Where Do I Start???

Whoa! April 30th? It's been that long, really??

I guess there are two main reasons why I've let this blog slip. One, life got busy and really, life should really take precedence over the internet (I know, I know, them's fighting words lol). Two, this blog is all about showcasing creative stuff (scrapbooking really, but any creative stuff will do I think) and I really haven't had any creative stuff to showcase. So I'll unpack these two reasons a little bit for you.

1. Life Got Busy (But not in a bad way)

The campground opened up on May 15th, and from the very first mud-filled weekend (long story - big rains, all the inner roads closed, no septic access, had to carry in all our open-up-the-trailer stuff from the main road) to the very last chilly morning in October, the husband and I spent Every Single Weekend there (and the boy missed only 2 weekends I think). We didn't miss one Friday night. We had a great summer. Lots of adventures. But barely any pictures.

Then fall came, and we closed 'er up, and then life got busy in other ways. The boy's hockey season started. I finally let the universe get its way and took a promotion at work which means I am now head honcho, where the buck stops, yadda yadda yadda, and so some evenings instead of vegetating in front of the tv or spending time being crafty I spend time trying to bring my in-box (both physical and email) under control.

2. No Creative Stuff to Showcase

Basically, see 1. above lol. Actually being busy is only part of the story; I just haven't felt all that creative lately (ie in the last year) especially when it comes to scrapbooking. Although in the last few weeks I did pick up crochet again. I made my sister M an iPad cover and I made some coffee cup sleeves for my management team. No pictures to share. And since I've been off between Christmas and New Year's (with one icky exception on a stat holiday no less, but that's par for the course when you're head honcho according to the husband...suck it up, buttercup), I've been a crocheting fiend, with accomplishments including an iPad cover for sister D (if you,re sister D, pretend you didn't see that ok?), at least 8 pairs of baby booties and two bibs for sister D's new grand-daughter (sister D, don't tell Juliette ok?), and am working on more baby stuff.

So today is New Year's Eve, and as I start thinking about 2012 and all of the things I want to accomplish (I refuse to call them "resolutions", resolutions are doomed before they even begin in my opinion), getting back to my crafty self is definitely one of them. Oh and my crafty self is about 15 pounds lighter so there's another un-resolution for you. And, my crafty self keeps this blog up to date, so there's un-resolution number 3. And finally, crafty self definitely takes more pictures. So there's un-res number 4. Wish my crafty self good luck!

If you haven't given up on my blog and still visit once in a while in the hopes of an update, thank you. And come back soon, as I am fully aware that a blog post is nothing without pictures, and I promise to load up some pictures of my crochet bounty before I pack it all up and mail it off to sister D.

Junk in My Trunk

I am really looking forward to summer, but there's so much to do between now and then to make sure the summer will be enjoyable. As we'll be spending lots of time up at the trailer, we need to do our gardening and landscaping work at the house early on so that we can have an almost maintenance-free yard. Then there's re-organizing closets etc., putting away the winter coats and boots (yay). Some spring cleaning. A whole wack of work at the trailer, including unwrapping it from its winter cocoon and sprucing up the lot (hopefully, we'll be doing that tomorrow), cleaning it, and stocking it up for the summer. Oh, and I need to lose about 5 pounds so that I can fully enjoy my wine-chips-novel combo - I've been dreaming of doing that on a lazy afternoon at the trailer, ever since we closed it up last October.

And, I'm going to have to clean my car trunk out. I don't know how the stuff accumulates, but it does. A couple of months ago, when I opened up the trunk after a shopping expedition, I thought about how the junk inside defines me ... you can learn a lot about me by what's in there! Dog toys and bowl (dog lover!). Cushion, blanket and noisemakers to ensure I am comfy and loud at the boy's hockey games (hockey lover!). Shopping bags (Winners and Michaels lover!). Shopping bags with stuff I need to return, and beach umbrellas that should have been put away last fall (procrastinator!). My father's umbrella (sentimental!). So I took a picture. Kind of silly, but now the memory is captured for posterity ... gotta love scrapbooking!!! Lol.

