ACK!

Sorry, I was going to add a new post today but evidentally it is rush hour here in the library! I am surrounded by people cramming to get onto the computers. They put the desks so close together, I am afraid if I do not get out now I will be stuck here forever! How awful would that be. Forced to surf the internet forver. No food, falling asleep in the computer chair. Eventually I would have to eat my keyboard. Then I wouldn't even be able to surf the internet. Maybe after several years I could figure out away to convert myself into binary code (I wouldn't eat the 1 and the 0 keys) and upload myself onto the world wide web, until I could finally retransmit myself into reality. Oooo the horror. I might catch a computer virus while I was in there. Or become privy to our nations deepest darkest secrets. I gotta get out of here! Oh the HORROR! Don't worry I will be back...

Check me out....

Hey look! Have been feautred on anouther blog! "The Outfit" is a store in Long Beach California, and they are currently selling my finger puppets on a trial basis. The owner also featured them on her blog. Check it out...

I think I need to marry a Chinese man...

I think I need to marry a Chinese man, because I am in love with asian food right now! I have been to Panda Express and Pei Wei so many times that the people there are starting to regognize me! I love the flavors, crab wontons, and the fun of trying to eatrice with chopsticks is just to much to pass up!

Who are you?

Hello Faithful Blog Readers!

Today I am blogging in a way that I have never blogged before. I am sitting in the college library in a full 16th century costume complete with two foot high white wig. Yes I am dressed as Marie Antoinette. Yes the person sitting behind me cannot see over my wig and yes I have gotten A LOT of funny looks.

You might ask why I am sitting her in full period costume and I would say because it is fun. Also College is having a costume competition where the winning contestant wins a $100 GIFT CARD FOR BOOKS! Yes, you heard right, 100 BUCKS! I am really hoping to win. One of my older sisters pulled a couple of all nighters to finish my costume in a matter of days, resulting in a beautiful costume that I sure think is a winner!

It is a kind of funny costume to wear. I love the way it looks, and the way the full skirt swishes around my legs when I walk, but nobody knows who I am! After the puzzled look subsides from thier faces I have had people guess I was:

A Princess
A Granny
Dolly Parton
A 70s chick

and several others who just had no clue what so ever. But don't worry I get my revenge when people mistake my costume. I stand there and go through Marie Antoinette's entire history, and the detailed explanation of all the aspects of my dress.

"Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna von Habsburg-Lothringen (November 2, 17555 – October 16, 1793), known to history as Marie Antoinette, was born an Archduchess of Austria and later became Queen of France and Navarre. At fourteen, she was married to Louis-Auguste, Dauphin of France, the future Louis XVI. She was the mother of Louis XVII, who died in the Temple Tower at the age of ten during the French Revolution..." "...she was executed by guillotine at the height of the French Revolution in 1793 for the crime of treason although no evidence of such was proven....""...Meanwhile, the queen began to institute changes in the customs practiced at court, with the approval of the king. Some changes, such as the abolition of segregated dining spaces, had already been instituted for some time and had been met with disapproval from the older generation. More importantly was the abandonment of heavy make-up and the popular wide-hooped panniers for a more simple female look, typified first by the rustic robe à la polonaise and later by the simple muslin dress she wore in a 1783 Vigée-Le Brun portrait..."

And on... and on... and on.... MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA! A Homeschoolers revenge is sweet!

Loooove is in the Aiiir!

Teeheehee! That title got your attention huh. No not me, just everyone else in my math class.

When we have a math test we are alowed to leave as soon as we are finished. Today like almost every other test day, when I went to leave class there was a whole little line up of boys standing in the hallway outside our class room. Why were they standing in the hallway? Because they are twitterpated thats why! Yes its true, almost every boy in my class has a crush on one of the girls. When I pull into the parking lot I can see all the guys in my class waiting in their cars for the object of thier affection to arrive. When she gets out of her car, they quickly jump out too and pretend that they only just got there so they can walk the 1/4 of a mile to class with them.

They sit by each other, go on "study dates" walk to and from their cars together, text each other during class. It makes me a little sick to my stomach in a sweet kinda way.

