Crafting update! So I made a few handmade gifts for Christmas this year. Next year I'd like to ramp it up, maybe make some ornaments for everyone. I need to start this summer though if I truly have a shot in hell of doing it.

For my sister, I finished up some pot holders. Hopefully she's getting real use out of them. That's my second (or my eighth if you count them all individually) completed quilting project. Here's a front shot and a back shot for your viewing pleasure.

And now, no more potholders. I have all the supplies to make my first full size quilt. It's intimidating and exciting. And I hope to start cutting some time in March. You may see some posts of me just showing cutting/laying progress along the way. A full quilt is going to be a huge project.

It's funny, looking at that pic it seems really gold heavy, but it really won't be. The main color of the quilt is a cream color. The gold swirly one will be the backer fabric (so you could argue it's gold friendly but on the underside). There are actually far more options of other colors than there are gold on the actual front of the quilt. But we'll all have to see as it gets closer.

I also made a dog scarf and dog leg warmers as a Christmas gift. It's kind of a joke? My sister got a dog and the dog has a coat (since it gets so cold here). And now the dog has accessories as well.

I am definitely not going to be winning any photography awards any time soon. But that's how I wrapped up 2012 - crafting a few gifts and preparing for my next adventure. I'm also busy embroidering this. Weird truth: I use way more embroidery floss than this seller thinks I will need. I made one of these last year and also ran out. I'm on par to run out again this year. Shrug?

Thanksgiving

I hope most of us feel thankful more than just one day a year- but I love that we all are kind of forced to do it on this day, together. I hope you all take some time and list out the things you are thankful for, even if only in your head. This post is probably going to veer into the sappy so if you are cynical, step away. I am thankful for:

1. The people I love. 
1. Loml. Two and a half years ago, I jokingly nicknamed him the love of my life. On his suggestion. But even then, I pretty much knew. He makes me laugh every day. And almost every day I say to him, we are so lucky. To have found each other and have this life we have. We are so lucky.
2. Family. You don't get to choose them, but mine are pretty fantastic. We're all so different, it enriches my life to have them around. 
3. Friends. I have a fantastic support system, these people are the best. 
2. My job. With the economy the way it is, I am glad that I can go to work everyday doing something I enjoy at a place I mostly enjoy. Knowing how a lot of people feel about their jobs (mostly hate), I am thankful that I enjoy it most of the time.
3. This house. When you buy something so big and life changing (30 years of my life, life changing), you hope that a year in, ten years in, 30 years in, you still love it. And this home of ours, it still feels right. I love it.
4. Mashed potatoes. I made these yesterday to be eaten today and they are insanely good already. I can't imagine after they bake covered in butter. I am so excited to eat them.
5. Disney World! We're going on vacation to Disney in a few days and I can't wait to hang out at the happiest place on earth.

Really, I'm thankful for my life. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you enjoy good food and good company.

What a lovely two days.  I hope yours was everything you wanted.  And if not that, then better.  And if not that, then not so terrible that you were full of hate.  I haven't done much of anything today.  Read a book.  Knitted.  Put some things away.  Knitted more.  Ate leftovers.  Made loml try the Kinect with me.  Then pushed him out of the basement while I played it and Lego Harry Potter.  The downstairs TV just became much more popular.  Also, everyone looks stupid playing the Kinect.

Oh, I also wrote an email to my "done with the job" contractor because his shoddy work is causing the icicle of death:

What are the chances that he fixes that?  It's his gutter work that's leaking...maybe in a few days I'll have a non-recommendation for a contractor for you all.  With a list of everything that we feel was done half-assedly.

Otherwise, I have plans to write about a book I finished recently, my New Year's Resolutions and maybe a quick 2010 wrap up before the end of the year. Anything else I promised that I forgot?

