Holy YARN Batman!!!

This is a picture of all of the AWESOME yarn that I purchased this week and that mom also picked up for me tonight at discount store... I'm in YARN HEAVEN!!! I don't usually buy these yarns because they cost so much, so I was thrilllled to see the flier mom brought home the otherday and told her - pick up WHATEVER - IDC. Now I just need ideas for projects for some of this yarn!!! Anyone???

These are the rest of the projects I worked on this week. As you know I made that little fairy creature and finished Olivia's octopus... I also finished the Kodama :)



I made a bunny security blanket too... It is very soft. I have been looking for something to use that small skein of yarn for...



And I was looking on Lion Brand's website for free patterns and found one for a spike stitch stocking that is supposed to be 4 different colors, but I wanted to test it out so I used the leftover yarn from the octopus and tested it and since that came out pretty cool I decided that I was going to make one 2x the size for Olivia's Christmas Stocking in Red and White (the leftover white from the Kodama - I like it cuz it's sparkly).



OHHH THE FUNN!!! :)

Oh yeah and kind of randomly - Mom bought some Harney and Sons Tea for her tea swaps that she's doing and got me this White Vanilla and Grapefruit Tea. I LOVE how it's packaged in the little silk sachet. AND BOY OH BOY did it ever taste good!!! It smelt like chocolate and just was pretty wonderful.

Kodama

Kodama are Japanese Tree Spirits... A kodama (木霊, 木魂, or 木魅, kodama?) is a spirit from Japanese folklore, which is believed to live in certain trees (similar to the Dryad of Greek myth). Cutting down a tree which houses a kodama is thought to bring misfortune, and such trees are often marked with shimenawa rope.



I recently joined a Swap to create a Kodama stuffie for your partner. Now, I am not really into anime or any of the Japanese characters from anything, however I thought as creepy as they kind of look, I REALLY wanted to make one and send it to someone and recieve one from them in return. It can be made of any soft material/style you would like to make... felt, fabric, knit, amigurumi, etc. and It's an International swap, which means I could possibly be paired up with someone from another country. SOO Cool... And I am so excited to see their interpretation. I of course - needing something to do these last 2 -3 days have already made mine haha. Well I found the perfect yarn (it's white but it's whimsical) and all i need to do is get some black felt and sew the eyes and mouth on the Kodama I made. It's about 10" tall. I added "fake (w/ photo program)" eyes and mouth to it so you can see what it will look like once I get the felt and sew it on.

Amigurumi Fairy...

Ok so I know I said that the Octopus would be my last project before Olivia was born... BUT she is being stubborn and I need something to do to pass the time while she stays all cozy... SOOO I bought this really cute yarn at JoAnn's today and wanted to do something with it. I just kind of started crocheting and made the body first wondering what i was gonna do with it. And eventually this cute little fairy formed. I love it. I just had fun with it and as you can tell I'm up late, but I managed to watch some TV (Dancing with the Stars - anyone??? :-D ) and finish this little fairy creature. I thought it was appriate to photograph her in the flowers. YAY! I wonder how many other things I can get created before Olivia decided it's time (and dear god do I hope it's soon because she is approximately 8-8.5 lbs. right now lol).

Chocolate Peanut butter Bronwies... YUMM

So Today I decided that I was going to make this recipe for Chocolate Peanut butter Brownies that was in one of Mom's new cookbooks. Now I LOVEEE Peanut butter, so I couldn't resist these (even with the estimated 3 hour baking and prep time). And you have to admit that they look absolutely delicious. And I can vouch for that, because I dug right into mine. But one is definitely enough. Plus, I needed something to keep me busy :)

My most recent project...

Well this will be the last project i finish before Olivia is born...

Instead of making her "Baby's first teddy bear" I stepped outside of the box and made her "Baby's first OCTOPUS"!!! :)

Yes I am in love with this Amigurumi project I FINALLY finished. (I have been slowly working on it for months) And I know Olivia is going to love it too... A while back I was purchasing yarn and I noticed that Red Heart had a yarn called "Monet". SOOOO, being the Monet fan that I am, I HAD to buy it. I then came across an idea for an Ami Octopus and it was settled... This yarn was meant for my octopus project.

