FINALLY!

Holy busy life, Batman. 

I'm also learning quickly the delightful stresses that come with planning a wedding, as well as working on 4 different crochet projects, and slowly coming to the realization that it's a possibility that only 2 of them will be finished by Christmas. Uh oh!

But we'll go back... First, Mr. IT's Birthday Presents...

A minion hat (inspired by Despicable Me.. we love that movie.)

and Mario themed magnets (made from perler beads)

I'm also making mirror ornaments for our Christmas tree this year.  I'm excited... Last year, we decided that since we would be at his family's house for Christmas, that we wouldn't get a tree.  So we had this...

Lights, strung up on the wall in the shape of a tree.  I loved it, and it fit our purpose wonderfully, but I'm a pretty big fan of Christmas.  And since we're staying here this year, there's no excuse NOT to have a tree! We're going to take it slow and decorate bit by bit, so we're finding some cheap-y ornaments at the thrift store (although, I hesitate to call them cheap... there were some REALLY cute ones there.) and lights, and when I saw the little double-sided mirror ornaments on Pinterest, I thought to myself, "I can make that! And it'll be cheap and easy!" 
So here those are...

I'm also working on Christmas presents.  I found this Doctor Who bag here..., and loved the concept.  I'm changing it quite a bit, both in design, color, and saying, but her chart of the TARDIS is perfect.  The one I'm making will also say "SEXY" instead of the bit about sonic-ing.  I cant think of a better gift for my BFF.  I'm making Mr. IT another hat, (Dallas Cowboys style this time), and a granny square afghan of a red power-up Mario mushroom, and making my parents an afghan that my Grandma started before she passed away.  That's the project I'm closest to finishing.

Between those, subbing, working at the law firm, and wedding planning, I feel like I have no time to breathe, but I'm working on it! There are at least hopeful plans to get it all done.

Until next time! And I'll take pictures of the projects as I work on them, so there will be occasional updates at the very least.  Happy beginning of the Holidays!

After this commercial break...

Holy cow! It's been a long time. I've been buuuuusy, subbing, and doing clerical work at a law firm, and crocheting my heart out.

I've also been busy with wedding planning because I'M ENGAGED!

So, that.  Pictures of stuff I've been working on, coming soon. I just need to sit down with my camera and snap some pictures, and then actually upload them. Strange concept, right? I've got a granny square afghan I'm piecing together, and a TARDIS purse I'm working on... (yep! Geeking out.) As well as painting some shoes, and headbands, and about 30 other projects.  Phew.  I'm staying busy, and staying exhausted. Updates soon though, Promise.

It's a Birthday Celebration!

1) I finally got to substitute again.  Man, I've missed being in schools.  And since it was at the school that I student taught at (and subbed at last year quite a bit), the kids, teachers, and even some of the kids' parents were excited to see me.  If that's not a confidence booster, I don't know what is! Now if I could only get a steady job....

Oh well! In the meantime, I'm preparing for Mr. IT's birthday.  He's turning 28 this year, and claims he already feels like an old man, and tells me that I shouldn't do anything for his birthday. Unfortunately for him, I LOVE birthdays.  Lots of things in the works, and everything is *almost* done! Pictures when I finish everything up.  I'm excited about it though.

And I wish the smoke would go away.  I want a downpour of rain, or even snow at this point, just to put out the rest of the wildfires.  I cant remember the last time I was able to breathe CLEAN air.  :(

Yarn Bin!

Well, that bright funky granny spiral throw isn't done yet... (and why should it be?! I've got terrible craft-ADD.) (And also I'm out of the navy blue color that I've been using. Need to get to the store to buy more yarn! hooray!) In the meantime, I've been crafting up other things, like these crochet winter headwraps!

One is done in Red Heart  yarn, the other in Homespun (I love homespun yarn. It's SO cozy.) And also various flowers to go along with them... I'll be branching into other shapes/patterns etc soon, I want to try stars.  Maybe make some sports team color corresponding wraps! These will be available in my (hopefully soon up-and-running) etsy shop.

I love quick projects like these.  Keeps my short attention span happy, and still allows me to keep working on big projects.  I'm also working on a shrug sweater, and it'll be my first clothing project I've done! Excited to see how it turns out.  Pictures when it eventually gets finished!

