Whiskers on Wednesday

Sorry I've been away for so long here.... seems as if I picked up the flu bug somewhere along my Christmas travels.

We had a good holiday even though we were exhausted from all the travel. Got to catch up with family & friends that we don't get to see too often. It was good to see them all. I think I got some cute photos of my childhood BFF's sweet kitty babies but I haven't even hooked up my camera since then to see.....


However Hubby Santa got me the Photoshop program that I've been wanting, so here is a photo of Jazzy with the "pet eye" fixed & fancied up with a border. If I felt better I'd mess with my program more, looks like I can do some pretty fancy stuff on it, hopefully soon.
I hope everyone has a great new year!!!!!

Whiskers On Wednesday

SURPRISE! We actually made it for a WoW! I was shocked that Princess Jasmine stayed where she was & let me run to get the camera & take a few shots... I guess she was pretty comfy. LOL

Just to explain the photos... when I leave for work before the Hubby does, the bed doesn't get made properly. Does anyone else have this problem? Anyhoo... when I got home I tossed one of the decorative pillows on the bed (not where it usually is at the head of the bed). Well, evidently Miss Jazzy decided that it looked like a nice, warm, snugly, kitty pillow....

When I came in the bedroom later to put some laundry away, there she was on the pillow like I had put it there just for her. Ha ha! She must have been really cozy, she gave me a dirty look when I used the flash but she didn't run & hide like she usually does when I do that to her. :)

Lots going on!

Hope everyone is doing well & enjoying your holiday season! Doesn't even feel like Christmas here, it was 77 this past weekend! It was cooler today, only got up to about 42, but by Wednesday it is supposed to be back to 65! I've been pouting over everyone's snow photos... Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I've been busy, busy shopping, busy wrapping, busy crafting, busy knitting.... you get the idea....

I have to say that while I've been pretty much a Grinch about the whole thing, shopping, traveling, not enough time, not enough $, etc... my wonderful friends have done a super job of cheering me up & making me feel special & helping me realize what this season is for.... it's not the actual presents or cards, but what they mean, that someone cares & is willing to give of themselves to make me happy.....

First let me show you all the pretty cards that all my wonderful bloggy friends have sent...

Jessi even found one with Jazzy's photo on there! Or it could be Miss Oribel, or possibly the Dashing Henry. LOL

Grace made me a lovely snowflake ornament which went right on the tree. Far enough up that hopefully Jazzy won't find any interest in it. The Hubby has already caught her getting an ornament off the tree to play with! :)

Chan sent me a wonderful box of goodies! A new Pampered Chef Chopper (my old one needed to be retired to the trash can), a book (I'll let you know how that is after the holidays when I actually have some time to read), a new rubber duck (if you remember, my old one is the first thing I threw out in the "Throw Out 50 Things"), some BEAUTIFUL, soft, purple/pink mix spinning fiber, a super cute Christmas card with the girls on it, and a new toy for Jazzy (which she must have enjoyed cause it is now missing under some piece of furniture). It also included some heavenly chocolate that didn't make it into the photo cause the Hubby was eating it at the time of the photos.... LOLSee, here is my Munchkin in her new home, my shower. She seems to be enjoying it in there. :) Thanks for the effort you put into finding me a new ducky Chan! SNOLAnd thank you so much for everything else!!! It is very appreciated, & was very sweet of you to send.

Today when I got home I had a package from Kathy! It included a sweet Christmas card, an ornament with a pattern to knit a cover for it, a new Swiffer Sweater in animal print no less, and a Tootsie Warmer. I was tempted to put the new sweater on my swiffer & sweep the floor (Kathy is making this sweeping WAY too much fun, hopefully the newness will wear off soon! I'm getting the guys too used to a clean floor! SNOL), but instead I popped that Tootsie Warmer in the microwave & now I'm sitting here on the sofa with my feel all warm & toasty, writing about all my goodies!! Thank you so much Kathy! I love everything!!!

Now on to some knitting updates..... I have a few finished objects to show you!!! Here is the Cascading Leaves Shawl (Ravelry link) that I knit for the Hubby's grandmother for Christmas. I think it turned out beautiful even though I wish it was a little larger. This is my first "shawl". I've done wraps before but not a traditional lace shawl. I really enjoyed knitting it, it was a great pattern. There are a few "operator errors" in there, but I don't think anyone but me would notice them....
Sorry bout the photos, Jazzy & I are home alone tonight & she didn't want to hold the shawl for photos...... so I did the best I could.

And I finished the 2nd Bonsai Tunic (Ravelry link). This one I knit for one of my bosses, Amy. She asked me to knit her one when she saw the one I knit for elann.com. She said that she loved it. :) I think it was supposed to be a gift for someone but now I think she is keeping it herself. LOL

And finally..... let me show you our new Christmas tree!

