Ambitious Hamster has moved!!!

Come visit our new fledgling blog over at our new Paper Lotus Design Group web site! If you link to this blog (oh bless you!) would you mind updating our URL so you can keep current? I promise, there's more posting gonna be going on over there!
Plus you can see what's up at Paper Lotus, check out our shop, and our new t-shirt line! Once we get everything up and running. Which will be soon. I promise.

See you over there!!

Paper Lotus Design Group
Paper Lotus - Ambitious Hamster Blog

Alright.
I think my life is too boring to blog about most of the time, but I finally found this, thanks to Todd for forwarding to me. It is blogworthy. And very hamstery. Perfect.

OK. I am going to start blogging again this week. And I'm going to start reading your blogs again. I hope you'll stop by again real soon...

Hmmmmm.

So what should I say after taking over a month's break from blogging?

Pictures from the Day Job

Every once in a while, I get freebies from various companies we do business with. Usually my boss gets the good freebies. I usually get pens, stuff like that. Or a very handy big block of small post-it notes. Everything has a company logo on it. Like my favorite pen is actually a pink Nationwide pen. It's nice and heavy. I didn't get it from the Nationwide Variable Annuity wholesaler, I got this one from the Nationwide Life Insurance wholesaler.
This week I got 2 interesting freebies. First, a stuffed whale. From - of course - Pacific Life.
One might think they would keep their money in their cash reserves rather than buying stuffed whales but...I guess it's not my call. Oh I also got some PacLife pens - they are OK - nice looking but not very heavy.
Then I got this neat-o "recycled paper" note book. Made in China, but recycled. So I guess that makes it OK. It has some weird page holder that came with it - I couldn't figure out what to do with it until a colleague showed me.
I kind of collect these little note books - I have this one from Liberty Mutual, 2 nice ones from ING, one from Western Southern, and one with a fancy "M" on the front but for the life of me I can't remember what company that is. Something that starts with an "M" - but I thought it was neat since my last name starts with "M."

Then I took a few pictures of my office. I'm not sure how I ended up with such a fancy office. I'm sure sometime soon they'll move me to the file room or something, with a stack of legal-sized paper reams as my desk. But for now - I enjoy my view, when I remember to look out the window.
And I'm considering bringing in a small fridge and a recliner for this nook area, where I could nap and no one would see me.
And of course there's the snack drawer. Well one of the snack drawers.
I'm in the back of the floor - no one remembers I'm there, no one stops by to chat, except for my boss if he needs something. He's next door so I do have to keep alert when he's in. But if he's gone, and the Trust Officer is gone...it gets lonely...
That's 9 hours of my day. Hopefully something will change soon.

The house is coming along...

Since closing on our first rent house on 3/30 it's been getting a lot of attention...not from us, but from a contractor we know. He's doing all kinds of work including refinishing the hardwood floors, painting, putting in new flooring, some appliances, even a new sliding glass door! I'm hoping he'll finish up tomorrow and that we can plonk a FOR RENT sign out front on Monday. Still hoping for a May 1 move-in, trying to envision really nice, responsible friendly tenants who always pay their rent on time. It'll happen!
Here are some pictures of the work in progress...

I'm already trying to figure out how we can buy a second one, hopefully in the next few months. We'll turn the loan for this one into a commercial loan with our bank, then after holding the second one for a year, we'll roll that into the commercial loan too. Commercial loans have much lower closing costs. The rate resets every 3-5 years but I don't really care about that. I'm sure rates will go up quite a bit in a few years but since these are investments, deducting the interest on the loan will help offset the income. OK so I've been thinking about it a lot.

Conditions: Wet, slushy, and wet

Well, the weather forecasters in Oklahoma are probably breathing a sigh of relief that their snow predictions came true. And then some!
It was supposed to start snowing overnight but when we got up and looked outside it was still raining. Until about 9, when it switched to snow, and it hasn't stopped yet (it's currently 4:30).

