Press Release for Dynamic Massage & Bodyworks

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Jo’Elle Galo
Dynamic Massage and Body Works
301 West First Street Suite 303
Board of Trade Building
218-310-9883

Joellegalo@hotmail.com

GRAND OPENING

Dynamic Massage and Body Works moves to the Board of Trade Building
Jo’Elle Galo, CMT and owner of Dynamic Massage and Body works will celebrate the Grand Opening of her new studio on Sunday, January 23rd from 11:00 -3:00 and Monday January 24th from 11:00 to 6:00. Come in and enjoy free chair massage, and Paraffin hand wax. Enter the drawing for a free hour massage and receive 10% off any appointments scheduled during the grand opening celebration.

Jo’Elle Galo, Certified Massage Therapist in the Twin Ports since 1999, has relocated Dynamic Massage and Body Works to Suite 303 of the Board of Trade building. “I am delighted to have the opportunity to bring comprehensive massage therapy services to downtown Duluth”.

In a relaxing and peaceful atmosphere Dynamic Massage and Body works offers 30-120 minute massage appointments, chair massage, Escalon Relaxation, Deep Tissue and Pregnancy Massage, Hot Paraffin hand treatment, Lymph Drainage Therapy, Trigger Point Release, Stress Release, Diabetic foot massage, Hot Stone Therapy and Muscle Fatigue Release treatments.
The benefits of massage include increased circulation, lower blood pressure, reduced stress, pain reduction, accident and injury rehabilitation, medical maintenance and supports overall well being.
Visiting Dynamic Massage and Body Works could be the first step to a healthy life style.

New Project?? WHY??

Why is it, I am sitting in my chair surrounded by three projects I have recently started and not yet completed, I feel this impulse to look through my past magazine issues to find a new idea?  I love the 100% silk I am working with, as well as the new Merino wool scarf project.  What is it about crafters in general that makes us want to start the next thing??  Are we all a little bit ADD and can't complete 1 project before we start another?  It it as simple as some sort of chemical imbalance in our brains that explains it, or is it the creative side that just wants to keep moving forward?  I love the creative part of my brain but sometimes it gets in the way of the technical side of completeing projects.  If anyone out there has figured out a way deal with both of these issues please, I beg you to step in and help.  I am also quite sure I am not the only one here with this problem.

Where did the summer go??

August 18th today???  Where did the summer go???? 

        Well, Mike and I went to 5 different blues festivals this summer.  We traveled quite a bit and saw some amazing Blues acts.  We first started out for a one day event in Minneapolis MN.  It rained but it was still a great day.  Next, we left the country and saw the Thunder Bay Blues Festival.  It was fantastic.  We were home for two days and then we left for Sioux Falls South Dakota.  It was a Jazz and Blues Festival that we really enjoyed.  One week later we left for Grand Rapids for the newly relocated Boundary Waters Blues festival.  Mike managed the bar and I ran the hospitality, back stage area.  We worked harder in that week of "vacation" then we do all year long, call us nuts but we loved it and can't wait to go back next year.  Nine days later it was the start of Bayfront Blues Festival. The weather was not great for it but we enjoyed the last of our vacation days.
        Now that life has settled down just a bit; well for me anyway, I promise I will start back with my posts.  I will soon give you more details about our trips and add some photos from some of them. (my blog is called Crochet Blues after all.)  I am also starting a new job at Yarn Harbor.  I am very excited about working there and helping people choose yarn and answering questions.

You know you are an adult when.....

     You know you have become an adult when a new major appliance is exciting.  Our stove finally gave up the good fight.  I guess it decided it would try to take us with it on the way out.  I smelled gas, we checked the stove and it was turned on and kicking gas into the room.  The boy-child turned it off and about 10 minutes later it was doing it again.  We unplugged it and sent it out the door before it could poison us or blow up our home.  Small details.  We went shopping all over town, looked at stoves and ended up buying one at the first place we looked.  We got the new one home and it is happy in our kitchen.   It is really shiney!  Mike and I have gone into the kitchen just to look at it.

      I started looking around and noticing all those things you walk past everyday.  The muddy paw prints on the floor, the jelly finger prints on the front of the counter. Lets not even talk about the kickplate under the fridge.  That is just tooo scary of a place to go.  I watch too many ccrime scene shows, I guess I have other ways of collecting dna for my kids if they ever go missing.  I can get rid of the fingerprints I have in jelly, preserving thier dna.  After crawling around the floor, scrubbing and cursing myself for not doing it sooner, I got it looking pretty good and then after all that work it was time to cook a meal and make dirty dishes, let the dog in and track more mud in to the kitchen.... AHHHHHHH.  I gave up and called for delivery!!

Hockey Palyers are not right in the head!!

           Hockey players are just not right in the head. Now I understand the game is everything and the show must go on, I grew up in both theatre and “the State of hockey”, but sometimes you should step back and look at life for a second. I am specifically talking about hockey players who lose teeth like Duncan Kieth just did in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He got hit and knocked out 4 teeth. He had 3 root canals and went back to the game. Now a normal person would go to the dentist and actually take a day off from work, not a hockey player. I wanted to do some research so I went online and searched for “hockey players teeth out” the first entry I got was this one.


amandakaschube ‎: 3rd grade: I lost my front tooth (via a volleyball net) and still went to my brownie meeting that night. I'm hockey player tough. #justsayin

Twitter -

6 minutes ago

So what are we teaching our kids????

