My first crocheted pillow

Post was originally started on 9/24/09 but I got pulled into a meeting and then raced out of here to get home and pack. Still wanted to share since it's actually about a craft project.





OK, to "technically" that's not a pillow yet. But taking a picture before I start stitching these 2 sides together is the only way you'll ever see both sides at the same time again.

This was originally to be a completely different Granny square pillow for my Mom, and when I didn't like how it was turning out over the summer, I quit working on it. Last Friday I got to thinking about these 5 skeins of yarn just sitting there waiting for me to make them into a pillow so between Friday night and over the weekend, I went through some new ideas including a 2nd trial run that I also did not like before settling on this. I spent most of Sunday afternoon hard at work on this as I wanted to make sure it was completed in time for me to give to Mom tomorrow when I get home.



It is by no means perfect, and there are a couple of things that I'm not super happy with in how they turned out (my navy yarn really needed to be different than just using what I had for plastic canvas. I know this now. The sides are also 2 different sizes which as I stitch together is a bit more troublesome to get even, but I think once the pillow is in will work out just fine.



Tonight I need to make a lining to put on the pillow form first, as I do not want the bright white showing through the holes of the square. I also have 1/4 of a side to stitch up before placing the pillow in and stitching up that last side. I hope my Mom likes it, I have no doubt she will and she will never notice these mistakes that bother me. Mom loves Granny squares, but has a very difficult time making them which I'm sure I'll hear about A LOT when I give it to her and at one or more points this weekend, I will probably attempt to teach her once more how to make them, curious if it'll be successful this time around, but maybe I'll be surprised!

9/30/09:

I'm back in DC (have been since Monday evening) and now I am finally posting this. Pillow turned out great and Mom LOVED it! I have more crafts that I completed over the weekend to share as well as the completed picture of this pillow, and the lessons I have learned from the mistakes I made. Will try and upload the pictures tonight so I can post here tomorrow.

Car troubles

I know right, car troubles should never had crossed my lips after we sold the Kia in April and I got my wonderful Jeep! Problem is, it's back in the shop for the 2nd time in 2 weeks!

2 weeks ago the motor in my driver's side window was replaced so that I can go back to using my window again, can't even BEGIN to tell you how happy such a small this has made me! They also had to take apart my center console because the gear shift cover was not working properly nor was my emergency brake. Turns out this is because a previous owner had spilt like an entire can of Coke or cup of coffee down there and it was preventing anything from working properly! Lovely, and real safe right? They also were trying to figure out why the car sometimes didn't start up correctly for which they did a tune up and fuel injector service.............none of this was covered by my warranty (figures right?) so by the time you include my cute little rental car, it was a very expensive day!

What's worse, was the following morning when I went to turn the Jeep on, it still wasn't starting right!!! ugh talk about annoying! So I tried to wait a couple of days to see if it got better, but it did not, actually the car stalled out at the gas station less than a week later! Never had a car stall out on me before and when it's happens while you're sitting on the loading tanks of a busy gas station at rush hour it's DEFINITELY NOT COOL!

Well I finally called again last Friday to see about bringing it back in (sigh, I just want it to work right!) My friend Larry, the service consultant, was wonderful to talk with one the phone again and got me set up to bring in Wednesday (yesterday) night after work so they could be the first ones to turn it on this morning..........well luckily it was covered by the warranty this time around!

Larry calls me today shortly after 9:30 to let me know what they found. My fuel pump was shot and after the car sat for 8 hours or so there would be no pressure left in the engine, which is why it took forever to start, I was waiting for the gas to get back to the engine. This was replaced. They also found out that my gear box in the power steering was getting weak, also had replaced, also luckily covered by warranty. They high suggest getting a tank flush when they are already in the gas tank dealing with the pump, etc. so even though it wasn't covered by my warranty, for 110 bucks, I had them do it. Glad I did!! I just got off the phone with Larry to find out that they took about a gallon of SAND out of the bottom of my tank! The mechanic was actually able to scrape it off the bottom with his hands before he did anything else.....yes sand, from like at the beach, and no, no one has been able to tell me WHY someone would have done this/let it happen! They also said it's probably WHY the pump broke in the first place.

