Finally. . .Something to Read!

Ever since I was a small child I have read for at least a few moments before going to sleep. It's such a routine with me that when I can't find a book, I get antsy and have trouble sleeping. So I'm so excited that my nook solves that problem. With so many free books plus the ones I have purchased, I always have something to read.

The more I use this little gadget, the more I love it. Tonight I "sideloaded" music and free ebooks from other sources than Barnes and Noble. Sideloading means you downloaded it to your PC and then transfer it to your nook. I guess it's not downloading so it's sideloading. Weird, huh?

My hubby got me the Bose ear buds for Christmas and with those the mp3s sound fabulous! I guess they should for how much those things cost. I would have said don't spend the money but since I have them, I think they are wonderful. And they are very comfortable. I found the ear buds that came with my ipod to be miserable on my poor ears. Not the sound, but the way they fit in my ears.

I also sideloaded some pictures. I created my own wallpaper and screen saver from pictures on my PC. They are in black and white, but they look very good! Sorry I can't show you my cool nook tonight but I seem to have misplaced the camera cable. That's better than losing the camera, which I thought I had done on Monday, and after a small tantrum I discovered it in a previously unused pocket on the backpack I carried on our hike. More about the hike in a later entry.

So what am I reading? Well, I finished An Inconvenient Wife which turned out to be a very good book after all. It seemed like it veered off into a trashy romance novel in the middle, but there was a point to it in the end and it was quite good.

I have decided to take on the Outlander series, but unfortunately book 1 is not in digital format yet, so I ended up getting it from audible.com and I'll listen to it. It's 34 hours long!!!! That will take a while, and I hope it's good.

I downloaded some classics like Sense and Sensibility, Middlemarch, and The Woman in White, which are all public domain and free ebooks. Little Women came with the nook, and that's always a favorite of mine. And it goes without saying that I have Pride and Prejudice.

I finally gave in and purchased Follett's The Pillars of the Earth. I say I gave in because I have been looking at it for months but something else always gets my attention first, but not this time. So that's what I will be reading in the new year. I'm toying with getting Monuments Men about a group of people who went into Europe during WWII to save the great art treasures of the world stolen by the Nazis. I have a fascination with the real human stories of WWII. My husband loves the battles and the heroes. I like to hear the experiences of the everyday people. Band of Brothers (the book) is on my e-wish list too, even though I've seen the mini series a million times. I believe the book is almost always better, but there are rare exceptions.

Happy reading to you!

Happy Boxing Day and the Day After. . .

I'm exhausted from the Christmas season. How about you? I figured out I've made 16 wreaths since Halloween (not to mention countless ornaments, five scarves and a everything else I squeezed in this season.) Yes, that's 16. I'm glad I did it because it pretty much paid for Christmas this year, including my wonderful nook (ereader) that arrived on Christmas Eve. Love, love, love it!!!

Boxing Day is the day after Christmas in England and many other countries, in case you were wondering. From Wikipedia:

Boxing Day was traditionally a day on which the servants had a day off from their duties. Because of this the gentry would eat cold cuts and have a buffet-style feast prepared by the servants in advance. In modern times many families will still follow this tradition by eating a family-style buffet lunch, with cold cuts rather than a full cooked meal. It is a time for family, parlour games and sports in the UK.

In the United Kingdom it certainly became a custom of the nineteenth century Victorians for tradesmen to collect their "Christmas boxes" or gifts in return for good and reliable service throughout the year on the day after Christmas.

I know, I always have to throw in a bit of history now and then. I'm a trainer, remember? I can't help it!

Anyway, we spent most of our Boxing Day in our Pajamas, going out late in the afternoon for sandwiches and then some shopping. The kids had gift cards burning holes in their pockets!

Today we lazed around again in the morning and then went to see Avatar, which both my kids claimed was the best movie they have ever seen. It was a really good movie. My husband and I enjoyed it as well.

So what did you get for Christmas? I know, Christmas is not about the presents but the birth of the Lord, but it's still fun to see what everyone got. My nook was my present this year, but my hubby surprised me with Bose ear bud headphones and, of all things, a Snuggie! Have you seen the commercial for this thing? It is so hilarious. The Snuggie is nothing more than a blanket with sleeves sewn in, but the commercial makes it look like taking your arm out from under a normal blanket to get the remote is the most complicated thing in the world. We laugh every time the commercial is on. Then there is a group watching a sporting event all wearing Snuggies and looking like deranged monks as they hop about and cheer. It's really, really amusing.

