T Wearing Hat, Scarf & Arm Warmers

I made all of these for him to wear when we move, so he won't freeze. :)

Something Yummy, Something Hilarious & Something Iffy

The kids and I went out shopping this morning. We headed over to the Farmer’s Market, the 100 Yen Store and then to Max Value.  We scored some interesting stuff. First we found something yummy! My favorite rice at the Farmer’s Market!

Then at the 100 Yen store, the funniest thing! A set of appliqués (stickers) for the toilet that have faces on them and say “Mission Success!” and  “ Relax your head. Relax your face good…”  Yeah, when we move into our new house, these are SO going on my toilet!!

Next, at Max Value we found some almost tasteless gelatinous blobs that you roll in a powder that smells and tastes kind of peanutty.  I did NOT care for these, but my daughter who will eat any kind of Japanese food LOVED them.

Boys Arm/Wrist Warmers

One pair of Mario & Luigi Arm Warmers to match the Mario & Luigi scarf.

And one pair of plain black arm warmers for the Iron Maiden fan!

Headphones Fixer-Upper

When we got my daughter a leapster it was obvious that we needed to get her a pair of headphones. And by obvious I mean she would turn the volume all the way UP and even after repeated requests to turn it down, the volume always seemed to creep back up.  I told my husband we should get her these nifty kid safe headphones.  The volume can't go past a reasonable level making them safe for kids' ears. Perfect, or so I thought! They work great, but had this flimsy foam around the ear parts.  Notice i said had. Needless to say, within 2 days the foam was ripped off and she had deemed the headphones "broken".   The husband was NOT happy with my purchase and I was not happy because she was now refusing to use them.  Well, I decided to try crocheting her some covers for them. The crocheting part was easy, the fitting the covers to the earphones was the hard part. I had to unscrew 4 screws on each side and then tie the cover underneath and screw it back together. I am hoping it holds together because she is gonna need these things for the move. So here is my handy work. I used DMC thread in 2 colors and a tiny hook. 

A Wee Bit of Me Wednesdays...

From this blog





{one} have you ever milked a cow or a goat?
A cow.  It was really weird.



{two} what sound does your alarm make when it goes off in the morning?
Well, my alarm clock is WAVE 89 (which I can't stand), but it wakes me up. Or I get woken up by my other alarm clock that pokes my in the shoulder or face and says, "Wake up Mama. It's morning!".


{three} chocolate milk or hot chocolate?
Chocolate milk, but I prefer the store bought rather than plain milk that I have added chocolate syrup to. :)


{four} what is one of the quirkiest things about you?
I like to have my living room spotless before i can relax for the evening. I can't relax with toys and junk all over the place. My husband thinks I'm nuts, but the clutter/mess stresses me out. So I have to clean up before I can sit down to watch tv or crochet or whatever after the kids are in bed.


{five} are you more like your mom or your dad?
Both. I have traits and qualities from both, I don't feel like I lean more towards one than the other.
And I actually think I look like my dad, but I have my mom's hair & eye color.


{six} do you sleep with the tv on?
Nope. I need the white noise like fan and no radio or tv.


{seven} if you were a crayon, what color would you be?
pink or maroon.


{eight} ross, joey, or chandler?
Definitely Chandler!


{nine} do you play any musical instruments?
Nope.


{ten} what’s the worst thing you’ve ever cooked/baked?
A dinner that I just threw together thinking I could do it without a recipe.... NOT GOOD!


let’s see your answers!

Yet Another Light Scarf

This scarf is perfect for Okinawa. It is cute but not too heavy. I am still loving making and using pom poms. :)

I used this free pattern, but I didn't like the bottom ruffles. So instead I made the pom poms. :)

Finally Found Some Time to Crochet!!! YAY!