Fan-fucking-tastic right? Well they're keeping my baby over night again, not because it won't be ready by 7, but because I don't want to deal with rush hour traffic to get it tonight. I'll be there bright eyed and bushy tailed at 7 a.m. tomorrow, alright I probably won't be the bright eyed, until I jump back up in my Jeep and drive away, remembering how much I have missed it!

Now to get home early, since I've been here since 8 and hopefully get this G6 into my parking space before anyone else is parked around me. Then hoping the rain has stopped so I can jump into the sweats I've been craving all day and have my own little Happy Hour on my patio!

Regaining my motivation, one step at a time

Yesterday evening after work turned into work clothes shopping while waiting for Jonathan to get out of class. I sorta had this planned as I wanted to see for the future of this semester and his time at Georgetown if I was OK w/ once a week going to VA and running errands and then just swinging through to pick him up after. All was fine on the shopping front of course, I actually ran out of time to do all that I had planned (thanks to trying on the new fall line at NY & Co) and found myself racing down 50 to get back by 9. Jon's class was scheduled to get out at 8:45 so he said pick me up at 9. I got there at 9:03 and when Jon doesn't answer his cell, he texts me saying that his Professor is still lecturing. Luckily I found parking by the dorms and just chilled out until he was finished. Turns out his professor thought class went until 9:15, which would have been fine, but if I had known I had that extra 25 minutes or so, I would have stopped at McDonalds in VA to get dinner for us (one less thing to worry about when we did get home, and no dishes) and I would have had my book or something accessible for while I sat there. Oh well, lesson learned for next week.

When we did get back home, Jon made us some pasta for dinner and I spent my time trying on new outfits w/ my new fall clothes purchased at Target and NY and Co. instead of working on any craft projects. I also got a kick ass pair off boots at Rack Room:

They are purple and I'm in love! I plan to wear to work tomorrow, was planning to wear today but the outfit will really work better for tomorrow's chillier weather!

Needless to say at this point, by the time I ate my pasta, finished with the mess I'd made upstairs and hung up all my clothes/got together returns & exchanges for tonight, I all but passed out on the couch with my heating pad on my back watching the History Channel!

Tonight I plan to get out of here at a more decent time (5 instead of 6), and get out there to return/exchange/get a couple of things and then home for dinner and the main event of today: the premiere of So You Think You Can Dance season 6 and GLEE! While driving across the Key Bridge last night I was thinking about how when I got home I was planning to watch my recordings of these shows. Then I realized that yesterday was Tuesday and I had to wait one more day. So I've put in my time and I'm super pumped for both shows!! This time (2 hours) also gives me a chance to work things in the apartment which can not be done during my work day (like crafts and getting more pictures uploaded into Picasa!)

Be sure to check out my photos at picasaweb.google.com/mzjonesie and I will be sure to post some craft shots on here tomorrow as well!

Oh, and running in the mornings is just not something I have been able to get myself back into. I wish I could, I just purchases new running shoes in Syracuse (and by me, I mean mom got them for me) and I haven't even worn them outside of the hotel room in Syracuse! maybe next week, no need to get over ambitious on a Thursday morning!

Trying to get back in the swing of things once more

I wish I understand why I don't get on here as often as I wish I did, I doubt that it's because I have nothing to say or nothing that I'm thinking about, and I certainly have enough time in my day to take 10-15 minutes to type something up that I'm thinking about/updates, proof it and post away. Again, you would think that since I usually sign into Blogger daily to check my friend's blogs that I would post then, but someone I always get side tracked or just shut down the window all together if I have had lots of updates to read.

I really think this has been happening due to my "issues" with getting back into the swing of things in life in general. Silly things like picking up after myself, setting the coffee pot for the following morning, watering my plants, etc. etc. have just become to much "work" for me since returning from both Orlando and Syracuse. With all the changes that are quickly approaching after this past weekend and my upcoming trips to Busti and Manchester in the next 2 months, I'm just having a hard time focusing on anything accept getting home, into sweats and plopping down on my couch to watch TV for the evening.