These are some comments from the night Belanger lost his teeth.

AP Photo/Nick Wass"I knew I was in trouble, but what are you going to do? It's the playoffs," Eric Belanger said Saturday of his injuries.

Belanger says Saturday he "felt my teeth shatter, right away," when Canadiens defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron's stick hit him in the mouth in the first period of Montreal's 2-1 victory at Washington in Game 5 of their playoff series Friday night. Belanger needed some serious dental work at the arena, getting exposed tooth roots trimmed -- then returned to the ice midway through the third period. He was hit 2 more times in the same place that night; he had to leave the end of the game to get needed medical attention.

I am not putting down the game or the players; I myself am a fan of the game and follow it religiously but it does not change the fact and all this just goes to prove my point –

Hockey players are not right in the head.

Crochet Patterns for Sale

Patterns For Sale

I will soon have my crochet patterns available for sale from this blog.  They will be in a pdf download and will be processed through paypal.  They are currently available on Ravelry.com

The crochet patterns I currently have available for purchase are:

Crochet Felted Monk Satchel

 

Crochet Summer Hat

More coming soon.

Maverick helps with my shrug

I am working on a new pattern that will be for sale on Ravelry soon.  It is a crochet shrug.  I have made the medium size (pictured) and I am in the process of making the Xlarge size right now.  I had some help from Maverick.  I laid it out to measure the width and length and Maverick decided it was a nice soft place to lay down.  I guess it got his seal of approval. 

Trip to Illinois

     Tomorrow I am leaving on a trip. I am abandoning my family for the open road and the search for the perfect yarn store. I go on a few trips like this a year. I am not alone in my quests; I have a friend, who shall remain nameless for the time being. We have to decide on the best pseudonym for her, we will discuss it during the many hours we will be on the road. We thought about Thelma and Louise but that tends to bring up images of murder and cliffs, we don’t want to go there.
       The trips we go on are for fun, we usually have a final destination in mind and eventually get to where we are intending to go. We don’t always take the most direct or time saving route. One trip we took was a 4 hour drive that took us 10 hours to do. We saw yarn and quilt stores along the way and were drawn to them like moths to a flame. We have a Garmin which we have renamed Carmen who gets very upset with us. If you have ever programmed a Garmin for a destination and then not followed her directions you would know she gets VERY upset. She starts telling you, in a very sarcastic voice, to make a u-turn NOW. If you keep going the “wrong way” she gets more aggressive and starts “recalculating” to find you a new way back to the intended destination. We are actually on our second Garmin, I think the first one got so fed up with us, it just gave up and decided it would no longer hold a charge so it would not have to deal with us. Mike would say it was just a machine and could not get upset with us, but I know she secretly enjoyed when we made a sudden turn and she could yell at us. I also think the old one and the new communicated before we left on our last trip. We were at a yarn store, off the path of course, and she was yelling at us to get back to the main highway and she gave us directions to do so, but she instead lead us right into the middle of a trailer park. After we got our breath back from laughing so hard we managed to find our own way back to the highway and continue on down the road. On that trip we also had a small problem when the technology in the car started fighting and we were no longer in control. What was that about computers eventually taking over, never mind Hal? We were trying to make a call with On-star and Carmen decided to tell us where we had gone wrong once again. On-star did not like her interrupting and yelled at us to get rid of the background noise if we wanted to speak to her. Quite an odd experience having the on-board computers gets into a catfight.
      Tomorrow we are on our way to see friends in Illinois. We plan to spend one day traveling to Galena Ill. It is a 9 hour trip as per Carmen. We will see what happen. We will spend the night there and hit the local yarn store and see what else we find. I will keep you all posted as we go. I suppose I should go to bed so I can get up and be ready for a full day of pissing off Carmen.

The girl child turns 21

Hooray Hooray its the 6th of May!

A new baby girl was born this day.

No longer a young pup,

She is now 21 and all grown up!

She has become a lovely young woman

I am proud to say.

We love her just that way.

The Girl-child turned 21 this week.  Overall I am ok with it, but I realize I must have been 12 when she was born.  I don't remember being quite so young but I couldn't possibly be old enough to have a 21 year old.  She is doing well with the boy in the new apartment.  She has grown into a lovely young woman and we are very proud of her.   I am still working in cleaning out the "stuff" she "forgot" when she left.  The craft room is a work in progress.

Hooray! Hooray!

Hooray! Hooray!

It's the first of May

Outdoor Screwing Starts Today!

That, is all I have to say!

Research, Reaserch, Research

     Today I spent many hours sipping juice, (sorry, I am not a coffee drinker) and eating cookies, oh yeah I could not decide between the peanut buttercup and the oatmeal raisin cookie so I had to get both, in the café at Barnes and Noble. Boy, those seats are hard! I don’t think they really want you to stay there for long periods of time. I am sure the idea is for you to get your, half calf mocha latté chino frappe thingy and down it in 2.5 seconds and go boppin on your way as you float out of the store on a sugar and caffeine rush from hell. Well anyway, I had a couple of hours to kill and I did not want to go home and be faced with the dirty dishes and laundry that needs to get done so I went there to get some research done.

