Check ya Later 2011...

I can't even believe it's 2012!! I wanted to do a little look back on the 2011 Craft Goals I had set for myself.

1. "I would love my own crocheted granny square afghan."
Done and DONE! You can see the one I made all on my own here. It took almost 10 months (with lots of breaks) but it was well beyond worth it!! It's what I always imagined and it is so cozy and warm! I was also lucky enough to participate in a granny square swap on Craftster as well as the Blogger Blanket Project hosted by Courtney. With the squares from the BBP and even a set from the Craftster swap I made a smaller lapghan for myself which you can see here. I love all the mismatched squares, it is so colorful and the best part is it has colors I never would have chosen myself but I love now!



2. "A crocheted cardigan."
I'm pretty bummed I never did this. I have to say that until just a few weeks ago, I don't think I would have been very successful if I did try to make a cardigan anyway. I was still pretty new to crocheting most of the year to attempt something wearable, I stuck mostly to amigurumis all year. However, the experience I got the last few months while crocheting the two pairs of gloves, hats, scarves and the babies dress (stay tuned for the scarves, hats and dress for my niece) really prepared me for it I think. This is absolutely going on my list for 2012 and I would really love to make it in the first few months of the year!

3. "I would like my own 'Hoop Love' wall."
Thanks to Swapbot, winning a giveaway and a few of my own, I am happy to report that I have a Hoop Love wall all my own! Albeit small and only a few hoops, it's still so lovely! I have another hoop about 1/3 done that I started a while ago but haven't picked up in months. It has shiney blue beetles on it, I can't wait to finish and hang it!
I just realized these are almost all cross stitch, I need to get some embroidered ones in the mix!
(For perspective that is a skinny wall behind my bedroom door and right above my snake tank...that's a giant snake doll on top LOL) I see it when I'm on the couch and look directly to my right because I always keep that door closed when I'm in there.




So check ya later 2011, it's been real....real crafty! Oh lord that was corny!!
Have a great day friends!

Jamie

Turning a New Leaf...Part Two

Holy Bajeezus where have I been?! Forgive my lack of blogging. I have no real excuse other than I have been busy so not only didn't have time but I also did not have much motivation. Over the last couple weeks though I have really been missing my blog like crazy. So out with the Blogging Blues and in with all the new ideas that have me literally bursting at the seams!!

First, let me start with Part 2 of Turning a New Leaf.

A. I have a new job! I actually did have another job before this one that was absolutely horrible. I worked at an Amazon warehouse for 2 weeks. I was a "picker" and wanted to die after the second day. All the walking on concrete floors for 10 hours (we were told the average picker walked anywhere from 10-12 miles a day) was murder on my feet. Even though I wore extremely comfy gym shoes it didn't matter. My legs and everything were fine, I wasn't even really that tired afterward, it was just that my feet were in excrutiating pain!! I had to quickly find another job and luckily was able to. I now work at Nestle. I'm just a temp for now but I don't care. I'm much happier than I was at The Hartford even though I make a lot less money and don't have health insurance for the time being. (I will hopefully be hired on permanently soon.) I like the job a lot so far. Right now my job consists of being in "the guard shack" which is a lot nicer than I imagined when the job was described to me! I seriously pictured some kind of toll booth situation. It's actually just a small office that is unattached from the entire warehouse. Giant tractor trailers come into the driveway and call a phone way at the end. I answer the phone and find out whether they are delivering something, picking something up, if they are coming to the Nestle building or going to the water plant. Then I do some stuff on the computer to get the info they need and give info to the people inside to let them know a truck is here. That's basically the extent of it. One awesome purk is the drivers that have dogs! When they come to the window (after they are at the phone and I get their info, I tell them to come to the window at the guard shack...think a drive thru at a fast food place) and give them their paperwork or take theirs, accordingly. Some of the drives have dogs and we give them treats, it's pretty awesome! The people I work with all seem pretty nice and even when it's busy it's not super stressful.

