A storm is brewing

August 13, 2014

Hi.

August 11, 2014

Back at the Vet

At the last Vet visit, the Vet lowered the dosage on my cat's prescription, so a week later we had to go back to the Vet for a recheck. 

On that visit, I also found out that my cat had lost even more weight since the beginning of the year. One of the Vet's assistants suggested that I feed her baby food. She LOVED the baby food. But even so, I was very surprised on the recheck visit, to find out that she had actually gained some weight back. Kitty went from 2.8 pounds up to 3.2 pounds in a week. Even the Vet was surprised that she had gained weight. Baby food for the win!

August 9, 2014

Selfie

Or as us old-timers call them... self portrait.

August 8, 2014

Today is...

Blue skies and poofy clouds.

August 7, 2014

Outside

She's an indoor cat that is afraid of her own shadow. 

But there is just something about rolling around on the concrete outside that turns her into the boldest of cats. That is of course, until she sees her shadow.

August 6, 2014

At the Vet

I had to take my cat to the Vet for a check-up before I could get a refill on her medication.

Poor kitty has lost about 1 pound since January. She has always been small. At the most, maybe 7.5 pounds. But back in January, she was down to 3.7 pounds and now she is at 2.8 pounds. She really didn't have any extra weight to lose.

August 2, 2014

Hello, August

Hello, August.

Here you are pretty much halfway over and I am finally getting around to posting for The August Break. Well... it is a "break," isn't it?

It's the middle of monsoon season here in the desert. I don't think it has rained as much this year as it has in the past. If you don't know, rain is really a pretty big deal around here. Like scream and shout and tell every person you see that a few rain drops fell, kind of big deal.

The monsoons have caused the cactus flowers to bloom again.

August 1, 2014

Index card a day 2014

Today is the last day of July and that means the end of the Index-card-a-day challenge for 2014.

This was my 3rd year doing the challenge. I had all these ideas that I wanted to try on my index cards this year. But life got in the way and things kept coming up that kept me from really doing anything more detailed or artistic with my cards other than using markers and pens. I still enjoyed the challenge though and was able to complete 11 cards. I will most definitely continue to play along in the future.

To see all my ICAD 2014 posts click here or click on a thumbnail below to get a closer look of a particular card.

No. 1

No. 2

No. 3

No. 4

No. 5

No. 6

No. 7

No. 8

No. 9

No. 10

No. 11

icad 2014 :: Index card a day No. 11

I bought a new pen. :-)

Supplies: Pentel liquid gel ink

icad 2014 :: Index card a day No. 10

I have to say that out of all the index cards that I have created for this year's ICAD challenge, this one is my favorite so far.

I really do love this challenge. I wish that I had been able to create an index card every day but it just didn't work out that way this year. I can't believe that this year's challenge is almost over. Only 10 more days to go!

Supplies: Bic Mark-it markers

 

 

 

icad 2014 :: Index card a day No. 9

Index card No. 9 is another doodle.

I didn't want to deal with marker bleed and I didn't want to use black ink. So, I decided on my trusty blue ink pen. It didn't work out as well as it has in the past. The pen didn't want to work on the index card paper and it took a lot longer to fill in my doodles. 

Supplies: Uni-ball Signo 207

icad 2014 :: Index card a day No. 8

I really love the look of Mandalas. They are so intricate. I would love to be able to draw them.

My drawing ability is not very precise and it is even less so when working with markers that bleed. I love the colors of the Bic Markers but I hate that they bleed. I end up having to work very quickly and the end result is not very clean.

I am amazed at the people that can doodle using markers that bleed (like Sharpies or Bic). Their finished projects always look so good. I really need to learn their secret on how to stop the marker bleed.

Supplies: Bic Mark-it marker

icad 2014 :: Index card a day No. 7

I have really dropped the ball when it comes to creating index cards for this year's ICAD challenge. I haven't been creating that many cards this year and it is taking me forever to photograph the few that I have done.

I created this index card last month. It's about time that I shared it. It doesn't help that my computer just gave me the dreaded blue screen of death right in the middle of trying to write this blog post causing me to re-write the entire thing. Not that this is a super long blog post or anything.

This card is a simple black ink doodle. I kept thinking it still needed something more. But now, I am embracing all the white space.

Supplies: Zig Millennium pen

from where i stand

I ❤️ clouds

icad 2014 :: Index card a day Nos. 5 and 6

I have a couple of index cards to share with you today.

I am such a slacker. I have been so slow with taking and uploading my index card photos. It takes an hour or so for my computer to even acknowledge that my camera is even connected and that makes downloading pretty much a chore, so I try to do it as little as possible.

I am still playing with markers on these 2 cards. I really do need to get out of this rut and be creative with something other than just markers.


Index card no. 5

Supplies: Bic Mark-it markers

Index card no. 6

Supplies: Bic Mark-it markers, Zig Millennium pen

Another Monday post

Here it is, another Monday.

My short vacation is over and I am back at work. Which basically means that I won't have time to do anything creative until super late at night.

I had hoped to be super creative during my days off but instead I shampooed the carpet in my house.

It took me 3 days.

I am tired.

In fact, all the furniture is still pushed into one corner of the living room. I am secretly hoping that everything will be magically moved back into its proper place by tomorrow morning when I wake up.

