Ornaments

So I've made it a little tradition to give a small gift at the last knit night before Christmas. 

One year I made glass balls with little yarn balls and tiny knitting needles in them. I've also done fudge, and cookies. 

This year we made pinecone ornaments.

Connor collected the pinecones at the duck park (Eco island). The pickings were very slim :(

He loves the fish

Then we got the cones home and baked the critters out of them (200 degrees for 45 minutes)

After the baking came the painting. I used krypton gold and silver spray paint.

And a scentsy box!

After they dried I hot glued yarn loops to them for hanging

We've been giving them to people, the ups guy, the mailman, our police officer neighbor. It's a small thing, but seems to make people genuinely happy :)

Holiday Gifties

Since none of my gift people read my blog I can post pictures of my hand knits here ;)

From left to right, aceso hat for Laurel, simple beanie for Kevan, tiny simple beanie for Connor.

This is Shellie's hat, it's my aceso pattern with a modified brim. I also made the poppy. Grey and poppy are her wedding colors.

Cowl to match.

I don't have pictures if the two other cowls I've done. One in navy blue and one in red with gold sparkle. For my step-sisters. 

The Flax sweater by Tincanknits that I modified the garter stripes on the sleeves, for Ross

I'm also working on some fingerless gloves for kae in sparkly lavender. So sparkly.

Luckily my Christmas knitting has been fairly slim this year. I had lofty goals to do a sweater for my step dad too, but I couldn't find a pattern he would like

October and November Reading Lists

sorry, i'm a slacker /sigh

i'm actually WAY behind on my reading goals, and ended up lowering my yearly goal from 100 to 75 books, and i still might not make it.

next year i think i'll go with 52 books in 52 weeks, like the challenge group i'm in, that way i have a reasonable goal. i may also ONLY read books on my nook and kindle, since i have A LOT (except new releases for currently reading series, like The Shadows!)

October
1-63 the Blood of Olympus - Rick Riordan (10/20) free/library
November
1-64 God Save the Queen - Kate Locke (11/17) free/library
2-65 Doon - Carey Corp (11/21) free/library
3-66 Prince Lestat - Anne Rice (11/30) free/library

favorites - all of them! but especially Doon. it's YA, which doesn't bother me, and it was a quick read (about 5 hours), but the story was good, and the characters were actually likeable. it's loosely based on Brigadoon, which i haven't seen.

of these my least favorite (if i had to pick one) is Prince Lestat. I'm not going to give an in-depth review about what i liked or hated, because i want people to make up their own minds. but i was just really disappointed in the writing. i love Anne, i follow her on facebook, and i respect the hell out of her. I just think she should have left this series alone and kept fleshing out her Wolf series.

also, sadz! no more Percy Jackson!!! s'ok, the new series is Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard! it's like Rick looked into my childhood and decided to write these series just for me, First obsession with Greek/Roman Mythology, then Egyptian, now Norse. if he starts a Japanese series i'll die of happiness! 

Thanksgiving

With thanksgiving being next week, I wanted to make a list of things I'm thankful for. But first a story of something that happened to me today.

Connor and I braved Walmart to get some stuff for thanksgiving dinner at dad's house next week, and I decided to take a detour through the toy department to get c-man's opinion on a couple games for his Leapster. 

While we were standing there, this little old woman comes over and asks how old Connor is, he's 2 and a half. 

She told me how she's got a 3 year old grandson who she's never met, and wondered if Connor could help her pick some Christmas presents for him.

Connor is always happy to look at toys.

So this nice old woman followed him around asking him about toys, and making selections for her grandson, he got some duplos, a couple ninja turtles, and a huge dump truck. 

Connor and I went on to finish our grocery shopping, and as I was checking out, the lady came over and asked if it was alright for Connor to have a toy, she gifted him with a new hot wheels 3 pack. He was a happy boy, and even remembered to use his manners and say thank you. 

This is not the first time something like this has happened to me, not even the first time at Walmart. 

As I was texting with Ross about the situation, he said it was sad. And it made me glad my kids know their grandparents.

