Crafty lady

So the internet went out a couple days ago. It came back yesterday afternoon sometime, but I've spent most of the day digging the driveway out and going to town. We hadn't picked up the mail in a couple days and needed milk, fruit, yogurt and metal washers.

Because life just isn't complete without metal washers.

KIDDING! Here's what I did with them:

I'm going to a West Virginia Federation of Democratic Women (WVFDW) event Saturday, if I'm not snowed in AGAIN. We had to postpone our December meeting because of weather, and I have all these little goodie bags for the Christmas exchange. At the last minute I decided to add one more thing.

I'm like the knitter who finishes all the holiday projects and casts on for another one BECAUSE THERE'S TIME. Oh. Wait. I'm not like that knitter, I AM that knitter.

Anyhoo ... I coated the reverse (blank) side of a large conversation heart with Mod Podge and let it dry. Then I attached a magnet disk to the back. My dilemma was how to present it. I ended up making the business cards and adding a metal washer to attach the magnetic heart to.

I can't take credit for the idea. I saw it somewhere on Pinterest, and I think it's genius. I used it Christmas before last when I gave my daughter and daughters-in-law each a set of personalized glass magnets. It really does make for a nice presentation.

Shoveling the driveway (which is about .05 of a mile long) will have to count as the intentional activity du jour. Unless making a pot of no-bean chili counts as exercise.

Hoping you all are safe and warm and cozy, wherever you are. Unless you're in Australia, and then I'd love to send you some of this snow! You deserve a break!

Back to being crafty

While I really don't ever stop thinking about politics, it's nice to put it on hold for, oh, an hour or two. I worked on a knitting project (due Saturday, and yes, I'm going to make it!) yesterday afternoon while watching Love Actually. Hugh Grant and Colin Firth in a Christmas-themed film – what's not to love?

I also smeared some Mod Podge on a couple of gift boxes a couple times yesterday. I took photos of one box. The other is covered in black scrapbooking paper and y'all know how well black photographs. Um, not.

My co-volunteer at the prison is a true music lover. She takes violin lessons (she and I are about the same age), her license plate says B8OVEN and her dog's name is Anna (which was Ludwig's wife's name). Various nooks and crannies in her home are tricked out with busts of Beethoven. So, yeah, she likes music. 

Remember those flat glass disks I picked up last week at Michael's? Here's one set of finished magnets, with a matching gift box, for her.

We haven't exchanged Christmas gifts before, but she's going through a very rough time right now and I just feel like giving her something. It hardly cost anything at all, but it's something I know she'll like and appreciate and use. 

Too bad everyone I know doesn't have such an easy-to-personalize hobby!

4 more

Both of you know I'm kinda crafty. My favorite hands-on hobby is knitting, of course, but I also like sewing, making jewelry (although I don't wear much), and creating handmade books, cards and stationery. I came up with an idea for a fundraiser for our county Democratic women's group, and last night was a work party.

I demonstrated the various steps to complete one of the little pins we're making, and then let each member choose which job she wanted to do. 'Cause that's the democratic way. Heh.

It worked out surprisingly well. Some were better with scissors, some didn't mind getting their hands dirty (ModPodge was involved) and everyone seemed to have a good time.

It was good for me to get out of the house for an evening, to not think about the CRAP that is ever present in my real life. It was fun to just hang out with these decidedly non-crafty women and watch them take ownership of the project, solve problems, work together.

I learned from that two-hour meeting that I have to own what's going on and do what's right for me. I can't fix anyone else. I can't solve anyone's problems. I can't change the way things are into the way I want things to be. I need to back off  in order to gain some perspective.

In other words, I'm not in charge. Except for once a month, the third Thursday, for a Democratic women's meeting.

It was a crafty day, indeed

I ended up making 18 of the little square campaign buttons I showed you yesterday. I got them done fairly early in the day, and it rained all. day. long. so I wasn't able to walk outside. And, frankly, I decided a day off would do me good.

