Another Birthday Card

 

I wasn't going to, but then I did... I made a birthday card for my husband, too. 🙅  

I made this part, first. I saw it on You Tube. After sticking the white part to the light blue part, I thought... "I can't just leave the front blank." So I went on Pinterest. And I thought this card would be funny. And a "guy" card... I hand wrote "Oldometer", I didn't feel like getting all my letter stamps out.... 

The "gift" foldout part inside. I thought it came out okay. I don't think I've ever made my husband a card before. But, when you are broke....  And you make cards...  🙅  So I made them both their birthday cards this year. I made a Christmas card for our middle son and his wife, last year, too. I saved probably $10 making their birthday cards. 😝

Cowboy Birthday Cake

I forgot that I had finished the card for our son, for his birthday... I still need to write inside. He will probably care less. I don't know why I made it. 💁 He really likes cowboy hats and boots, though. Matter of fact, he just bought a new cowboy hat yesterday. 

This is the cowboy boot cake, before I frosted it (we had to go to the store, and get frosting. No way am I making the frosting, too.. LoL)  I just used one 9x13 cake.  I used almost the whole pan. Cutting the pieces to make the "boot"...

This is how I decorated it. I was going to write happy birthday on it. But, I didn't want to ruin it. It already was nerve wracking enough for me... Eon said "It's cool." So, I guess it was a win.  (Maybe he will think the card is "cool", too?.. I was going to write something about cowboy boots and birthdays, inside..)   This will probably be the last "theme" cake I make for birthdays. Unless I ever get a grandbaby..  😁

And, I looked yesterday to see if I printed out the Tychus Hat pattern. I couldn't find it anywhere. So, I sat there in front of the computer and knitted... I could NOT figure out what the heck I was doing... It did not make sense to me. 🙄 So I put it away for later. I know I knitted one before! And I said I loved it... What the heck is wrong with me? 😣  I was upset that I am really losing my mind. Well, I went back to it later. And I realized that I wasn't reading the pattern right. (This is a big problem with me.. LoL) "Oh, I know what they are talking about..." Run off with what I think they mean... That wasn't it..  I was knitting with one color. Then turning, and I was thinking "Do I have to carry the other color? The whole row? How did I do this before? It's a pain! How did I 'love this'?"....  I forgot the rest of the row- after turning, knit to the end. DUH...    So I figured it out.  I do love this pattern.  These are one of the "team" colors I was thinking about doing. (Or, if someone just likes green and white?)  One half of a wedge. 

Then I kept knitting... And finished the wedge. The first hat I knitted (19 years ago!), I just used one strand of yarn (the pattern says to use two strands held together). And, it fits my husband (he still has it, we got it out yesterday- I wanted to look and see what I was doing wrong, lol). He says it's a little big on him, even. I don't know... 🙅Maybe I should compare it to the hat I finished..  

~That's all for now~

Leftover Wizardry and Yarn Chicken

Or should I say Frugal Chef? Frugal Gourmet? Or, using up what leftovers there are/food we have, to make something new for dinner? I had some leftover penne pasta in the fridge.. I woke up Friday, and I usually start thinking not long after I wake up, "What am I going to make for dinner?... "  I was kind of in the mood for soup. So I started googling soup recipes with pasta, and I remembered, "I have spinach in the freezer!"

After  wracking my brain, using most of my remaining brain cells, and looking through my recipes in my file, and online, I found a recipe for Italian Wedding Soup. I didn't have frozen meatballs. I used some italian sausage we had and just left bigger pieces, to resemble meatballs. 🙅 I cut the penne pasta into thirds, to more resemble ditalini pasta.

I also had four pieces of Texas Toast garlic bread in the freezer. Ugh... The things I do to save money/not waste food/just make dinner... Wears me out. The recipe I used Italian Wedding Soup Recipe.

