Santa's Cookies

It's getting close! I cleaned out my car last night and got Leo's large cage in the back seat. I was hoping it would fit and it did. I just need to put something underneath it to level it out and then put a pillow and blanket in there for him. This will be his second ever trip in a car. His first was when his daddy died and he came to live with me and PeeWee. That was a horrible 5+ hours trip home for us. That's why I put the cage in the back seat so I'll be able to drive. :o) I'm betting he's not going to like it but he has no choice. I want to get us there safe and in one piece.

I thought I'd post a pic of Kylie making Santa cookies last Christmas. I am looking forward to making cookies with her again. This time I think I will be participating instead of behind the camera. I'm going to make her mama take the pics. :o)

Today is our Christmas potluck at work and gift exchange.  I made a bowl of broccoli casserole and a bowl of cauliflower casserole. They were smelling so good last night when they came out of the oven that I wanted to dip in.  I can't wait til lunch!!  The meat is going to be smoked turkey that is out of this world...so moist...from a place called Ken & Candi's right around the corner from work. MMMMMM

This is Victoria's scarf that I made all wrapped up. (The heart and star are NOT my patterns - I wanted to be clear on that)  I'm anxious to see who got my name and what my present will be. I told one of the girls the other day that yarn or a crochet book would make me happy!  I'm easy to please. I don't think a lot of people at work know that I crochet. I guess they'll find out at the exchange. :o)

Here's hoping that your little corner of the world is warmy and not too stressful in anticipation of Christmas. It can get that way real easy, real quick. Take a deep breath and try to enjoy your family and friends. Please remember those who are not with their families, can't be with their families because they are serving their country. Say a little prayer for them and their loved ones.

I'll try to post tomorrow but if I don't I hope you all have a wonderful safe Christmas. Much love to you all!!!
TTFN
Kat
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

4 More Days

Until I am in FL...hopefully land of the warmy sunshine. It's been cold down there like it has here. I'm cautiously optimistic the weather will be good while I'm there.

Yesterday I spent the day finishing up my hooky stuff and wrapping. Unfortunately I did not get pics like I wanted to. And that is mostly due to the fact that I woke up feeling very poorly on Saturday. I think I had an allergic reaction to the new meds the doc gave me the other day. At least that's what I'd like to think. Though yesterday I woke up not feeling good again and today I developed a horrible headache and had to take some Tylenol for it. I'm not one for getting a lot of headaches but that's two bad ones in 3 days. I stayed in my  jammies all day yesterday. Seriously. And I haven't done that in ages. I had no desire to get dressed and I wasn't going anywhere so what was the sense in it?? I was happy to get my wrapping done. And I decided I'm taking my little fo box and doling out what I have left. I'm not going to wrap....just let them go through what I have left and get what they want. That way everyone is happy! The important stuff is done.

So I got to work this morning and checked email and had a link for some wonderful grand baby pics. This is one of my favorites. I think Kylie was tickling Bella......by the look on Kylie's face. :o)  I'm so close to being able to hug them both and smother them with grandmotherly love. I can't wait.

5 more days til Santa. :o)
TTFN
Kat
xoxox

Thoughtful Thursday

This week has been hard to get through. Let's see....first my car, then my dryer, now the ortho doc tells me it looks like my L5 disc is gone. Gee...I don't think there's much more, that is 3 after all so it has to get better right?  I was near to tears the other night when the dryer went and sang the woe is me to Leo, although he just looks at me like 'It's ok mama....we're in it together'. And then I saw on the news the marines who had no legs. And I said to myself...stupid....here are guys who don't have their legs and you're crying about a stupid dryer not working. I was humbled very quickly.

My ex boss talked me into going to lunch with her yesterday to AC Moore. The above pic is my 'haul' from there. I wasn't going to get anything, just look, and all of this yarn was on sale. Geeze......you can't take a yarn whore into a craft store that's having a yarn sale and expect her to walk out with nothing!!!  The ribbon was a quarter....that was my cheapest thing.

I started a cowl last night with the blue/green in the middle. I might frog it...I don't like how it's turning out. AND...geeze louise...I am so glad I'm getting my hair cut in a couple weeks. I crocheted a piece of my hair without realizing it and had to tear part of the cowl out and unravel my hair!! This isn't the first time it's happened (crocheting my hair) but this is the first time it's gotten crocheted that far without me realizing it. My hair is long enough that it's in the crack of my butt. I'm getting it cut when I go to FL, above my shoulder. That will be the shortest it's ever been since I was in the 6th grade. I normally cut it every 2 years when it gets to the butt crack. It's going to be strange but feel good at the same time. Long hair is a pain in the butt to keep. I can't put mine up because I get headaches, so it's always down and getting in the way and getting pulled and tangled. Leo has been stepping on it and pulling it quite regular lately when we are on the couch.

Anyways...it's warmed up a tad here in GA but it's supposed to rain. It's cloudy and dreary today. At least I don't have 4 layers on today. Only two. :o)

I hope it's only a 2 layer day in your little piece of the world! Stay warmy!
TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Can't Resist

It's a very good thing I don't own a chocolate shop.....I would eat all of my profits. And weigh too big to come in and out the door. I am a confirmed choco-holic. I cannot walk by chocolate without consuming some if it's there for the taking.

