Tuesday, December 3, 2013

So, November Happened and We're Moving On to December!!

There are a TON of pictures in this post, so considered yourself warned. Each picture has details of what exactly it is. I thought it'd be easier than writing a HUGE thing and then having you look at all of the pictures anyway. :)
I made this! And it's interchangeable. The burlap wreath was super easy to make (I went to a super-Saturday-crafty-day with my hanai [adopted] sister-in-law). I'll put up a picture of the changes I made for Christmas.

This is my submission! My book submission. That's right; I've submitted my book for publication--I'll let you know in 6 months if they want it or not.

I LOVE the Elf on a Shelf Idea, but I don't have the money for an Elf, and they tend to be kind of creepy. So, I made my own. She is still without a name, poor girl. We'll come up with something I'm sure.



Here's Guinevere making out with Ken....oh wait...

Nevermind. She's trying to eat him.
 Thanksgiving:
Gwen spent a lot of time watching the birdies.

I made pies!

Two pies. A Pecan and...

A Chocolate Haupia Pie. Here, I'm mixing the coconut milk, cow milk and sugar with my left hand, and cornstarch and water with my right.

My aunt is going to kill me for putting this picture up, but this is what happened.

Here is Deborah and my aunt preparing for Thanksgiving dinner.

Hi, Grandma! She's making pan [bread]! Oh, how I love my grandmother's bread.
 Black Friday:
Jake and I went and saw one of my best buds, and she had her nephew with her.

Can you find the hidden nephew? He wanted to see the big trucks, but Nelli and I wanted to find somewhere to eat, so Jake volunteered to take him over to see the trucks.
 On the last day of November, my true love gave to me...
A little hanai niece to watch while her parents went on a well-deserved date. Here is Abi. If we're honest, we didn't have to watch her very much. The cat did a pretty good job of keeping her entertained. :) 

You can almost see Gwen thinking "Oh crap! She can get me under here after all!"

Oh this is priceless. This is basically how the whole thing went:
"No, Abi. Be soft. Guinevere, be nice!"

Gwen thought she'd seek refuge in her little house. She was wrong.

Is the kitty in the bathtub? No....

Look, everyone is playing nice.

Abi: "I could have sworn she was right here a second ago!"

Peek-a-boo!

"Gwen seems to like it in here; I think I'll try it."

Abi didn't understand the whole throw-the-ball-so-the-kitty-can-go-and-chase-it thing. She just kept handing Gwen the ball.
 We're finally in DECEMBER!!!
Here's Jake doing the lights. Gwen was so nice. She only sniffed the lights. The naughty came later.

At the same super-Saturday-crafty-day, I made this cute sign. The wooden beads are our "cranberries" for our tree. I love them.

Adding some final touches... and...

Add the star...

Go on, you stupid star!!

We decided to bring the snow inside. :)

Here are the rest of the Christmas decorations I have...

 On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me....
One very naughty kitty cat.
Anyway, so that's what we've been up to. :) I'll be better about blogging....I promise.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Birthdays, and Lego, and Crafts, Oh My!

I was going to post this on my cooking blog, but it's not really cooking; while I've posted crafting things there before, I thought I ought to give you guys an update on how we're doing anyway, so I'll just kill two birds with one stone, and post here. (The best part about that extraordinarily long sentence? Completely grammatically correct.)

So, last you heard we got a cat. We still have her, and she's doing pretty well. She's cuddled her way onto the bed, and still loves a good belly-rub. She 'meows' when we come home and falls onto her back, belly-up. We call this "assuming the position." It translates to "Pet me!"
Purrrrr
We've also since celebrated Jake's 9th 29th birthday! We had a party (it's been 10 years since he last celebrated his birthday with his family). There was a four-hour (yes 4-hour) Lego spaceship-building contest, followed by pizza and pie (with ice cream of course). But was the birthday celebration over yet?! I think not! We spent the next night over at the Jenkins' where there was more pie, and cake, too! Allison and Jake had the experience of sharing their birthday for the first time ever!
Little Miss Tess playing with Lego! (She is a Contor.)



