Keep Your Brain Cells

Wow. I ran across this interesting fact today and just had to share. I better get my butt moving - I need all the brain cells I can get! No wonder that lately, I've been roaming around the house... by the time I walk to where I was going, I forgot why I headed that way lol.

Did you know that the average person has more than 100 billion brain cells at age 35, but from then on we lose them at a rate of 7,000 a day? You can help keep your mind sharp by exercising. Working out feeds oxygen and glucose to your neurons, which is your brain’s main source of fuel. Exercise also helps prevent your brain from shrinking with age.

Fleece Stocking and Machine Embroidery

Christmas is coming up fast! Are you guys getting ready and doing all your Christmas sewing yet? I always plan on doing a bizillion things, and then I only get part of my list done lol. Oh well, I guess the people who do receive handmade things from me should appreciate the fact that they were at the top of the list hahaha.

I found a great tutorial on making fleece stockings, with some tips on how to machine embroider on fleece so that the stitches don't get lost in the fluffiness. Click here for the complete post and pattern.

Pugsley and his Lamb Chop

When Pugsley is really, really happy, he likes to get his favorite toy, Lamb Chop, and walk all over the house with it. He grabs the toy by the butt and walks in and out of every room, then Pugsley stops every now and then to look at me.



Eventually he gets tired and takes Lamb Chop over to his bed.



Chester finds the whole thing ridiculous and would rather nap on his blankie.



These furry kids sure do keep me entertained :)

Buffalo Pugs

Holy cow! This has got to be one of the cutest things I've seen in a while - pugs dressed in their Buffalo Bills shirts, with their names on them! Ooooo my wonderful BF, Mark, LOVES the Bills. I'm going to have to get my Pugsley a shirt like this!!!! TOO CUTE!




See the whole blog post here, at the Pug Possesed blog.

Yay! I finally did it!

So, I've written before about how much I adore those little crochet things called amigurumis... and how I totally stunk at crochet. Well, after lots and lots of practice, I finally made one - successfully, that is lol. I did manage to make some pretty strange looking things before this little guy came about... everything from "Swamp Thing" to genetically mutated bears to things that resembled lop-sided phallic symbols.

Now you understand why I am totally doing the happy dance over here :)



He is a safety cone - isn't he cute? If you want the pattern, click here.

America the Illiterate

My friend, Sarah, sent me a link to this article that I found very fascinating. It talks about how most Americans just want to be entertained, and that because of this, our culture is being reduced to a very simplistic and uneducated society - one that can be easily controlled.

Here is a snip:

The Princeton Review analyzed the transcripts of the Gore-Bush debates, the Clinton-Bush-Perot debates of 1992, the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960 and the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. It reviewed these transcripts using a standard vocabulary test that indicates the minimum educational standard needed for a reader to grasp the text. During the 2000 debates George W. Bush spoke at a sixth-grade level (6.7) and Al Gore at a seventh-grade level (7.6). In the 1992 debates Bill Clinton spoke at a seventh-grade level (7.6), while George H.W. Bush spoke at a sixth-grade level (6.8), as did H. Ross Perot (6.3). In the debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon the candidates spoke in language used by 10th-graders. In the debates of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas the scores were respectively 11.2 and 12.0. In short, today’s political rhetoric is designed to be comprehensible to a 10-year-old child or an adult with a sixth-grade reading level. It is fitted to this level of comprehension because most Americans speak, think and are entertained at this level. This is why serious film and theater and other serious artistic expression, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins of American society. Voltaire was the most famous man of the 18th century. Today the most famous “person” is Mickey Mouse.

The whole article can be found here.

Something to definitely think about.

Some Stuff I Made

Here are a few things I made for some swaps:









Here is a WAY COOL necklace I got in a swap on swap-bot. Isn't it just so cool??!!

New Blog Header

Eh, it just seemed like time for a change - the seasons are changing now, the elections are over, the new year is coming up... so I gathered up some bits and bobs from my sewing room and took a photo. See the cute pug?? Melissa from Pugnotes gave him to me. I just LOVE that little guy!!! He is my sewing room mascot :)

Have a great and happy weekend, you guys! Be safe!

Some New Stuff

Well, it is finally cooling down some. Yesterday morning was 44 degrees here! That's like blizzard weather to us wimpy Arizona folks. Today's high is supposed to be in the 80s, but Sunday is only going to be in the mid 70s... It was about STINKIN' time for it to cool down!!! Geez! :)

Here are a few things I made recently for some swaps:







This is my favorite! Boba Fett!



Yeah, I have to admit, I have a huge crush on Boba Fett. He is just HOT lol. I found this wonderful bobble head on ebay, and I just had to get it.



This guy was an orphan at the thrift store. I gave him a new home :) My son says I am obsessed with nutcrackers.



There's only 48 days left until Christmas!!! Yay!

President Obama

Man, I know everyone has their own opinions about who should be president, but I have to say I'm so glad that Obama won. I love his ideas, his charisma, his candor... I hope that the next 4 years will be completely different than the past 8. We need PEACE. NO MORE WAR.

As Obama said, "ENOUGH".

