Love/Hate Monday

According to MY blogging schedule I should be writing an Eco Post which I will, but right now I don't feel like it, and it is my blog...lol.  I said right from the start that my blog I made the 'schedule' I make the rules. 

I read something similar to this today, and thought I would do my own.  These are my love/hates for Monday.

1. Love that the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and it will be a warm beautiful day.

Hate that I have to spend the day at work, and that I'll have to deal with a million misquotes every time I step outside.

2. Love my hot cup of coffee...mmmm.

Hate that I can't have it with real cream, and sugar.  sigh.

3. Love how independent my son is getting, and that he is maturing into a fun, creative, and sensitive young man. 

Hate that I can't freeze frame him at this age while there is still a lot of little boy left in him.

4. Love that I get to spend time with Chris.

Hate that we can't be together all the time.

5. Love that I'm taking my camera with me more often, and was taking shots this morning.  It allows me to be creative more often.

Hate that they didn't turn out...lol

6.  Love that I can get outside and walk on my coffee break.

Hate that my coffee break is only 15 mins.

7.  Love listening to music while I walk to work.

Hate that when I got to work, and told a co-worker I was listening to Time Warp (yes from the Rocky Horror Picture Show) I swear I heard crickets chirping blank vacant stare looking back at me.  He had no clue come on dude TIME WARP...~sigh~ do you ever feel like people just don't 'get' you...lol.

8. Love that I have tasty food to sustain myself, and Mr J Man.

Hate that I can't just eat CARBS...lol

Sunday Scavenger Hunt

Took me awhile to get these up this week.  I actually was scrambling around today to take the last few pictures.  I hope one or two are good.  I'm not as nervous this week as I was last week...lol, but I'm also not completely confident either.  Well here we go......

1. Classic Still Life

2. Self Portrait ~ gees do I always look this serious.  My loving supportive son suggested I not use this one as I look like a boy...lol...oh GREAT!  I mean I know I'm not wearing any makeup, but looking like a boy....

3. On The Floor.  After J Man and I finished playing uno on the floor

4. Lines.  This is a picture of an old gas pump in town.  I love the lines of the gas pump, against the lines of the door, with the lines of the window to the right.

5. Fresh.  Freshly made soup.

A Few Things I Enjoyed

Just thought I'd share a few things the J Man, and I enjoyed today.  After grocery shopping, and picking out a Birthday Present for the party J Man is going to later we then headed to our favourite coffee shop.  I had my skim milk latte, and J Man had a steamer.  The temperature was nice enough to be able to enjoy our beverages outside.  Mmmmm doesn't mine look so lovely decadent.

Isn't that just so pretty?  Just looking at it makes me want another...sigh.

After enjoying our beverages J Man, and I headed out to visit an old Catholic Church.  I was excited to see the old windows, peeling paint, abandoned building.  Oh I was beyond excited.  J Man had his DSI, and was even telling me what he wanted to take pictures of.  Do I maybe have a budding photographer on my hands.  Oh I hope so...lol.  THEN we got outside, and were just completely, and utterly attacked by mosquitoes.  It was horrible.  J Man ran straight back to the car.  I followed to put on something with long sleeves, but that didn't help.  Those blood suckers were drinking their fill right through my sweater ~sigh~.  I took five shots, and none of them turned out well.  Oh well when these mini vampires die down I'll have to go back, and try again.

So seeing as I don't have a pic from the old abandoned catholic church, I wish I did as it was soooo cool I'll share a pic that Chris took the other day.

Chis took this at the Railway Museum.  I love how that looks under the train.

More Hexagons Flowers

Here are the few hexagon flowers sewn together this week.  I sort of change my 'rule' I'm now allowing two of the same fabric to be in the same fabric...lol.  They are looking good I think.

Tomorrow is Scavanger Hunt Sunday, and guess how many pictures I took for it this week.  Ummm that would be ZERO!!!!!!  So I guess I need to get busy snapping pics, pics, & MORE PICS!!!!  Yikes I need to get busy.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Yummy Leftovers Lucky Me

Yesterday my boyfriend Chris was over as it was his day off.  He spent an interesting afternoon at our local Railway Museum just outside of Wetaskiwin.  He is a great photographer, and I was lucky that he took my camera along so I get to have the pictures he took.

This is one of Chris' pictures.  I'm going to save my favourite that Chris took for Wordless Wednesday.

