So Very Close Now!

Swift kick in the pants - that's what I need, and have almost gotten. We're so very close, Internets, I promise!

There's a few more things I need to figure out, about the plottings of such. It will, hopefully, be rather simple. But, I'm not sure yet.

Either way...I'm planning on just shaving off sleep-hours and hoping to turn them into productive-happy hours. Who needs sleep, anyway? Heavy caffination will be required, of course, but I can live with that.  And, hopefully, hopefully, one can be successful.

I will let you know how my plottings-figurings go, as soon as I have them all plotted and figured out.

Until that time, I leave you with this lovely little hint.
...I said little, right?

Yeah, that's a house key. Yes that little crocheted bit is three rows big. And only slightly larger than a key-across. Eeep, I'm hopeful!

xoxo, Jess (who is off to collect the thread and hook once more)

Short Things

Dear Internets, today is D's birthday. He claims that he is old, but we know this is not true. Either way, he is a year older now. That's how these things work.

Because of  this, not much time was spent wallowing around at home - as has been the case the rest of the week. The next few days will also be busy - his gun will be in tomorrow, and we will be going up to his parents' house Friday and coming back Saturday. At least this is the information I have been given. Hopefully these things will give me some cool things to show you!

Until then, I have sneak peaks. I am a terrible person, and have started another crochet project. Let's not keep track of how many I have started.
It's something I started, oh two years ago? Something like that? Well, maybe not quite that long...almost, though, that's for sure. And then I got more than  half way, and finished, because I was no longer a fan of the colour.

This time, though, can't go wrong with black.

More information to come shortly.

....and  no, that's not a bad picture (well it is, but let me explain), that's glitter you see.

Again, more information shortly.




xoxo, Jess (who always does this, doesn't she)

Yay!

Not my image - found via Google Images - source here

We're on vacation! It started today at 4pm (the 4th at 4, what luck!) and we are off until the 14th, but let's not think of that yet!
And no, we're not going to some sandy beach with hammocks and such. I wish! We are far too broke for that - plus we're saving up for a wedding and a house and such, so a beach vacation is out of the picture!

However, the concept is there - away from work, enjoying time together and away from the regular hub-ub of regular day-to-day life...ahhhh....I'm relaxing just thinking about it! Plus, the Holiday rush is over, so it's a chance to take a deeeeeep breath after all of that. Our jobs get very hectic around the Holidays, so I think a rest after all that is going to be lovely.

We have no solid plans as of yet. We are going to be going up to D's parents' house sometime during the week. But we're wanting to wait until after he's gotten the gun that he ordered online. We're not sure when it's going to show up, but hopefully soon! We've been waiting for it since the week before Christmas.
Though, I guess tomorrow we have a plan - we're going to one of D's work friends' house for a "fiesta". We're not sure why it's called a "fiesta" - he had no explanation for that, but we'll see what happens!

Tonight, however, is bagels.
That sounds silly.
But the decision this morning was to have bagels for dinner. Which sounds delightful. Bagels are delicious.

But vacation! It's very exciting! We've been waiting for it since the end of September, that's when we asked for this span of time off, and it seems like it's been so long since then!
No sandy beaches for us, though. At home it's nowhere near beachy, either. It's been rather frigid out, but slowly warming up. It finally rained (saying "finally" for rain in Oregon is ridiculous, by the way) so it's starting to get back to a normal January temperature.
No, our view, if any, is off our back porch.

And it's not very good, at that.

 There's a few trees to look at, and seeing as it's 5 o'clock already, it's getting dark out. Our porch is rather small.
And covered in leaves still, actually.

If you look carefully, you can tell the leaves right underneath the fence are gone - they've raked those up. But the piles are huge on the porch still. Ridiculous! But oh well, I suppose.  It's a closed-off porch, so wouldn't want random people climbing over it anyway!

I'm not sure exactly what I'm hoping to accomplish this week, but hopefully it will be a lot. A week off from work, ya, should be able to at least come close to finishing something!

xoxo, Jess (whose week is going to fly by, she can already tell)

New Year's Resolutions

Internets, I have a feeling everyone is going to be doing one of these posts. And rightly so. If you tell you, dear internets, there might be someone to hold you accountable. If you just write it down in a diary, who's to say you are even doing anything, let alone that you made any resolutions aside from "come up with some resolutions for the new year".

