Daily Ramblings - Adopt-A-Family 2011

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been pretty slammed all this week shopping, wrapping, labeling, packing and delivering all the gifts for the annual adopt-a-family program at work.  This is a program that I've been heading up for the last 8 years and while it's amazingly rewarding, I think it also makes me a little nutso (in a good way of course!) Donations were dropped off today and it's always bittersweet when I know it's all gone.  

I can't say enough about the amazing generosity of my co-workers.  We received about $1,000 in donations which went toward buying gifts and gift card, plus the piles of toys, clothes, books and food that were left in the donation boxes.  Considering times are hard for everybody right now, the giving nature of those around me impresses me every year.  I always have that moment of panic when I wonder if we've taken on too much but, by the end, I'm always overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of gifts that we're able to give to these less fortunate families.  Thank you to all my WMG friends - you are a wonderful bunch!

Daily Deuce - Cat burglar strikes again

It's that time of year again when I am thoroughly involved with my holiday adopt-a-family program at work.  I've been heading up this particular effort for the last 8 years and, while I was totally planning on doing the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day this round, I am suffering a bit of a time crunch.  You should go check it out though - a chance to find some great new blogs to read and possibly win some stuff too!

This weekend, I went shopping with the $570 worth of cash and check donations that I'd harrassed encouraged people to donate at work.  I found some awesome sales so managed to get a ton of gifts for about $450, which means money left over for gift cards. Yay!  [Pictures of the haul to come shortly]. 

Saturday afternoon, husband and I also popped out to get some cat food and a few kitty gifts for the holidays.  I was about to start organizing all the purchases when I hear rustling from under the dining table just to find that Deuce had extracted one of his gifts from among the melee of bags, and was attempting to remove it from the cardboard backing. 

Being the mean mom that I am, I took the toy away from him, stuffed it back in the bag and tucked the bag in among all the others.  Later that evening, the little smart-ass had found the bag with his toys in it again, dragged it across the room, and was once again trying to help himself to a toy.  Gifts and toys everywhere but he still figured out exactly what was his.  The toys are now hiding on the top shelf of the closet (shhh...don't tell him where it is). 

This is not the first time he's helped himself to things that he believes to be his...

- the pincushion he took right out of my hands [see picture]
- the treats he removed from on top of the fridge and ate before depositing the evidence empty bag behind the living room curtain
- the bag of toys he removed from the bathroom cabinet and threw all over the living room
- the hanks of yarn that he tried to sneak out of the room with...in front of me. 

Shameless!

Daily Chuckles - My completely random gift guide

I feel like I've been completely lacking inspiration for gifts this year - I was even having a hard time deciding what I wanted for myself (seeing as I wasn't going to make husband buy me a $500 camera lens).  I also go through the annual problem of having our wedding anniversary, Christmakuh and husband's birthday all within 3 weeks.  Yeah, I know, first world problems.

Anyway, I took to the internet for ideas and, in doing so, found a lovely assortment of completely random gifts that I just had to share with you all.  Here it is - my completely random gift guide (a/k/a stuff that I find hilarious).

	Moo, I'm A Goat T-shirt (courtesy of Snorg Tees) - $19.95 This shirt needs absolutely no explanation...or does it? Perfect if you enjoy seeing how long it takes for your friends to try and figure it out.
	Magic Wand - Programmable TV Remote (courtesy of Think Geek) - $89.99 Apparently it learns from your existing remotes, which inspires Harry Potter geeks and Muggles alike to be running around the house yelling "expelliarmus" and "accio" while waving the wand at TVs or ceiling fans. I'd actually be sorely tempted to teach it how to work the remotes in the office too, to really get everybody thinking that I have magical powers. Oh, the possibilities are endless!
	Clocky Alarm Clock on Wheels (courtesy of Brookstone) - $39.95 Don't go to the gym, just chase your alarm clock around the house! Apparently, Clocky will give you one chance to wake up and then will jump off your nightstand and take off. It doesn't say if Clocky is any good at hiding, seeing as an alarm clock you can't find could be a bit of a problem. Also doubles as a pet toy.
	Kilt Beach Towel (courtesy of Catalog Favorites) - $29.95 This will have folks wondering what your man's got under his kilt. I think this one is best used in public places and perfect for covering up those Speedos.
	Monkey Tea Infuser (courtesy of Waste Some Cash) - $9.75 If you've ever wanted to hear the phrase "there's a monkey in your tea", this is the time. You can then correct them by saying, "actually, there's tea in my monkey".
	Slingshot Flying Monkey (courtesy of Amazon) - $2.09 (sale) While we're on the topic of monkeys, want an awesome gift for any white elephant gift exchanges coming up? This is guaranteed to be a big hit at meetings, given that it is a toy complete with screaming sounds.
	Air Swimmer Remote Control Shark (courtesy of Toys R Us) - $49.99 Another great item to have in the office, parties, or just following you around in general...especially if you've already purchased the wand remote.
	Star Wars Chop Sabers (courtesy of Think Geek) - $12.99 Technically, if you were really a Jedi, you could use mind tricks to get the food in your mouth. If that fails though, might as well use these chop sabers, which you could also use in battle should somebody try to steal your sushi.
	ABC (Already Been Chewed) Cookie Cutters (courtesy of Waste Some Cash) - $7.99 This may be the most brilliant method of keeping the cookies all to yourself!  An alternative for those of you who are used to licking your food to stake your claim.
	Cock Blocker Wine Stopper (courtesy of Amazon) - $7.95 (sale) You always need something to prevent unwarranted advances...on your wine!  Helpful if you don't have your light-saber chopsticks on hand.