I know my hubby got me the Snuggie as a joke, but I have to admit I kinda like the dumb looking thing. It's very warm, made out of a jersey like material. I do wish it snapped closed in back though because I like to get up and get something from the kitchen from time to time and the Snuggie leaves your backside open, much like a hospital gown. Then again, I suppose it would be a robe if it closed in back, and not a Snuggie. :)

I am taking tomorrow off of work to relax some more and spend time with my family. I'm even feeling too drained to do any miniature work! But I am very relaxed and that is a good thing.

I am going to now go and read some more on my nook. It's just too cool!

Merry Christmas!

Yes, I do love vintage images, in case you were wondering. :)

I have been playing with nook and love it to pieces. Looks like lots of people have been trying to download books because there have been some server issues, but B&N has posted info on their website and promise a fix by tomorrow.

I know lots of people seem to be unhappy with them, but I am pleased that they sent out word on their website on Christmas to let us know what was going on. I appreciate that. I remember my days of working in Info Tech. 24/7 is the rule. But I still appreciate that they got it fixed. All my ebooks floated into my nook late this evening.

I hope you had a wonderful, blessed day with those you treasure in the world.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Santa's Sleigh is on the Way!

The Stockings are hung by the chimney with care, the cookies are set out with milk, and the children have gone to bed. I prepared the Christmas Eve dinner for our dearest friends and everything is cleaned up and ready for tomorrow. I think I can even go to bed now!

I made another curly ruffled scarf for my dear friend and I barely made it in time. They were due at 5pm and I was still madly crocheting at 4:45! Luckily they were delayed slightly and I ended up having plenty of time. I've never yet handed someone a present with the crochet hook still attached and an IOU, but it's been close!

And the best news is that Barnes and Noble pulled it out and my nook arrived at 12:45 this afternoon. Ninja dared to bark at the poor UPS driver and was promptly scolded by me. Today the UPS man is adored by me! The bad news is that I have been informed that I am not allowed to open the nook until tomorrow. It's just as well. I probably would have stayed up all night playing with it.

So Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Ding Dong Merrily on High. . .

The Christmas bells are ringing!! I made these ornaments as place cards for our departmental lunch tomorrow. There are two different types: ones with paint drizzled on the inside and others with a stained glass effect. I took puffy paint and wrote each person's name and the date on them. I'm glad these are done and they turned out pretty.

I can't believe Christmas is Friday. This has been a stressful and busy holiday season and I'm looking forward to next weekend when I can wind down a little bit. Don't tell, but I'm actually a little tired of making Christmas things and I'm looking forward to some projects I've put on the back burner during the season.

In nook news, I've been delayed to a Dec 24th delivery. I'm not sure if Barnes and Noble will make that. I'm not thrilled with how they've has handled production problems, mainly because they have waited until late in the evening on the day nook is supposed to ship to let customers know that it will be delayed. On the other hand, the word is out that they will be providing a nice gift card for those of us who don't get it on Christmas. That sounds pretty good. I understand that when you choose the first version of the product you may have to deal with some issues as they work out the bugs. I still can't wait to get it.

I think I'm almost ready for Santa. We're hosting Christmas Eve so that's the last thing I have to prepare for, except for the actual day, but we are going to my Dad's for that so I won't need to cook. I always make our traditional Christmas breakfast of cinnamon rolls, orange juice, and bacon. I have no idea how or why we started that, but I think it's easy to munch while we play with our new toys.

Christmas Flurry

Why oh why oh why do I take on so much right before Christmas? I think many of you know what that feels like. You know, a couple of weeks ago it seemed like a grand idea to make ornaments as place cards for my department luncheon on the 21st. Tonight I'm thinking I'm certifiable! I have to say that the ornaments are coming along beautifully. The artist? Not so much! I'll show you them soon because they are really pretty. I'll give you a little teaser. They are clear glass ones that I have either created stained glass on or have drizzled paint inside for a beautiful, marbled effect.

So, surprise surprise, I have two wreaths to show, but these are not intended for sale, although if someone begged and pleaded I probably would let them go. I love cardinals and have them all over the place in my house. They remind me of my mother.

This wreath has a more natural look, with pine branches and two big bows with cardinals on the ribbon. I found the cardinals at Dollar Tree and my daughter and I pretty well cleaned them out. Aren't they so sweet?

This other one is a departure from the grapevine wreaths I've been using lately. This was a wreath I made years ago and it was in dire need of updating.

I pretty much used up everything I had for my earlier wreaths project. The ribbon has pretty ornaments on it and there are birds and poinsettias all over this one. I think it could be my favorite so far!

As if I'm not busy enough, tomorrow is our Secret Santa gift exchange and potluck. I've spent the evening making my famous Cranberry Dream Salad, which is a holiday tradition at my house. I made my Secret Santa a stained glass ornament last week, and tomorrow I have a Willow Tree Angel and a crochet book for her (she crochets with me at break in the afternoon). But of course I had to have a tiny handmade thing to give, so I made another of these little angels. They are so adorable! I glued a pin on the back of this one so she can wear it.

