I'm a planner.

And I'm planning my crafty 2012.  I'm gonna need you all to hold me what I'm about to say. 

I WANT TO DO A FEW 12 IN '12 CRAFTS.  I want to do a 12 inch crochet granny square each month.  I want to do an 18 inch quilt block each month (if I can find them....I may have to settle for 12 inch blocks).  I want to make a potholder each month (crochet, knit, or sew, just a potholder).  I want to make a state star quilt -- this one will need to be like, 12/13 blocks a month which seems like a lot so this may (will) get edited. 

Things I know:

1- I will need support.  Y'all are gonna have to ask me how I'm doing!

2- I will need to keep track, so probably on the first/last day or the month there will be an update post.  Again, I will need to figure out how I want to do this.

3- I'm about 99% certain that if this works I will be spending the majority of my 2013 finishing all of the projects hahaha

Anyone want to this along with me? :)

Bookworm Wednesday!

Better late than never right?  :)

Alright.  Imagine you are a mom.  Imagine you are a mom with some dibilitating psychological issues.  Now..imagine your children become best-selling authors writing about how you raised them.  How would you react?  How would reflect on those years?  Would you feel the need to write your own book?  Well, Margaret Robison, the mother of Augusten Buroughs & John Elder Robison, did....and her book is moving and unbelievably heartbreaking & almost beautiful at the same time.  It is quite haunting.  And, as someone that has been "manic depressive" for years, this book touched a chord I wasn't expecting it to.

Psychology?

I've gotten "psychology?" with a definite change in the voice often the last few days.  How in the world was I supposed to draw a line from working in a bank for more than six years to the strong desire to analyzing people's minds?  Each time I answered it sounded something like this: "I want to help kids, I want to help them get through tough times & losing loved ones & dealing with physical disabilities."  And you know what?  Each of them five-ish times I said that answer, I felt more like it was what really was deep in my heart & what I *WILL* do someday. 

Hiiiiiiii!

I've been neck-deep in interview stuff this week/weekend so I've been mia everywhere.  Today, though, I'm trying to destress a little and take some time to breathe before tomorrow morning.  So.....I'm spending cuddle time with El on the couch.

Bookworm Wednesday! (v.19?)

Gosh, I really need to keep better track of these version numbers! Ha!

Phillippa Gregory is an author that writes some of my favorite historical fiction.  It is a genre that I love and she's, in my opinion, one of the better writes in it because she writes in a way that feels like she's a friend telling you a story.  I found her via The Other Boleyn Girl and have since devoured everything I could find!  I haven't read this one quite yet since it is a newer purchase but the back description includes: 1920's music halls, finding yourself after deep hardships, and romance.  Yep, just about everything I like!  Haha. I'm really excited to get into it but I have a couple other books I'm in the middle of first.

(In other news....my bestie needs warm wishes tomorrow around 7am and I need warm wishes Monday around 10am -- mine is for an assessment test/interview for a job I really want, and I had a dream last night the guy interviewing me was wearing jeans and asked me things like what's my favorite picture saved to my phone right now [a pic of B and me was my answer!].  Then he asked to see it.  Yep, I'm kinda freaking out!)

My weekend.

It was spent in front of my sewing machine (with the exception of some time spent with my bestie and B).  Why?  So that I could breathe some life into this: etsy.com/shop/scarlettkey 

Visit.  Let me know what you think! <3

Elroyb update, day 9

Sorry I missed Bookworm Wednesday guys!  I spent most of the day with El.

Yesterday ended up being worse than it started out.  I took off for errands around 12, he hadn't eaten much if anything at that point, but I left his food out.  When I got home after 2 the puking started....and lasted until 3-ish.  I'm quite immune to him puking at this point but it is far from pretty when it happens.  When I went to bed around 1230 (I laid in bed with him until like 3 just watching him....) there was still some food left in his bowl.  When I got up at 9, he wasn't really pushing me to wake up, but when I said 'food' he meowed like he was hungry.  There wasn't anything left in his bowl so he must have eaten in the night sometime.  I gave him about 2/3rds of his normal amount of food which he promtply ate.  Good sign!  Then we curled up on the couch and I fell back asleep (more on that later....) until like 1.  That put a huge wrench in my to-do list plans!  Anyways, he was meowing around 230 for food so I gave him a little bit.  Around 615/630 he really started meowing for food like normal so I gave him a full scoop of dry food (what he would normally get in the morning) instead of canned food since this was my test day on if that's making him sick.  The test will be tomorrow.  If he's funky and sick tomorrow then I'm not sold on the canned-food-is-bad thing.  However - he hasn't gone potty today.  At all.  So, if he eats, but isn't going potty, what's the issue?  I guess we'll see what happens tomorrow....