Chris has been busy.  I have a dance recital coming up June 18th, and both my Dance Instructor's Husband, and my Chris are going to be making the supper for everyone.  We are talking about at least 100 people.  So Chris has been busy perfecting his Butter Chicken recipe.

 lol he's so cute cooking away.  We love to cook together, but I got a treat, and got supper made for me.

This is what I got to eat last night, as well as tonight thank goodness for leftovers.  The funny bread thing is my version of roti.  

Blogging Etiquette

I been thinking about blogging etiquette lately.  First off what is etiquette? 

Etiquette: is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class or group. 

To me this means there is an expectation on how I should behave when going about my day to day activities.  I'm also doing my best to instill etiquette into my son, and some days this seems an easier fight than others.  I also feel there is and should be etiquette in the blogging world.  I at times wonder how many feel the same way?  These are some of my thoughts on blogging etiquette:

1.  Be an original.  Come up with your own original post.  Please don't plagiarize, steal, copy someone else's ideas.  I blog, because I feel I have I have an original view point, and take on things, and I want to share that with others.  So using someone else's words take away what I want to say, and it is then no longer my original idea which to me totally defeats the purpose of blogging.  The more you blog, and write the better your posts will get.  Or that's what I keep telling myself.

2.  If you are going to use someone's content, idea, photos, then give credit.  Just like in school site your source, link to the blog, say where you got the photo, link to the website, give credit where credit is due.  I know I get ideas from other blogs, and I have been guilty of publishing a post totally forgetting where the idea came from, but it usually comes to me later, and I will go back, and edit my post.  Not to mention if you are linking back to a blog is also good way to cross promote your blog.

3. Following.  I know I talked about following last week, but I'm going to just touch on one quick point.  I don't expect everyone who I follow to follow me.  Would it be nice?  Yes.  Is it expected?  No.  However if you are on a Discussion Board asking for followers, and I follow you then I believe it is proper etiquette to follow back.  Or a blog hop where I go, and follow a blog as part of the blog hop rules, then proper etiquette is to follow back.

4.  If someone leaves a comment take a moment, and visit their blog, and return the blog love.

5. Be yourself.  I read blogs, because I like them.  I really like blogs where people have strong opinions and let them shine.  I may not 100% agree with them, but I don't have to it is their blog.  However I've read many a blog post that made me think, and challenge my opinions on issues. 

6. Be sure to show other blogs some TLC, tweet, like, and comment on other blogs, and watch what happens in return.  I know commenting has been difficult for some.  I found when asked to log back in to comment to UNCLICK remember me, and that worked like a charm.

7.  Remember the golden rule 'Do unto others as we would have them do unto us.'  How about I reword it to read 'Write to others as would have them write to you.'  In other words be respectful in what you say in comments.  We may not agree with everything we read on blogs, but there are ways of commenting, and getting our own opinions out there without being disrespectful to the blog host.  If you don't think you can do that for whatever reason then just don't comment...lol.  If you don't like a post move on. 

Well those are a few of my ideas on blog etiquette.  What do you think?  I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this.

Wordless Wednesday ~ My Photography

We Love Music

We love to listen to music around the house.  It sure makes cleaning up go a lot faster.  I was thinking about how eclectic my, and Chris' music taste is, but also, because of our influence so is J Man's.  Just the other day these are some of the songs J Man who is 10 was rocking out to...lol:



Home For A Rest ~ Spirit of the West a Vancouver band. Yeah it is a drinking song don't judge me...lol...he could be listening to worst..lol


Jhoom Barabar


Gypsy Kings ~ Bamboleo

I love that J Man is so open to all kinds of music. Right now he also really likes Michael Jackson, and keeps saying he wishes he hadn't died....lol.

Eco Monday ~ Walk and be happy....

The sum of the whole is this: walk and be happy; walk and be healthy. The best way to lengthen out our days is to walk steadily and with a purpose.  Charles Dickens


So let me ask you all a stupid question have you looked at the gas prices lately?  Oh my goodness CRAZY.  Up here in Alberta, Canada it is $ 1.16/litre.  Just last week I paid a $ 1.29.  


