Hello Again..

I'm back. (So soon?... :P) I don't have much to blog about, project-wise. I have been working on my projects. Just haven't taken any pictures of them.. (How many pictures can I take, really?..:P) I got a new rooster tea pot, at the Dollar Store. It wasn't actually a dollar. I think it was $1.79. (It's the "Dollar *Plus*" store, not just a dollar...) Still, a good price. And it's a rooster. They had other rooster stuff, too. A thingy (?) you put your spoon on to not get the counter dirty. (? What is that called?) Salt & Pepper Shakers, a sugar bowl. I forget what else. Oh, a napkin holder. I just got the tea pot though. I've used it a couple times already. For my new favorite tea: Chai. Yummy. My favorite is Bigelow brand, and decaf. Cuz I like to drink it at night. I'm becoming obsessed with it. Probably not good to drink tea w/ sugar in it at night. But... It's better than other stuff I could be eating or drinking, I guess. I'm on a diet, by the way.. Which reminds me, Um... I have been on a diet since last Saturday. I have GAINED a pound. (I bought a scale on Saturday, finally...) My husband, who isn't counting calories or measuring food, cuts out beer and junk food at night and loses SIX pounds???!!!!!!! UGH!!!!!!!! What is up with that? I've been walking, drinking tons of water, being hungry... :( I want to give up. (But I'm not going to.) That just made me so mad.

Anyway... (Still mad, thinking about it... LOL) I tried to make some liquid soap. ? Don't ask me why I made liquid soap.. lol I am not really a "soap making" person.. (Even though technically you aren't making the soap with this..) I get the Frugal Living Guide emails. One of the latest emails had a section on making your own liquid soap.

I started thinking how my 7 year old likes to put pieces of soap in cups and make "potions" when he is in the bath tub. And also how I have all those billion little pieces of soap I can't bear to throw away just sitting in my soap dish (sigh)... I thought they would be perfect to make this with. I thought this would be a "fun" project to do with the 7 year old. (Even though he watched for like two seconds then ran off to play..) Well, I cut all the little pieces up, and started making the soap. It wasn't getting thick at all. So. I got a piece of soap out that was about half gone; and shredded it up. It got thick all right. I added more water and it seemed like just the right consistency (sp?). (It took me ALL morning, btw... Not "ten" minutes..) I put it in the (used) liquid soap dispenser. It got all thick and hard inside there (it thickens up later). Well then our 18 year old added some more water. Now it is just right. So. I just thought I would blog about it... :P For something to blog about. (See our lovely counter with no tiles on the side?...) Home project #73... (Still not done..) Ugh. Don't get me started on that. Let's just say, the landlord said he would give us money off the rent if we did some of the work around here. Well some of the tiles were missing (the previous owners had dogs who apparently chewed some of the tiles off?... Yeah.). The island was the worst. So we took off all the tiles (to use on the other counters w/ missing pieces), and are going to use wood trim all around the island.

Anyway. We (I should say, our son) got another new hamster. (No more after this!!!) It's a Russian Dwarf Hamster. (Girl) Her name is Oak. It sounds cooler in RL. :P She is SO cute!! She makes the other two hamsters look like Guinea Pigs. And the guy in the pet store (? it's more of a Feed Store w/ supplies and all kinds of pets...) said she is full grown. Mia has gotten a lot bigger since we got her. I think she was still a baby when we got her. She is getting more friendly and cute, too.

This was when we first brought Oak home in the box.

Our son was brushing her fur. (Old toothbrush) :P

We took her to my 7 year olds class to show them. (In the cage, of course..) All the kids loved her. I didn't know I was going to be a guest speaker for the class... :P They all sat on the floor and asked me questions. I didn't know I was an expert on hamsters, either. ;) Some of the questions I said "I don't know" then gave my opinion on why I thought it was... :P Then Eli got her out and brought her around to each child to pet (with ONE finger, the teacher said :P)... It was kinda fun doing that. (Eli was sick that day, btw... Sore throat/cold... I know, we shouldn't have gone to a classroom full of 1st graders when he was sick..) Well now the 7 year old has it. :( They have been sick ever since they started school! Sigh...