So I guess this puts me on the starting path for the not soooo conventional mom haha... But I'm done crocheting for the moment. I'm just glad that I got both her blanket and her Octopus done before I had her. I feel mildly accomplished!!! :D

Last Dance :)

Nooo not me.... but I caught 2 people dancing to the song "Last Dance" in the kitchen tonight HAHAH

Sorry that the video is sideways. It's how i ended up taking it on my phone.

...Restless

Ok... so now I'm starting to get restless. I'm ready for Olivia already. I went to the doctor's today and the baby's heart sounded good and she's sloooowly moving down. We scheduled an ultrasound for Monday if I don't have the baby before then (and I'm praying that I will have her before this weekend is up) and an exam to make sure there is enough fluid for the baby still and if anything looks wrong they will induce. And if for some reason this child decides to be stubborn, I will be induced no matter what on the 29th. Soooo... I'm really praying that I will just go into natural labor and not need to be induced.

I need to find stuff to do though. Yesterday I vacuumed and dusted the living room and dining room. Today I went to my office to see if I'm going to still have a job after the end of this month (probably not) and to re-acquaint myself w/ some humans in the flesh as opposed to talking to people on instant message all shift. Then I went and saw mom and then to walmart to walk around some more to try and encourage Olivia with the help of gravity and walking to come out.

While I was there I picked up a project. It only took me a little bit when i got home but I thought that the dining room table needed a little something festive/fall-ish, so I bought some flowers and matching glass beads and made a flower arrangement for the table. I think it's really pretty and I love the colors. I hope mom does too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MITCH!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY MITCHELL!!!!

I HOPE YOU HAVE A DAY FULL OF PIRATE FUN!!!

XOXO LOVE YOU!!!

Love Aunt Beth and baby Olivia

39 Weeks! She's almost here!!!

Well today marked 39 Weeks gone by REALLLLLLY fast and also what is going to prove to be the LONGEST week of my life... I'm due in 7 days and it is already dragging. Holy cow I never thought the time would come though... I'm trying to walk around as much as i can, but that's kind of hard when your job is to sit on your butt for 8 hours a day. So tomorrow and Saturday I have off and I'm going to try and "walk this baby out" as mom has been saying.

I had Kate take these pictures of me today.....



This is my favorite. Liv is still riding high, but not for long (I hope).


(Kate made me stand in the sun in that one, so I'm getting all watery and squinty eyed)

Anyways, thought I'd share, and I'm still thinking (and hoping and praying) it's gonna be Monday that she shows up.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see! And you'll know when it is, when you get that call from mom...... so don't ignore her phone calls this week :)

Blast from the Past

I went to this website and had a BLAST!!! hahaha Soooo Just thought I'd share a few of the ones that I did of myself LOL

This is my 1994 look:



This is my 1978 look:


I really think the afro is just hysterical!

Taking a poll

I want everyone to comment on this one, only because although I'm not the indecisive one, someone else is and she needs your help...



Mom has had this hair dye in the cabinet for over a month now and I have been trying to get her to actually use it. She changed her mind and thinks it's too dark, but I think it would be a nice color on her. The picture is crappy quality... it looks darker and redder than it actually is... It's more along the color of the hair in the upper left portion of the picture. You could probably get a better Idea from looking at the Revlon color picker website - just go to the line for light brown and it's second to last #54 Light Golden Brown.

Anyways, I think it's pretty and I think Mom should dye her hair this color. Especially since it is in the cabinet right now anyways. So comment please and let her know what you think. Then maybe she'll finally do it! :D

THANKS!!!

Olivia's finished baby blanket

I keep forgetting to put up a picture of the finished baby blanket I crochet for Olivia.

So here it is! I love the colors I picked and I must say that I am very proud of it, as I came up w/ the layout/design (not that it is all that difficult) myself after getting frustrated with other people's free but non-descriptive patterns online.

Happy Birthday Leslie

Just wanted to wish Leslie a fantastic Birthday!!! Hope you have a great day!!! Love You!!!

The Decision....

