The Married Squirrels

Reluctant (Lazy?) Bride

2011-03-04T17:53:00.002-05:00

Wow, I'm still really bad at this blogging thing. I wanted to actually update it on a regular basis. Truth is, I haven't been doing much sewing.

Anywhooo - R and I have been officially engaged for almost a year now. How much wedding planning have we done? .... zip. zero. nil. It's not that either of us want to get married to each other - we are fully committed to putting up with each other for the rest of our lives (or at least until next week). It's just that we don't have much interest in actually planning a wedding.

Maybe it's because we know we don't want a traditional wedding - we'd rather just have people over for a BBQ. Not to mention my dislike for wearing makeup and R's dislike for getting really dressed up. So since we aren't going to do the traditional church ceremony and have a registry full of the things we need to start a life together (ha), maybe that's why we're stuck. There aren't blogs and magazines and books about planning a non-wedding wedding.

There's also the part about not wanting to spend a ton of money on ... whatever it is we end up doing. And if we are going to spend a significant chunk of money, we'd rather have it go towards the honeymoon - we're thinking at least 3 weeks away from work, stress, life in general.

So looks like BBQ in the backyard... and signing up on this site (http://thebigday.com/) or a similar one. Unless someone wants to volunteer to plan everything... for free. ;D

going gluten free

2010-11-21T14:09:00.005-05:00

last week we made the decision to go gluten free.

for those of you who don't know, Ryan has Chron's Disease. a while ago, his GI doctor suggested he try the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. which to us, seemed a bit extreme since it doesn't allow glutens, starches, or sugars. Ryan is a typical Irish guy - his diet consists mostly of meat and potatoes. how on earth was he (and I, since I live with him) going to be able to do this diet?

we never really pursued the SCD. I think it was just too overwhelming and we didn't know where to start. the only thing that we cut out of our diets at that point was anything heavily processed or containing HFCS (which Ryan still can't stay away from - Moxie doesn't come in a natural sugar version)...

lately I've had more and more (online and real life) acquaintances switch to a gluten free diet. I did some research and the benefits for Ryan would include some possible relief of the digestive issues he has from the Chron's. benefits for both of us would be gaining more energy and potential weight loss. gaining energy would be a huge help - the Chron's disease makes Ryan feel tired, and my stupid job makes me feel tired.

so after talking about it, we figured why not? can't hurt and the outcomes could really help both of us (but I'm hoping it'll help him a lot more than me).

today was my first baking venture into the GF world. I made cupcakes from a mix that we bought at our local grocery store (we'll probably make our own from here on out, but the xanthan gum we ordered online won't arrive for a few more days).

batter taste: cornmeal-y texture. didn't taste chocolatey. got a slight zing from the aftertaste due to the cayenne.

batter viscosity: once it was mixed, it looked, stirred, and poured like a normal cake mix would.

cupcake taste (the important part!): not too bad. I was still getting a cornmeal-ish texture. I mentioned it to Ryan and he said he wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't pointed it out. I think next time if we buy a mix again, I'd get the one without cayenne in it.

crankypants

2010-11-19T14:46:00.005-05:00

Anyone who has made their own clothing before knows that most of the patterns you can purchase require some, if not a lot, of altering to fit your own body shape.

The same goes for the dress dummies/dressforms you can buy.

I have this one:

And of course the measurements for when you buy one of these do not always line up with your actual measurements. Just like patterns. Hooray! /sarcasm

So I went to re-adjust mine today after re-measuring my plumpish body.

And I broke mine.

Apparently when you have the hips on one of the smaller sizes, you cannot put the waist on one of the larger sizes. So apple-shaped sewers - stay away from this dressform.

Quick post

2010-11-04T19:33:00.004-04:00

After the craft fair letdown (see last post), I decided to focus on making things for ME (acting very much like The Selfish Seamstress) and not worry about trying to make things to sell/make things that people want to buy.

But then the other day on Twitter, Tia (of http://christopherandtia.blogspot.com/) said she was looking for someone to make some binky (pacifier) leashes for her ADORABLE kids. (Yes, adorable needed to be in caps.) I said I could make them for her and for a low cost (mostly because I need a morale boost over here and because I have a huuuuge fabric stash that I need to start paring down).

She choose 7 different fabrics from my stash and I whipped them up yesterday:

yesterday.

2010-10-10T17:58:00.005-04:00

setup:

not too bad, right?

yeah, didn't sell anything.

I'm gonna stop sewing for potential customers and just focus on things that I want to make for myself.

[[ for more pics of what I was attempting to sell, click here ]]

done!

2010-09-09T17:35:00.005-04:00

Simplicity 2648

Pattern Description:
Misses dress with individual pattern pieces for slim, average and curvy fit and for A, B, C, or D cup sizes. This pattern has either a round or v-neck, short sleeves, cap sleeves, or no sleeves and princess seams.