What a lovely, lovely day.  I slept for at least 9 hours last night (there's no telling how long as I was up for a set of hours in the middle having a tantrum at loml for staying up so late).  I tidied and watched movies (Big is still an amazing movie.  Did you hear about the morgans was exactly as terrible as I expected).  I did loads of laundry (if you're ever in the market for a new dryer, DO NOT buy one where the lint trap pulls out of the top of the machine.  It causes lint dirtiness everywhere).  And I spent hours wrapping presents.

I have two particular favorites this year.  It was a good one.  Though I feel like I had more presents in the past.  

I'll not be even attempting to blog tomorrow or Saturday.  So if you celebrate, Merry Christmas!  Either way, I hope you have a lovely two days without me.

Speaking of traditions....Santa Claus....

I love Christmas.  I love the time I spend with my family and Christmas decorations and shopping for gifts and snow and everything.  I find it magical at times (fun real mail daily!  holiday train!  happy kiddies everywhere!  wrapping presents with pretty bows!).  And part of that magic, at least for me, is Santa Claus.  I loved Santa as a kid, I still feel a little bit of joy when I see kids seeing Santa.  And honestly, I don't remember being all that distraught when we found out Santa was not real.  I have a bad memory in general, so please don't assume I wasn't distraught, it just didn't make a big enough impact to be memorable.  I remember other events in my childhood far more clearly (mostly physical pain events).  

So here's the thing.  Santa Claus is a lie.  I know this, you know this, we all know this now.  But if I have kids, I want them to know Christmas joy.  Is it possible to have the joy without Santa?  Loml doesn't want to do Santa Claus if he has kids...because it's lying to your children, it teaches them that parents are liars.

But what about the magic?  What shall we do if we continue this thing and take it to a new level involving little ones?  Can I give up Santa?  Can he lie to his kids?

It's Christmas cookie baking day!  Every year my Mom, sister and I get together and bake dozens of cookies.  Actually, it's probably more like hundreds.  Hundreds of cookies.  This year our schedules failed us and my Mom and sister baked cookies together Friday and Saturday.  I was unable to join, so my Mom is coming over today to finish up.

I've been thinking a lot about tradition.  What holiday traditions I have, my family has, what holiday traditions loml and his family have...and how to combine them all without killing any.  Last year we didn't combine holidays at all.  It was just easier and we were new.  But this year, I felt really strongly that I wanted our holidays to be shared.  Unfortunately, a lot of our traditions overlap...it's been tricky.  I think loml doesn't hold much with traditions - but I know his parents do.

It really makes me curious about how everyone does this.

Recently it's come to my attention that my feelings about loyalty are abnormal. I am loyal to a fault. Probably to my detriment in certain situations (invited to a party by a guy I'd love to see again? No thanks, I already had plans with my friend). And if there is one thing that I'm bound to get angry about it's a situation where I feel like someone was disloyal (the one large fight I can remember having with the bestie was because she backed out on me for a guy. Sure, he's her husband now, but at the time I needed someone to help me move and she could have survived a weekend without seeing him).

I am sure that a lot of this comes from my family. I am fairly close to my extended family on my Dad's side. We always spend holidays together. Christmas Eve has turned into such a big deal that even those with spouses don't do every other year anymore (it was tried by a few and it failed. Pretty miserably). And while this doesn't ring of loyalty so obviously - it is - it's family loyalty. We attend birthday parties, we attend graduations, christenings, baby showers, weddings - we put family first. And I guess that just bleeds into my friendships.

And I just don't think there is enough loyalty around these days...

I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I have been thinking about writing a post like this for more than a week now. And I opened up this blog earlier and just felt wholly uninspired (I think I'm using up all my inspiration on lame things like twitter, wording emails perfectly to play politics and crazy dumbed down CMS capable code). But, here I am. My family is pretty kick ass and I was reminded of that again tonight.

And 2008...

Happy New Years... I hope you all had fun tonight. Here's what I did:

Oh. And just in case you were curious...my 7 to 1 odds....bunk. You should have taken that bet. No deal. But hey, happy new year...see you some time in 2008...