To say "We have a lot of Lego" would be an understatement.


"Happy Birthday, Dear Jake..."

Okay, I know this picture doesn't really have to do with birthdays because Abi wasn't celebrating a birthday, but look at this kid. How could I not put this picture? And, technically, we were at the Jenkins' house for Jake and Allison's birthday when this picture was taken. :)

Abi helping Jake open one of his birthday presents.
"Happy Birthday, Dear Jake and Allison..."

So there are the birthdays and the Lego. Here are the crafts. I made all of these. The first one was inspired by Cherie, who you can find here. The next one was inspired by one of my favorite movies of all time, which I blogged about here. The last one is something I made at a craft-day with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Supply wise, I bought the burlap things (it's just some burlap stapled to a wooden frame) at Walmart ($4 for 2); I also bought the black embroidery floss at Walmart ($0.30). I just drew out a sketch of what I wanted to make on a piece of paper and did it. It took me ages to get my crow just right, but I think he's a pretty cute little dude now. The last project involved a glue gun, some giant googly eyes, gauze, a Q-tip, a brown stamp pad, white paint, a foam brush, and a little wooden block (and a bit of sandpaper to smooth out some rough edges on that block). All of this was provided by the craft-day people, so I have no idea how much it would cost, but, from experience, I can tell you a bit of wood, paint, and some googly eyes don't cost much. If you want more details on how to make anything, just let me know. This is more to show off than instruct. The showing off bit basically consists of "I finally have Halloween decorations, and I MADE THEM!" and we're done with that. :)



Monday, September 9, 2013

1 + 1 + 1 = 3

We've decided to add a new little member to our family. For those of you who don't know, she walks on four legs, not two....and she'll walk on four legs her entire life. No, folks. It's not a baby; it's a KITTEN!!

Her name is Guinevere, and she is adorable. Here's a picture, and the story of how this furball came into our lives.

(I told you she's adorable). So Friday morning I get a text from my sister-in-law; she says they've found five kittens on their porch, do I want them? Like she had to ask, of course I wanted them! Then, I remembered our pet-to-family-member ratio rule, and said I'd take one--I don't know that Jake would have appreciated two kittens all at once. Well, one kitten worked out because one was all they were able to catch.

Jake and I went over to their house a little after one--right after I got picked up from school--and we saw her. I had told Jake on the way over to their house that we might want to take it (we didn't know the gender of the kitten at the time) to a shelter, and Jake wisely said, "You'll want to keep it as soon as you touch it."

Yes. Yes I did. But how could I not? Look at her!

So, let me tell you a little bit about Guinevere. She's roughly three months old (but maybe younger). She loves to have her belly rubbed, and will only allow you to take a good picture of her if she's out cold (as you may have noticed); otherwise, she's sit sweetly posed for the camera and just as you push the button she moves and becomes a blur. I have many blurring pictures as evidence. She's mostly grey, but has white on her paws, and belly. Her chin is also white except her goatee-patch, which is grey. Her arch-nemesis is any curtain hanging in our house. She will spontaneously attack the bottom of the curtain--the only part she can reach--and bite. Her little claws will flail in the air, and then she'll fall down. Although we've provided, if I do say so myself, a nice and clean place for her to drink water, she seems to prefer getting her paws wet and drinking water out of our bathtub--to each her own, I guess. She also likes to knead. She kneads everything, but her specialty is the general crotch area.
Jake is guarding himself from her overwhelming desire to knead.
 Guinevere also loves to get her belly rubbed (she's a cat, I promise). She purrs like a madwoman, and meows like a mouse. Seriously, it's really sad and really funny at the same time. She doesn't really meow; it's more like a squeak. Sometimes she meows and no sound comes out at all! Her favorite sleeping places are anywhere we are, and under the bed--usually near or on my yoga mat, as shown in the next picture.
All in all, she's a dear, and we're happy to have her. She seems pretty happy to have us, too. :)