Your next question might be "Well, well, well, Bodecia, does anyone walk you to and from your car? *eyebrow wiggle*". The awnser to that question would be a resounding NO. I think I am uncrushable. I don't know why, my older sister is the same way. We like to think that it is because the boys all know we are WAAAAAY out of thier league. LOL Also I think it is because we know the rules of College flirtation.

1) If you like a girl introduce yourself and ask if you can be study partners. Exchange numbers "just in case something comes up and you can't make it to class". Then let your dog convinently die and skip class. This way you can call her to get the notes and you look like a senitive guy who is responsible and commited enough to have a dog.

2) Try and get in the same lab group, that way the girl can see how smart you are and you can get to know one anouther 4 hours a week for the next 16 weeks of the semester.

3) An easy conversation starter with someone you like is "So what degree are you going for?". This leads you down an open ended conversation with the possibilities to learn all kinds of things about her.

4) Walk the same way as she does to her classes even if it means going 45 minutes out of your way so that you can casually meet up and get to know each other.

5) And if you REEEEEAAAAALLLLY like a girl after you have completed rule 3 you can switch your major, so that you two can take the same classes together for the next 4 YEARS!

So there you go the 5 easy College flirtation rules that if followed correctly will almost always end in marriage... or a restraining order.

ETSY MANIA!!!!!!!

I LOVE ETSY! I love buying things from etsy. There are so many cool people selling beautiful things and it is all available right at my finger tips. I could spend hours looking at Narwhal Paintings, or Mustache necklaces! It is amazing.

But what I love even more than buying things on etsy, is selling things on etsy! After years of my family and friends saying "You could sell that!", I decided to finally open a store on etsy and see what would happen. At first I only had a couple of items in my store. I didn't really do a lot with it. But as of about a month ago I started to really put the time into it. Getting a banner from my friend Fedora, filling in all the descriptions, putting my old items on sale, and uploading ten brand new ones. Last week I recieved my first purchase and since then have made almost $100 in crocheted goodies! I am so VERRRRRRRRRRY excited! I never thought I could ever actually sell anything on Etsy!

Now I am Etsy crazed. constantly checking in, making alchemy bids and crocheting like wild. If you would like to visit my Etsy store you can go to, www.bodecia.etsy.com

That's HOT

All is going well here in the world of Bodecia Arietty Zinglehamper! But there have been a few changes...

My Dad took the week of work to install a new wood stove in our house. My Dad loves fire and low heating costs so it really was a win/win. I am really enjoying it too. It fills the house with the best woody-campfire smell, and there is nothing better than curling up in front of the fire. However there are some down sides.

Since the wood stove is located in our family room and needs to heat the entire house, you have to have a REALLY big fire going. The other night I was freezing when I came home from work but as soon as I stepped into the family room it was like entering an inferno, and not the fun disco kind! Also since we put the fire out when we go to bed, the heat generated slowly escapes during the night so by the time morning comes it is a bit of a shock when you crawl out from under your warm blankets.

But everything has its issues. I really am quite fond of our new wood stove. I also now have the disco inferno song stuck in my head.

....Disco, disco, burnin'.... IT'S A DISCO INFERNO!....

The next Stan Lee (except better looking... and a girl)

I am currently enrolled in a math class. It is very boring. So I doodle. Right now I am working on a comic strip. So I am going to share it with you. Part One
Magic Bean

Honey I'm HOOOOMMMME!

Hello, I am back. I am sure by now you probably think I have been abducted by aliens, won a million dollars and am now to important to blog or have moved to the moon. Certanly nothing less important could have caused me not to blog for an entire MONTH! Well I know it is going to sound incredibly lame, but I do have a life outside of my blog and it has been keeping my incredibly BUSY! Lots of things have been happening that I intend on blogging more thoroughly on a later date. Fo instance I have started college classes, am working at Old Navy and the Renassance Festival (which I am LOVING!), recieved a new (sort of ) car, and as you may have noticed, have picked up an affinity for using capitals to add EMPHASIS FAR TO OFTEN! So thats pretty much it for now. Just wanted to let you know... I AM HERE! teeheehee I like capitals...

William Shakespeare... With Syrup!

Hey look! Stacy made pancakes this morning for breakfast. We asked her to make us our initials and she did. Then she decided to get really creative and make one that looked like William Shakespeare!
Olivia thinks it looks more like Ben Franklin but that didn't stop her from eating it!