And done...

So the holidays are over (or do "the holidays" extend through new years day?). Either way, Eve and Day are over...and now it's time to be totally lazy.

My holidays were lovely. Laid back, hilarious (my extended family in general - here's a direct quote: "he looks like someone has been pinching his penis for two years". That from someone who is a grandma. Also, my family + Rock Band = insanity) and I am always reminded of how amazing and lovable most of my family is. Yes, most. And this holiday, I also was lucky enough to be reminded of how great my friends are (although this weekend and New Years will truly cement that). I hope yours were just as successful.

My day in brief:

• Presents
• Delicious food
• Rock Band
• Games
• Car packing
• Dead wolf
  
• Man on the moon
• City skyline
• Car unpacking
• home

Maybe if you're lucky, you all will benefit from a picture, posted here later, of myself on the Rock Band drum kit. Likely with look of concentration, frustration or mouth hanging open staring at the screen.

Happy holidays...

Santa...you da man...

Last night, the family and I attended Welcome, Yule! You have to say that all excitedly...really pronounce that exclamation mark. Basically it's a Christmas song extravaganza involving a chorus, a children's chorus, dancers, Santa, a dancing Rudolph and, less ostensibly, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

I've been meaning to build some Christmas cheer that doesn't involve cookies and was hoping this would be the occasion. Not sure why I thought that since I don't really have any love for Christmas music. I don't listen to it on the radio, I groan when the Mom or sister has it on...I just don't like it. I have a few soft spots. I really like Carol of the Bells. And the Charlie Brown song, Chrismas Time is Here (ok, the whole Charlie Brown Christmas CD). And I frequently get an NSync Christmas song stuck in my head.

Should I be embarrassed for that? Maybe. But the reason I get it stuck has nothing to do with owning an NSync Christmas CD and everything to do with this:

I really should be embarrassed that I just wikipedia'd NSync to figure out where exactly the apostrophe/* is supposed to go (*NSync). Either way, this little ornament plays a Christmas song. I believe the ornament was bought in jest - however, I did like NSync in my youth (or, more truthfully, I always liked Justin Timberlake...or, more truthfully, I always wanted to do Justin Timberlake). And I received an average of 3 ornaments a year for as long as I can remember. So my tree is littered with Pluto, Lion King, cats, dogs, fish...and in my old age, more sparkly, grown up ornaments.

Wow. I absolutely got off subject there. I don't know where I was going with this post. Maybe I have more Christmas cheer? It still doesn't feel like Christmas yet - maybe today when I ribbon up all my packages. Or eat another box of Jingles.

Either way - Happy Holidays all.

Love actually is all around...

It's been the loveliest of weekends. Symphony on Friday, friends yesterday, christmas tree today. Chocolate pie, turkey, stuffing, deep dish pizza. It's just been entirely satisfying and delightful. I don't really want it to end.

My apartment feels cleaner. There is a slight (and when I say slight, I am absolutely lying. I mean HUGE) issue in the kitchen involving water leaking from somewhere unknown causing all the parquet tiles to buckle and water to bubble out between the cracks. I believe this is going to result in my landlord pulling out my entire kitchen. Probably next week, possibly Monday. I'm trying not to think about the many disasters that are sure to come. Impending doom.

Let's think about the tree instead, shall we?

Drunk dial the second...

I had a real post planned (may be put off until Sunday). Then I looked at my cell phone and saw I had missed a call from my cousin, Bee, at 2am this morning. Luckily, I had a voice mail. A hilarious voice mail. If only I could post the audio here.

My cousins, the whole lot of them (well, the one family that we're really close to), are notorious drunk dialers. I've had more drunk voice mails from Bee than anyone. This morning, she called to say happy thanksgiving, that she loved me, that she's sorry we didn't see each other. Then she went into this whole thing about how one of her friends, who I know fairly well, wants to marry me. And how she had told him (oh giggling just thinking about it) how pretty I was in "makeup and jewels". Then she put him on the phone and he made less sense than she. Then my uncle got on the phone and I heard how much he loved me. Then cousin is back and she says "____ just said he's going to marry Katie lastname". And hung up.