     I poured through many books, which I did not buy just perused, to learn about the world of publishing. The irony of me sitting in a bookstore trying to get information about publishing a book that I actually want people to buy and not just look through was not lost on me. I got to the section called Publishing and there was a sticky note on the shelf that said start here.

      I figured it was a sign from god and was as good a place to start as any. I found many, many books that covered all aspects of the publishing field. I learned all about query letters, what they are and why I need to learn how to write them. I even read two different books that showed me bad examples of them. I learned that I really know less about the subject then I realized I did. I do not know that I am any closer to getting my book done then I was last year, (FYI- I had no plans of doing a book last year.).
      Mike did some research online for me last night about the company Bob represents. Remember Bob? (Refer to blog post: the book is becoming a reality.) Now I am not so sure anymore. His research turned up some not so encouraging things about self publishing, actually today I learned the services they offer are not really self-publishing but is called vanity publishing. Now, does that have a bad connotation to it or is it just me? Depending on who you listen to, it is the best or worst thing a person can do to get a book printed and into the hands of the public. I read today that companies like that sell more books to the authors, at a discounted rate but no royalty, then they do to the general public. That is not the news I wanted to hear!! Oh well I guess I will keep writing the patterns, working up the samples and see where this all takes me.
     The moral of my day is this; after several hours of reading and thumbing through books that I thought might help me, I left for work with a numb butt, a sugar high, at least I think that is why I can’t stop tapping my foot, more scared and confused then I was before I started doing research. If you find yourself in a Barnes and Noble café for several hours perusing but not buying books, bring a pillow to sit on and just go for the peanut butter cookie. The oatmeal raisin was good but it suspiciously resembled something healthy.

My book will become a reality!

    I moved a step closer to getting patterns completed for the book last night, or this morning, it was about 2 a.m. but I had not really been to bed yet, so I am not sure which you would call it. I got a call from Bob, Bob is my wannabe publisher, or at least the agent assigned to sell me as much as possible to “help get my book published. He called to offer me a deal that I could not refuse and to, in his words “light a fire under me” to get the process going. I have decided the best thing for me is to start out self publishing with an on-demand company. I have learned quite a lot about the publishing industry lately. On-demand means you pay them to help you put together a book and they offer it for sale to bookstores; on-line and brick and mortar. Then whenever someone orders a copy they print it and send it. I make money off the sale of those books, if and when they get ordered. Bob’s job is to sell me a package to get the book printed and edited and maybe, for a little bit extra, advertised. He is also there to keep me motivated and actively working on the project.

     So, the progress I was talking about, remember, that is how this all started, I have been searching for months for a program that will allow me to put my crochet designs in a graph format. I finally found a couple of them last night. The first one was for sale for $160.00 and on a disk they would send; the second was available for immediate download for $3.95. Can you guess which one I went with? Bells and whistles are overrated. This program will allow me to write my patterns in word form then to translate them into graphs. This is exciting because more and more patterns coming out right now are offered in both forms. It helps those of us that are very visual, to read patterns more easily. Graphs have a lot of X’s and O’s and squiggly lines all over. These graphs sort of look like a football playbook. Actually, I think I have seen some patterns that would make a pretty good football play when graphed out. Note to self: get a hold of Chilly and let him know about those. Hey they can’t be any worse than some of the plays he called last season!! Maybe I can even design one that Bret can throw and AP can actually catch. Hey I may have a whole new career going here. Football plays disguised as graphed crochet patterns. Ok settle back down to earth and deep breath, whewwwww moving on. So the long and short of it is I am getting to work on my patterns! The book may become a reality. Check that, WILL become a reality. I guess I should not spend any more time procrastinating here I should be working on writing patterns.

Losing your computer cord sucks!

      I was at a wonderful quilt retreat last weekend and got 3 whole projects completed. It was great! I made a MN Wild (that’s hockey) wall hanging for Mike. I also made two bags, one was very easy and one we lovingly referred to as “the bag from hell!!” They both turned out great and I love them. The main problem with the bag from hell was the writing of the pattern. It was so poorly written it both confused and frustrated us to distraction. It took two of us 4 hours to cut out the pieces. Then we spent another 8 hours putting it together. Now that I have done it once, I know what changes to make so it will go together easier.

     Once again I seem to digress; the point of this blog was to tell you I have not posted since my trip because somehow I lost the cord to my computer and it does like to run without power. I ran it completely dry and had to wait till I could get a new cord. The way things work in my world, I am sure because I bought a new cord I will find the old one.

Where have the last 10 days gone????

Where has the time gone? It has been 10 days since my last post. I can’t believe it. It has been a very busy 10 days. Let see what I have accomplished in that time...

