Christmas Ornament Collection.

I was really hoping to share the new work shoes I had ordered with you today. They came yesterday and they are way too big. I'm really sad about it because they're really cute and it's going to take forever to ship them back and order new ones. Instead of shoes, let's talk about my favorite Christmas ornaments.

Every year since my birth, my Aunties have sent me an ornament for Christmas. They send them to all of us kids. Well, since I'm an adult I don't get them anymore, but I know they're carrying on the tradition because I called them last year to see if they were going to send one to my niece or if I needed to start the tradition for her and they had already ordered hers. I love how my Aunties have created so many great traditions for our family. I am so lucky to them as my Aunties.

I've always loved these ornaments and they are very near and dear to my heart. Each one is engraved with my name and the year they sent it. Even though some are old and one is rusted, I still keep it, just because it's so special to me. I'm pretty sure there are more in a box my mom has yet to uncover from her giant storage shed as there are about 8 ornaments missing.  My little brother and I used to have so much fun when the ornaments came because some years they'd send us the same design and other years they'd be completely different so it was always fun to see what came.

Does your family have any traditions for the kiddos?

Pinterest Pretties: O' Christmas Tree...

Now that Thanksgiving is in the past, it's time to pick up a Christmas tree sometime in the next few weeks. We don't have a lot of ornaments, I kind of want to collect special ones over time. My mom did send me some heirlooms last year but they didn't arrive until after Christmas so I'm excited to put them up this year. We do have a tradition where Jake and I pick out an ornament together every year, which I love.

I've been seeing trees popping up all over pinterest lately so I thought I'd share some of the pretties with you.

{via}

I love the color combo of this tree. It's so pretty and the ornaments are fun and bright. If you click on the little {via} button it will take you to design sponge where you can find free printables for the ornaments and a holiday poster. 

{via}

I'm going to make one of these for the front porch. It's an upside down tomato cage wrapped in lights. How easy! 

{via}

I really like the simplicity of this tree and how sparse it looks. 

{via}

I really want to jump into this photo Mary Poppins style. I love the lace table cloth, all of the wood and the fruit hanging on the tree, not to mention the bucket used as a tree stand. *swoon*

{via}

This little tree makes me smile. It kind of reminds me of something my little brother and I made once as children while waiting for my dad at one of his job sites. This tree is much prettier than our wooden one though. 

Audrey Two.

Thank you guys for all of your sweet comments on my last post. Jake is feeling a little better but is still pretty sick. Usually he spends his days at his computer playing WoW but lately he's been lounging on the couch instead so I surprised him with an early Christmas present and got him Skyrim. Now he'll have something to do as he recuperates.

I also had him draw me a little picture of Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors so I could embroider it. I have no drawing ability but Jake is a great artist. I remember watching the movie with my mom as a child and when I'm hungry and being a dork I still say, "Feed me, Seymour. Feed me."

Did you all have a nice Thanksgiving Weekend?

Thanksgiving Dinner.

We had Thanksgiving dinner just after 10 pm. We weren't planning on having dinner that late, but it just happened that way. I've mentioned before that Jake has been really sick for about a month now. Wednesday night and yesterday morning he began to cough up blood. He had already seen the doctor and got a prescription but obviously it wasn't working. We called the VA and they said he should go to the emergency room so off we went. It was lucky that I hadn't put anything in the oven yet.

The VA E.R. is just over an hour from where we live so after we spent a few hours there and headed home, it was pretty late. At least they were able to discover that Jake has bronchitis and prescribed him some antibiotics and an inhaler. Hopefully he'll get to feeling better soon. He kept apologizing to me for "ruining" Thanksgiving. I wasn't having any of that. I told him he hadn't ruined anything and when we got home I put everything in the oven and we were able to have Thanksgiving dinner, even if it was rather late. Jake didn't eat much, but there are plenty of leftovers for him to eat later.

I hope you all had a great turkey day, and one that was a little less eventful than ours.

My Brain Turns to Mush at 1 a.m. - Fair Warning.

Hello Sweets, 

My Auntie always calls me "sweet" not as in, "you're so sweet," but more like, "how's my sweet?" In fact, I think she probably calls all of us that. That doesn't really have anything to do with anything I'm about to say, but that's alright.