Ah, Happy Thanksgiving to me. What more could I want from my favorite cousin/family than a drunk voice mail?

Happy Thanksgiving...

Ah the day of turkey and being thankful. I'm going to go ahead and tell you some of the things I'm grateful for. But before I do that, I think you should all know that this is my 700th post. I have written 700 blurbs of inanity for this blog. Some of you have read all of those. So I'll go ahead and start with that...this year I'm thankful for:

• You readers
• Friends and family...loved ones in general
• Having shelter, food, warmth
• My job
• Chicago
  
• New beginnings/hope

There's my short list...I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm hoping for relaxing and tasty....

Ooops...

I accidentally just ordered a hell of a lot of expensive food for dinner. Why? I don't know - because I couldn't stop thinking about olives at the gym. Then I got home and looked in my little CEO Deliveries thing to see what they offered and Ba Ba Reeba sucked me in. I have a massive amount of garlic potato salad on its way to this apartment. And no olives (wtf?). I cannot wait...oh garlic potato salad.....

My Christmas tree is taunting me in my foyer, all smoky (you suck little brother) and wanting to be put up. Here is my ode to Christmas tree's past:

College, 402 E. Stoughton. Our house was junky. Our tree was seriously trashy (white strands of light? That's classy), real tree, sporting tinsel and foam decorations:

First year in the apartment, no cats, real tree, tinsel (I loved that crazy long branchy arm):



Second year, cats (which means no tinsel). Cat can be seen under the tree:



Last year, aw...sad, fake tree (it just got a a bit taxing to get that real tree out the back door):

Per the green book, real trees are better. Not plastic (bad stuff to make) and they're renewable.

26 things that I like about me...

Yes, you read that right. I am going to go ahead and extol my own virtues on this day, my 26th birthday. Some of you random readers may find this conceited, self-centered, egotistical? This is not the case...I just wanted to do something with the number 26. And since I am still on a crusade to improve my self-esteem, this is the list that made most sense to me. This is probably going to be a full day project. So I'll be updating sporadically. 26 is a daunting number of things to like...

1. I'm a really good listener.
2. I have solid work ethic and sometimes enjoy working hard.
   
3. My boobs, while large, are fantastic (come on, you didn't think this would all be G-rated did you? And you know you stare at my chest sometimes).
   
4. My sense of humor is wide and quick to trigger.
   
5. Sometimes I can be witty.
   
6. I am fairly easy-going
   
7. But I know how to be confrontational when need be.
   
8. Sadly, I'm on number 8 and I'm running out of things to say. But I am tenacious (that's my 8).
   
9. I can be happy doing the simplest things (like knitting, or sitting here on the computer with Mona trying to fit on my lap with the computer)
   
10. I actually like to learn (most of the time, if it's interesting).
    
11. Silliness comes easily to me.
    
12. I don't settle.
    
13. The next 5 are courtesy of Janet, who is amazing and decided to help me out: I am a loyal friend.
    
14. I'm honest without being hurtful.
    
15. I think for myself and don't just follow trends.
    
16. I care about the environment.
    
17. I've got a great haircut that suits me perfectly (thanks Janet! I heart you!).
    
18. Sometimes, like when I wear workout pants, I think my butt is really nice.
    
19. I think in a lot of things I do have "faith" that everything will be OK. My nature can be optimistic.
    
20. I am tolerant of almost anything (although screaming children can get under my skin).
    
21. Lately, I tend towards cheerful (and I hope to keep it that way).
    
22. I excel at laziness. And I like that I'm good at it.
    
23. My imagination is quite overworked and my day dreams are amazing. Sometimes so realistic that I make myself cry (that's crazy, yes?)
    
