Slow here on the blog....

So... I haven't been on the blog much. Christmas crafting took a lot of my time. Plus there were some swaps I signed up for that had to be done. There were Christmas concerts as well. Oh, plus we just had 2 concerts this week as well. It was awesome- we joined up with the jazz band for an orchestral-jazz mix-up and it was quite a success! We have to play it AGAIN in a few weeks for the jazz band's concerts on top of practicing for our own March concert! Needless to say, I've been busy. I've been trying to keep positive, but I keep getting pulled lower and lower. Im unhappy in the orchestra due to recent events. I try to go with the flow because I dont want to sound like a petulant little girl, but I am just angry at how I've been treated. I was told one thing and then something COMPLETELY different happened. Now I have to grin through my teeth and act like I accept it. Oh well, such is life. Anyway, I'm on twitter a lot more now. I also recently discovered tumblr, which I highly enjoy, although I don't completely understand how it works. I've been watching a lot of Netflix. I watch Destination Truth and Ghost Adventures a lot... I'm just re-watching things since I've watched all the episodes and seasons that Netflix offers. I watched all the Psych seasons they have available as well. I just started watching Dexter (1st season) and I LOVE it already :). I haven't been working on too many crafts. I got into a slump because I don't have a lot of supplies to make these things as awesome as other people are making them. So, I got kinda disgusted with myself and my options. I took a little break from crocheting, only picking it up to complete squares for my 2 square swap groups. I have SO many things I want to make, it's crazy. I really want to revisit the music bag. But I failed so badly at it before Im scared away for awhile longer. I want to try a music blanket as well. I would like to make a Destination Truth blanket/pillow and a Ghost Adventures one as well :D. A new craft I am going to attempt soon is freezer paper stenciling. I have fabric paint and a black hoodie. I plan on doing something Nightmare Before Christmas for that.

OK well I think I've rambled on for far too long now. My thoughts are very disorganized right now.... so I'll just say goodnight for now :).

Gorey ATC Swap

I swap with Swap-bot!

New swap I'm in.... it's going to be a huge, and I do mean HUGE, series. It's the Gorey Alphabet ATCs. See this link- Gorey Alphabet . It's super-cool and I'm looking forward to something a little outside the box. I'm thinking of quite a few ideas :).

Schleich Giganotosaurus give-away!

First off- NOT on my blog or by me! OK, that said- these things are so cool! I really love Schleich models. They are so detailed and nice. This dinosaur is very cool. It even comes with a little human to show the scale between the dino and the human. So, the wonderful person over at "Feisty, Frugal and Fabulous" is hosting a give-away of one of these cool models. That link takes you straight to the give-away page. To enter, just follow the directions. As you can see, this blog post is one of my additional entries :). I would love to win this for my little boy! He loves dinosaurs. What boy (or girl, in my case!) doesn't like dinosaurs?! Anyway- good luck to you, if you decide to enter!

♪ concert ♫

So, I attended another concert performed by the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra. They performed Polovtsian Dances, Violin Concerto, and Scheherazade. It was really wonderful. It was also the last concert of a very sweet lady I had the pleasure of meeting in my orchestra. We kinda hit it off. She's such a nice lady. She's moving to England. Anyway, I am honored I got to see her last concert here. AND- she gave me her tenor saxophone and I'll be getting an old flute of hers real soon. The tenor sax I plan on fixing up over time- no rush! I am *deliriously* excited. I have wanted a tenor sax forever! This is an old sax, too. I plan on shining it up, fixing it up, and playing the hell outta it! The flute doesn't work- or of I wanted to repair it, would probably be costly. So- I plan on turning it into a lamp :). My first lamp project! She didn't have it with her, but she'll give it to our friend Aaron who in turn will pass it on to me. Back to the concert- I adore Russia. I feel that in a past life, I had to have lived in Russia. Russian music is so expressive... it can be dark, scary, brutal... .or light and airy. I know that all music can be that way.... but Russian music just sort of emphasizes it. I had a great time and hope to see them perform once again!

Delicious desserts to share!

