flying. And rather than dwell on the bad/crazy things that have been happening I'll share the good/creative things that I've finished lately.

 All of these patterns are from one of my favorite knitting books, Knitted Wild Animals. There are so many super cute toys in this book. It's definitely worth picking up, especially if you tend to have lots of babies to knit for. I've just used leftover yarn for all of these projects too, so it's a great stash buster. One thing i don't like is that all the pieces are knit flat and seamed, so the animals do require a lot of sewing. One could translate the patterns to be knit in the round pretty easily, but I'm just to lazy to deal with it; plus i don't mind seaming that much.

Anyway... here are my critters. :)

First up, a monkey for my BFF's son, James. He turned one back in February, and needed a new monkey.

What? You can tell I didn't take these pictures because they're nice and in focus. Well, yeah, I didn't. I actually forgot to take a picture of this little guy before I gave him away, so John was nice enough to send me some. Isn't he cute? I know his smile is a little wonky, but that's what makes him handmade right? :) 

Then my cousin, Scotia, had a baby shower last weekend. unfortunately, I had to miss is because of my eye ulcer, but I sent my sister along with her present anyway. She's having a boy, and her husband is a huge outdoors-man, so I thought a moose was totally appropriate. :) 

And yes, he feet do look like, well... yeah, yeah. We'll just not go there. :) But he's adorable nonetheless. I especially love his little antlers, which are reinforced with pipe cleaners, so they stand up nice and straight. 

And finally, my other cousin (yes, I do in fact have a bazillion cousins) is also having a boy. She's actually in Texas now, so we just mail.ed her a shower in a box. She got a wart hog because, well, what little boy wouldn't want a stuffed wart hog? :) 

His feet are also laughable, but he's pretty cute anyway. This one was kind of fiddly, especially with all his warts, so i don't know that I'll be churning out these for every baby that comes along. 

At any rate, that's the knitting for now. There will be at least two more animals coming soon. :) Two more babies in June and July. Good thing I like making stuff. :) 

Life, Death, and Getting Back on the Horse

Well then... it's been a while. Sorry for the long absence, but it's been a little crazy around here. Surprise right?

I don't want to be all Debbie Downer, because really that's not what this blog is about, but it is about sharing my life, good and bad, ups and downs. If you'd rather not journey with me on one of the roller coaster downs, skip this post. I totally forgive you. I'd skip it too if I could. :) So go do something more up-lifting and awesome and come back later when I'll regale you with more tales of knitting, painting and my cats.

If you're still around... here we go. The last few weeks have been a real adventure. Hell, the last few months/years/lives have been a real adventure. But, it all sort of ended a couple of weeks ago.

When I started this blog, I briefly explained the struggles that I had been dealing with with my father and his life choices. Two weeks ago, he finally passed away. Though it isn't ever really a happy time with you lose a parent, this went about as well as I could have possibly hoped. He took himself to the hospital three weeks ago, complaining that he was vomiting blood, unsurprising considering he was an alcoholic for years and had cirrhosis. He started to detox, lost consciousness, and by the time the doctors received all of his files from other hospitals and called me, a week later, it was looking pretty hopeless. I had him moved to a hospice, where he died, peacefully and pain-free less that 24 hours later.

It was a rough couple of weeks getting the funeral planned and sorting through all of the things that come after someones passing, but I have to say, I was relieved to see him go. He was miserable here on earth, as was evidenced by his actions and the state of his apartment (just as bad as the house with all manner of bodily fluids, trash, booze and cigarettes). My father struggled with depression and a myriad of other mental illnesses and never seemed to be able to become truly happy. I hope that he is finally at peace.

Now, while death is never fun, I have gained a bit of a new perspective on it over the years, and that's what I'd really like to share with you guys. A few years ago, I joined on as book blogger for Thomas Nelson, a Christian Publisher. I thought it would be an interesting way to find new books, and I got them for free, so that was even better. I hadn't ever read much Christian literature before I signed up, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.  Now, I can't say that all of the books I've read and reviewed have been life-changing, but one certainly was.