Pattern Sizing:
I bought the 16-24 envelope. I cut View C, size 16, but I think a 14 would have been better. I cut the C-cup for the top and definitely used the "curvy" pieces for my curvy bottom.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes. In the picture I show of my finished garment I don't have the little tab at the waist but after wearing it today, I decided it definitely needs an embellishment at the waist.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
I'm a stubborn engineer... I don't follow directions. ;D

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I definitely liked the different sizing options (cup size and hip/butt adjustments). Even though I usually just throw the directions back in the envelope, I kept these out to check every once in a while to make sure I was on track... it's been a while since I've made a dress for myself! I noticed that they wanted you to sew the side seams wrong sides together to help fit the dress better (before sewing the final side seams). This seemed a little weird to me and of course I didn't do that because it wasn't one of the steps in my made-up directions.

Fabric Used:
I used stuff I had in my stash. I honestly don't know what it is... some sort of cotton blend. The lining was cheap stuff from Jo-Anns that I also already had in my stash.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I did the petite alterations (the ones already in the pattern).

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I think I will sew it again if it's not going to be too obvious that it's the same dress - perhaps next time I'll do the other sleeve option. And I think I would bring the front up a bit - it didn't seem to sit as flat against me as I'd like and if I bring the front up into the shoulder seam a little more it would sit better.

Conclusion:
I like it - and it's a great pattern to have for wardrobe building!

More pictures on my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcroteau/sets/72157624843610186

Oh! And I almost forgot! I was in the Etsy Finds email on Tuesday - it was one of my mason jar pincushions. I've sold a few of those since the email, so that was a nice surprise. :)

woo hoo! sewing room has been relocated! :)

2010-08-30T17:49:00.005-04:00

Previous sewing room location: basement.

New location: what used to be the office (on the first floor!).

I love the new location. A few more pictures can be found here.

One of the cutting tables had to stay downstairs and as a result, I had to downsize on the size cutting mat I can use (unless I put the ginormous one on the dining room table). But everything else fit rather well into the room. I would have made it work no matter what - I wanted a first floor room!

After the new pictures were taken, we took a trip to Ikea to find some suitable chairs/stools. My desk is bar-height and I wanted something ~18" tall for the sewing table.

Desk chair:

... and stool for the sewing table (before & after):

Ikea really wanted me to buy one of their covers since the stool already came with the foam & interfacing-type covering stapled to it. It also already had the scratchy side of velcro on the undersides... I knew I could pull something out of my stash to make a cover so that's what I did.

The current work-in-progress:

Which will be Simplicity 2648 when it's done.

I have high hopes for this pattern since its got different fits - different bust sizes and different hip shapes (slim, average, curvy). Mine will be black - I had the cloth in my stash for a looong time so I have no idea what it really is or where it came from. It's kind of like a heavyweight linen, if that makes sense.

And one more work-in-progress:

We also picked up one of these benches at Ikea to go at the end of our bed. We know we (and by we, I really mean me) want to cover the top. The Mr. didn't think two layers of quilt batting was enough of a cushion for his cute little bottom, so at some point I have to go to Jo-Anns and get some foam. And figure out what I'm going to cover it with...

I'm going to try...

2010-07-11T14:28:00.002-04:00

...to be better at updating this. And after reading everyone else's sewing blogs, I'm going to try to put more sewing stuff on here.

What I'm currently working on:

Its a trial of what I'll hopefully be selling at shows this fall/winter.

I'm horrible at updating this.

2010-04-17T20:17:00.002-04:00

Quickly since the last update:
1. sold my new sewing machine - didn't like it. especially the reverse button.
2. old trustworthy machine is broken - need to take it somewhere to be serviced.
3. got engaged... officially, I guess. the jerk bought me a ring too - even though I told him not to :P
4. we're trying to move up to the Burlington, VT area. right now we're applying for jobs without too much luck... well, I'm not having too much luck. Ryan pretty much has a job once the employer has more money roll in with some anticipated contracts.

ok, and now since I'm bored:

Bold the ones you've read COMPLETELY, italicize the ones you've read part of. Watching the movie or the cartoon doesn't count. Abridged versions don't count either. BTW, according to the BBC if you've read 7 of these, you are above the average.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings-JRR Tolkein
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter Series- J.K. Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations-Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Ubervilles-Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy- Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland-Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner-Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi-Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale of Two Cities-Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones- Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (though I'm not sure if it was the abridged version or not)
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madam Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (I read the French version!)
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down -Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I haven't updated this in a while

2009-07-07T18:16:00.002-04:00

I've been busy... kind of.

Our office has officially moved to Waltham. It's a very nice building but the downside (which we all knew it would be) is the commute. I leave the house at 5:30am to get in at 6:30... assuming there are no major accidents shutting down both sides of 128 (like there was yesterday. twice.). There are now two other people in my dept close to my age (meaning they're not old enough to be my father) so that's nice. I don't feel like it's me vs the old men anymore when it comes to brining them into the 21st century with updated software programs.

