Feeling Funky

I'm at work and the kids are sleeping. I just sent out a bunch of applications, which feels great, so I thought I should update the dear little blog, since it has been so neglected as of late. But I'm exhausted, so in the interest of time (read: I want to have a nap asap) I am resorting to point form

1. I don't know why I say "resorting to" - I love point form. If I were ever to write a book, it would largely be in point form. 
2. All I've been doing lately is working. Nothing exciting. At all. 
3. Over the weekend, since I was sick as a dog (a saying I will never understand) I picked out a pattern for my author-knitting project. And then today I unpicked it, since I think it may be too heavy for mid-May. That's okay. I have until the weekend to finalize. 
4. I got my Christmas tree on Sunday and I love it so much it is weird. I may or may not have slept in the living room one night this week with its lights on...who knows! My mom sent my childhood ornaments so those are ready for pick up at the post office and waiting to go on the tree. If only I didn't work so much so I could actually go get them...
5. Seriously - like 75 hours between 3 families the other week. No wonder I got sick. 
6. I'm in a total funk over still having no job leads. It sucks. 
7. I'm hosting a fun party this weekend! Yay! I hope I find a chance to clean my house before then 
8. I have raised $90 for my family sponsorship! WOW! Thanks friends/family!!! 
9. I don't ever get to do anything fun lately. See #2 and #5
10. Oh! I have been thinking about the replacement goals and I think I have them ready to tell you about. 

But first - I need to SLEEP. 

I'm DONE!

Guys. I finished my scarf today. 

I love it so much I kind of want to weep with joy. 

I got it long enough to wrap around twice and still hang down enough to cover my chest. 

And look how pretty! Only three mistakes on the whole thing. 

I even was able to properly cast off with no problems. 

Magic Scarf. 

Crafty Crafterson

This blog post will be coming to you in two parts.

Part One:

QUILT!

Well, I mostly already talked about this in my past post but there is more to say on the subject. First, my mom actually read my blog! Rejoice! I have managed to bully my own mother into taking interest in my life! Anyway, she thought the quilt idea was great and assured me that Santa would make the sewing machine happen in a couple months. I'm excited. She also agreed that my latest idea is a fun/good one: A Quilting Circle!

I don't know if there is anyone else in Toronto who wants to discover the lost art of sitting around a room with other ladies, sewing and drinking tea, but I think that sounds like a delightful afternoon, personally. So I'm going to try to get a quilting circle together. If anyone is interested please email me (carriemacmillanATgmailDOTcom).

A few details:

• You don't need a sewing machine to participate. 
• We would all bring materials to work on for each session - you could be cutting material, basting sections together, sewing details, or attaching larger pieces with my (soon to be) sewing machine. 
• It really is more of a social gathering than anything and so anyone who is remotely interested is more than welcome. 
• Adorable food and drink will be served 

Part Two: 

How much longer should I make this? 

It doesn't seem quite long enough, although it can do this:

Thoughts?

Best. Day. Ever*

Today I took one of the kiddos I take care of to the ROM. I got my membership last week and wanted to take advantage. We had a blast! Well, as much of a blast as one 29 year old single chick and 19 month old kid can have.

On the way home I got an email from the people I am sending/receiving treats from in a vegan food swap - so delightful! Basically it is a chain letter, but with food - you send a package to someone and you will receive one from a different person. I'm excited to put mine together and definitely excited to get treats in the mail. Part of the swap is that you blog about what you get, so you will definitely see all my goodies later in the month.

The afternoon flew by and I got home before dark for the first time in AGES. It was a real treat. After catching up with my neighbours/landlords/wonderful people I share a house with, I got my mail and came upstairs. My mom had sent me knitting needles and crochet hooks that belonged to my grandma! So sweet and wonderful.

So I called her to thank her and she, out of the blue, told me I was talented and sweet and smart and all these other nice things. I mean I know that she is my mom and is obligated to think those things, but my family isn't particularly mushy when it comes to telling each other stuff like that, so it meant a lot that she made the point to share her thoughts.