This weekend was supposed to be rainy and dreary, but our luck turned around and it looks as though we are going to get reacquainted with sunshine. Busy day today running errands, visiting my mother in law, and going to the boy's hockey party ... trying to cram the weekend into one day so we can free up and go work on the trailer tomorrow. It's been almost seven months ... I am so ready for trailer season to begin!

Happy weekend, y'all. :o)

Yay, I scrapped!

Well, sort of. I finished a layout that had been on my desk since December or January. But that's progress!! And today, I have the afternoon set aside for some more scrapping. Wish me luck!

In other news ... they boy's hockey team won the league championship last week ... they went undefeated in league play all season, with a 21-0-3 regular season record! Overall, including tournaments, exhibition games and playoffs, they ended the year with a 31-3-6 record. Pretty sweet.

Dishcloths, anyone?

Nice, square, simple-patterned cotton dishcloths. These are therapy to help me get over the stress of having crochet'd the entire back of the tank top I am making, only to realize that I screwed up on the FIRST ROW and have to unravel the whole thing and start over again :o) I am procrastinating the unraveling and so you can expect many, many dishcloths in my future.

I think this is kind of ironic given that I justify my time spent on crochet as stress relief ... lol.

So other than crochet drama, life is good. Busy but good.

The boy's hockey season is wrapping up (they ended their regular season with a 21-0-3 record - for the uninitiated, this means 21 wins, no losses and 3 ties). Which is pretty darn good. We are in playoffs right now, they've won 2 games so far, it's pretty likely they'll be playing for the championship later this month.

The girl's 2nd year of university is wrapping up. Another impressive year, you can bet she's keeping her scholarship. She'll be done exams in a couple of weeks, the search for a summer job is on. Looks like she may be considered for a position at a government agency, keeping fingers crossed.

The husband's real estate stuff is heating up - spring is often a busy time. And that's just fine, we're hoping to get the "busy" out of the way in the spring so that we can enjoy the summer.

Which leads me to ... 42 sleeps til the campground opens!!! Considering it's been something like 160 sleeps since it closed ... this is encouraging! And, spring is definitely here. Most of the snow is gone, and even though we had a bit of a cold spell this week the forecast for the next few days has a few double digits in it (and no minus sign, lol). The dog is thrilled that the grass is back, every day now she runs outside and does this:

Which is so cute. Of course everything that dog does is cute. I can't figure out what we ever did for cute without her in our lives (except maybe the kids, yeah, maybe they were our source of cute before Lexi....).

Oh and on a scrapbooking note, while I still haven't made anything, I did find an awesome deal at Winners the other day ... four American Craft Thickers sheets for the price of one - like $8.49 or something!!! Couldn't resist buying. Because for sure I'll get back to scrapbooking, someday soon. I hope!!!

Ciao for now!

Crochet'ing Up a Storm ....

Yup, still at it! Well despite the snow, rain, freezing rain, sleet etc. I still made it to work every day this week even though I would have much preferred taking a snow day and crocheting the day away! I did manage to finish my latest project, ta-da:

I actually modified a pattern for a romper, because I wasn't 100% sure my skills would be up to par for the more complicated pants-attached-to-a-dress thing and I wasn't 100% sure it would fit my niece properly. She's just turned 1, and is wearing size 18 months which is what this is, but making it into a little dress that can be worn with a white t-shirt and leggings makes sure that she'll be able to wear this more than once (hopefully), lol, before she outgrows it.

The pattern called for two flowers on the hat, but I thought it looked better with one; so with the leftover flower, I made a little wrist band.

I'm actually pretty pleased with myself. So much so that I went out and bought some nice cotton wool and have started working on a summer tank top (for me) with a fairly intricate design on the bottom. Needless to say, I'm struggling with the bottom part, but am hopeful I'll figure it out soon!

I went to an actual wool store on the weekend (as opposed to the wool aisle at Michael's) and it reminded me a lot of a scrapbook store. Lots of specialty stuff. Lots of expensive supplies. And a few women sitting at a table in the back creating. It made me miss scrapbooking stores, actually, because I felt like a bit of an outsider!!! There's a whole knitting/crocheting parallel universe out there - blogs, forums, websites, etc. Who knew!