 

• I got the girl-child motivated to get packing for her big day of moving. You would think she would be just chomping at the bit to do this but she needed some daily prodding. I gave her 3 choices for everything in her room, 1- goodwill, 2 – garbage, or 3 – going with you. This was hard for her, but her “stuff” is not staying here. We went shopping and bought several hundred dollars worth of things she needed for the apartment, we actually moved her bed in and got it set up, we dropped some boxes off but did not unpack them.
• I  talked to the girl-childs landlord, got in to see the apartment and answered the questions I needed to know.  No, there are no lights in the living room, they do need lamps. No, there are no curtains, they do need these, there is not a shower curtain, and yes only one dresser will fit in the bedroom.  She will need to reevaluate the amount of clothes she plans on bringing with her. Unless the boy plans on not ever wearing any clothes.  What they do in their own home does not matter to me but I think work and school might have something to say about it.
• I set up my summer schedule for crochet classes at Yarn Harbor. 4 of the classes I have planned are for new projects, I need to write the patterns for these projects and get samples made. Having to teach a class will give me good motivation to get them written.
• I cleaned house and cooked multiple times, these are worth mentioning cuz they are not things I tend to do on a regular basis, my family will attest to this. (Mike does most of our cooking; he’s good at it and likes it so why fight him on it????)
• I have been to the grocery store 11 times. (We really need to do one big grocery buy instead of always getting what we need for supper)
• I have been to the gas station 6 times. (Running to Two Harbors really eats up gas!!)
• I helped the boy-child get through the third quarter; I think we passed all our classes. With all the homework I read and did with him we better of passed them!
• I taught 4 crochet classes and 2 needle felting classes at Yarn Harbor.
• I started writing 3 patterns and testing them, they are in various stages of production.
• I bought and read a book about writing crochet patterns and how to get published. I started setting up some of the guidelines that the book suggested; I started editing some of my current patterns to fit these guidelines.
• I made contact with two publishers to get information about my book process.
• I taught two after-school recycled art classes to a group of 15 Kindergartners.
• I have done 11 massages.
• I took my mother to physical therapy 5 times.
• I started and completed 2 crochet projects; one for me one for a gift.
• I packed for my quilt retreat this weekend. I think I have everything together; maybe I better go back and check bags.

 

I think I better go now because I still have to go to the bank, get my hair cut, teach a craft class, and go to the grocery store today. Dang!! I need a nap!

 

 

 

Fiber Rummage Sale, Maybe I shouldn't have gone.

     Today I went to the fiber guild rummage sale. I got there about 45 minutes before it opened and was about 10th in line. I knew it was going to be pretty busy, that’s why I got there early. By the time the doors opened there were about 30 people in line, waiting anxiously to stampede the room and get bargains. There are some great deals to be had if you can get into the room fast enough. Have you ever been to the park and thrown bread crumbs out and was instantly surrounded by seagulls screaming mine! Mine! Mine! Well it was something like that. When I got inside there was a table heaping with yarn, some hand-spun, some bags of bits and pieces, some store bought but never used, a little bit of everything. By the time l checked out ½ hour later, I looked back at the yarn table and there was only about half dozen skeins left. Now I helped to empty the table so I am not saying there was anything wrong with the frenzy that ensued.


      In past years I have brought stuff to sell at the sale myself and done quite well. When I left this morning, Michael said, “be sure and come home with less then you brought”, unfortunately this year I did not get my stuff in order in time. The plan is, as I move into the new craft room I am going to sort through things and set aside the stuff for next year. I of course have to make room for the couple of bags of bargains I got today.  Gee did I really need more purple yarn??  Did you hear it too??  I am positive I heard it calling my name and it was handspun wool and such a good price how could I possibly say no?

These are a few of my bargains I picked up today.

Daisy Ione Ferris Quaderer

Daisy Ione Ferris Quaderer.


     The matriarch of our family. My Grandma Daisy, she touched many, many lives over the years. Today Daisy would have been 102. She died just a few months short of turning 100 years old. She was an inspiration to me in so many ways. She had a hard life, grew up with her sister in a catholic orphanage, when she did move home her stepmother died in her arms, worked to support herself and her family. Through it all she had a wonderful marriage, raised three reasonably well adjusted children, and worked full time. She used to tell me she was a survivor, and that is how you had to get through the day. I have often thought about those words and yes, sometimes that is what gets me through the day!

     She taught me to knit and crochet at age 7. I guess that was the beginning of a life long career, passion and one could even say obsession. She was always working on something, usually a baby blanket. She used the ripple pattern in neutral colors, you know, pink and white and blue or green and yellow striped. I truly believe there was not a baby born in the Duluth or Superior area during the 70’s and 80’s who did not own one of those blankets. Grandma Daisy made a good share of them. I know for a fact that some of them are still out there in bits and pieces, still cherished and loved by their now grown owners.

     From the time I was quite small she would take both my hands in hers and tell me “With these two hands you will make your way in the world.” It did not mean much to me then, but as I grew older it seemed to have quite an impact. When I became a Massage Therapist for my life profession it really struck me that she knew all along what I would be doing. When I started designing patterns and working with fiber it again struck me how much influence she had in my life.

   One year after her death my daughter and I went out and had a tribute to Grandma Daisy day. We decided to get tattoos of a daisy. Cassondra’s has Grandma’s years of life around it. We had been planning exactly what we wanted for about a week and she got up one morning and said “I had a dream and Grandma told me what it is supposed to look like.” So she knew what to do. Mine has the praying hands holding it because religion was a very important part of Daisy’s life and it says “With these two hands” around it. That has been an important statement in my life.