I somehow finished the hat I was working on, and look how much I had left. Yarn Chicken, won. 🐔🧶I do have the other skein, I will probably cut  a long piece off that to sew the top up. I was thinking about knitting a hat, next. I've been in the mood to knit, lately. I don't know why. Not going to question it.. 😝 I was thinking about doing "team" hats, and I thought, "What about that Tychus Hat  I knitted a long time ago?"  Why is wracking my brain about patterns to use not so bad as what to make for dinner? 😄 I decided that hats for the infusion center will be my "Car Project". I always go to appointments and I text my husband, "I am way too early, I should have brought my knitting or crocheting"...  And, I keep saying, "I need to put a bag in the car with a project in it for times like these.." But by the time I get home from my appointment (and usually going to at least one more place), I forget. I will have to see if I ever printed out the Tychus Hat pattern. (I think I did.) That will be my "Car Project". We also go for "Long Boring Drives" sometimes...  

Last night, we had "Leftover Night" for dinner. Since I didn't have to make dinner, I thought I would make their birthday cake. I will save that for another post. The cake is done, I just need to frost it/decorate it.

Boring Post...

Well, I didn't take any hats up to the infusion center when I went for my appointment yesterday. 😔 I only have three hats, plus this one I am working on. It looks funny on the middle right, it was just the way it was laying. I was worried I might run out of yarn for it, then (when I was looking for yarn for the sock I posted about last time) I found another skein just like it. So I don't have to worry about running out or having to go get any more. I love that color/varegiation.   I have another appointment next month, so hopefully I will have a couple/few more by then to take with me. I was thinking about doing some in team colors: maize and blue, and green and white. Even though I don't like the green and white team... Actually I don't get into any sports. But, some people going through chemo might like either team, and I was thinking more for guys, because all the hats I saw on the cart were "girly". One time when I took hats in, the woman who took them said, "We have someone who makes hats for us." (Like she doesn't want mine...) It bothered me. Then yesterday I was thinking, "What if SHE is the one who makes the hats, and doesn't want anyone to 'rain on her parade' type of thing..."  I don't know. I'll still make hats. I probably won't be doing it for very long, so she won't have to worry. Who knows when we will move again, and I won't be going there as much, after my next appointment.  

I frogged the sock I posted about last.😓 I couldn't find any of the colors of yarn I had done the stripes in. I can't do a second sock the same, if I don't have the yarn any more. I seriously need to start ONE project and do only that project until it is finished....  I have had a problem with this since forever... 🙄 So, I am trying to finish some other projects before I start anything with the new variegated yarn I got. (HA~ Wish me luck.)

It has been raining for about five days now. We were "in a drought" for a while. So I guess it's good. But it's making my allergies worse!!! 😭

~That's all for now~

 

Happy Fall

Today is the first day of Fall. And it was raining all morning. Happy Crappy First Day of Fall. But, we do need the rain. We've (allegedly) been under a drought. 

I went to Dollar General this morning (the only store in town other than gas stations and Frank's-which is WAAAAAYYYYYYYY too expensive-I don't even know how they stay open, it's highway robbery.) Anyway I needed to get toilet paper, and some other things. Then I went to the library and put my book in the drop box. Then I said, "I'm going to Walmart by myself..." I have been wanting to go there to get a wallet for my husband for his birthday. His wallet got all wet (leather) and is ruined, and he said "I need a new wallet". But he said he wanted one that just folds over once. (A bi-fold wallet). And they had some there. Well, I can't ever resist going to the yarn aisle you know... I saw this skein and I thought "That just looks like 'Fall'." I should crochet a pumpkin with it. I don't know. 

~Happy Fall~

Are You Sitting Down?...

... I cleaned out and (kind of) organized my sock bin. Alert the press...  I know. It's epic. It was a MESS, though. And I would get irritated every time I would go to get a pair of socks out. Why do I have a bin for my socks, you ask? Because I didn't have enough room in my dresser. I used to have a sock drawer. I don't know what happened. (Look at how many pairs of socks I have, that's what happened...LoL) Now that I cleaned out my dresser because nothing fits me, I should re-organize/put some away for summer, and make a sock drawer again maybe. Or not. The bin just goes under the bed so I don't care.