So my exciting news today is that I am having a new washer/dryer delivered. My 21-year-old washer has been leaking lately, and the husband deemed it was pointless to repair. Not getting a front-loader (they just don't appeal to me) but I am getting a high efficiency top loading 5.0 cubic feet washer without an agitator, and a big kick-a$$ dryer too. I'm so excited about doing laundry this weekend. Really, I need a life :o)

Have a great weekend!

Born to ... crochet??

Where have I gone? What have I been up to? Why haven't I been updating my blog??

(1) I haven't gone anywhere ... I'm still here ... ok not exactly HERE as in this blog, but here as in this world! Still doing the work-home-sleep-repeat thing, still hanging out in local hockey arenas, still a Senators fan (though I now know how Maple Leaf fans feel, ugh), still counting the wintery days until trailer season re-opens.

(2) Well here's what I HAVEN'T been up to - I haven't been scrapping. Not one tiny little bit. Just don't have it in me. Maybe I can only handle one addiction at a time; and right now, crochet seems to be that addiction. Note the evidence:

As I keep having to admit whenever my family asks ... no, that's not for anyone in particular. No, probably not even for me. No, this is not my funny way of telling you I am expecting a baby. I don't KNOW whose baby that hat is for, ok? It's just fun making baby hats. And scarves in every colour. And gigantic-sized mittens (oops, learned the hard way that when a pattern says to check your gauge, you really should check your gauge).

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(3) And I haven't been updating my blog because I haven't been spending as much time on the computer, at least not as a participant (I still check out YOUR blogs, just so you know ... but mostly read and run, sorry!). And because I had nothing scrappy to update the blog with and this is, after all, a scrapbooking blog. I don't plan on changing the title and I'm not giving up on the paper-scissors-glue thing, but for the time being, if I do post here, it'll probably be to share my wool-hook-needle things.

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I'm pretty excited about my current project-on-the-go, because (a) it's actually FOR somebody and (b) it's an actual piece of clothing. I'm working on a little dress for my one year old niece, and it's coming together really nicely. I'll show you when I'm done. I made another piece of clothing a couple of weeks ago, which didn't work out as well. I made a hooded sweater for myself (or, for a 300 pound woman with freakishly long arms. Another lesson learned re gauge and tension.).

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One of the reasons I'm so excited about this newfound hobby is that it's not actually a newfound hobby at all ... I used to crochet, and knit too ... but I was never very good at sewing pieces of things together and always relied on my Mom to do that part. Now I've mastered my fears and done it myself and I know my Mom would be proud.

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The only thing left for me to figure out is what I'm going to do with all the stuff I make (especially the scarves....). I got my assistant (at work) addicted to crochet too, and if this keeps up we just might rent a table at a craft fair or something! Meanwhile ... anybody want a scarf, lol?

Happy New Year!

Ok, I'm not even going to TRY to catch up. It's been too long, I know! It's all good though. It's been a busy few weeks - work, getting ready for Christmas, family stuff, etc. I've been off for a week+; going back to work tomorrow morning. Too bad, as I seem to have finally found my "time off" groove - had a great day today.

A couple of weeks a go I got a semi-permanent loaner laptop from work & set-up for remote connection. Haven't remote-connected to work yet (after all, I'm OFF!) but this afternoon the husband toyed around with the laptop and added all the stuff I need to use it for non-work purposes (lol....). Scanner & good stitching software are now operational, so ta-da, here's a scrapbook page:

I made it ages ago ... sometime in the fall I guess. Haven't scrapped anything the whole time I was off, but I did do some organizing in the scraproom and got 120+ pictures printed too. Once again ... too bad I'm going back to work tomorrow! I think I've finally got the scrapping mojo back!!!

I'm going to try to get back into the habit of updating the blog ... I've challenged myself to doing the photo-a-day thing (with weekly layouts); we'll see how that goes. There's another hobby competing for my time now ... crocheting scarves ... it started as a Christmas gift idea for my sisters and a couple of my friends and now I can't seem to stop. I've made some for myself and about 6 more and I'm still at it ... very relaxing!

See you (here) soon,

N.