Fearless is by Max Lucado, an author who I generally love, though I don't always agree with all of his preachings. The book is about living your life without fear. Fear for your children, fear of war, etc. One of the big ones was fear of death. This is something that everyone seems to experience and was the thing that really stuck with me from this book. Lucado takes the view of death just like birth. In brief, he explains that when you were in the womb, you had no idea what the outside world was like. You were warm, floating around in your little sac of fluid and safe. Then, all of a sudden your world is rocked by what feels like an earthquake, you're squeezed through a tiny tunnel and pushed out into blinding light, cold air and lots of big scary things. Sounds awful right? Yeah, but then what comes next? Life. And in general life is pretty awesome. You could have been totally freaked out by the idea that you had no clue what was coming next the entire time you were in the womb, and maybe we all were freaked out and we just don't remember it. But now? Now you don't remember the trauma of being born, you just remember your life.

So, that's how Lucado, and now I, view death. We don't know what comes next. It could be heaven, it could be nothing, it could be magical unicorns, rainbows and sprinkles. Who knows for sure? We also don't even know if we'll remember this part, or just know that it existed. True, death could be worse, but it could be a whole lot better. Or maybe, it is just a matter of perspective. So for me, death is no longer something to fear or even to morn really. It simply is another stage of existence. I don't know what will be next for me, and I can't change what has happened before. All I can do now is live my life as best I can given what I've got and take each step as it comes.

Now that I've thoroughly bored you with a long and theoretical post, I'll get off my little soapbox and let you be. I hope that life graces all of you with peace and beauty, however that looks for you. :)

Until next time...

What a Week!

Hooooboy... what a week it's been. :) I've actually gotten a decent amount of stuff done, despite the fact that I appear to be allergic to everything right now. It's spring 'round here and my seasonal allergies are out in full force. Seriously, I am a disgusting snot-monster right now. I'm hoping that sometime soon the combination on drugs, Netti Pot and acupuncture will finally kick in and I'll be able to breathe. We shall see.

At any rate... onward! Here are some fun things from this week.

First... this:


Caine's Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.

Make sure to watch it all the way through. Seriously?!? Isn't that kid the best! I just want to hug him and squeeze him and give him a million dollars for college. Luckily, he's already got over 100K for a scholarship fund from people donating at the website. :) Such a great thing in a world that can be pretty terrible.

the pretty fabric for my curtains

Next- my faboo office. :) We finally got my desk out and down to Andrew's parents. Seriously, that thing weighs about elebenty bazillion pounds. But, we're one step closer. I also bought some beautiful silk fabric for 50% off at Hancock this week for my curtains.

I got some paint samples to try on the wall. Yes the look the same. As Andrew said, "It's like the crayons when you were little. There was blue-green and green-blue." Pretty much. :)

Also, these came in the mail:
Yes, the are the most fantastic shoes ever. :)











The cats modeled some of my latest knitting projects.

Dumbledore- not amused- wearing a scarf made from some merino/silk handspun I got at the Boulder Handweaver's Guild Sale. No real pattern, just cast on until I hit the end of the first color and knit until I ran out of yarn.

Lily- also unamused- wearing a scarf/shawlette made from some more Handweaver's guild yarn. This one's a hand-dyed bamboo/cotton blend. It's the Wingspan pattern, which was a super easy and fun knit. Great way to learn short rows if you haven't done them before.

And finally, Lily with a bunch of balls I made for an upcoming baby. This patter is from Itty Bitty Toys, which may be my favorite pattern book. :) So many cute things. These little balls are awesome. They are super fast to knit, are great for yarn leftovers and seem like they'll be super fun (and quiet) for baby. 

So there you have it. My awesome week. This weekend will be filled with house projects and taking my little sister to the museum for her birthday. Should be super fun! Until next time... have a wonderful weekend, ya'll!