On a sad note, a beloved elderly aunt of my husband passed away yesterday and we will miss her tremendously. Such a loss is doubly hard during this season of family, but we can be comforted that she is out of pain and in the care of real angels.

Choosing the "Right" Stairs

During HBS' 40% off sale earlier in the year I ordered the curved staircase that I've been planning on installing in my San Fran. But to be honest, I wasn't really thrilled with it. Somehow I made a mistake and ordered a left curving staircase and all this time I was sure it would be just fine, but the more I looked at it the more it annoyed me and just didn't feel right.

Here is the San Fran with the left curving staircase. It has always kind of bothered me that the back of the stairs faces the back where I like to admire the furnishings. And it doesn't help matters that the back wasn't stained quite right. The stairs almost come right in front of the front door as well, which is a really annoying trait as well.

After careful consideration, I decided that there was no need to "live with" a staircase that annoyed me. February will mark three years I've been working on this house and that is just too much of a commitment to dislike the focal point of the first floor. So I ordered a right curving staircase.

I have no less than six other houses (seven if you count the rescued Tennyson) in various stages of completion, so I'm sure the old staircase will find a home with one of them. My daughter said the other day that there is a dollhouse kit under every bed around here, and some beds have two! Shhhhhhhhhh. . . . Nobody needs to be reminded of that fact!

So here is the San Fran with the right facing staircase, and I just think it works so much better! Yes, it needs to be stained, but it just opens up the first floor and shows off the lovely curve of the stairs. I'm so glad I made the decision to do this- I'm so much happier with it!

Also, notice the grand piano in the left corner of the first floor. I found it on eBay for a very good price, and it plays music too. The house announced she wanted a piano so a piano she got. Some of these houses can be very demanding you know?

She also got a white birdcage and a cockatiel for the ladies parlour. I'll show that off later.

So somehow I am making progress on the San Fran even with all the Christmas craziness going on. I don't know about you, but it seems the busier I am the more I get done. Strange but true!

It won't be long before this lovely house will need to be moved to the garage to get her floors and shingles stained. I'm hoping to have her completed before my birthday rolls around in February.

Welcome New Followers!

Good heavens, I have five new followers! That's very exciting! Welcome to you all.

First is marivigano of http://marivigano.blogspot.com/ Her blog is in Spanish and so I am totally clueless unless I get out my friend bablefish, but she has a really cute site and some great pictures of minis.

Next is Marsha of http://sassyminidolls.blogspot.com/. I love the look of her blog. It's kind of retro and shabby chic at the same time and I love to read what she writes.

Then we have Deborah of http://dlsarmywife.blogspot.com/. She's an awesome polymer clay artist! She has a really cute blog and I know exactly how she feels when she says, wow, someone actually reads this stuff I write?!

Next up is Amana of http://anamavesi-minis.blogspot.com/ Amana is from Buenas Aires. Do any of you know that a somewhat guilty pleasure of mine is Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita? So when I saw that Amana was from Buenos Aires I immediately started humming "What's New Bueunos Aires?" which is one of my favorite songs from the play. :)

Finally is Lúcia Soares. I didn't see a link for her blog but that's OK. You are welcome here!

So thank you so much for joining the mischief here. I never thought anyone would even care what I wrote when I began blogging and now I have 60 followers. I'm grateful and happy to have you all here. :)

Angel Snowflake Wreath

This wreath is kind of special to me. My friend at work has been a great salesperson for my wreath making adventure. She asked me to make a wreath for her that had her "angels" or grand kids on it.

She said her decorations were all silver and white with lots of snowflakes this year, so this is what I came up with. I used some of the left over ribbon from the Hanukkah wreath. It's just such a gorgeous ribbon!

The little angels are crocheted with little buttons for faces. They are so easy and so adorable! Here's a closeup of the little angels.

My daughter suggested the white poinsettias and I think they finish this one off nicely. My friend loved it and I'm so glad she's happy with it!

Eagerly Awaiting Nook. . .

I think I have mentioned (several times I'm sure) that I am an avid reader. I love, love, love books! But they sure take up a lot of room. That got me to thinking about an ereader. Store your books in one place. Sounds good. Download them wirelessly. Sounds great. Store 1,500 books on it, and more with an SD card. Keep talking!

I've been eyeing the Kindle from Amazon for a while, but my favorite bookstore, Barnes and Noble, announced their ereader in October and I couldn't resist. Luckily my wreath making allowed me to treat myself to this semi-expensive electronic gadget.