These are all my socks I knitted. 😁 Literally none of them go with anything I own, though.  The grey with blue heel socks did, but our son doesn't work there anymore and that shirt doesn't fit me anymore. Sigh...  Maybe I should take all my socks with me to the mall and find a shirt that would match these socks. 😂 "Crazy lady, women's clothing.." Oh. I do have a top that would go with the gold socks. But, that's not actually my color... 

This is a pair I have started, that I specifically started because (see above) none of my socks really go with anything. I put a bunch of "fall colors" in this....  (Sigh...) I started this in November 2023 for a Sock-A-Long. Yeah. I still haven't finished it. And, I have no idea where any of the yarn I was using for this sock is, anymore, either! 😭It's the Ann Norling Basic Sock pattern, though. I know that.  I forgot about that sock group I am in. It's on Facebook, "What the Heel-Sock Knitting". It used to be more active, but it hasn't been very active lately.  

New Puppy Niece

One of my brothers got a new puppy. She is a six month old Pit mix. He named her Sadie. I think she is beautiful. I kind of feel sorry for her, though... (He lives in a tiny hotel right now..) I'm kind of surprised the shelter let him adopt a dog, when he lives in a hotel. But at least she's not in a tiny cage at the shelter, with 100 other barking dogs. 

He sent me a message last night asking if I make dog snow shoes. 😂 I haven't ever made any, and technically I probably could. Then I started looking for patterns for them... 

DIY Dog Paw Protectors

                                                        How To Crochet Dog Shoes video

                                                                     Fleece Dog Boots

                                                           There's a couple/few... I think the fleece booties would probably be the best ones, because I don't think crocheted booties would last very long, or be vcry much protection from wet or snow. They would be better than nothing. But... They also wouldn't last long. In my opinion. Also, I can't measure Sadie's paws, try them on as I go... And, I would have to mail them... I HATE the post office...   Sigh. I told him to go to PetSmart, or order online. If I lived there, I would probably crochet her some. But...      Maybe I could crochet some for Jaxson. 😂 (He would not like them.)  Elsie has some that our son bought her. She does pretty good in them, after a few minutes of goose stepping. Dogs in Boots video. Elsie looks like the dog at 1:02. 

 

Today's Letter of the Day is C

I watched a YouTube video yesterday, the creator does live streams on Wednesdays. But I can never keep up..  This live stream was a card challenge, with circles. Make a card with circles in it. Or a tag. Then do hashtag card challenge. Don't ask me why I made it with the flower and the gem dots. It will cost over $5 to send in the mail now... (Sigh..) It was so empty though. It still looks empty to me. 

I also finished a hat for the Chemo/Infusion Center. I just grabbed some yarn that was soft-ish (it's an O-

go skein), and I did the Delaney hat. But I didn't do the curly q's on top. I also chained five extra to make it a little longer, and I did a couple extra rows. So it would be a little bigger. Not everyone has a small head. Maybe this could go to a man doing chemo. I only have three hats so far to take next week. I better get busier... 

And, I colored in and did ? the squiggly lines around the edge of the cowboy boot stamp for my son's birthday card. I got some grey cardstock last night. I hate having to buy a whole pack, just for one color. But, now I have a lot more cardstock to make cards with. 😷 

Actually, I like a lot of the colors of cardstock in this pack. And I will use all of them. Who knew Meijers had cardstock other than just white? 

Circle Card Challenge/Chemo hat/Cowboy/Cardstock..... The letter of the day is C. LoL

Makers Gonna Make...

 

I bought some stationery a while ago at Goodwill. I thought it was kind of "Fall" ish, and I have been using it to write letters recently. Well this morning I was thinking if I had any stickers or anything to make the envelope "matching". Then I thought, "What about that leaf/ivy stamp I've had FOREVER?"... And I made a "matching" envelope..

A close-up. I was thinking to just do the ivy, then I thought, "Oh yeah! I could color 'behind' the ivy a tannish color"..  I think it turned out cool. I'll probably do a few more of these.