Granny Spiral

I recently went to the store, and FINALLY bought a big plastic tub to hold all my yarn in. Simply doing that, and not having yarn in like (literally.) 7 different places throughout the house, seemed to motivate me.  So I pulled out an old project that I started ages ago, put down, and stopped working on. It's one that I personally love. It's bright, a little funky, and really fun.  I'll post more pictures as it moves along, which (hopefully!) will be rather quickly.  The best thing about the granny spiral stitch is that with each round of 3 colors, another 3+ inches are added to the edges.  It builds upon itself quickly.  I think it might *pop* a little more if there were 2 dark colors and one light, instead of 2 light and one dark. but still. The visual effect is awesome.

And, as per usual... Evil Kitty is monitoring my progress. It would appear he's feeling neglected or something. 

More soon! I want to get this wrapped up and move on to some other fun ideas that are brewing in my head!

Olympic edition

...Now, It's been awhile. I've been busy. Watching the Olympics. And reading about the Olympics. And everything to do with anything about the Olympics.

That being said... people's attitudes about the Olympics this year make me sad.  Usain Bolt is undoubtedly the fastest man in the world, when it comes to sprinting. Should he be proud of himself? Absolutely.  Should other people try to bring him down, while he's enjoying his victories? Never.

The same goes for the US women's soccer team.  Since 1991, they have never come in lower than 3rd place in ANY worldwide soccer event, and have won 4 out of 5 gold medals in the last 5 summer Olympic games.  Yet, people criticize them for wearing shirts that say "Greatness has been found."  I personally feel that there is nothing offensive about these shirts at all, because truly, the US women's soccer team IS great.  Should they not celebrate their achievements? I certainly think that they should be happy about winning.  They were excited, nothing more or less.  They beat their biggest rival from the 2011 World Cup, they won (another) gold medal... They are great athletes.  Let them celebrate. If frustration must be taken out about the "insensitive, politically incorrect" shirts, take it out on Nike, the designer of the shirts and sponsor of the games. 

Any controversial result in a worldwide competition must be widely criticized, because certainly, people can't achieve these results on their own.  A women's swimmer certainly CANT be faster than any man, and a runner absolutely cannot be the fastest man on the world, without being on drugs. (This is sarcasm. I congratulate these athletes on EVERYTHING they've achieved.)

It is in our basic human nature to celebrate achievement.  Saying that beating world-record Olympic times in events cannot be achieved be anyone who is not taking some sort of performance enhancing drug is like saying that the valedictorian of a graduating high school class cannot possibly have gotten to the point that he/she has without cheating.  Hard work should be celebrated, at every level. 

Newborns and up....

Well now.  I certainly never intended to work with kids younger than the age of say... 5.  I'm absolutely not certified to do so.  But for the summer, 2-4 days a week, I'm helping my friend run a daycare out of her home.  It's a very new experience, not having children of my own (yet) and only really ever taking care of friends' kids, who are very well behaved.... and some of the little terrorists bundles of joy are a VERY new experience for me.  Like kids that never stop crying. And ten kids under the age of 4.  My oh my... This summer may give me gray hair. On the crafting front, I'm working on crocheting an owl hat.  And regarding the job hunt... all of the teaching positions have been filled in the districts that I'm looking at. So far.  There are always aide positions, and teachers who decide during the summer that they're leaving. But as of now... I remain unemployed, doing odd jobs here and there to make ends meet. 

In other news, Mr. IT got a new car! It's a Nissan Rogue, and we LOVE it.  Better than the Jeep, in that it's not a soft top and LOUD, and also, it gets roughly two times better gas mileage than we got... Oh man! And during my reign of unemployment, I shall stick with my old rusty trusty Honda.  Honda and I got to 215 thousand miles last week, and she's still goin strong!

And so it goes...

The hiring has come and gone in the school district(s) I'd be able to teach in.  Interviews/job openings for paraprofessionals haven't happened yet, but every actual "teacher" position has been filled. And, Oh well, I say.  I've been substituting in every corner of the schools, from Para to after-school program to office aide to classroom to the Thunderdome "contained behavior classroom."