Go ask Alice...

"Sometimes I believe in as many as 6 impossible things before breakfast." Alice in Wonderland 

1. I will actually get this pattern written.  Impossible!

2. I will actually get my craft room.  Impossible!

3. I will get organized.  Impossible!

4. I will complete the rug I am working on.  Impossible!

5. I will complete all the designs for the book.  Impossible!

6. I will slay the Jabberwachy.  Impossible!

But I believe the impossible can happen!

I Get a New Craft Room, I mean The Girl-Child is moving out. (sniff. sniff. WINK!)

      Over the last week the Girl-Child told us she found an apartment and is moving in with “The Boy”. She and the boy, (that’s what we call him) have been together for a while now and he seems to be a pretty good influence on her. We have called him "the boy" since they first started dating.  At first she was a little upset by it but I told her it was better then if I called him by her ex's name.  She agreed. I also pointed out that after 20+ years of marriage my father-in-law still calls me Michael's bride.  (Probably for the same reason.)  She now refers to him as "the boy." Now it has become a habit, the poor kid will be turning 50 and I will still be calling him "the boy".
     They are moving the middle of next month to a small apartment that is walking distance to work, just a little ways from a Dairy Queen and within stumbling distance of the local pub. He became of age in December and she becomes of age in May. I have not seen it yet but it sounds like a pretty good location.  They looked at it once and decided to take it. It sounds as if they found a landlord who is willing to help a young couple just starting out. Where would we all be if we had not had just such a person along the way? I asked her how many windows there were and if they need curtains? She couldn’t remember. I asked if there were lights in the room or if they needed lamps? She didn’t remember. I asked if the needed a shower curtain? She didn’t remember. But it’s a cute place. I asked her to call the landlord and find out when we can go look at it and I can get all my questions answered. I have been looking around here, figuring out what we have to give her, and get rid of. This might be my chance to get new stuff. I mightneed to do some shopping.
     I have been planning how my new craft room will look. The rest of my family is quite excited about getting the use of the den, dining room, front hallway, and various other my many stashes have taken over. I have been teasing the Girl-Child for the last couple of years that I want her room for crafts.  In reality her room is the smallest and ours is the largest, so once she is gone; we move into her room and I take over the big room, with the big closet and the big windows.  My friends have warned me to be careful not to move too quickly because they often come back. That is fine; I think she will be quite comfortable sleeping on the floor under my cutting table. She shouldn’t worry about the scraps that end up on the floor; they will give her more padding. I suppose I should also warn her that I tend to go in there all hours of the day and night and work when the mood strikes me. She is currently cleaning out her room and “going thru stuff”. After about 4 hours and 10 garbage bags she came out and said “I really have A LOT of clothes”. This I already knew. I will keep you posted on the happenings of the big move.

Today the boy-child turns 18.

     Today the boy-child turns 18. Wow where did the last 18 years go?  Did I really get that much older???? As I think back 18 years ago the room around me shimmers and the lights go dark, maybe that is the memory of the drugs. That day I was 1 week over due, thank you very much, shopping at Wal-Mart, getting ready for my graduation ceremony from DBU. I was shopping with Michael, Cassondra, and my parents. It was about 4:30 on a Friday night. We were supposed to leave Wal-Mart, go home to get dressed and be at Lakeview Castle by 6:00 for dinner. I started to feel “funny” and went to the front of the store to sit down and wait for everyone else to get done shopping. My feeling funny got a whole lot worse and I had my mom paged. I asked a kid in a blue shirt if he could page someone for me and he said “umm yeah it will be just a couple of minutes. Is everything ok?” I answered, “Yeah, I’m just in labor.” The color drained from his face and he almost did a back flip getting to the intercom. He stuttered and stumbled but he finally got her name out and everyone gathered at the front of the store.
     We left for the hospital quite quickly. When we got there, they had me go directly to the floor and we called my brother to come to the hospital so Cassondra, age 3, would not be present for the birth of her brother. Not exactly how we planned it. I got into my room and all set up by 5:15, Michael and my parents were with me. A beautiful 8.1 lb baby boy was born at 5:35. Now those of you thinking “Gee what an easy labor, not fair!” You should know I was sick for 8 ½ months, lost 35 pounds, was hospitalized 3 times, and went into pre-labor 4 times. I feel this all counts!! At 5:45, my darling husband looked at the clock and said “Hey, everything is done here, we could still make it to the Castle for happy hour and dinner, and it is already paid for!” I was not so impressed with this statement. I still to this day, do not know how serious he was but one look at my face and he decided it was not such a good idea.
      The next week my mother was shopping in the same Wal-Mart and heard a story from the cashier about a woman who had given birth there last week. Dang!! Only another ½ hour and maybe I could have owned part of Wal-Mart. Yeah, but I really wanted the drugs. The lights are coming back; I must be coming back to reality. As I think about all the trials and tribulations of raising my baby boy to adulthood I think about life in general. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a book we were handed at 18 that explained it all? Well I guess we all have to figure it out as we go and make the best choices we can. At least he knows he has the love and support of his family backing him up. Ok, so I got a little deep with this post, sorry! Maybe I need some more of those drugs they gave me when I was in labor! All though if it means I have to go through pregnancy, labor, and delivery again, Ahhhhhhhhh just the thought of that sends me screaming. I am in my happy place, I am in my happy place, I am in my happy place. OK, deep breath, all better.