My ex-boss had a visitor from Austria just recently and brought me some Austrian delights. One was like a Kit-Kat, I guess you'd say. This is it from beginning to end:

It went way too fast!!! But was mucho good. :o)

Notice the hooky goodness in the pic? I scrapped it as a gift for this year. It'll be in my wip box until later, which is kinda dumb because I only lack the edging finished on it. But I changed my mind on who it was to go to and made her a hat instead. So now I have an almost finished scarf for someone else, later on. Suits me.

Ok...need to get back to it here. I have sent out a couple of pkgs. to my favorite blog peeps, plus to two angels. Nothing big, just little tokens of love. Tis the season!
TTFN
Kat
xoxox

PS/Remember my car steering pump went? Well...$353 later....the pressure line side of it that is made up of thin metal got a hole in it. The part was $70.......the rest was labor. :o(  Last night I did a load of wash...my dryer went. Well...specifically I think the heating element went. I can't win for losing. And don't say it....I'm not going to even think it. Anyways...I had three pairs of jeans in the wash (amongst other stuff I hung on hangers to dry)...I put them out on the clothes line and when I got them off at 5 this morning they were board stiff. Literally. It was 14 degrees this morning.

Arctic South

Yes, it is so dang cold here today! That front that kicked the midwest & eastern US's butt yesterday came through and now it's clear and bite-your-butt cold. It's probably in the 40's with a colder wind chill. It's terrible windy out there. At 5 this morning on my front porch it was about 25 degrees. And I know it had to get colder right before the sun came up. Brrrrr.

I was somewhat upset this morning. My car last week blew the power steering pump. So I got another one and got my neighbor to put it on for me, as he mechanics for a living. Well........he put it on, brought it back to me and we took a ride to the bank. It made noises several times and we put more fluid in it each time. So I got another bottle just to be sure there isn't any more air in the lines. I get started to work and it starts making noise again. So I stop at the police sub station so that I can see what I'm doing to put fluid in. I go about 7 blocks and stop at another store to put more in and use up what I have. So I get another pint of fluid. I get going and quickly conjure up in my head the straightest way to work without making turns and go that way. I get almost to work and it starts again. So I stop again and put fluid in it. Something is not right. I get to work and at 8 call a repair place not far from work that I have picked up one of my co-workers from before. I take it there and have to stop again and put the last of the fluid in the bottle I just bought just to get there. I get there, get out of my car and there is fluid all on the back of my car (not to mention the large puddle when I got back to work). Obviously I have a MAJOR malfunction that I'm not at all pleased about.

They still haven't called me and I'm getting a bit worried. I live almost 40 miles from work and none of my co-workers live out that way. UGH

So anyway.......to take my mind off of it.....we drew names Friday for presents here at work and I drew a girl in sales' name. I had a pattern in mind so I went home and worked 10 hours throughout the weekend on this scarf. It turned out lovely. It's not totally to pattern but mostly. It's Red Heart LW1471. I've made several of the hats in the pattern. I wanted to make the scarf, but didn't know it would take so long to make it. It was worth it though, it turned out pretty.

The difference in the ends is mind boggling to me but I followed the pattern on the first two rows and then went with it after that. The flat end is what shows in the pic. I kind of like the other end to tell you the truth. But it is what it is. :o) One of a kind, that's for sure. I hope she'll like it.

So anyways....that's it for today. Sigh.......

Hope you are comfy, cozy, warmy today where ever you may be.
TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Count Down

I can't believe it, can you? Christmas Eve is only two weeks away. Two weeks from today, very early (o'dark thirty), I will be on my way to FL for a week to be with family. This year has flown way too fast.

I was sitting there last night stressing over how much I had left to accomplish in the way of what I needed made for all my gifts. I also had two birthday presents that I needed to wrap up because I needed to bring them to work today to give. Well one I needed to, the other could wait until next week, but I decided nope, I was going to get that out of the way too. So I wrapped up both, made out the cards and added a crocheted flower on the envelope for one and I crocheted a pink heart for the envelope of the other one. This whole time my mind is smoking trying to make sure of what I had left to do so I didn't forget anyone.

Wait just one minute.....I said to myself. What is in my finished box? So I get the fo box out and start going through everything. Huh........with what I had in there, plus my already heaping stack waiting to be wrapped, I have enough that I only have to worry about the three men on my list - my son, my son-in-law, and my girlfriends husband (who has done a lot for me).  My son's is part way done. It's this pattern at Pammy Sue's called Good and Plenty.  On everything big I always start and then get bored with it, put it down and then at a later date pick it back up. I'm running out of time!!! Tis ok....the other two are small items and can be finished in a couple of hours. But I really need to get cracking on Eric's blanket. Where's that whip??? Oh wait.....can't whip myself. lol