We have ventured out twice this afternoon. M didn't feel well this morning so he slept on the couch while I finished our taxes (we owe, bummer!). After lunch we went to The Crappy Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market right by our house. We usually go to one further away, that is not Crappy. But today, convenience was the name of the game.
It's snowing the kind of snow that sticks to you and soaks you. We schlepped around the store all wet and soggy and as a reward I thought hey, let's drive across the parking lot to Starbuck's for a decaf latte! Great idea only Starbuck's was closed. Wimps. So we drove further down the strip mall to Camille's - I swear I've had a latte there before. This time they said all they had was coffee. Pffft! I don't need coffee. I need a latte. By this time I am very soaked and the slush has soaked through my Emus. Feet getting cold. I give up.
We then went to the gas station to pick up the weekly lottery tickets and that's where I noticed my entire 24 oz. Nalgene bottle of water had dumped out on the floor of M's car. Ooops. More water. I am getting throuougly pissed at this point.
We then went home and unloaded way too many groceries in the snow, tracking in a bunch of snow. The grocery shopping is done but I'm now wet, cold, grumpy, and sans latte.
M then had the brilliant idea to go to Borders for our latte. I said "don't tempt me" and before we knew it we were back in the car sliding over to Borders. This time we put on our hiking boots though. Don't know why we didn't think of that the first time.
We used our "free beverage" coupon, got another "free beverage coupon" (darn, we'll have to go back tomorrow) and I even filled up my punch-card for a "free beverage." Mission successful!
Now we are home, there are logs ready to be lit in the fireplace, my feet are dry and I have a nice big decaf latte in front of me. Guess today wasn't too bad.

The Emus couldn't handle all the snow.


On the way to the bookstore.


Yay, got the lattes!


The cat isn't too bothered by the snow.

Broke.

Well I did it.
I managed to break my camera last week.

I liked my camera, it took adequate pictures. Until that fateful day that I was trying to photograph myself ironing a seam on some cloth napkins for an upcoming Urban Tulsa article. I tried to iron with my right hand and take the picture with my left. My camera is not left-handed-person-friendly. I dropped it. On the kitchen floor. Which is cermaic tile.
It's like it happened in slow motion and all I could do was stand there and watch it bounce off the tile.
Here is what it looks like now.


May it rest in peace.

On the bright side I've already picked out my next one and since I don't yet want to spend the money on a digital SLR, I've picked out a cheaper one with good reviews, along with a larger memory card, a case, and rechargable batteries, all for under $150. I guess there's my Birthday present.

And please don't bother lecturing me about how I should be more careful with my stuff and how stupid that was and all that. I KNOW, I KNOW already.

Spring Forward

Miscellaneous bits of news

• The rental house purchase is moving right along. Except for some minor drama including a screw-up by our bank regarding our earnest money, everything looks good for a March 31st closing date. We are waiting on a bid from a guy for doing the work that needs to be done. I'm not as scared about the whole thing as I thought; it just really seems like the right thing to be doing. I'm already trying to scheme - oh I mean figure out - how to get a second one towards the end of the year.
• It is very spring-like here! A bit windy today but you know, it's Oklahoma, it's always windy. But for me this is the first offical Short Sleeves Day of the year.
• We did not win the jackpot in last week's lottery. However we did win $6. I am planning to receive a $3 million bond portfolio for my 40th birthday in April so I'm expecting that winning ticket to show up any time now.
• I tried to go garage saling today but only found 2. I guess it's still too early. I fantasize about finding fabulous bargains on craft supplies. I'm waiting for that lady who got really inspired to knit or crochet, bought a lot of great yarn, and then gave up and is putting the whole stash out at the garage sale for $2. Hey, it could happen. I'm also looking for vintage buttons, a table loom, fabric, maybe ribbon, old jewelry, etc.
  
• We have a Tulsa Craft Mafia meeting this Sunday. Apparently we will be interviewed for Urban Tulsa on crafting using recycled items - "recessionista" apparently. Hmmm. I have the perfect project. However I'm not sure I can come up with tutorial pictures in a day. Hmmm. I'll keep you posted. Did you see me on the cover of the Scene section of the Tulsa World in February?
• I just looked out my window in time to see a girl in a silver car toss a soft drink cup out her window. I watched it blow down the street. I believe that she will get what she has coming to her. At some point. Unbelieveable.