24. Following this, I have a lovely imagination but I am realistic in almost all things.
    
25. I dance and sing around my apartment at night.
    
26. I love animals.

That was hard.

You all are more than welcome to agree with me in the comments below. If you disagree....well, i guess you're also welcome to do so. But remember, it's my birthday and you all should be nice. Closer to 30 than 20 now...

Grrrr...

I'm not angry...that is just the sound that my second pumpkin is making. This weekend was our annual pumpkin carving party - and I have a serious love for the carving, so I carved two (as I have for the past few years). Here, on show, are my pumpkins:

Pumpkin A is the "pattern pumpkin". I used a pattern to carve it - it was also the pumpkin that entered our "pattern" contest and sadly, lost (we have a "free hand" and a "pattern" contest). I think I got a total of 0 votes. Ouch. If you can't tell, it's a "haunted house"(it looks better in the dark, but it's harder to take a picture in the dark. I'll try later and possibly update this post). Not so excited about it...



Pumpkin B was the pumpkin I was more excited about. The pumpkin was inspired by this site. My sister had found the site and decided to do one for her contest entry...and I felt like a cheater if I also took from the site for the competition. So I just did it for fun. He looks kick ass in the dark as well. His eyes get red and his teeth look awesome. I'll be doing more teeth next year....



This will be my last post until NaBloPoMo starts. In case you're not in the loop, NaBloPoMo is National Blog Posting Month - and it basically means I'll be posting every day in November. I think it's sort of fun that it's November, since that includes my birthday AND Thanksgiving. I think you should all do NaBloPoMo and spend my birthday (November 2) extolling my virtues. Or the opposite, telling the world why you find me annoying. Friday of NaBloPoMo should be "Talk about Katie" day. Ok, not really, I'm kidding. Mostly.

But for real, sign up to NaBloPoMo here. And have fun looking at random blogs from the list here.

I am...um...proud....to be an american...

Except most days when I'm not. Because right now the face we're showing to the rest of the world (since, whether you like it or not, GW is our face) is not a good one. Commutation? Sickening. But I am still hopeful that the government can take a new turn with a new prezzie (no matter how naive that may be)...so I haven't given up on you America...

Either way, the city smells like barbecue and that's fun. There are people walking around and picnicking everywhere. And somehow traffic is light. I spent the day with family members that I like and ate a ton of food that I like. And I got my owls framed. I have nothing to complain about.

Hope you had a good fourth!

Happy Christmas!

Dear Santa,

Yes. I know. No Santa. Fine, fine. But let's pretend shall we?

This year for Christmas I would like (besides all of the material things):

• Family harmony.
  
• To successfully leave my winter funk behind.
• To better get along with my sister (and at times, with my brother). This is technically an extension of the first bullet - but different.
• More time with my friends.
  
• For Boku to continue to grow to love and trust humans. Maybe for her to request love/attention from a stranger?
• A new president?

Good luck on your travels Santer, and if you need some good cookies, stop by my Mom's house.

Love,
Katie

Merry Christmas everyone!

So really I'd better scurry...

Today I saw the mysterious and illusive CTA Holiday Train. I only saw the very back end of the very last car. From the inside of the grocery store. Yeah - not the best sighting, but a sighting nonetheless. The train is nearly impossible to ride (at least for me, in terms of my daily train usage and even my shopping trip usage). Maybe sometime in the future I'll have to try to make a special trip just to ride around on the holiday train. Oh the lovely scene that's unfolding in this little idle mind:

The city is covered in a blanket of snow. Big fat flakes are falling. I'm riding the holiday train towards the loop at night. The view is spectacular (as is the train). Sigh. Lovely picture.

And now, to jolt myself out of my stupid winter/holiday funk, I'm going to try to be cheerful for this holiday meme (friends that are awaiting return calls from me...I'm planning on using the phone tomorrow. Al if you're really busy we should be able to connect Friday):

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate. With marshmallows. And whipped cream (but only if it's real - I am a whipped cream snob).
   
