I also did this. If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know I love me some sand messages.

On Saturday, the boys went fishing while the girls stayed at the cottage and hit the beach. It was warm, but breezy – a perfect day for lounging by the surf. I slathered on sunscreen but still managed to get burned wicked back on the tops of my feet. Ugh, they still hurt. Anyway, we had a blast, and it was a nice relaxing little mini-getaway. There are lots more pics, and you can see a slide show here.

Aside from that, not too much is going on. I haven’t knit a stitch in quite a while, but I really need to get back on it. Mike’s mom told me last week that the big show in November is definitely on, so I need to get some stuff ready. I am thinking mittens to start with because I can knock them out so fast. I also have a great idea for some ornaments I want to do. They’re not knit, but I think they’re going to be really sweet. I guess I need to get a plan and make some lists.

I’ve been spending most of my time reading. After seeing Eclipse, I got sucked into reading the Twilight Saga again. This time around I read Twilight and Midnight Sun together – a chapter of one, then the matching chapter of the other. I thoroughly enjoyed reading them that way. It was so much easier to compare & contrast the two perspectives while each was still fresh in my mind. I burned through those and also New Moon, and now I’m a little more than halfway through Eclipse. After I finish these, I might need to take a break while I get a jump on some crafty goodness.

I’m stoked for the beer fest this weekend! It’s going to be totally sweet. I’m so looking forward to it because I heart beer and road trips. I also heart Zingermann’s, and I am pretty sure we will have lunch there. Woot! I need to get some fun road trip activities planned. I’m thinking Mad Libs for sure, but I’m open to suggestions, so if you have any, let’s hear them!

After the nomriffic lunch we went to the Rave to see Toy Story 3. GREAT movie, dudes. Like the first 2 before it, this movie really delivered. There were some great new characters. Lotso the bear was a great villain. Plus, Barbie & Ken!! There were so great. I loved Ken’s little fashion show for Barbie. The movie was all around awesome, and the ending was so touching – Mike & I cried like two little girls. It was a great movie, and if you haven’t seen it, do so. Skip the 3D, though – I don’t think it really added anything to the story at all, plus it gives me a wicked headache.

Saturday, Dawn, Rachel & I finally went to see Eclipse. While my expectations were understandably low based on the previous 2 movies in the saga, I was still hopeful. So hopeful that I was really scared my hopes would be dashed and I would be disappointed again, only even worse this time. My fears were unfounded!! Eclipse was my favorite of all of the books, and I think they FINALLY got it right. Don’t get me wrong, if I could turn back time (If I could find a way! I’d take back those words that have hurt you….oops. Sorry) I would recast the hell out of all 3 of these movies. Since that is not possible at this juncture, I will say that everything outside of that worked for me in this movie. I was super nervous that my favorite scene from the book would be foiled, but I think they played it off just right. It had the perfect tone and accomplished what the book did. Things I wasn’t crazy about: The new Victoria’s hair, Jacob wearing a shirt WAY too often, and a few other little tiny details that nobody else would probably notice or care about. Subtle things I LOVED: Edward saying “Doesn’t he own a shirt?” referring to Jacob’s abs of fury, and Jacob saying to Edward “We both know I’m hotter than you.” WORD.

Ok, speaking of recasting the hell out of the saga, this guy is my pick for Edward. Justin Hartley, also known as the Green Arrow. This guy would make RPattz look like a bumbling fool. Well, RPattz kind of does that on his own. Anyway, here’s a sample. Type this guy’s name into a Google image search to see even more (READ: shirtless). Jacob is awesome & gets to stay as is. Also, Bella should be someone else. Anyone else, really.

On Sunday, I went over to the SPCA for my volunteer orientation. It was very cool. It’s kind of heartbreaking to see all of the animals caged up and desperate for adoption. And on the other hand, it’s sobering to realize that without this organization, these animals wouldn’t be here at all. I am really excited to get involved and help out in any way that I can. I plan to focus on the cats in Kitty City, but one of my personal goals is to get a little more comfortable with dogs as well. I don’t dislike them, I’m just a little scared of bigger dogs because I don’t have any experience with them. So hopefully I can change that.

After orientation we hosted Crappy Movie Sunday. This week’s feature was Snakes on a Plane. We really did things up with flower leis and fake snakes. Of course, we had an awesome time. I am working on the blog post, and it’ll be up in a few days over at Crappy Movie Sunday.

I’m really really excited that Mike & I are going out of town for a few days! We are heading up north to stay at a cottage on Lake Michigan. I truly can’t wait!! It’s going to be so fun to get out of here for a bit.

