189. Shenanigans

At the end of the day, I picked up my tote purse to move it and it was as heavy as a brick. I unload a few things that included a sandwich wrap, dvd box set, and a can of spray paint. Wow. It looks like I'm up to all sorts of trouble, eh? :P

Just the result of a few errands that were run today to have a change of scenery. Of course, there were wicked clouds all around us along all of the mountains and they slowly but surely closed in. But, of course, it either hit just before or just after where ever we went! Boo! The SO and I actually love rain storms. Especially wicked ones. We would not mind at all getting stuck at the places we went to today. Except Wal-mart because it's pretty much evil. We went there to make a payment and I hunted around for spray paint and Cricut Lite (which are exclusive to Wallies). I didn't like the colors I found, didn't realize that Valspar was pretty much exclusive to Lowes Home Improvement stores, and found a Cricut Create for about $160 but no cartridges! Bah!

Fortunately, the SO found his box set of Smallville's Season 9 that was released today. All of the stuff was out of order and I'm sorry, but a lot of the people there were just plain gross today. I can't count how many times I saw someone digging for gold in their nose/ ear/ bellybutton or just lifting up their shirt and scratching away while they browsed and wandered. Regardless of it being a man, woman, or child. I'd just rather pay a little more at Target for the cleanliness of the property and customer base. Yes, I realize I'm a bit of a snob, luckily for me, the SO is too. Sorry, but we like to keep things a little classy. Darn you, Wal, for having good deals and a wider selection because you're a monster.

With enough "whining" that I've been doing lately, the SO decided to take me to Ace Hardware. :D Hooray! We love that place. The people there are always so cool, knowledgeable, available, and friendly. I found a nice blue and glossy spray paint that should work on my Cricut and ATG gun. I sooo can't wait!!! I don't think I've spray painted anything in ten years! Not since making a model of Alcatraz for a social studies project. And I believe that was the first time too! Lol. Hm. Wait. I think I did during my... sophomore year of college now that I think about it. Oh yeah! My bestie and I were more or less making cosplay weapons out of PVC pipes, duct tape, and wood! XD We definitely attempted to spray paint those! I loved those things.

Teehee, I found pictures of two of the four that we made that year:

LOL. We're a hoot. We bought the chain, star beads and decorative candle holder (the lotus flower-looking thing). The staff was her's and the mace is mind. :D I want to make more now. I'm pretty sure my folks got rid of mine the moment they could. My craft projects and toys usually horrify them. These were the "darker" themed weapons. The lighter thing was a spear-polearm for me and a scythe-staff for her. So cool. So much work. Lol.

Anywho, I'm super stoked about spray painting this week. I grabbed some painter's tape too. We then trotted on over to Bruegger's Bagels for linner (lunch-dinner). This is where I had a breakfast wrap. :P Very yummy. Later on in the evening, the SO and I finally spent time playing WoW together instead of me playing for the both of us. Lol. So dorky.

Mmk, well I was going to post a FAQ-esque thing about craft terms, but I guess I can save that for tomorrow. :D See you then! <3

188. Labor Of Love

Hope you all have had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! Thank you for all the hard work- many of you are definitely unsung heroes of everyday life.

Ignoring the sour and stressed mood that I've been in, here are some pictures of what's been going on:

We chopped up this pile of branches...

Into this pile of branch bits. I had way too much fun chomping the mesquite.

Look at those suckers! Each branch is covered in thorns.

My hand for size reference. There was some bleeding and many punctures involved. :(

But the mesquite now looks much less like a bush and more like a tree again! It shall be great BBQ or fire pit wood once it dries.

Just having a little fun by the palo verde tree that was also being trimmed. Spearing prickly pears! They are edible and are sometimes made into jams.

Look at this sweet and silky boy... 

... Look at him! So cute with his penguin blanket. He has found a new napping spot on his dad's dresser again.

These pictures were actually from yesterday, but my camera battery is dying so I wanted it to rest up and give me enough juice to load the pictures onto my laptop. We just wanted to help and had quite a bit of pent up aggression to misplace. :D Well, at least I did. I'm still on edge. I just don't play well with others nor handle being swamped well. :( I need to keep clearing my head and just looking at what I need to do in a manageable way. Cutting those branches was fun though, if I can do it with those clipper things, anyone can. We did make the mistake of getting on a roll during the hot part of the day. Tons of bugs were loving us. Ugh. Lol,  but every time I chomped down on a branch to make it more manageable to move/ toss out, I "RAWR!"ed. XD Yes, it was completely necessary. I was a carnivorous dinosaur chomping branches in half and spitting them out into a pile. 