I got a new motorcycle! A Honda Shadow Spirit (750cc). It's so much nicer than the Honda Rebel (250cc) I had before. So. much. nicer.

But... it's been raining. A LOT. There are usually around 8 days of rain in the month of June for New England. This year I think we had (no joke) 25 days with rain. [[This article confirms the ridiculous amount of rain]]

And July hasn't started off too well either. Today's downpours/heavy thunderstorms are flooding a lot of roads and causing a lot of power outages.

All this rain means I haven't been able to ride my new motorcycle. :(

hmm... what else...

I'm making a circus jacket thing for QueenVanna. :) It'll be red and sparkly.

aaaaand I've been trying to go to the gym and get back in shape. No change on the scale so far, but the muscles in my left leg are finally starting to return, so I'll count that as progress.

more lights!

2009-03-11T10:27:00.001-04:00

Every time I turn on the lights for my sewing area, I still think this looks a little weird - having recessed lighting plus pendant lamps. Especially where the pendants over my cutting table are kinda close to the recessed lights.

Oh well. It works.

What I'd Rather Be Doing

2009-01-16T09:34:00.006-05:00

What I'd rather be doing than sitting at my desk:

setting up my new tables in my sewing room
reading my book
sewing
buried under the blankets in bed watching a movie
scanning old pictures

We went to Ikea last night. The intention was to get tables/desks. For the basement. Ryan wanted a table/desk primarily for soldering stuff. He's been playing around with electronics lately... for the grill. The desk in the office is too small and gets too cluttered if he tries to work up there. We still have an unused corner of the basement, so he wanted a table/desk to put down there so he wouldn't have to play mad scientist in the office.

Okay, so that's table/desk #1.

I kind of had an idea that I should get another table for my sewing area to use under my cutting mat. The problem is that my cutting mat is huge. I love it, but it doesn't fit on the table that I had which is now home to my sewing machine and eventually my serger once I move it over there. I was eyeing the Ikea dining room table that is the same style as the sewing machine table and my (custom!) ironing board. But then as we went through the desk/office area, I found a table that was on sale... if I bought 2 of those tables it would a) be cheaper than the dining room table I looked at and b) be larger than the dining room table I looked at. I'm hoping the cutting mat will fit on it. If not, then I'll use one of these tables for the sewing machines, and use the older table for the cutting mat again. Why is it so difficult to find appropriately-sized sewing room furniture? :P

So there's table/desk #2 and #3.

THEN as we went through the bedroom section, we start looking at bed frames. We totally did not go in there to look at bedroom stuff, but you know how Ikea is. You have to look at everything. Right now, with the frame we're currently using, the bed shakes if someone rolls over or gets out of bed. It shakes a lot. It bothers me more than it bothers Ryan, but I think he was getting tired of hearing me complain about it, so we ended up getting a new bed frame. This new one should be a lot sturdier than the one we're using, plus it'll allow the mattress to be lower (we won't have to use the box springs anymore). Aaaand it'll fit under the window. Right now the top of the frame is above the window sill, so the sill is getting a little beat up.

Everything is still in the boxes, sitting on our dining room floor.... which eventually I'd like to get a new dining room table too, but that'll have to wait. :)

My stupid foot is doing well. 3 1/2 weeks after surgery, I went for an xray. I expected to have another cast put on after the xrays were taken, but my doctor walked into the exam room and said, "Well, it's been less than 4 weeks... but you're completely healed already. I don't know how but I'm not going to torture you by putting another cast on." Yay! So she kept the back half of the cast on, wrapped it in an ace bandage, and then sent me on my way (back) home to get my clonky velcro boot. I can already walk around the house fairly well without the boot, but to make sure my doctor will still be happy, I'm wearing it whenever I leave the house.

yay, Artfire!

2009-01-02T17:12:00.004-05:00

I set up an Artfire shop a few weeks ago, but hadn't put anything in it... until today. I was very impressed with the listing process. It's all on one page, none of this 4 or 5-pg crap that Etsy has you go through so it's easy to look everything over and edit something before submitting the item.

Ryan and I *were* in the process of setting up my own shop at kcroteau.com but we've both been a little busy so I'm just going to have that redirect to the Artfire shop for now.

Store not available

A real post.

2008-12-29T12:47:00.002-05:00

I suppose instead of just posting a link so you can use me as an Artfire referral... I could post a real update. Sort of.

I've been sitting on my ass for the past two weeks. I had surgery. Again. The last surgery was successful, but another problem came up as a result of that first surgery. Soooo I had another plate and a screw added. I think my left foot/ankle is around 75% bionic now. :D I'll try to see if I can get a copy of the xray I'm having next week or a print-out of it to post on my Flickr. The last one was pretty neat. :)

Christmas was nice, but too short. We went to Mary Jane's on Christmas Eve to visit with her, Claire, and Paul.

Christmas Day we drove to my parents' house and spent the night. My dad was actually home on Christmas - my mom wasn't sure if he would be since he was still working crazy amounts of hours to restore power to people who were still out from either the ice storm or the snow storm that came a week after the ice.

