New stuff

So I am going to try to get in to the Horseshoe Market in Denver this summer. Here are some of the things I will have in stock:

My zombie dolls, of course

Gentleman Specter

Tentacle Monster

Pumpkinhead

Voodoo Doll Pin Cushion

Zombie Head Keychains

I plan on making a bunch of new stuff, too!

Such as:

Crocheted barrettes, scrubby washcloths, and animal ear headbands

 

Crocheted rings, more scrubby washcloths, bracelets, earrings, etc.

I have a lot more ideas, so I will keep updating. Keep your fingers crossed that I can get in!
My son's 2nd birthday is tomorrow, so I will be busy preparing for his party, but will post pictures when I can.
Yay!!

Blood oranges turned my hands red

Hi there people! Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, but I've been busy - busy growing older.
I have officially become an old lady. On top of the knitting and embroidery, I have learned how to make jam and marmalade.
It is awesome and I'm not sorry.

Blood Orange Marmalade. Hell YES.

Jesse and I got this book:

Pickles!

I highly recommend it, even though I can't quite get the cooking temperature just right. My strawberry jam and blood orange marmalade were a bit too solid and hard to spread since I was having trouble getting the temperature to 220 degrees Fahrenheit, but my raspberry jam rocks.

My delicious raspberry jam

 Why would you buy this when you can make it? Yum!
The raspberry jam wasn't very hard.
My husband is a beer maker, so I used his giant stock pot to sterilize my jars.

Then boil my blood orange goodness

Hooray candy thermometers!

Then pour into your sterilized jars

You have to process the jars so that they seal shut, but then you are done! Tadaa!

Sorry, blurry picture. It was midnight, give me a break

So, yeah. Anyway, I also finished painting our house and making curtains with fabric that I've had for a couple of years now. Hooray for getting crap done! Woohoo!
Here's our studio bathroom:

There's no natural light in there, so it's hard to get a good picture

This is the bathroom where Jess does his zombie makeup. My cat very generously decided to leave a nice, smelly poop in the litter box when I was in the middle of painting this room.

Thanks a lot, jerk cat

And here's our bathroom - the one in our bedroom:

I still have some decorating to finish in here, so I will just show the wall color for now.
I decided to make crocheted curtains for this room since the windows are so high. You don't really need privacy but my plant needs sunlight.

I only made one panel so far, and need more yarn so I can add a border to it.
I have had this fabric for years:

This is for our spare room, so it wasn't that urgent to get them done. And then I had a kid and for some reason got really busy...
Lastly, I wanted to make curtains for our kitchen even though it's not necessary since it looks in on our sun room instead of outside, but I found this cute bird fabric and thought it would look really pretty in my orange kitchen.

I know what you're thinking, orange? But I like it.
So that is what I have been doing instead of preparing for my son's second birthday party. But I don't have nearly as much money to spend on it as I did last year, so it's been more difficult planning this one.
I have to admit, I have been having a hard time lately. I think that's why I was so determined to finish all these projects because it has kept my mind off of things. But after I finished, it was kind of like "Now what do I do?"
I value time with my family so much anymore. Not only do my parents give me a break with Sam, I just feel better when I see them, like I've been recharged. Does that make sense?
It was extremely noticeable this last week because my parents are both sick and I didn't get to see them. Sam and I were both sad and he kept asking for them. Jesse had been working extra overtime and I kind of had a nervous breakdown because I hadn't really had a break. Luckily, I had enough sense to wait until Jess was home to lose it so he was able to take care of Sam for me.
I am extremely broke and have to have Jess pay for everything. Drives me crazy. I can't even run to the grocery store when we need diapers like I used to. I hate to admit this, but I think it helps explain my stress.
Before when Sam and I needed to get out of the house, we could just go to the park or go to the store and do a little shopping and grab food. Now I can't do any of those things. It's too cold to go to the park and I have no money to spend. It's a worry that's constantly on my mind, especially when friends want to go do something.
But now that I've calmed down a bit and had Sam give me a big hug and kiss, I am trying to pull things together. I really need to buckle down and work on my store. I sold a voodoo doll pin cushion the other day and it gives me hope.
Running my own business would be a dream come true and I am not ready to give up on it yet. Thanks to all of you wonderful people who support me and have purchased things from me, you keep me going. And, of course, do Sam and Jess. I don't know what I would do without them.
Life is so freaking hard sometimes.
I am a pretty private person for the most part and don't usually share such personal things with anyone, but this is something I felt like I needed to get off my chest. I lose it more often than I care to admit, it just usually happens when I am alone. And I am usually pretty good about pulling myself back together again. Usually.
The point being, please bear with me as I try not to lose it and start chucking crocheted bananas at random people's heads or chopping all my hair off to make a sweater since I have no money to pay for yarn.
I will try to stay upbeat and keep on creating.
Keep your heads up, friends, and escape into your own little world as much as possible.
In the immortal words of Calvin, “It’s not denial. I’m selective about the reality I accept."

Meet Henry the knitted tentacle monster

 Meet Henry. Henry likes rocky road ice cream and climbing the walls with his tentacles. He's very adventurous but still likes to relax. Here he is chilling on a crocheted afghan I made:

 

 You can make him a part of your family today! His pattern is now in my shop. You know you want him.

Anyway, I have some more ideas for new patterns that I plan on working on and I have my son's 2nd birthday party to plan (holy crap!), so I will hopefully be able to post new stuff. Hopefully.

There are only two days left to comment for your chance to win a voodoo doll pin cushion! Come on, you know you want it! Help me get more than one comment, you guys!

Well, my kid won't nap, AGAIN, and it's really hard to concentrate. I can't think of witty things to say because all I keep repeating in my head is the words to "Go The F**k to Sleep" by Adam Mansbach.