Update: When I got home from work today, I walked through the door and every piece of furniture was already moved back into its rightful place. Gotta love that magical furniture moving elf.

icad 2014 :: Index card a day No. 4

I find myself still playing with markers when it comes to creating this year's index cards. For the most part, they're quick and easy to use and I really like the bright colors. 

Supplies: Bic Mark-it markers

a Monday post

There has been absolutely no creativity going on around here for the past few days.

The in-laws came over for Father's Day yesterday. It sure does take a lot of time (aka days) to plan and prepare for one day of visiting. At least it does around here.

Hopefully, the creativity will return this week. It's a short work week for me (only 2 days, Yay!) because the remainder of the week I will be taking some vacation days. So until then all you get are some photos of cactus flowers.

icad 2014 :: Index card a day No. 3

Just a quick card done with Bic Mark-it markers. I bought these markers three years ago when I did my first ICAD challenge and they are still going strong. They are one of my favorite things to use on an index card and I am really surprised that they have not run out of ink yet.

Supplies: Bic Mark-it markers

it's growing

My Games of Thrones mystery shawl is growing and getting larger. I love to see the pattern emerge the more that I work on it. I really love the color of the yarn too.

Right now, I am smack dab in the middle of Clue #2. Right at the part in the pattern where things start to get kind of scary. At least that is what I have read on the forums. Plus, the knitting instructions just LOOK scary.

I have been so tired when I get home after work that I have put off knitting anything so that I won't mess up. I don't want to move onto the scary part yet until I am more focused and alert and also because I need to find some extra stitch markers. Lots of extra stitch markers.

I hope to spend at least some of my time knitting this weekend. That is if I can find some stitch markers. Maybe I should just go out and buy some. But then I would have to wait some more and I really don't want to put off knitting on this project any longer. Decisions, decisions.

icad 2014 :: Index card a day No. 2

I'm what you would call a late-night ICAD-er.

Creating an index card seems to be one of the last things that I do right before I go to bed. I am so tired by this time that I find it really hard to think of something simple to do. And since it is so late, simple is important. But then, I get started and what I thought would be a simple card ends up being not so simple.

The last couple of years that I played along with the ICAD challenge, I used some of the optional prompts. A lot of the prompts this first week are some that I have already done in prior years of the challenge, so they are just not working for me this year. Well at least for this week anyway.

So, here it is. Me, trying to be simple by using pen and ink.

Supplies: distress ink, Zig writer

icad 2014 :: Index card a day No. 1

It's that time of year again. Time for the index-card-a-day challenge. 

So, here it is....index card No. 1. 

It's not super exciting, but it is something. I am embarrassed to say that I haven't even touched my crafty/art supplies since last year's ICAD. I really want to get my mojo back and I am so glad that June is here so that I can work on something art related.

Supplies: markers, white Signo pen

I have jumped off the bandwagon...

...well, kind of.

I'm still doing the Games of Thrones Mystery Kal, but after seeing how the colors of the yarn were knitting up, I decided that the recommended yarn was just not going to work for this project.

I didn't want to give up on the project before it even began, so I started searching for a new color. I really wanted to use Madelinetosh, in particular this gorgeous Ember color that I found, but I wanted to shop local instead of ordering online. 

I decided to check out one of my favorite local yarn stores to see what they had. The last time I was there they had a ton of Madelinetosh. So I was pretty disappointed to find that the store was completely out of stock of any kind of Madelinetosh. 

They didn't have that much in the way of sock yarn either, but I was able to find some Malabrigo sock that I decided would work. I am glad I found something because I would have felt sad to leave that store empty handed.

So here it is week 3 of the knit-a-long and I just got started on Clue #1. Let me tell you something about this lace knitting stuff... I really like it. There is really only one bad thing about it at the moment and that is that the needle I am using is a bit dark against the yarn and so the stitches are a bit hard to see at times.

Even though, I still consider my Harmony needles to be new, I am really tempted to just buy some lighter wood colored interchangable tips in the size that I am using for this project. I need to buy a 40-inch cord anyway (the longest I have is only 32-inches), so I might as well buy both, right?

Currently...

Avoiding... my blog apparently.

Coughing... I have had a cough for over a month and a half now. I don't think it will ever go away.

Disbelieving... the impromtu meeting we had at work today concerning candy that has gone "missing" from the department community candy jar.

Anticipating... the start of June and the start of the index-card-a-day challenge. Yay!

Yarn is coming...

Scratch that. Yarn is here!

I ordered some yarn that was supposed to be delivered today, but it actually arrived one day early. Yay!

I am pretty excited about this yarn. I bought it for a knit-a-long. This will be my very first time participating in a knit-a-long. But it's not just any knit-a-long, it's a MYSTERY knit-a-long.

What is a mystery knit-a-long, you ask? Well, let me tell you. First of all, the pattern is a mystery. That means no one knows what the finished project will look like until the very end. Now, I can tell you that I know we will be knitting a shawl. But that is it. Each Sunday, part of the pattern will be released and bit by bit all will be revealed.

This will be my first time knitting lace.

This will be my first time knitting a lace shawl. 

Well...back to the yarn.

This was my first time buying fancy yarn sight unseen (and untouched). The colorway is a limited edition, dyed special just for the knit-a-long. To be honest, if it weren't for me seeing this photo of the yarn, I would have just scrolled on past the announcement for the knit-a-long.

I guess there is a first time for everything.

I blame it all on the yarn.