Which do you prefer?

Do you prefer...
Superman or Batman -







Johnny Quest or Speed Racer -












Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck -






Snow or Rain -







Woods or Ocean -







Sweet or Tart -






Muted or Bright -






Cross Country or Down Hill -







Situps or Push Ups -







Strawberry or Cherry -








Red or Blue -









Shopping or Hiking -








Fly or Drive -









Inside or Outside -









reading or phoning -







cats or dogs -








drive or walk -








Down or Foam -







Carnations or Roses -








cake or pie -








Off with their heads!

I'm Back -

I'm back and the password wasn't that hard to figure out - but it was really long.
"Terri is great, beautiful, clever and sooo smart" That's what I tell her all the time so it stood to reason that was my password!

What fun to come back to a giggle! I was so worried that everyone would have forgotten about me while I was gone - you know out of sight out of mind!

What a loyal group you are!

The holidays are almost over - sigh....I returned to a house that is looking suspiciously like a home. The insulation is nearly finished and most of the drywall is up. This week they should be taping and mudding and then a week or so until painting. I have the colors picked out and working on the draperies and upholstery fabric.

The master bedroom will be Prairie Grass (dark sage). With the wall the bed will be on as Bronze Essence a metallic paint (medium sage). The chair rail will be Ancient Bog (deep sage)
The master bath will be Bubble Tea (very light terra cotta/beige).

The great room area will be Timeless Taupe (medium taupe/light brown)
We'll have a dark wall in the game area of the great room - Belgian Chocolate (ymm)
The rooms off the dark wall (craft room, guest room, The Princess Boudoir, and Guest Bath) will be Morning Fog (very light spa blue/green).

The dining room area off the great room will be Bubble Tea on top and Timeless Taupe below the chair rail. The chair rail will be Naked Clay (a deep pink toned clay).
Transitioning into the kitchen which will be Bubble Tea. The cabinets will be a mahogany color and the counter top will be a black with brown and gold highlights granite.

The flooring will be neutral toned tile in the great room/kitchen and beige with chocolate flecked carpet.

I can't wait to see my color palette come to life!
Hopefully I'll have pictures tomorrowish.

Happy Holidays!

While The Cat's Away...

Well, Melissa is out of town right now, and I miss her! So, I thought I'd come over here and wreak some havoc on her blog just to keep things interesting!

First, I added myself as an author, so it will be more obvious when I conduct a blatant take-over (like right now!). Oh, don't worry - I added her as an author to my blog, too, so that you can tell when she sneaks over and does the same to me!

Second, I changed her password so she'll have to guess what it is to access her blog again. Third, I messed up all her settings so she'll think she's doing one thing but she's really doing another! Won't that be funny??? Okay, okay - just kidding on those last two!

Anyway, it's kind of quiet around here without her. A person could get used to that... actually, no, a person like me couldn't. Instead, it might drive a person like me CRAZY!! I need noise and life and laughing and silliness. I need my friend back! Sigh.... :(

Merry Christmas, everyone !

Terri

Advanced Warning - Santa Claustaphobia

'Twas the week after Christmas, and all through the house
Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.
The cookies I'd nibbled, the eggnog I'd taste
At the holiday parties had gone to my waist.

When I got on the scales there arose such a number!
When I walked to the store (less a walk than a lumber).

I'd remember the marvelous meals I'd prepared;
The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared,

The wine and the rum balls, the bread and the cheese
You never heard, "No thank you, please."

As I dressed myself in my husband's old shirt
And prepared once again to do battle with dirt

I said to myself, as only I can
"You can't spend a winter disguised as a man!"

So away with the last of the sour cream dip,
Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip

Every last bit of food that I like must be banished
"Till all the additional ounces have vanished.

I won't have a cookie - not even a lick.
I'll want only to chew on a long celery stick.

I won't have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie,
I'll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.

I'm hungry, I'm lonesome, and life is a bore
But isn't that what January is for?

Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.
Happy New Year to all and to all a good diet!

We're Insulating! Hurray!

Yes folks, you heard it right - the hippie life may actually be coming to a close! One day soon, we'll be moving into an actual house - with plumbing, and heat, and a stove! Oh happy day.

Super Hubby is insulating even as we speak. Thursday the dry wallers come to work their magic and turn a building into a home! We've picked out colors and nobody has any bruises - there was even some compromising! I can't wait to start painting - or watching Super Hubby paint because I am not up to the standards our house deserves when it comes to painting walls! I am very messy! I often have to have textured walls to cover the drips!

I received my ribbon iron and will try it out soon and post about it (I won the ribbon iron in a giveaway. Very cool!