Have a better day than I am and keep warm!

-Cori

I'm alive, I swear (warning: photo heavy)

Wow, I am a bad, bad blogger. This blog post is WAY overdue. Sorry! I am going to have to post this very late at night since this is the only time I ever have to get on the internet.

A lot has happened since I last posted. I'll start from the beginning.

First, unfortunately, we lost our dear sweet kitty Jack.

 

Jack has had problems since day one and is extremely fortunate to have found Jess. I really don't know who else would have put up with him. Don't get me wrong, he was very sweet and a cozy cuddler who would always sit in one of our laps and we loved him to pieces. It's just his bladder and allergy problems got out of control and we finally had to face the fact that he was miserable and probably uncomfortable 99.9 % of the time. We loved him and didn't want him to suffer anymore. We will always cherish the 10 years we got to spend with him. R.I.P. my sweet pain in the ass. We love you.

As promised, here are some photos from our Halloween. The theme this year was Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It blows my mind that some people have never seen this movie. It's one of my favorites!

Here we have my sweet little Legendary Black Beast of Aaaarrrggghhh!

 Here is Jesse setting up the Knights of Ni!

 Here's a close up of the Knights of Ni!

 Even closer...

 Ni!

 We made sure to bring them a shrubbery.

Here is our Bridge of Death. It was very perilous.

 We had to have a Black Knight, of course.

 I think the highlight of our Halloween was that Jesse had a running loop of bits from the movie playing for the Knights of Ni and the Black Knight and as a jogger ran by the Black Knight, he said, "Oh, oh, I see! Running away, eh? You yellow bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to you! I'll bite your legs off!" The jogger was heard laughing as he ran away. Love it :)

Here is our Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog .

 Scary, right? Jesse rigged him up so we pushed a button and he jumped up at you.

Here is the bridge keeper.

 Bridge of Death again at night.

 Our yard wouldn't be complete without a grail...

(Bad, naughty Zoot)

 Our Halloween party wouldn't be even half as good if it weren't for these wonderful people.

 Not only do they always come up with great costumes every year, Sir Robin and his minstrels (a.k.a. Jesse's brother Tyler and his cousins Drew and Kate) make the best homemade donuts for us all. I love them so much.

Here I am (she's a witch!) and Jess.

We had a blast and hope Sam did too, even though he had no clue what was going on. I think we picked a great first Halloween costume. I wanted something other than a peanut or any of the other overly used infant costumes. 

I think I have his (and my) costume(s) picked out for next year already.

Also, I would like to add how amazing my husband is. We were under the impression that this year wouldn't be up to our usual Halloween yard standards since we couldn't spend much money this year and didn't have a whole lot of time, but somehow Jesse pulled it off. And it turned out amazing. Drew and I were pretty skeptical when Jess told us about his Bridge of Death idea, but when he started building it I was just blown away. Not to mention envious of his ingenuity and creativity. I am thoroughly convinced he can do anything. If only he could get a job that utilized these skills...

Thanksgiving was pretty low key, although we had two or three of them and I ended up getting the stomach flu and was only able to eat a small portion of mashed potatoes :(

Christmas was pretty fun, despite the usual hurried-traveling-to-each-house-thing and Sam missing his afternoon nap. He did very well and I am proud of him. I must say, Christmas on my side of the family is definitely more fun with a little one to celebrate with.

Gus even got in the spirit.

Unfortunately we are now a one-income family since, if I were to get a job, I would only be working to pay for a babysitter or daycare and therefore I would rather stay home and raise my son myself. I make a little money here and there through my Etsy shop, but not enough. And Jesse makes just enough for us to keep our house. Usually. Sigh. Needless to say, I was having a very hard time buying Christmas presents since the only things I buy anymore are baby food and gas for my car. And since I don't bring in the money, I feel super guilty buying myself anything anymore.

So, I ended up making a majority of the presents I gave out. It took forever and I was working like a mad woman.

Here's what I made for my sister-in-law.

 I used the images from this book. 

My Mom asked for potholders since she burned hers. I made her this.

The other side.

 And this.

 The other side.

I found the pattern for these here.

I made my Aunt a dishcloth and dishtowel.

 And potholders.

Whew! I feel very tired but, strangely enough, very satisfied. Handmade gifts are the best :)

I even had time to make a cherry pie for my friend's birthday and a pecan pie and pear pie with gruyere baked into the crust for Christmas (I was channeling my inner Chuck. How dare they cancel Pushing Daisies after only two seasons), with the help of my wonderful husband who kept the little one busy so I could bake, and also wrapped all the presents for me. I don't know what I would do without him.

Now I plan to get down to business and start designing patterns to sell in my shop. I am really trying hard to bring in more money for my family, and really hope to make my little home business a lucrative business. It would be my dream job!

We'll see how that goes with an eight-month old...

I am dreadfully unorganized so that means I might go awhile without blogging or leaving my house. Don't worry, if that happens it just means I am being productive! Or that Sam is keeping my extra busy.

 This one is a little blurry, but still cute. He loves his ugly doll.

Times may be tough, tougher than I have ever experienced before, but my babies make it all worth it. Especially when I wake up to things like this.

Oh, and I am excited because my cousin got me this book for Christmas:

Holy crap I want to make EVERYTHING in this book!! And I plan on it, assuming I can find the time (and the yarn). Why do all these books always suggest the most expensive yarn??? And you always need like fifty skeins of it too. How do these people afford it? I'm just hoping I can find yarn in my own stash that will work.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday and a wonderful (and safe) New Years Eve! I will leave you with our family Christmas card (if only we could have gotten the dog and cat in there).