Christmas candy!

Tonight I made the mistake of going to Target. Why a mistake? Because it was 5pm on Halloween and there were children running around like wild animals in the Halloween aisles while their slack jawed parents looked on.

But do you know what made me happy? Aisles and aisles of Christmas stuff. If you are wanting some hip, cute Christmas cards you need to hurry on over to Le Target (say that in your best French accent honh honh honh). Even better than that, it means that Christmas candy is out.

My most favorite-ist seasonal candy is the Hershey mint kisses. Would you believe that they aren't even on their website? Not so good, Hershey! This year there is a new candy, so of course I had to buy a bag. It's peppermint kisses.

The bag won't be opened for a while, because I like to stare at it and see how long I can hold out, but when they are I shall report back.

Isn't she beautiful?

gorgeous Mo
Originally uploaded by kevlar3.

This is Mo. She lives in Japan. She's what is known as an English cream dachshund. I think she's just lovely.

Happy HalloWEENie!

Lulu wishes you all a happy Halloween.

I love it

Was catching up on design*sponge tonight and she posted the most fabulous cards. Not only are they pretty, but funny as hell too.

Don't you have someone you can send this card to?


You can find the Etsy shop for Paper Stories here.

What's the deal?

Someone, please tell me, what is the trick to making friends when you are a single 33 year old? Because my current crop of friends is just not cutting it anymore and I really need to make some new ones.

Please don't tell me to go to church. Between my parents, sister and therapist that's all I hear. I've tried answering ads on Craigslist for supper clubs, book clubs, scrabble games, and craft groups. Apparently, my emails must disappear into oblivion.

It's good thing I've got Lulu around or I would just be talking to myself all the time. Is it any better to be talking to the dog? Do you think my baby waby (that's her new nick name, by the way) ever answers? Well sometimes she'll give me a kiss right after she's licked her butt if she's not too busy outside barking at a possum.




What, you aren't all clicking over to your email lickety split to ask me to be BFFs? Watch out or I'll sic Lulu on you. She might just give you a kiss too.

Thirst

Lulu and I went to Petsmart today. She had a very fun time trying to give kisses to all the Great Danes that were there with a rescue group. So after all that fun, she was very thirsty when we got back to the car. I just happened to have a cup half full of water and gave her a drink.

Random tidbits

Crazy Aunt Purl has an excellent cooking post (and post title--I wish I was that funny!).

This week I discovered that I'm not lazy, I'm depressed! Well I knew I was depressed but I didn't realize just how much it's affected my life lately. So now I'm thinking of renaming the blog "lazy lulu", because really, she's a pretty lazy dachshund. She hasn't even barked this week.

Next weekend I'm going to the quilt show in Houston. I can't wait. I'm looking forward to buying more fabric that I can look at and dream about making things with and also meeting these designers.

Anthropologie vs. craft blogs

Earlier this week I was in Houston for work and stopped in at Anthropologie one day to see if they had any cool home stuff. Their clothes are adorable, but trendy, not my size and expensive. A

Anywhoo, back to my story.

So I'm browsing around, trying to decide if I want to pay too much money for a Christmas ornament that I really could make myself, when I spy stuffed toys. Toys like this one:



And I think to myself, I have seen that before. Since I don't normally browse stores for stuffed toys, I knew I had to have seen it on a blog. But which one, there are so many creative women that I read!

Then I wondered, which came first? The blogger or Anthropologie?

(and yes, I did buy the ornament by thinking that I need to have the example in front of me?

Meet Frankie

Don't get excited. This isn't my craft. A coworker in my Houston office made it and I thought it was so cute I decided to steal her idea. It will probably be a stretch to make one of my own for this Halloween but the picture will remind me next year. She said she's also made Santas and tin soldiers. How cute would a pair of soldiers, using larger pots, be flanked outside a front door?

