Soap Box: Personal Carry, Concealed Carry Gun Laws and Universities.

I am a firm believer in the right to protect yourself and your family. To me, my friends are my family too.

I also believe in the right to carry a weapon upon your person for that protection, with due training!

Oregon courts ruled that the Oregon University Systems ban on concealed carry on their premises was illegal, violating the laws of the state. Hmm, it only took them 41 years... and because it violated the laws at a state level, they didn't even look at how violently they violated our 2nd amendment rights.

US Constitution, 2nd amendment (wikipedia) In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Court ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess a firearm, unconnected to service in a militia^[1][2] and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home


Read the news story... and think, would the massacre at Virginia Tech have happened if there were a couple legally carrying students on campus? or if their security officers had been armed? No, probably not, instead they had to wait for the local police to marshal forces. 


According to a state firearms expert and trainer from the Bend Police Department, it takes someone less than .3 seconds to refocus his direction and shoot the second or third or fourth round at a new target. It takes only a few seconds to drop the magazine and reload another to start firing again. Assuming that a shooter shows up on a college campus with a handgun, how many seconds pass while the students stand by and waiting for tragedy before the police can get to the campus? 


Just a thought. National statistics show that of all the public active shooter situations they have encountered, not one of the shooters held their concealed carry permits.


Outlaw guns, and only outlaws will carry them. do you want to be helpless, and defenseless?

 

Moving SUCKS

I hope you'll accept apologies if the following 2 weeks in posts are a bit short, or non-existent.....

We hope...........Taken from Ephemeral Workbench

I am moving, again... while going to school... and prepping for a holiday craft show... time to live out of boxes for a few weeks.
 

Crock Pot Spaghetti

TOTALLY AMAZING

6-8 hours

1-2 lbs ground beef 

1 jar/can of sauce (I used Prego Original)

1 can beef broth

herbs and spices to taste 

     I used: 1 tsp of each of the following

          Basil, Parsley, Cilantro, and Oregano

handful of spaghetti noodles

Directions, brown beef, add herbs and spices, and sauce, pour all of the content into crock pot, put on lid, simmer for 6-8 hours (until ready to eat) 

1 hour before eating/serving, add noodles and 1 1/2 cut water, 30 min before serving, remove lid.

Serve with bread or toast, and other "spaghetti sides"

YUM!

 

At Second Glance: Record Earring Displays

Disclaimer: there is a tutorial at the end of this post, please use extreme caution while following it, as it does involve heat, and can cause burns. Only do under adult supervision)

I am a big advocate of Reuse, reduce, recycle! So many people have so little, why let things that are of use sit in the landfill...

So what if people don't really use vinyl records for music anymore? Everything they want to listen to is digital or in CD form, right? So what do people do with all those vinyls? They put them in a box in their garage, collecting dust, and getting damaged.

So, some records are valuable, and collectors will go nuts for them, but whatever about all those other ones?

20 Greatest Hits of Polka!

Kidz first record of Disco!

These things arent worth the vinyl they are made from, so I shall make them useful again!

Check this out!

Sorry about the crap pictures, we lost light early this evening. I'll try to outdoor photos tomorrow and post them!

Yep, thats an earring stand made from a bent record! Want a tutorial?

If your answer was no, then stop reading, if you answer was yes, keep reading.

Materials:

large 12 inch 45, stiff, but not hard, and not the flimsy kind. 

Patterned paper cut out at 4 in circle

Crop-a-Dile or drill and patience.

Glue roller, glue stick, or other adhesive

Stove

Hard surface

Oven mitt (optional, if you are careful, you won't need it)

Cold running water

White crayon (optional, if you want to mark your holes before you punch them, it will be useful)

Step 1: hold your record about 3-4 in over the burner of your stove on med to high heat, watch it carefully as it melt, only let it melt as far up the record as you want your bend to be. I melted up about 3 or so inches. 

Step 2: press the hot flexible record against the hard surface, I use my stove top in between the burners so that I don't burn the counter-top. Hold it at a slight acute angle, just inside of 90* until it firms up. once it can hold it's own weight without going flat or flexing flat, run cold water over the melted part, this will harder the vinyl. 

Step 3: Once you have finished this, dry off your piece, and get ready to mark your holes. I start at the top, punch 2 holes, and then measure a distance away, for this one, I used a mini-sd converter for my phone. mark the distance, and then mark the 2nd hole for the set, use the measurement again, and repeat around the edge. 

Step 4: using a drill or your Crop-a-Dile, punch holes on the marks, or at least lined up with the marks. Set the depth regulator on the Crop-a-dile as far as you want the holes to go in, I had mine set at about 3/4 in. This makes all the holes the same distance from the edge.

Business logo glued on before I put it on the original label.

Step 5: Glue the patterned paper over the label in the middle of your record, you could easily add a monogram, or stamped sentiment as well, make this your own, it's your creation! Let it display your earrings, and your personal style! (NOTE: Put sentiment or accent embellishments on before gluing to the label)

Link in the comments to your own creations, I wanna see them all!