Daily Art - Precious

My new camera arrived this week - got myself a new Canon 7D DSLR [insert happy dance here].  I've been yearning after this baby for a long time but with an unemployed husband it wasn't really feasible.  Of course, now he's gainfully employed, I was able to swing it and I can't express how happy I am!

Yesterday, we took a trip to LACMA (Los Angeles Couty Museum Of Art), which is part of the Bank Of America Museum program - $free.99, thank you very much.  We've been talking about taking advantage of the offer for a while, but didn't succeed due to various issues with bad planning prior to this.  If you have a BofA account though, and you're looking for something to do the first weekend in a month, I highly suggest checking out which museums are available in your area.

It was the perfect opportunity to take the camera (dubbed "my precious") on it's first field trip.  I do love me some ancient artifacts and whatnot.  I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. You can also view the entire set here.

Of course, I had to end the outing with some photos of the lamppost installation at the front of the building.

It was a really fun afternoon and I'm in LOVE with the camera - no post-editing required.  Hope you all had a good weekend!

Daily Review - Brioche Knitting e-book

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving.  Sorry I've been so quiet - we were pretty busy and had a nice time with family in town.  PLUS - I had the opportunity to meet my 5 week old nephew (so small, squishy and completely adorable!)

Given the extra day off work, this finally gave me a chance to review an e-book tutorial for Beginner and Intermediate Brioche Knitting.  I was excited to review this as it's something I've been meaning to try and I'm always happy to learn a new technique.  Thank you to Liat of KNITFreedom for providing a copy of this e-book for me to review.

[NOTE:  This e-book does require the latest version of Adobe Reader to view, although there is a handy link within the e-book that you can follow to download an update (which I needed anyway!)]

This e-book lesson is a wonderful collection of step-by-step Brioche knitting videos with written direction.  The videos are nice and clear, and I found I was able to knit along at the same pace as the video was going even though I was learning.  They compliment the written directions well as I think that trying to learn this stitch using written directions alone would have me completely lost.  The videos are also presented in both American and Continental knitting styles so you can follow on no matter which way you prefer to knit.  By a half-hour in, I was comfortable with the cast on, set up, had knit about 10 rows of my swatch, and even learned a new bind off technique.  

Although just starting out, I did try the section regarding brioche knitting in the round, which I know I'll want to be using for hats along the way.  This involving learning both the brioche purl stitch and joining in the round.  I also tried Brioche knitting with two colors - which makes for beautiful scarf designs that I've seen but never known how the patterns were achieved.  Following along with the video, it didn't take long before my little swatch started taking shape and I'm thrilled that I was able to produce this just by following along with the videos.  [I was using a bigger needle than necessary for my yarn, so my stitches are super wonky in the swatches that I did below, but you get the idea.]

Plain one color Brioche stitch.

Two color Brioche.

This is definitely going to take more practice and I'll probably stick with the one color Brioche working flat for a little while until I get the hang of it.  While I'm learning though, this e-book is a great reference guide and the table of contents is really nicely laid out so that I can jump to whichever section is needed as I want to learn new things.  There's also a variety of helpful links throughout, plus tips for blocking techniques and fixing mistakes (which I know will be coming in useful at some point!)  It's like taking a knitting class, except you can refer to it over and over!

The e-book is selling for $34.77 on Liat's website, or through Ravelry.

This is what it's supposed to look like....with a little practice!

Daily Review - Artbeads.com

I'm a tactile person and when it comes to buying craft supplies, I've found that I generally like to buy in store.  I like being able to touch things and get an idea of size or color without the concern of monitor color variances.  Having said that, I recently found out about Artbeads.com while looking for some findings in specific metal colors not as easily available to me in store and it has to be said, I was impressed.

I found the site pretty easy to navigate and had no trouble finding what I wanted with the search.  Their selection doesn't seem quite as huge as Fire Mountain Gems (the only other site I've ever really explored), but I actually found that it wasn't as overwhelming and I was able to explore the different sections without losing myself!  I think that one of my favorite things was having an option to buy almost everything individually - which is great if you don't want to get stuck buying an entire bag/strand when all you want are a couple of an item.  If you do want to buy in higher quantities, the prices drop the more you buy.  I also liked that you only have to spend $10 to get free shipping, which is a nice low minimum and not hard to meet! 

My order was shipped the day after I purchased and took about a week to arrive.  Let me tell you how pleasantly surprised I was to open the package.  It was neatly packaged, wrapped, and even had a little note to say who had fulfilled my order.  A very nice touch!  Everything was so nicely packaged and labeled that I really enjoyed going through everything.

Seeing as I always default to earrings first, I decided to dive right in and knock out a couple of pairs using fun Czech glass roundelles.  They have what is called a half Picasso effect, which is essentially a marbling on the top and bottom of each bead.  It gives them a really unique look and I think it allows the bead to really be the focus of the piece.  The red beads used for the copper pair were far more vibrant in person than on the website, and that pair found a new home within 24 hours of being made!  I already had the Celtic metal findings for the other pair, but they'd been waiting for the right bead.  I think it's a good pairing. 


I think that another great feature of the Art Beads site is the user reviews.  It even allows the reviewer to upload a picture of their finished products, which says more than words can when trying to describe how a product was used.

I think I'm always going to enjoy buying in person more, but I'm definitely sold on this site and I'm sure they'll be getting lots of my business in the future. 

Daily Deuce - My sweet boy!