Name Game meme

I found this on Nutmeg Knitter's blog and you know how I like to write/type/talk about myself. So here we go:

Name Game MeMe

1. Your rockstar name (pet & current street name):

Lulu Parkfield

2. Your movie star name (grandfather / grandmother on your mom's side & your favorite candy):
Cecil Twerps [uuuh, not such a great name]

3. Your "Fly Guy / Girl" name (first initial of last name, first three letters of your middle name):

K Ann [k lame is what]

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME (favorite color, favorite animal):

Turquoise Dog

5.YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you were born):

Ann Bryan

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 2 letters of mom's maiden name and first 3 letters of the town you grew up in.):

Kemelnecol [say that three times fast!]

7. SUPERHERO NAME ("The", your favorite color, favorite drink):

The Turquoise Margarita

8. NASCAR NAME (the first name of both your grandfathers):

Charles George or George Charles

[what, women can't be Nascar drivers? Ana Bess Cecil or Cecil Ana Bess]

9. FUTURISTIC NAME ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne and the name of your favorite shoes) :
Marc Jacobs Crocs

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME (mother/father's middle name):

Ann Harry

Today's random thought

Is ketchup the new currency? I've been Houston all week and ate at two different fast food places, one time I ate it there and the other time was to go. Do you think I got ketchup either time? No and even worse, they didn't ask if I wanted it.

I'm not a ketchup hog, I only need a little bit. A woman I used to work with loved ketchup. Frankly, I was embarrassed to go to Whataburger with her because she'd get like twelve ketchps. It was like ketchup, with a side of fries!

Maybe it's all condiments because I didn't get any damn salt either and my fries today seriously needed them. Lulu didn't mind though so I shared with her. Besides, what's a road trip without someone to share your snacks?

Safety first

safety first
Originally uploaded by Elizabeth_K.

please note: photo was taken while parked in driveway.

Lulu likes to ride in the car. What she does not like is when I make her wear her seat belt harness. Oh no. She would much rather prefer to ride in my lap so that she can stand up and stare out the driver side window the entire time. This would not be so much of a problem on a high way. In city traffic, while driving a standard, it gets to be a bit of a safety issue.

Coco & Daisy

Coco, the black and tan, came first. Kristin got her in the fall of 1996. She survivied swallowing a whole pecan to pecan to become the great bird/centipede/scorpion hunter. She died tragically, last fall, on the porch of parents' home.

Daisy was adopted by me, when she was just a wee 5 weeks old (don't get me started on that breeder), in the spring of 1997. Daisy was the goof to Coco's seriousness. At one point, Daisy gained so much weight that I called her peanut head. It turned out to be a thyroid condition and once that was medicated she was back down to a normal weight. In 2003 it was discovered that she was in kidney failure and was put to sleep shortly before Thanksgiving of that year.

We miss you babies!

Ready for a change

I'm feeling the need to change my template again but would like some input from y'all. I have a large monitor at work, home, and my parents' house so I was wondering if the 3 column layout was difficult to read on smaller, older monitors? Let me know.

I have big ideas. Big ideas for the blog, for sewing/knitting/crafting projects, and for my condo. It would nice to have these incorporated into the blog, maybe on a side bar. A better looking header would be nice too.

Today is going to be a lazy day. I'm at my parents' house because yesterday was my gramma's 85th birthday and today is my uncle's birthday so we're having a family dinner. I've been informed that it is my job to make a chocolate cake. If the charge on my digital camera holds out, there will be photos.

Happy Birthday Bebe!!

It's here!

After checking the front door every day, my Garrett's popcorn has arrived! I'm so excited. It's so yummy. It's so cheesy and caramelly and delicious! Fortunately, it is very rich so it will last a fair amount of time. Which is good, because although it was cheaper than a flight to Chigaco, it's not like I spend $34 on popcorn every day.

I am also reminded of a story about my parents and a tin of Fritos. Twice during the 70s, my parents lived in Germany. At some point while living there my parents came into a possession of a tin of Fritos. In case you're not familiar with Fritos, they are a corn chip. A very popular corn chip in the South. And also very difficult to get in Germany in 1971. Every morning my dad would open the tin up and mark the level of the chips on the inside with a marker. This was so he would know if my mom was eating some without him.

If Lulu had thumbs, I'd probably do the same thing to this tin because she loves popcorn and already whinned at me to toss her a kernal (which I did not). I'm waiting to have more until watching Grey's Anatomy tonight.

OCD?

