31 May 2007

don't trap me in your world of farts...

that is a direct quote from the real world in denver. i wrote it down. it seemed noteworthy.

so clearly, i am back from vacation. we got back this past saturday and i was a bit wiped and behind on house stuff. additionally, i realized that it would be better for me to try to blog early in the day because in the evening, i have been too tired and out of it to blog, and when i do, it is just reflective of my being tired. so.

additionally, because i haven't blogged, but was too tired to blog but wanted to, i decided to make notes for myself late at night to mention today. wanna see?

-vacation
-rob and big
-closet cleaning
-garden, new plants
-socks
-attempted freeform sewing
-RANT and other books
-mac is back!
-pav scooped out all of his food from his bowl.
-baby noses-cute from the front-sketchy from the sides
-use up stash for charity knitting
-take photos of plants, front and back, socks, art on walls, mound of old clothes (why?)

-vacation-it was okay. there was a family blowout, which i will say no more about. whilst we were gone, pavel didn't come out, so i worried the whole time. additionally, right before we left, he was so upset that he threw up twice, poor fella. my mom had been with us for a week before that, so i hadn't really gotten much done, although it was nice to see her. she and my dad went to my cousin's wedding in sydney and then to visit the other rellies out that way.

-rob and big...the best reality show ever. they have a mini horse named...mini horse. i love those guys. love em.

-closet cleanout...i decided to get rid of all the crap in my closet 90+% of which didn't fit me or was trashed. i was surprisingly liberated. i didn't even ditch all of it, but i completely stuffed a contractor bag and a big garbage bag full of stuff and i didn't even deal with shoes yet.

-socks-i finished the socks for my dad. they are modeled here by my father-in-law...dad's socks modeled by my father-in-law i dyed this yarn for my dad, and still have a skein of sportweight left. i also started these socks out of my most favorite dye job to date...muffy's favorite sockyarn although i managed to make them too small, so i need to rip em out. sigh. and the are almost done, too. they fit, but are TIGHT. so.

-attempted freeform sewing...well...i took a plain top that i attempted to do some freeform stitching on with the machine and it didn't work out so well. it punched holes and made the fabric bubble up. i think maybe it needs backing? wanna see the chaos? it is a monster with a bunch of legs and sharp teeth and then it says...help...it looks like a small child having a seizure tried to draw it with his foot. first attempt at freestyling the sewing machine. not so good. advice?

-booksrant...whilst on vacation i picked up the newest book from chuck p. i had been waiting with bated breath for his new book. squeeeeee!
what else? well, i ordered some things from amazon...last minute fabric gifts
kath kidson's in print which is a discount book that i had never heard of. it isn't the most novel ideas in the world, but the pictures are nice. it is like a less stylish amy butler. much less. but still, it is a cute book.
sewing toys...
more toys
the cute book which i thought kind of...sucked. if you need this book to make this crappy stuff...um...okay. i got the bad book, too, which was rather crummy. i am going to send it to my niece who may think it is funny. not sure.

our mac is back and well (yaaaaaaaaay!) i sent it out on thursday and it came back on tuesday! how insane is that? we didn't get it until the following tuesday, but i was blown away. that is FAST. after using a pc laptop, i missed my pretty mac so much. i love you mac. and! it came back even fancier, with TIGER on it! whoa! jake had saved my firefox stuff on the harddrive, but it is gone. other than that, no worries.

we switched the cat's food to organic stuff (to their chagrin) and then got some holistic (but not organic) food from jake's parent's store, dogs rule, and they really like it. i came down for coffee in the morning and pavel had scooped all of the organic stuff out of the bowl onto the floor so he could pick out the "good stuff". it was neatly piled up next to their bowl. he is a character. i know you want to see some photos of him. i let him outside for a bit yesterday and he wanted me to show you that he is a wild animal and was in the jungle...
pavel in the jungle
i have been letting peeps out in our little yard while i am out there, but she has started to try and wander off. i forgot for a second she was out there, ran in to get something and then realized and freaked. jake found her on the sidewalk looking a bit confused. i feel bad doing it, but i probably should keep them on harnesses so they don't get spooked and get lost or something. gah.