We are planning a multi-pronged attack angaint the criiters. First, we bought a squirrel dome that will go over the feeder to keep fat critters off of it. We are also going to lube the pole with vegetable oil or maybe Vaseline so tiny paws will have a hard time scaling it. We also mixed cayenne pepper in with the bird seed. I read online that squirrels hate cayenne, but that birds can’t taste it. We are going to get our new (hopefully) squirrel-proof feeder set up this weekend. I’ll keep you posted on the results.

Everything else has been pretty good. George was gone camping last weekend, so Mike & I had the house to ourselves, and didn’t really do a whole lot. On Saturday my mom & I went out garage sale scouting, and my big find was a beer drinking board game called Chug-A-Lug from the early 80’s. The box cover photo is priceless and it even says “Beverages Not Included” just so there’s no confusion. I’m pretty sure this was a steal for 50 cents. Can’t wait to give it a whirl soon. We also went to Milham Park for the big craft show. Truthfully, it was a little disappointing. I didn’t see too much of interest, and all I bought was some fudge and some jerky for Mike.

We did have Crappy Movie Sunday, and this week we watched Twilight. It turned into a spirited debate of why Twilight’s vamps aren’t “real” vamps because Stepenie Meyer didn’t go along with the established vampire lore. The dudes are just really mad that Edward glitters in the sun and they don’t. Dawn & I tried to stand behind the actual story and the books (not necessarily the movie, which we know is crap), but the dudes are adamant that Twilight is lame and all vamps are made way lamer because of it’s existence. Or something. Jacob didn’t even take his shirt off in this movie, so I don’t know why the boys were feeling so threatened anyway. PS – can’t wait for Eclipse! It looks like it might actually be good! Dawn & I are going to see it next weekend in an effort to avoid the (other) screaming fangirls. We really want to be the only screaming fangirls, and that just won’t be possible on opening weekend.

I finished this scarf recently, and it is for sale at Fuzzy Paws Knits. It took me forever to finish this thing because I used the tiniest little bits of yarn to create my own yarn for this. It took along time to collect all the yarn bits and then tie them together and then knit them., Whew. I think the result is worth the effort though. I call it “Fluffy Fingers”.

And just for giggles, here’s Dawn & I boozing it up at Gallagher’s last week. We are making a dent in the beer list. Distinguished status, here we come!

We also continued Crappy Movie Sunday this week with Conan the Barbarian. Dawn & I were less than thrilled, but Mike, George & Clovis thought it was delightful. It is definitely a guy movie. As Dawn put it, it’s “Twilight for dudes”. I guess so, but I can freely admit that Twilight (the movie) sucked. These guys can’t seem to come to terms with that reality about Conan.

I also took a break from Percy Jackson after I finished Book 3, and I decided to give the Sookie Stackhouse (TrueBlood) books a whirl. I have just started the third, and they are pretty good. I find Sookie just as annoying a character in the books as I did in the show (which I admittedly only watched the pilot episode of), but somehow in the books she is a tad bit more relate-able. Anyway, I am enjoying them, and I burned right through the first 2 books in just a couple of days.

I also came to the conclusion that I needed to use up the last pack of i-Zone film instead of hoarding it up. It’s been expired since 2006, and the quality will only go downhill. So I’ve taken a few shots, and plan to use them up very soon. You can see there is definitely already some loss of quality, so this was the right decision. Even though it breaks my heart.

They are so awesome, and I love this little camera! I will never get rid of it, just in case they decide to make film for it EVER again.

Last but not least, I started a new knitting project. I am making a Sock Yarn Binky. Basically, a blanket made from scrap sock yarn. For the non-knitters out there, this is a big deal because sock yarn is very thin, and you have to knit it with very small needles – so basically, I could be working on this for a long long time. Like years. I decided to do a log cabin style blanket because it will give me a chance to kind of free form this thing a little and really play with color and pattern. Also, I took the log cabin knitting class at Stitches Midwest last August, and haven’t had a real opportunity to put it into practice. Here’s a picture of what I have so far. I numbered the blocks so you can see where I started. Oddly enough, 3 of the 4 blocks so far are a solid color. This will not continue to be the case as almost all of the sock yarn scraps I have are some sort of self striping or self patterning colorway. It’s also important to note that I am only using machine washable sock yarns, because I think a blanket that needs to be hand washed is a little ridonkulous. So here’s the first pic, I will update whenever I feel there is decent progress.