OK now that I'm all depressed about littering and the environment and the recession and recycling craft supplies and no garage sales - I'm off to enjoy a spring Saturday. Those are always filled with hope and promise for better times.

Flea Market Finds - Meet the gang

We've been going to the Flea Market at the fairgrounds every so often with M's Mom. It's been fun, except for when they have it in a really drafty building but as long as we bring the hats and gloves, we're OK.
We've brought home some friends from the flea market.

M has started collecting - brass statues that cost $1. So far he has found 2. Meet Karl and Ruby...

The dinosaur was M's first find in a bin full of $1 toys. How could we resist bringing him home? Besides, we needed a doorstop for our office/art studio. M reckoned the tres would do a super job. Soon after the purchase, he was named Karl. And here he sits today, doing a great job holding our door open.

The last time we went, we found a vendor that had everything on one of their tables for $1 per item. So M snatched this little beauty up right away. M had seen this bird before, but it had cost more than $1 so it was not coming home with us. But as soon as the bird was on sale, well, now the bird is holding our bathroom door open during the day. On the way back to the car from the flea market, she got named Ruby. I think she totally looks like a Ruby.


And a few months ago I found these wonderful little birds for $2. I couldn't resist. How could I say no to the blue bird of happiness family?? M put them up on the wall above my desk, they are flying towards the window. I love them so much! I have no idea how old they are and the wood seems to be some kind of particleboard or something. They are very unusual. They look old but the paint is sprayed on so I have no idea what to think. Anyway they make me happy. I'd like to get a tattoo of them.
And they have no names. Just the bluebirds of happiness. That's more of a title really.

So those are our friends from the flea market. Wonder what we will find next time...

Home Sweet Home...

OK well, we are buying a rental property! We found one we liked, and it's a foreclosure, owned by a bank - a short sale. Which means the bank will sell for less than what is owed, just to get rid of it.

We put in a lowball offer yesterday, just to see, and figured we'd have to wait a while before we heard anything, but - they accepted our offer today! Kind of makes me wish we would have offered even less, but we are happy with the price.
Now comes the fun part - getting an addendum to the contract sorted out, inspections, more waiting, closing, then fixing the place up before finally trying to rent it.
Welcome to the neighborhood:

Not a whole lot to look at I know, but that's the idea. Something very affordable. Our real estate agent totally rocks, and she also has a property management company, she is going to manage it for us. That's worth the money to me, on our first one anyway, till we figure out what we're doing.
As for fixing it up, here's a beginning list:

• Replace some missing exterior siding
• Rip out carpet and kitchen/bathroom linoleum
• Have someone refinish hardwood floors and lay new linoleum
• Have someone replace sliding glass doors to back deck with french doors
• Install dishwasher, stove, maybe fridge too
• Paint
• Install missing trim/baseboards
• Install dryer hookup

Mostly pretty basic stuff and we'll hire someone else to do some of it, in the interest of speed and convenience. And then we'll try to rent it out. Yay!
We have been wanting to do this for a long time. But the time was never right. Until now. Everything is going smoothly and we're ready to take on the responsibility. I'll keep you posted!

Once.

So we rented this movie. From Netflix. Called Once. Have you seen it? If not, then you really should. If you have then - didn't you just love it?

I know I'm a little let getting to this movie, wasn't it released in 2007 or something...but better late than never. I have to say, I was completely blown away.
We sat down to watch it one night, and it was good, I was enjoying it, but for some reason I kept waiting for something bad to happen. Then about 2/3rds of the way through, the dvd stopped playing - it was cracked. (Something bad did happen, just not IN the movie but rather TO it). So we had to wait a few days while Netflix sent a new copy. When we got it we watched it all the way through and I was so impressed. And I am now in love with Glen Hansard.
The movie led to checking out the soundtrack from the library. In the context of the film, the music amazing. By itself, the soundtrack tells the story - and is incredible. The soundtrack led to me looking everyone up on the Interwebs and joining The Frames and Swell Season groups on MySpace and Facebook. Not that I'm obsessing or anything.
Now I need to find every Frames CD ever made.