Ryan was too nice to me for Christmas and gave me a serger. :) This one, specifically:

Other than having surgery, nothing much has been happening with me. Guess there wasn't too much to update after all.

Artfire

2008-12-29T12:44:00.001-05:00

If you're not on Artfire yet but you will be soon, use my name for a referral puh-leeeze.

kcroteau referral link

Perma-muted from the Etsy forums

2008-11-27T12:20:00.004-05:00

Good fucking riddance, Etsy. I'll be moving my measly little shop to another venue as soon as I can choose which one I should be giving my money to instead.

The reason behind the perma-mute?

background if you haven't seen this: http://youthoughtwewouldntnotice.com/blog3/?p=1631

edmdesigns ( http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5000224 ) had the balls to put this in her shop profile: (mind you, this is definitely not the first time she violated Etsy's ToS by trying to air personal disputes in her shop announcement)

edmdesigns's Shop Announcement
♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥
♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥

Due to the fact that a FORMER SELLER "RIVKASMOM" has illegally tampered with my account and has been shut down on ETSY, she is ONCE AGAIN (a total of THREE TIMES Today) creating bogus accounts and buying out all my listed items without a stop.

THERE IS A MAJOR LAWSUIT IN PLACE AGAINST HER FOR NUMEROUS OFFENSES OVER THE PAST MONTHS AND SHE WILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH WHATS COMING HER WAY...IT WILL BE VERY COSTLY TO HER & I WILL SURELY WIN THIS AS I HAVE ALL THE EVIDENCE AND TESTIMONIES FROM HER FORMER FRIENDS WHO ARE DISGUSTED BY WHAT LENGTHS THIS UNSTABLE WOMAN HAS DONE. SHE IS STILL OUT THERE AND CAPABLE OF DOING THIS TO ANYONE SHE WANTS TO - BE CAREFUL !!

But meanwhile, My shop "may appear empty" as long as she is out there able to do this. So far, she has "purchased" everything in my store - over 235 items - and then some to the tune of OVER $15,000.00.

This is after purchasing some $13,000.00 and cleaning out my store just a few weeks ago.

Please Check The Categories to The Right For ALL STEAMPUNK JEWELRY ------- >>>

**** Special Thank Yous and hugs to all that have written to me to hang in and the caring support... It means a lot to see a tight knit community working together... A special hug to EB and she knows why... It's my honor to be amongst your talents and kind hearts ****

Please don't be shy - feel free to write if there is something on your mind or if you have any questions. Thank you for your trust in my work.

edmdesigns

♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥
♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥ ~ ♥

This seller is all kinds of crazy - she thinks that by saying there's a lawsuit against Rivkasmom that one will magically appear.

So, the threads that were started last night in defense of Rivkasmom:

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5928806

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5928826

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5928838

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5928843

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5928842

There were a few more threads that didn't really reference the situation at all that HeyMichelle ran around closing for some odd reason. I think they were just getting paranoid at that point when they kept seeing the same people try to start a conversation in the forums.

So... let's recap, shall we?

Rivkasmom accuses edmdesigns of copying her.
Rivkasmom gets her shop shut down by Etsy.
edmdesigns violates Etsy's ToS on more than one occasion in her shop announcement, gets nothing more than a minor slap on the hand. Plus spots on the front page and in a gift guide to make her feel better.
I publicly point out that edm is violating the ToS AGAIN and get perma-muted for it.
edm still sits fat, dumb, and happy while continuing to kiss Emily's (an Admin member) ass.

I was kind of surprised that I got my "you violated community policies on Etsy so we're muting you indefinitely" email rather quickly - as in, no more than 15 minutes after the whole thing went down.

My response? (Which still hasn't been answered yet - I doubt they'll even attempt to respond.)

Well, that was awful fast. Isn't there typically some discussion behind the scenes about this? And who is officially administering this muting? There are no Admin names signed to this email - usually there are.

You can't play favorites forever, you know.

So as a warning against anyone else who points out Etsy's flaws and wrongdoings - they'll just mute you and then eventually shut down your shop. Move to another online venue now.

FOOD.

2008-11-23T20:05:00.006-05:00

We're cooking Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday for my other half's mother, grandmother, and grandmother's friend.

Here are some of the recipes we're trying this year:

Carmel-pumpkin-gingersnap cheesecake. Mmmm.

Whiskey-glazed carrots. I don't like carrots, so I won't be eating these.

Crockpot stuffing. Won't be as good as my dad's, but I'm hoping it'll still be tasty.

I'll be washing all this down with my new favorite alcoholic beverage:

In addition to these yummy-looking dishes, we'll have the usual turkey, mashed potatoes, winter squash, rolls, cranberry sauce, and apple pie. Yay for stuffing ourselves with way too much food! :P

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Pictures!