This goes for things like crafts as well. Before Disney, I would spend 15 minutes every morning working on my blanket and around an hour each night while watching SYTYCD, etc. Since returning from both August trips, I haven't picked it up more than once (a second time was to transfer into a different tote bag). I did buy some new yarn at JoAnns last Friday that I felt compelled to crochet into a scarf over the weekend. It's 90% done, but I don't have a picture to post yet, because I have yet to finish. It's beautifully soft yarn, chunky and beautiful in color, but I really think it would be best to knit which means I'm planning to head back tonight and get in a different color to trying knitting with. This this, chunky fall scarf that's almost complete is very nice, and it looks fine crocheted, but it catches on my hook A LOT, like every stitch, and anyone out there reading this who crochets not only understands how annoying this is and slows a good crocheter down, but it's KILLING my wrist, which is why I did not finish last night at Bev's.

Another reason that I'm not very good about picking up a craft project to work on right now: I have no many things I want to work on! As always I have a million different projects started and 2 million more in my mind that I want to make. If I'm focused and organized with my projects I am usually able to keep myself on track, but once I fall off that focused, organized wagon, all hell breaks loose. "Hell" in this case would include, projects laying all over the living room, no rhyme or reason to anything and me not doing any productive work on them (I just end up back at AC Moore, Michaels or JoAnns buying more yarn in anticipation of what I can do next). It really is a vicious cycle and is why my yarn collection looks like I could own my own yarn shop!

Hopefully I will get focused again soon and will have pictures to post once more!

Back to the Grind

What I started writing on Monday.......

So as most of you probably know by know, Jon and I returned to DC yesterday afternoon. Each family member that we called to say we had safely landed would say "oh that's good", to which we both responded, "NO it's really not!" Yes, I realized our family was just happy that we were home safe and sound but neither of us were happy to have to have left Disney and BE back in DC.

The trip was amazing, best vacation/trip I have ever been on in my life. I got teary eyed just having to walk out of the park that last time on Saturday night, turning out to catch one more beautiful glimpse of Cinderella's castle. I could try and take the time to go through what we did all week but 1. I don't really have the patience to nor should I probably use that kind of time at work doing such things, and 2. no one probably wants to or will read it anyway so I'll leave you with a breakdown of where we were each day:

Sunday - up at 3 a.m. for a 6 a.m flight to ALT to Orlando. After checking into the hotel, spent the afternoon and evening at Magic Kingdom, watched the Spectromagic parade and Wishes fireworks, extra magic hours let us ride Splash Mountain one more time, but in the dark!

Monday – Character Breakfast at MK with Pooh Bear and friends, spent the morning @ MK, Epcot in the afternoon with dinner at Marakesh and Illuminations: Reflections of Earth from great sitting seats in Mexico. I cried during the fireworks as I realized that Disney probably has the most amazing fireworks anywhere – just love them!

Tuesday - Animal Kingdom in the morning, Disney Studios in the afternoon and evening, saw Fantasmic.

Wednesday – MK in the morning, headed to Epcot early in the afternoon but all the running around and getting up at 3 a.m. on Sunday was finally starting to catch up with both of us. I think we were both sleep walking around 1 p.m. and thought it best to head home and nap before our dinner at the Beirgarden (which is something we were both REALLY looking forward to. Pretty much as soon as we stepped foot on the property of our hotel I started getting very sick and throughout 2 hours of napping feared that I was not going to bounce back to make it out that night. I did and we freshened up and headed back to Epcot for our dinner reservations. Beirgarden was a lot of fun and the family that we sat with was nice (minus the rude guy who got sick) but I wasn’t blown away by the food, but I did drink my ENTIRE liter of beer, but Jon did not! Haha and yes we calculated that a liter of ______ is like having a 6-pack of Bud Lite with dinner :-) Mom would be so proud!

Thursday – Animal Kingdom in the morning, headed to Hollywood Studios where we were waiting to see Lights, Motors, Action when a storm started to approach. They delayed the show and then canceled it due to lightening in the area and wanted everyone out of the stadium…..uh I know we were sitting on metal bleacher but this was NOT the time to get thousands of people under cover. We waited there with many, some of the cars came out when the rain started to let up and let off some pyrotechnics and they said they would do the finale once t he rain stopped. Cast member came over and said the rain would not be over for a long LONG time and that we should try to make it to an indoor ride to not waste our day. Of course the closest gift shop has now run out of ponchos and we are completely soaked and I’m walking around barefoot, the line for Toy Story is not only outside in the rain but still 70 minutes to wait so we gave up and went back to the hotel to dry off, nap quickly and get dressed for the evening. Went to MK for the night and rode rides once the parade started, watched the end of the parade and then rode Splash Mountain during the fireworks which Jon planned perfectly and was AMAZING!!! If you didn’t get so damn wet on that ride I would have recorded all the beautiful sights, if you ever go to Disney, take a night away from fireworks and do this!

