inspire me...

Target!

I stopped by on my way home from work, found a few shirts I must have for a little bit warmer days.

And these shoes... LOVE! I think they def. say sexy little legal secretary! Of course, pending the crap going on at work right now.. I might not be a legal secretary for long! Its personal so I'll keep it to myself.

Bare minimum--I just discovered that things are pretty darn unfair in the workplace right now and I'm not happy. To put it lightly. I'm really effin pissed off, on the verge of crying mad, and want to put in my two weeks notice and slam the door... is more like it. Anyways, have 4 day weekend and must think happy thoughts.

. . . . .

but excuse me?!?! if you have a good devoted employee who goes out of her way to get things done and overall be a good employee.. why would you reward her the same as an employee who is on vacation/sick leave for half their employment time and spends countless hours during the working day on PERSONAL PHONE CALLS.

its maddening. I'm preparing speech to bosses... working up the nerve to actually make a meeting with them.. and then presenting my case.

If my employers can't reward me for hard work and encourage ambition to work harder, then sorry... I've got better things to do. I'm 24, I don't just want a JOB. I want something more, I want to enjoy my work and be rewarded and appreciated for what I can bring to the workplace. I don't just want to show up everyday ho-hum boring ass crap... okay, i said I was done. I'm done now.

I'm in love with these jeans from old navy as well. They have a french-inspired line and its pretty darn cute! too bad our actual store here sucks and never has any of the cute stuff they have online. boo hoo. old navy sizing is so weird that i never like to buy online because its usually way too darn big!

oooh, love these two tees as well! would look really cute on me with my nice blonde hair + tan i hope to have for spring (fake bake, no lectures please, i probably wont... skin cancer scares me!)

Well its almost 11 pm. time for me to get to bed! we have been sleeping with no heat on and i sleep so well. its weird. im like a little bug in my cacoon all snuggled up. its quite lovely! i really look forward to sleeping at night! and tomorrow is saturday, sleep in! yeaaaaaa~

happy holidays!

Well, its the inbetween part of Christmas and New Years. My parents left yesterday and I was feeling very sad, well I still am. Its hard being far away from them (400 miles to be exact) esp. when dh's family is closer and always around... I prefer my family, but doesn't everyone?
I don't understand the aspect of "in-laws" yet... I mean, they aren't my parents, I won't ever call them "mom/dad", I'm just not sure how to relate to them just yet. Thats a whole place I don't even want to go right now though!

My family (parents and bro) got here Christmas Eve, we did some shopping--food and drinks!, did some cooking, went to church on Christmas Eve night, watched movies, stayed up late, laughed and had fun. I wish they could have been here Saturday-Wednesday. Oh well, maybe next year. I do realize that I need to make a better effort to go see them. Its just hard when you work til 5 pm on Fridays. Can't get out of town until 6, and then a 5.5 hour drive... it just gets too late. And then Sunday afternoon you have to turn around and drive another 5.5 hours. Not fun! But, I do think we are in the place we should be right now. While I don't LOVE it, I like it here. We both have very good jobs, the housing market is decent here, we have friends and a good church to attend. I just wish we could meet more "couple" friends so we could do things all together.

This is pretty much just a random post. but oh well, you'll have that!

I found a journal at hobby lobby I'm going to buy for 2008... sometimes I want to rant and rave about personal things on here and I don't think thats always the best idea for safety and other reasons. So I'll just journal. :)

I found some looooovely fabric at hancocks yesterday... I can't find it online now, I know I've seen it. 70% off to equal 2.24/yard. I bought three yards! I want to make napkins and an apron and possibly a table runner for next year. I'm getting started EARLY for Christmas 2008. I have a lot on my list and it will make my life easier if I'm not rushing around crafting and not enjoying the holiday season next year!
I also found some cute fabric for some holiday napkins for my parents... I'll post pics soon. Maybe tonight I can snap some shots of my new fabrics. I also picked up some cute ribbon at J's for 70% off. I love holiday clearance! I hit up Walmart and Target yesterday for 1/2 price deals... Got some cute mugs and bowl sets at Walmart and a bunch of stuff (I probably don't need) at Target... DH said don't buy any junk... well, its not junk to me! I'll try to get some snaps uploaded tonight.

enjoy your holiday season! {>
thats a heart.. a weird heart, but a heart. :o)

countdown

Well, its getting closer and closer to Christmas. And I still have a list of things to get done!

Finish gift for co-worker, tonight.

Clean entire house (mom is neat freak!), this weekend.

Knit up slippers for brother, this weekend. However, I did get the pattern copied and blacked out yesterday, so thats a good start.

Finish buying/making gifts for family, this weekend.

Tomorrow night we are heading to the mall, hobby lobby, and lowes to do some exchanges, finish shopping, and purchase new countertops for our bathrooms. Our house was built in the 80's and apparently harvest orange was in. Both the bathroom's have orange countertops and we think they need to go! I think it will help give our bathrooms a more "modern" look which will be helpful since we are planning to sell this summer... more on that in another post.

Well, Friday I got my haircut! She did such a good job and I love it... if only I could make it look the exact way she did. I think it helped that she was blow drying it with a round brush and I'm just not talented/coordinated enough to handle that task! TOday my hair looks pretty cute though, but it doesn't have enough hairspray in it to stay yet... have to fix that after breakfast.

one christmas down, one to go

Well, just finished the wild christmas weekend with the inlaws. They were here from Thursday-this afternoon. And well, its nice to have our quiet little house back.
Although, I did manage to catch a somewhat nasty cold and am trying to battle that... its not fun. I hope its gone before the weekend comes.
I have tomorrow off, yippeee! I plan to get up somewhat early and run to the westend to get some last minute shopping done... hopefully monday mornings before Christmas aren't too chaotic. Then our Christmas party at CCD... gotta pick up something for them tomorrow too.
Then the weekend to get last minute gifts, cleaning, cooking/baking done and Christmas Eve-day after Christmas my family will be here... well pending good weather, of course. But its been nice here.
So... I'm excited. A little sad because the holiday season flew by WAY TOO FAST! And I didn't get nearly the amount of handcrafting that I wanted to.
Which leads me into my next subject... new years resolutions. I have a few... already.
So here goes.
1. CLEAN OUT every single room, nook, cranny, drawer, box, cupboard. We are planning to move to the other side of town this summer and I want to get rid of everything we don't need so we aren't forced to move a ton of junk... along with the essentials.
Hopefully I can get everything together and have a rummage sale in May sometime. Or else just give it all to the thrift store. We'll see!
2. Get on a budget. We are pretty good about spending money, but I'm going to start putting away the extra money we will be paying when we move to a bigger house... probably about 50-60k more total... so I'd like to get adjusted to that bigger payment and hopefully get our furniture bill paid off before we move, or close.
3. Mini vacations. Our lives are somewhat boring. :) I prefer comfortable though. But there are so many great little places around Montana, I want us to get out and enjoy them and the time we have with each other because we are considering starting a family soon and need to cherish our alone time!
4. Church.... I need to go more. I realize I will most likely always be attending by myself. But thats okay, I just need that in my life.

Well, thats all for now. I need to knit two hats up, make some cookies, and finish laundry... sometime. And then, of course, make a list for all the other things I need to get finished by Christmas-time.

Happy Holidays!

itty bitty aprons

I *finally* got the nieces' presents done!!! I kept putting it off and finally last night I sat down, picked a tutorial from the sew mama sew Handmade Holidays list... and got busy!
I made a few changes myself... made one a little bigger for the 4 year old... and used ribbons instead of actual fabric for the apron strings.