2008-11-11T11:54:00.003-05:00

A couple of pictures from Shaun & Becky's wedding on the photographer's blog: link!

I've been sewing lately - which makes me happy. Except for when I make a mistake and have to get out the seam ripper, but that hasn't happened too much in the past few days, so that's good. :) My mom and I are doing a craft fair at Millbury High School on December 7th, so I'm trying to get a bunch of stuff done so the table won't be filled with mostly her stuff. :P

Weddings.

2008-10-15T18:53:00.003-04:00

This past weekend Ryan and I went to Shaun and Becky's wedding. It was wonderful and fun AND I got to see Heather for a little bit (she was a surprise for Shaun - he thought she wasn't going to be coming).

So even though it was beautiful, Heather and I were kind of overwhelmed with the amount of details that go into a wedding.

-- gifts for your bridesmaids, groomsmen
-- gifts for the guests who stay overnight at the hotel
-- knowing small children who will be the flowergirl and ring-bearer
-- picking a caterer
-- picking a cake
-- hiring a photographer
-- making sure your bridesmaids are happy with their dresses

And I'm sure there are a few other things we thought of that we're forgetting. Not to mention the formality of everything - especially if you're married in a church.

We (Heather and I) decided everything was too fancy for us and that it would be much easier if we eloped. Not together. But with whoever we're going to marry. :P

So yeah, the wedding was very nice and it was fun to hang out with everyone (except for the one person who decided she was going to be negative and pessimistic the whole time)...

I've been sewing - to make things for the craft fair I'm doing with my mom in December. Whatever doesn't sell there, I'll list on Etsy. So I won't be listing anytime soon, but I will be making things. :) ... in between all the traveling I have scheduled for work.

Oh and there's the 2nd surgery that I've scheduled for Dec 12th... fun fun.

Muted for a month.

2008-09-08T12:43:00.001-04:00

Hello,

Your recent post here is considered in violation of Etsy Forum rules:

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5794265&post_id=27880746
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5794270&post_id=27880880
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5794277&post_id=27881063

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I still don't think it counts as "calling out" if you're pointing everyone else to blatant resellers. they should be happy we're finding all these accounts for them - it makes the whole site look bad if at the top of the front page it says "Your place to buy & sell all things handmade" and then you scroll down and see plasma tvs for sale.

new ironing board!

2008-09-07T09:11:00.011-04:00

Almost anyone who sews wishes at some point in time that he or she had a bigger ironing board. Or one that isn't tapered.

I wished for a bigger ironing board too. Except I went the next step and made my own. :D

Step 1: find a suitable table. I got this one at Ikea. I got this one because it was counter height (which is the height I normally set my ironing board to), it was 72 inches long - good for ironing pretty much any width of cloth, and it included some storage space (drawer, shelving).

Step 2: Gather your supplies for the top. I bought 2 boxes of this kind of velcro (and it isn't cheap!) - it has adhesive on the back of one side and on the back of the soft side there's nothing so you can sew it to something.

The batting is the kind used to make oven mitts. I doubled up on this for the table just to be on the safe side.

The cloth I used was some stuff off the clearance rack at Jo-Anns - some calico they were trying to get rid of so it was only $1/yard. :)

Step 3: Sew velcro to the cloth. Sew the layers of batting next to the velcro you just sewed on. Sew the other strip of velcro on, but remember that the fabric will stretch so don't just measure the width of your table and go from there. My cloth stretched a 1/2 inch.

Step 4: Attach sticky velcro to the table and put pad on!

Back to work already? :(

2008-09-02T11:34:00.003-04:00

This (extra long) weekend was nice.

It was nice to do almost nothing besides eat and sleep. And laugh.

And possibly the worst sound combination to go along with wanting to still be on vacation has to be this:
2 highly annoying co-workers yakking about some topic that does not need a 2-hour discussion + another co-worker clipping his fingernails at his desk

Can I go home now, please?

2 of 2 Croteau sisters agree...

2008-08-24T12:48:00.002-04:00

That the following is the best email ever received by one N. Croteau:

Last night Dad worked all night, but I left the outside lights on because I didn't know when he'd get in. So, at 4:50 AM I decided to get up. Knowing that the paper would be in the box I started out the back door when I spotted a cat sitting at the bottom of the steps. I couldn't believe my eyes. The cat had an ace bandage wrapped around its body. I could see those little metal clips that holds the bandage on and everything. I couldn't stop staring because I just couldn't believe it. The cat must of thought that I was holding the door for him because he started up the stairs. I closed the door fast. I went through the cellar to get the paper and the cat was sitting next to the back steps as I came up the driveway. When I got in front of the garage door he decided to try to approach me again. Not a chance. It kind of freaked me out, who puts an ace bandage around a cat and then lets it out all night. Dad wanted to know if it was Calvin. I have never seen this cat before, it was multi-colored and very fluffy. I turned all the lights off and when Dad came home at 6:30 he was gone. I don't know if having the lights on all night attracked the cat or what.

too funny

2008-08-14T17:16:00.002-04:00

from SecretLentil:

you, my dear, have balls.

