The Jammie Girl

Honey Badger Scarf

Angie — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:55:19 +0000

Seriously, I need to back away from Pinterest. Y’all know how I love the honey badger, and I found this on Pinterest the other day:

Source: etsy.com via Angie on Pinterest

The only thing that kept me from ordering several immediately was that it costs $200. Actually, I can see where that amount of work would totally make it worth $200, but since I haven’t won the lottery recently I decided I’d have to make my own version of the honey badger scarf. So, that very day, I raided my craft supplies cabinet, my children’s rooms, and the dogs’ toy box. Here’s what I came up with.

What is pictured here is a chewed-up stuffed bear (nose missing), an old gray fleece scarf, an ivory fleece scarf I spilled coffee on, various glues (I ended up only using the “tacky glue”), a green blanket that has seen too many Scout camping trips, a piece of black fur that served as a beard when John did a project on Abraham Lincoln in elementary school, some cording and batting I didn’t use, and replacement bear noses. We’d recently had a family heirloom bear mauled by the dogs, and they sell noses only in packs of three – who knew?

Then I went to Hobby Lobby, hoping to purchase some of those pre-made pipe-cleaner bumblebees. You know what I’m talking about, right? Well, no one else did, so this is what I bought:

Less than $3 worth of supplies, and I was ready to create. I made the bees first, so they could dry while I did the other stuff.

Big pom-pom, little pom-poms, white pipe cleaner, glue. Easy-peasy. The I gutted the poor stuffed bear, pulled out all his stuffing, and replaced his nose (noses and eyes are very easy to replace if you ever need to do so). Then I cut him in half and glued some brown pipe cleaners on for nasty-a$$ honey badger claws. This was the only part that didn’t work so well. He may have to be clawless if the hot glue gun experiment tomorrow doesn’t work. But that’s OK. While I was waiting for his claws to dry I cut out the snake, gave him eyes with a sharpie, and added a red pipe cleaner tongue for good measure. Once everything was dry I attached the snake with needle and thread. Non-sewing people can do this. It was only like three stitches.

Then I laid out the scarf, figured out where I wanted the front and back ends of the honey badger to be, and cut the ivory fleece scarf to fit to attach them. It’s just glued to the bear’s fur and the gray scarf, but I did put a couple of stitches through all three layers (both scarfs and the bear) at two spots on the front end and two spots on the rear end because even without stuffing this bear was a bit heavy. Oh, and I cut Abe’s beard into a honey badger tail and glued that on, too. Then I glued the bees on wherever I thought they looked nice. I glued the snake’s head to the scarf, but left his tail flopping around. Here’s the finished product:

For $3 and less time than it takes to watch a DVRd episode of Real Housewives of Orange County I think it turned out pretty well!
* UPDATE: After drying overnight the claws were attached quite sturdily
I’ll be linking up to Oh, How Pinteresting, The 52 Weeks of Pinterest Challenge, Works for Me Wednesday, Whatever Goes Wednesday, The Mommy Club Resources and Solutions.Something I Whipped Up, CraftoManiac Monday, Making the World Cuter Monday, Made by You Monday, Share Your Awesome, One Project at a Time, and Ta Da Tuesday.

Priced at just $4.99, it is now available in every format your little heart could desire at Smashwords, or, if you prefer, it’s also for sale in a Kindle version at Amazon or a Nook version at Barnes and Noble!

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Faith in the Unseen

Angie — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:14:09 +0000

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,

the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

This is exactly what I mean when I say my faith has grown over the past year. I have faith that things will somehow work out for me health-wise and that our family will make it through whatever financial hurdles may still be to come. This time of year is my least favorite – everything looks dead, with no evidence that Spring will ever come. But I know it will, and that hope, that faith (and the Reece’s peanut butter eggs already in the grocery store) keep me going

What prayer or scripture has inspired you this week? Drop by Saints and Scripture Sunday, Scripture and a Snapshot, Sunday Snippets, Spiritual Sundays, Hear it on Sunday, Playdates with God,Word Filled Wednesdays, Walk With Him Wednesdays, iFellowship, Planting Mustard Seeds, Good Morning Girls, and Journeys of Faith Fridays to share!