Knitters who give knitted gifts exhibit an odd behavior in the last few days before the holidays. If they've managed their time wisely, all their projects will be done, wrapped and shipped (or under the tree) well before the big day, and they will decide, with three days to go, that there's certainly enough time to knit another [hat/scarf/pair of mittens/pair of socks/bag/oven mitt/accessory of your choice] for [recipient]. All that extra time on their hands is burning a hole in their pockets, if you don't mind a mixed metaphor.

Well, I'm a knitter who wasn't knitting yesterday, but I was looking at a long afternoon and I was in a crafty mood. I decided just handing out campaign buttons wasn't enough, I had to present them. I set off  on the internets to find the perfect little do-it-yourself box.

Here's the one I found. There are lots more out there.

Turns out a pillow box is pretty darned easy to make, and it took exactly the right amount of time to make them. I just knew my cardstock stash would come in handy someday!

Our meeting last night was fun, and we added a couple of new members. Everyone is enthusiastic about the upcoming election, eager to work on fundraising projects and a membership drive and especially anxious for Democrats to take back the House of Representatives. Republicans, and especially the Tea Party faction, seem hell-bent on turning the clock back to the 1950s.

The fact that we as a group are, um, older (at 60 I think I'm the youngest) doesn't mean we won't be fighting for reproductive rights. We won't let everything we fought for 50 years ago be overturned by some whippersnapper of a man who has the financial backing of more men. It's not right, it's not fair and it's not going to happen.

Not if the Three Rivers Democratic Women have anything to say about it.

From pillow boxes to soap boxes: My, that was fun! Have a great weekend. Due to my commitment to post every day in February, I'll be here tomorrow. I hope you will be, too.

One week done, three pounds gone

I'm smart enough not to say they're gone forever, since they've been gone forever before. Many times, just for the record. The three pounds last week are in addition to three pounds lost just counting calories the first 10 days of January. To sum up, since New Year's Day I've lost six pounds, half of that last week following the South Beach plan.

It's a miracle! Or a fluke, only time will tell.

It helps to be busy doing Other Stuff. My brain's go-to default is "let's eat!" so having a knitting project or a freelance design gig or some other compelling time-suck really helps, and if I have to create them, I'm going to.

The clog knitting isn't done yet, and there's not much football left. (If you're new here, I like to knit watching sports. It's difficult for me to do one without the other. They go together like South Beach-friendly ham and eggs. Heh.) I like college ball much better than pro, especially this year when my man Peyton had to sit out. (The Colts won ONE game all year, shouldn't Peyton Manning be the MVP? Clearly he is Indy's most valuable player!)

But little bro Eli made it to the championship series, so maybe there will be enough football left to complete the last two pair. I'm working on my husband's now, with one nearly done. The last pair, of course, will be mine, because I'm like the shoemaker: My footwear has holes in it, but I'm too busy making footwear for other people.

It hurts like hell to sit and knit, though, because of the hip pain. The loveseat in our little TV room is waaaay less comfortable than working on the laptop at the dining room table. Which is where you would have found me yesterday, designing a logo for a new client. (He loved it, I'm always happy when my vision matches the client's.) I need to do a little clean-up and formatting and that job will be out the door.

I have a couple little craft projects on the agenda. Actually if you saw my Pinterest Crafty board I have enough DIY ideas to get me to my goal weight. This is the one I'm doing as soon as the clogs are finished.

All in all, I'm doing pretty well following the plan. Eating more protein really does curb hunger. South Beach doesn't limit the number of carbs you can eat, but my research indicates that I might have an easier time releasing weight if I were to keep them around 30 per day. I'm averaging around 40; prior to SB I was eating about 175 carbs/day. And I'm NOT complaining about losing three pounds the first week.