Ok bloggies- somehow today, i managed to stumble upon, but NOT using StumbleUpon, two absolutely mouth-watering dessert posts on this lady's blog. My mouth will not stop watering at the thought of these desserts!!!

The first I found is the "White Chocolate and Peppermint Covered Popcorn". It's popcorn, white chocolate, and candy canes!! How *simple* and how delicious-sounding. The original post can be found here:

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2010/01/07/white-chocolate-and-peppermint-covered-popcorn/.

I will post my own pictures of my process when I make it, along with any tips/advice/problems. The second one I found was also in this same lady's blog, as a link. She offers it as an alternative to the one above.... alhough, alternative? I want BOTH!

http://www.ourbestbites.com/2008/12/peppermint-bark-popcorn.html

I am thinking I will make both. My orchestra is ACTUALLY having a little Christmas party this year :). I'm sure it won't be extravagant, but we were told we can make and bring something.... so that I will! I also have ideas on a little Christmas gift for everyone ..... I'm SO nervous about that. I've never given a gift to 99% of the orchestra and I'm worried about their reaction :/.

Anyway- that's for another post. I hope you enjoy those recipes and look for future posts about my own experiences with them!

Friendship books

I swap with Swap-bot!


Ok, followers of The Blog... I am now into Friendship Books (or FBs, not to be confused with facebook, also FB or fb....). I joined a swap on the ever-awesome Swap-Bot for friendship books. This swap is newbie friendly, which was a relief. MOST all of the FB swaps I've came across have been for already established books. I've never made one before, so I never wanted to join any of those. I've been reading up on them and it seems like a small, quick, fun craft. I know I'll make mine decorated... but I don't require anyone decorate their pages... I understand that those are called "decos". Anyway- if anyone is interested in penpalling and fb's, please send me a message: histechnoangel at yahoo dot com. If I can remember to, I'll post some pics of the books I make. I've already received two. One was very easy to understand, beautifully done. The other is very confusing. It looks like the book is supposed to be sent back to me, instead of the person who made it. It already has my info in it! So.... I dunno what I'm supposed to do with it, since my name & address has already been put in by the person who made it. At any rate, this is still a fun new craft.

I feel kinda bad as I've completely neglected my crochet work. I've BARELY done anything. But, when we had our own place it felt like I had more freedom to do such things. I don't feel so free right now. Weird.... I can't explain why. BUT I need to get off my butt and get to getting. I have items that need to be made for gifts. I'm excited about that. My orchestra is actually having a christmas party this year. I decided, after much debate, that I will make everyone a gift. I settled on an ornament :). It will be music-themed of course. I will get something separate for the conductor and for my principal (first chair/section leader) clarinet. They are both instrumental (bwahahah) in helping me better my abilities. I want to do something special for them..... just haven't figured out what :/. If anyone reads this and has a suggestion, feel free to throw it at me.

OK I think that's everything at the moment. If I think of anything, I'll post more later! Have a great day :).

Election Day!!

Don't forget to Vote!!!

I just came back from voting, myself. I don't normally post political stuff, but I'm happy to post this. If it's not who you like, it's ok- no comments necessary. Just breathe and remember we're all able to vote for who we want! This is America!! :D Be thankful we have such freedoms as the ability to vote. Anyway- I just hope all Americans got out there and voted today.

The Shining ATC post *update with pic*

I swap with Swap-bot!

OK so I'm going to use this post for any pictures of the ATC. I will be working on it tomorrow... haven't done much on it, gotta get going!!! Come back soon for updates!

So here it is :). We were told to keep the ATC simple... make it look like something that could be used as a promo poster. So, this is what I came up with. We weren't supposed to have a lot of words, but honestly- I didn't want to just print out a picture of Jack Torrance and try to go from there. So, I typed up "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" over and over... which if you know anything about the movie, is what Jack Torrance has been typing the whole time he was "working". I printed out the name of the movie. And then I took red acrylic paint and with a toothpick that I kinda flattened the point of, I painted (painstakingly) the words REDRUM. The girl who got it really likes it, which is the goal right? :D. Overall- I am very, very pleased with this ATC. Hope you like!