Did you know that Massachusetts prints nicknames on drivers licenses?

2008-08-14T13:29:00.002-04:00

Well, Wal-Mart employees seem to think so.

I had to order something through Wal-Mart's website since it wasn't in stock in the store. I went to pick it up this afternoon. The clerk asked for my license and starting entering my information. She typed in "Katherine"... so I said, "That's not my name."

She kind of looked at me funny.

"It's right on my license." (Duh! You have it in your hand!)

She deleted it and typed my name in.

...

2008-07-13T19:12:00.005-04:00

I'm bad at actually updating this thing.

I went on a vacation with two cousins during 4th of July week - Amy and I flew down to West Palm Beach, FL to spend some time with our cousin, Mike.

Here we are at Juno Beach - hours before Amy and I got back on the plane to Manchvegas.

The rest of the pictures from the trip can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kcroteau/sets/72157606028187686/

Other than that, not too much has been happening. Ryan hasn't been feeling well at all so I haven't been sleeping much lately. But hopefully he'll be feeling better this week.

Last night we went to see the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Dropkick Murphys at McCoy Stadium with my cousin Amy and Ryan's friend Dennis. It was a good show. Ryan and I went up into the seats after the Bosstones so we could sit - neither one of us were in any condition to stand for the rest of the show but Dennis and Amy stayed down on the lawn for the whole thing. Oh, and Dropkick was making a CD last night, so I'll definitely have to get that one when it comes out. :)

I haven't done any sewing lately. :( Besides altering clothes for a friend. I need to finish the pillow shams I'm working on for someone - I need to experiment with my ruffler foot first, though.

oh! AND yesterday before meeting friends for Indian food, (I'm a busy girl) I went down to Thompson, CT to pick up an old sewing machine and its cabinet. It's still in my truck because I can't get it out myself and Ryan can't help me right now, so I'll take pictures later. I got it mostly for the cabinet, but the woman said the machine still works fine - and it has paper bobbins. Word.

Before I left for Florida, I was at my parents' house for a few hours and was bored so I took some pictures of wall quilts my mom has in the house and some more pictures of her gardens.

Cousins.

2008-06-20T14:16:00.002-04:00

On my dad's side of the family, there are 17 grandchildren including myself and my siblings and there are 3 great-grandchildren.

~~A few weeks ago~~ Crap. Almost a month ago now, my Pepere died. His memorial service was the first time ever that all the cousins were together in the same room at the same time.

This picture, unfortunately, doesn't have everyone. The only person missing is our cousin Cathy. She left a little early...

And it doesn't have the great-grandchildren... but there we are. Then my Auntie Di wanted us to line up by age so after we figured out who was older than who, this was the result:

It was also the first time in a loooooong time where all the siblings (my aunt & uncles & my dad) were in the same room at the same time. Here they are with their mother (my Memere):

That night a few of us went out to Jillian's in Manchvegas:

The next day we had some more fun before 2 of the cousins had to fly back home to Florida - I dragged Ryan back up to NH with me this time and we went to hang out with a couple of my uncles at Hampton beach.

We played minature golf:

And us cousins stood in the frigid New England ocean:

In less than 2 weeks now, Amy and I will be flying down to Florida to visit our cousin Mike. All of us are really excited and it should be a good time. :)

Stimulating the Economy

2008-06-16T12:38:00.004-04:00

That's what we're supposed to be doing, right?

New couches for the living room:

Spooooon bracelet from a favorite Etsian (FireChickTick):

A dressform (finally!):

And soon - a serger. :) (I still have to shop around before I settle on one.)

HEY WPI

2008-06-12T14:29:00.002-04:00

I don't have any fucking money to be just throwing away right now. So stop with the phone calls and weekly letters, mm k?

Cause... you know... I'm still paying off the $45,000 that I have left in student loans.

And that's a low amount compared to how much some of my classmates still owe.

So go screw yourself - I wasn't one of those kids at school that had mommy and daddy pay for everything.

PS - my parents don't have any money to throw away either, so don't bother calling them. My dad will just laugh at the person on the other end and hang up.

A Borrowed List

2008-06-06T09:19:00.003-04:00

This was on PaperMenagerie's blog (aka Angela) and I'm bored/procrastinating, so here are my answers:

What were you doing 10 years ago?
I was graduating from 8th grade, just about to go into high school. At that point, I was still going to Girl Scout camp for a few weeks during the summer as a camper, not as an employee (that was the next year).

What were you doing 1 year ago?

A year ago wrapped up one of the most hectic times in my life and I still don't know how I did it or how I survived. From March - May/June of last year I was... renovating the house with Ryan, going to roller derby practice 2-3 nights a week, working full time (40 hours), and being a full-time graduate student (3 classes, usually meeting once or twice a week each). So most days would be work, class, derby practice, work on house, go back up to Worcester to sleep. Yikes.

