A Freakin' Dog?!

Those of you who have read or seen The Golden Compass, you know what a Daemon is... For those who haven't, it is sort of a dimension of your soul that lives outside your body and is a constant companion, never able to be more than a few yards from you. Each person's daemon reflects their personality, so I took the wee test and came up with a dog?! Known for obedience? Pah! What do y'all think?



And take it yourselves, k? I wanna know if there are any fellow blind followers out there!

Because I Can't Trash The Organic Produce

I baked some squash for Christmas dinner that turned out horrible: flavorless and stringy. So we had more than our normal amount of leftover squash in the fridge. I googled up " 'leftover squash' soup recipe" and came up with this quickie little recipe. And wow, what a difference some coconut milk, curry paste, a 1/4 cup of sugar, and a blender makes!

Hmmm, those ingredients could prolly make dirt taste better, huh?

Suzie's Santa Sweatshop

My husband makes fun of me because every year I decide to make way too many handcrafted gifts for the holidays, and end up working my little fingers to the bone during the month of December. So what do I decide to do this year? Knit a sweater for each and every employee at the company I work for...

Um, okay, well there are only six of us, and yeah I knit them teeny tiny ornament sweaters, but they are REAL sweaters and would keep a tiny stick figure very warm!

And don't forget the beading...

Good friends and family, pipe up with your favorite colors if you'd like one of these! Quick before my fingers fall off!

Vacay Recap

So we did make it back from vacation/sick leave! Sorry to leave all three of you hanging, we were only sick for 24 hours! Aside from the aforementioned illness the trip was lovely. It was warm and sunny in the beginning so we got to do some hiking...



Even lil' Tank Boy put in his fair share of foot travel!

And then it snowed! And before and after bouts of illness we all got out on some cross country skis!

Some parts were more exciting than others...


And for those of you in the know, The Hub's site has many more (and most likely better) pictures of all of the fun parts of the vacation! But alas, he won't let me link it here...

All of a Sudden I Don't Feel So Well...

Two things:

I highly recommend forgetting one's glasses on the hotel night stand when one sprints to the bathroom to be sick.

Food service plastic drink pitchers make an excellent barf bucket, you can hang your nose outside and avoid the smell of your own sick.

Crawling back to bed now...

Two FO's... Finally!

So I finally finished up two knitting projects that had been hanging around for far too long! Sheldon the turtle had been waiting around for eyes for at least two weeks, poor babe. Here he is enjoying the scenery from our back porch...


showing off his alluring curvaceous figure...

and gettin' in some quality tanning time au naturel!

The Superbaby Rockabilly Sweater finally got its weaving in done, whew! (AND buttons sewn on!) That took far longer than I imagined, it seems to be the biggest drawback to colorwork, huh? But wowzers, I really like it! How long d'ya think it would take to create an adult size o' inferno?


Hope y'all are staying warm n cozy, I personally am loving the Christmas music on the stereo, fire in the woodstove, and fuzzy slippers on my feet! For all you Tank Boy fans out there I've got some great baby shots that I'll try to get posted asap.

Cured!

So my beading obsession was rather short lived as I went back to work this week.  The perfect remedy for enjoying your time off too much!  Ha ha ha, I'm not really complaining, as I only work two days a week, but I definitely have had much less time to craft this week.  That and some ferocious Christmas shopping seem to have taken up the entire week.

Little Tankster got some vaccinations last week, which went fine, but he must have played with the germ ridden office toys too much as two days later he became Booger Boy yet again.  I'd love to do an experimental culture of one of those things.  Then again maybe ignorance is better in this case.

Just wanted to let Tank Boy's adoring fans know that he's doing fine, and now I'm off to cram in some crafting before snoozing out.  Happy post-thanksgiving, pre-Christmas winter bliss!

Uh Oh...

I may have recently become rather obsessed with my newest craft sensation...



I may not search out the twelve step until after the holidays.

Momma Gets A Day Off!

So I've been a little cranky lately. Ahem. Really fracking cranky. So in the interest of my mental health, and my husband's physical health, I got a day off. Tankster went to daycare and I got to futz around! OMG. I loved it. So what did I do, you ask? I worked my fingers to the bone knitting (!) this...


Its a bracelet!


Its a necklace!

I was a little dubious at first, for some reason it wasn't looking very much like these (scroll down) to me. It was, however, for some (possibly toddler related) reason looking like corn studded poo to me. Thank heavens that stage has passed! I also finished up a pair of these, something I haven't done since forever.



I had so much fun I forgot to eat or drink anything today. (I realized this during my 20 minute run...) Welcome to Suzie's Day Off Sweat Shop!

Free (and Far) Ranging

Ever since I've gotten back from our trip to the east coast my office has been really slow, read: no work for me. So Tank Boy and I have been spending a ton of quality time together. Last week we got to go on a field trip with some of the local preschools to the organic farm that supplies our eggs and some veggies. Tankster was very eager to get inside the bear proof fence and start chasing free range chickens...
(Note chicken at center of frame, ranging freely!)

The new batch of baby chicks are caged (for their own safety of course!) and therefore quite the concentrated spectacle for the preschool set. Mezmerizing!
For a few seconds at least...
Here's the Tankster showing early signs of being a chick magnet (heh heh)...


And speaking of chicks, this is sure to impress the ladies. I mentioned before that Lil' Buddy is starting to feed himself with a spoon, here he is demonstrating the creation of the rare and beautiful yogurt stalagmite...

And showing off his ferocious frugivorous side...
Unfortunately he has decided that he isn't into apple peels, and has figured out how to eject them from the system. A nice little treat I like to call Apple Foliage...