I was thinking though that I need to lay everything out and start taking pictures and do a large Christmas post of all the presents I made this year. I'm so proud of myself. The only money I spent this year was for some books for Kylie, a couple little animals and their cages for both the girls (play, not real) and when I was in Office Max a couple of weeks ago - two books that were at the counter for mom's and dad's to get for Kylie and Bella's mom and dad. I hate that - what do they call stuff like that at the counter?? Sucker items?? lol They sucker you right in. You can't help but see them, they're staring at you yelling out 'Hey I'd be a wonderful present!!!' And so the story goes, and ya'll know I'm stickin' to it. ;o)

So anyways....look what I found in my stash of pics! Dang it. It was right there in my blog pics folder the whole time and I missed it I can't tell you how many times.  My tattoo of the male angel carrying the soldier to heaven. As you can tell it's a large tattoo and took two sittings to finish. Actually I had the wording put on afterward, some people couldn't tell what the tat was. I was po'd to say the least. I won't tell you what one girl said. Those were fighting words but hey...I kept my cool and just gave a look that could have killed.  I'm very protective of those who fight for our freedoms. They lay their lives on the line and a lot of them have lost their lives for us. A lot of them won't be with their families for the holidays like we will. They will most definitely be on my mind.

Ok I better get some real work done here. It's Friday and I am ready to get out of here today! It's been a long week for some reason.  Have a wonderful, warm, and safe weekend in your little part of the world ok?
TTFN
Kat
xoxo

My Christmas Card To You

I got this in an email this morning and wanted to share with all of you who read my blog.

TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Niki's Book Review Give-Away

There's a wonderful COOKIE book give-away going on over at Niki's. Check it out here!

In Regards

When I wrote my post yesterday about my dad I quoted from Elizabeth Edwards something the news had quoted the night before (not rightly I might add) that she said about the days of our lives.

When I heard the news last night that she had passed I was in total shock. The news the night before made it seem like she had a little while left and I thought she might make it past the first of the year. This did not come to pass.

I feel so badly for her children. I have been where they are. My mother passed from complications due to breast cancer. The only difference between them, and me and my siblings, is that I think she probably tried to prepare them the best she could that the end was coming and what to expect and they all were able to say their goodbyes. I did not have that luxury, we were blindsided by my mother's death. It doesn't make how I feel toward them any differently. It's the same feeling to lose your mother at a young age whether you knew it was coming or not. It's a feeling of loss and not understanding the why of it. They know the why of it but I'm betting they don't truly understand the why.

I'm going to say something that some might not agree with, but this event in my life left a lasting impression on me and made me do a 180 in my belief in God. How can a God take a mother from her children??  Believe me, through the years I have talked to many friends about this, and I've heard it all about the why. My thing is this - Jesus loved the little children - and then my mother went away leaving 5 children from the age of 7 to 15 that needed her.  I went to Sunday school and church when I was younger. Until this happened. To this day I truly don't know what I believe but that one event changed me for the rest of my life. Of course....how could it not?

Now their life is changed. I can't tell you how much I feel for them. Please remember them in your prayers.
TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Today, Tuesday December 7th

Today is Pearl Harbor Day. It's also my dad's birthday. He's not here to celebrate another one this year as he just passed in August. I woke up this morning thinking about him and wishing he was here so I could call him up and wish him another happy one. Today is a very hard day for me. 

He was the only parent I've had since I was 15 when my mom passed away. I am next to the oldest of 6. My older sister, who is 11 years older than me, was my mother's daughter when mom and dad married. In essence I was my dad's first child. I was most like my father, in build and looks. I inherited his 'non-stinky' feet. :o) We talked about that a few years ago. That was the last time he drove up to see me for a week. It's strange because I remember the hug when he left so well, it was a really tight hug. I can still feel it.

Last week here at work I was looking in my emails for a certain email and came across two archived telephone messages from my dad. He had called on my last birthday twice and left me a message both times. Obviously it upset me because there was dad's voice, same as always, except the voice is now gone.  I have an eternal birthday phone call from dad.

The pic you see is some of my desk eye candy, and a pic of dad, taken about 2 weeks prior to his passing, with my niece and great niece. I couldn't look at this pic for a few weeks after bringing it to work after he left us. I can look now, but not long. It gets better each day.

If your parents are still around, hug them as much as you can, they won't be here forever. And with the words said by Elizabeth Edwards as reported on tv last night 'The days of our lives are numbered. We know that.'  Yes, we do and are reminded of it all the time.

I love and miss you greatly dad. Happy Birthday!
TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Calendar Girl

Happy Friday from a very cold Savannah GA!

I don't have a whole lot today. My back is giving me fits and I feel 100 years old. I did get my referral from the doc in the mail yesterday for an appt on the 16th. At least I hope it's for my back. It doesn't say the doc's specialty on the notice. I looked through the phone book but he wasn't listed under anything specific so I have to call later on.  It could be for something else because I had blood work done while off and I haven't gotten the results back yet.

Anyways....I did get an email with my calendar pic in .jpg so I thought I would share it again since the other pic was a tad blurry since it was taken with a cell phone of the sample calendar before print. I do have to say that all of the pics were awesome, thanks to Shirley at Fancy Pants Photography.  Mine, if you didn't see it before, was themed around crochet. The round ripple I have on me is the one I just finished up for my grand baby, Bella, for Christmas. 

