Watching Cement Dry!

That's want I did on Fri! No really! I did! Here is the picture to prove it!



Ok- Seriously- my sister needed to have her driveway widened to fit two cars. They were having problems with vandalism with the car parked on the street. So- the work was done. If you own a house and have done this, I don't need to tell you how expensive it is. So I guarded the fresh driveway to prevent anyone from writing in it! I was assisted by Toby- who, as you can see in the photo, really took the job seriously.

Here is the "before" photo:


I didn't get a really good "after" photo- but will next time I am there. Here is an ok one.



I didn't have great net access while on this trip. I did manage to find a hotspot up in Pollack Pines while visiting my mother on the weekend. Then I found a hot spot at a public library near my sister's place.

Ravelry Invite!

I got my Ravelry invite last night! I am so excited! What is Ravelry? Well it is to spinners, crocheters and knitters, what Pattern Review is to sewers! I have been waiting a week for my invite and it finally came!

On Ravelry you can post patterns, projects you are working on, log your stash- yarn, needles, books, etc, and connect with others who spin, knit and/or crochet! Right now it is in Beta so that is why you have to wait for an invite- they don't want to overload the system. But, trust me, it is worth the wait!

I didn't get a chance to go do another orphan quest in WoW so I will have to wait until next year to do it again. Right now I am trying to make money (WoW money) and get my lvl 60 mount (which is faster than the one I have now). And I am working on my mining. So that is what I have been doing in WoW the past few nights.

The sewing room project is moving right along! I just ordered Space Bags to store my fleece, fake fur and some of my yarn in. I think I can squish my stash in half! LOL
I won't be squishing the wool- am too worried about it not coming back to shape afterwards. But I have a lot of acrylic so I think I can save a ton of space. I am picking up some more wire storage cubes today at Costco- to redo the side of the closet that has Jason's clothes in it. It is weird but Jason's clothes are in my sewing room. That actually was my idea as originally his work space was in our bedroom. So I suggested he use the closet there for computer parts instead of clothes and put his clothes in my sewing room. So that is what we did. We have since moved his work space downstairs to the living room but his clothes remain in my sewing room and the computer parts closet is in the bedroom.

Sewing Room Organization: The Plan 2008

So where have I been and why have I not been posting? Well last week - last Saturday to be exact, I decided to start organizing my sewing/craft room. Well it was a mess. No, really. In fact a friend of mine, who had not even seen it had a great description of it. He said most estate sales he has been to, if there was a women who was crafty or sewed, the "sewing room" looked like the aftermath of a mudslide made of fabric, yarn and other crafty tools and supplies. Well that about covered it! I laughed because he has never even been to my house!

I DID take a 'before' picture but I won't post it until I get the 'after' pictures. I almost don't want to at all! But I am SURE that there are a lot of ladies that have the same problem- and I want to inspire you to clean up too! So I decided to post my plan here for now.

Phase 1: Remove the 'pile' of fabric into our bedroom. Go through the closet and consolidate all craft and art supplies. Sort and conquer is my basic plan here. Unfortunately my room, though I call it my Sewing Room, is used for traditional art, card making, jewelry making,spinning and MANY other crafts! So I need to be able to organize lots of different things and be able to access them when I need them. to make it even more challenging- there are tools I use for many things, like my glue guns and dremel tool.

Sort fabric into cardboard file boxes.
Move all sewing books to hall bookcase. (no real sorting yet- just sewing books together, etc)

Phase 2: Go through my patterns and get rid of some! I have way too many. LOL! Make sure the ones I want to keep are in my database and in my book I use for looking at them when planning what I want to make.

Phase 3: Go through the fabric boxes, cut swatches for my swatch book

Phase 4: Go through the bookcase and organize the books and patterns. Make sure the "free flyer" projects I pick up all over the place are in the binder for that, so I can actually find them!

That's it! Currently I am about 75% through Phase 1, which is the phase that will take the longest. I will be posting pictures and describing my organization system in more detail.

I got a Willy!

If you play World of Warcraft you already know what I am talking about. If not here is a picture.



Cute, huh? I think he is hilarious! For those that don't play- I will explain a bit. this is Children's Week, one of the many holidays in WoW. During Children's week you can take an orphan around on an adventure and when you bring them back to the orphanage, they reward you by giving you a special pet. You get the choose from three different pets (yes I CHOSE Willy!).

I wanted to get a Willy last year- but at that time I had only been playing WoW for a few months- so I didn't have a high enough character to do this orphan quest. There are two orphan quests- one for lower level characters and one for higher level characters. I did the lower level character quest. It was fun!

So why do I like Willy? I think he is hilarious. He floats around after me. He drools (you can't see that very well in the picture, but trust me, he does). He looks around. And sometimes he will get bored and fall asleep.



I have heard that if you are standing around or pass close to one of the many level 1 critters that populate WoW, Willy will zap them and go eat them too. But I have not yet seen this behavior.

Children's week only lasts one week- usually May 1 thru May 7 so I want to try something else I heard that you can do. I heard that if you do the orphan quest and don't turn in the orphan- you can call the orphan and keep them! I want to try this so I will go back and do the lower level quest and try it with the orc boy! Will post results.

PhotoShop: Camouflage Plug In

I just found this awesome plug in for Photo Shop that creates camouflage patterns! I was looking for it to fill in pants for a wardrobe storyboard. Since I also use camouflage for many other things (scrapbooking, my blog (obviously) and my website) this plug in will be *very* useful to me.