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Ham, Eggs, and Hominy

Angie — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:12:01 +0000

Sorry for the monochromatic picture. If I hadn't been so hungry I'd have taken time to find a more colorful plate.

This is comfort food at its finest. Breakfast for supper, brunch on a lazy weekend day. The best part is this isn’t so much a recipe as a technique. All you need are the ingredients in the title: ham, eggs, and hominy.

Today I used some of a honey-baked, spiral-sliced ham I bought on sale after Christmas and froze. I should have pulled it apart and frozen it in smaller portions, but I didn’t so we’ll be eating a lot of ham this week. It’s also wonderful with thick ham steaks, which go on sale regularly at my local grocery. The eggs are fried eggs: over-easy, so the yolks are nice and runny. Hominy, for those of you not familiar with it, is sold canned in the vegetable aisle near the corn. I’m not talking about hominy grits, I’m talking about whole-kernel white hominy.

Just heat the hominy in a saucepan, heat the sliced ham in a skillet, and fry the eggs in a skillet or on a griddle. Pile them all on a plate, then cut everything up and mix it together until it’s a big, delicious mess. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and make plans for a nap afterwards.

I’ll be linking up this week to Works for Me Wednesday, Whatever Goes Wednesday, The Mommy Club Resources and Solutions, The Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap, and Tastetastic Thursday.

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Need to Escape the Winter Blahs? Here’s Your Book!

Angie — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:40:32 +0000

So cold. Metal pierced Alexander’s abdomen before he could utter a word of protest. The lighting of the bright crimson flames that ate away houses and street signs blurred into an ominous wavering dance of embers.

How’s that for a hook?

One of the many wonderful things about Kenny, my Kindle, is that he has encouraged me to branch out and select books from genres I don’t usually read. I’d read mainly commercial women’s fiction for so long, and I was missing so many treasures. I recently read a fantasy/sci-fi book called The Genesis Saga: Awakening The Genesis Saga: Awakening " target="_blank" class="broken_link">Awakening. It’s the first in The Genesis Saga, and let me tell you, I can’t wait for the second book to come out!

I won’t give away the plot line (I hate spoilers), but I will tell you not to make any plans once you download this book. Laundry piled up, dinner was frozen pizza, and the house was a mess until I finished it. The characters are well-developed and compelling, it’s fast-paced, and the plot had just enough twists, turns, and surprises to keep me from putting it down – but not so many I got confused. The setting and dialogue were so natural I felt completely immersed in the world of The Genesis Saga. There’s nothing I hate more than stilted dialogue unless it’s poor character development. Yes, I’m picky about my books and there are several best-selling authors I refuse to read for exactly those reasons.

Ian Eviston did a spectacular job with this, his first novel, and as soon as I finished it I posted to his Facebook wall asking when the next book would be available. Would it be inappropriate to send him a copy of Misery to motivate him? Yeah, I guess that might be a bit stalker-ish. In the meantime I’ll just chat with my kids about what they think might happen next. My twenty-year-old finished the book before I did, and it’s entirely appropriate reading for my thirteen-year-old as well, so he’s next up. The link above is for the Amazon version, but here’s a link for you Nook fans: Awakening

I love finding a new author I enjoy, especially when it means a new series. What are you guys reading lately? Are you reading the same genre as usual, or are you branching out? I’m linking up this week to Share Your Awesome, because I want to get the word out about this fabulous new author!

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Why Everyone Needs to Learn to Say “No, I Can’t.”

Angie — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:31:48 +0000

Last night I watched the entire Superbowl for, I think, the first time ever. I’m not a football fan in general, and normally on Superbowl Sunday I have to get up at 3am the next morning to go to work. This year I don’t have a job, though, so I stayed up and watched the game, the commercials, and, yes, Madonna’s half-time show. Why don’t I have a job? Because when it came time for me to go back to work after my fourth cervical spine surgery in three years (think Peyton Manning times two) I said, “No, I can’t”. I was still in constant pain, pain severe enough that I often couldn’t think clearly. Pain that necessitated narcotic pain meds and sedating muscle relaxers around the clock. I’m a nurse. Going back to work would mean making decisions regarding patient care that could cost someone their life if I was having a bad day pain-wise. I wanted to go back. I wanted to support my family financially, make sure we had health insurance and other benefits, and lead a normal, productive life. Now the job I had has been split into two jobs (yeah, I worked pretty hard) and since the pain still hasn’t improved I’m not sure that I will ever be able to work as a nurse again. That’s hard to come to terms with. Just the possibility that I can’t do it anymore.