Five snacks you enjoy:
tortilla chips and salsa
Edy's strawberry fruit bars
ice cream
pretzels
animal crackers

Five things you'd do if you were a millionaire:
the usual - pay off the rest of mine and my parents' loans
travel. travel travel travel.
build a house out in the woods where no one will be able to find me very easily
sit home and sew/make things all day
send random people money since I always wish that would happen to me (so get on that, Oprah!)

Five bad habits:
on Etsy too much during work
chewing the inside of my cheeks/lips when I'm anxious
being lazy when I should do something productive like laundry or the custom order I have to finish
eating too much ice cream
not reading enough (for pleasure)

Five things you like doing:
sitting on my comfy couch out on the screen porch
meeting Etsy people in real life (I went to dinner with SecretLentil the other night!)
reading
eating ice cream
watching a movie on a rainy day with Ryan

Five things you'd never wear again:
stirrup pants
turtlenecks
heels (but not by choice) :(

Five favorite toys:
sewing machine
kenmore heavy duty mixer
mac laptop
wii fit
sharpie markers

New interesting post coming soon

2008-06-02T17:16:00.003-04:00

Just waiting for my cousin to send me the pictures from this weekend...

Plus I have a few pictures I should take of the pillow shams I'm working on.

oh yeah

2008-05-23T19:32:00.003-04:00

I got a Wii Fit.

I don't want to pay a lot of money to go to a gym that I'll barely use because my stupid foot won't let me.

So I bought a Wii Fit to help me get somewhat back into shape or maybe at least back to the flexibility I had pre-surgery. And it keeps track of your weight and estimated BMI each day.

The part that isn't surprising is that it tells me I'm Unbalanced (on my feet, not in my head dummies)... yeah, that could be due to the fact that my left foot has a mind of it's own. A stubborn mind of it's own.

But the yoga, aerobics, and muscle strengthen parts are pretty cool. I suck at all the balance games, so I think I'll be staying away from those.

Yup, gas prices are a leeetle ridiculous.

2008-05-23T19:13:00.003-04:00

Driving south on 495 on a Friday afternoon in the summer can be an absolute nightmare.

Driving south on 495 on the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend makes you suicidal.

However, with gas at an average of $3.90 in Worcester for Regular (but I did pass one station that had Regular for $4.09 on my way home), I didn't think it would affect Cape traffic too much. I mean... it's The Cape. *cue heavenly music*

I was totally wrong.

I decided to take my chances and travel down 495 to get to Milford (from my office in Westboro). At 3:15pm (usually the time when Cape traffic starts backing up), the road seemed like I was driving home on a Tuesday. During school vacation.

This snapshot of Google maps (taken at 7:18pm) shows that 495 is still moving at a normal pace. Normal, I mean, for 7:20pm on say, a Wednesday night. During school vacation.

However, it is NOT school vacation week. Nor is it a Tuesday... or Wednesday. It's the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend.

I'm doing my part to help the gas companies continue to reach their gazillion dollar profit goals by making a trip up to NH for the 3rd weekend in a row. And I have to go up to the Granite State again next Friday - for my Pepere's memorial service. So that's 4 weekends in a row, Exxon. How about a little of the profits thrown my way? I know a great ~~gal~~ whore named Sallie Mae who will gladly take away anything you give me so don't worry - I won't go spending it on frivolous things like groceries.

busy busy little bee

2008-05-20T08:18:00.005-04:00

We've set a date for our housewarming/belated graduation/belated birthday party. So now we need to make sure the house is actually finished. But this means the other half of the basement ceiling will be finished (i.e. I'll finally have real lights over my sewing area).

My "little" brother turned 16 last week. "Little" because although he is younger than me, he now outweighs me and is taller than me.

My Pepére has been in the hospital and things aren't looking too good - he was read his last rights on Sunday. Right now I'm indifferent about the whole thing, but that's another story.

I didn't get a job I interviewed for back in March. The only part that sucks about not getting it is now I have to start looking again and start interviewing again. I hate interviewing with a passion. I just freeze up if they ask me those stupid typical HR questions. Even though I know they're gonna ask them in 97% of the interviews. I just can't do it. I'd rather sit there and have a conversation like a normal human being.

Oh and if anyone is feeling extra generous today, I'd like one of these, please:

oh dear

2008-05-08T14:29:00.005-04:00

If I wasn't already on my way to hell before (which I'm about 99.999% sure I was), I certainly will be going there now.

Meep.

my Google reader

2008-05-07T08:42:00.001-04:00

Just in case anyone is interested in seeing what I read on a daily basis, here ya go. ;)

♥

new artwork for my sewing area!

2008-05-02T11:35:00.007-04:00

One of jellybeans' prints was on the front page of Etsy this morning when I logged in. I clicked on it, and ended up buying 3 prints from her shop!

AND since I gave her her 700th sale, she let me pick either 1 free print or 3 free cards so I chose this one:

I can't wait until I get them, frame them, and hang them up! :)

I scored a Treasury!