i am not sure why i felt the need to write down a note about baby noses, but i did...i have always been jealous of people with baby noses. one of the most memorable ones was a high school friend, monica...i swear it was transplanted from a baby. so cute. and then chris cornell from soundgarden and brad pitt. baby noses. jennifer aniston...hers, too, but it looks odd from the side. cute from the front, though. mine looks better from the side than the front. not that i have a baby nose. peeps does, though. i am not sure how to pull images off of the web or i would put some in. damn that flickr for taking that feature off. i loved it.

okay, so the garden. i planted a big pot with baby lettuces, oregano and thyme, so i can have em all year. we also got two biggish flower pots for either side of the door, some wildflowers, i planted some catnip seeds which are slowly growing and some catmint, which no one seems interested in. i couldn't find catnip plants. anyone have some? anyone? i planted basil and berries are getting ready to come up. yum! wanna see?
garden and plants!

and here are some shots of fun stuff around the house. i need to do some better ones that have good light.
art in my home

okay, that is about it for now. i am hoping to do some changes in lifestyle to be healthier. i am uncomfortable with my body and my face...everything. i don't feel like myself. i am just going to try to cut out processed stuff and attempt to move more. you know i will keep you posted.

i missed ya!
xo
n.

posted by natasha @ 2:25 PM  3 comments

17 May 2007

spilt

i have been feeling really strange and emotionally drained. physically drained, too. it could be the impending vacation, i always get really stressed out before we leave. i hate leaving the cats. sigh. anyway, i know, boo hoo, poor me, going on vacation. my mom has been staying with us since sunday and it has been nice to see her, although i think i am a bad hostess.

i found out that one of our only old family friends has breast cancer and i feel oddly numb about it. it happens a lot with me when things happen. i don't know why.

wow. i really wanted to blog and now i am at a loss for words.

i will do my best to blog from vacation. we will see how that goes. squeeee!
xo
n.

posted by natasha @ 10:38 PM  4 comments

16 May 2007

pink pee?

pavel
we recently changed the cat's food to an organic one after the pet food scare. we don't do soft food, but the expensive dry food we gave them was on the list and i was pretty pissed off about it. you spend a ton of money to get your pets the best food that you can and it turns out to be the same as the crap food from the grocery store. anyway, as you probably know, ms. peeps likes to pee on the floor (and drop nuggets when the mood strikes her) and whilst cleaning it up, i realized it had a pink tinge to it and started freaking out, being a professional UTI/kidney infection host (the have parties in my nether regions...goddamn mooches.), but it didn't seem to be hurting her to pee. anyway, my mom, who is staying with us this week (now you know why i haven't blogged) suggested that maybe something different was in their new food and i look at the label and it has ground beet pulp. when i looked at peeps' peep, i see that it appears stained (crazy? yes, i looked) and i know that if you eat anything with beets in it, it even stains your intestines and stuff. i am thinking that is what is going on. odd.

what else? i have done loads of felt flowers for barrettes and pins, although this time i have been using seed beads in semi abstract patterns and they look really pretty. i may add some for a yarn on the side, or list them to add to whatever you fancy. so purdy. i did some more sock yarns, one for a pair of socks for my dad, i need to skein em. shortly. i hate having no knitting to work on.

we will be leaving on friday for a week to the beach (yay!) so i am not sure if i will be able to check emails or not.

more later!
xo
n.