Elroy update, day 8(?)

Yesterday was great with El!  He woke me up for breakfast!  He started bugging me for food around 5 like always!  He PLAYED!!!!!!!!!  Then today happened.  I gave him about 3/4 of his normal amount of dry food (I've been slowly increasing the amount I give him if he eats the previous meal), he walked away with over half of it left in the bowl.  Seriously?  I haven't seen him drink anything either.

I've been trying to take away/add things in to his jacked routine to see if something is making him sick.  The consistent thing that is there before he spends a day sickly?  His canned cat food.  Is there some kind of issue with Friskie's canned food that I don't know about?  The only recall I saw on their website was for their dry food that he doesn't eat.  I guess I will wait and see if he eats the rest of his food at some point today.

Randoms.

I have never tried a twinkie.  Deep fried or otherwise.

With the exception of walking to/in public places, I'm almost *always* barefoot.  I drive barefoot.  I use my sewing machine pedal barefoot.  When I was a kid, I could write with my foot. 

I'm obsessed with organizing.  The house I grew up in was messy (with three caaaa-razy kids my mom couldn't keep up!) so now my apartment is filled with organizational bins, baskets, and boxes.  And everything has its place -- even if I forget where that place might be.

The smell of bananas make me sick.  So does the smell of chocolate fudge.  And cherry/berry kool-aid.  When I was a kid if I was sneaking food stuff my mom would buy/make a bunch and let me gorg myself until I threw up.  I blame her.

I also used to be afraid I'd get hungry/thirsty in the middle of the night.  BUT, since I shared a room with my very light sleeper of a sister I couldn't get up to go to the kitchen.  My solution?  Hide food/drinks in/under my bed & sheets.  I still do this.  There are snacks in my nightstand and there is always a bottle of water on the floor next to my side of the bed.  (Side note- my dad caught me taking food to my room last time I was at th farm and said: guess things never changed.  Then laughed at me)

I was destined to work with money somehow.  The toys I always wanted as a kid was the fake money and Monopoly games.  Either that or I will hold out until I can marry rich. ;)

My dad is a veteran, ex-cop, ex-chief of police, and gunsmith....but I once wrote a three page essay on why all firearms should be taken from people in the world.  He didn't talk to me for days & still gets a twitch when I mention it. 

Also, my dad was the mayor of the town I grew up in.  I can remember playing in the court house that used to be an opera house -- so there were tons of nooks and crannys and old jail cells to play in the same place.

Elroy update, day 6

Saturday evening El ate some more food, drank the tiniest bit of water, and I slept on the couch with him.  Sunday he drank early, and ate some dry food three different times (I even kept track of how many pieces via Twitter!).  Sunday evening I offered him some food out of a new can....he ate most of it then walked away and went back after a few minutes.  Later, I heard his tummy rumble.  Even though I was worried, I slept in my room instead of on the couch.  He slept with me just fine.  My sister called at like 8-ish this (Monday) morning to go into depth about his test results which all came back fine.  I went back to sleep, and when I finally woke up again around 930 I realized El wasn't clamoring for food.  First thought?  Are we seriously going through this again?!?!?!  I had just told me sister that he was eating fine!!!!!  I moved to the living room after getting dressed and put some food in his bowl in a way that I would notice if he ate any.  Now, we're at 730 in the evening:

~has not eaten any food
~has not drank any water since *early* this morning
~doesn't play with me
~hacked up a hairball (and proceeded to actually cry afterwards!  Broke my heart!!!!!)
~he does walk around if I'm walking around.  And if I'm in the kitchen, he will meow like he's hungry but won't eat.

Basically, he's slept & laid in the window just about the whole day.  I have a feeling we will be making another trip to the vet tomorrow. :(  I feel so bd I've accomplished nothing for days.  DAYS!  I have a few things that have to be done that aren't getting done.  So, if you're expecting anything from me at all, it may take a little while....

Fall has arrived in Ross County

I once had a cat named Taddy.

She was from TidBit's first litter.  She was just the best barn kitty.  When she was about 2 she got sick and wouldn't eat.  We took her to the vet, they kept her over the weekend, gave her fluids and nutrition until she started eating on her own again but couldn't find a reason why she had gotten sick, nothing blocking her tummy & nothing abnormal in her bloodwork.  Within the week she had stopped eating again and passed away.  I miss her still. 