Tomorrow I get to go to the DMV (AGAIN!!)... Our 18 year old is supposed to get his drivers license. (AGAIN)... He better pass the test is all I have to say..

One last thing, I notice in some of my posts that I have 7 comments. When I click on the comments, I only see 3 or 4... I don't know what is up with that.. I hope I don't have a virus on my blog or something. (I am a computer dummy..)

Bad Blogger

I know, it's been a long time. Almost a month. I have been SO busy... I don't even know where to begin. I put my two younger kids back in school about four weeks ago (?).. Don't ask me *why* I put them back in school almost a month before school gets out. But, I had had it. The 13 year old is doing pretty good with it. He wanted to go back to school. (And he needed it. He needs a structured schedule..) The 7 year old did great the first week. He even got a sore throat and still wanted to go to school. (It was "Crazy Hat Day"). The second week (and ever since!!) is not going so well. Separation Anxiety. (Sigh) Every morning, "Can I stay? (home)" "My throat hurts" (Well, his throat did hurt that first week, and strep throat was going around... So I worried..) Then, this morning, "My head and stomach hurt". (Oh, new symptoms?...) I said, "Well if your stomach and head still hurt in a couple hours, tell your teacher, and I will come get you".. (The first couple weeks, that worked.) Well the school health aide called me a little after noon "Eon has a fever of 101". :( I felt so horrible!! I went and got him. Anyway~~ It has been a hectic last few weeks. Besides putting the two younger ones in school, our oldest got a full-time job. :0 He had to start at 7. Our 13 year old starts school at 7. So. I had to drop them both off at the same time and drive 60 miles in between. Yeah. Well, I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning, in order to get out the door by 10 to 6. Drop the 18 year old off at work by 6:30, turn around, drop the 13 year old off at school. Then wait an hour in between. Drop the 7 year old off. It sounds WAY too easy here. He isn't working there anymore (looooong story). So now I only have to get up at 5:30. (yaaaay...) I actually should be in bed right now. 7 am feels like sleeping til 10 now, on the weekend. LOL Anyway. That's where I have *been* the last month. The picture is of some raisin scones I made recently. And lemon curd. Been able to bake a little more, with the kids in school. When I am not running around doing errands or helping in the class, or cleaning... I feel busier now than I did before.. I guess I need to update my blogger profile eh since I'm not homeschooling them, eh?.. Anyway. All these pictures are not in the right order. I don't even know what order they would go in. So.. :P

This is a package I got for a scrubbie swap. I also got a red scrubbie. (I don't know what happened to the picture I took of it..) :D

This is a package I sent a while back. "Tag & Silly Swap". Sorry the picture is a little blurry. Just random things.

I wanted to make a cupcake tea cozy, or *something*. I ended up (looong story short) making up a cupcake hot pad. :D This one I made in acrylic. I actually have only made the one. Here is a picture of it hopefully you can see a little better. It's on my pattern blog. :)

Here is a picture (I hope I didn't already post about this, I'm almost positive I didn't, but...) of the "Mauve" skirt I started. I haven't worked on it in a long time.

I got some fabric to do the lining. (I have NO idea how I am going to do it. I got a pattern, but... My sewing machine is broken. So don't ask me how I am going to sew it together?...)

And last but not least, the project I have most recently been working on. It's about half way done, I would say. My shalom cardigan vest. :D I got past the armholes. Now it's just straight knitting. I'm so excited about it. I tried it on and already love it. I hope it turns out as good as I think it will. (And I hope I have enough yarn and don't have to buy yet another dye lot to finish it...) :/ I am making a trip nearby a Michaels next week (oldest sons' driving test...) and I will be sure to stop at Michaels..

Well that's the very short version of the last month... (Minus the stress and irritating trip to the DMV--twice!! And still not getting my sons drivers license... Which explains the trip next week...) Hopefully it won't be so long in between this post and my next. :)