30 days of thankful

1. My kids 

2. Ross

3. My mom

4. Yarn

5. Exterminators (omg)

6. Public school for being free

7. No more FCAT 

8. The dollar tree

9. Crock pots

10. The Scary Mommy Thanksgiving Project

11. Amazon Prime

12. The public library

13. Pinterest

14. My bestest friend Gail

15. My knitting group

16. Peppermint Mocha Fraps

17. Pomegranate dark chocolate

18. Scentsy 

19. Having my own iPad

20. Connor cuddles

21. Ravelry

22. Fish sticks, or Connor would never eat

23. Baby gates

24. My awesome father in law, Kevan

25. Video games, aggression outlet, and making Christmas shopping easy!

26. Leapfrog tv, for helping get stuff done around the house

27. Dollar tree batteries

28. Facebook, or is have no social life

29. Online shopping

30. Santa Claus 

I know it's not the end of the month, and these are in no particular order, and some days I'm less thankful than others. 

But I try and take a little time everyday to remind myself that my life doesn't completely suck ;)

Fish tank

So kae got a little fishtank for her birthday, a 3 gallon marineland. It's got those blue led lights that make everything glowy

We took the green plant out, it cluttered the tank up too much, also, not day glow. 

The tank set for a week, then Saturday we went and she picked fish

Sasuke, a sword tail Molly 

Naruto, an albino catfish

Sakura, a small angelfish

Sometime Monday night or Tuesday morning, Sakura died ::sad::

It broke Kae's poor little heart, but angelfish are fragile ::sigh:: luckily the pet store has a 14-day replacement on dead fish, I just have to take the corpse in with some water. 

Maybe they'll let me pick a heartier fish, like a tetra, or a guppy. 

Thrifty Me

I've been buying Christmas presents for people already, mostly the kids. Money has been crazy the last few months. So I get little things here and there, mostly with my Scentsy paychecks ;)

The other day we were at the greenwise publix and kae saw these 

Mind you this IS real makeup. It's just marketed to girls in a fancy box. It is lighter colors, but the price O.o nope!

Kae wanted it pretty badly though, we compromised, and I told her we'd put it on her Christmas list.

So yesterday I was at dollar tree, and what do ya know?! They haz makeup!

I actually get most of mine from dollar tree, feeling pretty doesn't have to break the bank people.

I also raised my Ipsy stash, I had a hot pink bag from February, the lip gloss in bright pink, and the sparkly red nail polish already. Two eye shadows and a lipstick, $3.18. I still need to get a blush, since I actually have a set of brushes and pitch the little ones that come with my stuff, I didn't have one she could keep. 

So, makeup for the girl? $5 ish. Taking pictures of her crazy blue eyeshadow? Freaking priceless!

Gamer - extra life

As most of my friends know, I'm a gamer. Most people love me for it anyway. Except my mom, she thinks it's pointless /shrug. She started it (yeah, that game gear you bought me in 5th grade, uh huh)

So about 11 years ago, ok 10 years and 7 month. Ross and I picked up Everquest. It was the bane of our existence, I raided, he hated it. We jumped ship to eq2, then I played WoW and he played CoH, eventually he fell out of gaming online. I never did.

Out of nostalgia I hacked my own everquest account a few months ago, and started playing again, casually. There are no more raids, no one I used to play with is still there, but I can run around the old zones and remember all the fun and craziness. The drama, and the friendships. I still have a few people I talk to that I met in game ;)

Going through my bank I started finding quest parts...lots of parts. Epic quest parts. Now for those not in the know, epic quests are just that, really long quests, with a lot of sub quests, hunting for rare things in ugly places, and killing stuff that's really hard, and might not drop the piece you need. I thought, I should finish these!

And finish them I did!

First was Naideri, my High Elf enchanter. She's by far my favorite character to play in any video game. Seriously. She got her Staff of the Serpent Saturday night after Doctor Who, I checked Fear with my Druid and the last named was up. The snake on the stick moves, and hisses at people I don't like. 

Then today came Numinya, I logged her in and YAY! The ghost in City of Mist finally spawned. So numi got Innoruuk's Curse. She's my very first character, a Dark Elf ShadowKnight. She's also the Guild Leader of Carpe Mortis, and my highest level character. 

I'm very proud of myself. I have a few little quests to finish, the greenmist sk katana, and the coldain prayer shawl on my Druid and Enchanter. Then I think my account may lapse again. The game just isn't the same. 

Now for Extra Life. This is a gaming fundraiser I have done for the last three years. You raise money for the Children's Miracle Network by marathon playing video games. I'll be playing Archeage and Everquest. And splitting it over 3 days instead of in one session, because children. I'll post the link to my fundraiser page.

