Christmas Rats!

I've got 17 Christmas rat ornaments! Yay! I've been working on these suckers a couple evenings a week for the past 2 weeks. Each one is sewn by hand (no machine here!) and is unique. And darn stinking cute!

Here's all 17, piled on one another!

A smaller group shot! These guys are small, around 2 inches and made from socks.

With a santa hat! I plan on adorning some with santa hats, some with reindeer antlers, some with scarves . . . you get the idea.

I'll be posting these guys in my shop, but my question is when? In October? Wait until November? Anyone have a suggestion?

I'm a big DORK!

I like to buy things off Etsy. Well, more than like. I love buying things off Etsy. And I really AM a big dork. So sometimes I like to take dorky appreciation pictures. Here are some of them.

I'm excited about my scarf!!! It's freaking AWESOME! And from fellow Owl, Jaime!

I'm being attacked by veggies! While wearing my Revenge of the Veggies shirt! Oh the irony . . . from Juror2.

Sporting my headband from fellow Owl Holly!

Posing with Ayden, Zan (Queen Icky), and my FREAKING AWESOME wallet from Fellow Owl Karren!

See? I'm a dork!

Confessions of a Coffee Crazed Nurse

I get a flu shot every year. Working in the hospital, it's encouraged that we do and the hospital, of course, will vaccinate us for free. So Friday, while at work, I got my flu shot.
Now, let me tell you a little something about giving/getting a vaccine. They're given in the muscle tissue, most often in the upper arm. When giving an IM injection, you jab (my technical term) the needle into the muscle, and then pull back on the plunger slightly to make sure you're not in a blood vessel. Then push the med/vaccine in, and pull straight out. Most people have a little spot of blood where the needle went in. Normal.
Okay. So I go downstairs to get my flu shot. The nurse who gave me the shot was very nice and gave it expertly. So she pulls out the needle and there's a little drop of blood. She kinda stares at it in horror and I tell her "I always bleed a little after a shot".
And she says (this is priceless) "On purpose?"
Yes. On purpose. I have amazing control over my circulatory system and can make myself bleed at will. It's really quite awesome.
And she's a nurse.

I made the front page of Etsy!

I was terribly excited to learn that I was on the front page of Etsy! And on my birthday no less!!!!! It was on Friday, Sept. 25th at 3:30 eastern time! Woot!


This is the 5th time I've made the front page, which I'm darn proud of! My item is the severed bunny head.
Have a great weekend all!

Experiments in polymer clay

I've always wanted to work with polymer clay. Well, for the last 5 or 6 at least. So I finally bought some! I bought Sculpey III in their variety pack (mainly just to get a lot of colors to play around with). I've fiddled with it here and there over the past couple of days, trying to get a feel for it. I finnished one sculpture that I thought was worth baking and saving. And of course it's a zombie bunny holding a brain. What? You thought I'd sculpt something else?

Now, the brain isn't detailed at all. And the blood looks a little silly. But hey - it's my first real attempt.

I'll be keeping this one myself. As I get better, I'll offer sculptures in my shop.
And if any of you have any tips or advice, I'm all ears!

Feature Friday: Blue Bayer Designs

Today's feature is a truly amazing shop. I found him by way of Etsy's front page. His shop, Blue Bayer Designs (aka billyblue22), is unique, inspired, and fresh. Blue is a self-taught artist and I adore his use of steampunk, skulls, and victorian jewelry.

His pieces are cast from real skulls and can be plated with gold or silver.

This hummingbird skull is quite stunning, intricate, and beautiful.

Steampunk is a running theme in his shop, and is lovely.

Digging this bat skull!

If you want something unique and truly beautiful, visit Blue Bayer Designs. I know I'll be buying from him soon!

Claire became a zombie . . .

Some of you may remember sweet little Claire the octopus. She was an attempt to make a "normal" plush. I like octopi, and thought, hey, why not? Well, we all know that I really can't do anything normal. I'm quite strange. And damn proud of it!