One great way I can save on gas is to walk as much as possible.  I'm lucky that I live in a small town, and I'm also lucky that I'm living in a handy location.  I'm within walking distance to our Down Town core so I have grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants, and the such all within a 10 min walk of me, and that is awesome!  I'm also doubly lucky that I can walk to work so I take advantage of that as much as possible.  Most days of the week Jeremy and I walk to his bus stop, and I then walk to work.


I have to admit I love walking.  As long as it is not -30 or pouring rain I'm very happy to be plugged into my ipod bopping along.  Actually I'm not sure you can call it exactly walking as I'm always singing along to a song, and/or if it is a song I'm working on for belly dance or bollywood then I'll be going over it in my head, and I know some moves come out while I'm walking.  I'm sure I look like a complete mess sigh...lol.  But I'm happy doing it, I feel GREAT doing it, and it is great for the Environment.


Yesterday Jeremy, and I walked over to one of the grocery stores.  Well I walked he rode his skate board.  I have to admit at one point I was thinking I was a nutter as we almost got carried away by the crazy huge misquotes that attacked us.  We made it through the swarm, but there were still lots out.  Of course I forgot to spray us down with bug spray, but we bought a second bottle of the magic juice as I'm almost out anyways.


So back home we went with my MEC back pack, and two cloth bags full of groceries.  One of the nice parts of walking to the grocery store is we can take our time.  On the way back we passed a parking lot that was perfect for Jeremy to ride his skate board so I put my load down, and let him have a few mins of fun.

All my groceries ...lol

There's the J man working the board.

I also had my camera with me as I'm making the effort to bring it along.  So I'm looking around and there is an old fence falling over, old garage with trees growing all around it, some old signs leaning against the fence.  I start getting all excited, and want to start taking pictures, but I hesitate.  That is someone's property...lol....so I try to take some from a distance, but they didn't really work out that well.  What is it about me, and old peeling paint?  Look back over my wordless wednesday posts, and most of them are of old wooden items with peeling paint, but I love LOVE taking pictures of that stuff...lol...go figure.

So once Jeremy had some time to skate board, and I had time wishing I didn't care about trespassing, and could just walk all over someone's property taking pictures we walked the rest of the way home.  So we were kind the environment, and our bodies by walking to the grocery store.  

I challenge others to walk more, ride their bikes more, or maybe take transit more.  Not all the time that might not be practical for your circumstance, but more often than you do now.  Your wallet will like you as you won't be pouring as much of your hard in money into your car.

Sunday Scavenger Hunt

Well here they are my Sunday Scavenger Hunt pictures.  After many attempts with the camera, and after much self doubt yes self doubt if my pictures would be thought as good enough here they are.  My five pics for the Sunday Scavenger Hunt.










So here are my first ever Sunday Scavenger Hunt pics.


1. My Passion

This book was given to me by from my true love Chris, and I love to read.

2. Sound Of Music

That is me...lol.  I belly dance, and in class I often wear a jingly coin belt so when doing dance moves I'm jingly along with the music.  I was trying to capture the coins in movement in this shot.

3. Inner Beauty

This one made me think the most...lol.  I believe the eyes are the windows to the soul, and are truly beautiful.

4. Etheral

We had some really windy days so I took advantage.  That is one of my scarves I'm just holding it up to blow in the wind.  I think it looks fairly airy, and light.

5. Sharp

I just took one of my pins, and stuck it on the fail of my front balcony.

So there you go.  I think some of my pics worked out better than others.  I really liked my sound of music..lol.  I did like the challenge, and will join in next week.  If you would like to take park click on the button above or check out Ramblings and Photos

Next weeks inspirations will be:

1. Classic Still Life
2. Self-Portrait (Paper Heart Camera theme: suggested prompt -Number/Mortal Muses' prompt)
3. On the Floor (Megan's suggestion)
4. Lines (May 2011 Photo Hunt)
5. Fresh (May 2011 Photo Hunt) 

Really a self-portrait ~sigh~ 

More Hexagons Flowers

Well it is Saturday, and Jeremy is at his Dad's for part of the weekend he comes home tomorrow.  Chris is at his place in the city as he worked all last night, and he has to work tonight.  So I got to get up early, and just have some me time, and enjoying some coffee.

Here are the Hexagon Flowers I got sewn together this past week.  Not that many, but progress.  Hope everyone else has a creative, and productive week, and I can wait to go see what you have been working on.

My pretty hexagon flowers

The Longest Journey Begins....