I have little post-it notes stuck to my computer reminding myself to not hate my job and to suck it up and take the money they're paying me. It's kind of ridiculous since my computer has a program where I can write virtual post-it notes, it just isn't the same though. At work we're running a crew of 3 people, we're supposed to have 8, it's not exactly fun. I applied for this position because it was part-time but I have yet to work only 20 hours/wk. Oh well, hopefully we'll be able to find some amazing and qualified applicants soon and I can work the hours I was hired for. The extra hours wouldn't be so bad if they weren't spent running around like a crazy person because we're so busy and lack staff.

On another note, one of Jake's friends from high school is visiting for a week or so. It's nice for Jake to have somebody to hang out with during the day. It also means that we'll have a guest for Thanksgiving! I decided to purchase a turkey breast rather than the cornish game hen I was originally planning on getting. Since I don't eat meat, it didn't make sense to buy a 15 lb. bird just for Jake, but a 6 lb. breast should be okay. It's downstairs right now taking a bath in some lovely brine. I've never cooked turkey before so I'm interested to see how it will play out.

Are you guys going Black Friday crazy? We don't have t.v. so I get to skip all of the ridiculous commercials. I have to work Friday but I'm okay with that. Bumping into people in a crowded store doesn't sound like much fun to me, plus, all my gifts this year will be homemade, hopefully. Also, do I still have to get my sister a present now that she has a kid? What is the etiquette on that? Just kidding Brooke, I'm totally going to crochet a unicorn for you to add to your collection!

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Crocheted Roses.

Another thing I've been working on for the craft fair, other than cowls, are crocheted roses. They're good for using up scraps and ends of skeins. They are really easy to make and don't take long. They're also small enough that I can carry them in my purse to work on during unexpected down time. 

I think they'd be cute as pins or on headbands, but also just to have around to make you happy, or as a gift for your sweetheart. I'm wondering how difficult it would be to attach them to some stiff wire and put them in a vase.

Owl Embroidery.

I spent the weekend catching up on laundry that I couldn't do when we had no sewer, watching football, crocheting, and doing a little bit of embroidery. I also bought myself a pumpkin pie in honor of Sunday being my half birthday, which I have celebrated every year for a very long time.

Last week when I went to town to pick up some coats I had dry cleaned, I stopped at the craft store (if I'm driving 15 miles to do something, I'm stopping at the craft store if I can) and found some adorable owl embroidery templates. I've been crocheting a lot lately for the craft fair so it's nice to take a little embroidery break now and then. I just used one stitch for the entire thing, because sometimes I just want to do something the simplest way possible. The best part is, next time I need a break from crochet, I have 6 other owls I can embroider.

Did you do anything crafty over the weekend?

Random Tidbits & Fall Leaves.

I just thought I'd give you a quick update as I'm exhausted and don't have the energy for a real post (as opposed to this pretend one).

We still don't have a fully functioning bathroom. Today will be day 7. I used to have daydreams about living on the prairie, Laura Ingalls style. I'm over it. I want to be able to flush my toilet and use my shower again. Not to mention, draining food in the yard and doing dishes outside is just awkward, especially when it's 20 degrees outside and you only have cold water. I think today will be the last day though. The hole was finally pronounced deep enough yesterday, about 12 feet, and pipes were set in place. It was too cold for the glue to dry on them though, so that had to wait for today I guess. I'm about out of clean clothes so I really hope it gets done today.

I worked on some really cute embroidery when I got home from work last night. I'll have to show it to you when I'm finished. I also found something new to try for crochet. I'm a little intimidated so I decided to put it off and do the embroidery first.

Lastly, my little brother is buying a house in Kentucky. Umm...what?! There isn't anything wrong with Kentucky (that I know of yet) it's just that Kentucky is not close to Oregon, at all. We're West Coasters, I dislike that he will be so far away from the rest of us. He obviously doesn't know the family rule, where we can't live any more than one state away from each other. Okay, so it's not an actual rule, but it should be! 

In the past my mom, sister, and I have gotten together in November for a Christmas card making extravaganza. It has been a few years since we've done it though, which makes me sad. Instead, my mom is on a cruise to Mexico, my sister is working on her house and taking care of my beautiful niece, and I'm sitting here on the couch with a snot factory in my head. Lovely. 

I think the photo above is from the very first card weekend we ever had together. We rented a house at Shasta Lake, just the three of us. We watched The Wizard of Oz and stayed up late making cards every night. I don't even know if I'll have time to make homemade cards this Christmas for my friends and family but they'll get over it because my mom always sends out the most adorable handmade cards, as does my sister when she has the time, so at least they'll get some pretty in their mailbox.

Do you make your own cards?  

Oversized Pom Hat, with Earflaps!

I made my very first hat last night. I've crocheted a lot of things but I never made any type of hat, probably because I'm not a hat person. This particular piece was super easy to make and I learned a few things from it. Next time I'll go at least one row longer, possibly two, and I'll add another two stitches in between the earflaps, they were too close to my face for my liking. I love my giant pom on top though, it makes me happy.

It was pitch black out when I finished so I couldn't take a photo outside. Maybe I'll get Jake to help me take one later today because obviously I cannot operate the camera. Don't look at this photo for too long, the blurriness will give you a headache, but I wanted to give an idea of what it looks like on.

Harry Potter Embroidery.

As I'm sure some of you know, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 came out on dvd Friday. So of course I spent Saturday watching it repeatedly and working on some Harry Potter themed embroidery. When I first saw the movie in the theater I was pretty disappointed. The final book is my favorite and I had hoped for a more intense theatrical finale. It's growing on me though. One of my favorite scenes is the one where this phrase is uttered. I won't say what happens though, just in case some of you haven't read the books. I already spoiled one part for my brother-in-law. oops.

I also worked on some Star Wars embroidery but ran out of floss so I'll have to finish it next time I can run into town. For some reason ideas kept coming to me this weekend so I jotted them all down, hopefully I'll have time to get to a few of them before my craft fair. That way I can add a little variety to my table, but not too much.

Also, for those interested, our sewer is still broken and I had to shower at my neighbor's house. It was really nice of him and I'm so appreciative but I can't wait to be able to use our own bathrooms again.

Weekend Adventures.

We're having sewer issues again, so our landlords put us up in a motel a couple blocks away. It's the shadiest place I've ever been. It could be used for a scene where a hooker gets murdered on Law & Order, it's that shady. Our landlords are the nicest people and really aren't trying to get us murdered, there just aren't many motel options in this tiny town. So we decided not to stay there, and to only use it for it's bathroom. 

Our landlords have been here the past two days digging up the entire yard to replace the pipes and let me tell you, it's lovely. Hopefully this will solve the problems though, since this isn't the first time we've had sewer pipes collapse. I hate cleaning the downstairs bathroom after sewage comes up the pipes. Ick!

{two big trenches. I should plant seeds in it when they close it up, maybe some tulips along the fence line?}

At least the pipes didn't run under the roses but I think the peonies might be done for.

Hope you are all having a great, sewage free weekend!

I Won Something.

Jake and I had a great Veterans Day. We went to the craft store where he used his military i.d. to get me an extra 20% off my purchase, including sale items. Love it! I bought all kinds of fun stuff and can't wait to show you what I've been working on.

Later we went to the Veterans Potluck Dinner being put on by the Elks club. I have a lot of Elks as customers at the bank I work at and they kept urging me to go, so we did. I didn't have time to cook anything so I just took a chocolate pie. We sat at a table where a guy had been sitting alone and made friends with him. He was just a super nice and happy Vietnam vet whose niece was one of the little Girl Scouts who were helping serve coffee and making sure everyone had enough food.

A guy was going around selling raffle tickets for a gift basket so I spent $2 and bought a couple of tickets. With things like that you're not really expecting to win, you figure you're just kind of donating the two dollars to an organization who is doing good things in your community. At the end of the evening they called the numbers for the winner and nobody was claiming it and it got kind of quiet so I figured I'd dig the tickets out of my wallet and lo and behold, I had won. It was super awkward because they made us get our photo taken with the basket and I have a sneaking suspicion that it's going to end up in the local newspaper.

The gift basket was actually pretty cool though. It came in a tool box and had a bunch of Craftsman tools, a bottle of wine, some tea, bath lotions, random kitchen stuff, and a $20 gift card to the local chocolate shop. They really stuffed that thing full. So all in all, a great Veterans Day.

Veterans Day.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of our veterans for their service to our country and for their bravery, including my own vet.

I love you honey, thank you for everything you do.

Damsel in the Dress.

I dislike having to take photos indoors, it makes me feel so awkward but it's too dark outside after work to get any useful photos. This is what I wore to work yesterday. I like to wear bright and colorful outfits when I'm not feeling well. I thought it was nice, and kind of funny, that I was helping this old welder at work in the morning and after I finished his transaction he complimented me on how nice and colorful my outfit was, especially my boots. I couldn't help but find it kind of funny.

I love this skirt because my mom got it for me when we took a little day trip together to Florence, Oregon once. I think I was still in high school at the time. Florence has a quaint little old town section, right on the water, full of shops and boutiques. This skirt came from a French themed shop. I love all of the colors in it and the asymmetrical hem. Today is my Friday since Veteran's Day is tomorrow. Yay! I'm so happy, I really need a few days off to rest.

My Head is Going to Explode.

I wanted to share a cute outfit I wore yesterday with you but when we went outside to get pictures, my camera decided to die and since the sun now sets early because of daylight savings time, it was too dark out to take a decent photo by the time the battery was charged. Can I just say how much I hate that it's dark when I get off work now? So even though there is no photo, just know that wearing a sweater (not cardigan but an actual sweater) over a dress can be really cute, especially if the dress has a ruffled collar you can pull out.

I was telling my mom last night about how I'm sick and after I described my symptoms she said it sounded like I have an ear infection in addition to my cold. I doubt I'll find out if that's what is wrong with me because as one of the millions of uninsured Americans, I don't go to the doctor. My new job does offer insurance, which I signed up for, but it's not effective until January, so for now, I just take Aleve and try not to fall over because I feel so dizzy.

Since I don't have a photo of my sweater, I thought I'd leave you with a photo of this beautiful cabled dress from Anthro that I've been lusting after. I might just have to ask Santa for it for Christmas.

Invisible Injury.

Do you guys watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition? I like to watch it on hulu the day after it airs. In last Sunday's episode they were building a house for an Army vet with a severe case of PTSD. I saw our life in the life of that family, we share the same hardships. If you've been around my blog awhile or have read my about me page, you know that Jake also has a severe case of PTSD. Post traumatic stress is an anxiety disorder that affects our everyday life. When we were deciding where to move to last March, we had two criteria, that it was about an hour's drive or less to a VA hospital, and that it was a quiet town.

I'm really thankful for this episode because it really highlights some of the struggles that people with PTSD face and really gets the message out there about this invisible injury and how it's affecting hundreds of thousands of American families. Not only are loud and sudden noises a huge issue, but just the amount of people and the pace of a town can be difficult. Jake has done really well since we moved here and I'm so thankful for that. He still doesn't venture out a lot, but he is a lot more independent here than he was back in Utah. I think a lot of that can be attributed to the fact that this town is kind of sleepy, and quiet.

I'm glad there is more awareness about PTSD. I still get asked regularly what PTSD is and a lot of people just don't grasp it's effects. If Jake doesn't have his meds, he cannot leave the house. If it's the 4th of July, he can't go outside because of the noise. We can't attend the local football games because they shoot off a cannon every time the home team scores. We can't go to any community spaghetti feeds or street fairs or carnivals because of all the the people. If Jake forgets to take his sleeping pills and nightmare pills he'll have nightmares and wake up thinking he's back in Iraq. If he does any of those things, it's very likely that he will begin to become very anxious and react in one of several ways. He'll either shut down completely, freak out, or relive a moment from Iraq, which can be scary. It's hard to make plans because Jake has anywhere from 4 to 12 doctor appointments every single month, sometimes a lot more. It's just like any other disease or injury someone might have, but people don't realize that this is our life, because he isn't physically injured and they can't see with their eyes that he is ill.