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posted by natasha @ 1:32 PM  5 comments

14 May 2007

L-O-L-A. lola.

sooooooo. tired. is that all i ever say? kind of. on the up side, i have some gorgeous yarns and fibers to list tomorrow. my mom is in town until friday, and pretty much right after we drop her off at the airport to go back to iowa, we leave for the beach. yaaaaay! it snuck up on me. one of the things i don't like about it is that i love may in pennsylvania and i hate missing a second of it. i know, boo hoo. i wish we could do our vacation in the miserable wintertime. anyway, i need to find some time to get some beach gear, i imagine my mum will go with me. she is using my car whilst she is here (goodness knows i rarely use it) so most likely she will be with me. unless she is out getting her hair done or something and DONNA wants to go with me? hmmm...

we had a cookout here for my mum and jake's mum for mummas day and jake's papa came and they brought the dog, annie, who really wanted to meet our cats. peeps actually sniffed her and didn't seem scared. we were just worried that they would hurt annie, who is a bit high strung. we just had hamburbers and some hebrew nationals (i even like them, and i NEVER eat hotdogs) and grilled yam wedges (why did i take no photos of anything?) and i made a baby red skinned potato salad with fresh chives on top, jake's mum made a broccoli salad, a cucumber salad and fixins for strawberry shortcake. we ate outside and the weather was incredible. jakie got a nice big weber charcoal grill at the end of summer last year and up to that point, we had used a 10 buck little grill from vacation that is super ghetto, but works pretty well. he has the nice cover on it, he bought this little hanger thingy so he can hang his grill gear from it and he got a little bench that stores all of his charcoal and his chimney (you put the charcoal in it and light it and it gets it all ready to go with no lighter fluid necessary). it was nice.

we almost had some bad political talk, but it fizzled quickly. so that is good. we try our best to keep jake's dad from knowing that we are hardcore democrats. it would make him sad. and mad. so, we just keep political talk out of the equation. or suddenly go to the bathroom. the thing is, with politics and religion, you aren't going to change anyone's mind, you aren't going to change mine. why bother trying? all that happens is you get mad. or really mad. or decide you hate people.

my in-laws are the nicest people you will ever meet, would give you the shirt off of their backs, and they take us on vacation every year (this year the bro and sis in law are coming, too!) and we do all we can to pay for all of our part and as much of their food, etc, as they will allow (which isn't much) we usually don't eat out a lot on vacation. i am there for the beach. i am a super picky eater, so most often i am not impressed anyway. i want the food to be at least as good as i could make at home, hopefully better. and then we go from there. got it? hee.

any time you want to see insane amounts of cute fuzziness... click right here. oh my. too. much. joy.

sleeeeepy.

posted by natasha @ 12:04 AM  4 comments

12 May 2007

same is it never was. (image HEAVY)

i have been such a bad blogger lately, i just don't have the energy and of course i am super behind on ready all of your blogs (i have close to 200!) and they get out of hand quickly. i hate it. it makes me feel guilty, as stupid as i know that is. it is really hard to decide if i should try to catch up on blogs or draw, read, etc, etc, etc. mainly, i have had lots of headaches and have been just pushing to get as much done as i can and i feel a bit like i am just treading water. you know?

i have been having lots of nightmares, like usual, i don't understand them because they are so complex. they tend to be set on college campuses, sometimes i am taking classes, sometimes it is just there. several dreams have had fish in them which were cut off at the tail, but were not killed. no idea what that means. and almost always, i am being chased and attacked or threatened and am often attempting to protect another person or animal. sigh.

i was sketching one night and kept falling asleep, and kind of woke up and wrote down what i was dreaming, my writing is so bad that it is hard to read:
all of my
old clothes
cried out to
me-all the different
faceless me's
w/their different
cute (?) self(?) & hairstyles
drowning (?) ?????
like the
one in the patternless fashions


and then a really odd scribbly drawing of two people. um. no clue. but i do remember sort of seeing all the different versions of myself over the years all together. in the book patternless fashions, which was originally written in china, there are fantastic illustrations fromt hat time with faceless people with cute clothes and hairstyles, so i assume that is what i was talking about? dunno.

