The Fruits of my many Labors!

Tada! The baby blanket is finished! Now I have to make one more. Also, my girlfriend Marti has asked me to make her a blanket! She has a baby shower to go to and, my friend is having a baby as well...looks like I'll be busy for the next little bit!!!




Sadie and Lauren came over the other day and we got into making a mess in my Tiny Kitchen! The above candle is Berry Bunt Cake and check out all of our mottling! We are totally not even trying now and are just getting it! Even on our votives! This candle has both a great hot and cold throw! Ah smelly stuff!




These little flower soaps are peppermint (blue) and spearmint (green). We thought they looked so much like jujubes that we want to make a bunch in different colours and sell them in a jar! We had tonnes of fun making these as well as the starfish shapes in the jar below. I like how nice they all look inside glass! I want to put them in my bathroom!



Well yesterday was a busy day. Went and saw Sadie, went and got my taxes done; went and saw Marti; came home and then left to pick up Aaron. Had fun though, so not complaining about it! Marti and I poked around in her mom's garden. Crocus' and some little white bell flower are up. A sure sign spring is here! Today's plan's include heading back to Marti's as I left my crochet bag there~crap! Also wanting to head to the book store today, looking for a new crochet pattern book and maybe even my local Zellers for some yarn!

Building Stuff la la lala....

So during my extensive "Laycation" I have been keeping myself busy by crafting. I have been building many many things. My hobbies include crochet, candle making, hemp jewelry, soap making, bath salts and scrubs and the list goes on and on! Here are some of the things that have been going on in my Tiny Kitchen!
This is a candle made with Mottled wax. All of those little spots are what we wanted for the outcome. It took us about six tries to get the desired effect! It turns out that all we had to do was give up on trying to get it and we got it! This candle is a lovely Lavender scent. We also have votives that match...without the spots as the smaller the mold the harder it is to get them!
This is a sample of the chunk candles that I have been making. The chunks are Lilac hearts, with just a plain white wax poured over it. I really like the effect this candle has as not all of the hearts are visible like these two are. Some are close to the surface so you end up with a white heart shape showing through the white wax. They look pretty neat.

Finally, for those who love to crochet...this is one of two baby blankets that I am working on. Just a Granny square pattern in multiple colours. A total of 80 squares for one blanket of 8x10. I am using Bernat Softee Baby 50z balls with a 4mm/G hook. I am getting 17 squares a ball. When these are finished I will be selling them for about $55.

Well, that's what has been keeping me busy these past months. I am also working on some shawls for my sisters wedding. I will post those soon!

Bummer

Well I guess I jinxed myself! Work called this morning and they don't need me next week. Stupid cancellations.

Beautiful Thursday

The sun is shining, the birds are singing and if I keep the door closed it at least has the appearance of being warm!

Woke up today to a phone call from work. It was for Aaron. So I got up and started my day. Had some multi-grain cheerios and a chai tea. Surfed the net for a while checking all my stuff. Talked to my girlfriend Kerry on the phone (we love to yakyakyak) and then it happened. It struck when Kerry was mid-sentence. I heard the 'beep'. So I look at the phone and...it's work. Obviously I put Kerry on hold and click over. They were calling to tell me that I am back to work next week! HURRAY! I have been so bored! This comes at a great time obviously! Well except for the fact that I signed up to take a cold pressed soap course and now that comes into question! Work will obviously win, but if I can squeeze in both then I will!

Can't wait to start getting a paycheck again. Am so looking forward to that. Getting back to work means getting my life back on track! Everything I have been planning for has been put on hold for months now! Wanting to buy a house, a new car, all of it. Going back puts those plans right back onto the front burner! Now is a great time to buy big ticket stuff, even with the nose dive in the economy! Housing prices are falling, it's totally a buyers market! Sweet! Can't find a better deal anywhere on a new car these days! Looking at one of those soon too! We are getting along fine with one car but now that I am back to work the likely hood that we will need two is very probable, as we will be on different shifts in two different parts of the plant.