The longest journey begins with a single step Attributed to Lao-tzu (c 604- c 531 bc)

I'm going to share one of the things I do to try to lower my impact on the environment.  We all know that using less paper products, and using reusable products like cloth napkins instead of paper, and cloth cleaning rags instead of paper towels is better for the environment.  I also think we are all on a journey to become more environmentally aware, and depending where you are on your environmental journey you might be taking bigger steps than those mentioned. 

I not only do the things listed above, but I also (among other things) use reusable feminine hygiene products.  hmmmm do I hear crickets out there in the blogosphere world?  Possibly.  Do I hear a bunch of my readers gasping omg how can she do that?  Mmmmm pretty possible.  I'm sure a lot of people are wondering why would you use reusable feminine hygiene product?.  Maybe reading this with that interest one does when they see a car accident, and they slow down to stare. I don't know...lol  I'm going to do my best to address what I think would be questions or curiosity about this practice.

I will try my best to explain why I use reusable feminine hygiene products.  First and foremost the environmental impact.  That would also be the same reasons I used reusable diapers as I didn't want to be throwing those things into landfills.  There are those that argue oh but you are using more water, and electricity.  Yes to wash them I'm using water, and power they then get hung to dry.  No matter how much water I use to wash my pads that amount of water doesn't come close to the water, and power used to manufacture these products.  Then there is the cost factor.  Reusable products cost less.  I figure my stash cost me $60, and I've heard that pads can last 4 years so if you work it out that's $1.24 a month.  If they last longer than that then that per month cost would be even lower.  Now to keep me in disposable products I'd be looking at about between $10 - $15 a month.  That money is better in my pocket trust me ...lol. ;)   Then there is what I believe to be health benefits.  I think using less chemicals, (and yes to get the disposable products white they do use chemicals) is a more healthy way to live.  Some will even say their cycles are lighter, and fewer cramps though I haven't noticed any of those benefits personally.  Now another reason I like use reusable is I like knowing that when I buy these products I'm supporting often a female small business owner that is able to run her business out of her home.  I soooo LOVE this idea!  I love the idea of being able to support someone running a home based business, and getting a great quality product out of it for sure a a win, win situation.  Then there is the fact that I NEVER run out.  I never have to run out and grab more disposable products.

Now I'm sure some of you are sitting there shaking your heads thinking 'oh poor her doesn't she realize it is 2011 there is no NEED to take steps back & use RAGS.  Disposable products came about to liberate women.'  Well I use reusable products, because it is 2011, and I have the choice, and very proud to have that choice as to what goes into, and against my body.  I feel very empowered that all women can make that choice as to what is better for them.  Every person makes their own choice, and I don't judge if someone uses disposable products they are just at a different point on their Environmental Journey than I am.

I love my resuable products, and wouldn't live without them.  So in saying that here is my stash:



These are two years old, and were the first pads I ever bought 8" in length.

These were my second batch bought from Moms Crafts 4 U of pads, they are about a year old they are 10" in length, they don't have a plu layer.

These I are about 6 months old bought from Moms Crafts 4 U, and also 10" in length, and they have the plu layer.  I love the butterfly pad.

I thought I show the bottom of the pads.  Both of those shown have a plu layer which is leak proof.  I wanted to show the bottoms so that you can see the different ways they can fasten either snaps or velcro. 

This is to give an idea of how thick they are.  They really aren't that thick actually.  They are way thinner than a disposable maxi pad, and slightly thicker than a thin panty liner.

Here is part of an old post where I wrote my own FAQ.  Keep in mind a lot of these suggestions are just what I do.  There’s many ways of cleaning & handling cloth pads.

Why cloth pads?~ Well first off cost they are cheaper than buying disposable items.  I believe they are environmentally friendly.  Then there are all the chemicals & dioxins that go into producing disposable items that I don’t need to put in or near my body.  Plus disposable pads would rub & give me almost friction type burns OUCH…lol.

But wait cloth pads aren’t sterile.~ No they are not.  But I have news for you, neither are the disposable ones…lol.  The commercial ones are white only because of the amount of chemicals used to produce them.

But you are using more water to wash them.
~ Not more than used to produce disposable ones, actually much less.

How do they feel when you are wearing them?~ They feel great!!!  They are VERY comfortable!!!   I find they feel much better than disposable pads.  There’s no rubbing & I don’t get any skin reactions from the cloth ones.