You can get it here:
Camouflage Plug In

I have tried it out and it works wonderfully!

What I love about this plug in:
It's FREE! (how can you beat that??)
You can create your own colors (for instance I can create pink or purple camouflage patterns too)
If you know how to use PhotoShop already, this is really easy to figure out how to use.
You can change the scale so it is really easy to make 'small' camouflage prints for use in wardrobe storyboards.

What I don't like about this plug in:
Well- what's not to like? I can't think of anything I don't like about it. I DO wish that they had included a "digital camo" version- even just one so it would be easy to create that pattern in any color scheme. But hey- it's FREE! :)

Here, on the left, is my image for my common woodland camouflage pants. This is Simplicity 3763 View A for my wardrobe plan storyboard. On the right I created the same pants pattern with the same view- and created a purple version of the woodland camouflage. I actually don't have this fabric so it is not in my wardrobe plan- but I wanted to make it and post it here to show you that it can be done!

If I get a lot of requests for it, I can post a tutorial on how to make your own wardrobe storyboard, including how to use this plug in to create camouflage patterns to include in your storyboards.

What's for Dinner April 23, 2008

I love baking and I love homemade bread. I always make my own bread and I use the bread machine. But I don't like the square loaf and the hole in the bottom that the bread machine makes. So I use the bread machine on dough cycle and then bake in the oven. I get beautiful loaves this way! And yes, you can make fine sandwiches with it! :)

Menu

• Pot Roast with Vegetables (Crockpot)
• Herb Bread (homemade!)
• Dessert: Fresh Honeydew Melon

Herb Bread Recipe (1 1/2#)
(the way I make homemade bread)

1 tsp active dry yeast
2 Tbs sugar
3 cups bread flour
1 tsp ground sage
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp parsley
1 egg
3/4 cup warm milk
2 Tbs butter
2 oz. warm water

Place ingredients in bread machine according to manufacturer's directions. I place the wet ingredients in first then place the dry on top and make a hole for the yeast which I place on top.
I run the machine on dough cycle. When the cycle is done- I turn the dough out on a board and punch it down. Then I place it in a 9x5 bread pan that is lightly greased.
I place it on the stove to rise for 30 minutes. Rising time will vary depending on temperature and weather. If it is cold I will preheat the oven now to warm the area and make the yeast happy. When it has risen enough, I place it in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes.
Enjoy!

In Memory of: Robert L. Finley (1918-2008)

I needed to post some entries to help me with my formatting. And I wanted to post something significant- not just anything. Well I can't think of anything more significant than this. Bob was my step-dad though my sister and I both called him "Dad". He was in my life more than my biological father was and was a huge influence on me during my teens and 20s. So I decided that my first post would be in memory of him. In November 2007, right before Thanksgiving he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He was close to 90 and the doctors didn't feel they could do anything given his condition and age. He died on January 21, 2008, just a few days after my sister got out of a special training program for her work. I had been up in Sacramento, and went to my sister's ceremony, as well as returned her cats so I was fortunate to be in that area. We both decided to go up to see him on Sunday, January 20 and we were very fortunate to see him before he died. I live in the Bay Area so it meant a lot to me to be there.

I remember drafting him a shirt pattern (which I will post about at a later time). This was the first pattern draft I had done and I am still very pleased with it. I made him all his shirts after that. He loved the pattern I made for him! For the first time his shirts fit! He had a bit of a belly, but was shorter than a lot of guys. So his fitting issue was that if he bought shirts that fit around his middle, the arms were WAAAAY too long. So he would always roll them up. So one day he said that he would love to have shirts that fit him properly and one of his birthdays I drafted him a pattern for his gift. I used that pattern to make him many shirts- which he wore right up until he died.

I am very thankful that I got to see him one last time before he died. I am very thankful that he was able to die at home rather than in a hospital (Hospice was GREAT!). I am thankful that he didn't spend a lot of time in the 'helpless' stage. He was able to talk to me at Christmas and I am so glad that I got to talk to him then. But I was (and am) not ready for him to be gone. I guess we are never ready for someone we care about to be gone though, yet death is part of life. One cannot exist without the other.

I picked the picture for his obituary and my sister wrote it.



Robert Lee Finley, born March 20, 1918, departed on January 21, 2008 at his home in Camino, California.

He served 4 years in the U.S. Army during WWII with the 18^th Coast Artillery, 2^nd Battalion, where he received an American Defense Service Ribbon, a WWII Victory Ribbon, an American Theater Ribbon and a Good Conduct Medal, as well as letters of commendation. He worked for 24 years as a Civil Servant with the U.S. Government at the Presidio in San Francisco and was a member of the American Legion and Teamster’s.

Bob was known for his gentle spirit and practical outlook on life. He loved to drive, fish, and watch television and movies. He was preceded in death by his parents, Archie and Carolyn and his first wife, Betty.

Much loved and deeply missed, he is survived by his wife of 25 years, Barbara, sons, Larry and Eddy, stepson, Butch, stepdaughters, Jo and Nicola, six grand-children, and 10 great-grandchildren.

At the request of the deceased, no services will be held. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be sent to Snowline Hospice, 6520 Pleasant Valley Road, Diamond Springs, CA 95619. Interment will be at the Westwood Hills Memorial Park in Placerville.