Last night we met up with Mike’s boss and a friend of his at Gallagher’s. I converted another person to the Beer Society, so now there are even more people for me to have beers with!We had a nice time, and I got to try some more beers too. I got Mike’s boss to try #9, and of course, he loved it. Woot! One of the beers I had last night was Orange Blossom Ale. It’s brewed in Florida, and it was very tasty. Check the link on the right sidebar to see what I had and how I rated it. I am up to 19! Only 106 beers to go!! It’s still early in the game, so I am taking suggestions – what beers should I try? Comment or email me.

I got up this morning, made some coffee and a yummy brekkie of Trish McMuffins, and relaxed while Mikey slept in. After that I decided to get started on dinner which was a crock pot feast called Beef & Potato Casserole. I browned the meat, washed potatoes and peeled the carrots, then diced them up along with an onion. The recipe calls for tomato juice, so I even made fresh tomato juice with the juicer. I put everything in the crock and started it up. About 30 minutes later I heard a loud POP that sounded like a gunshot. I went into the kitchen and found this:

I have no idea how this happened, but my crock pot is ruined, along with my super fab dinner! How sad and disappointing. I am going to look online and see if I can find a replacement lid, because I’m pretty sure the crock itself is fine. Anyway, this is very frustrating. I guess we will be ordering sammiches or pizza or something for dinner.

I’ve been rocking the Wii Fit Plus for about a week now, and I am feeling the burn in my abs and thighs. I did these lunges a few times and everytime I tried to sit down I cried out a little. Not cool, but very cool at the same time. I am also trying to make friends with my elliptical machine. We were close for a while, but then we drifted apart. I am rocking the rebounder too. I am trying to vary it up to keep things interesting - so far, so good.

First, the heart shapes, while only 1 inch, were too big for their tiny mouths. So after all that work, I ended up having to chop the treats up into smaller bits. Note to self – making the treats cute does not make them more appealing to the target audience. So I chopped one up and presented it again. The reception was….less than enthusiastic. They nibbled and licked the pieces a little, but I got the impression that they knew I had worked hard and didn’t want to hurt my feelings. Yesterday morning, I gave them each a few more tiny bits, and this time they didn’t even bother. One sniff and they both wandered away. Rats!!

I decided to try another recipe. This one is chicken based, but still baked like a cookie. I whipped these up this morning. This time, I just dropped them by the teaspoonful onto the cookie sheet – no fancy shapes. Once they were baked and cooled, I took a tiny biscuit, chopped it into bits, and put some in front of Nemo. Again, polite licking and nibbling, but no real enthusiastic chewing. Hmmm. Next I went to Buffy. She LOVED these – she tore into them right away and ate all I gave her. SCORE! I tried Nemo again with a few more bits – nope. Not interested. I have found Buffy’s favorite. She has always been a carb lover, so the cookies were bound to be a hit eventually. She loves breads and potato chips. Nemo is not into carbs, he is more of a meat eater. I have one more recipe in mind for him and I think he will dig it. It’s made with canned cat food, scrambled egg, and cheese, and it isn’t baked. I am 90% sure this will be Nemo’s kryptonite. Pics:

I have a buttload of Tuna Hearts leftover, so I am giving them away to other cats to sample. We are heading up to Grand Rapids this evening to see some friends, and I am going to try to unload some there as well. At least all the cats of my homies can maybe benefit.

After a looong debacle involving several different worker dudes here for many different days, my tub is finished! As of last night, I’ve used it twice and it is officially the BOMB. We still can’t shower in there because we haven’t hung the bar for a curtain. We haven’t hung it because we are still deciding what color to paint. We had a clear idea of what we wanted when we went to look at paint (iced mocha), but then we saw all the fancy swatches, and we were totally confused. So now we have 62,086 swatches and still have no idea which way we will go. So, we’ll see what happens there. It’ll be interesting.

Other excitingness is that I am making headway in my Beer Society adventure. I decided to start rating the beers and keeping track. View my progress here via a Google Spreadsheet. I’ve also added that link to my Blogroll on the left over there. It’s moving along, and it is quite fun. Here’s a pic of George & Mike hanging with me on Sunday while I tried a couple of brews.

Ok, a couple of other quick things. Mike & I went to a matinee last Friday and saw Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief . I really enjoyed it. It was definitely formulaic and similar to Harry Potter, but that didn’t bother me too much. It was funny, interesting, and the effects were great. I did feel like the story was a little bit obvious and it was pretty clear how things would turn out, but still very enjoyable. I started reading the first book as well and I am really liking that too.

