G is for Granny

G is for Granny squares (and sometimes circles).

One of my current crochet projects is a year-long mini granny square blanket. By the end of the year, I hope to have enough squares completed to cover my bed or at least enough to cover myself.

I really do hope I finish my mini granny square blanket. My track record on personal crochet projects is not very good.

You see, a few years ago... 

Okay, I will just say it. Back in 2010 (that's 4 years ago people!) I started crocheting a granny circle blanket. I'm still working on it. Well, that is if you call sitting in a bag in the back of the closet, working on it. Then yeah...I'm working on it.

 2013 A to Z post :: G is for... Groan 2011 A to Z post :: G is for... Goals

F is for Fisheye

Last Christmas, I got iPhone lenses for my iPod Touch. One of my favorites is the Fisheye.

Fisheye = Fun.

    2013 A to Z post :: F is for... Fortune     2011 A to Z post :: F is for... Flowers

E is for Explore

Are you familiar with Flickr? It's a photography website.

I guess now-a-days it would be called a social media site, but I have never thought of it that way. I first signed up for an account in 2004. Back when I first started this blog. Did they have social media back then?

Every day, Flickr selects 500 photos to showcase in what they call Explore. It used to be the top 500 most interesting photos, but over the years the criteria to get a photo into Explore has changed. Thing is....no one has ever known what the original criteria was or what the current criteria is. The only thing that is known for sure is that the criteria has changed.

Six years ago, I got my first photo in Explore. This one right here. I was really excited about that. I still find it exciting.

Fast forward to last week. After 6 years, I again have had a photo make it into Explore. I am super excited but I have to admit I have no idea how it got in there. It's not a particularly great photo. Just a quick shot I took with my iPod for my photo of the day.

But thanks to the Magic Donkey that is Flickr's Explore, my kitty photo has had up to 5,362 views as of this post. Yay!

    2013 A to Z post :: E is for... Extra 2011 A to Z post :: E is for... etc.    

D is for Down

D is for down... as in Look Down.

         2013 A to Z post :: D is for... Downtown  2011 A to Z post :: D is for... Diary

C is for Chocolate

2013 A to Z post :: C is for... China   2011 A to Z post :: C is for... Clouds

B is for Blue

To add to your enjoyment of today's BLUE post, here's some music to get you in the mood. That's right, today's post has a soundtrack!

    2013 A to Z post :: B is for... Belonging  2011 A to Z post :: B is for... Blanket

A is for Anything

It's that time again! Time for this year's Blogging from A to Z Challenge. YAY!

I am not your typical A to Z blogger. I am not a writer.

When I first did this challenge back in 2011, I winged it and didn't have a theme. Last year, my theme was All About Me. Oh, that really sounds conceited doesn't it?

This year, I was really leaning towards posting only photos for the month, but I wasn't too sure if I wanted to have a specific theme of photograph. Plus, I couldn't make up my mind if I only wanted to post photographs and nothing else.

I debated having NO theme. But in the end, I decided that a theme was really important to me and so that theme would be...... Drumroll please......


ANYTHING.


That's right! I am going to post about ANYTHING. ANYTHING!


However, that being said, my posts will most likely be more photo than text.

And since I chose to write about ANYTHING, here’s a picture of my cat that I find to be Amusing. You know, just because I can. Because you see, my theme is ANYTHING.

2013 A to Z post :: A is for... Anticipation

   2011 A to Z post :: A is for... An Adventure

from where i stand

Spring is here!

After one of the warmest Winters on record, Spring has arrived!

Technically, Spring isn't until March 20th, but the Desert has never been one to follow the rules. Spring actually started arriving last month, in February, and every day there is something new to look at. I love seeing all the green! It's all so pretty. I will have to make some time to get out and look around because soon, it will be too hot and nothing will be looking very pretty around here.

How is the weather where you are? Has Spring arrived?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Don't forget to eat your Lucky Charms.

bad clusters

I had big plans to post a new blog post last night, but something kind of came up.

"Windows replaced bad clusters in file." Many many bad clusters and scan is only at 24%. sigh.....
— Stefani (@dreamsofnyssa) March 12, 2014

Windows has now replaced bad clusters in one of my personal picture files. It's getting serious now. 25% complete....
— Stefani (@dreamsofnyssa) March 12, 2014

Good-bye many many picture files. I will miss you. Still holding at 25% complete. :-(
— Stefani (@dreamsofnyssa) March 12, 2014

Windows, you leave those Depeche Mode songs alone! Scan disk 26% complete.
— Stefani (@dreamsofnyssa) March 12, 2014

The scan was still stuck at 26% when I finally dragged myself to bed last night. Or should I say, early this morning. I don't yet know the extent of the damage, but at least the computer turned back on this morning.