However, there is nothing wrong with posting your resolutions on your faces, Internets, is there? I don't think so. I suppose it's a bit...self-important, to make everyone read your list of resolutions, it's a bit like saying "look at me, look how I plan on improving myself!" and who likes those people, right?

I don't want to do that. I want  to...just keep up with things.
I'm a great starter.
And then I tend to branch off into  five other things. And leave lots of things started.
There are piles about my house to prove it.
I can show them all to you, but we'd have a post of piles. Actually, that might be a good plan! Remember, Internets, how I told you about slowly easing your way in, start with the bad, then work your way up to the good. Let's do that.
Yes. The piles.
Please hold while I run around like a crazy woman taking pictures of them all while D will undoubtedly ask what I'm doing and I will hurriedly tell him "nothing, nothing, ain't doin anything". It is our way.

...I promise I literally did what just happened. This isn't even pretending I have a strange life. This is real. I was typing, and I got up and took the phone, and took pictures. And D did ask me what I was taking pictures of, and I told him "nothing, I dunno what you're talking about". Again, it's our way.

Yup. That's them.

First is by the couch. One finished blanket. Yarn for two started blankets. A Mollie Makes magazine (which I need to get more of!), multiple shopping bags what ought to be holding the things that are out here, and just overall mess.

Second, my desk. Remember how I started cleaning the desk? Yeah, and then I cleaned the closet. So this is as far as the desk got.

Third, the table under the printer. Which is right as you come in the door. The pink thing at the bottom is not my fault! It's the dog's toy. And the desk chair gets moved around as D's desk is right in front of the heater, so we move the chair so it won't melt. I have at least 3 bags of yarn under there. Two boxes of tea. Multiple shoes. A bag of Christmas stuff I need to put away. Well, it has like three things in it that I need to set aside for later projects. Yeah it's a mess.

Lastly, well, this is actually right next to the third pile. This fourth is just thrifting stuff, really. But it's all stuff that has yet to find a home. And it's all right in front of the DVD shelf and LEGO shelf. Oh! I will have to show you the LEGO shelf some time!

So, this is where we start. And we need to end up, well, with a functioning living room!
I'm a great starter. I start lots of things. I very seldom finish them. I assure you. It's true.

Internets, let this be the year of finishing things. Let 2013 be the start of something awesome, and let Jessica *finish* something! Well, hopefully more than one thing!

xoxo, Jess (who really wants to be successful at this. It's not asking too much, is it?)

Not What You Were Expecting, Eh?

Oh hello, I'm sure you'll be expecting the turn out of the searching for meal-planning things, correct?
Well, let's be honest Internets, all I've really got is four Pinterest links (yes, I'm resorting to Pinterest to store links, shame on me) and two bookmarks for recipes on my phone. The beauty of the Pinterest links, though, is I can view them anywhere I am - be it on the desktop or on-the-go, with their Android App. By the way, what I've found and pinned can be found here: http://pinterest.com/orangelaserbeam/foods/
And no seriously, that was all found while I was in bed, allegedly sleeping. Nah, I was in bed, D was  sleepin, and I was wide awake. So what does a girl do? Get on her smart phone and google. Obviously. I can't stay away from you, can I internets.

We aren't going grocery shopping anytime soon, I assure you, and I told D, and he needs a few days to think about what he would want, anyway. I told you about the "dunno what to eatttttt" thing, right? Yeah, we're verrryyy good at it.

I do, however, want to share something else, that's been on my back burner for well over a week now - shame on me.

A kitchen trolley! Ya! I know! Other than my kitchen is far too small for it. It will be a craft station, when it finally gets its last coat of paint. In the mean time, I will share some before pictures, and hopefully in the next few days can bring forth some completion pictures.

I was *not* looking for furniture, but it caught my eye as I walked down the aisle! And no, I did not pay 48$ for it - this is the store I work in, so an employee discount was used, thank goodness.

Smart enough on my end, I did not take pictures of it while it was put together upside down. I got it all together but the top only to realize I was looking at holes for the wheels to go into instead of holes for the top to go into! I have not, admittedly, put much furniture together in my day.