I also started watching Weeds on DVD which Voldemort and his lovely wife got me for Christmas. I just finished the second season, and it’s genius. I still have 2 more seasons, plus the fifth came out recently as well. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen, it’s always hilarious.

Just for giggles, here’s a cute pic I snapped of Nemo the other day. :)

WRONG. George tried to shower last night in the main floor shower, and there is no hot water getting to it and we can’t figure out why. Sooo, that leaves us with zero usable showers. I feel like a hobo right now. I am thinking I will wash my hair in the sink today and then just sort of wash up whore’s bath style. Should be awesome. We have a dude coming to look at our problems tomorrow night. Hopefully after that we will have at least one working shower, maybe 2. It’s getting pretty ripe around here.

The good news is that since we have to replace the tub & shower in the master bath, we decided to upgrade to a fancy Jacuzzi whirlpool tub!! It is supposed to be installed on Tuesday and I am pretty excited! We spent pretty much all day yesterday trying to figure out what we wanted to replace the current enclosure. We went back and forth a million times, but ended up choosing the whirlpool tub, & shower/tub walls that we both like. We also decided to ditch the shower doors we have and go back to a regular curtain, and while we were at it, change up our fixtures and all the accessories like the toilet paper holder, towel bars, etc. I can’t wait until it’s done @ I can soak in my whirlpool tub!!! Woot!

I have been reading quite a bit lately. I am working on the series of books that The Vampire Diaries TV show on the CW is based on. It’s an interesting story, but the writing is super lame. I have got to get off of these teen books. I am sticking with this one because I really like the show and I am interested in the back story of it, but if not for the show I would have ditched these long ago. Luckily they are a quick read – I am on the 4th of 5 books and have only been reading these about a week.

Next up, I am torn between starting the Percy Jackson books, or the Sookie Stackhouse True Blood books. The new Percy Jackson movie looks sweet, and I definitely want to see it. I’m just not sure if I want to read the book or see the movie first. As for Sookie Stackhouse, I tried to watch True Blood but couldn’t get past the first episode. Maybe I will enjoy the books more. I have a bunch of other stuff I want to read, too, so maybe I’ll go in another direction completely. Hard to say. I have a TON of Star Trek ebooks that I have been itching to read, so maybe I’ll give some of those a spin. Ok, actually I have every Star Trek novel ever written including all of the scripts from every episode of every series and also every movie. Oh, and all of the autobiographies of all of the actors too. So that could keep me busy for quite a long long time.

Sure wish I could take a shower.

I have been busy getting things ready for the Christmas Through Lowell show next month. I got everything inventoried and priced, now I just need to make MORE stuff. I have some cute things, so I am hoping to sell lots this year! Between this and keeping up with custom mitten orders (I mailed a pair yesterday and have to start another pair today!), I’ve had my fuzzy paws full! I am definitely in full-on sweatshop mode over here. I have some new stuff, just haven’t taken the time for a photo shoot yet!

Speaking of custom mitts, I’ve been calling my custom mittens “Choose Your Own Adventure” mittens for a long time – at least a few years. I got an email last week from a rep for the company that holds the trademark for the Choose Your Own Adventure books, and they were letting me know that I was infringing! I was shocked! I never even gave this a thought, to be truthful. I feel awful! Anyway, they were completely cool about it, said they like my shop (they called it “charming”!), and told me I can continue to use the name as long as I include a link to buy the books in my listings. I updated the listings right away, of course. I do feel bad that I was infringing, but I’m really glad they were so understanding. By the way, these rockin’ books from your childhood are still available! I had no idea they were still making them, and of course I read the hell out of them as a kid. Check them out at cyoa.com.

I haven’t been feeling too well the last few days. I was in bed most of yesterday, but I actually feel a little better today. I have a hacking cough (a “hough” as we like to call it around here), and my throat has been hurting. I’ve also been super sleepy. Yesterday I pretty much took turns napping and reading Twilight. I think it’s a perfect sicky book. I just have one last chapter and then I can start New Moon. Did I mention I finally broke down and bought Twilight on Blu-Ray? I know, I’m a creepy fangirl. But I NEED to see the sparkles in super hi-def, mmmm-kay? Back off. Speaking of Twilight, New Moon opens the same weekend as the Christmas Through Lowell show. I am going to need to hit up some of my GR girls to see if anyone is planning to see it. Hopefully I can sneak away one evening and go get my fix. If not, I guess Mikey is stuck seeing another lame vampire-love-story-chick-flick with yours truly.

Oh, and my TNG disc from Paramount came this week. Rock on!