Even trees need to stay warm!

I have no idea where this photo originated. It was sent to me in an e-mail. Obviously it's some locale where the evenings are chilly and the trees need sweaters. Has anyone seen this picture before??? I've heard of guerrilla crocheting but this is a little extreme.


Maybe that is what I'm doing wrong with my trees... I'm not keeping them warm in the evenings!

Hopping in with TWO (maybe) finished projects! YEA!!!!!

Meet Hoppy. I whipped her up last night to give myself a break from the pink and purple five-sided throw I was working on. She is about 5 inches tall and I stuffed her pretty full. Gamer Boy took her in to the Princess and she seems to enjoy looking at her.

Then I went back to working on the five-sided throw. And guess what? I FINISHED IT! Well, maybe. Here it is!


It is about 48" across at the widest points. Starting at the center I alternated between doing 3 rows of each color and two rows of each color. Then I alternated doing the center row of every other three row set with spaces. For the edge I just went to doing a few repetitions of single rows, alternating colors. I have been debating doing something else around the edge but I haven't figured out what yet. Any suggestions?????


And now that the blanket is pretty much done... you know how bunnies multiply....

Wanted: Fashion Coordinator

Ever watch those wacky wedding shows on TV? Some of them are hilariously funny. I ran across a web site that has more of the same. Scroll down a bit and take a look at some of the wedding attire that has been considered fashionable (I guess) over the years.

My reaction to some of them "What the heck were they thinking?!?!" Check it out here.

Computer maintenance

Ok, this is something we all need to address at one point or another. If you're anything like me it gets put off, usually because it takes so lone and is so involved.

That problem has been solved! This is a simple (and very safe!!!) cleaner that only takes a minute and doesn't load any sort of spyware or other kind of program on your machine!

Click here: Online cleaner You will be glad you did. Leave me a message about what you think!

Keep clean!!! Oh... and I don't think this is a were-skunk.

What next!!! Extreme cuppy cakes!!!

I love cuppy cakes! If I could, I would have different flavors here every day. Perfect size, no waste (but plenty of waist, if you know what I mean). So because of that I reserve them for special occasions.

For those of my friends that are also cuppy cake lovers... Take a look at THIS... Unbelievable!

For the men folk (those that are too macho for cuppy cakes) there is THIS.

Sigh........

I borrowed this from Alessandra at Just Be Happy, who borrowed it from Devina at The Woolly Fairyglade who borrowed it from Sian at Diary of a Tinyholder and I agreed that I also thought it would be a lot of fun to do!

Rules: Use the first letter of your name to answer each question. They have to be real places, names etc. Try to use different answers if you have the same initial as someone who has already done this. You cannot use you own name for the boy/girl question.

1. What is your name? Janet

2. A four letter word? Jamb

3. A boy's name? Joshua

4. A girl's name? Jordan

5. An occupation? Junk Collector

6. A colour? Jade

7. Something you wear? Jumper

8. A beverage? Jack Daniels

9. A food? Jelly

10. Something found in the bathroom? Jaccuzi

11. A place? Jamaica

Play along if you want! Have fun!!!!

To pink or not to pink...

In rebuttal to my friend, Terri's, recent comment on my apparently surprising color choice. I would like to prove that not everything I put my hooks to has pink in it.

Today, while Gamer Boy was working with the horses, I began work on the four-color spiral he requested. And there is no pink in site! See????


Now, Terri... you are getting very sleepy... your eyelids are getting very heavy...

New edging????

Last night I finished a small lap throw for Princess Junior to use in her wheelchair. Ok, it's not finished finished. I still have to block it. But the big part is done. And, yes, of course it's pink.

I just did a HDC solid granny rectangle but then put a 3 row secondary border adding a fur yarn followed by a 3 row border of the original yarn. I wanted something tighter for the final row so did a row of SC but still wasn't happy with it. So I slip stitched all around the edge. When I got back to the beginning I pulled it through to the other side and did it again, working the opposite direction.




I like the way it almost looks like a cord! It definitely tightens up the edge and I'm not sure yet if it is too tight but we'll see.


Now I'm back to working on the light pink and lavender five-sided throw. Not sure yet how big that will be. And I'll be starting Gamer Boy's four-color spiral soon too.

Terri's got a brand new BAG!!!