Nothing like Home

Oh boy... I have to admit, I love my house. It's small, and really a townhome, not a stand alone house, but I do love it. However, the perils of home ownership are sometimes just too much. We've had many an adventure in the 8 years that we've owned our house. Most of the stuff I couldn't make up even if I tried, but I've always loved the beginning of a new project. I love planning and designing and especially buying all the pieces for it!

So, I've been super pumped lately because we're redecorating our office. Well, actually, we're remodeling the current joint office into just my room. It'll be my office, dressing room and craft room. Andrew's chunk of the office will be relocated to the basement. Not the best deal for him, but it'll make more room for my sister, who's living with us this summer. It's been really exciting planning a room that's just for me! :) I want it to be really pretty and girly. We've started moving things out and have a plan drawn up in SketchUp, and I've been busily pinning a board on Pinterest, so I thought I'd share some of my inspiration and see what you all think!

First off, wall color. I plan on painting two of the walls a dark teal. Right now, I'm loving some of these colors.

Source: porterhousedesigns.com via Dana on Pinterest

Source: designscout.tumblr.com via Dana on Pinterest

I'm also going to have an entire wall of white bookcases, and on the teal walls will be some white shelving and a full L-shaped white desk.

Source: digsdigs.com via Dana on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Dana on Pinterest

I also want a beautiful chair to lounge in, and some great grey curtains for the window and closet. Plus some pretty accents, like jewelry trays, ornate mirrors and a lovely chandelier.

Source: crateandbarrel.com via Dana on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Dana on Pinterest

Source: epbot.com via Dana on Pinterest

Source: tinywhitedaisies.tumblr.com via Dana on Pinterest

Source: 29.media.tumblr.com via Dana on Pinterest

Source: images.search.yahoo.com via Dana on Pinterest

Source: achicaliving.com via Dana on Pinterest

So... that's all the inspiration for my new room. What do you guys think? Any suggestions? Beautiful pieces of furniture lying around that you're dying to give me. :) I take donations you know. Hopefully, my enthusiasm can be kept up through the whole project as I think it's going to be a doozy!
I'll keep you all updated.

Back at it...

Well then... it's been a while ya'll. When I see that the site actually still gets hits on days that I don't post, I feel unreasonably guilty about not blogging. Now, I'm sure that 99.9% of those hits are from bots and random people in Singapore or something, but I'm pretty good about feeling guilty.

Anyway, after a couple of week hiatus, I'm back. It's bee quite busy around here. Last week was Spring Break and I spent it working hard to clean out our house and storage unit. We're still buried under all the stuff we took out of my dad's house last fall and I really wanted to work to dig out. Most of it was donated, but that meant that it had to be sorted and cleaned up. I ended up taking 14 loads of stuff to various non-profits around the area, bringing our grand total of loads of stuff donated to about 20. Though it was exhausting, I'm glad that some good has come from the disaster that was last summer/fall. I hope that all of the stuff finds new life elsewhere. It's been a tough road, especially as I've been hearing all of the terrible things that my father has been telling people about me. It's tough to know that so many people are only getting one side of the story, and judging me for it, but I'm trying to just soldier on and keep my head held high.

Speaking of my poor hear, Andrew brought home some kind of nasty cold, so we were both laid up for the end of last week and beginning of this week. It was pretty awful, but I'm glad to be back in the land of the living, even if only some what.

In much happier news though... check out these awesome thrift store scores I got while out donating stuff last week.

This could be one of the cups and saucers from a set of 4 that I bought for $1.99 each. $2! They're Royal Doulton bone china from 1938! Such a great score! I think they're super pretty and they are all in wonderful shape.

At the same store I got this little set. Super pretty and only $13. It's also bone china, from Roslyn in the Garland pattern. This little pretty is from somewhere around the 1930s-40s as well.

I have such a thing for pretty bone china tea cups. Which is a little funny since I'm pretty modern and simplistic in all other areas of my life, but there's just something about super fancy tea cups that appeals to my girly side.

Anyway... hopefully I'll be back in the blog-o-sphere more regularly. I wish you all the best for a lovely weekend! Have a very Happy Easter!

