11.30.2006

Ornaments

It's time to start pulling out all the Christmas decorations, since tomorrow is the 1st of December. Over the past several years, I have collected quite a few dachshund ornaments. When I saw Kristin over Thanksgiving, she gave me this adorable ornament.

lulu ornament

Speaking of adorable dachshund things,

Miss Doxie has created her own online shop, called Shop Doxie, and has some really cute things. The dachshund Christmas tags really crack me up.

11.29.2006

Cravings



Suddenly this morning it hit me. I have a big time craving for chick'n dumplings. Specifically, the ones from Threadgill's. They used to be the Thursday special, but I can't find anything on the web site stating that, so I'll just have to remember to check back tomorrow. I like theirs because the chicken is boneless. You know that sound Homer Simpson makes when he's drooling over a donut? I made the same sound when looking for pictures to post.

Other things I'm constantly craving are Twizzlers Twerps. Of course, I can no longer find them anywhere. Seriously, I will stop at every Target I pass looking for them, because Target is the only place I ever saw them. I did find them online and even put them on my Amazon.com wish list.



Since I can't have Twerps, I've found a substitute that will do. Sour Punch Straws. I had never tried these until I got some in a swap package. So yummy and fun to eat!

11.28.2006

You say that like it's an easy thing

Yesterday, Lulu was not acting like herself at all. It turns out that we both have the same back problem! Bulging/leaky discs. Thankfully, it is in the early stages and if we can stop or slow the progression of the disease Lulu won't need surgery. The vet has put her on bed (i.e. crate) rest. She's not to jump up or down or exert herself in any way.

It's a good thing that Lulu is the laziest dachshund I've ever known so there are only a few lifestyle changes for her. She has to be crated when I'm not home but she doesn't seem to mind much. Last night I let her still sleep with me and as soon as the alarm went off she jumped off the bed. So tonight she'll have to sleep in the crate again. I feel bad about that, but I feel worse when I hear her whimper and see that she won't eat (not even people food). When weighed at the vet yesterday she was down 2 pounds and tonight I can easily feel the bumps of her spine. Normally there is a thin layer of fat (hello, oxymoron!) there and her back is just flat.

So please send healing thoughts our way.

11.26.2006

He's back

The possum is back. He's been back for a while, but tonight is the first night that Lulu has gone crazy about it. Currently, she's barking and spinning in circles at the back door. Guess I need to get the humane trap from the HOA president. For all I know, it's a she and has babies in her pouch. Did you know that baby possums only gestate for 13 days! Of course, then they stay in the momma's pouch for a while. I know this because I google.

Most of the time I am not bothered by Lulu's incessant barking at the thing, but when it's late I worry about her bothering the neighbors. But really, it's the only time she barks and she gets lots of exercise running back and forth across the yard.

Ganache Galaxy Cupcake


Ganache Galaxy Cupcake
Originally uploaded by cupcaketastic.
Now I am craving a cupcake. I want to eat this now!

It's a Major Award!



Now that Thanksgiving has passed, preparing for Christmas can begine. Retailers all across the country start putting out their Christmas things before Halloween, but not me. The tree can not be putup any earlier than the day after Thanksgiving at my house. In fact, this year, I'm waiting until December 1st.

But that doesn't mean I can't watch A Christmas Story. I think I saw the dvd on sale at Target, so I need to go over there this afternoon and purchase it. I do own it on VHS, but my vcr committed suicide when I brought the dvd player home so it's not doing me much good.

This story on CNN, about a man that bought the house from the movie, cracks me up.

You'll shoot yer eye out kid!

11.24.2006

Correction

I gave credit to the wrong blogger for the zipper tutorial. The blog that I should have mentioned was Twelve22.

11.22.2006

Zipper Pouch


Kristin's birthday is tomorrow and I wanted to make her something special. After reading a tutorial on Thimble, I was all set to make a zipper pouch.

Of course, being the procrastinator that I am, I waited until nearly the last minute to start. It was late at night and I tired, so I'm not totally pleased with the final product.

Because I could not wait for Kristin to see her pouch I gave it to her already and inside were two Christmas ornaments. She liked them very much.

11.20.2006

Somebody's been crafty!

Look y'all! I actually did some sewing over the weekend. In fact, I did more than this but it's a surprise so I can't show you until next week.

Blocks

These blocks were made using a charm pack of Amy Butler's Belle line. I got the idea from Allsort's post about crazy quilting. 3 of my squares came out more narrow than the other 6 so I'm setting them aside. These blocks will either become a throw for the sofa or the fronts for sofa pillows.

