Crafts & Books

This has not been a good day for me. I was able to squeeze into the doctor this morning. I threw up two Wednesdays ago, then again Friday, then Monday. He checked to make sure I wasn't pregnant (I'm not but he made an unwelcome joke about twins). Next he handed me a sheet on gastrointestinitus. I told him this isn't what I have - I am definately not experiencing loss of appetite (I'm ravenous) and I only had one out of the seven or so symptoms listed. Finally he decided that it was a sinus infection since I have a history of them. He didn't even look at my sinuses to see if that was the problem. He gave me a bunch of Alegra and more nasal spray and sent me on my way with a pass to come back if I haven't stopped throwing up in a week. After leaving the doctor's office, I am worse today than I have been. I have been sick off an on all day while trying to work. It hurts my chest, my arms, and my head afterwards. I really want to curl up in bed in the fetal position and just sleep for a week - but I can't do that. Too much to do, and so little time.

I called the doctor back and I have to go back in tomorrow - but they aren't going to charge me this time. I'm meeting with another doctor instead, so maybe this time they will at least look at my sinuses to make sure that's what the problem is. I have been throwing up so hard that I burst blood vessels all around my eyes. Not pretty.

But enough complaining. Saturday night I hosted craft night at my house. The girls decided to allow Isaac to be involved this one time. Isaac came early so we could go to the craft store. We were in there forever. Longer than when I go with the girls. It was fun though. Afterwards we came home and I cut of veggies for a veggie tray and Isaac baked cupcakes. He made chocolate and I frosted those with vanilla and sprinkles, and butter pecan frosted with cream cheese frosting.

Here are some shots of Isaac baking. I should have put my mom's apron on him.



We mostly worked on making soap again. Here is a bar I made for my brother. I'm made him two bars of soap and I'm sending them along with a My Lip Stuff Mystery Balm, and two body butters from Scentsational Soaps. I'm putting it in a cute little take out box. He doesn't read my blog, so I'm not worried about ruining the surprise.

Emily making soap.

I also made another Lilac bar for Steve's grandma, which I'm putting into a gift basket with a lavender eye pillow, a Bathed and Infused hand cream, and a Magic Hand's Workshop lilac soap. She loves lilac. I'm going to try to get to Great American to get her a dram of lilac oil too before I give her the basket.

Elaine's pillow is the blue one and Steve's grandma's is in pink.

And, since I'm lax in mailing off a letter to Amber that I wrote in December along with a book, I made her a bar of soap. She said I had sent her one before that smelled like jellybeans. Helen, Emily and I all sniffed a bunch and we all agreed on Strawberry Jam as being the one that smells like jelly beans. And I had bought some presents for Isabelle back in December but haven't seen Tina since then, so I'm going to mail them along with the cherry vanilla soap that I made for her.

Jelly bean soap for Amber

We also worked on eye pillows. As I mentioned, I made one for Steve's grandma. I actually sat atthe sewing machine and did the sewing myself. I'm not very good at it. It kept coming unthreaded. What a mess. I also sew a little crooked. I'm going to see if Steve's mom can teach me when I get to Arizona since I have a sewing machine (just have to get it fixed). By the end of the night I was exhausted so Emily helped me finish the one for Elaine (the winner of my Bloggy Giveaway). I wanted it to be perfect.

Helen sewing.

Sunday I spent a big chunk of the day making soap to take with me to Arizona. I've been buying chunks of glycerin every week with the 40% and 50% off coupons to Micheals and Joann Fabrics. I'm still doing that so when Nikki comes we can teach her to make soap. We're also going to make hoops for hoop dancing when she is here.

We didn't end up making horns, so we will have to do that another night. In the meantime, FIMO is half price at Joann's until the 17th. Also the yarn I'm using to make baby blankets for my sister are on sale $2-$5. I might use my 40% off coupon this week on fabric instead of soap. There is this cute premade fabric to make baby doll dresses. It only requires one seem. Emily made one and it came out cute, and with the coupon it was really cheap.

Baby blankets for my sister

Yesterday I got another Lush charm bracelet in the mail. This one was made by Kranberryjam over at Etsy. Her charms are a lot smaller, but she is good with detail. I also like that her clasp is one that actually closes instead of a toggle. I'll be less likely to lose it.

The charms are Big Blue, Creamy Candy, Sex Bomb, Karma Komba, Bathos and Think Pink.

I finished reading Dean Koontz's "The Darkest Evening of the Year." It was a nice story, but kind of a let down. Lately his books are less with the creepy and supernatural and more with the good of humanity. I kind of miss the sci-fi/horror books he wrote. "The Good Guy" and "The Husband" just weren't what his writing used to be. The fourth book in the Odd Thomas series, "Odd Hours" comes out this month. I hope that it's as good as the first two were. I was disappointed in the third.

Also recently released or coming in the next couples months are three books by Francesca Lia Block (one of my favorite authors), "Blood Roses," "How to (Un)cage a Girl," and "Quakeland." The latest Anita Blake book, "Blood Noir," comes out this month. I'm a sucker for Laurell K. Hamilton's books. The next in her Meredith Gentry series, "Swallowing Darkness" comes out in November. I can hardly wait. Fairies and Vampires are my guilty pleasures.

In the meantime, I'm reading "Coyote Blue" by Christopher Moore. It's not as funny as most of his books, but it's still a good read, and well written. I'm also reading "Wicked" so I can give it back to Emily.