An Accidental Hiatus

Fellow Bloggers, readers, friends, family, and random Google searchers:  Hello!  It's been a while!

I accidentally didn't blog for two months!  I let starting a new job distort my priorities for a little while, but I'm feeling like I've (finally) achieved some sort of control over my new lifestyle that I can actually participate in my hobbies/life again!  Not only was I not writing on this here blog, but I also haven't been reading other blogs.  I want you to know that I missed you and I look forward to catching up on all the fun stuff you've been doing over the past while!

Instead of being hard on myself for not keeping up with my hobbies (and suffering from Blog Guilt, Knitting Guilt, Scrapbooking Guilt and the like), I have just accepted that it took me time to adjust to a new schedule, new people, and a more compartmentalized amount of 'free time'.  The good news is that I no longer just come home from work and go strait to sleep.  I can actually stay up past 10pm!  Woot!

I have been keeping a little notebook of Blog post ideas and I have some half finished drafts that I need to complete, so not only is the hiatus over - I actually have some material!  Woot! Woot!

#Winning

I have joined to ranks of my friends Tasha and Joanne and won the Canadian Living Craft Blog Weekly Giveaway!  The prize is perfect for me -  an adorable knitting pattern book to knit farm toys!  Having grown up on a farm, and as the aunt of two young and adorable farmers, I will definitely be making all of these projects.  There is even a pattern to make a barn!  I am so excited!

Too cute!!

If you have never entered the Canadian Living Craft Blog giveaway contest, here is my overwhelming endorsement that you should.  There is normally a new giveaway announced every Monday, and prizes vary from books to supplies for many types of crafts.  For your chance to win, all you have to do is comment on the "Weekly Giveaway" blog post.  They usually pose some sort of question for you to answer, so it's pretty easy to think of something to say. The winners are chosen randomly, and I love that you don't have to sign up for anything to leave your comment.  Also, I think the odds of winning are pretty good, as I've never seen more than 180 comments on a giveaway post, and most times the number of comments is far lower than that.  The contest I won had only 30 comments and they had two copies of the book to giveaway, so I had a 1 in 15 chance to win...and I won!!  Also, there is no moratorium on entering the contest after you've won, so if win and you like the following week's giveaway, go ahead and enter that one too!

Here is the link to the current giveaway: Giveaway for the week of April 25, and as of now (9:30pm on Monday night), there are only 10 comments!  Readers have until 11:59pm on Sunday May 1st to write a comment.  Be sure to read all the guidelines on how to comment (you can only comment once) to ensure your entry is part of the draw.

Good luck!  I hope you win a cool book too!! :)

An Open Letter

Thursday April 21, 2011

Dear April 21, 2011:

I am not impressed.   See photo below for details.

Love,
Jen

Adjusting to a New Schedule

I started my new job last Wednesday and basically as my body adjusts to my new schedule, all I do is work and sleep.  I've gotten most of the work attire I need for now (I'll post pictures when I am not working or sleeping!), so this upcoming long weekend (3 whole days!) I can focus on my on-going life and craft projects.  I have a list of blog post ideas that I just haven't had the chance to write about, but I am hoping at some point soon I can stay up later than 9:00pm and work on them! :)

And how is your week going so far?

Spring (Car) Cleaning

Like many cars following a Canadian winter, my car was very, very dirty.  Any attempt to clean it throughout the winter was negated by any use of the car, as it would instantly return it to its previous state of filth.

But thankfully (for a million reasons) it is now Spring.  The birds are chirping, the sun is shining, and the weather is warm enough to get outside and clean the car.  I'm a bucket of soapy water kind of car washer, and I've never really gotten into automatic car washes.  I just prefer to thoroughly clean it myself.  It is a little more time consuming, but on a nice Spring day I actually find it enjoyable.

The car is now clean (inside and out!) and I have a Before and After shot to prove it.

BEFORE

AFTER

I also had my all season tires put back on this morning and I've stored the snow tires for the summer.  That dreaded time called winter is now officially done.  Bring on summer!!