Are they hard to clean?~ Nope!  I rinse mine in cold water & then will wash by hand while I’m in the shower & hang to dry.  I’ll keep doing that during my cycle & then at the end of my cycle I’ll wash all the ‘clean’ pads when I do my regular laundry.

What about stains?~ The ones from Moms Crafts 4 U are soooooo easy to keep stain free.  I think that’s because she uses cotton fabric.  I find my pads with cotton fleece take a little more effort to keep stain free, but some oxyclean takes care of that.

Do you just use cloth pads?~ No I also use the Instead Cup, but I need to upgrade, and buy a Diva Cup.  I need both a cup & the pads it’s just the type of cycle I have ~shrug.~

I’m sure there are other questions/concerns I’m missing so if anyone has any please ask & I’ll answer as best I can. 

free pic from stockphotos.it

 

I do see following as a way to promote your blog.  It is a tool we have, and good one I think.  I use following in a couple of ways.  First off I of course follow blogs I'm interested in.  That is first & foremost as I don't want to be following a blog that doesn't interest me.  I also like to follow a variety of different blogs as I have a variety of different interests.  I'll follow blogs on crafting, quilting, photography, child rearing, families, eco friendly issues, cooking I could go on, and on, but I won't bore you all.  I like following a modge podge of blogs, because my moods may change from day to day as to what I am interested in reading.  A great way I personally use following to promote my blog is if I'm reading a great post I like to also read comments, and if I see an interesting comment I'll check out their blog, and might end up following them.  I've gotten a number of great followers that way.  So for me that does work, but it does require effort on my part...lol, hmmm but is that actually promoting my blog as I'm again following people that I'm interested in to begin with.  If they check out my blog or follow that is bonus, but not my ultimate goal in doing this.

 

I personally don't join a lot of the follow me Tuesday, or Wednesday or whatever day it might be...lol.  There is one exception last week I joined tried Follow Me Friday which I learned about from The Adventures of J-Man and MillerBug it actually turned out much better than I thought it would.  I did get more followers which is the main purpose of it, but I also got followers that comment, and interact which is icing on the cake woo hoo!!!! So this Follow Me Friday is something I'm going to join in each week, because for me it seemed to work.

 

I also then wonder about followers in general.  Do you go looking for followers?  Or do you care?  The only time I look for followers is on Follow Me Friday, and I will promote my blog on ETSY.  That's pretty much about it.  Other than that I'm sure I follow a lot more people than follow me, and I don't worry or stress about it.  I figure if they were interested in my blog they would follow me...lol...plus they still might in the future.  That being said I do personally however follow back those that follow me.  I personally just think it is good manners...lol.  Are there manners in the blogosphere?  Eh I'd like to think there are.

 

So to those that might still be reading I pose these questions to you:

 

~ do you care how many followers you have?

~ do you follow back those that follow you?

~ do you go looking for followers or do you just let them come to you?

~ if you look for followers is there a number that once you hit it you won't actively go looking for new followers as you won't need to?

~ do you use following as a way to promote your blog?

~ or is life to short & you didn't even get this far in my post...lol?

 

Wordless Wednesday ~ My Photography

 

image free clip art from menknowpause.fooyoh.com

 

I feel sad, overwhelmed, not in control, and sorry for myself so this is all I'm going to say today.

Idle Free Please ~ Fabric Pass Along

I was some what productive this morning, and was able to get a quick load of wash done just mostly stuff I wear for work, and dance practice.  So when my load was done I brought it back to my apartment, and hung it all up to dry.  I have a nice little folding clothes drying rack that fits perfectly on my balcony. 

As I was hanging my laundry I noticed one of my neighbours exit the building, and go to his car.  I expteced him to do what I would do start his car, and head off to begin his day.  However that is NOT what happened.  He got in his car started his car, then lite a cigarette, then sat there.  YES sat there, and sat there, and sat there & sat there.  Took me a good 10 mins to hang my clothes.  The entire time this car was sitting there idling.  I'm sorry, but that is totally not necessary.  Maybe he didn't get the memo that it is no longer winter?  That I could understand as our winter lasted longer than normal, but that 80 Km winds the past few days was WIND not SNOW!!!!!!!!!!  Yes in winter when it gets down to - 30 C I will idle my car, but no longer than 5 mins.  It does need to warm up when it is that cold as I've tried not warming it up, and WOW almost drove into a pole the steering wheel just doesn't want to turn.  However to see this car sitting there this morning on a sunny warm morning idling just made my blood boil.