Go buy this movie and watch it. Then watch it again.
In this day and age, when everything seems so plastic, and little 13 year old girls are running around half naked with tons of make up (God I sound old), and consumerism running rampant, and ads telling us we all need Botox, etc, etc, etc - it was surprising and refreshing to run into something so...real. Yes I know it is a movie, but the music and the people are sincere, real, and I haven't run into anything like that in quite some time. I am so gosh darn impressed, in case you can't tell.
OK I'll stop before I get all weepy and preachy and stuff. But - wow.

At the homestead.

So, like, we just had an ice storm. It wasn't as bad as December 2007's ice storm, but it was bad nonetheless. Hopefully things will be more back to normal by tomorrow. They are closing the bank early again today, so M will be home early and that kind of invades my "quiet time" - the one or two nights a week I get a few quiet hours at home. Grrr.
In the middle of the ice storm, the cat decides to hurt herself and we had to wait a whole extra day to get her to the vet, as the vet didn't go into his practice yesterday. And $277 later, we now know - the cat has a sore shoulder.
Don't get me wrong - I couldn't have lived with myself if we hadn't taken her and it ended up being something worse. And I'm glad she doesn't need a little cast or leg brace or surgery or anything. But still. $277. Grrr.

As you may have noticed I've been talking(and eating/sleeping/dreaming/obsessing) over yarn and knitting lately. And it has taken it's toll on our condo. Here are some pictures of the living room.
This first one is a picture of the 2 baskets I use to keep my knitting in. They are at the end of the couch, kind of hidden away from view.
Not so bad, right? OK well here is a picture of the couch:
Uh oh, the yarn and knitting projects have taken over the couch. Note the giant bag of yarn, the little tote bag containing a project, and the paper is the pattern for the project. You know, just in case I have a spare 5 minutes to knit on the couch I have plenty of yarn to choose from.

OK, still in the realm of acceptable. But, here is a picture of the coffee table:
This is the storage box for all the needles and such. and a file folder with patterns in it.

And the little side table thingie for the remote and such:
That blue yarn and the needles are a knitting project that someone ELSE is working on, learning to knit. Oh but I'm not supposed to mention that.

OK well, I'm sure any knitter will tell you this is perfectly normal, to have yarn all over your house. Right? Right? Anyone?

Half Way There

I recently finished knitting my first fingerless glove. It's nothing fancy (although it does have cabling!)
I have to say, I am proud of it. It's the most complicated thing I've tried to knit so far. I didn't get it exactly right, the bottom is too loose and at the top I didn't bind off like they said to, but - you can tell what it is and I'm sure the second one will look better. Maybe I'll go to the yarn store and ask for help in learning the proper bind-off technique too.
Anyway, here are a few pictures of my first fingerless glove. This will come in handy at work when it gets cold again. Oh and I haven't cut the ends of the yarn off yet, you can see there:
(note neglected pile of bills and statements on the desk. i shouldn't be blogging or knitting, i should be entering receipts in microsoft money).

Other than that, I have been spending time being depressed about work, working, and figuring out what to wear to work.
I did have Monday off which was nice. And on Saturday I'm going to the flea market again to look for stuff to use for jewelry. What have you been up to??
I've got to get to bed. I should get up at 4:00 a.m. to get on the treadmill but I can hear that little voice already, telling me to sleep in instead...

My brain is going to explode.

So many ideas, so many things to try. Sadly, very little time.

Hey, why haven't you bought any Valentine's cards yet? We know you need some. Did you know you can find some great ones here? Just saying.