B. I am starting (or really want to start, it depends on financial aid) school this semester. I decided that I keep going from one crappy job to the next and need to do something about that! I looked into what kind of programs are offered at the schools around here and what kinds of jobs are available around here too. There are quite a few hospitals near me, I can think of 4 off the top of my head that are all within 10 minutes of me. When I was looking for the new job I have, I kept seeing postings for nurses but I know I could never be a nurse. I've actually even mulled the idea of it around in the past. Both my Grandmothers were nurses as well as my Aunt. I could never 1. take blood from people and 2. since my experience in the hospital and rehab after my accident and knowing all the things those ladies had to do for me, I'm not even sure I could do them for a loved one let alone a stranger! However, I do still have some very fond memories of different nurses that I've come across in my life (I've been in the hospital and gone to doctors a ridiculous amount of times in my life) and truely appreciate and respect these women and what they did for me. I would like to be a person like that...just minus a lot of the bodily fluids! Enter the "Diagnostic Medical Sonographer" program! That's just a fancy name for an Ultrasound Technician. After a lot of thinking and discussing it with Jeremy, Liz, my sister and Mom I have decided that is what I am going to do. I've even had experience with one that had nothing to do with babies. When I was a freshman in high school I had all these lumps on my neck and had to have one removed and they had to ultrasound it! I have to first complete the prerequisites and hopefully will be able to start the 2 year program in the Fall of 2013. That's the plan for now. I'm really looking foward to it!

Alright dearies, I am glad to be back and I hope you stick around for some of the fun things I have planned to share with you!!


Jamie

Turning a New Leaf...Part One

As I mentioned at the end of my previous post (so long ago) a lot of big things have happened in my life over the last 2 months. All really awesome, great, scary, different things! So much that I am going to split it up into two different posts otherwise this will turn from a blog into a novel!

So first...my mom moved to Arizona!
I may have mentioned it here once before but pretty much my whole life all I've ever heard from my mom has been "I loved training horses. I wish I could still work with horses. When I win the lottery, I'm buying a horse farm." etc.

Flash back to before I was born and she was a kid, she always had horses and worked on horse farms.
She lived in Arizona for a few years training horses but eventually came back to Jersey.
Her and my dad met while both working on a horse farm.
My mom found out she was pregnant with me because she fell off a horse and had to go to the hospital.

So needless to say, horses are a ginormous part of my mom's life. I've gone riding quite a few times, in Colorado, Tennessee, Jersey, PA, all over the place. It really is wonderful and horses are beautiful, gentle animals. I can see why people love them. It's also really fun to pretend to be a cowboy while riding LOL However, I am allergic...not to the horses themselves (I recently found out and was shocked about because anything else with fur or feathers I'm allergic to). Everything else around the horses, the hay, the other animals, the fields they live in, I'm allergic to all that and it sucks!
Actually here is a pic of me from this past Labor Day when a bunch of my family went riding together...I made that face in like half the pictures! Oh and I'm not that short, he's a clydesdale!



Anyway, my mom and her boyfriend of 13 years broke up. It was shitty so I won't get into the grimey details. My sister, her sisters and friends...we all pushed her to finally make the move out to AZ. She has gone on vacation the last few years out there to a ranch and made some friends. She was even offered a job as a massage therapist at one of the dude ranches for people on vacation. After much deliberation and what I imagine had to be one of the hardest decisions she ever made, she went. My sister drove out with her (which I will forever be jealous of) and she's been there for about 2 months now.

I miss her SO much!!! I probably mentioned it another time but my mom also worked at the same place as me and I got so used to seeing her everyday. We've been texting and talking on the phone a lot and she's been sending me pics of her new apartment. Of road runners and lizards and cacti and just all the beauty of this new part of her life. I am so incredibly proud of her. It just proves that it is NEVER too late to do what you love in life. It must be so scary for her to be by herself making this drastic change. I told her though, Jessie and I don't "need" her right now. We're grown and live on our own. We aren't getting married or having babies. Right now is the perfect time for her to go. Plus...if she hates it, she can always come home. But she will never have to regret not going or constantly having those nagging "what if..." or "I wish..." thoughts.