We've been spoiled with a steak and then brisket dinner two nights in a row. The brisket was yesterday and my favorite of the two. No pics there since we weren't involved in their creation. More boxes from the move have been broken down and recycled, so it'll just take one more load before they're gone! Well, the ones that have been unpacked anyways. The new house is coming together. 

I also picked up the small habit of dual-boxing the past few days. Dual-boxing is term referring to playing two separate accounts on WoW. Of course, I was on the SO's computer because my computer can barely run one at a time. It was a little weird to get used to but I eventually got the hang of playing two characters at the same time. XD Am I a nerd or what?

There is a lot of backpedaling and catch-up I need to do with pretty much everything in my life now. Sigh, I should get back to it. 

Stay safe and have fun this weekend!

187. Tomorrow

I've had all sorts of brain and technological malfunctions today/ tonight. I'll be back with something at least somewhat substantial tomorrow. <3

186. Not For You

Sorry, but I just have to say that if it were not for the SO, I would completely lose all sense of sanity that I have left to my name. Even when he is being driven bonkers, it helps keep me sane.

I have been stressing out a lot lately for one reason or another, but it has been perpetual. Maybe I'm just not the type that plays well with others. I like to think that I do, but my record appears to show me that it's more like a 2:1 ratio of how many people I can't stand to be around for extended periods of time. Sigh. Who knows. Anyways, I'm grateful that he is obnoxious enough to push his luck to make me laugh as the risk of being punched. Or knows me well enough to know that it will most likely cheer me up. Something like that. XD

Anywho, I tried really hard to do something relaxing for me today and none of it panned out. So I shall start tomorrow not only swamped but still at the end of my rope. Oh joy. However, it was nice to get out of the house and have a nice lunch at a philly cheesesteak place. Go figure that neither of us ordered one. LOL. That's like our long standing tradition of going to various Wafflehouses and never ordering any waffles. We didn't mean to make it a part of the tradition, we were just never in the mood for waffles. XD What a odd pair we make.

Gah, is it bad that I'm dead on my feet, but I don't want to go to sleep because I feel that it will make tomorrow come that much sooner and I'll have to work my butt off? Yeah, it is. And I know it.

... Bah. Might as well get it over with. It's just another day. But then again, it'll be another day closer towards the circumstances I actually want to be in. I guess that's a nice way to look at it. I'm getting better at this keeping positive thing. : )

See you tomorrow, whether we like it or not. :P <3

185. Supposed To Be

Today was supposed to be an easy day! Well, straightforward. I was going to volunteer in the classroom and come home to work on the video tutorial to celebrate:

6 Months of Daily Blogging!

Hooray!

Alas, it was not to be. Just like the majority of the things I try to plan in advanced, lol. I had all my materials prepped, planned out a little outline of good pausing points in the process when I could chat and give pointers, and finally figured out how to position my camera for a half decent view. So, I proceed to do one full run in all my dorky glory and made an almost 30 minute video. Yes, that's right. Thirty minutes on how to make one paper crane. I decided to go with an origami tutorial with a side of "How to Get Your Dream Guy/ Girl" as per suggestion. Lol. I was going to split it up into installments I swear! 

(This was neglecting the fact that in order to edit my video, it would have to be converted and my converter program only takes clips that are three minutes or under. That's something I realized about half an hour ago and I started working on this project about seven hours ago.)

Technology, you will be the death of me. *knocks on wood*

I tried three computers to upload the footage from my digital camera (Not the same as a digital camcorder!) All to no avail. It's probably due to the lack of HDMI cable and the fact that my camera is a little beast for making a 30 min. film almost 2 G. Bah, I should have know better from the last time this happened back when I was visiting in Florida. It wasn't as bad as this and eventually worked and turned into my manatee and storm videos. 

So, I do another full run. It was roughly 18 minutes and filmed in two segments. Same problem. Then, I also remember that YouTube is a little picky in that it likes the ten minute videos and one my segments was 11 minutes without any of my planned additive editing.