11.19.2006

11.18.2006

Best spam email name ever

Jim The One-Eyed Wonder Muscle


Could I laugh anymore?

Another meme

Another meme, this one found on Chef Messy's blog

One word answers only.

No.
Explanations.

1. Yourself: me
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend (spouse): none
3. Your hair: good
4. Your mother: short
5. Your Father: terrific
6. Your Favorite Item: ipod
7. Your dream last night: unremarkable
8. Your Favorite drink: fizzy
9. Your Dream Car: clean
10. The room you are in: unfinished
11. Your Ex: loser
12. Your fear: alone
13. What you want to be in 10 years? happy
14. Who you hung out with last night? Lulu
15. What You’re Not? cool
16. Muffins: yummy
17. One of Your Wish List Items: books
18. Time: lacking
19. The Last Thing You did: breathed
20. What Are You Wearing? pajamas
21. You Favorite Weather: brisk
22. Your Favorite Book: provoking
23. The Last Thing You Ate: cheerios
24. Your Life: predictable
25. Your Mood: melancholy
26. Your best friend: sister
27. What are you thinking about right now? fabric
28. Your car: faded
29. What are you doing at the moment? typing
30. Your summer: hot
31. Your relationship status: spinster
32. What is on your TV? dust
33. What is the weather like? dark
34. When is the last time you laughed? earlier

Oh no they DIN'T!


Last night I had the tv on while the Friday night football scores were announced. Football in Texas, in case you didn't know, is a big deal. I don't care for it at all, but I like to know how my schools are doing. My high school lost to a local school 42 to 16. Ooops. There goes the playoffs and their top 10 ranking.

What got me though was the highlight of a marching band. I was in the kitchen and it took me a few minutes to figure out what song they were playing and then I realized it was Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back".

Uh no. That ain't right.

11.17.2006

Not enough time! (long rambly free association post)

People. There are 425 blog posts for me to read. Did I not saying I was going to be out of town? Haven't I been trying to spend less time online--crazy, I know, but it needs to happen. Tonight, the tv has even been turned off for over an hour! I had to turn it off because I just finished watching the 5th episode of season 4 of Six Feet Under. The One Where Something Bad Happens to David (aka That's My Dog). I love this show! Do you love it? And I'm sad because that was the last episode on the dvd and now I have to mail it back to Netflix and wait unti Tuesday or Wednesday to get the next one! And then that means that I'm that much closer to finishing the series, which only had 5 seasons, and then what? Then there's not Project Runway, no Six Feet Under. Thank god Medium started again.

I watch too much television. Let me tell you a story. When I was little, around 5 I think because Kristin hadn't been born yet, my parents had a garage sale. At this sale there was a tiny b&w tv. I begged for it. How bad did I want a tv in my room? So very badly. They relented but the very first time I turned it on, it died. So said. No Smurfs in the bedroom for me. You see, the tv in the living room was on the same wall as their bedroom and on Saturday mornings I had to keep it very quiet. My favorite thing was to make myself a bowl of cheerios and sit on the window sill to watch my cartoons. I would sit on the window sill because the sofas weren't close enough to the tv and we had these old dining room chairs with cane seats that were scratcy and lion heads on the ends of the arms that creeped me out.

One Saturday morning cartoon I wanted to watch so much was a Dungeon & Dragons one. I think that these kids somehow get sucked into cartoon land and the dog became a unicorn. But I don't know because I was not allowed to watch it because my parents though it was "evil". All I cared about was the unicorn. I was unicorn obsessed.

Oooh! Oh! Another tv show I really liked but wasn't supposed to watch (but was often able to sneak) was Fantasy Island. Love Boat was also not supposed to be watched, but by that point in the evening my dad would go back into the master bedroom and put his nose in a book and my mom was too tired of dealing with my sister and I bickering all day to turn it off. It wasn't until last year that I found out that cruise ships....not near as cool as the show made them seem.

Other Forbidden But Watched shows included:

Dukes of Hazzard--I would call my sister the same derogatory things the sheriff called Roscoe.

Dallas--hello! drinking! pre-marital sex! oh my. But as soon as the theme song came on I'd be shakin' my little 7 year old booty away. I wanted to be a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader in the worst way.

Falcon Crest--mom liked this show so I got to stay up late to watch

Soap Operas--my mom watched the ABC soaps and I did too. I remember the summer that I was 6 and Kristin was just a baby...it would make me mad when she'd cry while I was trying to watch. At noon was All My Children, 1pm One Life to Live and then at 2pm General Hospital. After that we'd go to the swimming pool and snack on melted oreos and warm lemonade. Good times.