You can see a lot of my tats....or excuse me...see that I have A LOT of tats, in the pic. And there are some that you can't see. :o) The one I wish could have shown was one I got 10 or so  years ago of the male angel taking a soldier to heaven. Let me look real quick to see if I have one here I can add in so you can see.  Well I looked all over this puter and not one pic of that tat. I know it's on my laptop at home. Sorry.

Well I hope you have a wonderful, loving Friday and that your weekend is just as much if not more.
TTFN
Kat
xoxo

How Long Does It Last???

This is basically my range of emotions this morning. Ughhhhhh.  How long do I have to keep dealing with this crap? I told my dr. last Tuesday that he lied. He told me it only lasted 2 years. When I told him he lied he had a smirk on his face that I just wanted to smack off. The Psycho came out in me but I contained it. Wasn't easy.

Hope your Friday Eve is WARM and fuzzy. (It's cold here)
TTFN
Kat
xoxox

The Pink Booty Lady

Ok, I said I wasn't going to post a pic of her, but what the hey. I'm embarrassed but at the same time I laugh because she's not your 'average' booty lady. (Do we know what an average booty lady is??? lol) I figured we all may need a hump day laugh.

What I should have done was pull her apart and start over from the booty down. I was feeling good about her until I put the butt cheeks on. After that it all went to heck. A co-worker said Monday that I should just crochet a skirt, which I tried and it's just not working out. I made other clothing articles for her and they turned out jam up. I was ecstatic about the shirt and shawl....which btw the shawl is a pattern that I scaled down just to see how it would look. I made this a while back also and stashed it so I don't have the pattern. Please pardon me on that. All I did was add a button. The other accessories are just piddling.

I'm really at a loss now. I started another amigurumi doll and she's not turning out either. So I think my amigurumi skills are going down the tubes. I thought I was getting better at it but found out different. So without further ado...........

Sigh........I seem to be doing a lot of sighing lately.

I do want to get on to another subject real quick like. Please......where ever your travels take you, take a second look when you are driving. We have lost quite a few people riding motorcycles lately in our area, and they all have been the fault of the other driver. Sometimes bikes are hard to see, but if you take that second look you may save someone's life. Those people riding those motorcycles had families. Those families are now minus one member because of someone else's carelessness. With the economy the way it is, a lot of people have taken to riding motorcycles because they're cheaper on the gas bill, so there are a lot more of them on the roads. I haven't ridden mine as much as I used to because of my back but I have gotten more hesitant to ride sometimes because motorcycle fatalities are up. I've had quite a few near hits in my years of riding and they were pretty scary. I definitely had an angel riding with me each one of those times. Please people......just take that extra second, that extra look of both ways, especially since the rush is on here at the holidays. Thank you.......from all of my fellow motorcyclists.

So on that note, have a wonderful hump day! It's a little over 3 weeks til Christmas folks. Can you believe it? My how time flies.
TTFN
Kat
xoxo

My Thanksgiving Week

Hey ya'll!!  Man how I missed everyone and their posts! And I learned something too. Some of the blogs I read are made so that you can't go back and see what you've missed. I never noticed that before. I guess because I usually check every day at least twice to see if there are new posts.  My loss....I guess I should check while I'm away from work huh?

Anyways....I was busy over the Thanksgiving week. First I was off all week and of course that went by way too fast.......for me anyways. I went to see the doc on Tuesday to get my blood work done. That went ok, but we dickered back and forth about my back. Do you know how regular docs don't like chiropractors? Holy cow. Well the xray I saw at the chiropractor looked nothing like the one I saw that my doc took on Tuesday. So tell me...where is all the pain coming from and why does it take three steps to straighten myself up after sitting for a bit crocheting. (And I had to laugh...I took crocheting with me while waiting on him. He walks in and gives me this look like I was doing something totally foreign. He said 'Crocheting???' I said 'Yea, I'm old...whatya want???' lol    Anyways....I guess he's going to refer me to a bone doc now. We'll see where this little trip takes us, and I'm betting it's somewhere I don't want to go.

So I did quite a bit of hooking last week. And I'll be hooking my little fingers to the bone til I leave for FL for Christmas. But I not only did hooking, one day I raked and burned my whole yard (I paid for it the next day).  I baked some pumpkin bread pudding that turned out awesome!! I cleaned out, categorized and boxed up 500 books (my whole collection) to take the flea market, along with bags and bags of marbles. Do you know not one bag of marbles sold? So I will soon (probably after the first of the year) be putting marbles on Craig's List to sell. I did get rid of all of my books and some other odds and ends that I took to the flea market. I made my money back on the booth rental plus almost $100 so it was worth it, even though I busted my butt coming out of the back of my truck and was seen by a few peeps. How embarrassing. So much for my back huh???

Well...whatya think of my hookiness up above? I made a soap turtle all on my own, no pattern. I'm not thrilled about the color choices but I just went with it. I want to make more but I need to rethink the head. AND colors. :o)

And I guess you could say last week was a scarfy kind of week??? lol. The bright colored one was done in colors that I got in a large bag of yarn from a town garage sale for $5. It was a garbage bag full of yarn. It's crafted out of a row of sc, a row of hdc and a row of dc then start all over. I made this scarf for a friend that has a blue bike with peace signs all over it. I think she'll like it and it'll match her bike.