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Possibly one of my favorite parts of present giving is the wrapping of said presents. I usually get made fun of for my elaborate bows and such. But that's just jealousy...
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I grew up with colored and am loyal to colored. I can imagine a day far off in the future where I will fill my gorgeous brownstone with not one, but two trees. And on that day, I will possibly have an "elegant" tree of white lights. But as of now, it's all colored all the time.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? No. I can't even remember a time when anyone in my family did. But it is something I'd like to do eventually...
5. When do you put your decorations up? I'll probably end up doing it the weekend after Thanksgiving every year from now on...
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? How can you exclude dessert? That's dessertism. Or something. I don't know, I like stuffing. But I like the Italian Beef too.
7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? Christmas Eves at Tootsie's. That year we couldn't go anywhere due to a snowstorm and ending up eating homemade pizza and watching movies.
   
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't know the answer to this. I vaguely remember finding out at the same time my sister did. But I have no idea when or how.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? From the greater extended family, yes.
10. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him? Santa has not been getting cookies for years and years and years. But when he did? I don't know, I have no memory. Jingles? Chocolate Chip?
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? I love it and I dread it. I dread it when I have to get somewhere (even walking...). I love it when I can just watch it fall and be white and glistening and smile...
12. Can you ice skate? Yes. Although I'm not the biggest fan. One of my childhood memories involves my cousin's toepick being stuck in my thigh (still have a scar). Here's the most interesting part though: I remember falling on the ice all tangled up with her (I'm sure we were doing tricks). The fall smarted. I got up and kept skating. A little later I went to the bathroom and found a gash on my thigh with quite a lot of blood. I guess I was cold, my thigh was numb...toepick pain was dulled. My scar is still present...I do remember it used to even have jagged edges like a toepick...
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Um, no. I've received a lot of good stuff over the years. I like a lot of my gifts still.
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Spending time with my family. Giving well-liked gifts. Seeing the friends.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? I really like rainbow jello. And who doesn't like Christmas cookies? And that chocolatey frozen pie.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Extended family all getting together on Christmas Eve.
17. What tops your tree? A delightful feathery star. One of my best IKEA purchases ever.
18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving? Well I love getting gifts (if you say otherwise you're almost certainly lying). But I also like the joy of seeing someone genuinely like their gift - and I know it's hard sometimes, but I like when they genuinely like their surprise gift, one they didn't know they were getting.
19. What is your favorite Christmas Carol? Mmm, Nutcracker Suite maybe? Or...does that song, Baby It's Cold Outside count?
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yum! But really only the classic tasting ones.
    

I'd love to see you all do this meme! Even those of you who never blog....give all your readers a happy little Christmas present/blog post....

Christmas time is here...

So...my cheer is marginally back. I've pretty much finished my Christmas shopping. I have a lot of wrapping to do (which I actually enjoy!) and some crafting to do (my first stab at sewing, should be interesting!) and then I can spend my break relaxing. And I only have two more weeks of full days of work (although I do have Fridays off. As a student employee I'm only allowed to work 35 hours over break...and there is really NO WAY I'd travel down to the loop for 3 hours of mind-numbing work on Friday. Plus, the supervisors didn't seem to want me to be working all 35 hours).

I have finished bedecking my apartment with Christmas lights.

And I just got two more bras that will hopefully be comfortable and make my boobs look fabulous.

So, I'm trying to quash my frustration with people. I think it's a winter + full time work + holiday thing. And I know it's stupid and silly. But you can tell yourself one thing and feel another way....

Jingles seemed to help (how weird is it that I hate anise but love Jingles?). Christmas lights help. Hoping that a nice dinner out tonight will help and I will be back to 100% merry....

And of course my tree makes me happy all the time (I'm no photographer so apologies)....

Without flash to see the lovely lights:


With flash to get a better idea of the ornament content: