I’m not sure if my upcoming unemployment is increasing the release of crafty hormones, or if I am a pod person, but lately I can’t seem to get enough of the craftiness. Probably I’ve just been spending too much time looking at craft blogs supersaturated with holiday pretties.

Right now I am working on Anya’s Christmas stocking using a pattern from Mason Dixon knitting. It’s a challenge for me not only because of its sockiness but because it has color work in it, and I’ve not done much of that at all. I hope to finish it by Christmas, but who knows.

I am also working on some wire projects the details of which I cannot divulge as they are presenty things. I’ve never really worked with wire, and I find I enjoy its bendy ways. I see more shiny metal in my future.

I made our holiday cards again this year and tried out embossing for the first time. It’s a bit messy, so if you are lucky enough to get one please don’t be too harsh on all the stray glitters. If you don’t get one, it’s probably your fault for not sending me a card last year. I do have some extras…….

I should have pictures to show of these wonderful things. But I don’t. I do have one final project, which I just finished, that I photographed. I tried to make a hip scene like all the crafty blogs do, but I need some practice. I present to you, our Countdown Blocks…..

I got the idea from the Sew Mama, Sew website. Now we can countdown all sorts of things like birthdays, first day of school, or the last Harry Potter movie.

What’s next? Socks? Hand puppets? Sculpting with a chainsaw?

Oh Anya Tree, Oh Anya Tree
How Purple Are Your Branches
Oh Anya Tree, Oh Anya Tree
How Lovely Are…Why Do You Have A Drill?

Anya's Christmas Tree 2010

Hush little Anya, don’t say a word
Mama’s gonna buy you a turkey bird
And if that turkey bird won’t gobble
Mama’s gonna buy you a road made of cobble
And if that road of cobble won’t roll
Mama’s gonna buy you a mixing bowl
And if that mixing bowl won’t stir
Mama’s gonna buy you a cat that purrs
And if that cat that purrs runs away
Mama’s gonna buy you a bale of hay
And if that bale of hay gets eaten
Mama’s gonna buy you a room to neaten

Mommy to Anya: You are silly!
Anya: I not silly! I cute! You silly!
Mommy: Oh! So, you’re cute, I’m silly… What’s Daddy?
Anya: Funny!

I like lists. Here’s what we’ve been up to this last week.

• I peeled, sliced, cored about 5% of the apples we had. The last of these went into the dehydrator this morning.
• The dining room / kitchen is nearing visual completion, but there is still a ton of stuff to put away, so I haven’t taken pictures to post yet. It’s a great space, but it needs a new name. Suggestions?
• Everyone at work now knows I’m leaving. It’s weird. I feel a kinship with all the congressmen who weren’t re-elected. I am a lame duck! Quack!
• Time to start working on the 2011 calendar. If you’re family, send pictures!
• My new obsession is making gift tags. I may even try to sell some. Maybe I’ll open an Etsy shop like all the cool crafty people. I bet June Cleaver would have had an Etsy store.
• Went scrapbooking Saturday. Our group meets about once a month. I made some cards, and I need to send them out since most are already tardy. Maybe I’ll put cards on my Etsy store, too! I could design a line of belated cards. Tardiness could be my “thing.” Tardy gift tags? Sure, why not! Everyone needs a niche. Of course, I’d probably send all orders late.
• I’m nervous about my upcoming change in employment. People keep telling me I’ll be expected to cook. I don’t cook. Perhaps I’ll do a Julie/Julia thing and pick a cookbook and cook something from it everyday for a year and write a blog about it and get a movie done about it and become rich and famous and hire a personal chef and never have to cook again.
• Anya is 37″ tall and talks really fast. I think we need to have a talk with Aunt Rebecca. First she taught Anya to suck her thumb, and now she has apparently passed along the fast-talk skills. What’s next? A love for snails???
• After reading all the stuff about the TSA scans and pat downs, I don’t know if I’ll ever fly again.
• Should I be concerned it’s too foggy outside to tell if it’s raining?

I’ve noticed writing in my scrapbooks is a lot easier when I blog about stuff. Especially when I blog in lists.

Anya agrees with me: Now that Cabol will be staying home, she needs to learn to make lots of pierogies, and grow broccoli.

We celebrated Halloween at Anya’s school. They had songs and stories by the kids, a scavenger hunt, a parade, and a potluck. Anya was a magic princess (she had a wand but no wings, so I don’t know if I can say fairy princess). Last minute I crocheted her some jewelry: a necklace with jingle bells, two bracelets with jingle bells, and two hair thingies. I also made hair thingies for me and bracelets for me, Andy, and my parents. Anya had a fantastic time running around with the other princesses/fairies and the dragons and various creatures.

My parents ended up staying a few extra days to help get the kitchen put back together, which was good because my Mom still hadn’t made me tostados by the day they were originally going to leave. Must. Have. Tostados.

It took me, Andy, and my Dad to get the stone (soapstone…soap stone?) out of the back of our truck. I think we managed to escape injury (Dad, you still okay?) by using the tricks of ancient Egypt: pulleys, raised platforms, and bright, orange, rubberized gloves.

Fascinated with all the cardboard and foamy wrap stuff that the cabinets were packed in, my Mom channeled her sewing energy into making costumes. The curtain hemming plans were thwarted by supreme household chaos and lack of places to work and stinkbugs. She did take the living room curtains home with her to work on. (Yahoo!)

I’m torn between posting a photo of the kitchen almost done or waiting until it is done. We have to wait for a local cabinet dude to fix one of the doors that was sorta not done right when sent to us, and we need to put the last few doors on some drawers, and do some painting, and get and install door hardware, and clean all that stuff off the counter I need to figure out what to do with. Come on, Andy, get busy!!!!

Quick Update

• I slipped on the steps going down into our living room and landed very soundly on my tailbone. Two hours in the ER got me a lighter wallet and a suggestion to buy a butt pillow.
• Saturday we discovered that Larry, a cat we’ve had in the family for about 10 years, is a girl and not a boy. This could explain why s/he’s always been so cranky. Should we continue with life as it was or should we change his/her name to Lorry and buy him/her a pink collar?
• Anya not only knows how to add DVDs to the Netflix queue, she knows how to move them to the top of the list. Instead of a movie I’d picked, Dora will be showing up in our mailbox tomorrow.



• My mother loves me. She washed all our dishes for us for about a week…in the bathtub.
• The day my parents went back home, Andy got our new kitchen sink working (water comes out the faucet AND goes out the drain!). Good thing, too, because I’m not washing dishes in the bathtub.



• We forgot to carve our jack-o-lantern on Halloween, so we’ll probably do it tonight or maybe this weekend.
• At the end of the year, I will be resigning from my job to be Loafkeeper Farm’s very own June Cleaver. I have the apron, but will someone send me the pearls?
• Scrapbook tape (the red-backed stuff that comes on a ring) is an essential tool for attaching drawer fronts to drawers.



• More pictures soon.