But, all in all I am pretty darn pleased with the final outcome. I hope the girls (and their mum) love them and use them lots! If not, I'll have to invite them over for some cookie makin' with auntie amy! so weird to be called an "aunt"!

I used home dec fabric from joanns that I got for $1/yard on clearance, so all in all, it was a pretty cheap christmas gift! I'll have to take a picture with the girls wearing their aprons.

I made two exact replicas so they don't fight over who has which fabric. Kids!!

2007

1) Where did you begin 2007? Black Bull in Hobson with Chad!

2) What was your status by Valentine's Day? Married

3) Were you in school (anytime this year)? I guess I took a paralegal class, but not actual "school".

4) How did you earn your money? At my job and selling some crafts.

5) Did you have to go to the hospital? Not for myself. Actually, I don't even know if I have been there at all in 2007...

6) Did you have any encounters with the police! Well once at the fair in Lewistown when my DH decided to pee outside in the beer gardens. Oops! I assured him I worked for three attorneys and was a responsible lady and would prompt kick DH in the butt and take him home!

7) Where did you go on holidays? North Dakota for the most part.

8) What did you purchase that was over $1000? roofing supplies (yuck), we also bought a four wheeler.

9) Did you know anybody who got married? ashley + eric.

10) Did you know anybody who passed away? A few I suppose, no one especially close to me thank goodness.

11) Have you run into anybody you went to high school/primary school with? Always in ND.

12) Did you move anywhere? Still in our first little townhouse.

14) What concerts/shows did you go to? Lonestar

15) Are you registered to vote? yes

16) Who did you want to win Big Brother? Sorry, don't watch that.

17) Where do you live now? Billings MT in first home with Chad and our dog, Sassy

18) Describe your birthday. Well I don't quite remember so it must have not been that exciting!

19) What's one thing you thought you'd never do but did in 2007? Actually get my wisdom teeth out, I was scared! Shot my third deer with my third bullet ever shot.

20) What has been your favorite moment? Learning to knit!

21.) What's something you learned about yourself? I can usually do something if I put my mind to it. and... being married is hard work.

22.) Any new additions to your family? Nope, maybe 2 years.

23.) What was your best month? I'm not really sure, this year was kinda tough for me.

24.) What music will you remember 2007 by? Conquering knitting and restarting to sew.. so I guess crafts! And our first (difficult) year of marriage.

25) Who has been your best drinking buddy(ies)? I don't know that I have "best" buddies but go-to friends are Ashley G, my DH, and Kelly.

26) Made new friends? yes

27) Best new friend? Kelly

28) Favorite night out? Dueling Divas at the Billings Studio Theater was fun and the bump n' run night at the Lewistown fair.

my works in action...

How darn cute is she? I knit her hat. :o)

the neighborhood

When we first moved into our townhouse, June 2005, the neighborhood was great. We share our house with one other house... our house is basically one huge house and then split down the middle into two homes which are very long and not so very wide! Everything is the same in them just flipped around.
It was the best option for our first house as we have 1900 square feet and it was built in the 80's. The houses we were looking at in our price range were built between 1900-1940 and TINY. (and our house is pretty much packed the way it is right now, so I'm not sure how we would have managed. I am quite sure, however, my husband would have loved to throw some things away!!)
We got a great deal on our house, although the yard is pretty little and with a chain link fence we can see five yards up and down the block and it doesn't offer much privacy. But this is our "starter" home and so we can't have it all...
The lady who lives across the yard from us, our house doesn't adjoin hers, was never around, we never saw her outside... EVER! So all of a sudden her daughter + three kids + friend... lover.. not sure what this other girl's role is.. move in. And all hell breaks loose. They decide to shovel all this rock from her front pation into boxes. The garbage men would not take it, so they proceed to leave the boxes of rocks (in front of our house as well) out on the sidewalk for over a month. Finally I talked DH and neighbor man into shoveling them into our garbage cans because I really would not prefer to have cardboard boxes sitting on the sidewalk in front of my house for the next year.. You know those types of people. Do it half-assed and then leave it? Well that method is fine as long as its something that doesn't effect me or the way my yard looks. So then they dig out ALL these bushes... surprisingly the garbage men picked those up, thank god! And now there is this big bare ugly spot in their yard... I should make a bet on how long it takes them to actually do something decent with it.
And, here's the kicker, they get a puppy. Which is fine and great and I think everyone should be entitled to having pets, under the condition that you actually take care of them. Well our chain link fence that divides our yard and hers is raised up off the ground, not very far, but for the purpose of weed eating under the fence (as she didn't take care of her yard when she lived alone... someone else did). Now the little bugger dog comes into OUR yard, steals our dogs toys, and takes them back to his yard. So... I have chased him out many times, it goes unnoticed. Apparently they cannot hear me yelling from inside their house, which I highly doubt. *a/k/a ignorance!*
So... I have decided to start leaving the gate of our yard open. And yes, this may be cruel but I have had it with this ignornant people and there nasty habits and their annoying dog. I realize its not the dog's fault, she just wants to play. But you cannot leave a puppy outside, alone, for two hours and not think she isn't getting into trouble. Our dog is well over 80 pounds and I quite know that she will be not crawling under the fence into someone else's yard. She is not ever outside unattended without being locked in our yard. She is not allowed to bark and only does so when eyeing a cat or a stranger, which I appreciate. Neighbor's dog barks and barks and barks. Our houses are merely 15 feet apart, therefore if I'm hearing the barking, I guarantee they are too.... Although they probably just turn the TV up louder to drown it out.
I'd like to go over and say something, but what do I say? I'm frustrated with this right now... I really want to leave my neighborhood because of this, and the need for more space... but I love our little home!
I guess I just need to go check out a little flower bed divider and put it up by our fence as the dog owners won't do anything about it...
Also... one day the dog destroyed a newspaper... so papers all over their yard... and they haven't done a thing to clean it up! It just honestly drives me crazy. I want to build a big tall fence around our yard so I don't have to see or deal with our neighbors ignorance!

Okay sorry, back to the regulary happy holiday season! Last night when I got home, the gate was closed... so we'll see what happens today. I will continue to leave it open every single day until it finally sinks in!

focus...

My life is crazy right now! I have no idea how I'll manage to get everything done before Christmas and then I think to myself, "self, you are stressing out during a time that you need to be enjoying!" so I've cut my list of things to do down. I have decided to start on holiday projects in the spring and hopefully have them finished by the time winter rolls around. :o)

Okay so I don't post in forever and then I have a million things to say when I actually do post. I need to work on that...

Anyways for now... I will leave you with some lovely inspiration for some holiday craftin! I actually have made a few things, they are just sitting on my camera..waiting to be uploaded. Soon, I promise, soon!

This is a def. must make for next year... found it on flickr, can't remember the owner.. oops!

And thinking about this for some christmas card inspiration, garden gallery at twopeas. I got an entire box of cards at Hobby Lobby for $3. You can't beat that price! And hurray for this place finally getting a Hobby Lobby---def. aids in pursuading me to stay. :)

Happy beginning season of Advent! We learned about advent last night at CCD, I don't think my kindergartens quite got it... they were crafting get well soon cards while I was talking, and they aren't the best multi-taskers, but they are still awesome and keep me smiling!

ready again !

okay ive been a bad bad blogger. but i'm not sure that anyone reads this anyways, so I'm sure its okay. :o)

I'm going to start out with a meme from sew mama sew...