Tomorrow night I'm volunteering at something called the "Switch Program" - my friend from work is part of an events planning group and they've put this thing on for kids on the "other" side of town at the YMCA. Kids will hear from different folks in the community - and learn different life skills. I've volunteered to sign people in for a few hours.
BUT I told him I needed to be home by 9:00. Absolutely had to leave at 8:30. Of course I didn't tell him this is because I HAVE TO be home to see Battlestar Galactica. That show rocks and there's no way I can miss it. Hope you're planning on watching it too.

As if I really needed it...

I found a really interesting tutorial on turning t-shirts into yarn. Yes, something else knitting-related. If you are interested, you can read it here.

There are so many things I want to make and try and do.
2009 is the year to DO STUFF. I can just tell. Here are a few things I'm doing this year.
-Turning 40
-Doing more craft shows
-Knitting
-Possibly buying a property w/my mom which has a garage apartment/separate living quarters so we can all live somewhere bigger and have room for a nice art studio
-Figuring out how to replace part of my income so that by April 2010 I will only be working part time

I have a lot to do.

Oh, here is a picture of a new necklace, taken with my new light box. What do you think of the necklace?
This one has no vintage/recycled bits, it's all new pieces.

This one, however, has recycled chain and beads. The picture isn't as good, I'm still trying to get the hang of things.:
Hopefully I'll make some new pieces soon but as noted earlier, knitting is kind of the thing right now.

I have a problem.

It's a rather serious problem. At the moment, I'm totally addicted to knitting. I love yarn. Knitting is so relaxing! And it's so satisfying to see your progress on a project.
Over the last week I've accumulated a lot more yarn for my stash:
The brown yarn on the left is for M, that is a hat there on the double pointed needles, which I have finished since taking this picture. He gets a scarf eventually, too. The brown/blue striped yarn in the front is a hat for my Mom, now I'm almost done with that one. There's some black/grey yarn, that's for a hat for a friend at work. The colorful-striped yarn is for a hat and scarf for me. The blue and white is for a neck-warmer, probably for myself. I will knit them together for a warmer neck-warmer (see below). The brown yarn on the right is some great wool/alpaca that I found for 40% off. I think I may go back and get a few more skeins, just in case. And some nice new size 9 double pointeds, for making the hats. All those striped yarns are a wool/soy blend - very nice and soft and better yet, $1.75 on sale! Woot!
Late last year I started a neck-warmer experiment for myself, but then my Dad called and asked if I'd make him one to give as a gift, and I told him he could have my very first one. So I never got to enjoy it. But I did take a few pictures before I sent it off:

These were knit with a rose-colored yarn and an off-white yarn together. I think I made it a little too wide. I'll make the next one thinner.
And I've come up with an idea for a knitting group/club! I have no idea how to pull that off. Maybe I'll talk to some people about it and see if it's an alright idea. Or if it's just stupid.

So, I am having a knitting problem. Not enough time to knit. Because there's that WORK thing. And I really do need 7-8 hours of sleep. And I've been putting together a few new card designs. And we'll have some new Valentine's and Birthday cards to list soon.
Whew.

Meep!

I know it's not much of a blog entry, but I just couldn't resist sharing this - it popped up on M's Google home page as a video of the day...how did they know we'd just watched 2 Muppet Xmas specials and that we love the Muppets??

2008 - Meh.

2008 was a weird year. How was it for you? I plan to do a little more looking back on New Year's Day but for now if I had to sum up 2008 in one word it would be...weird. But in a good way.

This time of year is tough at work - second only to the week of April 15th. The two times a year when it suddenly occurs to people that they need to open an IRA. Right away. And not just a regular IRA. Nooooo. A Simple 401(k). A solo 401(k). A SEP IRA. A Simple IRA. You can't even open a Simple IRA for 2008 past October 1. And apparently you can't open a solo 401(k) past December 17th where I work.
But please don't interpret the above statement as any sort of investment or tax advice, as it would be illegal for me to do anything like that. Please just consider it venting, because that's what it is. Sheesh.

The Cat. Is A Nutbag.

Don't need to say much more than that.



(this is the cover of my sewing machine.)