jake had some sort of 24 hour flu yesterday and i think i had sympathy flu. i kept falling asleep throughout the day, but really asleep, not just a nap. poor jake felt sick when he got up at 3a and went to work anyway and came home at 8 am and was either in the bathroom (powdering his nose, hee.) or totally conked out and coverd in sweat or goosebumps. he is the type of person that eats every hour or two or gets, as i call it, "hangry" which is angry and hungry, although the low blood sugar makes him feel legitimately angry. you know? so he was very dizzy as well, which may have been from the flu or lack of eating. he normally has a rather healthy, ruddy complexion and was literally green. he always has very red lips and they were pale. it is odd to see him sick because he never gets sick. anyway, pavel wanted to cuddle with his papa and take care of him, which is extra sweet because he is not that way. wanna see?
pavel and papapavel and jakie snoozingcrashed out
poor boy.

otherwise, i have done a good bit of spinning and dyeing. i really need to finish some mixed media boxes and other things. i feel very annoyed with myself that i haven't made the time. here is some of what i have been working on...
may 12 fibers and sock yarns
i have some lovely yarns i need to take photos of, as well. i have been dyeing felt, which will be for sale. the deeper colored ones are 100% wool felt, and the rest is wool and rayon blend, which feels much nicer and looks rather pretty, i must say. i will be listing some soon. so pretty. and i realized really quickly that it is impossible to find unusual colors of felt that is of any kind of quality and ti get handdyed felt...forget it. i keep meaning to make felt myself, but with my energy issues, it just doesn't seem realistic.

my mom will be in town for a few days, coming in to-morrow. i hope to get work done this week regardless becase we are leaving this coming weekend for the beach. wooo hoooo!

okay, i am getting super sleepy.
xo
n.

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posted by natasha @ 11:26 PM  2 comments

08 May 2007

can you feel it?

ROOOOOOOOOCCCCCCCKKKKK!
so, i didn't go to sheep and wool. in less than two weeks (eeeeeeeeee!!!!! yaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!!) we leave for vacation for a week, and whilst on that vacation, i need to pop by my most favorite yarn shop in savannah, wild fibre and drop off yarn for them. i just couldn't justify spending the money on the trip to sheep and wool, which was 99% to see you guys. that said, i hope i can organize a get-together for at least a small group of us that live on this coast, even if just for a weekend. i would love to even do it here. a sleepover? awesome! there are lots of really nearby hotels, too, for those that are not into staying at people's houses. let me know if you think you might like to come up and do a weekend, or even a few days during a week if that works better for you. jakie goes to sleep early during the week, and i am home during the day working, so that would work too, for those who are self employed. keep it in mind. anyway, it worked out well that i didn't go because i had insanely bad cramps and a headache, etc, etc. i am still having that fun. ah, to be a woman. and just after the damn full moon.

despite feeling like poopies, i have gotten some stuff done. some really lovely yarns, i packed up a bunch of orders and i need to post off some international orders (4 to australia!!!) to-morrow and hopefully still get some dyeing done. should be fine. i spent the day doing orders and then i ran out of ink in the printer so i didn't get to make it to the post office in time to mail everything out. gah! anyway, the rest will go out to-morrow.

we switched the cats' food from nutro ("natural" really expensive cat food that is expensive) which was one of the brands that was made by menu foods and recalled. we only use the dry food, and it was only wet recalled, but i still feel really bad about feeding them crap food. expensive crap food. anway, we picked up an organic food, which pavel doesn't want to eat, although the girls ate it like treats. he is super finicky and tends to eat nothing meant for cats except for the dry food they had been eating before, which he has eaten since he was a baby. he wouldn't eat kitten food even. seriously. he went from milk, to mush to adult cat food. i think if he could have skipped from milk (or just had milk FOREVER) to hard food he would have done it. anyway, jake is concerned that he isn't eating, although he hasn't been begging for food, and i think he would be. plus, i was downstairs getting a snack and saw him waiting for peeps to finish eating, so i think he is eating it. if anyone has any suggestions for organic cat food (dry, otherwise they gobble it like pigs and barf) please drop me a comment. the only other option is the raw diet and i am concerned that i am too slapshot to do that for them. plus, i would only want to feed them organic meats, which is a pain to get a hold of around here. although, from what i hear, non-organic meats are still probably better than the crap in their "natural" nutro we gave em. so. hm. i am a bit worried that pavel wouldn't eat it. also. so. my cats eat so much better than we do. big time. better. i should eat their food.