Gifts

Do you have a favorite gift that you love to give? I just love to give things to people that make them happy... my mom loves a gift certificate to her favorite store, another "go to" gift I've discovered are fleece pullovers! I've bought three for gifts this year already!




If you’re making gifts this year, what are you making? (Post photos if you have some!)
I "plan" to make three pairs of the Fiber Trends felted slippers, some little aprons for our nieces, some oven mitts, and some pincushions. **and rice bags, tutorial from sew mama sew.. everyone needs one of those for those aches and pains!
Also... baked goods for my bosses and sweet mailman.



Do you have any good stories about handcrafted gifts you’ve given or received?
Everyone who knows me, knows I am crafty... and most of them appreciate it. Its always nice to know that the gift you put part of yourself into is appreciated. But sometimes I hold back from giving handmade gifts simply because I don't think they will be appreciated by some people...
I think its really great to give a gift to someone who can use it over and over and they will always remember that you made it especially for them.


Do you have any great gift compilation ideas (a grouping of gifts just perfect for certain recipients?)
Well, hand knit dishcloths work well as a gift for anyone! and who doesn't love holiday baked goods?
i think girls always love beauty products.. i.e. bath and body works, etc. so if you go with that idea, you can create something to come into play and relate to those items well. like a hand knit loofah, or a bathroom door organizer (amy butler, i think?!) or even some hand embroidered towels!


Name one thing on your personal wish list.
I'd like a few sewing notions, Denyse Schmidt quilting book, last minute quilted and patchwork gifts, gift cards :o), and an insulated vest with fur from old navy!


Do you make and sell things that would make fantastic gifts? I have just started making things like purses, lots of knitted things--hats, purses, baby bibs, baby hats... I am working on a gift for a new baby, so hopefully its well received.

Traditions

What is your favorite family holiday tradition? Getting dressed up, and going to church at night. There is just something magical about christmas and night time and then going to church to celebrate it all--add some fat fluffy snowflakes and what a great time!


Have you started any new traditions with your family that you didn’t practice growing up? Well I still spend the holidays with my family... I've been married for just over a year but I do plan on creating some traditions when we start our family. We were both raised in very different families, so we are still working on "blending" our traditions together.


What do you love most about the holiday season? Its magical! I love sitting in my living room, pine scented candle burning, with just the tree lights on.. it makes my heart sooo happy!

What do you like least about the holiday season? it goes by too fast and the whole retail aspect of it. i think we need to get back the simple things.

Anyone close to your heart that you’ll be missing this year? my grandparents. they have been gone for awhile now, but I'll always think about to the great holiday memories spent at their house. it was just always so special with them.. they had a fireplace and we would sleep on the floor in the living room and try to catch a glimpse of santa! they always played along with it and its such a good memory to think back on. they even hired a santa to come to their house once! so much fun!!


What is your favorite holiday food? i am in love with baked goods--cookies, apple pie, carmel, fudge! yumm! I love white turkey meat, stove top stuffing, and mashed potatoes with loads of butter! so maybe its a good thing the holiday season isn't longer. :)

Do you have a great recipe to share? one thing my mom always made was hidden valley ranch crackers.. they are really quick to make and a tasty snack! quite addictive too I might add.

1 package Ranch dressing mix
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
5 cups oyster crackers

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine the dressing mix, dill weed, vegetable oil, lemon pepper, and garlic powder. Add oyster crackers, and toss to coat. Spread evenly on a baking sheet.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, stirring gently after 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and allow to cool before serving.

And enjoy!!!

I just saw this on allrecipes.com and it looks pretty tasty! too bad I'm the only one who will consider eating veggies in my house. :o)

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Roasted-Garlic-Cauliflower/Detail.aspx


This post has helped me get more excited for the holiday season!!! I'm going to go plan my holiday baking and start getting things in order so I can enjoy this time before its over.

oh yeah... I saw these holiday coasters today on flickr.. ahh loveee!

and these! looking at them makes me want to have a baby so I would have some cute little feet to put them on!! wonder if dh would agree... :o)

**edited to add update... My blog was featured on sew mama sew. I am sitting here at working, in front of my computer, grinning from ear to ear. Well, its not that big of a deal, but it is to me!!!!! Anyways, haven't started on the aprons yet... almost done with a rice bag, but duh! i went to walmart to get velcro + rice and i got sidetracked and forgot the rice. argh! so im off to walmart again tonight to grab that... have tomorrow off and planning a whole lotta craftin' + holiday baking. will post pics. promise!

back to your roots.

Not hair roots, your family roots. :) Where you grew up, where you made all the memories that you'll think about often as you grow older. At least I do, especially when I go back to visit.
And so that brings me to the question... who the hell am I in Montana?! I don't know. Two years after moving here, I'm still wondering why I did it. I suppose if my relationship circumstances were better, I would say, I did it for love and I've never regretted it. But I've never felt that way. I regret it, a lot.
The thing is... I'm not quite sure how to get myself out of this moving to Montana pickle yet... Said husband stated he would not over out of Montana under any circumstances. I could go alone, but thats against the laws of the Catholic Church. I guess I could be married and live in a different state than my spouse.
I like the amenities of a "city" or large town. You can get whatever you need that day. You don't have to a make a list for our big shopping trip to another town.
And I have thought about moving to a smaller town in Montana, but that means lower wages and still not close enough to my family. Oh, and small town gossip! How could I forget.
I'm just so lost... I just know that something needs to change and I think that so many factors are playing a part in my hating this life right now... lack of close friends, inlaws, marriage blahs, unhappy at job....
I guess I should just pray about it, but I'm so lacking in the patience department.

obession hits

have you ever been addicted to a song? well i get that way all the time. thank goodness for youtube, I can listen to my new fav song over and over and OVER at work.

when it hits you

Its so odd to finally find something that understands my love of knittin' and craftin'. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off. I totally ran across this today by mistake at the library. I always like to check out the new non-fiction, because I'm a lover of shiny and new :o) And there it was !!!
I was really excited because the library in town has a less than exciting selection of books pertaining to my interests.
I'm on page 23 and its like YES! you get me!!! You understand why I knit, why I love it so much, and why I can't sit in front of the tv without my hands itching to knit. I don't understand it, but its part of me now.
Its soooooooo awesome. I can't wait to read more more more. Too bad Chad isn't going to ND with me on Thursday, he could drive and I could read. I probably shouldn't attempt to read + drive. That might be disasterous. :o)
I have two books on CD for the ride, the guy not taken and goodnight nobody. both by jennifer weiner who wrote good in bed and WOW i loved that. i love chick lit-jane green, marian keyes, sophie kinsella, jennifer weiner! i read a lot more before i started knitting though... hard to turn pages with needles in your hands.
im headin to NoDak land to use up some vacation days because god knows i'm not going to let those go un-used! and do some serious craftin. i have the craft fair in a few weeks and big plans to get things done. i hope it works out and i dont go on strike just sitting on my bum doing nothing. i need to get all my yarn and books packed up tonight... well maybe, its already 830 and i really havent done much tonight, but oh well, you need that sometimes. i hate feeling like i always have a big list of crap i need to get done, and when i do, i just rebel and get NONE of it done. ha!

we celebrated our 1 year anniversary on sunday, but I'll do a seperate post for that since it was such a SPECIAL occassion. :o) I guess the one year mark probably means i could get some wedding pictures printed... wooooah slacker!