Here's hoping that I get more than just one week in!

Well it's been an interesting couple of days!

On Thursday, I went with Aaron and his two friends Jamie and Alex to check out this new gaming store in Burlington. Jamie and Alex have come up with this great idea about a gamer store that is nothing like what is out there now. I don't want to go into it too much as this idea is still in it's infancy but the four of us are very excited and very busy planning things and getting ideas about costs and start up. I think this business will just be ridiculously successful and for me it is worth the investment of my time and probably eventually my money. They seem to think that it will do well, and I think that it will do so well that they will be able to franchise their store. We will see, but maybe coming to a town or city near you soon will be the most awesome kick ass gamer store ever! WoooHooo!

Friday we spent at Jamie's house. I made us a salsa dip for snacking on while we watched BSG. Then it was on to some Resident Evil 5 and some cards. I mostly crocheted during video game playing but that's cool. I am the only girl that is ever there, so I am fine with that. They get to play their video games and I always get a lot of crocheting done...and I like the company...those boys are too freakin' funny!

Saturday was spent doing a lot of research. Mostly just Internet junk, but that's okay, as I don't really have anything else to do with my time! I have offered to look up business plans and costs of furniture and the like. (What else could I do? Well lots, but really I was just looking for an excuse to go to IKEA and have a look around! Nobody had to twist my arm for that!) Then later in the evening after our business meeting, I crocheted while Jamie and Aaron played Resident Evil 5. Boys, how they love their video games! We like to play eucker when we get the chance and we always play this game called whist. Also we like to play dice. So it was an evening of fun and games

Sunday was such a boring day that I don't even remember what I did. I think though that there was a crochet hook and some yarn involved! :)

On Monday I had plans that got rescheduled. That's okay though as I did some stuff around the condo and yes, yes I crocheted! (I think I may have a problem!)

Yesterday, I went to my friend Sadie's house with our friend Kerry. I met both of these two fine women at work and now of the three of us I am the only one with a job there. It was nice to see Kerry as we don't get to see her often. We had some beers, Sadie made a fantastic chicken casserole for dinner, I painted their nails and we played cards and laughed out asses off. I think that we are going to get together every other week the three of us. With all of this time off we seemed to have forgotten how much fun us three musketeers have!

Today I am off to Lauren's house to watch some Top Model and then Lost. I am not so into Lost as everyone else but I do enjoy it. Also, I have learned to save my questions for commercial break because so much crap goes on that talking makes you miss it! And yes, I will be bringing my crochet!

Today

Today has been a great day! I won a contest today and I never win anything so maybe I should buy that lotto ticket! Also today I finally got around to backing up all of my pictures on my laptop and in turn was then able to erase my memory card for my camera! This is very exciting stuff I know. ;)

I have been busy busy busy crocheting stuff. Am currently working on a couple of granny square baby blankets, a poncho and some shawls for my sisters wedding in 2010. Good times. Will post some pictures as soon as I can. Have also been making candles and will also post some of the chunk candles I have done! Hurray for building things!

Tonight I have "big plans" to go to my BF's friend's house. We will be having salsa dip and watching Battlestar Galactica. That's right folks...it's up here for the whole world to see...my name is Nikky and I am a big nerd! Oh well at least I have fun being one!

So, now that I have won this contest I have to Pay it Forward. Hmmm what kind of contest to run? This could be very interesting!!!

Oh washing machine how do i hate thee?

I got the washer fixed today. (grumble) Feel like a complete ass. Turns out our hoses weren't on tight enough! So I paid some repair guy like $60 to tighten the hoses. What a rip. Oh well, next time I know...when the hoses start to leak change the washers and tighten the hoses! At least I can successfully change a faulty flapper in the crapper!

I did it and HomeDepot helped!