The black and multi colored motif scarf is for a friend that her birthday is December 23rd and she was heard saying recently that she never gets anything for her birthday because it's so close to Christmas. Well...she's got a surprise coming. :o) The motif's were taken from a shawl pattern that I can't recall and I would have to dig to find it. I made them quite a while back and stuffed them away. But she actually saw me working on them at that time because I took them with me on one of the runs we had. None of the motif's are the same color, even though in the pic two of the red ones look like they are, but they're not. I love this scarf....I hope she does too.

The next one - the multi colored surrounded with purple is another one that I made the grannies a long time ago and stuffed them away and pulled them out to make a scarf with. The purple brings the purple out in the squares but now I need another color to put shells around the outside and can't decide what color to use. I was thinking a sage green, because there's a smidgeon of sage green throughout the grannies. What do you think? Would that look dumb?

And the last one is made up of sc and dc in the same stitch, skip a stitch. Though I'm really po'd at myself. Somehow about 15 rows or so into it I dropped a stitch and can't figure out how and why it's not messed up except that you can see where I dropped it. I didn't notice it until I was almost to the point you see I'm at now. I hate when I do that!!!!!! Does that ever happen to you?  Sigh...........

So then I had to get back up and go to work on Monday. Mr. Lick Lick surely didn't like that but I can't help it. Gotta do what I gotta do. :o)

Anyways, I'm  happy to be back and I haven't totally caught up with everyone's blog yet but I will. I hope your Tuesday is fantastic!!
TTFN
Kat
xoxox

Sigh.......

Well, I lied. I didn't get a pic of the Pink Booty Lady. And although I was ok with her yesterday, I am not today. I got to looking at her legs and was totally put off by them. So I worked on making her clothes. Maybe I need to make her a burka (is that spelled right?) and close up the bottom like one of those baby sleeping bags.

Sorry....I feel failure is in my vocabulary today. I'm kinda bummed about it.

She sits just as pretty as you please....well she has to, look at the booty on her would ya?

Sigh..........I'm really kind of embarrassed to take a pic and show you. :o(

Happy Friday.......hope yours is way better than mine.
TTFN
Kat
xoxo

Big Bags

I went to the mailbox at work this morning and was pleasantly surprised to see a package in there addressed to me. I had forgotten that Paula was sending my give-away prize. Instant smile. :o)

I love it! The Christmas colors put you in the mood...know what I mean? I think I am going to use it for stashing my blankie wip's. :o) That way I'll be able to see them through the mesh and they'll be in the forefront of the brain for maybe quicker finishes??? I have 3 in progress right now.......ooops I lied. 4. Sorry. I forgot about my son's.

In other hooky news......remember Bella's baby? Welllllllllll.........I got down the thighs as shown in the pic and was so perplexed on how to proceed to get the rest of the legs done with them at resembling a little bit an actual leg and foot. (I didn't take a pic last night but I will try to remember to tonight when I get home from work.) I made two and then attached them. They kind of look a little funky because of making them separate and then attaching them but I think if I can figure out how to make a dress that will cover long enough she might pass Bella's inspection. Remember, this is my first attempt without any kind of pattern, just my trusty hook and yarn. The Pink Booty Lady is ready to get facial features and hair! Yikes!! lol She's not so much a baby. The baby grew up into a lady with the biggest booty. She definitely has a LOT of junk in the trunk.

So that's it for now. I will try to get pics tonight and post tomorrow and ya'll can let me know what you think. I hope your Friday Eve turns out wonderful for you!!

TTFN

Kat

xoxox

Critterville

Happy Monday! One more week for me and I have a whole week off of work!!! Yay! BUT I do have a dr appt on Tuesday for a wellness check up. It seems my insurance company wants more money from me, but if I get a wellness checkup and supply them with some numbers then I get a reduction/discount, whatever you want to call it. So I will be foregoing my cherished coffee until after they poke me, take all my blood, and bruise me up. I also need a flu shot so that will be combined. Poked again.

One thing is Mr. Lick Lick will be one happy camper with his mama home all week. He's been right up my behind. He's loving this cool weather because he gets to snuggle under a blankie on the couch next to mama. He was funny yesterday. I moved my car so I could wash it, it was horrible with dust and dirt on it. (I live on a dirt/sand road and when it's dry the dust flies horribly and sticks to my car like a magnet) So I opened up the door and said come on....mama's moving the car. Well you would have thought we were taking a trip. He was good though, he wasn't bouncing all over the place. But I did notice that he had to check out each vantage point and hang for a while. At one point he was laying down and his little eyes were getting very heavy. But he finally had enough and wanted out. I was almost done anyways. I had to laugh at him though because it was as if he was trying out which place had the best view.

Anyways...I don't have any hooky goodness going on other than what is on the hooks right now. So I thought I would show a couple of pics that I took of critters in the woods of eastern GA.

The dragonfly pic stunned me. I don't know if you can see it or not (click on the pic to make it bigger) but there are sand particles on his/her eye! I can't believe it let me get this close to it. Maybe it was momentarily blinded??? LOL But how cool huh? I actually had taken a bunch of pics and only two came out. My lens fogged up because I had been in the car with the a/c on on the way home from work.