~a

happy little things

so maybe I'm not always happy with the way my life is turning out, but I do believe that I have the power to change it. I am going to change it.

soo anyways!

I have been bit by the sewing bug. I haven't actually "done" much sewing yet, mostly browsing inspiration photos and things along that line. But, I think when I put my mind to something, I am pretty good at getting it done, learning it, and doing it well. I hope this goes for sewing as well.

Some of my favs I have seen lately.

outta control

Wow, its been awhile...
I have been busy, I guess. Life is getting away from me. It seems like the nights go faster and the days go slower (at work, not weekends!)
I volunteered to teach CCD and am now the newest Kindergarten CCD teacher! Its fun, I have only had two classes so far with six kids (5 girls, 1 boy--poor guy!). One little lady loves to jabber the entire time so I've been working on keeping her under control and letting the others talk. Its interesting to be around them because when you aren't around school aged kids, or little kids for that matter, you forget what they can and cannot do and what kind of information they can grasp and what they don't understand. Its a learning experience but I think it will be very rewarding.
I'm still doing the knitting group, but haven't been there for two weeks now... I just feel so bombarded with things to get done around the house (dh has been gone every weekend since labor day and then an entire 9 days and I could REALLY use some help around this house!). I will hopefully make it there this Tuesday.
I'm getting more into sewing, I haven't actually DONE anymore sewing, but I'm gearing myself up for it. Does that make sense?! :) JoAnn's had all their clearance fabric 50% off the red tag price, so I loaded up on some awesome home decor fabrics for some Christmas gifts. Now, I just need to find time to actually make them.
I have a craft sale {maybe two} coming up the first weekend in November and I have a feeling its going to be here before I know it and I need to do some inventory on the things I have and what I need to make so I am somewhat put together for this big event! I hope its worth it.
Last Thursday, I went to a wine and cheese party at our church with a lady up the street. No one my age of course, where all the 24 year olds around here?!?! Anyways, I decided to join a circle of ladies in the church called "sisters in faith". I am actually really excited for it and I think it will help me grow in my faith A LOT and help me to meet a lot of ladies in our parish, which is exactly what I want to happen. So, I'm excited for that. I feel like I'm finally making a life here, probably for myself and not my dh and I, but we like totally different things. So I guess we are still working on that area in our lives.
We have almost been married for ONE YEAR! October 7 is our anniversary. Its been a hard year. I've wanted to give up many times but I'm holding on... I actually made an appointment to go see someone on some of our issues because we go around and around on certain things and I just don't want a relationship like that. I want to be with someone that I can sit down and talk with and he can understand my feelings and I can understand his. I want to be with someone who will make me feel important and loved every single day, even when the rest of the world leaves me feeling sad. So.... its a work in progress. Marriage isn't easy, but its worth it. (right?)
Will try to post more and add some PICS to my blog~!

my mom, my hero

You know, when you are younger you think your parents don't know a darn thing. Its funny how the way your perceive your parents changes as you get older. And it might be the fact that we live a few hundred miles away and visits aren't as often as we'd like. I would just LOVE to be able to get in the car, drive one hour and see my parents. But, its more like a six hour trip.

My mom came on Friday for Labor Day weekend and stayed until Monday. It was one of the best weekends I have had in a long time. It was just so nice to be able to spend time with her and do the things we love, together. I'm used to always doing them alone and it is quite nice to have someone to share those experiences with.

She is an awesome lady, SO darn smart, and patient. I have much to learn from her. She is truly an amazing woman for what she has went through and all she has done so far.

I was really sad when she left, and I'm still sad... I miss her A LOT and the fact of knowing that we probably won't live closer in the next few years makes it worse. But god has a plan for everyone and I just need to be patient (right mom?).

thank you, god.

It seems that things have turned around a bit since I was so unhappy with life. Like I said in my last post, I told myself "self you need to get out there and get involved so you can meet people".

So.. I did.

I joined that knitting group at B&N and I also decided to sign up to teach CCD at our church. I just talked to the coordinator today and I am going to be teaching kindergarten and maybe 1st grade. I am so excited for that!! I love working with children, especially when they can go back home to their parents.

This might seem petty, but I found out about the library in Laurel, and they do interlibrary loans, which the Billings library does NOT. (stupid!) The library I worked at in college had the interlibrary loans and its the greatest thing ever for book lovers.

So I checked out the Laurel library web site and they have all these great Debbie Bliss baby knit books and I cannot WAIT to check them all out! I'm so excited!!

This is one of the books I especially wanted, I saw it at the yarn store but it was too much $$$.. Isn't that sweater on the front just the sweetest little thing?!

my love

huntin' some cantelope

Oh wait, I meant antelope. :o) Chad went hunting out at Wade's house by Custer, MT, last weekend and got himself a pretty nice antelope buck. The meat is at the meat & poultry palace (what a name!) getting processed into jerky and pepper sticks and should be done at the end of the week. I think I might have a weird feeling eating antelope, but I'll try anything once.

I got the felting bug this weekend and felted my sophie bag and a felted clutch. The sophie bag turned out great and I'm really happy with it. The clutch.. the one I spent SO much money on yarn for... did not turn out as great, but I'll use it anyways. I think the pattern had the sts weird, or maybe that was the person knitting it. Hee hee! (first pic is unfelted, second is felted with plastic bags in it to shape it)

I had gotten three orders for knitted goods and I just finished up the last hat today at lunch. Which reminds me, I need to photograph the rest of the things before I send them off! Oops!

I also found a knitting group in Billings, they call themselves the "ruffled feathers" and they are a great bunch. I have only been there twice now, but am having a great time with meeting new people and having new knitting friends.

I have started a pair of the Fiber Trends Felted Clogs and am 69.5% done with them. I am at the point where I cannot knit anymore because I need Cathy (lady from RF)'s help to finish them. They are a fast knit and I should be able to have four pair done by Christmas for me, mom, josh, and dh.

AND... I'm going to teach CCD this year on Mondays. I'm excited for that!!!

quote

{Nothing in life is so hard that you can't make it easier by the way you take it}

. . . quote by ellen glasgow

grrr

~*~ Nevermind, I found it! ~*~

I just lost my post.

It says that "now blogger saves your drafts automatically"

Okay well where is it?!

a day off

Its Friday and I have a day off, hurray! We are heading to Medora today to meet up with my parents (tomorrow) and check out the musicial and all the little shops. Shhh, but I heard they have a little yarn shop. Not like I really need more after yesterday's spending spree. But now I'm really wondering how much of the yarn I ordered I will actually receive. She has closed her shop down for 36 hours to catch up with orders. I'm going to pop into work today so I can check my e-mail and see if she replied to me. I asked her how many skeins she had of a few certain yarns. I will be kinda mad if I don't get my entire order, but what I can do about it? Not much...



I have a lot to get done today, I best be getting going. My eyes have been burning so bad lately when I put my contacts in. I need some visine or I'm going to look like a grass smoker! I think its all the fire smoke in the air or something? I really don't want to have to start wearing my glasses though... I hate being outside w/o sunglasses.