Free-dom!

Four score and seven years ago...

This is how one of our honored presidents began one of his most famous speeches. Now you can have a small plush doll of Abraham Lincoln complete with stove pipe hat and bow tie, for our very own! All you have to do is find 12 pictures of Abraham Lincoln hidden around this blog and be the first to send an e-mail telling where you found each photo to CowgirlJessi101@aol.com. Contest ends August 10th.
Here are the official rules...

Only posts with Abraham Lincoln pictures published before August 1st are eligible.

Each image counts only once.

E-mail must explain where all twelve photos were found in order to be eligible. Happy Hunting!

So 4-h is over and it went really well. My mixed media piece entitled "Outrageous" didn't place for a ribbion (evidentaly the judges thought it was missing something too). My painting inspired by the superchic[k] song "Alive" won 4th place in my division. My Artist Trading Card collection won 2nd place in my division and 4th out of all of the collectibles. The piece that did the best was by far my crocheted dragon. I wrote the pattern for this little guy when Stacy asked me for a dragon for Christmas last year. It impressed the judges so much that I won 1st of all the crocheted projects, 1st of all the needlecrafts, a best in show trophy, and the gold ribbion award which is an invitation to go to State Fair. Now if only I could remember how I made him!

I already have plans in the work for next year. I want to do something really impressive this time... Like maybe a life sized replica of Mount Rushmore done in crochet!

Kiln House Sculpture

I found this cool website today that creates masks and sculptures. It is called Kiln House Sculpture I had a lot of fun looking at thier artwork. Here are some of my favorites:

the untitled post

I just wanted to share an excerpt from a book I am reading called "Your Captivating Heart" by Staci Eldredge.

"None of us gets a pain-free life. Not even the women whose life and appearance look so perfect... from a distance. To be alive means that we are and have been wounded. Longfellow said, 'If we could see into the secret lives of even our enemies we would find enough suffering and sorrow there to end all hostilities.' "

This really made me stop. To think that the person who cut you off in traffic today is suffering. That the cranky check out lady could be going through a divorce, that the woman who is always so annoyingly clingy is simply desperate for a friend, breaks my heart. All the times I have said things and jumped to conclusions. All the times I have been so quick to judge instead of help. Maybe that villain was really a damsel in distress.

"Love your neighbor as yourself. If you keep biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other." Galatians 5:14-15

Confidential... Read at your own risk!

I am about to reveal some top secret information about a conspiracy to overthrow our government and take complete domination of the world. But before I do I just wanted to warn you that this information is disturbing, and will change the world and your perspective of sea mammals forever. Read at your own risk...

Who is behind this evil plan you might be wondering. It would have to be someone deeply disturbed and yet seemingly innocent. Someone you would never expect in a million years. Oh the sick creatures are all that and more! Gaze upon the face of EVIL!!!!!!!

Yes, I am talking about Dolphins (this is where I lost the NSA). Seriously though, think about it. According to wikkipedia.com Dolphins are second in intelligence only to humans. Now do you honestly believe that a creature capable of that kind of intelligence would be satisfied simply jumping through hoops at sea world for fish? I DON'T THINK SO!

Dolphins are evil I tell you! But I am not the only one who thinks so. Here is a portion of a very informative article by the ultimate guide to dolphins. It explains some of the dolphins, shall I say, devious behavior.

"So what have researchers learned about dolphin intelligence?
Dolphin researcher Pieter Arend Folkens tells this story: "Since trash can be dangerous to dolphins if ingested, some of the animals at Marine World Africa USA were trained to retrieve the trash and return it to the trainer for a reinforcement reward.
"A trainer would come out onto the floating stage and a dolphin would perform a tail stand with a piece of trash in its mouth. The trainer would then reward the dolphin with a bit of fish.
"One day the lead trainer went through the routine only to notice that the dolphin kept coming back with a piece of trash even though the tank appeared clean. The trainer asked a colleague to go below to the engineer's port to observe what the dolphin was doing when a trainer came out on the float. The trainer came out on the float and sure enough, the dolphin quickly showed up with a piece of trash and got his reward.
"The scam was revealed! This dolphin had established a savings account of sorts. He collected all the trash and stuffed it in a bag wedged in a corner of the tank near the intake of the filtering system. In there was paper, rope, and all sorts of trash. The amazing thing is that when he went to the bank he did not simply take a piece, rather he would tear a bit off to maximize the return.
"This behavior is particularly interesting because it shows that the dolphin had a sense of the future and delayed gratification. He had enough presence to realize that a big piece of trash got the same reward as a small piece, so why not deliver only small pieces to keep the extra food coming? He in effect had trained the humans."