This is the stamp. It's one of the very first stamps I ever got. I've only used it a few times, ever. Sometimes it pays to think. 😝

I've been wanting to stamp the cowboy boot stamp, since I got it. But then (because it's Pumpkin Spice season, maybe?) I thought, "What about a Pumpkin Spice Latte Coffee Cup card?"...  I got out my coffee cup stamps and pumpkin stamp, too. This stamp, on the wood part, is black and red. But, I thought, "What if I use a brown ink stamp, and colored it in orange?" 😁☕

I kind of wanted to put the pumpkin ON the coffee cup, where the band is. But, it looks too big...  Hmmm...  (UGH....)  I will try and figure something out. I wonder what ever happened to these napkins I had? (The pumpkin napkins, of course..) I wish I still had them, it would be perfect to make an envelope for the card I come up with for these stamps.. I highly doubt the dollar store where we live now has ANY good napkins. Either one. There's two. And I really highly doubt my husband wants to go to a bunch of dollar stores today. On his one day off....   😞

And my first stamp of the cowboy boots. I don't know what colors I will color it in. Probably red for the star, since the bandana paper is red. And probably brownish for the boots.

I'm glad I took a picture of my clean desk, because it's getting messed up again.... 😭

Did you know that today is National Coloring Day?  And National Rubber Stamp Day is September 26th. I will have to participate then. I did color the coffee cup stamp, and I am working on the pumpkin now...   For some reason, I am craving a Pumpkin Spice Latte...  😁 Pumpkin Spice Day is October 1st. I think it's whatever day you want it to be.. My son bought some Pumpkin Spice ground coffee, my husband found in the cabinet the other day. Maybe I will go make some and color some more. Here's a simple recipe for a homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte. I haven't tried it but maybe I will.

Yesterday was International Crochet Day. I didn't know, Thank God for Facebook... 😏  I wasn't really thinking about crocheting. But...

Then I saw a cute Halloween Ghost Heart Ornament pattern in the Halloween CAL I am in. Well, I guess I'm "in" it, now... Since I actually crocheted a thing from it. I don't really like any of the other patterns, though. But I thought this one was cute. I did the flower purple, because I don't have any "orange" crochet thread (unbelievably, with all the thread I got from my Aunt's Estate Sale). I have some "light coral"? I had to use to embroider the mouth. I don't have any ghost, or Halloween buttons. So.. This is what I have. I have NO idea what I'm going to do with this now, though.... (Sigh.)  I guess I'll have to find somewhere to hang it. So, I got two birds with one stone. International Crochet Day and a CAL. Hee hee..... 

My Purple People Eater is in Time Out for now. 

I also baked some muffins yesterday morning... Banana Chocolate Chip.  

This is my cowboy boots stamp I had ordered. 😁

It looks brand new! I was surprised. I got it off eBay. This is the card I saw on Pinterest, that I want to try and copy. But with "Happy Birthday" instead of "Hello Friend". I was thinking about trying to start the card yesterday, But I baked and crocheted instead. 

I mentioned in a previous post that I was working on my Purple People Eater....  After all it took to sit down and crochet, I did the second foot wrong. 😭 I do not understand the instructions. Maybe it would help if I only worked on one project at a time. 

See? The back of the foot is sticking out the front. Ughhhhhhhh....   I got disgusted and put it away for now.   

My cowboy boots stamp is scheduled for "early" delivery (even though I don't know why it would take almost a month to get here in the first place, it's not coming here from Australia or across the world..). It should be here in three days. Even though it originally said it would be here tomorrow, I got another email saying the 11th. Whatever. It's better than the 23rd. 

Yesterday, I was waiting for my husband to get ready (we were going to go to Walmart for a few things), and I was like, "I'm just going to clean the glass on the hutch"...  

Ewwwwwwwww.....  Can you see why I wanted to clean it? That's from years and years of smoking. I doubt it was ever cleaned (the glass, I mean). I don't know, maybe it was. I still need to do the inside of the glass, too. Which reminds me, we were going to get Murphy's Oil Soap.  I always forget something when I go to the store. LoL... 