there are some hilarious video snippets on mtv (i love run's house. love.) and i looked for em and found the people that make em, and make other fantastic videos and commercials. you can check em out here, along with their other work, which is excellent. including "metal and matzo" yah! check it out here. i promise you will crack up. the mtv thing is called maturity is overrated. it is creepy but really funny. i know that none of my dear readers are feint of heart, you are all badasses, so i feel confident you won't be upset by this. if you are, however, don't watch em. you have been warned.

okay now. wanna see some photos, at long last?
may 8 yarns. yum!
they aren't listed yet, probably to-morrow. let me know if you want any and i won't list em. some of the fiber that i did these yarns from is not listed yet and is still available, so if you want something, let me know.

so, for the yarn and fiber club, i have hammered out the details (i think). for the yarn club, you will get a 4 oz skein of superwash merino in either sportweight or fingering, your choice. you can either pay for 3 months up front for $75 which includes shipping, nice wrapping, and lots of fun freebies. what kinds of things? well...handmade stitch markers, and i don't mean the keychain kind with a bead hanging off. i mean handmade ones. probably a different pair with every order. there will be a few different extras in each order. it will be good stuff, i promise. for those that can't fork out for 3 months, they can buy just one month at a time, but it will be more expensive, and may not have room. i think i can set up a payment on paypal once a month, in which case you get a spot for sure, otherwise, it just depends on how many people sign up. the fiber club will be a similar gig. depending on the kind of fiber, you will get between 3 and 4 oz of fiber, plus extra spinning stuff, and extra freebie stuff. as the name "luxe" indicates, i only do really soft wonderful fibers. i am hoping to do some blends, but i recently got in 80's merino (CRAZY SOFT), as well as my superwash, which is also incredibly soft and wonderful to spin, baby alpaca, kid mohair, silk, soy silk, bamboo, soy latte (milk protein), ingeo, silk, and lots more. i plan to do some yarn kits that will have all of the fixins to make an artyarn like mine! how fun is that? i will include everything you need except for hands and a spinning device. i will be sending the group email out to-morrow (and this time i won't accidentally sent it to everyone without a blind copy. i feel like such an arse) so please make sure you let me know if you are interested because i will be dyeing this week. so i will be doing a batt/blended fiber club, a regular fiber club (top) and the sock yarn one, as well.

here is an example of the freebies, although i am thinking about selling them on etsy, too. i made these into hair clips as well as the pins i have been doing. i want to do some headbands and other thins, in addition to having them to go along with yarns. they look way darker in the photo.
poppy clips
okay, i think i am getting loopy. pop by my flickr to see what else i have made lately.

mwah. mwah. mwah.
n.

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posted by natasha @ 8:13 PM  11 comments

yarnmuseum spunday yarn! wooooooot!

i was very excited to realize that i am in the handspun fix gallery! how cool is that? i will blog more, i swear, i have been a bit out of it lately. later, i promise.

xo
n.