2008-04-30T15:10:00.000-04:00

Weeeeeeeeeeeee

our house

2008-04-29T11:02:00.029-04:00

I suppose if we're going to have a housewarming this summer, we should pick a date now to make sure people know about it. But I wanted to show anyone who actually reads this blog what we did to get our swanky house.

Back story: Ryan's Great Uncle Roger is 97 (or 98?) years old and lives in an assisted living house. Roger and his wife, Ellen used to live in the house we now live in. Roger knew that unfortunately he would not be returning to the house and so he told Ryan that he could move in and live there if he wanted to.

And so we did.

But not before doing some major work to it.

Before we even touched the house, we had it tested for mold (I got wicked sick the fall before we started work due to the mold in the house). Yup, there was lots o mold in there.

So, there were ~~a couple~~ 5 dumpsters. I think 5 is the right number. And we're talking 30-yard dumpsters. The first couple were just to get rid of the stuff that was in the house. When Roger went to assisted living, he didn't take anything with him really so there was all his furniture, a full kitchen, and closets full of clothes to take care of.

After we got rid of almost everything that was in the house, then came the demolition/mold remediation. The crew we hired to do the mold remediation were also going to do most of the demolition for us because it was easier for them that way.

Here are some pre-demo pictures:

Laundry room.

The kitchen. Through the arch is the living room/dining room. The hallway (to the right) leads to the main bathroom and the bedroom.

Another shot of the kitchen. Lovely, no?

The living room... with the lurvely wall mural.

The main bathroom (there was also a 1/2 bath off the kitchen). Seafoam green and pink, baby. Pink sink, pink toilet, pink cast iron bathtub. That bathtub weighed a ton.

The basement. One biiiiig, empty, green room.

Before we did anything to the outside.

Now when I say that we completely renovated this place, I mean it:

This is me standing in the kitchen. The window you can see in the background is the other end of the house. There used to be a full staircase going up to the attic somewhere in between me and that window.

The new kitchen cabinets and sink. (Blue Corian countertops, custom-made maple cabinets).

Master bath cabinet & sink unit. Custom cabinets done by the same place as the kitchen cabinets. White Corian countertop/sink.

Finished basement. Dark blue/gray-ish walls, berber rug. I did the majority of the framing down here. *pats self on the back*

Living room/dining room area after the paint & floors are done. Floors are cherry (real wood).

Dining room area. We did a chair rail to make that area a little more formal. Top of the wall is a light tan - same as the living room and office. Bottom half of the wall below the chair rail is a dark blue.

Here are two pictures that were taken from the same spot. It really shows how much we opened the house up - we eliminated the little archway going into the rest of the house. We also eliminated the hallway that ran down the middle. The wall you see a chair resting against is gone - that was part of the stairway going up to the attic, but since we didn't see the point in having a full staircase going up there, we took out that whole wall. Right now there is still basically just a hole where the stairs are going down to the basement, but we are planning on putting in a railing at some point.

When we first started this project, the contractor we had for mold remediation thought we were crazy. We started in March and we told him we were going to be moved in by June 1st.

And we were. Earlier than June 1st, acutally.

I think we were crazy. Ryan was finishing up senior year, I was working full time + being a full time student + going to roller derby practices. Yikes.

Writing this has made me realize I should take pictures of the house now because we've finished up a lot more and actually have some furniture too. ;)

I'm currently at 17% - wanna help me?

2008-04-28T11:06:00.004-04:00

I'm currently trying to help raise money for the 3-day, 60-mile Boston walk for breast cancer. If I reach my goal of $2200 I'll be able to actually walk the course!

Any more donations would be greatly appreciated!

Here's the link to make a donation online or to print out a form to mail in:

http://08.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/BostonEvent?px=1726534&pg=personal&fr_id=1182

this weekend

2008-04-28T08:25:00.002-04:00

was nice. I (kind of) caught up on sleep - still working on that. Got some laundry done... and went on 3 dates. ;)

Yesterday we went and saw the movie 21. Ryan thought it was good... I thought the story was good but that the movie kinda dragged on. But we had free movie passes so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.

After that we went to Whole Foods to do some groceries. I got some mushroom soup and a stuffed bell pepper for dinner - both were deeeeelicious. :)

springtime!

2008-04-25T07:57:00.003-04:00

I love when everything outside starts budding and blooming. :)

it's almost my bestest friend's birthday

2008-04-23T19:36:00.002-04:00

My bestest friend and I have been bestest friends since first grade.

It's almost her birthday and I got her these wonderful Etsy treats:

A tiny dormouse from violetpi. My bestest always has some sort of rodent pet and even though she usually doesn't have mice, I still think she'll like this.

Some honey and goat milk soap from HelloCrafty, who is one of my Etsy BFFs. I have a couple of her soaps and they smell sooo good!

a new beginning

2008-04-23T10:35:00.001-04:00

ahhh...