If they can save up trash each day waiting for a reward, how much more likely are they to save up intelligence waiting for WORLD DOMINATION!

Now certain individuals have brought up the fact that it would be impossible for Dolphins to take complete control over the world seeing as they are limited to staying in bodies of water. I have two words for these individuals... GLOBAL WARMING! I don't know how they are doing it, but the are melting the polar ice caps so that they can flood the world. With this accomplished they will be able to go anywhere they want.

If you are still not convinced this clip from a national geographic special should do the trick. "The True Nature of Dolphins"

I hope you found this post informative and I also hope that it will help you to take more care when it comes to... DOLPHINS!

Griffith and Me!

Everybody, I would like to introduce you to my new buddy Griffith! He is a small plush Llama, that some good friends brought back for me from the Cincinnati Zoo. He is incredibly soft, cuddly and really likes popcorn. He traveled around with me in my purse all week long and here is some stuff that we did together...

Monday

Monday was the last night the Ross' were here so we decided to go watch the new movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth". We really liked it but I had to cover Griffith's eyes for some parts.
While we were there we met the cast of "Highschool Musical". Zac and Griffith really hit it off.

Tuesday

Tuesday the Ross' left and I didn't have to work, so I spent most of the day in my PJ's (or rather Jimjamms as the Doctor calls them) watching "Doctor Who". Griffith and the Doctor also got along great. What can I say, Griffith is a people person... er... Llama. Do I see a potential new companion?

Wednesday

Wednesday I had to work. We had the VP coming in to inspect our store so everything had to be perfect. BACK AWAY FROM THAT DENIM LLAMA! It took me three hours to fold that!

Thursday

Thursday night we had a softball game that we... humiliatingly lost. But the good news is that afterwards we went to DQ for some ice cream. A vanilla cone, dipped in Butterscotch, with sprinkles is our favorite. If you are wondering why I look so surprised in this picture it is because Stacy tired to shove my face into my ice cream cone right as Olivia took the photo. That cheeky little rascal!

Friday Friday morning I spent cleaning my room. Griffith tried to help me fold laundry. He got a little lost. After that it was off to work and then to my sisters house to do art and watch Stargate Atlantis on her cable!

Saturday

Saturday I went baby-sitting for a lovely family with three little ones. The kept me and Griffith on our toes but after they went to bed we had a little bit of quiet time to fill out the rest of my open house thank you cards.

Sunday

Sunday morning I was on the worship team. It turns out that Llama's have very good singing voices.

We had loaned some friends our motor home and they brought it back on Sunday morning. Dad usually backs it on top of a small hill by our house. But Dad wasn't home and Mom thought she new a better way of parking it. Why not just pull straight up the hill? Here is why.

It was successfully stuck and after about two hours of my brother and neighbor trying to pull it out with a tractor and a lot of chain, and a good deal of pushing on Griffith's part, they decided to call a tow truck. I had to leave for work and while I was on my way I passed a GI-NORMOUS tow truck. "Whoa! Where is that going?" I asked Griffith and then I realized it was going to my house! Griffith and I had so much fun this week! Thanks so much my dear sweet friends for my fun new buddy!

IF: Canned

Doctor Who?

Here is a picture of one of my latest projects. I made this 10th Doctor doll for Stacy in exchange for a dress that she is going to make for me. I think he turned out... FANTASTIC! LOL. The jacket is removeable and I even made him a little sonic screwdriver out of a pipe cleaner and a bead. My favorite part though has to be the shoes.
Look at that face! Could it get any cuter? Wait... I think I have an idea... PERFECT!

You can find the pattern for this attractive little doll at Snuffykins Live Journal

and the jacket was found here

Enough...

This is my first painting for illustrationfriday.com I am so excited I finished it! Hopefully you will be seeing many more Illustration Friday uploads from me!