FABRIC PASS ALONG

Rocket Girl over at Nuclear Knits has taken up the call to do a hexagon quilt as well.  We've been exchanging a few emails, and we are toying with the idea of doing a fabric pass along.  So I'm thinking once you are done with your fabric you pass it along to someone else, and so on.  Right now it is just Rocket Girl, and myself, and we are putting the details together, but I'm wondering if anyone else out there might be interested in doing this?

Sunday Scavenger Hunt

I decided last week to make more of an effort to carry my camera around with me, and I'm lucky that I have a nice small one that can fit into the front pocket of my purse so it shouldn't take much to remember to grab it.  Then this morning while I was reading I came came across this blog Ramblings and Photos Ashley does a weekly scavenger hunt, and that has intrigued me.  


These are the rules:

1. Anyone can participate. 
2. You're encouraged to take five new photos this week for the challenge. 
3. If you get stumped, you may use one photo from your archive (although I'm not too strict about it - I do my best to take fresh shots). 
4. Link up here on Sunday (or Tuesday at the latest) - you can use the button above.  
5. Leave comments for at least five entries around yours (we have so many new participants each week, this is the only way I know to be inclusive).
6. Have fun

So along with those rules there are 5 inspirations to capture with your camera hence the scavenger hunt part of it.  So this week I'll need to capture these 5 things in 5 different photos:

1. My Passion
2. Sound of Music
3. Inner Beauty
4. Ethereal
5. Sharp

Okay I'm looking forward to the challenge, and already have a few ideas for some of them.  However inner beauty how do I capture that?  Hmmm must think on it.

Are You a Doer or a Watcher?

First Wetaskiwin Scouts yesterday went out to our Lion's Club Camp Ground to split wood, and stack it for them.  I've always been one to enjoy group projects like that.  Just jump right in, and start doing.  I find it a good way to get to know other people better as you bond over doing the same activity. We had LOTS of bodies show up.  Jeremy and I were there right on time at 9:00 am, and we were taken right away where the wood needed to be stacked.  Thank goodness Jeremy is like me he is a doer, and doesn't like to sit still. I couldn't believe how he kept going, and going, and going.  I stacked wood for probably 4 1/2 hours straight.  Jeremy went between stacking wood or hauling it over in a wheel barrow also for 4 1/2 hours straight and never complained.  This was to be a work party, and it was made known that we were there to work.  Why is there always a small group that thinks they don't have to do their share?  The more I think about it the more I KNOW that some people are doers.  They will do what needs to be done, and pitch in.  Then there are watchers.  They think NOTHING of standing, and watching others do the work.  I am very thankful that Jeremy is a doer like his Mom, and didn't take after his Dad who for sure is a watcher.  I noticed that the kids that were watchers their Parents were watchers too, and those children that were doers the Parents were in their pitching in.  The children follow the Parents.  We had a break for lunch thank goodness, and got to cook hot dogs over a fire.  After all that stacking, and hauling we were hungry.  After we ate everyone sat around relaxing for a few minutes so I was able to take a few pictures.  I'm making an effort to take my camera with me more often.  Here are some shots I got.  Others I'll save for Wordless Wednesday.

I got the idea for taking pictures of shadows from this lovely blog Yellow Roses, and thought it was a great idea.  This is my first attempt, and I'm sure you'll see more.

  This struck me as funny a wrong way sign on top of a water tap.  Okay so getting water is going the wrong way?  If I turn the tap a certain way is that the wrong way?  I got a chuckle out of this.

Jeremy's Drawing ~ Red Dragon

Jeremy who is 10 loves to draw, create things like robots out of egg cartons, and make things out of boxes and such.  He is a very creative soul.  He has a dragon book that he loves, and drew this dragon that he copied from the book.  I told him I'd put it on my blog.  So here is the Red Dragon.