The most difficult part has been honoring my commitment to eat real, whole foods, particularly when I'm looking for something sweet. I don't want to get sucked back into using artificial sweeteners, but there are few alternatives. (And because I don't like to waste anything, I'm determined to use that bag of Splenda before I try stevia.) The last time I went sugar-free it took about three weeks for the sugar cravings to subside, so I just need to be patient and wait this out.

My husband is totally on board with me doing South Beach, and hasn't even asked for a baked potato or hamburger bun to supplement his meals. He's really making it a lot easier for me, remind me to thank him. Again. And thank you for being patient with me as I slog through a South Beach post. I promise I won't make this a habit.

Turkey (Day) wrap (up)

I'm spending the weekend with family, and decided to travel on Thanksgiving morning rather than fight the Wednesday night traffic. The irony of listening to an audiobook called The Man Who Couldn't Eat as I headed toward a Thanksgiving feast was not lost on me.

It didn't stop me from enjoying my dinner, and I didn't overeat. One small serving of each side dish, a slice of white meat and a small piece of turtle cheesecake for dessert. More calories than I usually eat for dinner, but who's counting on Thanksgiving?

The remainder of the weekend looks like lots of fun, too: a tiny bit of Black Friday shopping this morning, a walk this afternoon (hoping my heel is completely healed), and some quality time with my younger granddaughter this evening, while her parents enjoy a night on the town.

She and I will be shopping for supplies to make these adorable little tree ornaments, and we'll spend the evening crafting. We're going to make a lot of them so she can share them with her teachers, cousins and neighbors, too.

We'll be celebrating a birthday Saturday and I'm heading back home (and listening to the rest of the audiobook) Sunday. Let the holiday celebrations begin!

I don't usually blog when I'm traveling, but because I've made the NaBloPoMo commitment, I'm going to try. Apologies in advance for space-filling blather!

At the half

NaBloPoMo is half done, can you believe it?

While my posts this month have been, um, less than inspired – how many ways can one say one is tired of sneezing, coughing and blowing one's nose, after all? – I haven't yet felt like I needed to use one of the daily NaBloPoMo prompts. I've looked at a couple of them, but when I tried to formulate a thought worthy of committing to blog, it felt too much like an assignment.

Easier just to tell you how tired I am of sneezing, coughing and blowing my nose. Heh.

(My son has informed me he's going to collect a dollar from me every time I use "heh" in an e-mail to him. Heh. I like "heh" better than "haha," "LOL" or smiley faces, but he, apparently, does not.)

I've been thinking about Christmas the last couple of weeks. How could you not, when every retail outlet has been stocked and decorated since before Halloween? Maybe next year will be the totally handmade Christmas of my dreams, but it ain't gonna happen this year. I have lots of ideas but, of course, not enough time to even order supplies, let alone make the cool gifts I'd love to give.

I will be making doll clothes for my four-year-old granddaughter's dolls, and she also wants pajama pants. I have the fabric and pattern for those, although I suspect she'll still reach for a nightgown if she has a choice. She's a girly, girly, girly girl who loves wearing anything that twirls or has ruffles.

My grandson's newsboy cap is more than halfway completed and I actually think it will fit and look quite handsome on him. I'll post a picture when it's done.

Craftsy.com suggests that if you want to have a handmade Christmas, you should obviously plan ahead, and offers these suggestions:

Make a checklist of all of the things you’d like to make. Mark a calendar with each project‚ allotting it a certain length of time for completion. Gather up all of the patterns and supplies that you’ll need for each project in advance‚ so that you’re not running to the hobby store at the last minute. Be realistic. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to finish too much. These are things I probably should have done on September 15, not mid-November. I felt this sense of disappointment last year, and the year before, and have for several unfulfilled years. What I should do is make one (or more) gift per month all year long. By the time December rolls around, I'd be done. But it never seems to work out that way. How about you? Do you give handmade gifts for the holidays? How do you manage your time in order to complete everything on time? Do you (as I have done) wrap a photo of the item along with a promise to complete it before the end of January? Or do you ask for suggestions and go to amazon.com to do all your shopping in one swell foop?