I do so love Mad Men even though I haven't had cable for a year now. But I've been able to watch the episodes online and am seriously considering getting the DVDs. The writing, the acting, the clothes, the sets...it's wonderful eye candy.

Thanks to padawansguide for sharing this link. This has got to be one of my favorite iconizers around because you can choose body types and the clothes are groovy and there's a few different backgrounds. Thumbs up!


http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/madmenyourself

Well, except for the first one perhaps...but then, I wasn't around for that one.

We headed into the weekend with no concrete plans. My dad was going to stop by on Saturday evening to spend the night on his way to Iowa but aside from that we had a three day weekend full of not much to do. Which was fine by me, honestly. I spent Friday morning doing laundry and then hung out at MisKnits for a few hours.

When I got home, our former foster kids had called to see if they could come over. We said sure, had some dinner and then headed out the door to go pick them up. Sid wanted to bring Lucy because what dog doesn't love rides, right? Anyway, Sid usually drives the van when we go out so when he headed out the door with Lucy, I grabbed my purse, twisted the lock on the door and swung it shut behind me. As it clicked, Sid asked me if I had keys. Um, nope, I figured since he'd be driving and he was already outside with the dog that he already had his keys. So I had my knitting and that was about it. Oops.
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So there was this time when I once did something foolish and used a Sharpie instead of eyeliner. A simple command of "pics or it didn't happen" has led to that photo being hit in web searches nearly every day since then.



So looking at the Google image search for "sharpie eyeliner", my pic is currently third just behind Amy Winehouse. I'm not sure what to think about that but it is more than a little disturbing, actually.

It used to be that one of my most looked at photos was my niece in the Halloween costume I made in 2008.



So much cuter than my wacked out last minute almost eye makeup, don't you think?

It's been a week since we said goodbye to our dear puppy Kasey. She was about 12 (rescue dog so no accurate birthdate available) and she lived with us for 7 years. I finally feel composed enough to be able to write a bit about her.

This is my favorite photo of her. She was pretty photogenic even though she was a strange looking dog and not really all that cute in person. But we loved her very much and will miss her greatly.

I never really had pets before meeting Sid. When I met him, he already had Jerry the Wondercat and our other cat, Tipper, moved in shortly after I met him. She used to live with his sister and brother-in-law until their young kids started walking. Honestly, I thought two cats was the limit for pets in our small house in St. Louis.

But about six months before we got married, Sid and I were talking about childhood friends and so on. He started telling me about the dogs he had befriended over the years and how much they meant to him. We agreed that night to think about getting a dog.

The next day, he asked me to meet him at the local shelter. He had found a great dog he wanted me to meet. So I spent my lunch hour with him at the shelter getting to know Kasey. She was a bigger dog than I had in mind so I wanted to see some smaller dogs. There was an assortment of cute smaller dogs but they were all under a year old and we wanted a somewhat older dog. Plus, Kasey would sit, lay down, heel and was pretty mellow compared to all the other dogs. She didn't even pay the cats any attention as they were brought into the facility. So we agreed that she was the dog for us.

We walked her out to the parking lot and before I headed back to work in my car, I went over to Sid's truck to see them off. What did I find in the truck? Dog food, bowls, toy, leash and collar. The whole nine yards. So maybe I was had, but Kasey had captured my heart anyway.

We had our ups and downs with her but overall, they were seven happy years that we were able to spend with her.

Good bye dear Kasey. There's a dog-shaped hole in my heart for you.

So the day that I Sharpied my eyelids? I came home to this...



I don't feel so bad now. And yes, he's wearing his MacNair shirt that the Jos and I made for him. How he puts up with my geekery is beyond me.

This past weekend was productive and fun! I finished knitting the neckline of a sweater that needs the sleeve hem stitched and ends woven in and then it can be called complete.

The husband and I spent a bunch of time cleaning and rearranging furniture this weekend in anticipation for a party yesterday. I'm so pleased with how the house looks right now. The only room that really needs help right now is my craft room. But it's mostly clutter that just needs to be put in its proper place. So I'll whittle away at that a bit more this week.

Anyway, I feel like having a party every week right now because I really like having people over. If I can manage to keep the house clean for myself instead of slacking off because who the heck ever comes over anyway...maybe that could be a good thing.

But either way, it was really nice to wake up to a clean house this morning.

It hasn't washed off yet.

However, I have posted three days in a row so that's got to count for something.

Substituting eyeliner with a Sharpie marker ten minutes before a board meeting could provide less than favorable results.






edited to add photo sincesmeddley believes that photos prove existence



also, it's very difficult to take a photo of one's self with a darn camera phone...and it looks worse in person...this photo only looks like it's my first time trying eyeliner

I've been spinning so much in the past two months. I rented a wheel for a short time and spun up most of my fiber stash. I only have a bit of alpaca and various odds and ends right now. Here's some of the alpaca roving I had and how it looks after it was spun.



It was a tri-color roving and even though it's a spun single...it looks like it's been plied. It is so soft and luscious to touch.

I also spun up some pretty superwash wool from Zarzuela's Fibers in Cranberry Bog.


Oh and I've knit some stuff but I only have an in progress photo to show off. Here are some mittens that I knit up from some of the cashmere handspun that I bought in Scotland last summer.



They are so soft and toasty and Jen calls this yarn softer than puppy sneezes. Which is much better than my description of softer than angel farts.

"It is best to act with confidence, no matter how little right you have to it."

I have that pinned up on my bulletin board at work and it makes me chuckle. It's practically an insult, you know.