Some fun projects

I've been working on a set of dishes for the house since September. They will be a set of 12 dinner plates, salad plates, cereal bowls, desert bowls, and sauce dishes. Right now I've finished the desert bowls (square) and the little sauce dishes. I just finished this large serving bowl and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I wanted to write in Chinese something poetic like "Give thanks to God, for He is good..." or something like that. When I asked our Chinese friends they said I should just use these four characters: 謝謝上帝 and it means "Thanks God." I really like how it turned out.

I'm still having fun with the crochet. I downloaded this scarf/neckwarmer pattern from here and made this:

Then I was inspired by these wrist cuffs and made these:

The ones on Etsy are simply fantastic and mine aren't that good yet. But these look super cute on Haven and she likes them a lot. I'm still working on the design to make them more chic. I had fun editing the photos too.

Rob asked me today why I don't do something creative in my spare time. That's his "man" way of saying he thinks what I've made is cool! :)

Christmas Fun

We had a really nice, quiet Christmas day. I managed to clean as the kids were opening gifts and I took a load of recycling to the trash compactor on base in the middle of the day!

Ethan had a "robot" christmas. He got this cool walking, talking robot from Nana, and a big Optimus Prime from PawPaw that partially transforms itself! He also got "Bumblebee" from the Transformers from Uncle Bruce and Aunt Vicki. We got him the Batcave by Imaginext and all the little toys, but the transformers won!

Haven got a ton of crocheting stuff from us this year. Yarn, books, and a cool set of crochet hooks. She really likes her new clothes from Nana, and the Ninetendo game from her brother.

Rob and I gave each other the same gift! We each got the other Ipod speakers! Haha! I also put a backing on this Star Wars fleece panel with some super soft swirl minky.

We got the cat involved in the action too. She got a new collar, a cat "leash," and her first taste of catnip. Whew! That was something else! I've never seen a cat high on catnip before. Pretty amusing!

And here's a funny picture of Tinkerbell, just because!

Corinnea and Haven have inspired me to crochet. I started with those cute neck warmers. Then I had to make a flower to go with it. Then I needed more colors of flowers. Then I decided to make one for my friend Amber for Christmas. For this one I figured out how to make little scallops on the ends. I am not very successful with the button closure, so I invented my own little "stick method." I covered the end of a chopstick in gold micro beads and it looks pretty cool!


Then Haven and I started working on a blanket with the new yarn. She's going to make it with Granny Squares. First we had to learn how to make one. I also learned the little Irish rose.

We decided to make the quilt together, which is so much fun. Here's the squares we got done today.

So... anyway... good times!

Merry Christmas!

Things I forgot to mention

in the last post...

The cat LOVES the real Christmas tree. She loves to shake it and knock the balls off, knock the needles off, and dig in the dirt! All the things I love! NOT! So I bought all plastic ornaments. Don't they look like glass ornaments? And I constructed a make-shift cat protector out of a cardboard box to fit down in the pot.

O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum,

Wie grün sind deine Blätter...

This year I insisted on having a real Christmas tree. We've had an artificial tree for the last ten years and I just wanted to have something more natural this year. Don't get me wrong, our artifical tree is really nice. In ten years I've never found one I like better. But this year I just wanted a change.

So Rob suggested we get a potted tree so we weren't de-foresting. I went last Thursday and found a nice one at the new Baumarkt. (Which is HUGE! I may never go to Hornbach again...) Anyway, I'm glad I went last week because I was there today and there were NO potted ones left! Anyway....

So I got this cool pot to put it in and decorated it with the new Christmas papers from K&Co (which are FINALLY available in the store! Whew! What nightmares with shipping this year!!!) So... voila!

Inspired to Scrap

I haven't made a digi page in like... months! I've been busy, and uninspired. But today I downloaded a free kit from here and was inspired by a layout challenge on the Memory Maniacs Forum here.

I've also copied Corinnea and made a neck warmer which I might post a picture of later. I haven't crocheted since like 5th grade. What was that teacher's name? She made us all learn! Thank you Ms. I-Can't-Remember-Your-Name! I want to learn how to make flowers next so I can keep the neck warmer on with little brooches.

Today I decided to stop moochin off of all my baking friends and I made Mexican Wedding Cookies BY MYSELF! Recipe from here. Now I've eaten so many sweets I feel ill... Oh, and I broke my mixer so I had to make them totally by myself! I want one of those big mixers that does it all...

The Day the Earth Stood Still

We just had a date! I love dates with my husband! :) Tonight we went to see "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Has anyone else seen this movie yet? I really liked it. Once we figured out the plot it was very predictable, but in this fantastic "it's like I wrote the movie" way! It's very "green," very existential, and very ... timely. Ok, no spoilers, but here's some thoughts that I have had over my life span that were echoed in this movie:

* Society as a whole has lost it's moral base

* It's only when faced with persecution that man will realize what's truly important

* Agrarian vs. Industrial ... the ongoing battle. Go read some Tolkien! :)

* and the bottom line... WE are the change.

Anyway... this movie will probably get trashed in the box office, but I really liked it. Oh, and if you watch it, just ignore the part where it sounds like their alluding to reincarnation. It's just the first law of thermodynamics. Ok, this post makes it sound totally boring! IT'S NOT! It was really interesting! So go watch it! :)