 

Adaptations

We all have to make them. Things that most people take for granted make others queezy, or envious.

Whenever I'm feeling down and under-the-weather, Chocolate is suggested. Which is all fine and dandy, until I tell them I'm allergic...well, intolerant, technically.

Simple things like candy bars, and chocolate milk, icecream, cake, and coffee have to be assessed, to figure out how much chocolate is in them...

I can have chocolate, so long as I also have a BIG glass of 1 or 2% milk on hand.

So I adapt, right? Blondies!

I found a recipe to make my own!

Granted, I love my chocolate, but I hate the ache it give me, so I will adapt and improvise!

Here is where I found it:

Simply recipes

Their's look much better than mine are likely to turn out (they are in the oven now...)

I omitted the butterscotch chips, and chocolate chips or almonds, or walnuts, simply because I do not have any on hand... and I like to test a recipe with the basics, before adding other stuff. (though, I might do M&Ms when I do them next)

 

Sabrina Gloves!

Got a custom order today, decided to write a pattern!

Well, more of a recipe...I do those a lot!

Here it is: the Sabrina Fingerless Gloves

Sabrina Glove

This is a very simple, easy, nearly-mindless crochet project. Very little counting, and several rows of repetition.

Start with your favorite yarn, make sure that it is comfortable against the inside of your wrists. Chain until you feel it is long enough from the webbing of your fingers (if you are going to add the individual finger holes) to wherever you want it on your forearm, or from about the first knuckle of your fingers to wherever you want it on your forearm...

I chained 35. It should be an uneven number.

hdc in the 2nd chain from hook, (this first chain counts as your first hdc, now and throughout) *skip a chain, 2 hdc in the next* to end (I messed up on my start chain, I chained 34, should have chained 35.. if you do this, don't worry, you can fudge it, just do 2 hdc in the last oddball chain.) chain 1 turn

repeat last row, until you get to the length you want it before your thumb

OR

Keep going until it wraps around your wrist comfortably. we can create the thumb hole when we stitch it up.

If you have chosen the 1st option, you will 2hdc until you reach where you want your thumb hole, and you will chain 6 and then 2hdc where you would normally 2hdc, continue to end with pattern. chain 1, turn

on the way back, continue pattern, and when you reach the thumb hole chains, do your normal pattern into the 2nd, 4th, and 6th chains. then continue onto the normal location for your hdc's. to end.

continue in pattern until you reach your desired length to go around the wrist.

here you have 2 choices as well.
1) you can whip stitch the gloves up the side, if you have chosen to do your thumb now, then leave out about an inch unstitched and then continue the stitching when you get to the end of your thumb hole.

2) you can single crochet or slip stitch the edges together. if you are doing a thumb in this step, leave about an inch open for your thumb.

if you are doing fingers, sc around the edge closest to your thumb hole. I did 2 rounds before I started my fingers.

This might get confusing, and I am trying my best to explain it, so I am sorry if it's hard to understand.

count how many stitches around the edge. You will divide this number by 10. Then you will take that number and figure that the fingers will be two of that number in the middle, and 3 on the outside edges. sc around to the thumb edge, then sc #, sc across the opening into the corresponding sc. sc # stitch across to coresponding sc, making 4 finger holes total.

Stripe Pattern here: 4 blue, 1 purple

When you get all 4 holes finished, begin sc around 1 finger hole, in each stitch, until you get the length you want, then slst in next stitch, leave about 3 in tail, and cut off. you will weave this tail in later.

Attach your yarn to the next finger hole, and repeat the finger hole process.

weave in ends.

Now, here is the fun part, embellish how you want. Ribbon. Buttons. Beads. Or, leave it plain...

NOTE: If you chose to do stripes, as I have, make sure to a)crochet over your ends to avoid needing to weave in later, or b) weave in VERY well when you are done, Your hands get a lot of beatings, so make sure your ends wont fall out and unravel your hard work!

For an extra finishing touch, you could do a few rows around the back edge in an accenting color. Just make sure that you do not crochet it too tight to fit over your forearm.

 

Hometown Proud, but hometown cold.

Last year, at the time of the census, in my hometown, 24.5% of the population was under 18, of that, 10.5% of all of the population was living UNDER poverty levels. If you figure that is a population of 71,892 People, that is 17,614 children, and 1850 of those children are living under Poverty..... I think we should see what we can do to help these children.

I have asked my friends and family to knit, crochet, sew, or purchase as many kids hats as they can, to donate to the Family Access network in our area.. I can only hope to make their lives a little bit warmer!
 

Warning! Pissed off Rant: Spoiled Teen

The Following post may be found as annoying, offensive, or in some cases, re-assuring...