Don't want to donate? Then join! ANY game works, iphone, iPad, consol, Facebook, PC. No one cares, and it's for a really great cause. 

Thanks for putting up with my geek ;)

Haircuts

Some might have noticed that kae got a haircut

Before

After

Grandma Debbie took her as part of her birthday present, along with a ton if really awesome clothes, and those sparkly bobs in the above picture.

I'm considering cutting my hair and donating it to locks for love, this month, in honor of my grandmother who died of cancer. I'll post about it if I do ;)

Late Birthday

So my little girl had a birthday on Saturday. She's not so little anymore ::sigh:: she's 9, NINE!

So here is a photo bomb 

A fish tank from grandma Debbie

Coraline (book and audio) from Connor

Hot pink boom box from mom and dad

iPod shuffle from grandpa Kevan

Hot pink headphones (and an ihome) from g-pa

Walking with dinosaurs! Her favorite present.

She also got some iTunes gift cards that she used to buy music for her player

She's a happy happy girl

I'm a Dork

today I signed up to launch my name into space! I'm going to have Ross and Kaeley do it too, Connor can't come, he doesn't have an email address.


           

           



here is the link if you want to come to space with us ;)

Orion First Flight

you get frequent flyer miles for signing up, but i haz no idea what i can use them for lol

EDIT:

Connor is coming too

           

September Reading List

September
1-56 The Serpents Shadow - Rick Riordan (9/2) free/library
2-57 Knight of Darkness - Kinley MacGregor (9/4) free/library
3-58 Son of No One - Sherrilyn Kenyon (9/7) free/library
4-59 The Queen’s Choice - Cayla Kluver (9/13) free/library
5-60 Justice League Vol.1: Origins - Geoff Johns (9/21) free/library
6-61 The Goblin King - Shona Husk (9/25) free/library
7-62 Skinwalker - Faith Hunter (9/29) on my nook

Loves - Skinwalker, The Serpents Shadow, Knight of Darkness, Son of No One.

Hates - The Queen's Choice, The Goblin King

meh - Justice League comic, is Nu52, so not terrible, just meh

Skinwalker being my absolute favorite, reminds me a lot of the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs (a favorite series) and the first 6 books in the Anita Blake series by Laurel K Hamilton. I see that there are 7 on Goodreads, so i have at least a couple months worth of books if i can get my hands on them. very excited!

August Reading List

August
1-53 The Forever Song - Julie Kagawa (8/11) free/library
2-54 Sword of Darkness - Kinley MacGregor (8/13) free/library
3-55 The Throne of Fire - Rick Riordan (8/29) free/library

I've fallen VERY far behind my Goodreads yearly goal of 100 books, i'm 7 books behind, and at the rate i'm going it's likely i won't catch up. /sigh i'll give it a shot though...

I really loved all three books i read this month. nothing disappointed me in the least :D

Experimental Bread

Technically it's Banana Bread. But I was missing stuff, so I just started dumping things in the stand mixer. ;)

I haven't posted a recipe in a while, this one is egg free and dairy free, and could probably be gluten free if the whole wheat flour was replaced with almond flour. It is not low calorie...

3 bananas

1 kids cup cinnamon applesauce

2 cups flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tablespoon cinnamon 

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

350 for 55-60 minutes (in a greased loaf pan)

I had no butter, eggs, or milk. It's about the same texture as regular banana bread, very banana-y. Everyone liked it.

Connor's Room

Not as much done in here, we'd tiled before kaeley was born, and painted Celery Green right before Connor was born. 

Moved the bed into the same corner Kae's crib was in

He kept the champagne rack bookshelf that kae used from birth

The road rug from Nana Dobbie

Bookshelf parking for the large trucks, his new Trofast bins from Ikea, and his foam road from Christmas

New bins, home for the buggy! 

Sea monster! Ahhhh!

More Dollar Store wall stickers, I love them lol

Connor kept Kae's toddler tv, to use with her old LeapFrog video game system, and we still have to move the mermaids. 

But they each have their own rooms now,  we're all so freaking happy!

Kae's Room

Very picture heavy

The walls got finished and the carpet ripped

Grandpa insisted on doing the tile himself

New closet doors and finished floor

Her desk area, new desk, new magnet board, hook for her backpack! It's not all in my living room anymore!!!!!