Little Bit of Love for the Weekend

Hey ya'll, sorry I haven't posted this week. I've been diligently working on my first draft, which is major suck right now, but I'm just trying to get it out and done. I've also been cleaning like a fiend. I've got a major bug to get rid of things, so I've been organizing crap and getting rid of all things unnecessary. Next week is Spring Break, so I'm really hoping that I'll be able to make a serious dent in the clutter around the house. I've still got a ton of crap from cleaning out my dad's house around too and that's slowly making its way out the door. I'm so ready to be done with junk!

At any rate, I don't have much else to share, so I'll leave you with some fun pictures instead. :)

That's my latest drawing. I'm going to my pastes class again this afternoon, so we'll see what comes later. :) I've also got a cheese-making class tomorrow, which I am super excited about! I can't wait to make some cheese!

Some other things I love this week: My adorable cats. This is Dumbledore, a lynx point Himalayan, on his favorite blankie.  Yeah, he might be the most adorable cat ever. :)

And my Lily kitten. She's not really a fan of snuggles, but she's my quirky little cutie too.

So anyway... I may or may not get around to posting next week. Hopefully I'll have some fun house updates that I can share, or a finished first draft, or some drawings, or knitting, or something, but what's more likely to happen is a whole lot of sleeping and reading. :)

Hope that you are all enjoying spring! Have a wonderful weekend!

Something More Uplifting

Well, if you're still with me after my whine-fest on Tuesday, I applaud you. :) Thanks. I know that complaining rarely fixes anything and that I pledged to give up negativity for Lent, but you know, sometimes you just have to whine. :)

At any rate, I am feeling more motivated now, despite being hit hard with allergies. Seriously ya'll, if I'm not back next week it's because I've died of hay fever. It's getting a little bit re-donk-ulous.

So, before I die, I thought I'd share with you some of my thoughts on one of the latest books that I've finished. One of the major benefits of my day job as a high school literacy teacher is I have to read a lot. I make my kiddos read at least half an hour during class and if I'm not reading with them, they generally don't read at all. If I'm reading with them... well, let's just say we at least hit 50%. :)

Last week, I finished Brida by Paulo Coelho, who is one of my favorite authors. I love his works and him as a person. Here's the summary from Amazon, because I'm feeling too lazy to summarize it myself.

The spellbinding new novel from one of the world's best-loved authors, Paulo Coelho, recounting the story of Brida, and her pursuit of wisdom. This is the story of Brida, a young Irish girl, and her quest for knowledge. She has long been interested in various aspects of magic, but is searching for something more. Her search leads her to people of great wisdom, who begin to teach her about the world. Her teachers sense that Brida has a gift, but cannot tell what that is. Meanwhile, Brida pursues her course ever deeper into the mysteries of life, seeking to answer questions about who she is. She meets a wise man who dwells in a forest, and teaches her about overcoming her fears and trusting in the goodness of the world, and a woman who teaches her how to dance to the music of the world, and how to pray to the moon. She seeks her destiny, as she struggles to find a balance between her relationships and her desire to become a witch. This enthralling novel incorporates themes fans of Paulo will love. It is a tale of love, passion, mystery and spirituality.

I really liked this novel. In Coelho's typical way, it feels exquisitely simple and mind altering at the same time. As I read there were a couple of passages that stood out to me as particularly beautiful and moving, so I thought I would share. I included the page numbers from my book, a paperback, so they may not match up with your own copy.

from page 123:
"Love didn't require that kind of renunciation. True love allowed each person to follow their own path, knowing that they would never lose touch with their Soul Mate."

page 136:
"Play your part and don't worry about what others do. Believe that God also peaks to them, and that they are as engaged as you are in discovering the meaning of life."

And finally... a quotation that's not from Brida, but is from Paulo Coelho, which has spoken deeply to me lately:

"If it is still in your mind, it is worth taking the risk."

Love it. I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on any of these quotations as well!