Happy Gunpowder/Guy Fawkes' Day

So this morning, I'm looking at my cute pug calendar that hangs by my desk, and it says today is Guy Fawkes' Day... never heard of the dude, so I googled it. Seems it's a pretty significant day in England:

In 1603, King James I took the throne in England. An avid Protestant, he began persecuting Catholics in the country. He forbid Catholics from practicing their religion ,and punished Catholics who did not convert to the Protestant church.

The Gunpowder Conspirators were a group of Catholics who sought to take action against the king. They plotted to blow up the British Houses of Parliament. They planned to do so, when the king and his supporters were in the buildings. Their plot was uncovered on November 5, 1605. Thirty six barrels of gunpowder were found in the basement of Parliament. Guy Fawkes, the leader of the conspiracy, was arrested and tortured until he confessed. He was arrested just as he was about to ignite the gunpowder.

So, is the celebration in support of the rebellion against the king and persecution, or does it support the fact that they were discovered before they could blow the place up?

Anyways... seems they celebrate the day in England with fireworks and bonfires. Cool!



Have a great day!!!!

Happy Election Day!

Election Day is finally here! If you haven't done so already (and you live in the U.S.) PLEASE make sure you get out and vote!!! It's one of our freedoms that many have given their lives for... and for those of us that are female, we should keep in mind the feminists who fought for us to be able to vote, also. Don't be left out!

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone has a very happy and SAFE Halloween! Make sure to eat lots of chocolate :)

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Wow - I feel like Fall is finally here. I walked into my sewing room this morning and it was below 80 degrees hahaha. I have terrible air circulation in there, so I usually have to run the portable AC unit for a bit before I start tooling around in that room.

Halloween is next week already!!! Which means Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner, too. My favorite time of year!! I just want to throw a plug out for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They only tour during the Christmas season... their show is unbelieveable!!! I saw them 2 years ago and I was blown away by the work they put into the show. Lights, lasers, pyrotechnics... and they have the most awesome musicians and singers. I'm not a huge fan of Christmas music, but I just loved their show. They did a lot of classical stuff as well. I highly recommend seeing their show if they come to your area.

Here'a a clip I found on youtube, but it does not do them justice-



They are coming to Glendale, AZ on 11-23!!!!! I've got my tickets in my hand - I can't wait!!!

My Eyes Are Burning

You know, I want to learn how to crochet really bad. I love those little amigurumis that I see people make, and they are just so cute! I bought a ton of how-to books from Amazon... I bought some yarn and a hook and did rows of double crochet until I ended up with a huge crochet kite... I read crochet blogs. Have I learned how to crochet those little animals yet? Of course not.

But then, I ran across this today, and my eyes will never be the same:




OMG!!!! And a MAN is wearing that!! All I can say is this:

Twilight

Stuff I've Been Doing

This month, so far, has just zipped by me. Halloween is friggin' next week! Holy crap! Where has the year gone? I've been in a bit of a creative slump lately... didn't really enjoy making anything and everything I did make looked crappy to me lol. Things are picking up now, though. I'm working on some costumes for a couple of adorable kiddies this week, and I've been working on some Christmas stuff, too. I'll post pics when I finish them :)

Here are a few things I made for some swaps...

Monster stuffie made with felt and machine embroidery-


Fall fabric postcard-


Felt cupcake ornament-


Here are a couple of other pics... a gorgeous sunset seen from my backyard, and my wonderful baby boy, Pugsley :)






I hope you guys are all having a GREAT week!

End of the World

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm SO STINKIN' tired of hearing about the elections, debates, who said what when, who is a terrorist and who is Joe the Plumber... I wish it was over already! The point is, get out and vote, no? lol

My son, Kevin, showed me this video on Youtube and it pretty accurately sums up the whole politics thing :) No matter which politician you endorse, I think you'll get a kick out of this:



Happy Weekend!!

Rainbow

I saw this pretty rainbow on Saturday at Mark's house. It was cool cuz it was a perfect arch all the way across the sky :)

Confucious Day

Today is national Confucious Day. Confucious was born in China on October 18, 551 B.C., Confucius is one of the earliest, and perhaps the the first great philosopher. He was also a teacher, a scholar, and a politician.

I kinda doubt that he authored these proverbs, but I thought they were pretty funny. Have a great Monday!

Confucius Says ... Chinese Proverbs

Man who run in front of car get tired.

Man who eat many prunes get good run for money.

Man who run behind car get exhausted.

Man with hand in pocket feel cocky all day.

Foolish man give wife grand piano, wise man give wife upright organ.

Man who walk through airport turnstile sideways going to Bangkok.

Man with one chopstick go hungry.

Man who scratch ass should not bite fingernails.

Baseball is wrong: man with four balls cannot walk.

Panties not best thing on earth! but next to best thing on earth.

War does not determine who is right, war determine who is left.

Wife who put husband in doghouse soon find him in cat house.

Man who fight with wife all day get no piece at night.

It take many nails to build crib, but one screw to fill it.

Man who drive like hell, bound to get there.

Man who stand on toilet is high on pot.

Man who live in glass house should change clothes in basement.

Man who fish in other man's well often catch crabs.

Man who fart in church sit in own pew.

Crowded elevator smell different to midget.