Halloween and current swaps

So- Happy (belated) Halloween, bloggies! I had a great weekend... we took our son trick or treating 3 times! The first was the mall event on Friday... I think in the future we might just skip it... we'll see. It's gotten to the point where you just kinda walk past more stores than get candy from. And- the Coach store gave out JUST a sticker. A gold one that says "coach". To KIDS for trick or treating! That was disappointing. Anyway, on Saturday we took the little man to the "Boo at the Zoo" event. It was great! We had a really nice time. Sunday, we visited friends/family and also took our son trick or treating around a neighborhood for the first time. He did VERY well! I was so proud of him. Oh, I should add that the little man was our little Hero. He went as Captain America! It was really neat- everywhere we went, on all three days, he was the ONLY Captain America! :D

OK so I have some crafts I've been working on. I finished my first ever "chunky page". These things are FUN! I thoroughly enjoyed trying to figure out how I was going to design it and all that. The theme for this first page is "Nightmares"... I chose spiders. Here's a pic of the front.


The silver beads on the right side are attached by craft wire... the beads spell out arachnophobia :). I love the spider flower. Those big spiders near the top are rubber spiders. There's a chipboard spider in the middle... some stickers... the spiderwebs are stickers as well... oh, on the bottom is some spider ribbon trim... lemme put a pic of that....


I don't know if you can see the trim on the bottom very well... but it alternates between a small squishy felt ball and a small little spider with orange eyes :). I got it at JoAnn's Fabric. It was a last-minute impulse buy, and I'm glad I did! I secured it on using some really decent fabric glue.









For the back, I kept it simple. I glued a red spidery scrapbook paper onto the back. I decided to add a glitter spider I picked up from Michael's. I like the addition of the glitter spider :). It gives it a little touch of "cute" to a "nightmare" page. I added my info and stuck a spiderweb sticker on the right side of the info.... just to add something to it.















So there is my first chunky page :). The thing I am currently working on is an ATC for Stephen King's "The Shining". I have an idea... but dunno if it will be lame. Think a mirror and "REDRUM" ....lol. We'll see! Hopefully I will remember to post pics. I realize I don't post pics of my crafts on my blog. For shame on myself!!!! I promise to attempt to include more pics of craftiness!
That's gonna be it for now... I need to get to work on the ATC!

Flaked on

So, of course I'm a member of the fantastic website, Swap-Bot. I join a few swaps here and there, so I don't get in over my head. I enjoy participating in swaps, and I put effort, thought, time and money into the swaps I make! So far, I hadn't been flaked on. Well- today I had to rate my very first 1, the lowest rating possible. It made me very angry, and sad. It was for the Song Lyric Journal swap, something I was really excited about! I chose the songs I filled my journal very carefully. Each song meant something and I explained it. I talked about things in my life. All of my hard work (I still don't know if the person received it...)... and I get absolutely nothing. AND- I find out that the host was informed of this person's flaking ahead of time. They should not have been allowed into this swap.
So, I'm just kinda sad... I had to rate my first 1 and it's not a pleasant feeling!

Looking forward to the weekend!

This weekend is going to be busy!!! Tomorrow, I'm taking my son to IHOP to get a free pancake :). I love IHOP..... my Dad runs our local one.. I used to work there (ugh lol). But I still enjoy going in and getting some good food. After that, we're going to go see Marco Rubio!!! He'll be in our area completing his last bus tour. I'm looking forward to it. Later that night- the mall's trick or treating! My son is going as Captain America...... he looks SO cute in his little costume. Saturday, we have to carve our pumpkins, finally! We got them tonight and didn't have time to carve them. That night we'll be going to the zoo for "Boo at the Zoo". It's a fun event that we've taken our son to every year. Sunday, we're not sure yet. The mall is where we usually take the kiddo, but the event is tomorrow. We'll try walking him around a few houses and to see friends and family of course.
I finished my first ever chunky page. I'm in this group on Swap-Bot called The Darkness. Someone hosted a chunky page swap that's going to last several months... enough pages to create a chunky book, I guess. It's my first time and I'm loving it so far... can't wait to send my page out... and get one as well! The first page's theme was "Nightmares" .... so I went all out with spider stuff. Spiders is more of a fear, I know... but I have had spider nightmares, so it doesn't matter. I chose to do it this way and I LIKE it! The next theme is "Nightmare Before Christmas" ... that happens to be one of my FAVORITE movies of all time! I sure hope I can do a good job on this. I am participating in another Blogger swap (hi, new followers!!!) and also doing an ATC swap... the theme is REALLY cool: Stephen King's The Shining!!! I already have my inspiration for it. Hopefully it works.
Oh I forgot- I'm making a Captain America shield for my son to carry around with him. I looked everywhere for a kid sized shield and nothing! None of the costumes came with one either. So, I get to put my craftiness to work for my little boy. Crossing my fingers that I succeed and it doesn't look lame!!!