One of the things I fear most living where I do is rattlesnakes. They are literally in my backyard. And if you want to be technical about it, I am in THEIR backyard. But I fear them not only for myself, but for my babies.....well baby now. All I have left is Leo. Pee once got bit by a baby copperhead years ago when Misty was alive. They had cornered it and were doing a gang upon it and Pee got nailed. That landed him at the vet overnight. I was so freaked out over it. But a rattlesnake will most definitely kill a dog. And there are some mighty big ones in this neck of the woods. I, myself, have seen one that was at least 8 feet long and not sure how much bigger because the tail part of the snake was in the bushes. It was halfway out in the road (my road) and like I said the back end of it was in the bushes. And the thing was that I had taken Pee and Misty for a walk that day with only enough light left to go to the top of my road and back. I had my pistol in my back pocket but you can't hold on to two jack russells who are deathly afraid of guns and try to shoot a rattlesnake that's 50 feet away. It just doesn't work. So what do you do? Well while the light is fading to blackness, you pick up and chunk whatever you can to make that joker go back where it came from. Which is what I did but oh was I scared. And Pee loved snakes. He would go after one in a heart beat. That's all I needed to do was try to go by that big joker and Pee try to get it and the snake get one of us. By the time all of this drama was over I did not make it back to my house before blackness. And it's literally black at night where I live. You cannot see your hand in front of your face when there is no moon. ANYWAYS....this snake was a dead rattle snake on my road about 1/10th of a mile from my driveway. It's about average to see one this length. Surely you've heard about this biggest rattlesnake? That was found in the next county up from mine. I'm talking not even 20 miles from me!! I'll tell you what...I do not walk in my woods in the summer time. EVER.

Ok.....let's get away from that...you keep it in the back of your mind always and pray you never see one.

The last two pics are that of an empire moth that I found on one of my pine trees. I was totally blown away. I have never seen anything as beautiful in nature as this. And it was hairy too! Look at the hair on this moth. Can you believe it? I was beside myself and took probably 100 different pics of it. I watched it for hours until I had to go in. The next day obviously it was gone but I was so in awe of it. Where do they go? Never mind that...where did it come from? I never saw it's cocoon. It had to be quite large because he/she was quite large.

I hope you liked visiting critterville. We have a lot of different ones that's for sure. I had one in my house this last week and I finally got him out yesterday. An anole (lizard) had found his way in the house somehow. He ended up in my bathroom hanging out with the two orchids I brought inside for the winter. I decided yesterday that I needed to get him out before he starved to death, I just hope he won't freeze to death....I don't know which death is worse. I got him to jump on me then quickly walked outside to let him go. I don't know what Leo was thinking but he was hot on my trail out the door. And it worked. Mr. Anole was on my head until I went to pull my hair together and then he jumped off into the plants on my front porch. The ones I still haven't brought in!! sigh.......

Here's hoping your Monday is wonderful!

TTFN

Kat

xoxo

GIVE AWAY AT THE CROCHET SLUTS!!!

Yepper, you heard it right.........Paula is having a give away and time is running out! Are you going to let me and Pammy Sue be selfish???????????

Giveaway over at Jenni-Mac's!!

Jenni-Mac is having a giveaway of a wonderful cookbook -Williams-Sonoma Thanksgiving Entertaining. It looks to be a wonderful cookbook full of lucious food. Check it out!

Post of the Crochet Kind

Ok.....I have several pics to show you. A couple of my wip's and a couple of fo's. :o)

I am working on a ghan for my son. The pattern is from Pammy Sue's Good & Plenty. Mine is of the blue persuasion. It started out rumpelly but I think that was my fault. I tried to make the foundation chain loose but I guess I did a poor job of it. It's coming along slow but nice. I do at least a couple of rows a night. (I have to divide my hooky wip's up each night for variety)

I made a hat for Kylie's noggin. Actually I had just whipped one up and thought it could be for one of Bella's babies but discovered it fit Nellie Noggin perfect. :o) So it found a home. Whatcha think about Nellie's little smiley friend? I made that for my sister to put in with her birthday card when I sent it, but I changed my mind. I made her a little fishy instead and stupid me didn't get a pic of it before I sent it. Oh well.

And....don't laugh.......well ok, go ahead and laugh....look at the butt on that doll would ya??? I know the pic is bad but that was the best I could do last night. I have made this doll from scratch, no pattern, just me and my hands and trusty little hook and pink kid's yarn. I'm stuck with the legs right now. I'm bummed because one leg is smaller than the other. And I think I know why but I am NOT going to tear it back out. It's for Bella and she won't mind. Until she gets older and notices.....hey....why is that leg bigger than the other???? LOL. But I had a heck of a time from the butt to the legs. It shouldn't have been complicated but it was.

And last but not least.......the purse I made for Jen. I looked for the pattern last night....I must have stuck it somewhere because I couldn't find it. It's called a Flower Burst Bag. The yarn is Bernat worsted. I love the color, it's a dusty purple kinda. That may be the name of the color but I'm not sure. Thank you Yasmin for sharing this lovely pattern. I love it! I may make another one. It was pretty simple to make.