Ok... My friend (and I'm using that term loosely at the moment) Terri, at Clay Hill Farm, can sew. And even though she always says there are wonky stitches, etc. she's pretty darn good at it. After all... If it's handmade it's bound to have a bit of wonky somewhere. If it doesn't I'm a bit suspicious! Heck, I'm a whole lot suspicious!

Anyway, Terri has been on a sewing binge (I hate/love her for it!) and has created a new tote bag. She is calling it The Farmer's Market Tote. And it's awesome! Take a look at the pictures I stole from her blog.


And guess what!?! She is giving it away! Check out the Clay Hill Farm blog and enter to win this beautifully hand crafted Farmer's Market tote. She is being very generous with entries and will be taking them until April first.

Now... off to do some were-skunk research...

Great Days in History... coming up March 17th

YEA!!!! There's a Blog-iversary coming up!!! No... not this blog by a long shot. :)

Mikki, at Firelein Tomfoolery, is celebrating her "blog-iversary" which is actually on March 17th but that isn't really want she is celebrating. She is celebrating the many friends she has made as a result of that blog.

And she is putting together a special box of goodies for one special person and a couple things for some "runners-up" too! Deadline for entries is 6 am, March 17th.

Blogs are a really neat way to "meet" people. As I commented on her blog, it really points out how small this world really is because you find you have things in common with many, many people!

So go over and say hi. Help Mikki celebrate by celebrating Mikki, another AWESOME person!

Hello Kitty, Kitty, Kitty...

I consider myself a cat person. I'm not fanatical about it but I'd MUCH rather sit and interact with a cat than a dog. That's just me. I do like some dogs but cats are just calmer.

Putting on Carnival Barker hat... Yes, if you enjoy a cuddle with a purring ball of fur but you just don't want to share your house with things like a cat box or cat hair all over the furniture there IS a solution...

Leave it to the Japanese to come up with a brilliant concept! The Cat Cafe.

For most of us, unless we wanted to be one of the first in the field here in the states, it would involve relocating, or at the very least, a pricey holiday, but it sounds like fun. Click here to find out more.

Money saving tricks... and a new addition...

My wonderful hubby (whom I love very much!) send me a cool link... It's to an article on the This Old House web site called "50 Nifty Tricks for Big DIY Savings"

These days we all can use tips on saving money here and there. I wish I could take advantage of tip #3 in our master closet. It's almost the size of a small bedroom, about 8 feet wide by about 13 feet long! And the reason we can't take advantage of the tip? There is a heating and cooling vent in there!

But there are a few tips listed there that we have either already done or are in the process of doing. We have replaced "old style" light bulbs with more environmentally and energy friendly ones. We have added ceiling fans in rooms that didn't have them and have a couple more to install. We just bought a fast growing Empress Tree (ironically, it's one of the favorites on the nursery link in the article!) that will be planted in the back yard to shade both Gamer Boy's bedroom and the den. We had to have the heat pump worked on a few weeks ago and had a digital programmable (and lockable!) thermostat installed at the same time. Now we have it programed and the kids can't go and turn on the A/C when everyone else is freezing. Or roast the rest of us if they are chilly. Hey! Put on a sweater! :) And we have some light switches that will turn themselves off after a certain time frame. We just need to find an electrician to install them.

As for the new addition... Today we brought home a dog. I'm not entirely happy about it (she is a lovable enough dog but not a breed I really care for at all) but Dak grew up with one and this one was his mother's. We helped her get it about 1 1/2 or 2 years ago, thinking that a small dog would be good company for her. Boy were we wrong! As her dementia has worsened she has done nothing but complain about it. Cleaning up after her, having to walk her, having her underfoot... But then she talks about how much company she is. We have taken the dog home with us 2-3 other times but she always had a change of heart and wanted her back. Then she gave her to a total stranger but, again, changed her mind and asked for the dog back. Dak had talked to the woman that was taking the dog and warned her that it would probably happen. And it did. This time we have told his mother that if we took the dog it was permanent and that the poor thing doesn't need to be shuffled around like this and that the dog would NOT be coming back. She even signed a statement today to that effect. That is more for her to refer to when she changes her mind. Something that we can tell her to look at to jog her memory. So... here is our new addition.

AWESOME... and how to win it.

What is your idea of awesome? Well... to me, almost anything that is a really great surprise is AWESOME!