These are my paint colours of choice, and a damask scrapbook paper that I'm coordinating with it. On the cheap from Michael's - which can be a lovely and terrible store all at the same time.

I just love the way the oranges come together in this - it almost looks like it has texture, but it does not, sadly. Wouldn't that be awesome, though?!?!

And that, Internets, is really all I have to show of it for now. It's got a lot of paint on it, but of course I skipped taking any in-between pictures. I've only got the handled-parts of the top left at this point to do up, and just need to get them done and viola, trolley!
But until then, I will let you guess as to what I put where. And what we did with the papers!

It will be a Happy New Year, won't it? I certainly hope so!
I keep forgetting that's here, and I'm not sure why. Get so caught up in Christmas, only to forget there's another holiday right afterward!
So,  Happy New Year to you all, and a lovely 2013 to you! Hopefully we can all be a little happier, a little more crafty, and a lot more fabulous! Because, really, who doesn't want these things! I sure do!

xoxo, Jess (who really truly wishes each and every person a great 2013 - right now, we all deserve it)

Finally, a look in her kitchen

Internets, I grew up with this as the mixing bowl of the house.

Image from Flickr - not my own image

And it was lovely. I was not, however, aware of how lovely this bowl was. It's what we had, what I knew. A sturdy bowl you could stir and stir in and it was heavy and it was great. And green! Lots of banana bread was made thanks to this bowl.
And it's Pyrex. Vintage Pyrex, from what I understand now. I honestly wish I had this bowl. I think my dad may still have it. I hope so. Someone should. Sadly, it isn't me.

I, however, have started my own Pyrex collection. Old Pyrex. Not the new clear stuff. Clear is nice, sure, but who wants a clear kitchen, internets? I dunno!

So, let me share my little collection. Some of it is Corningware, and some is Corelle, but it's all in that vintage fashion, and the sturdy stuff. Allegedly, the new Corelle isn't nearly as awesome, it will break when you drop it...the old stuff never will. And I have some of it in my house. Which makes me uber-happy.

Internets, here we have, my tiny little collection of old kitcheny goodness.

Actually, no clue what this cup is, but I liked the flowers, and the handle is in a heart-shape, perfect for holding, and it actually currently holds jewelery on my desk.

Corelle, and awesomely vintage. With the orange and green and yellow, but in that great 70's way. It makes me happy. All it's missing is the matching set!

I kid you not, I got all this in three different purchases. The cups first, then the plates, then the little rectangle bowl-deal. The plates and cups are Corelle, and the bowl-deal is Pyrex. Explain that one!

No clue what this actually is, but the pattern is an exact match, you see, so I had to have it. Eventually, I would like to have tea with someone special with those cups, and put little delicious things on those plates and something great in this bowl. Lofty plans for dinnerware, eh?

Corningware, and I'm not sure how much I like it, but the flowers  made me happy, so home it came.

Not even close to Pyrex, no, but from the 50's and in perfect condition. It's a sugar-for-coffee type of device.

The cookbook was actually a gift for my 18th birthday, way before I started collection vintage anything.

My first with a lid! And I love the funky orange colour. Orange is my favourite.

And you know what, no, internets, this isn't all in my kitchen. Most of it is. The matching Corelle is hanging out in the living room. The red flower cup is in the bedroom. And it's all just kinda shoved in a corner of the kitchen! Shame on me, I know! No, really, it's terrible.

We are planning on buying a house (hopefully this year) and I've been promised a bedroom. For whatever I so choose to put in it. Well, all this will go in it. And more. Oh the ideas I have, you have no clue internets. Well, you will, eventually, I promise.

However, I would also like to actually use some of these things! It's not crazy, really, this stuff was made to last forever, why could I not use it?!
....silence...??
Exactly, that's what I said! Why not use it!

So, eventually, I will have tea in those yellow-ish-orange-ish cups and I will have some delicious noodles or something in that white-with-green-flowers bowl, and there might even be something served upon the green-orange-yellow serving plate.

Someday. A girl can have dreams, right?

xoxo, Jess (who wishes every day for that damned green bowl she grew up with)