Wouldn't life be simpler if it was just like Saturday Morning Cartoons...

Do you remember when you were little and you would get up in the morning and watch cartoons? You could always tell who the bad guys were by their curly mustache, dark black cape, and most importantly their evil laugh. MMMMUAHAHAHAHAHA!

Unfortunately in real life it can be hard to tell the Good Guys from the Villains. Wouldn't it be nice if they really did walk around in capes followed by the occasional flash of lightening. Instead they hide behind paper smiles and cranky additudes.

How do you know when someone is a villain in disguise or simply having a bad day? How do you know if someone is evil or you just quite simply don't get along. When do you offer grace and a second chance and when do you just learn to keep away?

Then there are the so called "Good Guys". Why is it that the people you put the most trust in always seem to hurt you the worst. Why is it that just when you decide that some one is good you discover that they have been out to get you the whole time. How can you trust someone when you know that they will ultimately let you down?

Now yes I know that we are all humans, filled with selfish desires and ambitions to be good. But being created in the image of God but being a fallen creature really adds up to one heck of a dichotomy. Wouldn't life be simpler if it was just like Saturday morning cartoons...

A Good but Odd Ood, Serving Food on the Moon!

Are you liking the new blog layout? I am LOVING it! My friend Fedora and I set up a swap for it. She got this adorable stuffed Ood (an Alien from the British Scifi show called "Doctor Who". We are both kind of obsessed with it!) and I got that beautiful banner! We both think we got the better end of the deal, so I guess it worked out well!
His name would be Frank, that is if Oods had names.
I would provide a link to the pattern but unfortunately the designer is currently being sued by BBC for copy right infringement. Oops...

Good Day...

I know, I have been a very cheeky monkey and have neglected this blog for sometime now. It's not that nothing eventful has happened, quite the opposite. There has been so much going on that I am not sure where to start. But I won't go into all that right now because our friends the Rosses (Or is it Rosss?) are on their way from Georgia and should be here very soon.

Today was a good day. We got up early and went to Target, Joann's where I bought the stuff for this afghan and then we went to the library (which is always fun!). I found some really cool new books explaining how to make dog sized furniture, a sofa out of card board and a really cute hat.

On the way home we stopped by my favorite restaurant Pei Wei, and ordered some of their crab won tons! YUM, I love those things! Then when we got home, I discovered I had some extra company in the form of a small tick that I have named Ted. He had been riding around on my upper thigh all day. So we made a small side trip to the emergency room, that got me out of work and gave me a chance to read my new books.

The Doctor (not THE Doctor, our Family Doctor) said everything was fine though and gave me some antibiotics just in case. But the best part is he says he also prescribes that drug for acne so maybe it will get rid of the BIG zit on my forehead!

When we got home from the Doctor's office, we did some cleaning before our company arrives and now I am sitting on the computer contentedly writing this post, listening to my new Doctor Who CD and eating a cookie.

Today was a good day but now it is time to get back to work. I will say more later...

Artistic...

Here are my two pieces for the 4-H this weekend. I have been working on them like crazy! The top one is my mixed media, I am not really happy with it. I think it is missing something. Although the girl turned out amazing. If you look it is actually the same image that is currently my profile picture. I printed that black and white image and then used acrylic paints to add color

The painting below is actually an illustration from a song by Superchick called "Alive". I have always wanted to illustrate a song and when I heard that line I knew I had found the perfect one. I L-O-V-E this painting!

This last piece of art was drawn for me last night at work by a beautiful little girl named Simone. She is three and her Mommy wasn't paying very good attention to her in the check out line. So I gave her a piece of recipt tape to doodle on and she drew me this beautiful flower. It made my night.

Open House...

My open house was perfect. I could go back and do it all over again I wouldn't change a thing. My sisters and brothers-in-law all came over and helped get things ready in the morning. My mom had been baking up a storm for the last few days and had made three cakes, 12 dozen bar cookies, 3 dozen cupcakes, and 6 dozen cookies. Several of our other friends also brought sweets and so let me just say there are a lot of leftovers (YUM!)

One of my sisters brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and some college start up money and the other gave me a wonderful SUITCASE! Now let me just explain that I have a slight obsession with luggage especially hard side luggage. I have been wanting my own suitcase for about 3 years but have not had the money to buy a nice one. So lets just say that I was thoroughly excited (i.e. jumping up and down screaming) when I saw it.