Halloween Gnome Luminary

I went upstairs today and while I was up there, I thought "I should see if I can find some peach and grey yarn for that gnome..." After taking the whole yarn bin down and fixing it so it wasn't leaning and making the drawers impossible to close (ugghhhh..), I found the peach yarn in a bag somewhere else. I did find the grey yarn in the bottom bin, though. 😁 Then I thought I would work on it...  I made a cup of tea and tried to relax... 

Then I fnished it. Woo Hoo. I used the Gnome Luminary Crochet Pattern, but I did it in "Halloween" colors.

The side. That's the yarn I bought wanting to make something "Halloweeny" with. I still have almost the whole skein left, too. I don't know what else to make with it, except maybe a Gnome Scarf. Incidentally it is by the same person who created this gnome luminary.. I really like this one SewCraftyMom did.

And yesterday, I finished the yellow hat. These will go in the chemo hat pile for next time I go up to the hospital. The one on the left is the Basic Turban Crochet Pattern. The yellow one is the Delaney Hat. Which is no longer available online. 😞 That's one of those times where I was glad I printed the pattern out. (We usually don't have any printer ink-story of our lives..)   I was trying to work on my Purple People Eater doll, the other day. Well, I got the heel part done. Then I sat down to work on it some more a couple days ago, and I noticed the heel is on backwards. 😕  Uggghhh... (That was when I decided to do the Halloween Gnome Luminary.)  

I did decorate a little, for autumn. (See my autumn table runner? 😁I got a napkin holder last year, too. I'll have to take pictures of more things..)   

Well my husband got home from work early and I think we are going to go grocery shopping in a bit so I better go get ready. I want to get some Halloween candy to put in the Halloween Gnome jar. 😁

Bathroom Stuff...

I should say, "Basement Bathroom Stuff". Uggghhh..... Where do I even begin? (And I did not have to do any of this work-thank God, or I would be back in the hospital..) My husband tore the shower out of the basement bathroom. We have a "Michigan Basement", in case you couldn't tell... One of those rocks fell out of the wall and the side of the shower was bulging out. My husband fixed it, and went and got a shop vac and vacuumed behind the rock wall and the retaining wall? (The cement wall that makes up the basement.) The people who lived in this house before us had cats (we do, too, but..) and they would come down in the basement (to catch mice, no doubt- we have had a mouse problem here since we moved in-although it is getting a lot better). Well there was a hole up on the drywall (I don't even know...) The cats would get in there, in the crawl space, and go back there and pee. There was dirt I don't even know how high up. My husband vacuumed out I don't know how much of it, and mixed up some cement and put it on top of the remaining dirt. 🤷 We had used the shop vac (which broke since) and vacuumed, and mopped with ZEP. Well my husband poured the last of it on the remaining dirt in there, and it doesn't smell any more. There was just a whiff of it when it was humid, or once in a while..

What a mess... Then he had to put the shower back in. This is the lovely shower. 🙄 There isn't even a shower head. This shower was soooo dirty when we moved in. Dirt, leaves... I don't even know. We never use it, but I still cleaned it because... Ewww

I took this picture a while ago-you can see the different colored dry wall. That top piece wasn't even there, and that's where the cats were getting in. It's all unfinished and I hate it.

So, don't ask me why I crocheted a toilet paper cover for this bathroom... 😂 This is my Victorian Rose TP Cover pattern. I used a G hook, and I actually had to rip it all out and use an H hook, and it worked perfect. 

I texted my husband, "Now we really need to finish the basement bathroom, I decorated". 😂 I think I've lost my mind..  I forgot about this one I made!  The one here, would go better with the very first bathroom shower curtain/reason I made one to begin with. (? I don't know what I just said..?) I am going to try and find a picture of that bathroom, and the original one...

This is another thing I crocheted for the basement bathroom, when our middle son and his (now) wife came out two summers ago. I didn't know if we would have to use the downstairs bathroom, or not.... It's a Q-tip holder.  Maybe I will just go get some paint and start painting in there. I hate it so much. I don't even know what to do with this under the staircase.. Maybe my husband could put some drywall up there at least.  This house is 125 years old. I guess I should be "happy" there's an extra bathroom downstairs.