Well, the last few days have been horror for me as I've watched Elroy go down this same road...or at least one incredibly similar.  El and I came home from the farm early Tuesday and he ate his dinner just fine.  Later, I could hear his tummy rumble a bit but it isn't abnormal for that to happen so I thought nothing of it.  Wednesday morning he ate about half his food, walked away, and then came back to finish it off.  This *never* happens so I paid attention but wasn't terribly concerned since I didn't see anything else out of the ordinary.  I left and was back by 1, by 130 he had thrown up twice.  He drank some water and begged for dinner later.  Again, this happens from time to time so I brushed it off.  And then Thursday happened.  He ate nothing for breakfast, very little around lunch time and nothing for dinner.  He also drank very little water.  He didn't want to play, he didn't do much but sleep or lay and watch me walk around.  I started to stress out.  I was supposed to leave on Friday and leave him alone overnight (one of my best friends, Elizabeth, was going to feed him at his normal times), but I wasn't going to leave him when he was sick!  Well, it was decided that I would wait and see if he went potty/ate Friday morning before I decided to leave or not.  Friday I got up around 6, he didn't even try to get me to feed him.  When I went to the kitchen to get his food, he stayed in bed.  This wasn't a good sign.  I tried everything to get him to eat, nothing worked.  I watched him for a while - he never ate, he never got anything to drink.  It was about 1 when Elizabeth suggested that I bring him to the vet office that she works at to have him checked out.  The vet checked him out, she couldn't feel any type of blockage and gave him fluids to try and perk him up and gave him an anti nausea medicine....then I drove him to his normal vet about an hour away where my sister was going to meet us since she works at that vet (yes, I'm surrounded by animal lovers!).  He got checked by that vet, again, she couldn't feel any blockage.  We went ahead and did bloodwork and shot an xray of his body.  Nothing abnormal.  I was sent home with special food and told to keep an eye on him and to bring him back on Monday if things didn't change.  We got home about five hours after we had left & for a while I thought I had brought home a different cat!  He drank some water, ate whatever food I gave him (which was small amounts per vet's orders), and seemed happy and almost better....or at least on the way to better.

Then this morning came.  He wanted nothing to do with the special food, but he ate a small amount of his normal dry food when I sat right next to him and nearly hand fed him.  But, no water that I saw.  My thought?  Thank God he ate something.  Right?  Wouldn't you think that?  And he hadn't thrown up what he ate before!  Small victories!  Well, he did finally drink a small amount of water but he is now refusing food again.  I've tried everything.  He won't eat.  He hasn't drank in a while.  I'm faaaaa-reaking out again.  And it is the weekend, no vet hospitals open.  I'm a mess.  He's my baby!  And he's acting just like Taddy girl!  I don't know if he's been poisoned or if something wrong that we haven't tested for.  I just don't know.

At this point I'm waiting until Monday unless he gets wayyyyyy worse tomorrow.  He is most likely going to visit the vet again.  Yep, a vet I can't even fathom how I will pay for it.  Oh well, he's my furbaby and I can't imagine how I would be if something really bad happened.  When I was driving to the second vet yesterday, I was on the phone with mom sobbing.  I spent a lot of yesterday crying.  I have a feeling that until my baby stops looking so pathetic and sickly like he does in these pics, I'm going to do a lot of crying.

Bookworm Wednesday! (V.17)

Soooo.... I missed two weeks?  Did you miss this?  Also, I looked it up, I had two v.15's so now we're on v.17!  Haha I'm kinda a mess these days, sorry!

Embroidered Effects is a book that I've wanted for a while but I've found that when it comes to crafts books, I do better when I can see them for a while before I buy them so that I feel better about spending the ridic amount of money that they usually go for.  Anyway....this book is DEFINITELY on my buy list now that I've had this copy from my library!  It has easy to understand instructions -- and in modern day terms, this book wasn't written in the 50's!  And the additional patterns?  LOVE!  There are...oh....all of them that I want to do!  If you want to learn embroidery, this book is great with the history & background that it also supplies....and since I'm a girl that likes to know the history about stuff I especially loved this fact.  It covers everything from needles to fabric to how to get your pattern where you want it...and how to embroider different mediums!  Did you ever think of printing a picture on fabric and then stitching over it?  I didn't but I want to do it now!

Farm visit in pictures.

It is hard.....

....to do anything but sit and stare at what beauty Mother Nature sends as a gift when you've had a bad day.