Crochet Addict???

Addictions have a reputation for being bad. Well I guess it would depend on what exactly it is you were addicted to. Hobby, obsession, addiction, call it what you will it seems to be lurking in most crafters. To determine if you are a crochet addict, actually you could insert the hobby of your choice for most of them. Knitter, Scrap booker, Stamper, Beader, Weaver, Spinner, Quilter, Rug Hooker, etc. You get the idea.

Symptoms of a Crochet Addict

• You're proud to be called a "hooker".
  
• You have a room for your yarn, not a shelf or a drawer, you have an entire room.
  
• When someone greets you they start off by saying, "What are you working on now?"
  
• You have more crochet hooks and patterns than you can count or will ever use.
  
• You walk through a yarn store and look at the colors and feel the skeins and you have to own that yarn, with no project in mind.
  
• You have a designated crochet bag that you carry projects in, and the bag isn't small. (You probably don't have just one.)
  
• You always keep a crochet project in your car or at work, just in case you have some down time.
  
• Your hands get fidgety when you go a day without crocheting (as if you would ever do that).
  
• You have a list of TV shows on TiVo you don't really have to pay close attention to while crocheting. (CSI, Law and Order, NCIS)
  
• You memorized when the major yarn stores have discounts and coupons.
  
• Your family makes fun of you because you can't sit still without working on something, not at a hockey game, movie, church. It doesn't matter where you are.
  
• Your most recent searches on your Garmin are for yarn shops in areas surrounding you.
  
• You crochet with things other than yarn, such as plastic bags, cassette tape, duck tape, rags, etc.
  
• You've learned to die yarn with Kool-aid and spin yarn out of your pet's hair.
  
• You wear one of those necklace medallions that cut your yarn for you.
  
• Your number of WIPs (works in progress) and UFOs (unfinished objects) keeps multiplying, and you blame it on your cat/dog/spouse.
  
• You occasionally stumble upon started projects that you have no memory of ever starting and have no idea what it was going to be.
  
• You are crocheting while reading this post.
  

After writing this list, I became a little afraid of my addiction. Does anyone know where I can find a crocheter anonymous meeting??? I think I have a problem and need to admit it to others. Well I think maybe they are having one at Yarn Harbor on Sunday. I think I will attend, I am sure they can help me.

Ugggg Homework!!

      Today I spent about 5 hours doing a 12th grade project for economics. Most of the time I kept thinking “I am reasonably sure I already passed economics”. I started to wonder where the line between “helping” and just doing the work so he will get it done and pass the class and hopefully graduate, really lies. I can remember my mother helping me with reports in school but back then we had to actually write everything out on paper and look up definitions in a dictionary. We did not have a set of encyclopedias at our house but my grandmother did. I had to go to her house to look up stuff for my work. I had to take a bus to get there, write down with pencil and paper the information I needed and make sure I had all the reference material to list at the end of my report. When I got home I would have to type everything out and hope I did not make a mistake because I did not have correction tape in my typewriter. White out??? Yeah right, I think that came out about the time I got my first computer. (I was well out of school by then.) I was a senior in high school when I took my first intro to computer class, on the Apple 2E.

      What did I start ranting about? …… …….. ………. Oh yeah The Boy-Child’s homework. So we; like that “we” had to do the Abc’s of economics. Write an ABC book using terms found in his economic s book. It amazed me how I was able to set it all up and input photos from the internet while sitting on my couch watching a CSI marathon. Tell me again how these kids have it so much harder than we did?? I experienced the law of diminishing returns. Remember what that is?? (I relearned it today.) The more of something you have the less you want it. Yeah well 26 letters is a lot! We had to get a little creative in the end. I did Google economics terms and found a list of them in alphabetical order. Now there is something I never would have found in Grandma’s encyclopedias. I was just corrected by Microsoft Word, Google needs to be capitalized. Again not found at grandmas.  Ok so we got all 27 pages done, oh yeah did I forget to tell you about the title page.  Went to print and we are out of ink the first 3 pages came out green.  Guess I will be making a run to walmart this weekend.
      I believe I had a point at the beginning of this, homework - I really am not sure where that line falls. Where do we as parents help them just get it done and where do we let them fail to learn a lesson? I guess with graduation looming only a few months away I am less inclined to go with the let him fail route. Am I setting a bad precedent by bailing him out? Maybe, but I really want to get to graduation and not have to do another economics project next year. I also know that there are 580 words to this point in today’s entry. Something else I would not have had on my typewriter. Cool huh?? Oh well enough ranting today, I need to go look over the Algebra homework that is also due on Monday. Dad will have to check that over cuz that one is beyond mom! Ohh ohh up to 598!

One of these things is not like the others....