Tonight's line up includes...

I am putting on Nightmare Before Christmas. For some reason, I have never shown my son one of my favorite movies of all time?! Anyway, while that is on, I plan on working on two hats... I want to make a pumpkin hat for my son and a Jack Skellington hat for myself <3. We'll see how that goes. There's so much stuff on my to-do plate. Luckily, hats take little time!
Hope everyone is having a fun Saturday and enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Kiwi's Blogger Follower Swap #2

I have joined another Blog Follower "swap" on the awesome site Swap-Bot. This is my post for my new followers to comment on. So, to my new followers from the swap... ~* Welcome!!! *~ I'm happy to have you here. Feel free to browse around :). Don't forget to leave your comments!

So what's new, you ask?

Well- we moved. It was chaos, of course. It seems that no matter how hard I try to make our moving times a smooth time, it ALWAYS turns into chaos. Our landlord turned out to be a scumbag- he withheld $170 of our deposit from us.... so that REALLY sucked.
We're adjusting to life as it is now. I really look forward to orchestra practice now. It is SO much more of a "me" time than it used to be. We are always around someone at the house and it's nice to just get away sometimes.
I haven't done much crocheting. I had 2 squares to do for my square group swaps on Ravelry. I had to make one 6" and one 12" square. The 12" was interesting because it had to be done in bulky yarn. So, I used Lion Brand's Homespun. It was my first time crocheting with it, and took a few tries to get used to it. I am going to be making a few shawls with Homespun, so I hope I won't have any future problems!
I completed the song Lyric Journal. It was a decent attempt at it. I *know* I could have done better, but with the moving date so close to the due date, I didn't put 100% into it. But, it wasn't horrible by any means. I just didn't get to decorate it as much as I wanted to. I haven't heard from the person who was supposed to receive it if they got it or not. And, apparently I won't be getting one... the person supposed to send to me hasn't logged into Swap-Bot since August 18.... a few days before the sign-up closing date for the swap. I'm pretty pissed about it... it's my first time being flaked on!
I joined a new group on Swap-Bot, called The Darkness. It is a great group! I'm going to be making a page for what's called a "chunky book". Look them up- they are pretty cool! The theme for the first page is "nightmares". Should be interesting! In that group, I also signed up on a Stephen King's The shining ATC swap. Also going to be interesting!!!
That's all I can think of for now.... hope everyone is doing good!

This is MOVING WEEKEND!

So, it's finally here... moving weekend! Im tired and sore from moving stuff all week. I'll post updates on the few crafts I've squeezed in during this chaos... but I'll do that after we move. Just wanted to say Hi to anyone that might notice!

Deliriously amazing night

So, if you don't know, Im in the local orchestra here. We have a new conductor, who is purely amazing. He has another orchestra that he is the conductor of, called the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra. I have never been to any of their concerts, and he invited me to come out and see their concert tonight. So, I went and words can't express how much of an incredible time I had! They are a vastly, hugely talented group of musicians. I felt something deep in my soul. I need to get serious about playing my instrument. I need to strive to be THAT good. Anyway, tonight was so frekaing fantastic. I sat next to the cutest, funniest elderly couple who talked my ear off, but in a good way! I had some great conversations with them. I also talked with quite a few other people around me. My friend Aaron, the conductor, is supremely talented; a conducting prodigy, an incredible talent. Watching the relationship between him and the musicians was exciting.... the music was made alive and in your face! I felt dizzy from the pure pleasure of listening to great music and watching great musicians. I honestly didn't want this night, the experience of being there, to end. I am very very much looking forward to the next concert.