It hurts to type tonight. This picking at my nails with the cuticle clippers is so out of control. I can not remember a time when they have been this bad. It's more than just a habit, it's an obsession.

I took pictures to show y'all, but some of you might be delicate flowers and get grossed out so I will just link to them. For the more sturdy, who like to see gross things even if it grosses them out, click here for the fingernails and here for a toenail.

While googling for ways to quit doing this, I found a very interesting article that describes, perfectly, what the nail picking does for me and how it makes me feel. If this is a problem for yourself or someone you know, check it out.

The lazy way

Behold my work in progress. What is it? Why it's my bag for the Sew?! I Knit sew-along from May. I think it was May anyway. Yesterday when I came home for lunch I pinned these two pieces and tonight I started cutting them out. Watch out! The sky could fall at any moment.

After seeing this fabric (that's the lining in the photo) for so many months, I'm really kind of sick of it. There are some other fabrics I'd rather sew up, but since I've never made a bag before I decided that I should practice on this fabric.
You can see the main fabric in this photo.

On my mind

My ex-boyfriend has been on my mind, and in my dreams, lately. It is so annoying because I would like to think I'm over him already! We've been broken up longer than we were together (3 years together, 5 years broken up)! His birthday is this week and it annoys me that I remember that. More annoying is the fact that I want to call him (but I won't).

Ugh.

Also, I still miss his mom and sister. They were really cool and I liked hanging out with thim.

Today's bizarre dream

I have strange, very real dreams. This morning's was no different. Most of the people in my dream are people I know; locations are almost always somewhere I have been before. It's all very surreal.

This morning I had a dream that started as one thing--Kristin getting married and never seeing her again (the groom was not El Hombre)--and the morphed into a recurring dream.

In the recurring dream, I have to move out of my apartment and I never have enough boxes or have finished moving before the deadline. I need to remember to ask my therapist about that because it's a dream I've had several times over the last year.

Previous recurring dreams include: teeth crumbling into chalk and falling out (that one got heavy rotation during my last semesters of college), going to school with no pants on, forgetting my class schedule and not knowing where to go and not being able to get my locker open. Those are all typical stress dreams.

If you have any strange dreams often, I'd love to hear about them. Maybe it will give my subconcious a new story.

A big thank you

I would like to send a world wide web thank you to Amanda over at Clothesknit. She sent me the best package as a part of the 1 yard fabric swap.

When I came home from work on Friday, there was a box waiting for me at my front door. In my excitement, I did not photograph the items before I unwrapped them, but trust me, they were wrapped up so sweetly.

One package had a bag of Sour Patch kids, Sour Straws and a sampler pack of teas. Another package had a note pad, days of the week Magnets, an E shaped note pad and a candle.

Finally, the last package, wrapped in purple tissue paper and tied with coordinating yarn was the fabric. How did Amanda know that I've been drawn to these fabrics before?



The fabric is from the Bohemian line by Anna Maria. I think it will make a great bag.

Popcorn

Do you love popcorn? If you do, and you are ever in Chicago, then you have got to try
Garrett's popcorn. There is a little shop on Michigan avenue and there is always a line. Let me tell you, it's so totally worth the wait.

When I was in Chicago this past February, I think I stood in that line for at least 35 minutes. I didn't mind really, seeing as my ears were about to fall off from being out in the cold. When it was my turn to order, I got a bag of the caramel crisp and a bag of the cheese. It was all I could do to walk back to my hotel without shoving popcorn into my gaping maw.

At the airport, I clutched the paper bag holding my popcorn as if I was carrying the most valuable thing in the world. By the time I got back to Austin, the top of the paper bag was soft like leather. It was a sad moment a few days later when I ate my last piece (and no, I didn't share any with Kristin or the dogs).

In September, a coworker went to Chicago for the weekend. She also loves Garrett's. She brought me a little ziplock bag of popcorn from her stash. It was a happy day.

This morning I could hold out no longer. I placed an online order. I believe it's sent FedEx, so come Monday I can once again have some delicious popcorn.

Oh yeah, mixing the caramel and the cheese together is the best.