I desperately need (want) to make some really nice gifts for the kids' teachers and for family. Finding the time to do this has been challenging lately.  I have to have the kids' teacher gifts done by atleast mid November before the movers pack us out and all of my lovely yarn has been sent on its way.  But between the kids having multiple days off of school and just life in general, time has not been on my side.  But I was able to sit down and crochet 2 really nice scarves this week.  The first one is made from some very thin fuzzy yarn (mohair or something like that, I scored a GIANT cone of it from the thrift store) and the second is made from an acrylic/wool blend.  The second smelled not so great and the packaging actually said that it might have an odd smell. But I soaked the scarf in the washer with snuggle and now it smells wonderful! Anyway, here are my 2 scarves. I plan on making as many of the 1st scarf that I can from the giant cone of loveliness. Plus I want to keep one for me cause it is so soft and beautiful!! :)

Thanks to my awesome son for modeling. I told him I would cut his head out of the pics if he wanted, but he said he didn't mind. :) 

Just Doing a Little Destashing....

I was just doing a little destashing when the cheesiest kid I know got in the picture!

Welcome to Today's Edition of Preschool Pockets

For My Little Packrat

My daughter is obsessed with finding bags, purses, backpacks, SOCKS, anything to put her tiny animals (mostly little pet shops) in and carry around with her. I had started making this little bag as new cup bag for her for school. But I soon realized the handbook said it had to be sewn and a certain size, well I had already started this one. So it became her new animal/rock carrying bag. I am in love with the pom poms. I have only made a few recently, but I think I need to add them to everything now! ;)

I didn't use a pattern, I just kind of made it up as I went along. :)

Photos from the Weekend

She was watching the fishermen.

Chucks on the beach.

Daddy long legs and Baby short legs. :)

Smile :)

Hubby's shadow.

Checking out the tide pools.

Low tide.

This was so cool to walk on and see all of the sea life.

More tide pools.

Safe from the sun.

Shisa on a bridge.

Shisa on the other side of the bridge.

Shisa up close.

More Exploring Okinawa

In case anyone is interested, I posted more photos from our family exploration of Okinawa this weekend. We drove out to Hamahiga Island.

It was beautiful. 

The rest of the photos can be seen here.

Not AGAIN!!!!

Yep she did it again.

The boys never brought me bugs, in fact they don't even want to touch these.
But my sweet little girl just grabs them up like nobody's business!

Unsure if the bug is a beetle.
But she did tell me that she "Squished it REAL GOOD!".

And this time I got a dead bug AND a snail shell!

Score!

New Photos of Okinawa

New photos from a day out in Okinawa are posted on my photography blog, check em out!

http://nikkipaigephotography.blogspot.com/2010/09/american-village-in-okinawa.html

Women's Winter Hat

Title is kinda boring and I was unsure of how this hat would look when I started it.  I made this for a friend who is also moving somewhere cold after living here in Oki for 3 years.  I love it so much I think this may be the hat I make for myself for our move!

Onto the photos. :)

Free pattern available at http://www.caron.com/
it is called Tri-Color Cloche but as you can see I only used 2 colors.

While I Appreciate the Recognition....

I love that people read my blog. I mean, after all that is WHY I blog, to share my stories, triumphs and photos. If you like my blogs and the things I make please feel free to share a link to my blog. Is not okay however to post MY photos on your blog.  Please do not take my photos and post them anywhere or use them for anything. I just saw my photos posted on someone's blog and while there was a link back to my blog, it is not okay to repost my photos. Please be respectful of my blog and all my hardwork. 

Thanks!

Nikki

With Sprinkles & a Cherry on Top

Continuing with the theme of making things to keep the family warm when we move from this tropical island in December, here is my daughter's winter hat.  I used this pattern as the basis for the hat.  That pattern is for a small doll hat, but I enlarged it to fit a 4 year old.  Also I had to make up my own scalloped edge for the middle of the cupcake.  I tied small knots in different colors of yarn and tied them on to make the sprinkles. I also made the cherry from homespun yarn.  My daughter was unimpressed with the hat until I added the sprinkles and cherry then she was thrilled! :)

Not sure what is going on here with the evil look and crazy karate hands! lol

New Tshirt & Hoodies...It's About Time!!

I had purchased some plain tshirts and hoodies LAST year to paint for my boys.

Umm, yeah about that. 

The shirts now are only big enough to fit 1 child, the older one has grown so much that he is now taller than me!

Yikes.

Well, better late than never, plus the younger son is more likely to wear fun stuff made by mom than the teenager! ;)

So here are the shirts.

Star Wars? or Topher Wars....

Mario hoodie

Goomba hoodie

Thanks for looking!

BTW all of these were done with freezer paper stencils cut by hand.