If you want some Awesome of your own you can go check out what Heidi n' Jeff are doing over at The Decoursey Project. They are hosting their first giveaway and, what can I say, it's just AWESOME!

We need more people that are this AWESOME!!!!!!

Pay it forward...

I like doing things for people. Unexpected things sometimes. So this one is pretty easy for me. Examples: I have been known to pay for the food order of the person behind me in line at a fast food place. I always put the RedBox Monday free movie code (and am doing the March Wednesday codes) on a super sticky post-it and leave it on the machine for the next person to use. (And the note reminds them to share it as well.)

Yesterday the fuzziest, softest neck warmer arrived in my mailbox. Now I know the picture below doesn't look like anything but fuzzy yarn, trust me. It IS a neck warmer and it's the perfect size to wrap around my neck and feels really nice there. I just wanted you to see the yarn and the colors!


Thank you, Anna! The colors are wonderful and I absolutely love it! And I think I have the perfect pin to use as a closure. :)

Anna, from Small Farm Living, had chosen to do something nice for three people "just because". I was fortunate enough to be one of those people. All she expects in return is that we "pay it forward".

So, as I promised Anna, I am putting together a Pay It Forward "project" of my own. If you want to be a part of this you can send me your mailing address, and tell me a little about you to help me decide what would be good for you. If you have a blog, mention this there and tell me about it so I can go visit and get ideas of the kind of thing that would make you happy. All I ask in return is that you do the same... pay it forward! Do the unexpected!

I can't guarantee anything except that I will be doing something special for at least 5 people, maybe more. And who knows... even if I don't get to you right now... someday a few months down the road you could find something really special waiting just for you!

Send your e-mails to me at princessj.king at gmail dot com

Someone stop that truck!!!!!

I'm still sick. Dak is still a bit under the weather but at least he is feeling a lot better than he was. I don't know what this is but it's sure got a firm grip on me. The one good thing is that the truck that keeps running me over is getting a bit smaller. Now it's about down to a UPS/FedEx truck. Fully loaded. At Christmas.

A couple days ago I was joking that I had "gone green" but I'm still green and this is after religously taking 9 doses of antibiotics. No wonder I gravitate to the Snot Put game at the bottom of my blog! No, it's not just some weird perversion... it's my life at the moment. (although I do tend to use my throat and not my nose.) Yesterday the coughing was so bad that I was feeling dizzy and light headed, like I was going to pass out, after each hacking episode. Not a fun feeling when you are in a room alone and you know that your husband is hours away from coming home from work and the nurse is only going to buzz if she needs something.

Thankfully, Gamer Boy is visiting Clay Hill Farm (Thanks, Terri!!!!) and he even cancelled his session working with the horses today so I wouldn't have to get out and he wouldn't chance getting them or this therapist sick. Chatty has already had this and Princess Junior is safe and secure in her room with her nurses. I'm definitely staying away from her. As I said, Dak is feeling better but he was on different antibiotics. (His was a three pills over three days and mine is two pills, twice a day for ten days.) What I am on I have taken DOZENS of times before over my lifetime. If it's not working for me anymore it's a sudden change.


So I have been working more on the three color spiral blanket. I measured it last night. Well.... I measured half of it. I just didn't have enough room on the bed to actually lay it all out (Dak was sitting on the edge of the bed, working at his computer) and, after all, it's a circle with a definite center. So I figured if I measure to the center and double that number I'd get the total measurement, correct??? Well, so far it's over 60 inches across! I thought about stopping but I still have yarn left and I'd love for it to be big enough for Dak and I to cuddle under together. Because of the roundness it's going to be a BIG blanket!

I think I'm going to do the zebra and black yarn in a spiral too. But I'm still not sure of the others. Then there is the spiral for Gamer Boy. At least I have projects to keep me busy.

Ok... I lied...

I only THOUGHT we had full nursing coverage. Turns out our day nurse was scheduled to leave at 4:30 pm so now it's just me, Princess Junior, and Dak until our night nurse gets here at 10 pm. I sure hope Princess Junior doesn't pick up what we have.

I've ordered a pizza so Dak and I don't have to cook. He will still have to go out sometime tonight to pick up Chatty from her mother's house since tomorrow is a school day. Why couldn't tomorrow be a holiday!!!