Stating the obvious

Click on the photo for better viewing. This is a picture of the label on a jar of peanuts I bought last week. Contains peanuts. Ya think?!

guilty

dammit. Lulu pooped in the house again today. There were two little piles, not just one, under the craft table. And I know she knows it was wrong because she tried to cover them up with a scrap of fabric! You weren't wanting those scraps back from your pillow fabric were you, Kristin?

Better poop than pee though, I always say. Unless it's the kind one of Miss Doxie's dogs recently had.

Anne Taintor

Are you familiar with Anne Taintor? I just love her things. I've got a couple of magnets, a calendar and a little note pad.

Ways in which I'm being frugal

1. Hand washing items I would normally take to the dry cleaners.
2. Turning off the computer when I go to bed at night

Ouch

The headache that started Monday had been continually getting worse and this morning I reached my breaking point when there was stabbing pain in my right temple. A visit to my doctor confirmed that I was having a migraine. Two doses of Maltrex and I feel human again. I'm home, in my pjs, in the middle of the day. What's not to love? Lulu kept me company while I napped. Now I sort of know what it's like to be a dog. Sleep the day away!



I took this photo at the state fair petting zoo over the weekend.

Banishing Negative Nelly

This morning's post was brought to you by the following sponsers:

• Rain
• Tension headache
• Lack of sleep

I'm feeling slightly better now, although all 3 things are still hanging around.

Tomorrow will be a better day.

Warning: depressing post below

Lately, I’m feeling overwhelmed. Despite therapy and meds for anxiety & depression, this feeling is worse than ever. It is caused by stress from work (not the actual work, but the people and attitudes in general) and stress about money. Never before have I been this is debt and I do not like it one single bit and the thing that is putting me in debt, and therefore causing stress and anxiety, is therapy, the very thing that is supposed to make me better.

I guess it’s true what they say, it has to get worse before it gets better.

Let me leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the movie Office Space.

“ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it”.

Pillows in progress

On Friday morning I was in the process of sewing the pillow cases for Kristin when the needle fell out of the machine and became bent. Rather than try to sew with it, I stopped and just went on to Dalls. One pillow had been finished and it turned out pretty nice. Kristin liked it.

Fair Food!

Last night, Kristin, El Hombre and I went to the Texas state fair. Now, I'm not really a fair person. Playing games at the midway, well I'd have more fun putting my money through a shredder. But the food, that's what I go for.

Here are some of the foods we tasted:

Corny dogs (not pictured)
Fried onion strings

Frito pie (I've had better)

Dippin' Dots "Ice cream of the future" (how can it be of the future if it's been out for 20 years...also tastes not very good)

Roasted corn


and finally


bacon


Just kidding!!

El Hombre also had a fried peanut butter & jelly with banana sandwich but I did not taste any of it. He'd eaten half by the time he walked back to our table and he was pretty testy about Kristin taking pictures of it for her blog.

Glamour Don't

Sometimes, you really should take a look at your rear view before you leave the house.I just couldn't resist snapping this photo last night.

Nothing like waiting until the last minute

So tomorrow morning I am driving up to Dallas to visit Kristin. When she came down for a visit a few weeks ago, she brought some fabric with her and asked me to make pillows for her sofa.

For weeks now, I have been mentally sewing two simple pillow cases. Yesterday, I finally cut out the fabric. Tonight I ironed and pinned. In the morning, I will sew. It's nearly midnight and I bawled my eyes out watching The Nine on my dvr, so I don't trust myself to sew a nice seam tonight.

Can't you just die from the cuteness

Lulu is resting her head on Ollie, the stuffed dachshund that some friends gave me for my birthday.

I know this guy!

My sister called me today to tell me that her friend was on the Yahoo home page. He has done some modeling and acting and is moving to LA next month. One day, maybe I can say "I've seen him pee on a tiki torch".

It's midnight. Do you know where your sleep is?

I took at 45 minute nap this afternoon. Perhaps I should not have done that.

Have you seen any of the Japanese craft books? Cute. Seriously. I've browsed a couple of book stores here, and in Houston, but haven't found any of these books in the craft section. Seeing as I am the laziest crafter alive I just want to look at the pictures for inspiration.

Tomorrow, I must craft. There are pillow cases to be made before I drive to Dallas on Friday.