The rest of the day was just as good with my friends and family coming in and out bringing me cards full of well wishes and gifts. It was so nice to sit and talk. I felt so loved.

But graduating is bringing changes (although not as many as I had thought) such as marking the transition from Mr. and Mrs. to first names with many of my friends parents (WEIRD!) Now I am constantly like "Mr. Smi... I mean.... Jim..."

One of the coolest things about my open house though had to be the cake. Mom, Emily and I went to go order a sheet cake from Costco, but all the had was the exact same graduation cake that Stacy and every other graduate has had. A cake with a hat and some flowers. Well I am not like every other graduate. I wanted something different. So we started looking over the templates and I found the perfect one! A cake meant for a baby shower with a giant STORK on it! It was AMAZING. So we had the decorater's leave off the baby stuff, change the colors and put a graduation cap on it and this is what I ended up with...

Isn't it cool! Mom said that storks are usually only symbolic of one thing however and I said "Yes it represents my new birth as a College Student!" and Emily quickly added "Besides Mom, it's not a stork... Its a mutated Beaver!" LOL

So there it is... My fantastic day. Probably one of the best in my life. I couldn't ask for anything more...

Open House

Tomorrow is my open house and despite my earlier misgivings I am really excited about it. Over a hundred people coming tomorrow just to see me! Now that's got to make someone feel special. Not to mention all the work my family put into this party for me, especially my mom. I was able to hand deliver some of my invitations and people seemed genuinely excited. We also got to get out all the old pictures and reminisce (wow that makes me sound old) about when I was really little. That was a lot of fun. Plus I have an AMAZING cake that deserves a blog post all of its own.

Shenanigans!

Yesterday was a very good day. In fact an EXTREMELY good day. First Stacy and I went out to breakfast with two of our good friends. As we were looking over the menu we noticed something we had never seen before, corned beef hash. Now really, that just sounds disgusting. We tried to envision the kind of person who would actually eat corned beef hash, but no images came to mind.

We laughed for awhile over it, until Stacy came up with a scathingly brilliant idea. Why don't we anonymously order some corned beef hash for someone in the restaurant and have the waitress deliver it! She was just joking but when it came time to pay I asked the waitress if it was possible to order one more thing. "Sure" the waitress said "what can I getcha". "One order of corned beef hash please, and could you deliver it to the table over there." I pointed to the table behind us where a little boy had sat and pulled one of my friends hair for most of the meal. "You want it for that table?" The waitress asked a little confused. "Yes please. Can you do that?" I asked "Sure.. I guess so". We left the restaurant trying very hard not to burst into giggles and even harder not to stare at the table we had sent that unusual dish to. When we got outside however there was an explosion of laughter. "Did you see that waitress' face!" "I would love to see the little boy's face when he eats it!" I think the funniest thing however was when my friend said, "That's what I like most about you Bo, you can order corned beef hash as if it was the most normal thing in the world!"

But this was not the last of this weeks shenanigans. Tonight at work my manager asked me if I could cover the fitting room for 15 minutes while someone went on their break. Well I usually don't mind the fitting room but tonight it was really REALLY boring. So I decided to mix it up a little by using a fake accent. I thought a little while about what one to use. I can do a pretty funny Indian accent but I didn't think I was going to be able to sell it, maybe a pirate but then again I didn't want people to go running from the fitting room in horror, so I decided on a British accent.

My first customer walked in the door and I greeted them with a cherry "Ello!" and proceeded to use my British accent. Now you have to understand when I say "British" it really sounds something more like an Australian who has been living in the hills of Tennessee for the past five years trying to speak with a mouth full of mashed potatoes. But despit how bad it sounded I did it. This customer was perfect for this because she was the kind who wants you to walk around the store and go shopping with them. So almost the entire 15 minutes was spent in active conversation with her. It sounded something like this "Oh that looks absolutely smashing on you. Quite brilliant in fact!" A couple of times she had to ask me to repeat myself! It was so funny! But the best part was that a little while later I got to ring her up, but I DIDN'T use my British accent. She looked at me quizzically for a few minutes but I guess she decided not to ask because she didn't say anything.