Friday – MK in the morning (of course, it’s my favorite park!), Epcot in the afternoon (Jon’s favorite and my 2nd fav) where we magically got Soarin’ fast passes at 1 p.m. for later in the day, saw Illuminations from where they are truly meant to be seen! Tried to head back to MK for Magic Hours but it wasn't real successful. Super busy, longer lines than during the day and we were both too tired to deal with it. Did ride Haunted Mansion and Pirates before heading back to the hotel.

Saturday - Made a final attempt at Hollywood Studios for the new Toy Story ride (were successful and it was so good that we stayed for a 2nd time) and got to see Lights, Motors, Action which was TOTALLY worth it! Rest of the afternoon at MK, saw Spectromagic again, monsoon rain came out of no where while we waited for the fireworks, I cried b/c I thought we wouldn't see them, they were delayed 15 minutes and then happened! Soaking wet and freezing but totally didn't care!

Sunday - up at 6 to finish packing, bus pick up at 8:25, flights to ATL and then DCA, dinner and passed out on the couch by 7 p.m.

I started typing this up on Monday afternoon at work, it’s not Thursday at 3:46 p.m. and I’m finally finishing it up. It’s been a long week of exhaustion which I’m slowly getting over. Monday was by far the worst, I was having horrible dizzy spells and my eyes kept going out of focus which made for a really long, miserable day. Been better since then, just don’t have the energy when I get home at night to do anything which means my suitcase is still sitting EXACTLY where I dropped it on Sunday night to open it and get Mickey and Minnie out. Hoping to be productive with this unpacking tonight since tomorrow’s the big day (5 year Anniversary big day that is <3)

Last one before FL

So it FINALLY happened. Jon and I went for a run on Wednesday morning. It went really well for the first in 2 months, but I am still paying for it today. As always when I first start running again my upper legs are killin' me. Was totally fine most of Wednesday, around 4:30 I really thought I was going to be fine and maybe be able to get in a 2nd run on Thursday morning........then at 5:30 I jumped in the Jeep with Jon and sat in rush hour traffic to get out to 7 corners. By the time I got out at Target I realized what was coming! Yesterday was definitely worse that today is but I did strategically wear flats today which I think is making a bit of a difference as well. Would like to try for one more run tomorrow morning but haven't decided if I want to sleep in yet/if I really want to chance being sore for Sunday morning's early flight and the first day in DISNEY!

Ah yes Disney World, in just a short 48 hours Jon and I will be at the Magic Kingdom! I am so pumped that I haven't been able to focus at work all week. Today is of course particularly bad, yet I don't even care all that much because today is my last day until the 17th! whoooooo I know this trip is going to be amazing even though it's been 12 years since I was last at Disney and this is only my 2nd time ever and I don't even fully know what to expect off of what I remember from '97. I am excited though to experience it all with Jon as adults (apparently I'm an adult at 25, but I can not guarantee that I will be acting like one for the next week), with no kids, just us! I have already warned Jon that he will have to be on guard to hold me back because I will probably squeal, jump and run to tackle the following: Mickey, Minnie, Winnie the Pooh! I probably won't be able to update anything on here next week as I don't believe we're bringing a laptop with us, but I will be taking lots of pictures and will finally get that Picassa thing set up to post them on when I return.

I decided this morning that I want to start keeping track of craft projects that I'm working on, finished, and ideas that I have on here. A couple of you saw on FB the other night that I was working on a blanket while watching SYTYCD and since this is my first attempt at something bigger than a scarf, shawl or tote bag I would like to remember a bit of this experience.