Contemplative

I have been brooding a lot lately. I seem to be stuck in a constant state of turmoil. Not to say I'm unhappy... just... well, as the title states: contemplative. I used to be so sure of things. Life hasn't been easy by any means. And, it still isn't. It never will be. But, I wish I could have some things become clear for me. I'm sure everyone wants that. But what do you do when something strikes your soul with the force of a semi truck? I don't see how you can ignore being struck by a semi truck. Well, this soul annihilating semi can come at any time, in the form of anything. It's hard, damn hard, when this incident happens. It may not be noticeable, it may gradually come to light. When I stood at the crossroads many years ago, I was SO sure of the path to take. I was confident, defiant, and no "voice of reason" would sway my decisions on anything. I find myself at similar crossroads, or at least approaching them. The voices of reason are absent, but I can imagine them here and what they would say. Again, I want to be confident and defiant, but I am not. I find myself screaming and no one hears me. Or, no one chooses to hear me. I know this sounds as if I am absolutely miserable, but that's not true. On the contrary, I am actually quite happy. There are things that are happening that aren't fun or happy, but the tiny small things really affect me more so.

What I'm Up to....

So, life has been slightly crazy lately. We are preparing to move. So, packing has been a huge time taker. I hate the packing process... makes me so sad!
I have been working on some swaps that I signed up for. I just made a blue star shaped dishcloth, with a plarn center :). I am currently working on two Halloween ATCs, "Horror Icon" is the theme. I'm doing a Frankenstein card and an Edgar Allan Poe theme card.
I just had a concert tonight with my orchestra. It was a great performance and I am looking forward to tomorrow's concert!
That's all for now, have a good night!

I lost followers!

Wow! So in the past week I have noticed that 2 people have stopped following me. I mean, I know my blog isn't FANTASTICALLY interesting... but I am working on it. I feel sad now. :(

Moving Updates

So, we paid our final rent. I was a bit sad to do so. We do like it where we are at. We are settled into a comfortable way of doing things. For the first time, our son recognizes a place as his HOME, and it's this place. I'm trying to help him understand that we're moving. I know he doesn't understand. He sees me putting stuff in boxes, but I'm SURE in his 3 year old mind he isn't concerned with it. Probably thinks it's just another thing that mommy does, lol. I'm betting, though, that when it comes time for toys to be put in boxes, he might start to really wonder. Then... moving day comes- he's probably going to be a bit freaked out.
If anyone is reading this, you might be wondering- "So, have you found a place yet?" Answer: NO. I found a place that was for $525 a month and I was so excited!! A 2b/2ba townhouse out by the mall. BUT they want just over $1k for the deposit. We SOOO can't do that. PLUS- I found out from my landlord that we will get our $500 deposit back from him AFTER we have moved out. At that point, we'll walk through it with him and then hand in the keys and get our money from him. So... yeah. Pretty much have stop signs from all angles and turns!!
Anyway, the in-laws offered the extra bedroom to us, of course. It's not my favorite option, but as it's looking right now- it's our ONLY option. We have no other choice, no money to do anything with moving! But, on the bright side- we can put the $500 away, and add some money to it each month and save up a little bit. And, this is going to sound COMPLETELY selfish.... but it'd be nice to have a breather. We don't do ANYTHING! We don't go anywhere! My grandfather died in June and I couldn't go to the funeral. Maybe we can take a short little weekend trip up to Massachusetts and at least say hi to the relations up there and visit his grave. I would like to venture into leaving my son with a trusted friend and maybe trying to have a date night with Randy. I think we are *seriously* needing some time for US. As much as I used to shrug that notion off, I am very much agreeing with it now.
Ok, so I think that's pretty much it for now. I was on a packing roll and then hit a brick wall. Now, I pack sporadically. I did a little bit earlier. I need to get on that roll again, though. Alright... I'm done talking now!

~Good Night~