A couple of people who already saw this asked how I got Serenity to look right at the camera; it was easy! I have a 10-second timer on it, which beeps and flashes a red light every second until the photo happens. So kitty was very entertained, if somewhat struggly.

The rest of my 2010 photos can be viewed here.

Project: Pill boxes with flowers on top

Technique: The flowers are painted, and then a clear glaze over everything.

For Sale: As with the birds from a few days ago, they didn’t turn out quite as nicely as I envisioned (the lids don’t sit perfectly). So I’m going to post about them but then take them to a show were someone could talk me down in price. Hey, they can be yours for only $8, plus shipping!

Anyway, what I was trying to say is that coupled with the fact that it is actually summer, and I’m doing two things of which I did a lot when I was younger and on summer vacation – making ceramics and reading – my brain is really having a time warp kind of feel to it.

I get up in the mornings when I’m no longer tired. And even on the handful of days where I’ve put on an alarm, I’ve woken up gracefully a few minutes before the alarm was supposed to go off. By “gracefully” I mean not with that impending feeling of doooooom that you wake up with thinking that you have to get up! right now! this instant!! Or horrible things are going to happen like you will be late for work! Instead, I start to wake up and then lazily (I know you all hate me  now) listen to the birds outside the window, listen to Tim snore (not that you snore, honey), listen to the dogs scratch themselves. In my mind I start to think of what I want to get done today, and by the time I finish thinking about what needs to be done, I’m really excited about doing it so I get up out of bed with a smile (and lurch, zombie-like, towards the coffeepot).

I spend the day doing things I want to do, saving all my errands to run once or twice a week, and hanging out with people I like when we want to hang out. If there’s not enough time in the day to get done what I want to get done, I’m only disappointed because I love what I’m doing and wish I could squeeze in a few more hours of fun – there’s no longer the head-desk frustration of not being able to finish my immense list of things to do because I am constantly blindsided with other quasi-important and overwhelming things that all want to be FIRST RIGHT NOW OMGWTFBBQ.

At night I go to bed when I am tired, rather than make myself stay up an hour, or two hours, later than I want to in order to finish doing things that didn’t get done during the day, or in order to try to get ahead for the next day. I’ve even been lying in bed reading for an hour before falling asleep. Maybe even two hours! I’ve gone through so many books in August… it’s wonderful. In looking at the stack by my bedside, I think starting in late July and going through last night I’ve read… eleven books? I’ll have to review some. Anyway; back to sleep. Realistically I’m only getting maybe an hour of sleep more than I was getting this time three months ago; but it’s much better sleep than it was. And I’m no longer waking up half an hour before the alarm worried about things that didn’t get done yesterday and please Flying Spaghetti Monster may I get some of them done today!

Sleep when I’m tired. Wake up when I’m not. Eat when I’m hungry. Hang out with good people. Craft every minute that I can. It’s like summer vacation – all I’m missing is my fishing pole.

drawstring Opossum

Third in my series on friend’s Etsy shops (Etsy Tuesday!) in my friend Ouida’s – Ouidamac. I’ve known Ouida for about five or six years now, ever since she started coming to Stitch-n-Bitch back when we were at Books, Inc. Back in the day, yo! Ouida is generous with her time and spirit, and if that wasn’t lovely enough she’s also a hot redhead who rides a motorbike. I will pause while you all catch your breath.

Now, if you are a crocheter and you are looking for some hella-cute patterns, you need to go check out Ouida’s shop. Specifically you need to look at my favorite thing ever, her Opossum Drawstring Bag. Holy hell, I can not stop squeeing whenever I see this! I mean, her recycled splash stick flower is cute, and her Clownfish drawstring bag is both adorable and well-written (Ginger made one and really enjoyed putting it together) but I really loves me that Possum.

And she’s not just a crochet designer, she also does knitting patterns. Check out this Heraldic Charted Lion drawstring bag – it’s beautiful! She worked on that for quite a while and it was really fun to see her progress on it.

So if you’re looking for some fun new patterns, go check her out! Tell her I sent you!

Yarn: Spritely Goods Limited Edition Sylph Sock Yarn

Pattern:  cowl; made it up as I went along.

Project: Pill boxes with birds on top

Technique: The birds are painted, and then a clear glaze over everything.

For Sale: I was kind of on the fence about selling these; they didn’t turn out quite as nicely as I envisioned. So I was going to post about them but then take them to a show were someone could talk me down in price… and then a friend saw me upload them to my flickr stream and wanted to buy them – so I told her what I’d charge for a set, then told her what I’d charge for this set, and… sold!

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Here’s a book for Alana. Yay, hoarders!

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Here’s one for Quinn. Yay, Hello Kitty!

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Here’s one for all my geek-loving friends. Yay, peaceful and humorous protests!

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Here’s one for Erin. Yay, making thread!

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Here’s one for Mariana and Arne. Yay, being trapped on a boat with JoCo!

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Here’s one for me; and another. Yay, for trying to remember to look for these tasty morsels!

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Here’s one for Jane. Yay, more Star Wars burlesque!

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see more Lolcats and funny pictures

The first link goes to the larger picture on Flickr; the second link goes to Etsy.

1. Lavender soap; (Etsy page)
2. The Old Dog; (Etsy page)
3. Mother Mary; (Etsy page)
4. Candy Dish; (Etsy page)
5. Pair of Owls; (Etsy page)
6. F&M Hedgie soap; (Etsy page)

I think I forgot to post about this. We’d been watching an HBO series, Treme, with Aunt Gay, Uncle Joe, and Barbara. Every few weeks we’d get together for dinner and to watch an episode or two. We finally had time to watch the last two episodes, and clearly that called for an appropriate dinner! Tim did most of the cooking, and rumor has it that his brother wants a heads-up next time we do this so he can fly down for dinner first.

The rest of my 2010 photos can be viewed here.