Some Hexagons Sewn Together ~ woo hoo

Well after looking a piles of hexagons last week I took my piles and decided I wanted to have some sort of idea what they would look like all laid out.  So I tried to lay out all my hexagons and I gave up...lol.  All those little hexagons I just got overwhelmed.  I then took a BOLD step for me and decided that I was just going to start sewing them together randomly by colour.  I took all my blue hexies and put them into my brown wicker basket I keep them in, and then in no order, did you just hear what I said NO ORDER...lol...I randomly pulled a hexie, and would sew them into a flower.  At first it was very liberating I'm one that usually likes to have the perfect plan all set out when it comes to crafts.  The only rule I gave myself is that the same fabric couldn't be repeated in a single flower.  Then it happened.  One of the flowers I sewed together just happened to all be paler value fabrics I pulled out, and I had a few flowers sewn together, and laid them out, and though I liked how they looked they looked a little to random for me ~blah~, but not all is lost.  I'm not going to frog them...(frogging get it rip it rip it....I kill myself).  Nope I'm going to keep them exactly as they are, and just change my system.  From now on each flower will have a value light, medium or dark I will still just pull fabric out randomly, but if it doesn't fit into the 'value' of that flower back it goes.

Here are the flowers done up to now.  

Showing the back side of my flower, and that the paper are sill in them.

Here is my work basket.  I have thread, needles, pins, scissors, and also keep hexagons in here that I'm currently working with.

I also got invited to join The Vignette Hexagon Quilt which is a group blog about yup you guessed it hexagon quilts.  It was the other day when I learned there was a term for what I want my quilt to look like I'll be doing a colour wash....ah gees that makes total sense to me.  If you are working on hexagons check out The Vignette Hexagon Quilt, and you can ask to join just send an email.  You'll see lots of lovely hexagons, progress, and of course inspiration and motivation.

Trying to Re-Create After Blogger Being Down

 

 

Well after Blogger being down yesterday & deleting two of my posts I'm trying to recreate what I had....lol.

 

So yesterday I just posted what I think my blog schedule will be.  This is just a guide for me & not set in stone I can change it & massage it at any time.

 

Monday ~ Eco Tips

Tuesday ~ Anything goes

Wednesday ~ Wordless Wednesday

Thursday ~ Blog Stuff

Friday ~ Eco Tips

Saturday ~ WIPS

Sunday ~ Dance Stuff/Anything Goes

 

Well that's about it.  I'm thinking this at least gives me a starting place.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Art Photo Steam Ship ~ My Photography

Look What I Bought

I was doing some shopping on ETSY today & bought some fabric.  I'm interested to see how this turns out.  I do buy stuff from ETSY & have some posts I need to write about shops I've bought from....anyways I wanted to buy cotton scraps & vintage scraps today.  I found two different sellers. 

I bought this.  The set is of vintage fabrics has 60 squares..no repeats..in wonderful condition! They all measure approx. 3" square.  When making my hexies these 3" squares will make it easier.  I can't wait until they show up.  I bought it from In The Old Schoolhouse  This looks like a really nice shop LOTS of vintage fabric.  They also carry Fat 1/4's, 1/8's & 1/16's.  Prices & shipping seem really good to me.

I also bought a PIF (pay it forward) Grab Bag.  I'm really looking forward to see what scraps will be in there...lol.  Call me strange.  This one will be like Christmas Morning.  I found this grab bag from Sandi's Stash  Sandi carries fabric, notions, books/kits & has her PIF scraps. 

Has anyone else bought fabric off ETSY?  I soooo can't wait for the fabric to get here.

Hexagon Quilt Update

I've mentioned a few times on my blog that I'm working on a hexagon quilt so I thought I would show how much I've gotten done.

Here are my hexagons before they are cut out.  I they are about 2" hexagons.

I then cut them out carefully & pin them to the wrong side of the fabric.

Then comes the fun part of basting them.  I don't baste through the paper as I don't want to have the extra step of taking out the basting later.  I like the basting part except my thimble is to small.  So I need to get a new thimble.

So now I have piles of hexagons basted on the fabric.

So there that is all my hexagons at the moment.  They are from reclaimed fabric, donated scraps, and stuff I had on hand.  My goal in doing this is to not buy any fabric new.  I find that reclaiming fabric from pillow cases picked up at thrift stores great resource.  I also discovered that you can buy scraps on ETSY reasonably priced so I'm going to check that out.

Now I need ideas.  I don't want to do a flower quilt.  I want to do more of a colour blocking idea.  So all the blues together, red, green etc.  More like a rainbow.  However I'd like to start sewing some of the hexagons together, but should I wait until I have more?  Should I get OCD about it & have a plan.  Or should I just start grabbing blues & sewing them together?  Keep all dark together?  Mediums together?  Lights together?