Currently...

Saying... goodbye to my Big Orange Purse (BOP). I am so disappointed. This is the most expensive purse I have ever owned and it didn't even last 10 months. The stitching on the handles started pulling apart after just a few months of use and then last month, one of the handles ripped apart from the body.


Loving... my new LOVE necklace.




Organizing... my new Raskog cart. My first ever IKEA purchase. I have never been to an actual store. I finally bit the bullet and placed an order online. This cart is just so cute. I am in love with the color.




Looking... at all the Spring!




Tossing... around (in my head) a few A to Z post ideas. I plan to participate in this year's Blogging from A to Z challenge. The challenge doesn't start until April, but placed my name on the list and signed up back in January. This is the earliest I have ever signed up. I usually don't throw my hat into the ring until the night before or maybe even the day of. I have done this challenge twice so far. Once back in 2011 and then again in 2013.

One year ago

It's so weird how things can happen a certain way one year and then be so different the next. 

On this exact day, one year ago, it was snowing. Snowing in the desert. 

So far, this month it's been in the high 80's (almost 90 degrees some days). 

I like the warmth, but I think I like the snow just a little bit more. Okay, maybe A LOT more. Maybe it's because for me, snow is very rare. You have to understand that when I say snow, I mean desert snow. Desert snow is awesome! Desert snow is quite a big deal around here. 

Last year, as you can see by my flurry of Facebook posts, I think I may have gotten just a little bit excited about the falling white stuff.

I wonder what will happen next year? 

Because this year? So far, this year has been pretty boring.

Monthly scrapbooking kits...

I think I might be doing it wrong.


In the spirit of full disclosure...there are 2 boxes missing from this photo.


I honestly didn't think it was all that bad. So, I had a few unused monthly Project Life scrapbooking kits. It didn't hit me just how bad it really was until last month when I realized that I had a year's worth of boxes just sitting there. It's embarrassing.

Soon after this photo was taken, I got busy and started unpacking those boxes and putting all the scrapping goodies some place where I would see them.

They look much better outside of the boxes then they did just sitting in the boxes that's for sure. I still have a long way to go to get everything organized, but for now, at least, they are all out of the boxes. Now, all that's left for me to do is to take care of that giant pile of now empty boxes.

Crochet Mood Blanket 2014

Back in December 2013, way before Christmas, I came across an Instagram photo asking if anyone wanted to join in on a crochet along.

I have been wanting to crochet a plain granny square blanket for awhile now and this sounded like the perfect opportunity to do so. Plus, it's kind of cool that it is another daily 365 project. I really seem to be drawn to those.

I really love the look of plain mini granny squares so I decided that that was what I was going to make. Since the squares are much smaller (only 3 rounds), I am pretty sure that I will have to crochet at least 2 granny squares a day in order to make a blanket big enough that will fit on top of my bed.

Since I am expecting this to be a large blanket I didn't want it to get too heavy. My grandmother once crocheted for us a king-sized bedspread with worsted weight yarn and it was so heavy that you could barely move when you were under it.

So, I decided to use a DK weight yarn. This gave me a great excuse to finally try Stylecraft yarn. The only bad thing about using Stylecraft is that it is not available in the United States. But thank goodness for the Internet, I was able to place my order online. Then came the wait.....Royal Mail (and Customs) sure are slow when it comes to shipping to the U.S. It took 15-17 days to get my orders. Normally, the wait probably wouldn't have been so bad, but I was impatient to start.

I was so excited when my first order of yarn got here. I really do like the Stylecraft and I am glad that I chose to use it. The colors are so pretty and the yarn is really soft. I was so happy when I finally got to start crocheting those squares.

But, since I am joining the squares as I go, I have had to put a hold on working on my blanket for the past few days. The main reason being that I was waiting for the remainder of my yarn to arrive and also due to me failing in my quest to find yarn in a muted, vintagey mustard yellow. Who knew finding an acrylic DK mustard yellow would be so hard?

But luckily the last 3 skeins of yarn arrived in the mail today, YAY! All that is left now is to find that mustard yellow. Any suggestions?