Friday, January 27, 2012

Time Keeps on Slippin'

Holy crap! It has been THREE WEEKS since my last post, and worse, I don't even have anything that spectacular to post about! Maybe I should invite others to join me in my crocheting of nerdy wonder here on MNC. I'm warning you though! I usually like to crochet things that cannot be found in stores, or if they are in stores their quality and look is generally awful. Of course I break my own rules on occasion, but in general that's what I strive for.

People like NerdJerk would fit in, though she is incredible on her own. Check out her Etsy shop. It makes me so happy.

Anywho, the last few weeks have been absolutely nutty for me. I'm not even sure where the time went. I'm pretty sure I went to sleep on January 10th and woke up this morning.

Went back to work at the Thrift Shop after a lovely three week holiday for Christmas/New Years. The place was packed, like, overflowing-got-in-trouble-with-the-fire-chief packed. And by "got in trouble" I mean we had a four page write up that could potentially shut us down. I don't think we will be, but it was still one of those "eeek!" moments.

Luckily my manager is really dedicated and spent a lot of time cleaning it all up. Potential melt down averted. I'll admit that I've been feeling a little distant from the store lately. It's like I'm just not as invested in it as I was when I first volunteered. Of course that was over a year ago and I honestly thought I would have a paying job by now, but I know the others depend on me.

So within the next two weeks of opening I had a slew of doctors appointments and writing critiques and a few other extras that I'll discuss shortly. The biggest issue was this stupid new medication that my doctor had me try out for a month. I started just before Christmas and went until about a week and a half ago before I was able to switch to something else. The stupid stuff caused insomnia, but not even the good kind where you get up and are productive in the odd hours of the night. I was still exhausted but I just couldn't sleep! It was infuriating. I wasn't a very happy person to be around for those few weeks. Now I'm on something else and this last week I took off from the Thrift Store and I've been sleeping... a lot...and it's fantastic.

As with everyone's life there are a multitude of other things going on. I've started running a couple times a week in the morning with a friend of mine. Then I joined her gym so we could go to fitness classes together earlier this week. Since Monday I've gone to ten hour long classes, go me!

The writing contest that I've been working towards opened late Sunday night. I sat in a quivering ball of anxiety while the minutes ticked down. I had my husband come and double check everything while I entered. He's surprisingly good at dealing with my eccentricities. Now my entry is in and I get to wait until Feb 23rd to find out if I passed the first round. I've never worked so hard on my writing as I have for this contest, so I hope I at LEAST pass the first round. Four out of five entries will be cut first thing, so keep your fingers crossed for me.



Alright, now that I've bored you with my life let's look at the one thing I've managed to crochet in the last three weeks.



My grandmother gave me a skein of pale yellow for Christmas...but I'm actually not too fond of pale colors so I made her a cowl with it.


I don't know why I've been on a cowl kick lately, but they're fun and require almost no thought.


I will give you some hints for the project I'm currently working on. If you can guess it I'll post a project you've recently completed for glory and prestige!

Hint One: I have already done one, but wasn't satisfied.
Hint Two: It was the project with the most page views in 2011.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Eventual Plans


This month is not going to be a good crafting month for me. My efforts have been focused on editing and preparing my book so I can submit it to a contest. I doubt I'll win, but I really hope to make it past the first round. Regardless of my expectations I fully intend to give my all. The contest entry period starts at the end of this month and goes until the first week of February, so don't expect to hear much from me between now and then. Sorry!

While I'm working please take the time to imagine me making each of these items into amigurumi.


Things I would really like to make. Eventually.


Robot Devil from Futurama. Duh.


Snowball (the third?) from The Simpsons. This has been a request from my sister.



 
Hedonism Bot from Futurama. He's just too fantastic.

 

A crochet bottle of True Blood. I love the Sookie Stackhouse book and the HBO series True Blood and I fully intend to make SOMETHING to show my love, and since crocheting an Eric would be too hard I'll stick with this. (Hard isn't the right word, but I've found that when trying to accurately turn a person into crochet you lose something in the process)

I'm sure I'll dream up more things, but for now this is a good start. Feel free to help me brainstorm. I think my mind has turned to some sort of grey mush at the moment.

FYI mindless ranting ahead.

 
I've been doing some good work on my sister blog, Mostly Nerdy Narrative. I'm up to chapter seven on my untitled book there and I have up to chapter twelve written, but not posted. It's been a lot of fun to have a place to write and have the occasional person read, though I do wish I got a little more traffic. Then again I used to think that about this blog as well, now I'm quite satisfied.


As far as my book that I've been working on since early 2010 I'm moving forward. I was trying to work with an editor friend, but she flaked out on me and I'm back to my own devices. I've been editing the book (which took me 5 weeks to write) for over a year and a half now. My ultimate dream is to be an author who can live comfortably off her published books. I don't really want to be the next JK Rowling or Stephanie Meyer. Too much pressure and fame.

I guess I just want to have a comfortable life in general, and as I sit here after a nice warm shower and laden with blankets, I guess I'm not too far off the mark. I'm extremely lucky to have the opportunity to pursue these projects, but one day I would like my husband to relax a bit as well. I just gotta make a little money so he doesn't have to work so much!

Well everyone, take care, have a wonderful weekend, and I'll be back soon!