Tomorrow is a subbing day for a 4th grade class that I've been in once before.  One of the boys came up to me after school today and said "You're subbing in our class tomorrow, right?" "Yep!" I said.  "Oh good," he says, "I like when you're our sub. It's fun." ... Has me a bit scared.  I'm almost wondering if I shouldn't just start with the ibuprofen NOW, and save myself the headache later.  Sometimes, 4th graders are scary. 

Happy Birthday to...

ME! Here's a quick recap.  23 years old, "unemployed", working odd jobs and substitute teaching whenever I possibly can (like the rest of this week, and ALL of next!) But... Couldn't be happier.  I'm blessed with amazing friends and family, and adopted families galore, and I have no complaints.  I have everything that I need (not WANT, but people don't always need what they want) and love my life.

The only sad thing in life right now is the "pet" situation... Mr. IT and I have an 8 year old tabby cat.  He's the friendliest most loving cat in the world. To humans.  We recently tried to adopt a dog from our local shelter, Toby. 

Toby was FANTASTIC. Also, horse-sized  very large, roughly 95 pounds.  Sweetest most loving, cuddly, friendly lab ever.  But... he doesn't love cats as much as he loves people. And our cat didn't love him as much either... And so unfortunately, purely because we couldn't risk dear sweet Toby eating "playing" a bit too rough with the kitty,  we had to take him back to the shelter.  Absolutely broke my heart.  I just keep reminding myself that now he can go home with a family where he doesn't have to compete for attention with another animal, and doesn't have to live with a cat.  

This leads me to my point: Adopt from shelters! Most animals aren't in a shelter because there is anything wrong with them--in fact, most animals are in shelters for the exact same reason as Toby.  They just need something a little different, or their owners couldn't take as good of care of them as they needed.  Adopt! Adopt! Don't spend 500+ dollars on a designer pet, when there are animals that desperately need people.
Because just like Toby, there are plenty of other animals that need good homes.

Toddlers in Tiaras.... or tutus and sports apparel ;)

Sunday was Mr. I.T's niece's birthday, and she's ONE YEAR OLD! wahoo! Along with cake, ice cream, and slightly exhausting super fun birthday parties, come PRESENTS! Now, his sister, her husband, and essentially his entire family (dad, mom, grandparents, etc.) are Cowboys fans.  Blegh. Being a Broncos fan around them is exhausting! Usually, I fight the good fight, but for birthdays, I'll give a little.  I saw the cutest thing on pinterest (of course I did. It's my favorite website in the WHOLE WORLD.) (Seriously. If you're not a member... what are you waiting for?) Anyway. Cutest little thing.  It was a onesie with a broncos logo on it, and a little ponytail holder with a broncos logo on it, and a blue, white, and orange tutu.  Of course, I would have been perfectly content with little niece getting THAT, but knowing her parents... it would never make it's way out of her closet! SO, I got my creative juices flowing, and decided that HEY! I could just change the colors and logo, and make it a Cowboys tutu! And so... I did.  I went to JoAnn's, and bought all this....

And turned it into this!

The best part? On the whole, it only took about 2 hours from start to finish, and the majority of that was cutting the tulle into strips and tying it on the ribbon! I decided to get a ribbon waistband instead of elastic because I was trying to figure out just how much elastic I would need (tricky process, when you don't know EXACTLY how big around baby is) and then... *lightbulb!* Why not tie the tulle onto ribbon, so that the tutu can grow WITH the little one! So, I did.  That tutu should last her at least two football seasons worth of growing.  Of course, the whole family LOVED it.  I can post a tutorial if anyone wants it, but honestly... one of the most straightforward processes I've ever done. I do believe it's one I'll be repeating for the rest of the babies in my life... providing their parents have good taste and like football ;)

The beginning!

Well, here we go! I'm 7 days away from graduating college, when I will officially join the ranks of the unemployed.  Unfortunately, I live in a city where it's impossible fairly difficult to get a teaching job. Most people would say "well, hey! move somewhere you CAN teach," and I say to them "Dear "logical" people, no. My boyfriend and the house that we live in is here, and he's not in a place to leave his job, and I'm not in a place to leave him!"  So for now, I will be scraping by doing random jobs, substitute teaching, doing craft projects, and random home improvement projects, and YOU, whoever you are, reading this, will hear all about them! Welcome to my life, and my search for employment.