I am catching up on a few things and then Friday afternoon it's off to Windy Meadows farm in Louisville KY and then up to my Mom's in central Indiana. This will be my last post until December 29th. I hope you all have fabulous holidays! I hope I get the last four gifts done before Dec 25th and I hope none of my siblings are leaving Mom's before Christmas, because their gifts won't be done!!!!! It is sad, but I have procrastinated this year - actually I didn't get the creative ideas until late - it's not my fault that the Muse didn't speak to me in a timely manner, who can control a Muse?

Happy Holidays!

Scrumble Crochet Purse

If you have a lot of this...




Or this....




Or maybe some like this....

I told you I had a large yarn stash....and this is just the stuff I have out while we're building.




You can turn it into this.....












Here's the tools you'll need.


This is what your work area will look like...


When I have scrapes left over I now group them into color groups,
then when I'm getting inspired to make a scrumble purse I can pull out the color boxes and decide what colors work.

Then I decide on a pattern for the purse shape and sew the lining which doubles as the template. I like to put a small pocket inside the lining - I'm cool to my customers that way....I have trouble keeping track of my phone, so I need the pouch! I am very precise about the liner don'cha know!


The next step is to lock up the precision monster and let the free spirited chi loose.
You must abandon all ideas of keeping rows straight, counting your stitches and making things neat and tidy. It is helpful to get out a stitch book for inspiration.

Now gather together several different hook sizes, some safety pins, and about three different colors of yarn and many textures of those colors. Add a pair of scissors and you're ready to start.


Just start crocheting little swatches of patterns using combinations of stitches, twisting the stitches over and around, increasing, decreasing, big hook, little hook - just get crazy! The pieces should be various sizes, I usually don't make them much bigger than 3-6 inches with some smaller. Leave a tail long enough to sew the piece to its neighbor - no need to "finish off", neatness does not count in this game...I told you to get rid of the precision monster!


Crochet, and crochet, and crochet. I usually keep the yarn box available and sew a piece when the mood strikes me - since the pieces are only 3-6 inches you can whip one out during a commercial break or while you're waiting for the macaroni noodles to boil.

Sometimes the pieces start to look like things!


Sometimes not....

When you have a pile of pieces start putting them on the purse liner, puzzle fashion - to me this is the hardest part.
My first bag I spent hours putting the pieces just so, rearranging and adjusting...now I just plop them down, assess them as I turn my head to the side and then go on to the next piece. After you have filled some of it in... walk away for a few minutes and check out my blog....come back and see if you like what you did. If not - scramble the pieces and put the puzzle together a different way. If you like it, safety pin the pieces together. If you ever wanted to be an acupuncturist, you will love this part. After a bit you will know immediately if you've selected the proper spot for the piece. You'll be able to place and pin in one smooth action - which will reduce the traffic on my blog - so take your time getting that accomplished!

The handle sometimes can be tricky. It's hard to find the right one as my source selections are limited. I use handles from old purses, store bought ones from Hobby Lobby, or felted ones. I crochet a piece right around each handle end and then sew that to a piece in place. I use different methods of closures, sometimes magnets, sometimes a bobble at the end - whatever strikes me. Once you have all the spaces filled on your liner and safety pinned together you are ready to put it together.

Turn the piece over (leave the template down to refer to now and then). You will be sewing the pieces together with a tapestry needle and yarn which matches the pieces you're putting together. This is the part I really like - don't worry about weaving in the ends, they'll be hidden between the back and the liner!!!!! Hurray! After you've sewn the pieces together check to make sure you haven't left any gaps - fix these and sew them up.

Tips: You should not make pieces to fit spaces until you have filled up most of the liner with the puzzle pieces. The idea is to be free spirited and if you make pieces to fit spaces, you are cramping the spirits style.

You should keep some continuity to make it appealing - to many color variations can be distracting - it is really the texture and the stitch variety that makes people do a double take.

You should not crochet the pieces together ever! This will make it lumpy and hard to shape!

Remember the finished edge of the liner will be inside - I don't finish the outside edge 'cause you won't see it and I'm lazy - or my inner free spirit is which is what is left when I hide the precision monster!

I am working on this one for an 11 year old.

Her sisters is already done.




....
This one is an ongoing project

So is this one....





This is my first one, I made a crocheted dress for myself and Ashley aka The Princess and used the scraps to make a matching purse. I wore the outfit to my brother's wedding two years ago...the purse and dress are still around....





Scrumble is fun - set the free spirit loose and have at it. What have you got to loose? Except some of this...

Hurray - I'm a winner!

I won - hurray - Kimberly was having this neat giveaway - a ribbon iron! I won. I submitted a million things I could do with the ribbon iron and Kimberly took pity on me!