But I did get a really nice surprise. I am getting a hand knitted neckwarmer from Anna at Small Farm Living. I envy her ability to knit so that makes it special right there. But there is another reason why this is special. Anna is doing this as a "Pay it forward" type of deal. So, my job (since I chose to accept it!) is to do just that... Pay it forward...

I'm going to take a day or so to think on this one. I have some ideas rolling around in my head. But you'll hear what my plan is soon.

Thank you, Anna, for the great surprise! It has been a very bright spot in the day. Your horse info is really interesting because Gamer Boy is working with horses. And just between you and me, I've spent some time slinging snot too. Somehow it seems the appropriate thing to do today.:) I actually broke my all time record too! I'm up to 1042.8m now!!!



(For those of you who haven't been to the bottom of the blog... Snot Put is an addictive little widget that is down there. Hint... sling it in a clockwise direction and loft it UP. :)

Out, out, damn bug...

Ok... I know that isn't an exact quote... but it's close and it's how I feel. And I am sure Will wouldn't mind, especially if he felt like I do.

Dak and I are both under the weather. Although, since the weather usually deals with things in the sky we are always under the weather. But I digress... I'll put it simply. We Are Sick.

Fortunately the two oldest are gone (Chatty is at her mother's and Gamer Boy is at a friend's house) and Princess Junior has full coverage on her nurses (they have been hit with the bug too!) so we actually have time to rest.

Saturday morning we both slept until 11 am. I woke up feeling like I was swallowing razor blades. Now I'm not one to run to a doc for every little thing so you know I'm actually sick when I CHOSE to go to a doctor. Saturday option is the walk-in clinic and I decided that yesterday was probably a good time to go.

Dak and I arrived right before what looked to be a rush. I took a seat and Dak went to sign us in. When he hadn't joined me after a few minutes I turned to look towards the desk and saw that he was still waiting behind a couple people with 4 or 5 more behind him! Yes, whatever this is sure is making the rounds.

When they called us back they did flu swabs on us both. Both came back negative. Since Dak has always been told he's allergic to penicillin they gave him different drugs than they gave me. We stopped to drop off the prescriptions and went next door to get some soup while we waiting. Now before anyone condemns us for going out in public like this we aren't hacking away every two seconds and even then we are responsible coughers. The restaurant is one that isn't cramming as many tables as they can... it's booths with wide aisles. We ate and left, picked up the medicine and some juices, and went home.

We were up until about 11 - 11:30 but this morning we again slept until about 11 am. Our guess it that we needed it. Gamer Boy went with his buddy to a drumming concert last night but has called several times to check on us. He said he was starting to feel bad but seems to be feeling better today and didn't want us to come get him. I think that being away from the house is allowing him to NOT get whatever this is do the degree we have. We are purposely staying away from Princess Junior, using the video monitor and intercom to stay in touch with the nurses. (I can see she is a bit wiggly at the moment!)

So this is a perfect opportunity to work on some of my WIPS and plunge into the yarn stash.

This is what I have been working on...



It's a three color spiral circle. Right now it's about 4 feet across and I have 7 more skeins of yarn left to use!

Then I have done some of these...



They are face cloth/wash cloth sets. I don't know about you but I like to use a separate washcloth on my face. They are 100 cotton and really soft! The face cloth is 6 inches across and the wash cloth is 8 inches across. Eventually they, and others like them, will be in my Etsy shop. I'm revamping the shop to benefit Princess Junior's room fund.

This will too.



It may look like it is another wash cloth, and in a way it is. But it's in a coarser cotton and it is meant for dishes.

Then there is the yarn... I bought some more.

There is this... It's SOOOO soft!



And this... Gamer Boy picked these colors and wants a four color spiral blanket!



I'm not real sure what to do with these yet. I have a spiral square pattern that I was thinking about doing in this...



But I don't have these earmarked for anything yet. Just liked the color combinations.



Pale pink and purple. Doesn't it look like cotton candy???



One of my all time favorites... pink and gray!

And I have some black and red too but the red looks orange in my pictures so just trust me... it's cherry red.

Any suggestions???

Do you like surprises?????????

I found about this one in a round about, web surfing friend of a friend of a friend's second cousin twice removed, sort of way. But sometimes that's the best way!

The Farm Chicks are having a giveaway. What are they giving away??? I have absolutely NO idea! And they aren't saying! So if you like surprises go on over there (Click Here!) and pay them a visit. Who knows what you might win! SURPRISE!!!!!!!!