      One of these things is not like the others. When I started doing some research for my blog, one of the things I did was go to several others with the same sort of intentions as me. I read one after another, and found one thing they all had in common. Everyone had a cat. I however do not. Now I am reasonably sure that no one has a cat that knits or crochets or even writes for that matter, so I don’t think this affects their blogs but I feel I may not fit in.
      We had cats while I was growing up but now I am a dog owner. The cat we had, we named JFK (Junk Food Kitty). It loved to eat, and it ate anything. Most cats will come running to the sound of a can opener, well JFK only came running to the crackling of a chip bag. Doritos were his favorite. He sort of adopted us. He came into the house one day and stayed for a couple of years and then decided to move on and find a new home. My father really, really, did not like cats but he must have been able to sniff that out because JFK would go sit on his lap and purr nonstop. After a while even my dad decided maybe he wasn’t so bad and he could stay.
      I wouldn’t say I love cats but we get along alright. It is not that I am completely opposed, my son had very bad asthma as a child and we could never have one, so we just never have had one. I have to admit that I also truly believe that someday cats will own the world. I know that if I were to die during my sleep that a cat would eat me and I am not totally convinced it would wait till I was all the way dead to start.

What am I working on now??

     What am I working on now? I am currently working on a Crochet felted monk satchel that I wrote the pattern for. I have taught this class at Yarn Harbor for the last year and it has been very popular. It is a 3 week class, we learn how to make the pieces, put them together and felt it. This is the last night of class and the girls are working on the final single crochet seams. They can then go home and felt their new bag. The one I am working on will be a bag for my new laptop. I did not have my “homework” done for class one night and the boy-child thought it was great. He said “Mom, don’t you think you should have gotten your homework done for class right away and not put it off till the last minute?” Don’t you love, as a parent, when your own words come back to haunt you? I answered him “I am the teacher and I am there to help others with problems, not work on my own pieces.”  Ok so technically I should have had it done but I was not going to let him know that.  I teach several crochet classes at Yarn Harbor. Check out the website to see what other classes they offer. www.yarnharborduluth.com they also have a great blog: yarnharbor.wordpress.com

This is Julie, she is just finishing her crochet felted monk's satchel. 

This is the bag I am working on right now.  I have made it oversized, I want to use it for my new laptop bag.

This is the first bag I made.  I then wrote the pattern from this one. 

Select Comfort beds are great!! Till they deflate in the middle of the night.

      We have a select comfort bed. You know the one, “choose your sleep number and you will sleep like a baby all night.” I have to say over all we have been very happy with it. Mike had trouble with his back and it really has done him a lot of good. That is, until it deflated in the middle of the night. Then, we were not so pleased with it! We went to bed and suddenly Mike says “umm something is not right here!” I looked over at him and he is lying on the bottom. Not for those of you who do not have this type of bed let me explain it is like a waterbed only it has chambers filled with air. Ours has two separate sides so we can each set our own side to the level we want.
     We got up, about 1 am, and investigated the problem. Yup his side had a hole and would not hold air. I offered to sleep on the couch and let him sleep on my side but he refused because he said it was the wrong side and he could not sleep there. You may notice that my husband does not flex well. I found a thin mattress we had rolled up from an old pullout sofa and put that in the hole so we could get to sleep. The next day I called and talked to several people at customer services, who were all very apologetic when I told them that Mike deflated and fell into the hole during the night. Mike said it was nice of them to feel bad for him but they all got a good night’s sleep! Well long story short, we have a new air chamber coming, but it will be about a week. In the mean time I had to find something to fill the hole under the meager mattress I put down. Mike did not sleep well, I may have mentioned that he does not flex well.
     Mike looked around our room and decided we should try to use the piles of jeans I have stacked in every conceivable space. I have these because I had decided a while ago to do recycled jean crafts. That went well for a while and then I of course moved on to something else and still had lots of jeans, people still bring me some cuz I guess they think I will again get back to doing something with them. Maybe someday I could cut them into strips and make rugs out of them, that was one of the plans, or quilt them together to make a blanket for the dog, ohh ohh, I know… but I seem to have lost the original thought of my post….. Oh yeah the bed, so we filled the hole with some jeans and so far it actually worked. See there are reasons to keep stuff around because you never know when it will come in handy!

Who am I????

      I started to write a post about whom I am and as I started writing, the words just started flowing. I have to admit when I finished I was a little surprised at the list I had. Here is my list and they don't seem to be in any particular order of importance.

Who am I???

A wife, a mother of teenagers, a teacher, a care giver, a taxi, a loan officer, a woman, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a pet owner, a massage therapist, a healer, a crocheter, a needle felter, a fiber artist, a designer, a crochet instructor, a craft show vendor, a crafter, a list maker, a family member, a peace keeper, a warden, a line judge, a cook, a dishwasher, a waitress, a blog writer, a pattern designer, a US citizen, a voter, a book reader, a TV watcher, a “goofy” hat wearer, a child of the 60’s, a diplomat, a singer in the car, an occasional junk food binger, a yarn addict, a “stuff” collector, a hoarder, a beader, a scrap booker, a stamper, a quilter, a theatre student, a story teller, a mime artist, an Ex-Mountain Dew addict, an Ex-smoker, and occasional drinker, a girl scout, an art teacher, a craft Nazi, a colorful person, a betty boop collector, a wearer of purple, a blonde, a brunette, a red head, a purple haired chick, a tattooed woman, a gadget junky, a salesperson, a volunteer, a maid, a laundry attendant, a music listeners, a blues fester, an organizer, a camper,

 a bag lady, a ……

I do not know if I have fully decided who or what I will be when I grow up so I do not think my list is complete yet. I am sure there are some among you who could add to my list.