I had trouble actually clicking the button to order. I mean, how can I justify spending the money on something for only me, and just before Christmas no less? But then I convinced myself I worked hard making wreaths and I deserve this little gadget that I've been wanting for ages.

So I ordered on November 14th, thinking I'd be in the November 30th ship group. What was I thinking???? I got a ship date of December 18th. Noooo! I want it now!

I've been waiting over three weeks for my little Nook. I feel like a kid waiting for Santa to come. Now it appears they are running a bit behind in shipping. I have my fingers crossed they are getting production up to speed and I'll see my nook before Christmas. Please, Santa, I've been a good girl this year. At least, for the most part. . .

I hope my nook gets here soon! I'll keep you updated. . .

Jingle Bells. . . Yes, It's Another Wreath

I guess practice make perfect because each new wreath I make I am happier with than the last.

One thing that helps is that I learned to make bows really well. I made two bows to decorate a basket for my company's holiday party on the way to the party Saturday night (yes, in the car). They really are that easy. So perhaps I'll do a tutorial for you just so you can see how easy they are and you can then make beautiful bows for your packages this Christmas. Anyone interested?

I really like this wreath. It has a crocheted poinsettia on the left, two gold poinsettia's above it, two very nice bows with gold and red poinsettia ribbon, and bells.

I love bells on a wreath, because when you open the door with the wreath, you hear it jingle. It's so festive!

Next up is another white, silver and blue wreath with angels and snowflakes for the theme. I think it will be very pretty. More soon!

Lampshade. . .

And it wasn't on my head! My company's Holiday Party was this weekend and I am co-chair of the committee that plans the 500+ guest extravaganza and we work on it all year long. It went pretty well but I am still exhausted! But luckily I only had a glass or two of champagne so no lampshades on my head!

I broke the shade for this little table lamp a few months ago so earlier in the week I decided to make a replacement. I followed this excellent tutorial for making a lampshade: Tutorial She makes beautiful, complete lamps, but I only used the shade template. Also, instead of using the paper harp I used a bead cap glued into the inside top of the shade and made a harp out of wire and threaded it through the hole in the bead cap.

I also printed out parchment looking paper and glued it to the shade template, and glued on embroidery floss for trim.

Another "not bad for a first try" effort, and it only took about an hour. That's the kind of project I like!

I have many new followers in the past couple of days and I am so glad you are all here! I will welcome you all properly very soon.

Little Stained Glass Cabinet

Aren't Michael's mini cabinets great? They are only $1 and they have such possibilities! Tonight I decided to make one into two little pieces. I decided to make the top part into a cabinet for the kitchen and the bottom part will be a little console that sits at the top of the stairs on the third floor.

The cabinet is pretty easy to split apart. I took a small screw driver between the top and bottom parts and it pretty much popped apart. They are only glued together so it doesn't take much.

Then you have to sand it. A lot. I'll admit I'm not so good at that part. I get bored easily. I took the doors off, which was easy, and then I cut a new bottom piece out of balsa wood and glued the back on. You don't want to glue it all around or it will be tough to get the doors back on.

And after I painted the cabinet I decided it would look really nice with a little bit of stained glass. So here is what it looked like after painting the cabinet white.

Next I had to decide what to use for the "glass." Plastic works best here. In the past I've used heavy overhead projector pages, but those aren't as easy to find these days. What I used for this project is the plastic top of a tray of cake slices I bought for Thanksgiving. Great way to recycle! I cut the pieces big enough to fit the back of the cabinet doors. There is no point in cutting small pieces for each panel for this project. Just cut it to fit the whole door.

Then I stuck the plastic on the back side of the cabinet door. I used Museum Wax for this. I love that stuff! It holds so great, and if you want to take the "glass" off at some other point, it is really easy.

Then I was ready to paint. In case you are wondering, I painted it after sticking it on the door so I could see where the squares are. I decided to just paint different colored squares. If I had decided to do a fancy pattern, I would have painted it first and then stuck it to the door. I just painted on the back of the door, using the cabinet panes as guides for my squares.

I used glass stain for this. If you want to be fancy you can buy Gallery Glass, but you need so little why spend the money? You can buy a pack of glass stain with 8 colors for under $3.

When you paint with glass stain it's like using nail polish. Just paint it on and don't go back over the same spot or you'll pull off the stain. I used blue and yellow in different squares. Then let it dry.

Once it was dry, I put the doors back on and voila! Here is my finished cabinet. I don't worry about the stain being totally smooth. Any ripples or air bubbles make it look like really old glass and give it character. This piece will hang in my kitchen and hold little plates. I think it needs a little more embellishment on the top, but for a quick project it turned out pretty cute.