She is coming home for Christmas which I'm really happy about. It's just finally starting to sink in that I can't just hop in the car and be at my moms house in less than 30 minutes, or give her a book I think she'd like when I see her at work. I can't ask if I can come over to borrow her printer or if I can store something in the attic because it won't fit in my apartment. I do think that not seeing her on Chrismas would have been exceptionally hard though.

The word 'proud' doesn't really even describe how I feel about her right now. The last few years my mom has dealt with a lot of stuff and put a lot of people before herself.. First there was my accident and she had to help me A LOT, then my Nana (her mom) got really sick and passed away, her boyfriend's father also got sick and passed away, then my Uncle had some struggles of his own that my mom has helped him with. It's just time that she lives her life for herself, after all...it's the only one she's got.

I love my mother to pieces and I miss her so much but I am so glad that she made this giant move in her life!!!


It has inspired me greatly which is what Part Two will be all about...


Jamie

My Afghan is DONE!!

I am so freaking excited that I finished this last night!!! I attached the last row of squares and added the border and she is now resting comfortably on my bed. I will say that I hoped it was going to be a bit bigger, I'm horrible at measurements and things like that. It's the perfect size for a twin bed but gets the job done on my full size. This baby was a labor of love and I am so proud of her!







You can check out the progress of this afghan throughtout a bunch of different posts I did since I started her back in January.

January
January Again
February
April
May
(a few months of no progress)
October

I am so proud of myself that even though it took this long I really stuck with it. I definitely don't want to make anymore granny squares for quite a while. Between that craftster swap, the blogger blanket project and this afghan, I am all grannied out! Although...I do really want some cute granny throw pillows LOL I'll wait on that for a while though. I am now onto starting all the Christmas presents I am going to make this year. Lots of hats and scarves I think.

I also have a ton of stuff to share with you guys...so much has happened in my life over the last month. Like giant stuff!
My mom moved to Arizona.
I quit my job and got a new one (I start Sunday!) that is COMPLETELY different.
I have a new life plan and career goal that I am really looking forward to which also means I am going back to school in January.
Anyway...that is all going to be a post of it's own!

Thanks so much for popping by and checking out my loverly new afghan, have a wonderful weekend friends!

Jamie

Halloween...Finally!

I know it's a few weeks late but because of the stupid snow storm we got over Halloween weekend we had to postpone our party for a week. Saturday we got all dressed up and headed out to Jersey for the 3rd Annual Rolak (Shannon and JP's) Halloween Party.
I was a skeleton, Jeremy was the Tooth Fairy and my sister was a Racoon (she has a thing for woodland creatures).
I cut out and sewed these bones onto the shirt and pants, I even sewed the cracks in my pelvis and attached a screw to the ankle where I still have one in me LOL!! I had so much fun painting my face, I followed a youtube video done by Letzmakeup. Painting my face is one of my favorite parts of Halloween. Please ignore my blue socks!! I don't have any black ones =/





This is Jeremy as the tooth fairy, this was fully his idea and the fact that he wore that tutu all night was pretty amazing!! I made that whole thing out of over 5 yards of 4 different fabrics and 15 yards of 2 different ribbons. It's so pretty in real life but I have no idea what to do with it now!



I hope you all had an awesome Halloween and now I am looking forward to Thanksgiving!!

Jamie

Happy Anniversary!

I won't go into all the sappy details about how Jeremy and I are a match made in heaven or how in love we are or how we met (you can read all that here.) For now I will just say it has been a wonderful 3 years and I am very excited about some of our future plans we've been talking about! I will be sharing the details once the time gets closer...and no it's not THAT! We're planning to get a place together early next year =D



Have a wonderful day friends!

Happy Halloween!!!