Enough babbling for now. Talk later!

holy sh!t

okay, I am feeling bad right now... really, really bad. Because I just spent $86 on yarn and my husband is NOT going to be happy with me.
HOWEVER, I purchased 20 skeins for that price. At prices way lower than any store in town, even when I included the shipping. 30 skeins for $89.40. Thats $2.98 a skein. Okay... so its not THAT bad. I just cannot allow myself to buy anymore yarn for probably the rest of the year now. Which is okay, I HAVE enough, I will not run out. Trust me...
Is it this way for all knitters? It was/is this way for me and scrapbooking, I bought so much. I HAVE so much and I don't use it. I need to, I need to make myself start scrapping. But before then, I need to clean my office so I actually have a place to create. :o)

Okay, so please make me feel like my $86 on yarn wasn't so bad. Its for Christmas gifts, and those are pretty darn cheap Christmas gifts, right?

Three pairs of felted clog slippers... COMIN' UP!

Plus, we are going on vacation tomorrow, just for the weekend, but I really don't see me having to buy anything. Although there is a yarn store there but I WILL NOT BUY ANY! Unless...

:o)

Moving on....

I finished two hats in the past 12 hours!!! First I finished my own patterned baby boy hat, no pics sorry, at the knitting group. THEN I had made this other hat out of Plymouth Encore Colorway Worsted ( probably too scratchy for a baby's head.. oops! I made it anyway). And I used a size 6 circ since my size 7s were being used my the before mentioned hat, well THEN I went to the LYS, bought dpns, got home, was going to finish my hat 4 hours later, realized I bought 8s instead of 6s. grrrr! I was not happy.
Well one super nice lady from the knitting group last night actually gave me a set of size 6 dpns, bless her heart!
So when I got home from knitting group, I worked on my hat and finished it up right before leaving for work (but didn't walk the dog, oops).
So wahooo! I just started another bunny hat with Caron's Simply Soft in white. Its not stretchy like cotton, but its going to be really soft. I'll just keep on knitting and then decide if it will work or not. I knit the other two bunny hats in some rowan denim yarn and it had no stretch either... But for those ears to stand up, I think this yarn will work okay.

Two more days of work left, THANK GOD! I need a break from this place sometimes (but don't we all??). Then I will be home until Labor Day and probably heading to NDak for that weekend (without Chad, of course, prime hunting time = husband m.i.a.) Oh well! He loves to do it.

Okay, so you want some feminist readings? I used to be 100% feminist, my mom actually said she was worried about me. Ha! I still stand up for women's rights though, don't get me wrong.
Check out this blog... you know, the world makes me sick... I won't even get into that in this post. Just check it out. http://about-face.org/blog/

quick to do reminder list.

We are off to Medora on Friday for a weekend vacation with my parents! So excited!

I need to get my reminders down on {paper} here so I don't forget anything.

{Friday}
730 am - sales
900 am - oil change @ walmart
945 am - pack everything into car; take sassy to b/w's house
1030 am - run to bank; get cash; deposit checks
1200 pm - log cabin bakery for lunch; head out of town!

{Thursday}
530 pm - put lasagna into oven (bake 1 hour)
545 pm - vacuum car/dust/clean windows
630 pm - eat supper
700 pm - pack for trip-- don't forget sunblock, bug spray, camera (batteries!), mom's memory card, BINOCULARS!, swimming suits, sweatshirts

okay... thats all for now. I feel better now that I got it all down.

excited!!!

Today is Tuesday... and its my first night of knitting group, Ruffled Feathers. I just stumbled upon a blog from a girl from Laurel and asked her about some knitting groups (thats me trying to be actively involved in the community, or whatever!) and she said that she belonged to one that met on Tuesday nights at Barnes and Noble ( I so heart that place! So relaxing and all the books your heart could desire!). So I decided I would go, then she told me about their online yahoo group, so I joined that. Its nice to have something to look forward to and be excited for!

I just downloaded a bunch of photos of my garden, so I'll post them later.

xoxo

hump day (!)

Well its Wednesday, today starts the anniversary sale at Wild Purls, my LYS, I think I will run over there after I have a bite to eat during my lunch hour.

I think.... (don't want to jinx myself) I will be getting my invite to RAVELRY tomorrow!!!!!!! I am so excited!!!!!! There are 106 people ahead of me today, yesterday 251. I hopefully they don't decide to invite 105 people tomorrow. :( I would be so sad!

Anyways, thats about all. Today I am not liking the town we live in, but I'm TRYING to be proactive and get involved in a knitting group, scrapbooking crop, and teaching sunday school to meet some new people.. lets hope it works.

-A

Pictures!

I uploaded a bunch of photos from my camera and I just HAD to put them on here so I actually have 'some' photos on this blog!

First of all.. the buffalo chicken pizza I made... You can find the recipe here. Its so totally delicious!

Next up, a baby hat from Itty Bitty Hats... its the bunny one. I sent it to my friend as a gift for her first baby! its a girl! :) I have already made another one to sell at the yarn swap!

And here is the pink/green hat.. I just made up the design on my own, not very exciting, but I love the color combo.

And here is my lovely lab, Sassy!

hello, again!

I am so horrible at blogging! Jeez! I'm too busy reading everyone else's instead of updating my own. Well, I bought my brother's laptop so maybe I can snag someone's wireless connection while I sit downstairs and watch the hunting channel with my husband and update more often. :o) Our computer is upstairs in my (incredibly messy) office and it gets so darn hot up there in the summer... having no central air sucks! So I usually do what I need to do up there and get back downstairs into the coolness.
Or maybe I just don't have that much to say? Not sure!

We have been busy busy busy the past few weeks, it seems like every weekend we are running somewhere, but I actually like doing that during summer while the weather is nice. Soon enough I will be complaining that its freezing cold and snowing outside (which right now I am actually looking forward to...) I cannot wait to hang up the fall decorations and light the hazelnut candles and get cozy under a blanket for fall.. I LOVE fall and then we will be celebrating our one year anniversary!

Now here is a funny story regarding that... my husband, the great hunter of Montana... tells me we absolutely cannot have children during hunting season, but yet we got married in the middle of it?! Who knows! Our anniversary is October 7, I was planning a trip to Chico... Well the cabin--shooting star-- I wanted to reserve was booked that weekend.. so we opted for the last weekend in October, and I'm already crossing my fingers that the weather is not *too* bad... so hopefully things work out. So Chad can finish his hunting expeditions and I can have my romantic night in Chico to celebrate one year of marriage.. and what a year it is turning out to be...

I have so much more to write, but best get to work. I'll TRY to write tonight. :o)

up, up, up

Okay, so things are feeling better now. We had a small heart-to-heart, still need to talk more though. I cried last night and sometimes it just feels better to just let it out. I feel much better today! :)

Okay, now I must brag about my super bargain shopping skills and my rummage sale finds for the day. First of all, let me tell you that rummage sales have taken me all over Billings and even got me lost a few times, including today. Oops. I was almost headed to Shepherd because when you are driving 50+ mph it is quite difficult to read green street signs. Ha ha! But I got turned around and to the right place, and spent 70 cents. jeez!

I found a "jj cole bundle me" which is a fleece blanket type thing that goes over the carseat to keep baby warm. Regular $39.95 at Target.. got mine for $3. Wash it up and it will be good as new! :)

Went to some sales over lunchtime and found:

A SwaddleMe, which I have heard great things about over at thenest.com. It was $3, the lady said it even helped her son sleep an extra hour. Hey, I'm all for that! Its blue, but I think thats fine for boy or girl. I'm not going to be all gender specific crazy for our babies.

I also found a "sleep sack" which is something one of my cousin's children had on at Thanksgiving and I had no idea what it was! But I've read about them and they are supposed to help with not having blankets in the crib and using a "sack" to keep baby warm. $2 for a blue one, has some baby embroidery so I think its unisex.