This is an awesome gadget. You should check Kimberly out - she has a really cute site as you can tell by her headline picture!

Coincidence? I think not!

It appears that Susie and Leedra were right - the "D" episode has not gone away!
This was an innocent "gift" from a co-worker who stated she won the shirt as a boobie prize but thought I might like it!!!!!

If only they remembered the good things as long as they do the errors!

If you're not getting the reference please read my post from November 25th. It is tooooo embarrassing to mention again!

Hurray - Mildred received her giveaway!

Doesn't Mildred look great - if I do say so myself! Oh, and Harriet looks lovely too, posing with Mildred.

Mildred designed the hat and I made if for her as the winner of our ThistleDew giveaway!

It was so much fun to be inspired by you all! What a fun activity!!!!

Maintain Don't Gain

Just thought I'd update you on Santaclaustraphobia. I made it through Thanksgiving with out gaining - even though Ashley aka The Princess and I laid in bed reading books and eating bonn bonns. Ok, they weren't bonn bonns they were pretzel sticks and white queso dip for me and cheese puffs for her....

Our group started a yahoo group called Maintain Don't Gain to commiserate together. There was this weird recipe - but you know me - weird is my middle name (well not actually, my middle name is Joy - my Mom was so happy I wasn't a boy she put Joy in my name. Background: I have two older brothers and my Aunt had two sons who are similar in age so my Mom was worried her maternal line was cursed! - hence the joy when I was born! - and of course I've been one every since.)

Turkey Beer Chili - here's the recipe. I'm going to try it - you do too and let me know how yours turns out - better yet, lets make it a competition - you make and post about your favorite weird chili and comment on my blog and we'll see what we come up with.

1lb ground turkey
1lb turkey sausage
2 cans pinto beans (rinsed and drained)
2 4oz cans chopped green chilis (drained)
1 can diced tomatoes (with liquid)
1 can/bottle beer, best with pale ale's
1/2 teaspoon salt
at least 2 teaspoons bottled hot pepper sauce
2 cloves garlic
1 medium onion, chopped
a touch of cheddar cheese

Brown sausage in skillet, set aside in cooking pot. Brown ground
turkey, onion & garlic in skillet sausage was cooked in. Drain & add
to cooking pot. Add all other ingredients EXCEPT PINTO BEANS & simmer
1 1/2 hours. Add rinsed beans. Serve with cheddar cheese on top.

Muffin Post before it's to late....

Terri made some awesome energy muffins and gave me one, which I took for breakfast this morning. I am blogging about it very quickly because I am certain she laced it with arsenic.... The tricky thing about arsenic is that it takes a while to catch up to you, so you see, I really don't know how long I have until it keels me over,..anyway, the muffins were really good. Packed with fiber, flax seed, fruit, wheat....very yummy. She was looking for an alternative to sugary breakfast foods that are portable. She gets up really early and her breakfast wears off before lunch....these are the perfect solution.

Since it's been a few hours since I ate the muffin, it appears I'm safe for another day, concerning the arsenic.

If you haven't watched Arsenic and Old Lace as a stage show, you really should or check out this link which is a synopsis of the play/movie....it is hilarious - CHARGE!!!!!

I hope all of you had a great T-day holiday! I did. The best thing about the weekend was I had plenty of time to bond with Ashley, aka The Princess. The weather was mostly rainy and living the hippie life in a motorhome encourages closeness and bonding! Lucky for me Ashley has turned into a very entertaining reader with a very theatric reading voice - especially for an eight year old. Her oration is engaging and she has a nack for different voices and mimicing accents. Last summer on NPR they showcased a competition of dramatic poetry reading. I am going to look into it and see if she can start pursuing that as a goal....what fun! I'm not real sure where she gets the drama from.....


We read Roddy Doyles The Giggler Treatment....totally hilarious, it's about dog poo! As you know everyone poops and it makes a hilarious topic for a children's book!





We also read The Miraclous Adventures of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo - this was another non-stop read. Each chapter forced you to read on to either "rescue" Edward or see what would happen next. It was a heart wrenching tale - and a must read if you have any child in your life from 7-12. It is a great read aloud.


We've just started E.B. White's The Trumpet of the Swan, it is as good as Charlotte's Web. I had not read this growing up and wonder why popular culture has skipped over it and went for Stuart Little, also by White.

We got our books from the Public Library - I'm a big fan of library's and I'll bet their readership is way up with this economy.

I also had some time to catch up on my crocheting - finished a custom order scarf and working on those scrumble bags I keep saying I'm going to post a how to about....maybe this week!

Once you're done here pop over to Brandyanne's - she's having a giveaway!