One of the worst parts of all of this was that the Traditional Origami Crane video was one of many I had hoped to post for today! T_T Once I figure out a better way to do all of this, because the various steps I have to go through is ridiculous, I'll be posting the rest of the videos that I've planned! 

Just a hint, I'm planning another origami tutorial for a flapping crane and a flower!

Well, push came to shove and I wanted a video for today. So, I downgraded the file to the lowest settings possible, rushed my last full run before my battery died on me, and have uploaded this video with no editing. Congrats on witnessing my awkwardness in all its glory. Sorry, lol, I'm just a little sulky about today and bashful about this whole reaching out thing. :D

Like I said, if you have any questions, feel free to message me. This isn't as in depth as I would have liked to make it.

How to get a Square from 8.5"x11" Paper:

 Take the side that I'm pointing to and align it to...

... the side that I'm pointing to here.

Cut off the bottom rectangle to get a square!

Yes, the relationship advice is me being totally honest. And yes, I had talked about all of those tips during my initial video that didn't make it. :( You guys better love me for making one of the most random crafting videos ever. Lol. 

I need to go to bed. Three hours of sleep is a terrible, terrible thing. See you tomorrow and thank you so much for sticking by me or joining in on this simple but quirky adventure. <3

184. Extra Day

This week, in my head, had an extra mysterious day between Wednesday and Thursday. I kept referring to Friday as if it was two days from today instead of, idk, tomorrow? Lol, sigh. Tomorrow marks my 6 month anniversary of daily blogging! Holy cow. I wanted to do something special like a video tutorial about crafting. And if I want to have that up by some time tomorrow, that's going to be quite the endeavor. Wish me luck! Lol.

 A few days ago, I went to a SU workshop and mentioned holiday projects we worked on but didn't have pics of them. Well, here they are!

The Front of the Halloween Treat bag!

Stamps: "Wicked Cool" set and Web wheel

Cardstock: Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Black, and Cajun Craze

Designer Series Paper: Wicked Fun

Silver Embossing Powder

Ink: Basic Black & Versamark

Punches: Large Scallop Oval, Oval, Bitty Bat Large

Tiny Silver Brads

Cute (sideways) Xmas Card:

Cardstock: Very Vanilla & Cherry Cobbler

Designer Series Paper: Jolly Holiday

Ink: Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, and Very Vanilla (Craft)

Ribbon: Old Olive grosgrain

Stamps: "Delightful Decorations" set & "Season of Joy" set

Punch: Ornament

Hooray for handy project cards! I also won a door prize and chose some rub-ons. I've been skeptical but curious enough to give them a try. 

Really? You're gonna turn the picture upside-down Blogger? Whatever. Lol. You get the idea. Do you see the hi-tech applicator tool I got in each pack? Yes, those are Popsicle sticks. Love it.

Well, back to scrambling and kind of playing catch-up since there are indeed no extra days between Wednesday and Friday. :( See you tomorrow and hopefully I will come bearing something big and fun! <3

183. Buggy

I have no idea what what else to call today's post.

I fell ill shortly after waking up today so the rest of my day has been trying. My room's a trash-hole that is driving me insane and I wanted to tackle it today and get some reading done and most of my dad was spent trying to re-hydrate and just rest in bed. Wonderful.

Good news is that FMIL finally got her Cricut Create in! It's been a month since she got her raincheck and we were kind of tired of them not really trying to order one and making up excuses as to why it hadn't come in yet while they had tons of Expressions and baby bugs coming in. So, we requested that they find a sister store that had one in stock and have it sent over. Aaand they did! Hooray. So she made a card by herself with it, under supervision by me. :P It's cute.

Now I really want to spray paint mine. Lol. We'll see. I have a few more things being sent in soon that I may want to include in that process.

Remember that storm I wrote about not too long ago? Well, because of it, there have been all sorts of creepy crawlies making their way inside. /shudder. Ugh! I've killed about 6 of the bugs that look like the ones that attach at the butt when they're mating. Kitty spotted a nasty looking spider that was possibly our brown spider, the SW version of the brown recluse. He's really good at not attacking crawlies that should not be messed with but still keeping an eye on it until we are aware of the situation. Today, the SO spotted a decent sized scorpion inside the house and within the past hour found what is either a wolf spider or a baby tarantula in the house. This is on top of the baby tarantula from three days ago. Hooray, desert.

I have to get back to my appointment with my bed now, see you tomorrow!