Awesome! She had some great stuff. I also bought some maternity tops for $0.50-$1. You can always use those right?!

heart.felt.post.

okay. haven't posted in forever. just need to get some things down on {paper} for my own sake. i don't think anyone reads this anyways :o). and if you do, here is a look into my mind heart and soul.

have you ever felt like you don't even know who you are ? like you are going through a change in your life and the person that you are and you just can't define it ? thats me, right now. who am i ? i'm not sure. its summer, i should be happy, enjoying the weather and my life. am i taking things too seriously ? i need a friend, i need someone who can understand me and the things that i am going through right now, and i need her in this town. oh, and can she be married too so she understands the complexes of that subject as well ?

i have a really great friend here, she is from nd as well. but she is single and likes to party. don't get me wrong, i love to have a good time. but then you have to worry about how you are going to get home, and how much money you spent at the bar, and what your husband is doing and is the dog okay being left home that long (which apparently not because i got groceries after work tonight and found a wet spot on the rug... grrr!). is this part of growing up ?
i want to find another couple that is like us, preferablly someone from our church {but since we haven't been there in so long, that isn't exactly going to happen soon}, and someone who has relationship tools that we can put to use.

we are working on our "fighting" issue and how to do it "fairly". and it is WORK let me tell you. when you are pissed off at someone, the last thing you want to do is try to figure out to to "fight nicely" with them when you have just been doing it {the wrong} way for so long. i guess if i had to go through this much work with anyone, i'm glad its him.

and his family, they are just so different than what i'm used to. there is so much drama, no matter WHAT happens, there is drama. and it seems like everyone throws their iron in the fire to create that madness. i know its his family and i need to support them. i don't want to be the person who doesn't like their inlaws, but i'm learning quickly that boundaries must be laid and they must be stuck to at all times.

i MISS my family. i MISS my old life. its so hard to keep parts of your old in your new when you just aren't around them anymore and don't see those people as much. and my old friends, a few keep in touch, a select one keeps in touch really well--we talk every day, but most of them expect me to do the calling, the emailing, and the keeping in touch. so i really feel like its a one-sided friendship and i'm ready to just give up.

i think bottom line, i just really need god to send me a friend who "gets" me and is in somewhat of a similar situation or just someone who can shed some light on my situation and get me back to being positive. it seems like when you are surrounded by negativity, it just starts to eat at you and gradually take you over. i don't want to let that happen. i need to find happy things and surround myself with them.

hoping i find myself soon.

{a}

oops

Its been quite awhile since I have written on my blog. Sorry! Not really anything exciting going on that was holding me back from writing, I just forget sometimes.
I just live for the weekends, I swear. Monday morning, all I am looking forward to is SATURDAY AND SUNDAY! Its pathetic.
My life is pretty un-eventful right now, unless you count last weekend, but we won't go there. Can't discuss family matters on any public forums on the Internet, bad things happen.. trust me, I know. :)

Its been really nice the last two days, but its going to get HOT HOT HOT Thursday-who knows when... September?! Its supposed to be like 90, 92, 94, 86, 90, 92
Yikes. We just put an a/c in our bedroom window, thank god, we are going to need it.

I have been trying to work on my knitting, but not being very successful. I need to kick it into high gear to get ready for the yarn swap the first weekend in August. Chad plans to go to lewistown for a month of weekends, so I will probably stay home and knit to my hearts content. I got the first three seasons of Newlyweds on DVD at a rummage sale for $2, so I can watch that and knit and I should be content. :o)

I started the ballband dishcloth from Mason-Dixon. I already dropped one stitch, dammit, but it loooks cool. I'll post a pic... someday. I'm good at empty picture promises on this blog. oops!

This weekend I am planning to finish painting the trim in the hallway, only three weeks later... and then do a collage of some of our wedding photos. I got a killer deal on a package of frames at Target awhile ago, so I'm going to actually USE them.

addict

I, Amy Martin, am addicted to many things. Buying yarn, surfing blogs, shopping, eating sweets... but new addiction....

RUMMAGE SALES.

Oh my, I was late for work today (they knew I was going to be late) because I was busy feeding my addiction. THe people had their boxes out, but didn't have their stuff displayed. So I dug through boxes. I am like that crazy lady at the sales who won't let you touch the stuff she is scouring through. OMG I am embarrased at myself.
But hey, the early bird gets the worm and you gotta be aggressive to get those good deals!

I have already mapped out my plan for tomorrow's sales. The dog has a vet appointment at 10 but I might be able to get my husband to take her without me. I hope so!

marriage

we haven't been married all that long, but i feel like its been forever. i feel like im stuck in time right now. i am looking forward to so many things and its almost like im rushing towards them and forgetting to just ENJOY the time i have right with my husband.
i need to get better at that.
my house isn't giving me that good homey feeling anymore. i decided to paint the hallways this weekend. maybe that will help. i need to add color to our house. i don't like walls, its too impersonal. i want warmness in every corner and on every wall. i want people to walk in and instantly feel comforted in our home.
theres a new store in town, real deals on home decor. i checked out their website and it looks like some of their things will fit into our home just perfectly. i'm planning to check with out with my N.D. girl kelly on saturday.
tonight i am going to wash down the walls with tsp (i think thats the name of it). they are filthy. just like the carpets i cleaned last weekend, yay for me. and maybe we can go buy the paint tonight, its by dutch boy, we usually just get the walmart paint, its pretty cheap and decent quality, but i need something for high traffic areas... butt go do some research. I don't know if satin is good for that or not. the actual painting process should not take very long at all. i love getting a new look in a small amount of time. painting can be a pain, but this should be easy, breezy. and my loving husband usually does all the rolling and the ceiling trim is my job.
saturday we are scheduled to go rummage saling. oh how i love to garage sale!!! im actually going to one before work tomorrow. :)
so i totally went off a limb and this post was nothing like i planned, oh well. another day. :o)

I'm back!

oops, i have been a bad blogger! I haven't posted in what seems like forever. But does anyone actually read my blog? who knows. I'm using it for more of a place to just put my thoughts. My husband doesn't even know I have one so its better than having a diary he can snoop through. and... futhermore... I can much easier type during the day than I can write in a journal at night, because, of course, my hands are tied up at night during my freetime with needles!
So.. I *finally* got my books. It was ridiculous how long it took and it didn't help that I was anxiously awaiting them. I haven't done anything out of One Skein yet, but I hope to make some petal bibs for an upcoming craft fair (November, I'm getting prepared early!) and the little felted mini totes, so cute! Perfect for Christmas gifts for all the girls on our list.
I have, though, made three baby hats and I'm about to finish my fourth. I really should post pics, but you see, its such a PAIN for me to fire up my computer at home because I can't leave it on overnight (for fear it might blow up or something bizzare) so it just takes so much time out of my night to upload photos. I really need to though. I will, promise.
I have also been making baby bibs from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I got this book at the library and I really like it. I copied (oops, is that illegal?!) a lot of the patterns and put them in sheet protectors in my knitting binder (s). yeah more than one, is that surprising?! I am a bit obsessive with crafting hobbies, just ask my mum.
I want to make a big order from knitpicks.com they have decent priced yarn. But, I have also found some great wool at Wild Purls, our LYS. And I am happy to support her, but she doesn't have much cotton or other things.
Oh yeah! I also bought the Felted Clog pattern from Fiber Trends. Perfect Christmas gift for my mom! She wears slippers ALL the time. There is a class being offered at our LYS but its $25 or $35 plus cost of materials. I guess it would be okay to just take it because I could learn it right the first time, I plan to make quite a few pairs.