So it's Friday Eve!!! I'm hoping tomorrow is quiet here at work. This week has been a horrible, stressful week for me. I was about ready to lose it this morning but went out to lunch and came back feeling better for having gotten out in the world for a little while. I didn't need to spend the money on lunch but the renewing of my sanity made it worth it.

I hope your day was one of contentment and happiness. Here's to a million just like that! :o)

TTFN

Kat

xoxox

Veteran's Day

I will do two posts today. First and most important is to thank a veteran today. Thank ALL veterans today. We are able to enjoy freedoms that we so often take for granted because of our military, our veterans, from all of the branches. They and their families sacrifice so much for the rest of us. Some sacrifice their lives.

If you do nothing else today take a moment to think what it would be like, or could be like, if we didn't have these men and women looking out for us. Collectively they do a job that helps keep our country safe from terrorists. Just think how it would be without them. There would be so many 9/11's and our country would be in chaos. I shudder to even think about things like that.

When you see a person in uniform shake their hand and say thank you. Just that simple little gesture means so much to them. It makes what they do seem worthwhile to them. That's not so hard to do is it??? I don't think it is.

To all of our service men and women - THANK YOU!! I appreciate you and what you do for our country. You are my heroes!

xoxoxo

Kat

Cold Friday

Brrrrrrr.....it's a tad chilly in GA today. The rains went through yesterday and now it's clear and cold. My heat was definitely on this morning. And it's supposed to be in the low 30's this weekend but I bet out at my place it'll be in the high 20's. And I still haven't brought in my plants yet....I don't know what I'm going to do. It's always colder out in the country than it is in the city. I'm amazed at the flucuation of temp from the city to the country. It's anywhere from 5 to 10 degrees difference.

I have started crocheting on a doll for Bella for Christmas. The head is done and I have stuffed it and moved on down to the shoulders. I had an idea, one of which I hadn't seen done on any of the dolls or amigurumi's. After I did the neck and started graduating out to the shoulders I did 3 sc in one stitch and when I got to the other side (directly across from it) I did another 3 sc in a stitch and just kept going with sc. After 3 or 4 rounds I had this hump on either side that when pushed out from the inside out looked just like regular shoulders! So then to even them out and keep on sc'ing the body, I came off of the shoulder and did a row of hdc over to the other shoulder, crocheted sc around that shoulder until I came back around and then did that row in hdc so that the row around was back even all the way around again. Has anyone done that do you know? I've looked at a lot of patterns and don't recall this happening in any of them. I meant to take a pic of it last night but it got late (7:30) and it was time for bed. But anyways, I crocheted the hdc as tight as I could so that the fill won't show, but I may try my hand at making some clothes for this doll.

That will be a first for me, making doll clothes. I wanted to try to put some breasts on her but I think that may be a bit too much. I think an easy dress will be the order of business as far as clothes go. But I am liking how she's turning out so far, even though she's not even half done.

I have also started (another wip) crocheting a motorcyle. I emailed Gudrun for her pattern and oh man....it's 26 pages, very detailed. Of course I started off with the tires as her pattern starts off and came to realize real quick how hard it is to work with black thread. I should have known because I have a hard time with black yarn too. I can only work on it so long and then I have to put it down because I get a headache squinting, trying to see the stitches. And that's underneath a light with my readers on. (Have I said before how I HATE growing old??) I am determined on this one though and after it's all done this is one project I am not giving away. It's going in my curio cabinet. :o) But check out some of her other stuff. This woman is a talented individual.

Well I guess I will sign off of here for now. Have a wonderful weekend where ever you may be!

TTFN

Kat xoxo

PS/Up top is a bib I made for a friend's grand baby and a little bit of my desk eye candy. I have quite a bit of hooky goodness around my desk area. One of these days I need to take a pic of all my desk eye candy.

Geeze Louise

They're back...phew. All of a sudden, just like when they left, they are back.

I don't know about ya'll but I read all of the blogs I follow and catch up when I've been away for a while. I love each and every one of them and feel like I know a little bit about each person. There are a few that I'm really partial to that I don't like missing at all. Sounds like I need to get a life huh? :o) I have a life, believe me, I just like to get lost from it, from time to time. What better way than to see what others are doing in their little world?

I sometimes feel connected, or disconnected, as the case may be. I feel like I am not the only one out there who feels like they do. It makes me feel better when someone is like me in regards to one thing or another. Then I know I'm not so weird after all! :o) lol....I think we are all weird in our own little ways. Ok then, idiosyncrasies (I had to look that up and I had misspelled it with an i instead of a....I just knew it didn't look right). I love dictionary.com.

So....hooky wise I have been working on little things here and there. I made a purse for my daughter. Sorry I don't have a pic of it but I will do that soon and post it. It turned out really nice, I was surprised. I did follow a pattern. And don't you know that I tried to cheat and leave a row out and it came back to bite me in the butt crocheting the handles on it. And I knew right away what the deal was, why it wasn't right. GRRRRRR....I was mad with myself.

I am trying to design my own purse but guess what? It's not coming out like I had imagined. So I don't know what I'm going to do. I put it down for the time being. And the thing is that I actually had written each row down as I went. Figures huh? I have like 15 rows done on it.