The bed

Dresser, toys, bookshelf. That bean bag is full of all her stuffed animals I can't get her to part with ::sigh::

Her butterfly explosion. They came from the Dollar Store ;)

She needs a rug and a mirror. She also wants a fish tank or a bird, we'll see 

July Reading List

July
1-49 Friday Night Bites - Chloe Neill (7/7) free/library
2-50 Whisperers The Secret History of the Spirit World - J.H. Brennan (7/13) free/Lib
3-51 Everneath - Brodi Ashton (7/20) free/library
4-52 Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoos - Margot Mifflin (7/31) lib

Everneath was awesome, i read the whole book in 4 hours, but i'm not sure if my heart can take reading the rest of the series yet. i have a feeling the book hangover will be like the Soul Screamer books from February. I was in a hangover funk for months.

Both my non-fiction this month were really interesting, and both were recommendations by Anne Rice through her facebook page. because i'm a dork and miss the Coven of the Articulate. I am SO EXCITED (!!!!!!) for the return of Lestat in October 28th. the day before my Birthday..

best.present.ever.

June Reading list

because oh crap i forgot

June
1-44 Codex Born - Jim Hines (6/3) free/library
2-45 A Shiver of Light - Laurel K Hamilton (6/18) free/library
3-46 How to Train Your Dragon - Cressida Cowell (6/20) free/library
4-47 Ink - Amanda Sun (6/20) free/library
5-48 Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh - Robery O’Brian (6/20) free/library


Kaeley and i read Mrs Frisby and How to Train your Dragon as "Book clubs" for her summer homework. I hadn't read the Rats of Nimh in so long, i'm so glad she LOVED it.

Ink was...awesome. it's Shoujo manga, without the pictures. I have the second book Rain on hold at the library already.

Codex Born and the whole Libris ex Machina series is probably one of my new favorites, he might even trump Harry Dresden in my life. 

Bout of Books

so Yeah, i'm doing this? anyone with me?!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I'm building my pile and will post a picture here on my blog and on my instagram feed. possibly facebook. because BOOKS!

So far I have the 3 books in the Egyptian series by Rick Riordan, Game of Thrones (bk 1), and who knows what else will come in from my library hold list. I'm constantly adding new stuff to that and have a pile on the kitchen table to work through.

I usually read 2 books a week, but with my new from home job as an independent scentsy consultant, i'm reading less and computering more. it's sad when the 8 year old is winning at the "how many books can we read this year" competition. hopefully this will jumpstart me

Scentsy!

For those I haven't yet informed of my newest adventure, I'm selling SCENTSY!

don't know what Scentsy is?! well, here

there is also Laundry Care and personal hygiene. Anything you can use to make you, and your house, smell good, we've probably got!

I'm just giving blog readers (Rav peeps mostly) a heads up about a couple promotions for this July and August. Big ones!

For JULY only, we have the Bring Back My Bar! 20 scents that have been retired and voted back by the costumers. They're limited edition, so stock up while you can!

This is the ONLY place you can get 12 bars for $45 (plus applicable taxes). 

Also, August brings us to the end of the Spring/Summer season, and to make space for NEW scents and products in the Fall/Winter selections, they'll be discontinuing some Scents

Last, but certainly not least, the Charitable Scentsy Buddy will be retiring. Roosevelt the Rabbit!

(I have this one, he's so soft and squishy, I put the  Clean Breeze scent pak in him so my bed always smell like the sheets just came out of the Dryer!)


I will be running a party until July 23rd! You can order online, or email me to place, ask me about how you can reduce your shipping cost!!!!



Paulamlyons@outlook.com
Http://www.paulalyons.scentsy.us

TdF2014- day 5

Took my spinning to Barnes and Noble

last night

TdF2014- day 4

Added some more to my glindle. I hope to finish the first batt (2oz) tonight at knitting.

I'm spinning pretty fast so far, which just shows me that I can do it, I just get distracted easilyz

TdF2014- day 3

Switched to my glindle while finishing up Game of Thrones season 4. 

TdF2014- day 2

Took a break while moving furniture. 

TdF2014- day 1

Started spinning the CHF Babbling Brook at the BN, met Shellie for coffees <3

End of the night!