Gettin' My Craft On!

So I have been home from the States for over a month, and I still haven't blogged about my BFF's wedding, nor have I finished blogging about my trip to Paris with Elphie, not to say mentioning my amazing birthday weekend! But I will get there, I promise. And those are not just empty words. I just have...issues...with finding a balance. There tends to be a lot of extreme behaviors one way, and then the complete opposite (and many times back and forth a time or two more!) before I get back into my "groove." And the past few months have been anything but regular!

And in the "extreme behavior" toward the negative, for a week or two, I was completely ensconced in the silly Facebook games. Frontierville/Pioneer Trail, Mafia Wars 2, Cafe World...all that crap. It was like a trance I couldn't be pulled out of. But Monday, I finally reached a decision that I had been mulling over. I decided to stop playing them. All of them. (Well, okay, I still have Words with Friends and Scrabble, but those only take, like, 2 minutes to make your move and then you wait on your opponent to go. No big.) And in the time that I have not been playing those time-sucking games, I have done the following:

Completed the WestKnits Mystery KAL:

Started and completed a stitchmarker Lariat:

Started and completed a pair of Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Wristers:

 

Started and completed a hat for The Instigator's aunt:

Made my own mitten blockers:

Blocked the Bella mittens for Tara:

 Baked a batch of zucchini muffins and 2 loaves of zucchini bread (this is all that was left of the muffins after 24 hours...they were completely gone in less than 48! LOL):

Started and completed a cowl (for trading for an apron from a fellow crafter!):

Finally finished a blanket to donate to a patient of Nephrotic Syndrome 

that has been a long time in coming!:

And have done some super-top-secret HSKS swappy items. Plus,that's to say nothing of finally getting my crafting supplies slowly migrating upstairs to my new craft room (used to be the boys' toy room, but we moved those upstairs to the large closet and their bedroom), catching up on housework, participating in running a knitting swap, and actually cooking meals! I have really been on fire! LOL I'm really hoping that this is less of a swing of the pendulum in the productive segment of my balance and more of a trend leading to habit. :) I guess only time will tell, but all in all, not bad for a week's worth of effort. :)

Under My Skin

I have always been the kind of person that is rather easily offended (compared to most people...or at least compared to the people that I generally spend time around!) and quickly gets defensive. I've been working on that a lot the past few years (and being married to The Instigator has certainly helped in that development of character quite a bit, for as much as he picks on me! LOL), but every now and again, no matter how hard I try to let something go, I just can't seem to. Tonight happens to be one of those times.

I love social networking. I am a social person by nature, and I love that technology helps me to still be so connected to friends and family back in the States and finding people with similar interests. But occasionally, something stirs up that defensive monster in me....one of the groups I'm in on such a site discusses the television musical comedy, "Glee." (I adore that show! I go through withdrawals without it!) One of the most recent episodes featured music from a certain Justin Bieber. Because of this, one of the topics approached in this discussion forum had to do with some interviews that the 16-year-old singer has given recently. (And by "recently," I do mean since he shot to stardom...what, 3 years ago? Something like that...I'm not exactly a fan, though I don't despise him, so I don't really keep track...) One person mentioned that in an interview he gave, he mentioned that "in America" basketball is not referred to as basketball, and another person or two commented on how thick he must be. I replied and pointed out that "America" doesn't necessarily mean "United States" (as the question was raised, "isn't he from Canada, not the U.S.?") before I noticed the post directly before mine from a moderator of the group telling everyone to stop discussing The Biebs. It must have ruffled someone's feathers (more than the one, count 'em, one person that freaked out over discussing the interviews), because my reply to a post prior to the mod's prompted a direct reply from said moderator stating: "Is what I said not clear enough?" Immediately, that reply alone irked me. I mean, really? So I merely replied to the mod stating "I replied before reading through the end of the postings. It’s deleted now." What I wanted to say was "A) I said nothing in regard to Justin Bieber. I merely stated a geographical fact. So regardless that I posted that reply before I saw the mod warning, it was not directly related to Justin Bieber's intelligence or interviews; B) You could have simply deleted my comment yourself and sent me a private message pointing out said mod warning, and while I might have rolled my eyes at the computer screen over it, I'd have dealt with it as that is a moderator's prerogative; and C) Since someone here clearly doesn't take their Midol before publicly posting a mod post, I'll just alleviate you of my presence and continue to watch the show unencumbered by your personal opinions." /leave group

But I didn't. Why? Because that's not very nice, and because it really isn't necessary. So I was going to just leave all that unsaid and in my head...but then I went to go lay down and go to sleep...but it clearly was bothering me more than I realized, because I kept subconsciously clenching my jaw and fitfully moving around trying to get comfortable! That's not exactly conducive to The Instigator getting good sleep, and the poor man has to get up for work in the morning (after a 3-day weekend of gaming into the wee hours of the morning and being the first up with the kids so I could get some extra rest)! So instead, I slipped back downstairs, fired the computer up, and have now gotten it off my chest. I really do feel so much better now! LOL (And now, I see that there is someone in the group that "liked" my comment apology for posting the first reply and that I deleted it...for all I know it could have been said mod! So I'll just take a deep breath and let it all go....)

Ah, the world of social networking to one who's hackles are so easily raised....LOL