And.. in other news. Babies! No. we aren't having any... yet... but we have semi-seriously decided to try next summer. I am so excited. I have so much baby knitting to do. I have already started putting money away for our "baby fund". Yes, I am crazy and obsessive. But I want us to be prepared as much as possible when we do decide to add a little one to our family. Its a big decision though and we need some time to do things we can do now before we have a baby to carry along or find a babysitter.
My mom was here last weekend (memorial day) for a visit. It was so nice of her to come out here. We planted some flowers in my garden, its fab! We shopped, of course! Went to church together. Ate out, A LOT! Went up to Red Lodge and Chad drove us over the mountain, it was so much fun! She just loves it up there and its nice to get away from it all and enjoy nature.
I have been finding some really great blogs.. I'll share later.

friends?!

So friends... we all have them, some have lots some have few. Since I have moved here, I've really found out WHO is my friend and WHO wants to make an effort to keep that friendship going. When you are in high school, its pretty easy to keep your friends (well maybe not but thats a sore subject for me and I won't go there). You see them every day, talk to them everyday, in class, in the halls, after school, etc. Its "convienient" to have them as friends.

But... then you go to college, you branch out, meet new people, so do you forget your old friends? Only talk to them when you just-so-happy to run into them? Or do you ocntinue to keep that frienship going, regardless of the fact that its going to be more difficult because you DON'T see them every day, you DON'T have that opporunity to keep it "easy" to be friends.

I think its a lot more work to keep a friendship going if you aren't close in location. I know this for a fact because all of my good friends live NOWHERE near where I am. And.. I think, a good friend CALLS you, they call to see how you are, they call beacuse they miss talking to you, and they call because they are doing their part to keep your friendship going.

I have one friend from GRADE school that I email almost every single day, I probably talk to her more than I talk to ANY of my friends here in town. She is familiar, she is comfortable, and I feel "good" discussing everyday things with her.

Life gets busy, really busy. I was just thinkign in my car today, how did my life get SO BUSY?! Do I just make it that way? I'm not planning a wedding, like last year, I don't have kids to look after, so what am I doing that keeps me sooo busy?! Owning a house and keeping it clean is a lot of work, feeding your family every day after 8 hours of work keeps me busy, my hobbies keep me busy, my garden, my husband, my dog... and eventually, I hope, my babies.
BUT, I truly hope that I always remember to take that extra time to cherish the friends I have in my life and let them know that I am thinking about them and that I care about them.

Okay, enough of that.

Its 9:49 and my damn books aren't here yet. I HATE DHL!!!!!!

But I did find needles at my LYS-Wild Purls-and they are about the same price a online without shipping, I have a 10% off coupon forMmonday nights, so I plan to get my needles on Monday for the itty bitty hats.

hopeful

I am hopeful that my birthday books will come today. Amazon.com said they were "scanned in for arrival" at 7:30. Please! DHL! Make a stop at my work today!!!!!!

I cannot WAIT for my birthday books to get here:

1. One Skein, I saw this at Michaels. LOTS of fun, cute projects.

Maybe if I have time this weekend, I can whip a few up for our rummage sale/craft sale next weekend.

2. itty bitty hats! I have seen blogs with people's hats and they are TO DIE FOR. soooo darn cute. by the time we finally have babies, I will have probably made one of each for the little munchkin! I can't WAIT to start.

But, I don't have any of the needles, so more waiting to order those and get them in the mail. Bah! This town is no good for the knitting supplies I need. I suppose I should check my LYS, but way too overprices. So I'll go online. I found some at fabulousyarn.com, great prices too.

I am off to run errands and go to the library! yay! More knitting books there for me! :)

goodbye 23, happy birthday to me!

Today, I turn 24 years old. Wow... It seems old, but still young. I guess it just depends which way you look at it.
This past year, a lot happened. I became a homeowner, the mom of a dog, a WIFE!, went to another country for the first time, got the biggest raise yet, met some new friends, learned to be more independent.

And for the next year, here are a few of my goals:
-learn more, more, more about knitting
-start discovering photography
-treasure the special times in my life with important people
-improve the relationship between my husband and I
-DECLUTTER!
-Finish painting the house and adding decor touches
-pay off debts: car (December), credit card (July), and Ashley Furniture bill (March)
-harvest a bigger deer than last year!
-get my house in order, make it more "homey" and disgard things we don't use.

We are going to go shopping today, I ordered "itty bitty hats" and I need a size 7 circ needle and size 7 dpn, so we are going to check at Michael's today. Our JoAnns sucks and doesn't carry either!! boohoo! The lady I work with said I could use my J coupons at M's, so we'll see what happens. Chad needs some work pants and we were going to buy bikes... At least I know I want one.

Speaking of purchases, yesterday we bought a 2001 Polaris Sportsman 500, its a four wheeler. Put us back a bit but I've worked out a budget to replenish our savings by July 2008 from that purchase, and its just cheaper to NOT take out a loan, plus then insurance on it isn't required. Chad is really happy about it, it will be fun to have to take riding places! And its much safer than a dirtbike!

And about the raise above, this week I was given a $100/paycheck raise. I was soooo happy because my raise for the year made me a little less than happy. I guess all my hardwork is paying off! Hurray! :)

whooa

i havent wrote for long time. super busy week! i had class wed and trying to keep up with work here at my job is more than enough to keep me busy.
will write more next week

have a great weekend!

long time!

I am still sick, working my butt of at work because the head secretary is gone and it office assistant has been out at doctor appointments so I've been running every which way!
Today I've been coughing my head off at work, I'm sure they appreciate the germs spreading all over, oops.
I need to liven my blog up, I will soon... I don't think anyone reads it anyways though :)

Will post more later this week. My knitting is boring, I just finished a dishcloth for my SIL for her new house and starting another one for my sale in May. yippeeee!

not such a happy tuesday

So I left work early to go to the doctor, waited for almost an HOUR to see him, and he tells me that my cold is in the "viral" stage and gave me a prescription to fill at the END of the week if I wasn't feeling better. Lovely! So I went and bought some Advil Cold & Sinus, that usually seems to help. The line at Walmart was so freakin' long and I felt like crap and I was ready to just abandon my cart and go home.
I finally got home and went right to sleep, for about two hours. Then Chad got home, we ate, I went to bed at 9 and dreamt about KNITTING and crocheting all night long! It was the weirdest thing. But I feel a little better today. I can't go anywhere w/o my box of kleenex though.

So now onto the bad news... Did you hear about the shooting in Virginia? Oh my, thats so sad... The world is a scary place, sometimes Iw onder if I even want to bring children into it.
And on another note, my friend that I met here in town (shes from ND just like me) just broke up w/ her boyfriend, which I think is the reason she lives here. So now I'm worried she is going to move... I guess I'll just need to ask God to send me another friend like her in this town. Its hard being in a town where you don't have any "good" friends. Actually, it really sucks!
I'm hoping that if I go to the knitting classes I could meet someone cool, lets hope so.

Growing up so is hard sometimes!
Hope your day is swell!

the start of a new week.

