Christmas Presents I Made - Part 1: Cupcake Face

Here is the amigurumi cupcake pin cushion I made for my sister for Christmas. It is life size so it fits in the palm of your hand and the needle stuck in it is a huge yarn needle (about 3 inches long). The vanilla cupcake was made with a shiny tan yarn for the vanilla cake part and worsted weight acrylic yarn for the frosting. Then I put multicolored sprinkles all over the top. I filled the bottom of the cupcake with a dry black beans for weight (they are wrapped in plastic so they don't get icky) and the top has stuffing inside. My sister really loved it and I already bought supplies to make another one with either white or pink frosting.

Cupcake butt!

Jingle Owls Jingle Owls Hoot Hoot Hoot Hoot Hoooot

I am up and wrapping the last Christmas present to take with me to my parents this morning. The cats are celebrating by sitting on the wrapping paper and purring. I hope you are having a lovely morning wherever you are and if you don't celebrate Christmas I hope you are enjoying the day off work to do whatever you want :)

Slackerface McGee

I am working so hard making Christmas presents that all sorts of other things in my house are suffering. Sorry messy kitchen, sorry laundry stacking up, sorry disheveled living room. At least I've managed to keep myself fed, the cats fed, and I've bathed regularly :) I am giving my sister a scarf and decided to crochet a container for it, so I'm making a giant purple and white cupcake to put it in. I had to adjust the pattern to make a lifesize cupcake into gigantor cupcake, but so far it's working out alright :)

Run around like a chicken

I have been working overtime and making Christmas presents and not sleeping very well. How are you? I have had trouble getting into the Christmas spirit this year but I think making 10 Snowman ornaments should help, right?

I was at the zoo today and they have carmel colored baby chicks! Just when I thought the chicks couldn't get cuter, they did. And there is a new zoo baby born Thursday night! I can't say what animal had a baby yet (they don't release the info to the public for a bit and I don't want to get into trouble) The baby Klipspringer was finally named - he is Nadir which is swahili for "rare". I think it fits him well. Within a 45 minute period I held Banana the Rat Snake, Michael the Rabbit, Zappyhead II the Guinea Pig, Ben the Rat, and Smokey the Cat. I was getting tested on my animal handling. We have to get check ups on our animal handling skills regularly so we can still be certified to hold them. I'm still certified for all of them, yay!

I'm thinking of getting a part time job at a pet store near by and maybe my experience at the zoo will help me get the position.

Currently

I have crochet projects out the wazoo.

Last night I rewrote a ornament pattern to be smaller so I could make more before Christmas. Tonight I made an cadre of tiny black top hats. They go with the army of little snowman heads I'll be making this tomorrow. Then, I start on the fingerless camouflage gloves that will be a present for my father-in-law. Fortunately, Josh has the same size hands as his Dad so he can try them on as I make them. Then I'm making Josh a warm hat for winter. I'm also making cat toys on commission for some friends and a possible dog toy that looks like roadkill. Hoo-yah!

The Zoo Went Cuh-ray-zee

Saturday night was Holiday Magic at the Zoo and I was stationed as a door greeter and counter for a half hour (5 to 5:30). 350 people came in during that time frame and by 8:30 at night we had over 3,000 guests (when we usually have a few hundred in that same amount) And we still had to show animals and do arts and crafts while being mobbed with kids wearing 30 layers of clothing. It was....interesting. *heh* I did get to meet one of the new baby corn snakes and take out Jim the Cat. Jim is so mellow - he's like a bag of pudding that purrs. He is unflappable, big and orange and very much like Garfield. I will be taking my camera next week to get pics of the ice carving and holiday lights.

Nothing says Christmas like 700 children singing Jingle Bells to the Tiger who sits there looking really really confused. They are going to sing carols to the bears next weekend. Crazy!

Bertie Botts Every Flavor Lipgloss?

I got some new lip gloss from a friend and it smells so delicious. I had Josh smell it and guess the "flavor". He guessed butter and then popcorn. It was really Latte flavored. Mmmm coffee goodness. But then I got to thinking, would I buy butter lip gloss? I'm sure someone would get popcorn lipgloss for movie nights, right?

6 weird things about me

Eva over at Sveedish tagged me to post 6 weird things about myself. I can think of more than 6 but I don't want to scare you all away now, do I?

[The rules...Each player of this game starts with the "6 Weird Things about You".People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says 'you are tagged' in their blog.]