So anyway, Claire was attacked by zombies. And the gaping wound on her head somehow sprouted teeth and is eating a rodent. Yep!

I think a zombified Claire is much more my style. Maybe now she'll find her forever home.

. . . . . .wouldn't it be awesome if all zombies sprouted mouths out of their wounds? Wicked!

Winter Finds!

Good morning! It's snowing at my house in Colorado, windy, and butt-ass cold! Woot! The cold weather has inspired me to search Etsy for wintery items, and of course I need to share them with you!

First up is this delightfully adorable Jester hat from OopsIKnitItAgain! A very stylish cap for your baby!

This silver flake necklace from pennydogaccessories reminds me of a delicate icicle! It's stunning!

This fleece hat with fox ears from QuteWear is too damn cute!! I think I may need to buy it . . .

And lastly, this too-cute bunny hat from LittleSidekick! Sorry guys, I'm a sucker for cute babies!


The snow is still coming down, but it's not sticking. And I'm on my second cup'o'joe! Life is good!

My son Ayden - AKA Spiderman!

My son Ayden loves Spiderman. I mean loves Spiderman. So of course he wants to be Spiderman for Halloween. And of course, we bought him a Spiderman costume. And, being 2 1/2, he doesn't want to take it off.

At all.

Ever.

At least he looks darn cute! And happy!

In fact, he's sitting on the kitchen floor right now, dressed as Spiderman, eating a granola bar, and trying to coax the dog into chasing him.

Yay Spiderman.

Confessions of a Coffee Crazed Nurse

So it's been established that I love my job. And Wednesday I got to do a fabulous delivery. The kind that brings tears to my eyes. A lovely young couple, having their first baby. There's nothing more magical than to see the instant bond between the parents and the infant as he's born. Both mom and dad burst into tears as the head came out and cradled their new infant, never taking their eyes off him. I love those moments.

And here's some pics of my son, shortly after he was born!

In the hospital, after his bath!

Going home! Looks like a pirate . . .

Escaping from his blanket. Hard to think he was ever that small!

Why yes! Yes I DID make a 2-headed bunny!

I sure did! I was thinking to myself "hmmmm, what to make . . ." and then it hit me. I know! I'll make a bunny with 2 heads! And a raccoon tail! And spikes down it's back! AWESOME!

. . . . . . . so I did. And here she is:

I love her!! I'm so going to have to make on for myself.

I won stuff!!!!!

A couple of months ago I entered a few blog giveaways. Never thought I'd win, but hey, why not? So imagine my surprise when I won not one, but two giveaways!

First is a gorgeous pair of earrings from MABjewelry. I love these earrings! They're so lightweight, it doesn't even feel like I'm wearing them! They're also very simple, yet sophisticated.

MABjewelry has so much other wonderful jewelry too! Braclets and necklaces abound! And I love her motto "no naked wrists". Be sure to visit her shop - you'll be glad you did!

Next is a fabulous pendant from Luv2Have! It is stunning! And I mean stunning! The colors are perfect for the fall season, though I know I'll wear it all year long!

Luv2Have has a huge selection of fused and dichroic glass pendants,earrings and rings, and all are beautiful! I highly suggest you visit her shop!!

I'm so happy that I won these two wonderful pieces of jewelry! I'll be wearing them both proudly!

Feature Friday: bunny X productions

Well phooey! Sorry I didn't post yesterday (Thursday). I was out of town and never made it to my computer. This weeks featured shop is bunny X productions! (aka societysedso). I've featured one of her pendants before, but decided I needed a whole feature because her stuff is awesome! She's a fan of cephalopods (which I am too!) and I love her octopus tentacle pendants.

Feast your eyes on these!

This one is titled 'November'

'Trick or Treat'

'Tickle'

'Hold your Breath' . . . .some steampunk goodness!
She has so much more gorgeous things, so please be sure to show her shop some love!