My firefighter friends will be happy to know that we finally got an artificial tree this year. We used to love having real trees. When we lived in Greensboro we used to ride to the mountains for the day, visit a Christmas tree farm & pick out our own tree on the side of the mountain & have it cut down right there. But since we moved here to the coast.... it's too far to drive to the mountains just for a tree. Pout. And the real ones are getting harder to find here & the ones you do find are just too expensive. So we finally got an artificial tree. I think it's really pretty, & we got one heck of a deal on it since it was the last one that Lowe's had like it. Now I need some new ornaments!

I hope everyone has a good week & if you are traveling for the holidays, be safe!

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NOTE TO SISSY & GRETCHEN

Deer Sizzy & Gwetchie,

Thank you very much for the new toy you sent me for Christmas. I am enjoying it very much. I would enjoy it even more if Mommie would get up off the sofa & find the new hiding place that I found for it. Sometimes she just doesn't get this game, I think she might be a bit slow if you know what I mean. Oh well, she means well. I hope you enjoy the toys I sent for you. I don't know about you, but I thought the sheep were very soft & snugly. Mommie wouldn't let me play with them though..... I tried to help her wrap everything but I wasn't getting near that dang sticky tape!

I hope you get lots of good stuff from Santa this year! I'm sure I will cause I know that I've been good.

You gals are okay for doggies.

Luv, Princess Jasmine

WoW & Surprises

WoW - ATTENTION: BARBARA & MISS ORIBEL

Look! I finally got photos of Jazzy playing with her pillow! Barbara & Miss Oribel sent the catnip pillow to Jasmine a while back as a little present for her. She absolutely loves her pillow, I just haven't been able to capture her playing/cuddling it with the camera. I put it in the microwave for a few seconds every now & then, she loves it even more when I do that. Especially now that it has cooled off a bit & she is looking for anything warm to snuggle up with. I think it's so cute how she always lays her head on it like she is using it as a regular pillow. LOL
I also had a couple packages waiting on me when I got home today! I lourve me some surprise packages!

This one is from Kathy. When I was browsing around her etsy store I saw this Grinchy Green yarn, well that had my name written all over it! LOL! I just had to have it!! The photo doesn't do it justice. After the holidays I'm hoping to get back to some "me" knitting, and this will be at the top of the list!
And along with my purchase Kathy was sweet enough to include lots of extra goodies! A gallon bag of novelty yarns, in the hopes that I'll have time to make up a couple of those super cute Christmas Trees. A cute blank card, a gingerbread man card, candy, and 2 of my very own Swiffer Sweaters! Now, you will just have to take my word for it that these swiffer sweaters work awesome! I tried one out after taking photos but I'm not gonna show you that cause then I'd have to admit just how dirty my floor was! SNOL Thank you sooooo much Kathy! You went above & beyond! BTW.... do you have any novelty yarns left? You didn't have to send me all of it! ha ha

And then I got this lovely Creative Spinning book. A while back Nichole sent me an email about a contest on Vickie Howell's blog, so of course I went on over & entered. And I won a book! I have skimmed through it and it's really pretty & has some great ideas on spinning different kinds of yarns. It has a small section at the front about instructions on spinning, but it's more of an idea book & how many different ways you can spin your own yarn to get very creative handspun yarn. I'm making progress on the holiday knitting! I'm hoping to get the tunic & shawl both done by this weekend. And then I have quite a few dishcloths that I need to get done. I just might get them all finished in time!

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Smelly Jellies

I'm pooped, been busy cleaning & shopping this weekend. Have I told you guys how much I hate shopping? I believe I'd rather clean the bathrooms than go shopping if that tells you anything. LOLI've been crafty this weekend too. I made Smelly Jellies! Just one of the great gift ideas that Kathy & I have found on the Tipnut website. I've got cucumber/melon, orange, lemongrass & honey/almond scents. They were soooooo easy! I didn't add everything up to the penny, but I believe that after adding in all the supplies for these they probably cost me somewhere between .50 to .75 cents each. Great deal, and I'll have plenty of little good smelling gifts to give.
And I have a lot of the scents & gelatin leftover to make more later.

FO Update

Just a quick post to show you that I have gotten busy with those last minute Christmas gifts. Still quite a few more to go.... maybe I'll get them all done in time.

The photos aren't great. I can't seem to get home before it starts getting dark now, not too good for photo taking....

This first one is called Tiny Bubbles (Ravelry link), from Harvest Moon Designs.

This one is Thomas (Ravelry link) from Harvest Moon Designs.
And this little mini-cloth, Trees (Ravelry link). This one is a pale green, don't know what happened in the photo!