And lastly, the poor poo seems to have come down with a fever today, so here we are loungin' at the puffy fuzzy homestead...

Wish us a restful day! (And one to y'all too!)

Remnants...

(Get it? Fiber arts joke there, heh heh.)

This morning my house was scattered with these pleasant reminders from my First Ever Stitch N Bitch! (Along with a completely unhealthy amount of spinach dip in the fridge, that I am most definitely NOT having for breakfast, lunch, and dinner today, ahem.) So not only was this my first SnB ever, but it seems to be the first in the area as well. (This decade at least...) Go Julie the Cruise Director!

It was lovely! There was wine and snacks and fibers galore! It made me so happy to actually have it happen that I didn't want to clean up the wineglasses, crust of crostini, and ball bands (ooo, that sounds dirty!). But seein' as I scoured the house before inviting the public in, it seems a picture will have to do.

I Really Shouldn't...

O Daylight Savings Hour Change how I hate thy ways
for clocks they make no difference in a tiny tot's full days.
He's sleepy before dinner, and wakey afore dawn
and at his wee and piteous cries I am but a lowly pawn.
His digestion is all wonky, it doesn't know the math
and therefore found him dropping deuce, while splashing in the bath!

So Worth The Effort

Like these other goofy, crafty folk, I was frantically finishing up a Halloween costume yesterday...

Yes, I knit a wee fur balaclava and horns, and then sewed a furry striped fleece sweater and fish pants. This wacky idea was actually proposed by one of y'all, my three kooky readers. And I just want to say that working with furry stuff was harder than I thought. Doable, but fuzzy and messy and hard to count knit stitches or stuff under the foot of the sewing machine. But oh my, the results!

















At first we weren't sure how the Tankster was going to handle the whole shebang... So we started off easy, sort of looks like the start of an elvis costume...

But then he took to it pretty well, and was a champion Wild Thing the whole night!

He even started "goring" daycare friends with his fuzzy horns...

At the end of the evening, he had the drill down so well he sat and handed OUT candy to other kids at a friends house. And just incase you've forgotten, here he is to remind you that "You da man!"

Sneak Peek!

Of wild things yet to come...

Vacation Smorgasbord

So we were only gone a week and a two days, but looking at these pictures I'm not surprised I'm exhausted! There were many other lovely events not even pictured! Including visits with Lovely Lisa, Mr. Bennett, and the trip out to Grampa's house. And yes, we are each wearing two different outfits at the Faire, as we totally indulged and went TWICE! Yay us! (You may have to let the slide show run through a few times first, for some reason it takes a few tries to get through the whole thing on my computer.) On with the show!



While we were out there Tankster learned two new tricks. One was to give kisses! So cute it almost melted my heart. And the other is the "solo slider" from above, he can now go up the stairs and come down the slide on his own! And then the day after we got back he started feeding himself food out of a bowl with a spoon! So Big! Ok, off to nap. Hope y'all are enjoying your fall almost as much!

The Hippogriff Has Landed!

We are home after a wonderful week-long trip to the east coast. Last night we stumbled off the airplane in Sacramento at 10:00 pm west coast time, (meaning 1:00 am east coast time!) with a sacked out baby, and a rumpled and groggy mom n pop. And THIS wacky Harry Potteresque sight cheerfully greeted us in the Baggage Claim area...

Yeah, those hugemongous teetering towers of luggage in the background there? They were really neat, and off kilter with sort of a well loved vintagey feel all stuffed into a pleasantly plump bulging luggage trolley. I felt like we were about to run into the Weasleys at Platform Nine and Three Quarters, and oddly enough, in my world, that's a comforting thought.

Here is the artist's website. But unfortunately I feel his picture really doesn't do it justice, see...

Lack of perspective maybe? Dunno, anywhoo, just wanted to thank the random Flickr member who took the picture, D.L. for capturing the warm and homey feel they add to a boring old baggage claim area!

And Yay! we're home. I'll try to get some trip pics up tomorrow!

Crispy

There's not a ton of fall foliage out here, but occasionally we get a good flamer. The Hub caught this in Yosemite Valley last week, and since I'm a freak for fall colors (hence the retina burning orange blog format) I'm posting her here for all y'all to see. Happy Fall!

Teeny Tiny Inferno

I am so excited! I can't wait any longer to display my recent knitting accomplishment, or as they say in knitblogworld Finished Object!


It is the blenderized version of both this and this.

Try not to look too closely, or you'll find numerous mistakes. And it took a teeny tiny aeon to finish. And I have to admit that it isn't exactly finished, just a few ends to tidy up here...

But yet, its still extremely exciting to see the blob I'd been working on for months finally look like a piece of clothing! Yay!

Just Like Campbell's Soup Is...

Evidently rocks are too. Mmm mmm good that is. Or at least to the 15 month old palate. Yep, that's right, Tankster ate a rock this morning. We talked to the doc, and he is completely unconcerned. We, on the other hand, get to inspect the next three day's stool to ensure it leaves his system. And frankly, that prospect is worth more than a bit of concern...

Something (Not So Very) Wicked...

Here to get you in the mood for the upcoming Halloween season is our favorite lil' monstar wearing his Maurice Sendak slippers, clutching a very scary plush Big Toe Uglydoll monster.

And if that doesn't do it perhaps the soon to be beheading of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer bobblehead by the same slipper shod scamp will get you in the mood...

I do want to mention here that these slippers were actually incredibly frightening. After Tank Boy took two incredibly cartoonlike falls, where his feet flew up over his head while his wee body went whumping onto the hardwood(esque) floors their use was promptly discontinued, except for perhaps as part of an as yet unconcieved Halloween costume. What about y'all got any brilliant ideas for the eve of Hallows?