Okay, enough rambling. Ugly Betty is calling me from the DVR.

11.13.2006

On the road again


Tomorrow morning it's back to Houston I go. The driving is really getting to me, but I do enjoy the atmosphere of the office there. Plus, way more interesting places to eat!

Some of my favorites are: Cafe Express. I like their Signature Triple salad, pictured, but have them leave off the olives. Another one I enjoy is the Greek restaurant, Yia Yia Marys, which is part of the Pappas family. And then there is Collinas, where I had probably the best ravioli I've ever had in my entire life. What can I say? I love food.

11.12.2006

Christmas card photo attempts

Yesterday was beautiful, but Lulu did not feel like posing.

reindeer doxie revolt

reindeer doxie revolt 2

Won't you please just let me nap?

reindoxie

Possible card

Saturday night report

Last night I actually went out of the house after dark. This is a rarity. Not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the line in the last 8 years or so, I have adopted an aversion to leaving the house after dark. But last night I went downtown, by myself! My therapist would be so proud. The StitchAustin show was totally cool and while there I ran into my friend Bessy. I didn't buy anything but I did get a little free pin from the Imaginary Boyfriend booth and I think it's totally appropriate that I have a pretend boyfriend. His name shall be Shawn. So Shawn and I walked around and I took note of all the bags and headbands made from fabric just like I had. There was one booth, which I first saw at ACL, and in fact is how I found about last night, in which there was a purse I really wanted, but I decided to stick to my frugal ways. Of course, I was totally inspired to go home and sew but by the time I did get home I was too tired.

The fashion show was fuckin' awesome, even if it did make me feel like a frumpy, non-hip, 30something from the 'burbs. The models were “normal” women so that was cool to see and I had a spot right next to the stage, so close that I had to avert my eyes when the girls did their little side voguing because I did not want to look up their skirts.

I wish I'd taken my camera but tons of people were taking photos so hopefully some will turn up on Flickr. There was one dress, in particular, that really reminded me of a dress from Project Runway. Then I started thinking that I wish Laura from PR was my friend or at least had her own tv show. The Life of Laura—Fashionista and Mom of 5 boys. Would you watch? I totally would. Okay, so back to my original story…..

I left Stitch around 10:45pm and was tired and hungry, having only eaten a string cheese stick for breakfast and a beef & cheddar from Arby's way earlier in the day. What did I want to eat? Donuts and sushi (see previous entry). Seriously, and I’m not pregnant and hadn’t been drinking. But I was too tired to drive all the way to Krispy Kreme so I just went through the Taco Bell drive through and got a taco instead.

So I went home and played with the dog some before going into the bathroom to take off my eye makeup. I thought to myself that it was such a shame to be wasting such a good hair and makeup night on the dog, but what're ya gonna do? There are two things I’m really vain about: my hair and my eyes. The hair has been an issue of late because my last coloring fried it so I have all these random frizzy hairs floating around my head, but last night I managed to make them work (plus, Bessy said my hair looked cute and she’s hip so I believe her). So I went to bed and then woke up around 6:30 with a killer headache and a hungry dog. Fed the dog, took some meds and got an ice pack for the head.

The headache still persists but I’m hesitant to take any more drugs because I can’t remember what I’ve taken already and if I keeled over dead it would be a while before anyone noticed. At least a day, because if I didn’t call Kristin in a 24 hour time period she’s be sure to notice. What if Lulu got really hungry? Do you think she’d nibble on my toes? I don’t think so. Only cats would be so bold.

You know what, the headache, it worsens. I think I'll take the maxalt and go back to bed.

What's a girl to do.....

when it's midnight and you're driving home from a kickass fashion/craft show and you want donuts and sushi?


Wouldn't Midnight Sushi be an awesome name for my fictious rock band or fashion line? I declare right now that I am the owner of that name, so don't steal it!

Not that I wanted to be a rock star. Can't say that dream ever really crossed my mind. But I did want to be a Solid Gold dancer. Does anyone remember that show? The women would dance on platforms to current disco/rock hits while wearing gold sequined spandex. The one Solid Gold dance move that I would practice over and over involved rolling around on my bed. It was a really long time ago, and I drank alot in college, so I can't really remember what the deal was with that move but I owned it. Oh yes, I did!

11.11.2006



Tonight I am going to check out the
Stitch show in downtown Austin. It looks like it should be pretty interesting and I'm sure I will see lots of things I want to buy for myself and as Christmas gifts.