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posted by natasha @ 11:54 AM  4 comments

03 May 2007

how do you make a hor-mone?

sheesh. my hormones are something special. during the PMS time, you know, the time when i feel physically awful, miserable, weep and never know why because it is rather random and my husband gets zits...from me...how wrong is that? anyway, i had a bad couple of days and yesterday had a bit of a meltdown over a miscommunication and fortunately only posted it privately so everyone didn't see the lump of drama that was me. on the upside, i now realize that. on the downside, i have my period for sheep and wool. and i think i had it the past two years, too. and it isn't terribly regular, so that is really random. hmmm.

i packed orders yesterday, did some plying, prepped a shadowbox for a painting. i got a lot done. we have to send the mac in to the shop to be fixed and we were lucky enough to get a loaner laptop in the meantime, but it is a pc, so i have fears of not being able to do the work i need to do and do updates, etc, etc. so i keep putting off sending in the mac and it needs to go. to-morrow. i swear. i love mac so. i will miss him. le sigh.

i am now on the foot part of jakie's socks. i am doing top down and i tried it on him thus far and he seemed to dig it. i have to say, handknitted socks seem like no big deal until you have a pair made for you. and then, the lightbulb comes on and you realize that it doesn't smush you or fall off of you or make lines on you. nice. i owe my dad a pair, although he really may not remember, or care. i wonder sometimes if people realize how much things i make for them really mean to me. i know that i would love them, but that doesn't mean someone else would love it. right?

oh! i am the pennsylvania representative for the stitch for senate program to make helmet liners. i will be making one to send in, anyone in this state, or any other for that matter, feel free to make as many as you like and either follow the directive on the website or send em to me. i love being able to do a little something. and something positive and not just talk crap for or against the war, which does nothing. they need reps still for some states, so check out which ones they need still and email em.

i really want to make sure that i do more charity knitting. it gives me an excuse to use up my stash and make hats and things that are not really necessary for summer, but we love to do anyway. and i am a pro at hats. i could work on some fancier patterns at this point. it is one of the few things i can do without a pattern and alter it. i like doing chemo caps and making them fun, as well as being super soft. when you do eyelash ones, they look like spikey hair. it cracks me up. and also, i know that the always need preemie caps, which can drastically impact their survival rate. and that is pretty cool. you can also do doggie and kittie blankets for shelters. it is often the only soft thing in their cage, and we can all imagine how much that might mean to a lonely fuzzy in a shelter. bless their little hearts. so take some of your stash and make some stuff.

not much else. most of the fiber i listed on luxe.etsy.com sold, i need to list a bit more that hasn't been yet, and i have some fantastic handspun yarns to list soon, too. hopefully sunday. and the sock yarn and fiber clubs. i think i have the specs figured out, so that will go out in an email sunday or monday. i promise.

i am excited for sheep and wool. i am never sure if plans will work out to hook up with anyone. we are going out friday and leaving afterwards on saturday. i am super excited to meet some of my close online peeps that have really been like family. you know who you are. and hopefully, we can see each other more often, have some get togethers to be our wild wooly selves. hee.

wow, i feel oddly tired and blank. i have been having really exhausting days and getting in as much work as i can in the meantime. let me end this post in asking what the hell is up with the scurge that is HIGHWAISTED PANTS coming back into fashion. i have mentioned that fashion blows, right? anything after 1965 is just poo. poooooooooooo! wanna see some? here is a nice pair with dropped PLEATS and big boobs about an inch away from em. NICE! jessica! want more? well, okay. lindsay! noooo! the great part is that it gives everyone camel toe and butt toe. it has to. remember the 80's? i wore guy's jeans and pants until maybe 5 years ago or so. it was an ugly, ugly time. when super skinny stars and models look bad, not a good sign. i do like some of the not as high rise pants that look more kate hepburnish, although still, if you have a big belly and/or big boobs, it could be reather disastrous. and then highwaisted tapered leg? are you kidding me? from instyle so these are supposedly the best of the bunch. not to be gross, but seriously, note the crotch grossness. okay, this one is the most terrifying thing ever. ever. the highest rise pants ever. and it isn't a joke. i think. yiiiiiiipes.

mwah!
n.

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posted by natasha @ 10:36 PM  7 comments