YAY WEIRD!

1. I walk and talk in my sleep and will talk back and have little sleepy conversations. My husband started recording me with our digital camera especially after the time he found me in the kitchen holding 8 forks in one hand and a can of bean sprouts in the other wailing that I was hungry because "All my dinner wore off." He wanted to show me how weird it was since I didn't always believe what he told me I was doing. Like the one time I tried to go outside in the middle of the night in my sleep to "walk the cow".

I also make up songs in my sleep. One morning I was humming in the shower and I couldn't figure out what the song was from and I hummed it to Josh and he said it was a song I was singing in my dream about a one-eyed pug dog wearing a top hat named Beauregarde. The song goes, "Walking into walls cause you've only got one eye, Beau-re-GARDE!!"

2. I think snakes and rats and bats are adorable. I love lizards and bugs like the zoo's praying mantises. They never scare me or spook me, even if they try to climb up my sleeve. I'd rather play with one of them than a large dog. Large dogs scare me. I get all nervous around them, maybe because I'm short and I worry about them knocking me over or jumping on me. I can't really think of many animals that make me nervous other than large dogs.

3. I have weird allergies. I'm allergic to wool. And sulfites - so I can't have wine or avocado or most antibiotics. I don't get the common allergies like peanuts, instead I have to make sure I don't hug someone wearing a wool suit or I'll get all hivey. If an avocado hugged me wearing wool...watch out! Super hive face!

4. I buy bubble wrap just to pop it. Sometimes I buy the kind with the big bubbles and stomp around on them.

5. Raw tomatoes squick me out, I don't even want to touch them or look at them and I can't stand to have them on my plate. I can't stand the goo and seeds around the tomato flesh. I will eat raw tomatoes if they are chopped up into little chunks and all that goo is removed (like in salsa or on a taco salad). I'm giving myself the heebie jeebies just typing this.

6. I always have a wet nap with me. Wet naps are an important part of life. They smell like lemons (which I love), they are in a tiny package (love tiny things), and because you can horde them and they don't take up a lot of room. And sometimes they have funny sayings (like Buffalo Wild Wings has the best). If they somehow merged bubble wrap and wet naps into a single product I'd buy a case a week.

I tag
Meno
Pappy's Fella (or Pappy if he wants to contribute)
Kate
3dogcache
Weaver

Chun Lee ... revealed!

Here he is with a handsome scarf that I was inspired to make while watching Dr. Who. You can unbutton the scarf and take it off. I included some of the same tan yarn in the package when I sent him to my penpal so she could make him gloves or a hat. I tried to make him a tail but all attempts ended up looking like he had a tumor on his heinie so I gave up. Maybe if I knew how to make a really puffy tail instead that would work better. For my first stuffed animal made without using any pattern, I'm pretty proud of him.

Grahhh graah grahhhhhh

If my coworker talks about any of her bodily functions, medical tests, or her recent surgery the first thing when I get into the office tomorrow morning I will stand up, pick up my chair, hurl it across the office and scream "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP GRAH GRAAAAAAAAAAH GRAH!"

And then I will calmly steal her chair, sit down, and continue working.

Live long and prosper

My cat, Tater Tot, hordes paper. She plays fetch with wadded up scraps of paper - I never taught her to, she just started fetching things one day when she was teensy. She will drag receipts out of my purse and bring them to me so I can crinkle them up and fling them across the room. When she's done playing she stuffs her paper balls under the furniture. Lately she's started to bring me weirder bits of paper. She dragged one of those magazine subscription cards into the bathroom when I was brushing my hair. She brought me the backing sheet from the self-adhesive stamps I had just used up. But she saved the best for today.

I was sitting in the living room, waiting for my husband to come back from a business trip, feeling tired, achy from scraping snow off cars, grumpy, and kind of depressed from a Monday full of crap at work. Tater trots up to me, drops a tiny scrap of paper on the couch cushion and meows really, really loud. I look down and she brought me a fortune from a fortune cookie! I can't remember the last time I had a fortune cookie so she must have been hiding this lil scrap of paper for months.

It says "You will enjoy good health and financial independence."

Thanks for cheering me up, Tater Tot. I'll share my financial independence with you by giving you all my receipts :)

More Animals than People

Yesterday I got to the Zoo and was scheduled in the Work Shop first, where we do arts and crafts with the kids. One kid came in. Then I moved over to finish making some of the Christmas decorations with the kids. No kids showed up to help so I was making a giant papermache dove by myself. I think my supervisor felt sorry for me since he said he'd take over with the dove and sent me over the the Children's Zoo Barn to see if they needed any help.

