Busy, Busy, Dreadfully Busy.

Okay. Not really dreadfully. That's a lie.

Thanksgiving happened. We ended up spending it at my parents' house early, then at Kyle's aunt's house. That's always a fun time, his family getting together.

Then we got home and Christmas sort of exploded in my house.

This is the upstairs tree.

This is the tree in our bedroom. Yes, we have two trees. What can I say? I LOVE CHRISTMAS.

Also, we got this one via FreeCycle. Love that.

This is a sofa table in our living room. Also free, but via Craigslist.

The decorations came from Kyle's Papa, again, free.

This was, again, from Kyle's Papa. Kyle's uncle Paul, the one who cornered me and asked me about my Facebook name upon our first meeting, made this. I love it. His name is Dolph Lundgren.

This ornament tree sits ontop of our DVD rack. We got it from my in-laws 2 years ago for Christmas. I love it.

SPEAKING of our DVD rack. Let me tell you a little story.

We had seasons 1-5 of FRIENDS, which happens to be one of my favorite shows.

Keyword here, HAD.

We were planning on selling them and saving up the rest of the money to get the box set of all the seasons. Good plan, huh?

Well, Selena made these friends on the school bus that lived down the street from us. Their mom came by from time to time, we had polite chit chat, whatever. 

These people screamed white trash, but who am I to judge? I just tried to look past what their outward appearance and actions put off. There's good in all people.

So, one night she comes over. Kyle's at work. I'm home alone with the kids. Before leaving, she asks if we can swap movies for a couple nights. No biggie, they live down the street. She goes home and grabs seasons 1-3 of True Blood. They're mangled.

She grabs all my seasons of FRIENDS. I treated these things like gold.

About a week passes by without any visits from the kids or the parents. I grow concerned, but I figure it'll be okay.

Kyle goes to their house with their True Blood DVDs to swap back.

They've disappeared.

Their landlord is there, and he's mad. The house has been destroyed.

The glass in all the windows has been broken out.

The carpet is ripped up and/or burned.

And the icing on the cake?

These people left their pets, dead, in the basement. In Wal-Mart bags.

What kind of people do things like this?! It's disgusting that people can be like this. Even more horrifying that they have kids. These kids didn't ask for a life like this. They deserve more than that.

Needless to say, I don't have my FRIENDS DVDs anymore. And when I found out, I admittedly about cried. I know, it's so petty and small and easily replaced. It could've been so much worse. The LANDLORD has it far worse than I do. I know.

Now, I'm not so mad. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm upset and hurt and disgusted at these people, but I'm to the point now where I almost feel sorry for them. What kind of life is that, so empty that they act this way? What kind of future is happening for the kids? My heart hurts for them.

I keep telling myself that they need the money they would get selling the DVDs more than I need them for watching. They need good food on their table, or Christmas presents for their kids. I don't know or believe that they would be spending the money on that, but if I think that the money will go towards good things, I'm not so mad anymore. I can handle it. It's not a huge loss.

After that huge blow to my emotional side, I got busy.

I made Riah and Dot Monster some owl hats, which I posted a picture of once before. Here they are again.

After I made them, Riah decided she wanted a pink one instead.

You know kids.

So I made her a pink one. The purple one went to her cousin, along with a matching small purple one for her baby cousin. Then I made a small pink one for their half-sister.

Then, after being told by MANY people MANY times, I posted a photo on a Facebook "garage sale" group with prices, to see what kind of response I'd get.

Well..I'm up to my ears in crochet projects right now.

I was overwhelmed. I'm still overwhelmed, actually. As it stands, I have about 9 owl hats that need to be made, along with a few other hats. I'm getting them done, but with a quantity like that it takes a bit longer.

Plus Gabe's an animal.

So, I may not be blogging so much lately, but I do have a banana bread recipe I want to post because, well, I love me some banana bread.

In parting, here's another photo.

This was a specific order for someone for a pink and grey sock monkey hat. Um. I want one. In my size.

Carpal Tunnel - I blame Kia.

So I have this friend. Her name is Kia. She's one of the most amazing people I know.

I met her through Kyle and, apparently, he hadn't wanted me to meet her back in the day. He was worried that a cat fight would ensue. He had no idea she and I would hit it off as well as we did, which was pretty effing well.

So, when I found out she was pregnant, I started going nuts. Even before finding out the gender.

Her sister, Sam, situated her baby shower. I made things.

Like this super adorable hat.

I took pictures at the shower, too.

I also made this blanket. This blanket is known as the Blanket That Would Never Be Finished. It's done in complete single crochet with sport weight yarn. It took MONTHS.

And now?

NOW POOKA'S HERE AND SHE CAN WEAR THINGS I MAKE!

Pooka came a month early. She's an itty bitty.

I was worried that the rainbow hat would be too small for her, that she'd never wear it.

I'm now told that it's one of the only things they have that actually fits her. 

But THEN.

Then I saw these little boots online and I HAD to make them.

Now I gotta find a way to get to see my lil' KittyKat. I haven't met her yet but I love her so much, just like her mommy.