Tonight I am making vegan pizza, homemade Lara bars, and writing a review of Inside for my book blog. Expect an update on the food (teaser - I just finished the Lara bars and they turned out amazing).

After a terrible week last week and a draining weekend, this was a truly awesome day. Thanks, universe. You're all right sometimes.

*Not really ever, more like best day in the past month or so. Gimme a break.

I've become that girl on the subway...

If you thought my first #Vegtober dinner would be fancy, you forgot that I never get home before 8:30pm. Sandwich with veggie meat, veganaise, and guacamole. Delish. 

Blogger Fail / September Wrap up

Yeees, I have been neglectful. What can I say? Real life got in the way. Real life like work, school, more work, errands, and work (again).

Things are trucking along though. For those of you reading this via Facebook, you are likely aware of my nutty electric shock injury (gas stove ignitor got me and messed up some muscles in my neck. It hurts. I slept for 15 hours last night). That has been a real bummer. I made a trip to Ikea yesterday to puck up some "make my apartment a home" stuff and had to leave in a hurry because I was in so much pain. Even now, almost 48 hours after the initial injury, I am hurtin' - my head is in a permanent tilt to the left, which sucks but makes me seem like a more caring, sympathetic person I think :) Before you tell me to go to the doctor, I am going to. Tomorrow.

Right - to the wrap up:

1. Running has been put on hold. I REALLY want to start again in October but between my doctor telling me to pull back and now not being able to turn my head, I may have to be a little patient on this. 
2. Vegan month starts TOMORROW!!!! I have done a bunch of research, have some recipes in waiting, and I've pretty much indulged all my dairy loves over the past week, so I'm ready to go! Expect to see a lot of pictures of food over the next month. The highlight? Cooking my own completely vegan Thanksgiving dinner next weekend. Gulp!
3. Quit my Job - not yet. Apps and skill development in progress. 
4. No drinking - not a problem. (side note: the Bookstravaganza event I went to earlier this month was open bar - OPEN BAR! That one kind of stung) 
5. Knitting - it is really coming along! Slowly, but surely. Check out my scarf progress (at bottom)
6. Make a quilt - still trying to find a sewing machine. I think Santa may bring one for me...
7. Volunteer - putting this one off until later in the year. 
8. Apartment decoration - doing okay. Got shelves (still need to be painted) and have worked on my work area a lot (photos below). I really want to tackle the kitchen organization next and then once my sewing machine and I meet, there will be a lot of textile work. 
9. Yard Sale - in spring
10. Vancouver - no progress
11. Print 20 photos per month - On my way to print these today! I'll post a photo of the photos later. The thing that I learned this month about this one is that if I want to print photos of things, I need to TAKE photos of things. So events like dinners with friends, markets, outdoor festivals, etc - take pictures of things that I will want to keep. 
12. Dinner Party - scheduled for later in the year
13. Chicago - planned for later
14. Surprise Party - I can't write about that anymore...
15. Cards for B-days/Anniversaries - Yeah. I sucked up this one this month. Going to make a point of getting on top of October. 
16. Mail a letter - sending it today!
17. Get a Dog - Need to think of something new for this one...
18. Go to Dentist - scheduled for later
19. Retirement Fund - totally forgot about this one. Shit.
20. Book/movie/album recommendations from family - they are slowly coming in! I'm excited to get started
21. Journaling - I may amend this one to journaling specific days. Maintaining this blog daily as well as trying to work on my other one is a big time commitment. So I may need to cut back on this one and focus more on the book blog. Don't worry, you will you still get to hear all about this exciting stuff (</sarcasm>) 
22. Rock Climbing - I have that scheduled for a particular month. I can't remember which one or find my yearly schedule...I should get on that. 
23. Birthday date - check!
24. Poetry reading/book event/concert  - went to Bookstravaganza all myself! 
25. ass-kicking glass - scheduled
26. Call my sisters - going really well. It is hard to schedule with them but we are talking a lot more. 
27. Beginners art class - I found a book binding workshop yesterday! So I am going to do that, but I also want to find an actually weekly class that runs for awhile. 
28. Boston - scheduled
29. Credit Card - app sent in. Waiting. 
30. Museum memberships - going to get these in October

So there you go! I think I'm doing pretty well, all things considering. 