HELP!!!!!  What would you do?

Painting

 

 

Jeremy was looking at this painting the other day & said:

 

~ Mommy you should finish it. 

~ I'm like it is finished that's why its hanging on the wall. 

~ No Mommy its to small

~ Well that's how big the canvas was

~ Mommy you should do another one & continue the colours on it so they match up.

~ ahhhh well that is a good idea Jeremy

 

So this painting is an original creation by moi acrylic on canvas.  I totally loved doing this, and have many ideas floating around in my head on other paintings I'd like to do.  I just wish I had more time....lol.

WOW

So today is my birthday & I was home & with my son not feeling well for part of the day.  My sweetie & lovely Chris came over to spend part of the day with me.  He also brought me my Birthday pressie.  I literally started crying as he bought me a Macbook.  Like OMG!!!!!!!!!!!  I just couldn't believe it.  My other computers are old like 10 plus years old.  I would keep switching back & forth between hard drives one had sound, the other was faster, one I could blog easier on, one the usb drive worked they were each maybe 2/3's of a computer you get the idea.  I knew the end was in sight as for my hotmail the computers were getting so old that I couldn't reply to emails on them....lol.  I now have lap top A LAP TOP!!!!!!!!  I can do all my blogging at home ANY TIME!  I don't have to sneak in blog writing at work & pretend it's a document I'm working on...lol.  I can upload all my pictures at HOME not have to do it during coffee break at work.  I just can't get over what a thoughtful, unexpected, gift this is.

Schedule

Well my little guy is home with an upset tummy :( hopefully he feels better soon.  I'm at the very least home for half the day from work.  I will use the time to tidy up some around here.  I'll also get my weight exercises done.

I've also been thinking about wanting to come up with some sort of blog schedule.  Just some sort of guide mostly for myself about what to write about each day.  Then I wonder is that to structured?  I currently do:

~ Wordless Wednesday
~ Plus i try to feature an Etsy shop on saturday but this past weekend i totally didn't

There are things I'm really passionate about.  That you can eco friendly & it can be done simply & you can still look great doing it.  That I have this large artistic/creative side that often gets pushed to the back burner for more 'important' things.  That buying homemade items from artisans is IMPORTANT hence my etsy addiction.  Living a healthy lifestyle is important to me & that includes eating real food, that tastes good that I made.  I'll have to keep spinning these thoughts around.  If anyone has any feedback how they organize their blog posts please share your ideas.  Or if you don't then what works for you?  There may be more posts on this subject coming up...lol.

If You Sent Fabric To Me....

If you are one of the fantastic ladies that sent fabric to me that didn't receive your knitted face cloths in return could you please contact me either on here or staceyw @ wetaskiwin.ca.

Thank you

Clean Your Face With Oil

I wish I had perfect skin, but I don’t.  I tend to be on the oily side which as I’m getting older will work out to my benefit.  On the downside I still get breakouts I’m almost 41 years old, and still get the odd pimple.  So one day I was looking up the benefits of using Olive Oil on the skin, and imagine my surprise when I discovered The Oil Cleansing Method  Wow!  Wash my face with oil you’ve got to be kidding me.  But after more reading, and I saw how many people swore it didn’t leave their skin an oil slick, and they thought it was good I thought why not.  So I bought some castor oil to make my own oil cleanser.  That next morning I mixed up a mixture of 50/50 castor oil and olive oil massaged it all over my face, and then went in the shower.  At the end of my shower I used a wash cloth, and gently wiped off the oil.  I was completely shocked that when I got out of the shower dried off my face, and discovered that not only did it not feel like an oil slick it actually felt like I need more moisture….lol.  So I used my moisturizer with sunscreen.  However my skin did feel very soft and I noticed fewer blackheads.  I did adjust my mixture to add more olive oil so that I get the moisture I felt my skin needed.  I’ve been using this method for about two weeks now, and I keep asking Chris if my face feels softer and he says yes.

I find this such a great method in cleaning my face as I can customize my oil mixture just for me.  I know EXACTLY what’s in it.  I cut down on packaging and waste in that way.  More importantly for this Crunchy Diva to do it, it HAS to be simple, and this is VERY simple.