PSA - protect your identity!

One of my friends posted in her facebook status about a website that where you can look up all personal information on just about anyone. Spokeo.com. I decided to take a chance on the viruses and check it out. It was really scary what they had for me. Thankfully under my old address. My interests and hobbies... scary how much they knew. And some of it I can tell is from my internet habits. Some of it... I have no idea. I'm almost wondering if they have some kind of connection to our electronic messaging systems. I'm not into conspiracy theory nonsense but some of the interests they had on there could only have come from picture texts. Like hunting. I don't have anything on facebook saying I hunt. No pictures on there. Nothing anywhere. Yet it listed hunting and some other outdoor interests. I've texted people pictures of the deer I've shot. That's all I can think of.

Sooo... there's a little privacy button at the bottom right hand of the screen. Click it. Fill it out. You get an email. Click on the link. It will delete your profile. Please do this.

For a small fee people can get your income, credit score, everything off this site.

Molly kisses

No makeup. Tired. Stayed up to spend time with my cuddle bug. She's been a little neglected during my frantic studying leading up to Monday's Org. Management final.

I'm getting excited!

I have no pictures but... Francis is about 9 rows from having two sleeves! Ladies and gentlemen, I am about to complete my first sweater!! And it really wasn't that hard. Granted, I did pick a pattern with minimal seed stitching and mostly stockinette. But, as accomplishments go, first sweaters are big ones!

$5 Happiness

During this weekend of forced "nothing but studying" these have been worth every penny. :)

Finals.

Ugh.

I. Just. Want. To. Sew.

Instead I'll be buried in the books this weekend. Its suppose to rain. That will keep me out of the garden. I just have to work up my will power to stay out of my craft studio.

Oh... and I want to paint too. I have a gallon of the awesomest shade of pink that is somewhere between pink grapefruit and orange sherbet that is begging to be splashed on my walls.

Just. Two. More. Weeks.

I can do it. I can make it. I can be strong.

I hope :)

I really am crafty, I swear!

So I feel like I started this blog proclaiming my creative itch and then didn't show very much in that area. I really am crafty, I swear! And I really do have the itch. I just also have grad school and a brand new (to me) house to work on. So... I thought I'd share some of my craftiness from last year. Don't judge, all are blackberry pictures. I really need to work on reconnecting my camera to my face.

These are two of the onsies I made for a colleague of mine who had twin boys. There is also another elephant and another neck tie onsie. For some reason I only photographed two. I'm kinda proud of the elephant, I free handed him.



This is the scarf I knit for my sister. As you can see, not very far along at this point. This was my first successful attempt at ribbing. I was excited!


I made a set of these makeup bags and coffee cozies for my sister and best friend for Christmas. I also made spa wraps but... didn't photograph those before they were wrapped.



See? I swear I'm crafty. And in two weeks... I'll have more to show. I'm hoping for huge amounts of production between the end of this semester and the second summer session.

Why is brown such a difficult color?

To celebrate my last Org Management lecture of the semester I stopped at Home Depot on my way home. I've been struggling over which shade of brown to paint my living/dining room area. I don't know if I want to go light or medium/dark. I have light carpets and moulding that can also be changed/made bigger. I just don't know...

See that top leaf? I'm really leaning toward that. And maybe since its a little on the medium/dark side only doing the front part of my living/dining space with that color and then doing a chocolate brown wainscoting and a rich cream color in the second first floor bedroom that I now use as a tv den. Hmmmm...

Peace

I did a little relationship housecleaning and throwing out the trash.

I finally got all my stuff out of the (now ex)bf's house, told him I was done waiting for him to return to the adult world, and then headed for Baltimore so Drama couldn't show up on my doorstep trying to work things out.

My groupmates for my management class even commented that I looked different. This is what peace looks like. Finally free of other people's nonsense and at peace.

Productive Weekend!

Friday night I ran to Walmart and picked up a lot of randomness - including a cheap hoe, hehe - and groceries. Oh, and more flowers. I can't seem to go to the store without purchasing flowers.

Then I ran home, put everything away, planted said flowers, and mowed my lawn, just finishing as I was running out of daylight. Whew.
Saturday, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning and unpacking. And a little packing. I packed up all my sweaters and moved my winter wardrobe upstairs. Installed my summer wardrobe, sad though it may be, in my closet. I still don't have room for everything! I soooo need a dresser and armoir. Its on the list, not quite in the budget yet though.

Sunday, sunshine, beer and baseball. And a sunburn. My shoulders are a little toasty and I'm really hoping they don't peel. I'll admit I'm not so diligent with the sunscreen but I usually do my best to prevent burns.