I really, really DO like zombies . . .

It's probably obvious. But yeah. I like zombies. Zombie movies, zombie stories, books, sculpture, plush . . . they're just so entertaining! My hubby found this crazy AWESOME blog that's (wait for it) all zombies, all the time!!! Well, it's more like an ongoing, online novel with updates every Sunday! Zombie goodness! It's called Dead Meat. So if you like zombies, please check it out!

And, in honor of zombies, zombie finds on Etsy!!

First up is this awesome zombie giraffee from Plushroom Soup! So darn cute!

Next up, and awesome coffee cup cozy with zombies!! From Bliss Monkey Studio!

Crazy awesome shirt from TinaSeamonster!

Get out there and enjoy some zombies!!

Some funny things . . .

Today I'm sharing some funny musings and pics. Why not? We all need humor!

The quotes are from people in their late 20's. I got them in an email from a friend. And the pics are from the site People of Walmart. Enjoy!

-Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

----I've totally done this.

-----Um, I really don't know what to say about this one.

- How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

-----yeah, we've all been there.

----How am I supposed to slap a ho without a balance breakfast?

-I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

-----This is so, so true! Especially when I'm at the gym . . .

----I don't know why you're laughing. This guy is HAWT!!

Hope you enjoyed today! I need all the help I can get today with a cranky 2 year old screaming that he "has boogers" yet won't blow his nose or let me use the bulb syringe to suck them out. Nope. Just cries and whines and screams and throws things. Awesome.

Confessions of a Coffee Crazed Nurse

When I worked med/surg, I took care of my fair share of drug-seekers. Not chronic pain patients that get labeled "drug-seekers", but actual drug-seekers. Making up symptoms to be admitted to get IV pain meds.

The one that stands out in my mind was a frequent flyer. At one of the hospitals every month or so. His complaints were either chest pain or GI bleed (blood in his stool). He'd be admitted for a complete workup but was always "nauseous" and in "pain". What was ordered for him? Dilaudid and phenergan. When given together through the IV, they cause a temporary high. Why was he continuously admitted when we knew what he wanted? Liability. If something was actually wrong and he wasn't admitted . . .bad news. And he did things like dig out his internal hemmorhoid to make himself bleed (to convince the ER docs that he had a GI bleed).

On one of his stints on our floor, he smuggled in dilaudid tablets, phenergan tablets, and percocet. He requested phenergan and dilaudid for his nausea and pain. Given through the IV. Then (and this is the good part) he managed to fish a used syringe out of the sharps container (I still don't know how he did it). He crushed all his pills, disolved them in water in a cup, pulled it up in the syringe, and put it in his IV. He just about died. I was the one who found him comatose in the bathroom in his room. He was still breathing. Barely.

He was put under one on one care with a sitter, and offered drug rehab and psychological counseling. Both of which he declined. He died 6 months later from a drug overdose. I feel sorry for his wife and 2 children.

My son, the nurse

Well, he likes to pretend he's a nurse! He's a true mommy's boy and loves copying me. So when I get home from work he likes to wear my stethascope and badge and "listen" to me, the dog, daddy, the couch . . .

Here he is, looking the part. See the big grin? So happy to look like mommy!

And "listening" to daddy's leg. Note how the ear pieces aren't in his ears . . .

Leg sounds good. Better check the heart. Again, without ear pieces . . . Who knows? Maybe he'll take after me and be a nurse!

My dog Zan . . .she smells bad right now. Sitting next to me while I type and she smells like she rolled in something not quite alive. Just thought I'd share that.
Icky.

Cephalopods

I'm in a cephalopod mood at the moment, so I figured I'd do a search on Etsy and share what I find!

Here's a cutie octopus from NeedleNoodles.

And a fabulous octopus coffee mug from skybirdarts! I need one of these!

Awesome octopus print by marystreacle!

I love cephalopods!