So it's a little hard to see here since it's about the same color as my awful couch, but really right now its' not even really a shawl! I am very happy with the stitch that I choose (thankfully since it took me like 3 days and multiple books and crocheting of test swatches w/ the yarn). Definitely my biggest undertaking not only in size, but also not just a half double or double crochet here! There will be some stripes coming on each end in a pretty teal and lime green which will complete this beachy looking blanket to use while outside on my lovely patio. Don't believe that I will have it done before it's too cold to me sitting out there reading, and I hope that I keep up finishing it once this has happened because I think of how happy I will be next spring when I pull it out to use for the first time! As long as I continue my daily contributions to it both in the mornings and evenings so that I see progress I think it'll happen.

I also have a 2nd blanket that I plan to start shortly as well. The only reason I'm starting it now is because it's designed for my trips to FL and Syracuse in being all Granny squares. This means that I can just bring a skein or 2 of yarn with me and work on the 3" and 9" squares off my pattern I created and bring them home after each trip. Yes you read that correctly, I have designed this blanket for Grannie on my own and I am VERY excited about it. I'm not going to premiere the pattern yet because I really want to make sure it's going to work out, then I will showcase my design as well as a couple of pieces crocheted in the yarn I plan to use.

Just 4 1/2 hours left of work and even though I have some things to finish up here, my to do list that I'm thinking about is as follows:

1. update all Disney lists to see what still needs to be done
2. eat lunch :-)
3. get through the next 4 1/2 hour and GET HOME ASAP!
4. try on all clothes marked to try on on the list of clothes for Disney
5. pack clothes
6. get all toiletries together
7. pack carry on bag and purse
8. get together food, etc. to go in my big suitcase
9. make Jon pack :-)

This will leave me with the following to do early tomorrow morning in order to spend one final day at the pool before the trip:

1. pick up tables
2. Vacuum
3. water plants inside
4. drop off keys to Bev
5. work a couple of squares on new blanket project
6. watch the Yankees beat the Red Sox (ok so that's tomorrow night but w/e!)

Have a good week next week everyone, I'll be on FB throughout the week I'm sure!

Well that didn't happen

No iPod playlist was created last night and no run was taken this morning. The lack of getting up early and running does not stem from laziness though, unfortunately I was up most of the night thanks to my ridiculous sinus pressure and was not only not in the mood to run after 4 hours of sleep, but I didn't think anyone should have to see me attempt running with a stuffy, sniffly nose and sneeze attacks......doesn't even seem that save really does it?

We did go to the grocery store though last night and stocked up on enough healthy food to get us through the next 5 days. I was quite impressed with myself for wanting to get stuff to make salads for dinner each night or Lean Cuisines. I was also happy to get lots of fruits and yogurt to have throughout my day at work vs. sneaking bags of potato chips from the secret stash hidden under my desk this week like I did yesterday. I also got stuff to make a pesto mayo to use on my turkey sandwiches this week which I am extra excited about trying today! It's going ok so far, I guess....I had my cereal at home this morning vs. going to Cosi for a bagel which was fine. Problem is I have already had my snack of blueberries and want to eat both FiberOne bars that I have with me like now and I still need to make it until 1 p.m. to have my lunch. sigh. This is also because I am slightly bored at work at the moment due to my lack of desire to actually do work because I'm exhausted, my sinuses are killing me and I'm extremely focused on all that I need to do before we leave on Sunday.

Speaking of, I spent many hours laying awake last night unable to fall back asleep and my mind was racing on all the things that I need to get done in the next 4 nights so that I'm not racing around all day on Saturday and miserable doing it. Quite honestly I just wanted to get out of bed and start doing things then, but I did not think that Jon would appreciate it, so I just kept laying there, getting more and more annoyed that I can't breathe through my nose. I have made a list of things I need to get at Target this week as well as a list by day of what things I want to do each day straight through Saturday morning (hoping to have the afternoon on Saturday to relax out by the pool, weather permitting, since I didn't get to last weekend). I just finished making this list and now I can't focus on the work I need to be doing at work because I would rather be home doing all the laundry that needs to be finished or trying on the clothes that I need to see if they still fit me and running the errands I need to fun in VA.

Hopefully now that I have written my thoughts here and I have my list sitting in front of me for any other things that I remember to avoid a last minute "damn it!" moment, I will be able to focus a little better. I'm also sure I'll be focusing a lot better around 12:50, and at 5:15 :-)