Check out this blog post: Because You're a Moron: 

Another Example of Spoiled American Teens

Alright, so, to make this a shorter post... read that post, then check my comment:

I am 22, I moved out on my own when I was 17. I graduated high school with honors, while holding a full time job, and taking advanced placement classes. I think I may have dodged a generational bullet. I think this post is spot on! AND I see several of your examples in my friends and families lives... and I just sit back, and in the back of my mind, I think, "give her a year, and then see how bitchy she gets..." When I was a kid, I paid half of my families bills, I made stuff and I sold stuff, I started working when I was 12, I had my own tv, and my own dvd player, that I bought. I was given a PS1 with a car compatible screen as a gift for my b'day when I was accepted into advanced placement high school classes, before I even began high school. When I turned 17, I bought my own car, paid for my own license, and made the repairs on that car when it broke down... it was a 1990 Ford Escort Pony, 2 door, FWD. Held together with duct tape, bungie cords, tin foil, rubber bands and 3 yards of hemp string. I made it through school, started college (all on academic scholarships and loans taken out in my name.) then got married and am graduating college with a degree this next spring, all before having any kids. I may be $70,000 in debt, but it's my debt, not my parents.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my parents, and I love everything they did for me, but the best thing they could have done for me, was to make me fend for myself, guide me along the way, loan me a few bucks here or there to get me through, and demand that I pay them back. I am tired of the bullshit of kids being handed everything silver platter! Oiy! 

 

Fall Fashionista!

Oh, did you think I was referring to myself as the fashionista? I can hardly be considered a fashionista... Although, all through high school, I would wear my own style of clothes, and then that summer I'd move on, and that fall, never failing, my style from the previous year was "hip"...go figure. Anyways, I am going to try to do it again... Legwarmers were popular before I was even aware of fashion... I am a LATE 80's baby, spring of '89, so I dont think that had ANY bearing on my fashion sense when it comes to Legwarmers...

I have however developed a few specifics when it comes to these lovelies:

Fall Fashionista! by echo-mayernik featuring pink tops

NEVER EVER should they be worn with brightly colored pants, OR with exercise clothes, with the exception of yoga pants... but never with a unitard, I am glad that fad never tried to come back... some people should not be allowed in spandex!

I do NOT like legwarmers that are thigh high, if you need leg warmers that go that high, wear a longer skirt/shorts or find some damn PANTS!

Also, leg warmers that only cover your ankle. What are you doing, trying to protect your joints from localized hypothermia?!?!?!?!?!?

I also hate it when people try wearing them without leggings or stockings, or pants... if you are wearing leg warmers, you should wear SOMETHING that helps keep them up!

My favorite look? a tunic style shirt, skinny jeans or leggings tucked into low heel boots, and a set of legwarmers OVER the boots.

I love legwarmers that reach just below your knee, like a reverse capri cut. I love stripes, but HATE bobbles. I am a sucker for knit, and I love corsetting or buttons.


I am making a set with some super bulky acrylic in a brown tweed.

Since my needles are in use that I need for this project, I shall find my old friend, KK Loom. When they are done, they will look like these:

In Lion Brand Hometown USA Santa Fe Tweed. I will do a strand of green ribbon around eyelets in the top few rows, that will tie above my calf just to keep them in place, I don't like the look of slouchy leg warmers, mostly because the ones I had last year froze to my boots, and got ruined because they slouched too much... I was a sad panda!

Burning Man Hammocks, A Wedding, and My stash busting project

Yesterday, I want to a wedding. The coolest wedding EVER! It was full of street performers, and great music, and lots of alcohol (I don't drink beer, but hubby was happy) and homemade chicken burritos, and a variety show and live bands, and lots of fun stuff.

One of the coolest things, for the time before and after (it was a 4 day campout) was a gazebo set up that was constructed entirely of wood, no bolts, screws, nails, or metal reinforcements... It was well engineered, and the cross bars and frame was held together with 2 in wide 10 in long wooden pegs, driven into the frame pieces. From it was strung 10 hammocks, and a swinging chair. I fell in love with one style of hammock, and I wanted to get myself one. I have been researching buying or making and mounting a hammock in our new house... BTW, we are moving.. again.

I found the style of hammock that I used all afternoon yesterday (Mexican or Mayan)... and realized I do not want to pay that much for one, so I have decided to take their design, and create my own... wish me luck.. I will post pics and pattern when I am done.

Here is where it all comes together. The Gazebo set up is the bride and groom's own burning man camp setup. The groom designed it for the Burning Man event in particular. I fell in love with the hammocks, and decided to make my own using the acrylic and cotton stash I need to use up. See, it all works out!

So far, I have decided on a design concept, and am figuring out how to make it work.. I feel 550 paracord will be involved... and perhaps climbing style carabeners for mounting in my garage, or on my new back porch...


 

Summer catch-up!

It seems that my summer ran away and hid... it got a late start, and now it is nearly over! School starts back up for me in a week and a half!

I have been trying to do EVERYTHING and therefore have gotten NOTHING done! Go figure, right?

I have restored my account on Etsy, and listed a few hats, hoping to get some other stuff on there soon.

And, I received 2 custom orders in the last week!

One is for a pair of Mary Jane style slippers in rainbow stripes (a trade for crafty goodness of Chrissy)

And the other is for 2 custom designed Owl Cowls for a friend from high school. (Shantae)

I am super excited, because with custom orders, I get to communicate with the customer, and get a feel for JUST what they want! And I know that they will be enjoyed, because in this case, I know both of the customers personally.