Unfortunately we didn't get to dress up this year (yet). As you may have heard or experienced for yourself, the Northeast US got a freaking snow storm this past weekend. I truly thought it was going to be a bunch of hype but I was wrong, dead wrong! Friday night I went to bed pretty late and it was clear as could be out so I was sure everything woukd be fine. However, I woke up Saturday morning to snow...those big, thick, wet snowflakes. The main issue concerning the storm was that with all the leaves on the trees and all this wet snow on top of it, branches and power lines might come down and people would be without power, ugh!
Jeremy came over after work around 12:30 that afternoon. We were eating hoagies and watching The Crazies and talking about how much we wanted it to clear up for the party. Our costumes are awesome, I spent a lot of time on them and the pumpkin I carved was sure to win the contest! While we were talking, as soon as I mentioned that snow and leaf statement the freaking power went out!!! It was a little after 1:00. Jeremy needed to take a nap since he went in to work at 6:00 that morning so I just laid in bed and read all while hoping the party wouldn't be cancelled. But a couple hours later I got a text that the party was cancelled :(
Around 4:30 the power came back on so I quick jumped in the shower. Soon as I had the shampoo on my head, it went out again!! I had enough hot waiter to finish my shower but I have no windows in my bathroom so it was pitch black in there! Jeremy brought in a bunch of candles and took the shower curtain off the rings but kept the clear liner on so I could see. There was also enough hot water for him to shower but I couldn't blow dry my hair! I towel dried it as best I could but I was still freezing!! We were both hungry and our friends who still had power invited us over to play games. Across town still had power so we went to a bar over there, ate and then went to our friends house. Right before we got there half a tree fell on their house!!
Oh and before we left my place Jeremy was cleaning off his car when this chic asked to borrow his phone because her phone died and she needed to get a cab to come take her to work or she'd have to walk...with her little 2 year old daughter!! Being such a good guy Jeremy asked where she worked and offered to drive her. It was literally down the street from where we were going but even if it wasn't we would have taken her, it was horrible out and no cabs were answering.
The bar was packed because so many people were without power. We had fun playing games at Stephen's house and then around 9 we went to another bar to watch the fights. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but...I love UFC!! Watching a bunch of dudes beat the piss out of each other, it's fantastic!! Every month they have fights on pay-per-view so we have to go to the bar to watch it.
I really hoped I'd have power by time we got home but no dice. It was freezing cold in my apt so we lit a bunch of candles and put them on the coffee table next to my bed, it was like sleeping next to a roaring fire Haha!!! It was also one time I was thankful to have a boyfriend who's like a furnace.
We woke up to no power so we decided to go to the diner for breakfast (usually we make breakfast Sunday mornings). The first diner had no power and was closed, 4 others all across town had 45 minute to an hour waits. Cracker Barrel told us it would be 2 hours and 10 minutes and Dunkin Donuts was fresh out of food!! It was complete mayhem!! Finally we tried Manhattan Bagel, their power was out but they could make breakfast sandwiches on their grill still!! We had to eat in the dark but we didn't care! Then we milled around at a giant indoor garage sale to kill a few hours. When we got home, still no power! Jeremy went home to check on his place and pets (he has 2 snakes and a rat) and I just got back in bed and read and slept a bit.
Around 9:00 I was hungry and wanted to see who had power and who didn't. Let me tell you, driving around town with no lights in any houses or businesses and cops directing traffic is kind of creepy. Luckily Wawa had power so I got a sandwich and sat in my car to warm up in the heat, ate and charged my phone and ereader. The electric company said I wouldn't have power til 10:30 Monday night so I just went home, put on lots of layers, tons of blankets on the bed, lit a bunch of candles, got back in bed and read some more. I have no idea what time the power came back on but I fell asleep around 1:30am and it was still out but I woke up around 5am sweating bullets!!
So all in all I was without power for at least 36 hours and the Halloween party was cancelled. Hopefully it will be rescheduled so we can sport our sweet costumes!!
Thanks for reading this novel if you did and I leave you with a picture of (what I think would be our award winning) pumpkin!!



Happy Halloween!!