After the game, I made my way to Lowe's where I purchased the following:



I have the most beautiful dogwood tree in my front yard that is in desperate need of some extensive trimming. I'm going to save this tree if its the last thing I do. It has the most beautiful vibrant pink blossoms. Very glad I didn't cut it down before I realized what kind of tree it was.

And a tool kit! So, I have little chicken arms and can't screw anything into my walls with a screwdriver. Must. Have. Drill. And, after seeing all the awesomeness going on over at Knock of Wood I decided I must have the whole kit. The hand saw will help build some awesomeness of my own and the sawzall is for nasty chain link fense removal. Hopefully soon. As in this summer. This is not waiting for next summer. I hope...

The flashlight is totally unnecessary but apparently not negotiable. I tried. The little man at Lowe's thought I was off my rocker. I just hate wasting money on unnecessaries. Crazy flashlight with rechargable battery that will live in my garage where I will never need it = unnecessary.

Excited....!

I commissioned my incredibly beautiful and talented friend Angie to design a quilt tag for me. This is version 1. Its a Molly-dog and I love it! And... while I was home for Easter I picked up some fabric at Hobby Lobby to sash, bind and back my disappearing nine patch! I cannot wait to incorporate this into the back piecing.

I know its kinda hard to see, but click on it for a larger view. She used a herringbone pattern for the dog's shaddow! And incorporated the year under its foot. I love the creative people in my life.

And by the way, Hobby Lobby definitely lived up to the awesomeness I've seen describing it around the craft blog world. Why do we not have one in Hampton Roads? I would live in this store!

Ouch...

Excuse the crappy blackberry picture. This is what I spent last evening doing. By hand, with a shovel. This is the half-way point. By the time I dug this much again and got everything that would fit planted it was too dark for pics with the good camera.

But... pumpkins, check. zuchini, check. yellow squash, check. spinach, check. lettuce, check. Yay me!

Tonight... mowing grass and planting peas and string beans. And maybe some grocery shopping and purchasing a cheap hoe. I know those weeds will be growing soon!

OH... and this morning, I tried working out with Jillian. I got through the first circuit and had to stop. My body said no. It didn't hurt, I just couldn't do it. My arms flat out told me, "no ma'am".

I NEED to start sewing.

This awesomeness came in the mail while I was home in Pennsylvania:

M6031

M5847

M5591

M5525

M5388

B5469

B5378

B5331

B5029


A few for summer, a few for next fall. I'm not taking classes first session this summer so I'm hoping to do some serious sewing during that time. Except for the week I'm in the Dominican!

A little catch up... and I'm finally home

First a little catch up....

So the Shamrock Marathon. This is how early I had to get up to have the runners at the starting line with plenty of time to get their minds in the right place before the shotgun start:

Very beautiful. Very early for a Sunday morning. Especially when we didn't get to bed very early the night before.

This is the sand sculpture that was in front of the Yuengling tent. Such talent.


I received some beautiful peach-colored roses from the bf for no reason at all... At least I hope! This is the first time he's given me flowers in over a year of dating. Things have been a little rocky lately and I appreciate the gesture.

Check out the awesome color!


My office went to mandatory four day weeks starting last week. I was pretty perturbed until I realized that it provided me with the opportunity to head home for Easter. I hadn't been home since Christmas and it was looking like I wouldn't be able to get back before fall. The weekend was well needed.

We spent most of the time chasing puppies. Molly loved having playmates her size!

This is my dad's new puppy, Speckles, giving my sister, Melanie, kisses.


Here's Bowser, my dad's yearling pup. I swear he has more teeth in his head than any dog I've ever seen! They go all the way back to his tonsils...


Speckles was completely fascinated with the exploring the porch stairs.




This is my dad counting Speckles' spots. She has both blue and red ticking which explains her name.


Molly came with us to haul some wood down to fill the wood house. She found a piece just her size and decided to bring it back with her.


Speckles decided she'd give Molly's piece of wood a try.


And now... why I finally feel like I'm at home. I inherited my grandmother's Franciscan Apple stoneware dishes. She's still living and when she moved into a retirement community she took 8 perfect pieces with her. The rest came to me. I was only 16 at the time so they went into storage in my parents' basement. After I graduated from college, I asked my mom if she would hang onto them for me until I found a place of my own and wasn't moving into a new apartment every year.

And so... last night I unpacked my dishes.

Excuse my cluttered counter... I'm still trying to find a place for everything.





These shelves are going to be moved to the garage very soon since they didn't fit in my kitchen. For right now they're doing a great job holding some of my serving pieces that don't fit in my kitchen cupboards.