I'm not going to lie, living with and loving someone with PTSD can be really hard, not to mention exhausting, but it will always be a lot more difficult for him. I can't imagine thinking everything is fine when you get back and then the symptoms start to pop up much later, as they often do. Your mind plays tricks on you and there is nothing you can do about it. I can only imagine how frustrating that must be.

So I'm thankful to Extreme Makeover for getting the word out there and explaining what PTSD is and how awful it can be for the people living with it. They can't control it, and a lot of them are going to be dealing with it for the rest of their lives. If you have some time and you like watching heartwarming shows or decorating/building shows, go watch this episode and learn a little more about PTSD.

{a scene from home}

I've been feeling homesick lately, to the point where I had to watch the Dirty Jobs episode about cranberries just because it was shot near my hometown. We've been sick around here which makes me wish I was at home near my mama. Jake has been really sick but I think he's on the mend.

We spent the weekend lounging about the house. I've been crocheting a lot and I can't wait to take some photos when it's light out to show you what I've been up to. On Saturday we went to our neighbor's to watch the BSU game, I took my crocheting of course. Our neighbor has 3 week old golden retriever puppies that are just learning to walk and they are basically the cutest things ever.

I have a 3 day weekend coming up because of Veteran's Day and I'm excited about that. Hopefully it'll give me some time to catch up on crafting, after I take my vet out to breakfast, of course.

What are you guys doing this week?

Craft Fair is Freaking me Out!

I've been stressing out about my table at the upcoming craft fair. I've never sold at a craft fair before, and I know nothing about this one. You know how some craft fairs are little old ladies with their weird wooden birdhouses and then others are full of cool and quirky booths? I have no idea where this fair lands on the spectrum. I have no idea how much product to make, or if people will even like them or want to buy them.

I've decided to just make as much as I can between now and Dec. 5th and whatever I don't sell I'll put up for sale either on etsy or here on my blog. On the other hand, I'm nervous that I won't have enough stuff and my table will look sad and empty, because I've been working a lot of hours at my job and haven't had the time I'd like to have for crafting and crocheting.

How do people do this as their job? I guess if I had an etsy shop full of stuff it'd be easier to just take my shop down and take all of that stuff to the craft fair. Things to keep in mind for the future I suppose.

It's November and November is Evil.

Okay, so perhaps the entire month of November isn't evil, that is yet to be seen, but Nov. 1st was certainly an interesting day. Jake had an appointment at the VA to get blood drawn at 8 am so we got up really early (it's an hour drive to get there) got in his corvette and took off. We have to drive through a couple little towns before we get to the interstate and we were on the interstate for only 2 miles before we got a flat tire. There is a lot of road construction going on so I'm sure we ran over something and it punctured the tire.

My mom is a wonderful angel of a woman who gets me AAA every year so I was able to call a tow truck and get a tow back to the Les Schwab where we live. I was internally freaking out because replacing a tire on that car is not inexpensive, plus it was frustrating since they were fairly new tires. The Schwabies were able to repair it though so it all worked out in the end. It's time for the car to be locked up in the garage anyway as snow is forecasted for this week.

I'm stressing out because I have one month left to make things for my craft show and I feel like I don't have the time since I've been working a lot of extra hours at the bank. I'm kind of undecided on how I feel about that. Extra money is nice, but so is having time to accomplish things that are fulfilling to me.

Today is my dad's 76th birthday. Happy Birthday, Papa! I love you, thanks for being such an awesome dad and for teaching me all the important things, like how to lay tile, tie rebar, and pound nails, all of which taught me to believe I could accomplish anything.

Old School Stationers on etsy.

{Keep Canning}

I saw something on pinterest that led me to the Old School Stationers etsy shop which in turn led me to this letterpress print which is now one of my favorite prints ever and is on my must acquire list. It needs to be hanging in my kitchen bringing me immense joy.

For those of you who aren't into canning, here are a couple of my other favorites:

{Volkswagen Camper}

{Mason Jar Flowers}

This shop is based out of Portland, Oregon and you all know how much I love my home state. This brings me to one of my favorite Loretta Lynn songs produced by Jack White of The White Stripes.