Pammy Sue (Scotty's Place) has me intrigued on a blanket she is doing that is supposed to be quick and easy. I'm anxiously awaiting her pattern on that so I can bust out some of my stash. I was thinking I have way too much and need to get rid of some. What better way than to make a blankie? My blue/purple/green tub is overflowing with color. I cannot fit another skein in there.

Yea, I have tubs color coded. Like I said, I have a blue/purple/green tub with all shades of each. I have a red/pink/orange/yellow tub, a white, cream, brown, black tub, a variegated tub, a thread tub, a cotton tub and last but not least a softee tub. That's all my softee yarns. The bottom of my closet is filled with yarn tubs. Yea, I'm a yarn ho........so??? lol

Anyways, I better get to doing something here......what I don't know cuz I'm all caught up. I do want to say one thing..........GO VOTE! Heaven knows we need to try to pick someone who will do US in the US some good. I'm really tired of all these crooked politicians who only care about themselves and not the people who put them where they are. Don't they realize that when we are taken care of that they in turn will to be taken care of?? It's really not that hard is it? I don't want to get on a tangent here but geeze Louise, all this money they raised for all of the negative ads they put on tv and radio and roadside to torture us with.........why can't they put that money to GOOD use and put people back to work, pay down our deficit, pay our troops better wages for the sacrifices they and their families make........on and on and on. I don't know about you but I'm damn sick and tired of listening to their crap about this one and that one. They are ALL CROOKED!! Every last one of them. They all have the wherewithall to fix our country and put people back to work. Why can't they JUST DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

K.....I am off my soapbox now. I hope you have had a great day and that your evening will be better, filled with love and laughter.

TTFN

Kat xoxo

PS/I kinda stole that pic....well not really......he sent it to me a long time ago but we aren't friends anymore. But that's why you see the big c in the circle. I still love the pic...he absolutely knows his way around a camera now. The pic is one of serenity.

Screaming at the TOP of my lungs

Not really but......Ok....I don't know what's up but all of the blogs I follow are missing in my dashboard. What's up with that??? I filled out a form. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

I found it when I went to add one. :o(

A Give Away!

Check out April Cottage Ramblings. She has her anniversary give away going on!

I need to check my anniversary, I didn't really pay attention to when I started in the blogging world. It's funny too because I had heard about blogging a long time ago, when it first became popular. And it didn't even interest me at that time. Now look at me. Although I don't blog every day, I do my best. It's just that some days are so busy I don't have time.

The pics above are some I took at work. I carry my camera in my purse, you never know when you'll come upon a situation that you can get a beautiful pic.

I stalked a heron one morning. You can barely see his head in the one pic, it blends in with the water. And check out those mushrooms will you? I took a bunch of pics of them but didn't want to inundate you with them. In the one pic it looks like something was munching on them huh? Or maybe that's just the way they grew?? Shrooms are pretty weird fungi. They come in all shapes, sizes and colors. I had some in the spring that came up that were yellow and looked like little penis' in the pot!! I kid you not. I'll have to look and see if I can find the pics I took. I was astounded at them when I saw them.

I just tried to find the pics, I must not have labeled them as such so I'll have to browse my puter at a later time to find them.

Anyways...I hope your weekend was wonderful and that your week ahead will be good as well.

TTFN

Kat

xoxox

Little Miscellaneous

Hi ya'll! It's FFFFFFFriday! :o) Have I told you I love Fridays?

I took a break from the bookmarks and am just doing piddly stuff. I made a little cell phone carrier for Bella in the same colors/yarn that I made Kylie's noggin out of. It's cute. I put this foam fake cell phone in it for her. She'll love it.

I don't know whether I can call the pink & white thing a pot or what. It's a little stiff because I double stranded #3 thread to make it. I think I may get some Scentsy's to put in it. They are real affordable and the smell is out of this world. My bosses daughter sells them. All I need is couple of them in this little pot/bag. They're only like $5 a cube or something like that. I didn't look too close as I didn't have the money when she showed them to me. But she has one in her office that smells so good. Apparently they have quite a few fragrances.

The last little thing I am piddling with is a rose on a hexagon. I actually started it for a co-worker in the FL office as she is out with knee surgery. Something to brighten her day. This is my first attempt at this kind of thing and I am quite liking it. I haven't written down what I've done so far. I was thinking earlier that I really need to before I get too far into it. I've tried two different patterns of this sort and neither came out good. As a matter of fact I think I told you in another earlier post how I frogged one of them because I made the bottom UPSIDE DOWN!!! So that the right side was on the bottom! How in the heck you say? Well...it wasn't hard. And I was so mad when I discovered them both. So I decided to make my own from scratch with cotton yarn in her favorite colors of red and green. And this time I made sure I made the bottom right side up. For the love of cotton.......it is looking really nice. I have two rows on the hexagon and want to go in a different format other than straight dc. Just can't decide how to proceed. I guess it'll come to me.

Anyway.....have a totally awesome weekend ok?? I'm going to try. The weather is supposed to be wonderful here in good ol GA.

TTFN

Kat

xoxox