So the moral of this post is if you are ever in need of a good laugh, buy someone in a restaurant a strange dish or go somewhere and use a really bad, incredibly overdone accent. It is HILARIOUS and it made my day.

Hurray!

When a friend of mine was expecting her newest son, we would take her to older boys on Wednesdays. Once when they were over back in April I let them each pick what they wanted and

told them I would make it for them.

The oldest at 7 said that he wanted a Penguin. I searched and searched for a penguin pattern but could not find one anywhere! When I finally found on it was so insanely difficult I could not even decipher the pattern. So we ended up going with a manta ray which was his second choice. I found the pattern at Roman Sock


The younger at 5 said he just wanted a white bunny. So that was what he got. I found the pattern here

Both of these patterns were SUPER easy. But just a comment on the bunny pattern. I have used that pattern twice and each time I have almost abandoned the project before it is finished. You get about halfway through and the poor thing looks so homely and deformed that it makes you want

to quit. But stick with it once you get the ears and the tail on it is adorable.

Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of the Manta Ray before I gave it to away but here are some pictures of the bunny and of the boys with their new toys!

I am so glad these are done and the boys love them!

Projects...

I have so many projects in the works right now! I thought I would make alist to help organize my thoughts and give you guys a heads up as to some of the great things to come (If I ever finish them!)

Projects in the Works...

• A box of knitted bears for the Mother Bear Project
• A crocheted nativity that I started for my Mom for Christmas
• A bag I started for Emily for Christmas
• An Alice in Wonderland Doll
• A large plush mustache
• An Ood plushie for my friend Fedora
• Two Narwhals...

Projects Being Procrastinated

• A Doctor Who doll for Stacy
• An Ipod Case for Stacy
• A Dragon
• A Painting for 4-H
• A Gnome Chunkie Book
• 3 Wizard of Oz trading Cards
• A gnome project for a swap
• A nativity to sell to a friend of mine
• And a Master Doll

Yes I am going to be a very busy girl...

Are you ready for a horror story? Good, grab a pillow and gather round for the horrifying tale of the RETAIL MONSTER!

OK so today I went into work at Old Navy prepared for just another boring day in retail land. The check out line was pretty long so my manager Mary asked me to jump on register 6. No problem right? *Que the creepy music* Up to the counter walks this average looking woman with several kids running around bouncing those stupid bouncy balls all over the place (I hate those stupid bouncy balls!) She said she had two returns to do. OK no problem. I did the first return without any difficulties but when it came to the second return it was past the 90 days in our return policy so we couldn't return it.

All of the sudden this sweet little house wife standing in front of me turned into a hideous RETAIL MONSTER, and tried to rip my head off with her cranky tone. "Well I have my receipt and I never even wore this! What am I supposed to do with it now?" I tired to explain to her the return policy but she used one of her dreaded tentacles to say the evil words "I want to talk to your MANAGER!" So I brought my manager over. The creature then began to attack telling her if she didn't do something to change this she would take her business else where. So my manager told me to go ahead and just return it (even though it is against our policy) So I did but when I told the creature that she would only be able to get her money back as a store credit through the mail she once again went through a transformation. A transformation into the poor Innocent

The lady just stood there few a minutes then started crying. She said that she couldn't believe our policy, that she really loved our store but she was going to have to boycott us after this outrage. She said that she wanted our corporate number to call and complain because maybe if enough people did they could make a difference. I looked at the woman sobbing in front of me and rolled my eyes on the inside. Man, that lady needed a cause! But on the outside I continued to apologize.

She had some other purchases and I asked her if she would like me to ring them up for her. She said no because she didn't want to support our store any longer and that having clothes from Old Navy after this would make her feel "dirty" But she decided to get them. She threw the clothes at me and then threw the money at me. Before she left she turned to the lady behind her and "warned" her about how evil we were and how she should be "very careful because Old Navy is just like every one else now, trying to trick you!"

Needless to say that the attack from this creature left me with my hands shaking. This is my most dramatic experience with a psycho transforming customer but unfortunately not my first. You would be surprised by how many RETAIL MONSTERS disguised as ordinary citizens are out there. I think my manager put it best when she said later "You don't have to be mentally stable to go shopping... Or bear children"