Pics of completed projects

Wolves cross stitched, need matting and framing. Gift for my dad. Took 4 weeks of work, 6 hours per day (ughhh)

Crescent moon cross stitched by me and matted and framed by my dad. Gift for my sister Becca.

"Abbott" sign cross stitched for my half brother Carl who changed his name back to Abbott recently. Matted and framed by my dad.

Black, tan, and white afghan made for my Grandpa Abbott. Southwest 3-D motif.

Purple/gold reversible afghan made for my wonderful "other mother".

Home Sweet Home

We are finally back from Seattle. Had a FANTASTIC time. Will post pictures later, and add details later. Am VERY tired, loooong way from here to there. Dad bought Adam and I am really nice digital camera for our anniversary and we took tons of pictures. Am working on posting those. In the mean time here are the pictures of the gifts I made for my Seattle family.

Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband. Two years!! Thank you for making it possible for me to become the person you knew I could be. Thank you for letting me be apart of your wonderful family. Thank you for being who you are, I wouldn't change a thing!
I love you.

Sorry we have to spend our anniversary in an airport...

Tooting my own horn

My husband HATES when I talk to him about my grades, so I figure I can brag just a little on here.
I made the Dean's list for the 6th quarter in a row! Yeah me! OK I am done now.

I am an addict

I am out of the denial stage and I will finally admit it... I am addicted to cross stitching and crocheting. They say you are not really "addicted" to something until it starts affecting other aspects of your life. My addiction IS affecting other aspects of my life. I make pretty things instead of cleaning my house or reading books that I want to finish before school starts again. I wonder if there is a group for this...
But to add to my addiction I am going to start posting pictures of my finished products online, for two reasons 1) I am just that nuts and 2) so I don't forget what I made.
So look forward to that little treat all three of you who read my blog!

Comment

This was a comment I left on my cousin's blog regarding his worry about the glow in the dark cats in Korea:

Speaking as a political scientist, there is little to fear from Korea. The North can hardly feed its own people, the South relies on the trade of the Western World for its survival. I do not think glow in the dark cats is a sign of the end, but I do think it is cruel and horrendous to screw with nature in that way. There seems to be no logical purpose for creating animals such as these, I feel bad for the cats, not concerned for humanity. At least not because of this, I would be more concerned with our desire to destroy our environment if I were you. There will be no where for people to clone cats if the planet has run out of resources.

** There is a lot of scary, horrible things in the world, but I believe our efforts should be concentrated on sustainability rather than novelty cats. Shame on you scientists for wasting your time torturing felines instead of finding ways to save humanity from itself.

Idle Hands

During an academic quarter I am the most diligent person I know. I get all of my reading done early and turn in all assignments on time. As soon as a break hits it's like I am a different person. A lazy person. I have so much extra time to get all sorts of stuff done around the house and yet here I am posting crap on a blog. What the heck is wrong with me? I leave on vacation in 6 days and my house is...well I suppose sty is the best way to put it. I have been cooking everyday, so i guess that is something. That is certainly not something I do during the quarter. Last night I made vegetable lasagna (from scratch!) and it was awesome. But as far as putting laundry away or sorting through the books I promised my husband I would sort through, no way. We have to be out of this apartment when Adam leaves on March 31, so I should really get my butt in gear. I can only take the essentials with me to the hotel where I will be living alone until I graduate. Ugh... Any tips for forcing yourself to do things you don't want to??

Yeah for Christmas!!

With my views (or non-views) on religion being what they are, it may seem strange that I LOVE Christmas. I think the reason for this is two-fold: 1) Christmas is so very commercialized that it is no longer about Jesus' birthday and what not (which actually took place in July and not December, the Catholic church moved the celebration to December so as to try to win over the pagans during their celebration of the winter solstice, bit of trivia for you there). and 2) The "meaning" of Christmas to me is a time to be with family, to be kind to others, to appreciate the wonders of humanity... which I suppose are things we should be doing everyday, but isn't it a lot easier to do when surrounded by tinsel, lights, pretty things to eat and festive music?? I love this time of year, its the rest of winter that sucks... I suppose it will not be so bad when I get out of frigid Ohio.
So to my fellow non-believers: suck it up, Christmas doesn't belong to the Christians any more, and Christians, you are just going to have to accept that. Unless you want to tell retail stores they can no longer endorse "your" holiday.
I will be celebrating Christmas in the beautiful city of Seattle this year with my dad and his family. I have not seen may dad for almost two years and have not spent a Christmas with him in 6 years. Adam has never been to Seattle and I lived there for several years so I get to play tour guide. I am really excited.
To everyone:
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Winter Solstice, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year! May we ALL practice tolerance, or better yet, acceptance this holiday season.

Monday

Mondays are not so bad when you don't have school... or a job to go to. This is only my second winter break since I became a full time student (meaning: not going to school and working 40 hours a week). I hate the feeling that I am not getting anything done. I have been making Christmas presents for a few weeks now and that has helped keep me active. I cross stitch and crochet like no body's business. I just wish my favorite hobbies involved some form of exercise. I feel like such a lump, at least when I am in school I have to walk two miles to and from classes and to and from the parking lot.

Some good news:
I finished my application for grad school, I just have to find one more professor willing to write me a letter of recommendation and get my transcripts sent to ASU. It is exciting to think that at this time next year I will be one semester into my master's work. Deciding not to go to law school was probably the second best decision I have ever made (the first would be marrying my husband). I feel excitement about the future and not dread, as I did when contemplating law school. I know I could have handled it mentally, but that gauntlet is not something I want to put myself through for a legal system that I no longer have faith in. The only thing in this world I have passion about is seeing the human race not extinguish itself before my niece is old and gray. We WILL NOT survive if we continue to live as the species of maximum harm on this planet. If you doubt that statement at all you seriously need to do some research. I am not just talking about global warming, I mean pollution, destruction of biomass, lack of clean drinking water and biodiversity. There is going to be a food war on this planet and the only way to slow it is by ceasing the planting of food crops on top of forest. Overpopulation is causing our biggest problems, but try telling that to a nation full of Catholics.
For further information on the information presented here please see the following books, or as I like to think of them, my personal sources of guidance:
1.) Beyond Civilization by Daniel Quinn (in my opinion the most important book ever written)
2.) Ismael, also by Daniel Quinn (may need to be read first in order to understand Beyond Civilization)
3) ANYTHING written by Jared Diamond; including: Collapse; Guns, Germs and Steel; and the one I am currently reading, The Third Chimpanzee.
I beg of anyone to read just one of these books (but all would be best), I guarantee it will change your way of thinking, and if doesn't, you weren't paying attention.

** I realize my posts make me seem like a bitter husk of a person, but I swear I am not, I love humanity and I love life, which is why I care about these things so much.