Well its Monday. The other secretary is gone for two weeks on vacation, which means mucho overtime for me. But, bad thing is, I have a cold. I was bragging because I hadn't been sick for almost a year, and I wake up yesterday with a sore throat and sinus pressure. Oh no! Today is worse, but not unbearable. I am tired... You know that feeling when your body is fighting a cold? I have that right now. And a sore throat. At least the office assistant bought some kleenex soft tissues instead of those crappy cheap ones. Speaking of her, she is already an hour late to due her son being sick. Oh lovely... I just hope she shows up, sometime today.
So I had a big list of things to get done, but I never do get it all done. I guess I just like to get it down on paper. I did, however:
Go out for supper and drinks with my in-laws on Friday night. Drank a few too many coronas with limes at a kaoroke bar and passed out fairly quickly that night when I went to bed.
We replaced our pantry door in our kitchen, white door, looks really nice and bright. Sunday I painted it too.
We decided not to paint our room, too much work this weekend I guess.
So the inlaws were here til Saturday night. I got mad at them because I was outside and they were letting the two little girls (nieces) wear my $60 dress shoes around the house! I'm sure they didn't know how much they cost but hello, don't go in the closet and take things out without my permission. And there was stuff EVERYWHERE That the girls had drug out and who had to clean it up? Yep, me. I made a snarky comment to my FIL, I said well you can pick up your grandkids mess. I thought that was pretty rude. He told me he was going to "spoil my kids rotten" and I said, if you do, I won't let you see them anymore. They do that to our neices and they are little hellions around their grandparents because they know they can get away with it! I will not allow that darnit!
We went to Barnes and Noble and looked at books, so I found the knitting books I woudl like to get eventually. I bought two at Joanns with my 50% off coupons, for my brithday. So I'll need to get those wrapped. I buy my own bday presents, thats kinda unfair! But if I left it to my husband, I would get hunting things. :)

So last night I was messing around with some yarna nd thought, I should try my hand at crocheting. So to sum it up, I learned to chain and to single crochet, thanks to the internet. I am still practicing but I think I need a bigger hook. So I guess now I'm a happy hooker too.
:)

finally friday!

First of all...

Okay just needed to add that. Hee hee! Thats where I belong!

I cannot wait for this work day to be over. Here is my to do list for the weekend:

1. Get house cleaned, just need to do some dishes, de-clutter kitchen table, laundry & put clothes away.

2. Get spring/summer clothes out, go through, try everything on, put unwanted stuff in rummage sale pile.

3. Do errands. Go to Barnes and Noble-check out knitting books; Bear Bear-check out sandals for birthday present; JoAnns--knitting needles 40% off, along with dishcloth yarn on sale, who knows what else, I need to stick to budget though!; Home Depot- get supplies for No. 4 on list.

4. Paint bedroom, replace trim, install new (white) door, replace blinds. The curtains and throw pillows will have to come later, I guess. Oh yeah, take photos of room makeover!

I think thats about all, I'm usually lazy on the weekends, it just depends on my mood I guess. Id' like to finish knitting my bunny and get that done. I'm going to try some baby booties for my next project for a co-worker of Chad's. They are having a girl in May or sometime around there.

And, exciting news! I decided to use some vacation days to go see my lovely friend Ashley in Denver. We are planning to do some knitting and check out the yarn shops there, do more shopping, eat sushi, drink martinis, you know... the norm for us ND girls. :)

Hopefully in June I will be traveling out there, can't wait!

Have a good weekend!

its almost friday?

Wow, this week is going by pretty fast, but I'm not complaining. I guess having Monday off helped matters.


Today was super tense at work, not fun. Even the new girl made a comment, so I know I'm not just dreaming it up. I just worked at my desk and didn't really talk to anyone.. glad thats over!





That new show, notes from the underbelly, is on tonight. I can't wait to see it! I was so not digging that october road or sky show at all.. and I was mad because where did Men in Trees go?! I love that show! Never on anymore though, :(





Okay so call me crazy, but I saw this crocheted blanket and I love it... I think I should learn to crochet too... or do i?! Do I really need to buy even more needles?? You can make some really cute stuff by crocheting that you could never achieve with knitting, and vise versa. I think they are both great skills to have. So... I'm going to watch some videos tonight and see if I can get this crazy thing figured out. Pam does it, so she can always help me too.





I tried a new dishcloth, then somehow I dropped a bunch of stitches. I tried to frog it and pick up stitches but I just got mad and now I have to restart. *sigh*

Its called the "Feather & Fan" and it looks sorta weird here, but my mom had some in her drawer and I really like them. Especially since they aren't square. I'm planning to make a few to sell at our rummage/craft sale. Super easy pattern too.

You can find that here: http://www.jimsyldesign.com/~dishbout/kpatterns/knitting.html

I better get supper started, or something.. :)

Biscuits and sausage gravy for us tonight!

completed projects so far

It isn't much, but I took some photos of my dishcloths so I thought I'd post them.

Very complicated for me when I was beginning, but easy as pie now!

I think... I am ready to move onto new projects.

The heart cloth was my first, a few mistakes, but I'll always love it.

This one is a star, I gave it as a gift to a good friend. (Cone purchased from Walmart.)

This was also a gift to my friend, notice the row I knit in the wrong stitch, Oops!

This is the "bee stitch" minus that row in the middle, that was knit on the wrong side! oops!

And this cloth was for Chad's aunt. A sweet little lady so I knit her up something nice in a country blue.

whats for dinner?

I want to try to do dinner posts sometimes.
Tonight, we are having mashed potatoes, country gravy (got a mix at bread store, hope it turns out okay.) and chicken fried steak.
I guess we can use those cube steaks from the beef we bought last winter, oops!

Here is a recipe for the chicken fried steak at allrecipes. com http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Southern-Living-magazines-Chicken-Fried-Steak/Detail.aspx

It has 308 reviews and I think they are all good. Hopefully I don't screw it up. I think I can actually pop them in the deep fryer....(I hope!)

master bedroom makeover

So since we bought our first house last May, we are really getting into this home improvement thing. We've painted the living room, kitchen, guest bedroom, and Chad's "man room". more on that later...

So we've decided our next project to tackle is the master bedroom. The walls are mint green, which I loved when we first moved in.. now, not so much loving them anymore.

So now, I'm thinking a pear or apple green, but not too wild. We have recessed lighting in our bedroom (thanks to my handyman electrician husband!). One day we were driving and I saw a salon that had the recessed lighting effect with that green and it looked so great.

I want our bedroom to have a nice relaxing spa-like feeling. I mean, if you can't relax in your bedroom, where can you?!

Once we paint, then I can finally hang up some wedding pictures in there.

I also want to get the pottery barn knock off spiral votive candle holder from Target, I can't find a picture right now of that...

Here are some color inspiration pictures for our room. We will be re-doing all the trim in white also and replacing the yucky 80's wood door with a nice white four-panel one.

What do you think? I really like the last one, but toned down just a bit. I'll be sure to take pictures of before and after. :)

first things first.

Well.. I guess I should introduce myself since this is my first post. I have no idea who will actually read this blog, or if anyone will...

So anyways, I'm living in Montana with my husband and we have been married for just over six months. The first year of marriage is quite interesting and a little trying at times, but we are getting through it.

I'm a legal secretary at a business law firm, I do all kinds of stuff and I won't go into that because its boring... but I'd like to be a paralegal in 5 years, I'll set a goal for myself for that right now.

I just decided to start a blog for my thoughts and my projects. I'm kinda turning into quite the crafty little lady, so I thought I'd start blogging and I can keep track of progress and my family and friends can see whats happening in my life.

So.... here we go!

I decided to add a photo of my the night of bachlorette party with my hometown gals. I had such a rockin' faux hawk that night. Ahh, I miss my long hair.