So I finally decided on a middle name for Olivia. It only took me FOREVER. I have spent a combination of many hours on babynames.com and also on a native languages site where I was looking for Sioux Indian names that went well with Olivia. Sioux names, as I soon found out on babynames.com, are incredibly hard to come by in the Native American category. Most of the names are Cheyenne or Hopi or listed as unknown. So I resorted to the native languages site and there was a lot of information there. not just on names, but on the Lakota and Dakota Sioux languages and such. So there was an option to inquire on names for a certain language and I emailed them with my criteria (not too long/too many syllables, she's my 1st child, it's for a middle name, etc.). I got back this list of names from them:

1) The traditional Lakota Sioux kin name for a first-born child is Winona for a girl (pronounced win-oh-nah.) Those kin names are becoming popular as first names in Sioux families these days, so it may suit you.

2) The Lakota Sioux word for a flying bird is Zintkala (pronounced zint-kah-la). The same word is Zitkana in Dakota Sioux if you prefer (zit-kah-nah). Many famous Sioux women have had Zintkala or Zitkana as part of their names.

3) Tashina (pronounced tah-shee-nah) is a popular Sioux girl's name that means "her shawl."

4) Chante (pronounced chawn-tay) is a Sioux first name that comes from the word for "heart."

5) Kewapa (pronounced kay-wah-pah) means a water lily in Lakota Sioux.


I thought they were nice, but just couldn't see myself naming her Olivia Kewapa or Olivia Tashina. So I finally decided not to take that route.

If you are still wondering why i was looking for Sioux names, she's going to be 1/4 Sioux when she is born. As well as being 1/4 Irish and then 1/2 Mut (as i call myself lol). She's gonna be beautiful and I can't wait.

Anyways Maybe I will use a Sioux word/name as a pet name when she develops her own personality and spirit. Afterall, the Native Americans usually werent given their names till they were older anyways. But I do want Olivia to have a sense of her heritage. I don't think it will be possible to trace her ancestry, but I just want her to have an awareness of the culture because I find it all very fascinating too.

OK so then I had a list of names the I had pulled off of websites and people have soo freely offered me their advice lol. People suggested Olivia Grace, Olivia Rose, Olivia Ruth, etc. and As much as i like those, lol the middle names are taken haha and I didn't like how mom's name sounded as a middle name. It's much better suited for a first name. So I started to narrow down my list and somewhere (and I'm not even sure where) I found her middle name.

*drumroll please* :)

Olivia is going to be named - Olivia Gabrielle. I personally love it. I love how it sounds, and I love how I can hear myself yelling it out loud (yes that WAS one of my criteria - I had to hear myself yelling - OLIVIA GABRIELLE W****** GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW! hahaha). So her first name means a couple things, my favorite meaning is peaceful. Kate's favorite meaning of Olivia is Elf Army. I still refer to her 1st name as meaning peaceful. And Gabrielle means God is my strength.

All of that to say. She is gonna be here any day now and I'm naming her Olivia Gabrielle!!! I CAN'T WAIT! :D

New toys and projects!!!

First of all...................

Happy 14th Birthday Quincy Rose!!! I love you!

And now for the rest of my blog...

I received my Husqvarna Viking in the mail on Tuesday from my friend Marianne. I had been looking at it dying to take it for a test drive, but not finding the time as i feel like I'm scatterbrained these days.

So today was the first day that I don't have to work and I took her out and got to figuring out how to work her. Well turns out the machine doesn't like my already wound metal bobbins, and instead i had to use the HV bobbins that came with it. Not a problem once i figured that out and how the thread the thing... GOODNESS it took me like an hour to get the bobbin threaded properly and working...

Once I figured it out I swewd up the pockets on a couple of dad's shirts that he left in my care over a week ago. THEN I made the curtain for my bookshelf that I had bought this BEAUTIFUL fabric for at Joann Fabrics when I got the fabric for the baby sling. Here is the finished product hanging up on the bookshelf. Olivia's and my colors and i love it - just have to iron it and such.


Then I had to finish up another project that I bought the same day I bought the fabric. I got wood letters that spell Olivia and yellow, sage and raspberry pink paint and last week decided to paint the letters. So today I finished them up by gluing the pink ribbon i bought to hang them up with to the back of the letters. I'm going to be hanging this above her dresser. :D



So that's a couple things I can knock off my long list of things to do before I have the baby... Now for the rest...........Oi.