Now enjoy some photos...

Desk-area is coming together slowly; I have too many lots of really great books to read this month; My scarf so far

My younger sister will be the recipient of the first of my hand-written letters. I hope she likes it!  

On a lighter note, my favourite pub has LOTS of vegan options including the best veggie bacon ever. Ever.  

My ambitious plan for the weekend

The weekend plan is ambitious not only in the volume of tasks I am going to tackle, but what some of those tasks are. There is the list, it should speak for itself:*

1. Interview Friday after work for another p/t job
2. Pick up eggs Friday after interview
3. Spend my night washing down my kitchen and all my floors (the original plan was to go out for a birthday dinner with my friends, but none of them seem to be available. Take out and cleaning it is!)
4. Run Saturday morning (Ughghghghghghghghguyuugyhushdghsdlkjghsldfg goodie)
5. Brunch! Something fun! Yay! No one could make it. Boo.
6. Either:
1. work all afternoon
2. go get primer, paint, and wall paper to turn my ugly new bookshelves into something that looks pretty (see below)
7. DO LAUNDRY OTHERWISE I WILL BE A DIRT BAG! (side note: I don't have laundry in my home and this has never really been an issue. I mean I would definitely prefer to have laundry here, but I kinda like the laudromat, so it's all good. Or was. Enter running, aka: Let's wear something for only 30 mins that is gonna get gross and sweaty. This means that every day that I run, I wear THREE outfits - sometimes four! Running Outfit (1), Work Outfit (2), Potential change of shirt and/or pants for school so I don't have baby snot/sweat/food/dirt on myself in public Outfit (3), PJs (4). This is, in a word, foolish.) 
8. Get home and do homework/write/read (fun Saturday night or what?!)
9. Make chili Sunday morning
10. Meeting with Internship-supervisor
11. Knitting and tea! Something fun! Yay! 
12. Get primer, paint and wallpaper if I had to work on Saturday and couldn't do it then. 
13. Homework/write/read
14. Two job applications

Some of those are gonna be fun (yay brunch and knitting and writing and all that!) but some of them are gonna be HARD. 

Namely, the bookshelves. I just don't have any design sense. I  know what I like and I know what kind of feel I want in my home, but I am not good and bringing things together to create a cohesive "feel" for a space. So I have no idea if these bookshelves are gonna be great or look silly, but I am moving ahead with them all the same. I spent $20 on them so I want to keep the makeover cheap too. I really have been digging the look of wallpapered bookshelves like this one. I just don't know how it will look in the space, and if it will be too much to have two of them wall papered, and how bold a paper I should use, and so on and so on. But we will see! I figure they can't look any worse...









*Disclaimer - this isn't an "I'm so busy and important and everyone else sucks" list. It is an "If I don't write all these things down now Imma forget something and feel like a moron" list. 

I made something! Sorta...

So after a long day of dragging my family around Philly to look at cool things (we went to University Of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology - mummies!) I got home and decided to do some knittage. So I sat down with Snitch 'n Bitch and I made something! Well...sorta. I needed to practice my knits/purls and I have NEVER been able to bind off properly, but look! I did it!

After basking in the glory of the thing that I had made, my sister asked "what are you gonna do with it?" My response was "Be proud of it" but then I decided that maybe it should serve a function. So I debated turning it into an eye patch...

...but decided that it didn't really work. I do kinda want to knit a proper eye patch now though. So after considering calling it a face cover, a back-of-hand-warmer, and a Foury-hitter (my little sister's nickname is Foury), I settled on:

A fascinator! 

I know...am I the height of fashion of what?

Next up - cards!