This morning, my dad came over to help me do some stuff around the condo. It took a couple of hours, but now all the switches and outlets in the kitchen are white instead of the ugly almond. Also, one of the bathrooms has all the switches swapped out AND a new shower head installed.

Now if I had known how easy it was to replace the old shower head I would have done it when I bought the new one over a year ago! Same thing goes for turning up the hot water heater so I could actually take a hot shower instead of a warm one.

11.09.2006

Tardy

This morning I have to go have blood taken to have my cholesterol tested, so I'm going to be late for work. In recent months, it has become the norm for me to be late for work. Typically, I will be anywhere from 5-15 minutes late. It might not seem like much, but since I usually am on time it annoys me.

Reasons why I've been late to work:
Get up late--this could be because I stayed up too late the night before, or because I slept poorly, or just because I didn't feel like it

Get up on time, but get into shower late--this can be caused by futzing around on the computer reading blogs/forums/paying bills, etc or because I'm rolling around on the floor/bed playing with Lulu

Hair/wardrobe/shoe issues--bad hair days, you all know. Hating all my clothes because I'm tired of wearing them. Current problem is that I've lost 20 lbs and all my pants don't fit right. Then the shoes. Ugh. I love shoes but they do not love me. Not only do I wear a strange size (10 1/2) but I have plantar fasciitis, so attractive shoes can be hard to find.

Listening to funny bit on radio--the morning show, JB and Sandy on Mix 94.7, that I listen to can be really funny and I'll put off getting into the shower, drying my hair, or leaving the house in order to hear what they're saying.

Who wants to get out of bed when you can snuggle up with this?

The cuteness

11.08.2006

Life Lesson #284

Do not mistake the can of mousse for hair spray and wave it about the air while trying to spray your hair.

11.07.2006

Election Day



Today is the day we get to vote for state's leaders so don't forget to get out there and make your opinion known. Normally, I do early voting but this time I didn't get around to it (gee, go figure). Of course, now I can't find my voter registration card to know where to go. But after a quick Google, I am 99% sure that my polling place is at the high school up the street.

I really meant to research the candidates and where they stood on issues so that I could make an informed decision. Hopefully, the internet will be up and running at the office today (it died yesterday afternoon, halting nearly all work) so I can do that.

11.06.2006

Quick check in

I went to the international quilt show in Houston over the weekend and wow, was it awesome. So much to see, so little time! I took photos of some of my favorite quilts (not all of them could be photographed) and will post them later.

In the meantime, let me leave you with a little Lulu. We stayed with my cousin again and she has this terrific red sofa. Too bad I didn't have the antlers with me so we could try to get a Christmas card photo of Lulu.

Dog on red sofa

11.02.2006

Life Lesson #432

Don't cheap out on toilet paper.

Seriously. Most offices have the thinnest, roughest, cheapest toilet paper they can buy. Why treat your heinie to that when you get home?

Since I am trying to be a little more frugal (let's not talk about the new shoes I just bought, which I will be returning) I did not buy my normal, top of line, preference for toilet paper. In case you are needing to know which tp is the best, let me recommend Cottonelle Aloe & E. It's so soft and doesn't tear or leave lint behind (ha!) like Charmin (plus, don't you hate those bear commercials?).



So instead of my favorite, I bought Quilted Northern. Quilted! How could that be bad? It is. Maybe I got a bad batch because I've been buying on the cheap for a while now and I don't remember it being this bad. Seriously, it's as bad as the office toilet paper.

And thus ends today's life lesson, and sadly, one of the first thoughts I had this morning while brushing my teeth.

sweet! while getting all the links for this post I found that Cottonelle has coupons on their site. Target here I come!

I'm scared. Hold me.

Do you know about the Blythe dolls? They look like Christina Ricci with a really big head. Grown women (and gay men) worship, adore, collect them and dress them up. I don't get it. I just don't it.

11.01.2006

Have I lost my mind?

A couple of days ago I read a blog post about how to make crazy quilt blocks. The colors were vivid and the explanation included photos that made it really easy to understand. Since that time, I've been thinking about making some crazy blocks out of my Amy Butler Belle charm pack.

Yesterday in a staff meeting I even sketched up my idea for a block. If I knew where the scanner at my office had been moved to, I'd show you.

Anywhoo, it's slow here today so I was going to print that blog post on our color printer only I can't find it now. I've already checked Wise Craft and Whimsy and those weren't it.

I'll have to look more later.

Let me leave you with a picture of my button display in my cubicle at work. They only let me keep it up because it's so small.

button collection

hours later......

I found it! No, not my mind (ha!). The blog I was looking for. It is by Jenny over at Allsorts.