Well I know it's not like I built a kitchen or re-did the bathroom but I am damn proud. Today, today I fixed our leaking toilet! The damn thing ran constantly! It was really like having a water feature that I didn't want. I finally got tired of having to close the bathroom door to hear the TV (the kitties hate closed doors). So I finally got up the courage to do it. Now the home depot book tells me that as a novice it should take me 15 minutes to replace my flapper. It took me 15 minutes to get to home depot and get the flapper! I am really quite embarrassed about how long it took to actually get this done. The toilet has been running for months and months! I love home repair that is snap off and snap on! Now all I have to do is get the washer fixed and my life will be perfect. Perfect you ask? Yes perfect! My wonderful boyfriend bought me a pink fishing rod today...completely by surprise! So yes, it takes little to make my life perfect but that's okay with me!

Erin Spring Home Show

Well our little business is starting! The girls came over last night and we made a bunch of candles. Today I spoke to Sadie who told me about the Erin Spring Home Show. It's May 2nd at the Erin community center. We will be selling our soaps, bath salts, scrubs, and candles there! Hurray! Now is crunch time! We will be crafting like fiends!

Home Sweet Home

Well I made it. I didn't have to raise my voice once...unless I was calling them for dinner! We had a fun and productive week. They're good kids and pretty funny. A lot of work. Kids are a lot of work!

Today was my first day home...all day home at least. Cats were a bit pissed at us. The fat one tried to make a get away today while I was having a smoke at the back door. Sly little (so not little) critter snuck right passed me! Thank goodness he's a big scaredy cat and didn't get farther than the edge of the patio. Helps that I can keep up to him also!

Did a bunch of spring cleaning today, as the weather was beautiful. Cleaned the windows outside and in, wiped down the appliances and discovered that the washing machine is leaking from the hose hookups. Well there goes most of my babysitting money! Oh well, clean clothes are way more important!

Sadie and Lauren came over today and we did some crafting. We cranked out like 28 votives and a big square pillar candle in lavender. The look really nice. We managed to find a box in the condo that fits the trays for our votives perfectly. It just happened to be the same kind of box that we did our Christmas gift boxes! Some time this week I will head to the dollar store to pick some up. Then we are going to cover them in some fancy paper and make them all pretty! Nothing says fun and cut and paste!

Internet

Well, I am still babysitting. Looks like I won't be home until the wee hours of Friday morning. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed. It's driving me insane. Anyway I just thought I'd drop a little note for anyone reading this blog (hey Cher!) that my laptop is no longer ghosting a signal where I am staying so I will not be on for a while. See ya next week!

A Very Productive Sunday!

Today was a very productive day. Today I did the dishes from yesterday's baking. Rachel made cup cakes and cookies with the kids. Not a big deal as the payoff was a fresh cupcake! Then I unloaded the dishwasher and started the kids on homework and tiding their rooms. Nick's wasn't bad, he just had to make his bed but Kierstie's was...well let's just say that it was the room of a 14 year old girl! We spent the afternoon, cleaning and organizing things. We even moved her bedroom furniture around. Looks really good. Tomorrow we are going to the local dollar store to get her some small boxes to organize her drawers. She wasn't using her dresser for clothes so we made it into extra storage for her. She was very pleased. Also Nick scored himself a goal at his hockey game but he scored his sisters old radio. Now he can play CD's in his room. He was very pleased.

Tomorrow after homework is done we will craft. Tomorrow while the kids are at school Aaron and I will be heading over to BestBuy to figure out what the hell is going on with the $90 they stole from his checking account. We also phone the bank. Damn BestBuy...so very evil.

Yesterday

Yesterday I had the day off from babysitting. The relief poured in from Whitby in the form of Aaron's sister Rachel and her fiance Steve. Not that these kids are hard to babysit or anything but it was nice to escape from children's shows. We went to our friends place and plowed through 7 episodes of Battlestar Galactica...season 4. Now before you start thinking that we are total nerds let me explain. We watched this two hour made for tv movie for a lark. We laughed and laughed and joked about everyone being a Cylon. Now we can't stop. There are twelve models and only one left to find out! We are compelled to watch this show...so much so that we are almost caught up to what is playing on tv. Starting to think that maybe we are Cylons!