More crafts, pt. 4 - various household crafts

This should be the last "catch up" post on documenting the crafty things done over the last year - year and a half.

Here is a skeleton wreath I made last year for Halloween.  Since we live on the third floor with an indoor corridor, no one really sees it, but it makes me happy all the same.  Made with plastic skeleton pieces, wired over a burlap wrapped wreath form.  Fake spider webs added for funsies.

The item on the left is a jewelry hanger made from a photo frame and window screen material.  Used for necklaces and dangle earrings.  The thing on the right is a photo frame made into a holder for stud earrings and rings.  Made from wrapping dowels in felt, then glued into the frame.

This mug is another (recent) birthday present for a friend.  Simply made with a ceramic mug, glass decor pen, and a stencil cut from an old cereal box.

Finally, this is from Christmas time last year as well.  It's shaving soap that the hubby made.  A lot of the people that tried it liked it!  Not the best molding, but it turned out pretty good.

More crafts - pt. 3 - Knitting!

Here are a few knit objects that were Christmas presents last year.

These were hats for my dad and FIL based on a simple WWII pattern.  The FIL loves WWII history, so I thought making a hat from a pattern used for soldiers back then would be appropriate.  I liked how his came out so much that I made a second for my dad. :-P

This is a cowl I made for a friend.  First time I've really knit with more than one color, even though I kind of cheated.  Made with a seed stitch on circular needles holding the black yarn together with the blue yarn.

There was also a pair of fingerless gloves, or "gauntlets" as my brother put it - however I forgot to get a photo of them.

Baking - cakes and pies, oh my!

Those that know me, know that I can and will cook, sometimes I even enjoy it.  But baking is my real love.  I'm not great like those people on shows, and I don't have the patience for that kind of thing (I mean you're just going to eat it right??).  But over the last year or so, I've attempted drawing on cakes and using fruits as pretty, pretty edible cheesecake design.  Mostly just for fun.  And for delicious cheesecake and cake.

These are two cakes I made for doctors at the practice I work at that moved (for various reasons within a few months of each other). One always wore a bow tie to work.  The other pretty much saw any type of animal that walked through the door.  She even did surgery on a 10 ft. python (THAT was an interesting experience)!

Batman cake - for a coworker and friend's wedding shower.  She loves Batman.

This is a baby shower cake that I recently made for one of my coworkers, for her baby girl.

And these two specimens are probably the best cheesecake you'll ever have (recipe found here).  Plus a little decorating fun with fresh fruit.

Desserts just are the best :-)

More crafts, part 2

Here are some more crafty things I've made over the last year. These have a more geeky flavor to them. I'm pretty proud of how they all turned out. <3

It's a wallet!

This wallet was a gift for one of my good friends. Took me a while to finish, because I was intimidated by sewing and structure of the project. (I usually come up with a loose plan and then make it up as I go.) But I'm really proud with how it turned out!!

Before.

After!!!

This is one for myself. I got tired of staring generic clock, ripped it apart, and made a Chrono Trigger clock.  Much more awesome and subtly geeky.

Key hanger

Lost sock holder

Welcome sign

Light covers

These were made with some help from the hubby, for a dear couple as a Harry Potter inspired house warming present.  Just some wood pieces from the store, stained, and painted. :-)

All very fun projects!

Crafts over the last year, pt. 1

I'm going to slowly add the crafts the hubby and I have done over the last year. All the photos are on my phone and the never got posted, because it's such a pain to email them to myself. This new app should make that easier to document though!




Here's a necklace that the hubby made for his sister's birthday. It's steam punk in style with a resin coating. Not bad for a first try!






Here's a peyote stitched bracelet for one of my best buds. She loved it! And it was fun to try peyote stitching. Side note: one of my work friends saw this, loved it, and requested one for her wedding! So I actually got to make two. :-)


That's it for now. I'll continue to update the craft record as I can!!

People are terrible.

So I know it's been close to a year since I've posted anything. And I know probably nobody reads this any more. But that's perfect. There's something I need to put out into the universe, however, I don't want it to be as public as say a Facebook post. And I don't particularly want to just email my friends, because they are in no way past of the problem, and I don't wish to just complain to them.

As a select few people know, we're interested in adoption. As even fewer people know, we're taking steps to educate ourselves and become registered as adoptive parents. I haven't told many people mostly for one reason.

The stare. The look people give you when you mention adopting. Where you can see then mentally cycling through options: why would they do this? Does she have fertility issues? This seems so outlandish. Why doesn't she want to be a mother? Millions of other uncharitable thoughts.

Finally they settle on a "that seems nice" or a "you have to do what you think is right." All without enthusiasm. All with the undertone of disgust and confusion.

Why can't you be happy for me? Why can't you appreciate the millions of children that would give anything just to have loving parents? A home?  If we're able and willing to provide that home, is that not enough of a reason?

I don't know. Honestly, at this rate, I think we just won't tell anyone until one day we show up with a five year old in tow.

Musings on Children? I hate coming up with titles.

Without going into details, I have a story:

On Friday, we had a dog come in that was having puppies.  However, one was stuck.  So after an exam and oxytocin, they managed to get the puppy out - it was "not right" and didn't survive, to put it lightly.  Mom came back in on Monday, totally sick, having lost two more puppies.  We stabilized here and took her into surgery for an emergency/critical spay for a pyometra.  (Warning! If you are of a queasier disposition, DO NOT google "pyometra."  If you still wish to, I warn you your uterus - even if you don't have one - will cringe in pain and disgust.) She made it through surgery (we got that nasty uterus out just in time), but we're waiting to see how she recovers afterwards.

This story, along with all the sickening sweet stories and photos acquaintances post on social media of their pregnancies and babies, really makes me consider: do I want to have children?  I already knew I wanted to adopt most/all kids we have, but the hubby has always wanted to have at least one too.  Now I know people have better prenatal care/hospital care in the process of having babies, than dogs, but seeing what this dog went through, just makes me question.  Why would I want want put myself through that?  Do I want to potentially put myself in a situation that could lead to something similar?  It can't all be wonderful and sunshine like *all* moms insists it is.  I get paranoid of things that appear too happy, because nothing in life is like that - there's two sides to everything.  Are they trying to justify the terrible parts by overcompensating?  And also in insisting that having a baby is so awesome, I sometimes feel like they're implying I could never love and feel as connected to an adopted child as one I had (even though these are people, that in all honesty, probably don't know I'm reading/looking at their updates).  While the hubby has said he'd like to have a child, he also acknowledges and respects that it's my body, and ultimately, my decision.  (He's awesome like that.)

The whole thing doesn't really change my mind about raising children.  It just makes me question if I even want to go the route of having children.  I've always said that I wanted to have at least one, just to know the experience; but now, do I even want the experience?  Did I say that just because of social stigma?  I mean, I've always viewed adoption (for animals or children) as a way to provide a loving home and family for someone that isn't privileged enough to have those things.  But a lot of people don't look at it that way - it almost seems like a last resort for people - after having spent thousands and thousands on infertility procedures.  Then there are still some people that see having a child as a means of "carrying on the family."  (Yes, I've been told this before.)  Am I just responding to these pressures?  Or is it something that I really want?

I was hoping that writing out the musings will help sort out an answer in my head.  We'll see...