When I got to the barn, there were ..... no kids in the petting zoo area. They keep the baby chicks inside the barn in the winter, in a big open pen full of woodshavings and tiny bales of hay. The volunteers can step right inside the pen with them when you are trying to pick one up. I stepped into the pen and a dozen chicks swarmed my shoes, pecking at my shoelaces and one of them climbed up into my shoe and fell into the cuff of my khaki's. Too cute. They have some new black leghorn chicks that are a chocolate brown with yellow spots - imagine tiny dalmation chickens. I picked up a few of them - my favorite was the all brown chick with one yellow spot on it's face like an eye patch. He was very content to sit in my hand and look around until he fell asleep.

Then I went back to the Play Zoo, asked the two kids I saw there which animals they wanted to see and we took out Blizzard the Rat. He groomed my watch band and then fell asleep on my lap. The kid that picked out Blizzard thought he was boring and his little sister said "Well you're boring when you sleep plus you drooooool". *hah!* She picked the next animal, one of our new baby guinea pigs.

After they left I took out Lemon, the yellow rat snake. I love him - he's so mellow and he wraps himself around your hand and arm and just hangs out. Banana, the old rat snake, would try to launch himself out of your hand when you held him. Usually I get to take out one or two animals for handling but so far I had
3 baby chicks, a rat, a piggie, a snake, and a half hour to spare before I went home. There are a few housecats that live at the Play Zoo so I took Boots on his harness and leash for a walk around.

Supposedly, during Holiday Magic, people come to the zoo around 3 or 4 once it gets closer to being dark for the lights and the lazer show. I guess there isn't anything half bad about getting to spend more time with the animals because there are less guests.

[ edit = If anyone that reads this is in the Chicagoland area, (or wants to travel this way) I have a large stack of free passes to the Zoo that I can send you. 1 adult or 1 child free admission for each pass and they are good to use until Dec. 31. 2006. ]

Sugar buzz

I was only home for about 3 hours today (Saturday) and I know the Date Stamp says Sunday but I haven't gone to bed yet so I'm counting today as Saturday Dec. 2nd still. I woke up at 7, was out the door to the zoo at 9:15, back home at 3:30, out the door again at 4:30 to drive to my parents house. There I met up with my mom and took her to part of her Christmas present. We went and saw Clay Aiken's Holiday show. Mind you, I didn't buy the tickets - she did. The present was me going with her so she could have a concert buddy.

Yes, my mom likes Clay alot but at least she's not an official Clay-mate or Clay-maniac or whatever middle aged women that like/love/obsess over Clay are calling themselves. I've not seen so many people 20 years older than me acting like 13 year old girls. I don't get it at all - he has a nice voice but I'm not going to scream his name and act like a goober when I see him. A local orchestra - The Bill Porter Orchestra - was his "band". The orchestra played a lovely set of music for 40 minutes, then Clay came out and sang for 2 hours. He picked on the woman in the 4th row that had binoculars, tilting his head back and telling her to get a good look up his nose. And there were women that follow him from concert to concert so he called some of them out by name. All in all it was a pretty good concert and Clay was dorky enough w/ his stage banter to amuse me.

After the show was over, we drove around trying to find a place to get something for the road and stopped at Steak N' Shake so now I'm buzzed on sugar from a Strawberry milkshake. I'll probably crash like a two-year old who didn't take a nap in about....5 minutes but I figure I'll enjoy the hyper feeling for now.

Today at the zoo I got to actually hold 7 different animals because there was no one around. We counted 12 people that came into our building the 4 hours I was there! I will be giving more details about that tomorrow - one of the animals I held climbed inside my cuff on my pants leg. Betcha can't guess the animal! *heh*

NaBloPoMo Winner

A post everyday and sometimes I posted twice. Woot!

I think I'm going to continue trying to post everyday. I like getting a chance to post updates of my crocheting and such. And tomorrow is another Zoo shift so more good stuff to post about. How many people do you think will show up at the zoo at 10am on the day after it snowed 12 inches and closed down almost every school around? I wonder if people will stay home and play in the snow or come to the zoo because the kids drove them batty stuck at home all day Friday? Hmmm.....