I encourage you to take a few minutes out of your hectic day to make a list like this for yourself, I think you will find it very revealing.

The Saga of the new computer....

     Ok, so I had to get the new computer because the boy child, who will at this point remain nameless, dropped the old laptop and I have come to understand they do not bounce well. I had decided I was going to take on this project of a blog and a book but the missing element was a computer. I figured out my price range, talked to husband Michael, my computer guru, and went to Best Buy to see what was available to me. Now I know how much I need to save and what I need in a computer. I found “the One”, the perfect computer that meets all my needs.
      After a couple of weeks I put it all together; on a warm Saturday afternoon I was ready to make the commitment. With cash in hand, and excitement to get started I bribed Mike with lunch to go to Best Buy with me and get my new computer. We went in and stood around for a while looking for a person in a blue shirt to help us and they told us they were all sold out of “THE ONE”. The perfect computer I had picked out, it had all the computery (yes I realize this is not really a word, but I like it) stuff I needed, memory, processor speed, stuff I don’t know what it means but the guru said was good, I was crushed! We went to Texas Roadhouse; the new restaurant in town, cuz Mike still got his lunch. I had a Legendary Margarita the size of my head. It helped a little. Mike said “don’t worry; it will be in the ad tomorrow so they will have to have them then.” He got up and went to Best Buy Sunday morning to be there at opening and guess what, they are still out of them. I did not want to go this time just in case! See? I was right. They promised him they were getting lots of them in on Monday night’s truck.
      I went again with cash in hand and high hopes in my heart on Tuesday and……. Yes! Yes! Yes! They had them. Long story short, well as short as I can make them, I got a new computer for my new venture and a very good margarita the size of my head.

Yes, I actuall took a photo of my margarita!

Is this thing on????

Is this thing on??  I seem to be posting but they just don't show.  My blog or my computer are against me I am not sure which.

My 10 reasons I plan to blog about crochet, yarn, patterns, life, whatever happens to be on my mind at the time.

10. The yarn, the yarn, the yarn! I learned how to knit and crochet in the 70’s. Oh how far the world of fiber has come since that time. (More on this subject at another time.)

9. Organization: Maybe if I write about my life, my crochet, my patterns, my yarn stash, my wips, I can actually get some control and organization over all of those things. Remember I said “Maybe” so don’t quote me on this in a year when my wips and stash have doubled in size with no end in sight.

8. Sisterhood: I know there are other crocheters out there in the big bad scary world of knitters who feel left out and abandoned. Sisters unite!

7. Feedback: On patterns, yarns, life…….. Sometimes it seems like we have complete control of our own little universe and know all the answers and other times we just need to hear from others that we are not alone in the world.

6. A family who understand fiber: I love my husband and kids with all my heart but sometimes they just don’t get it. I will sigh in frustration over a stitch I cannot get or show great excitement over a particular yarn I have found and bless their hearts they try to feign excitement or sympathize with me but I know they are really thinking that this might be the time mom has really lost it and they should remove all sharp objects from my vicinity and call the men in white coats who will give me happy pills and a really nice soft room to play in.

5. Focused Attention: Maybe just maybe, there I go again with the high hopes, I can become more focused on a particular project and see it through till completion. I dream of the day I actually have only 1 or 2 wips (works in progress) sitting around staring at me, asking in that hurt tone of voice, WHY? Why have you moved on and started other things? What can I do to regain your interest? You were so excited to start me, remember? The feel of the yarn caressing your fingers as it slipped past onto the hook, the excitement of the new stitch you could not wait to try. You did not even do a gauge swatch because you were too excited to start me and now I ask why? Why have I slipped behind the couch, where I will live with the partial skeins and heaps of dog hair until the day comes when you lose the remote and have to move the furniture? Oops I seem to have digressed a little there.

4. My Love of Crochet: I love to crochet and it seems that I am always learning. Even if I have done the same pattern several times I always learn something new. I love to try new things and learn from others.

3. A book: Have I really lost mind this time??? That is a question I guess we will have to answer in the future. I want to write a crochet book to share the wonderful secrets I have learned by doings things the hard way. Believe me, there are hard ways to do things and there are easy ways, why I tend to do the hard way first I really am not sure; I figure it is all a learning process. I hope to help others to avoid some of the pitfalls along the way. I also want to share with others the patterns I write.

2. Accountability: As I have said I plan to put together a book of crochet patterns and words of wisdom. I have great intentions a lot of the time but I need to be held accountable. So this is my accountability, even if it is to a nameless, faceless entity out there.

1. I got a new computer: I had to get a new computer for my new ventures. I will tell you more about this in another post. It is kind of a long short story.