So I understand why Madonna didn’t say, “No, I can’t” when she was asked to perform the half-time show at the Superbowl. But she should have. Because she couldn’t do it. She lip-synched the entire show, seemed lost on some of the choreography, and sometimes even appeared to be having trouble walking in those high-heeled boots. Yes, she’s fifty-three, and she looks great. She hit big when I was in high school, so I’m as much a fan as anyone, and I know most of her older songs by heart. But it would have been okay for her to say, “You know what? I’m fifty-three, and I just can’t perform on that level anymore.” To graciously bow out and let a younger performer or group actually perform last night. I was following Twitter while I watched the game (Thanks, Fadra, for sending me the link to the Clint Eastwood commercial that I missed!) and although there were several “Best halftime show ever – I love Madonna!” tweets, most people were disappointed and disturbed. Yes, those songs brought back good memories for me, too, but I could have gotten the same experience from blowing the dust off an old Madonna CD and playing it. She wasn’t performing.

It’s okay to age gracefully. To realize that there comes a time when you can’t do all the things you once did. I don’t expect Madonna to be able to perform the way she did thirty years ago, and it makes me sad that she evidently expects to be able to, or thinks society expects that of her. Can’t we just appreciate ourselves and others for who we are and what we are able to do right now?

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Rhythm

Angie — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:01:12 +0000

My friend Kim sent me DVDs by Ron Bell in care packages when I was recovering from my surgeries, and we’ve really enjoyed them. Sometimes our schedules conflict with church services, and sometimes I just don’t feel well enough to sit through Mass. Kim told me that when their family can’t attend church together they’ll watch one of his DVDs (they’re all about ten minutes long) and discuss it as a family. I was checking to see if any of the ones we hadn’t seen were available on Netflix (they weren’t) but I ended up finding quite a few on YouTube. So last night when the rain had me spending more time on the heating pad than off and counting the hours until my next pain pill we watched “Rhythm“. I picked it because of the title alone, since I married one drummer and gave birth to another, but it was an exceptionally thought-provoking segment that I can best describe as “God is music”. One statement Pastor Bell made was something along the lines of “It’s not whether you’re playing the song – it’s whether or not you’re in tune.” It impressed Michael, Mr. Any-excuse-not-to-go-to-church so much that he asked me to send him a link so he could watch it again. Score!

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A Week of Inspiration

Angie — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:07:08 +0000

— 1 —

Last weekend I went to my writers’ group meeting. I hadn’t been in a while, mainly because my life had been in such turmoil that I was afraid that when it came time for me to “share my progress for the month” I’d just break down in tears. But I’d gone to the Christmas party, which was wonderful, and was ready to get back on track with my writing. Yes, I write. I’m not published yet (other than a self-published cookbook that I’m rather proud of) but I write. And thanks to Ru, one of our members, I identified how inefficiently I’d been using my time, and immediately remedied that situation. I’ve been writing two hours every day ever since!

— 2 —

Another inspiration for this week was a book I read, Awakening: The Genesis Saga by Ian Eviston. I’ll write a full review once he’s got his cover art ready so you can all pin it on your “Books to Read” boards on Pinterest, but let me tell you right now: I could not put this book down. My Kindle battery died and I made my husband plug the charger in on is side of the bed and sleep with the cord under his pillow so I could keep reading!

— 3 —

This will embarrass him if he ever reads it, but my eldest son, Aaron, was quite an inspiration this week. I don’t usually open his mail, but he received something from his college this week and I opened it, thinking it might be his W-2 and that we could start doing his taxes this weekend. It was a letter telling him he’d made the Dean’s List. I texted him to congratulate him, and he called me back because he thought it was a joke. Poor kid make such lousy grades throughout high school that he didn’t realize last semester’s all A’s and one B had earned him a place on the Dean’s List. Now he’s worried that I’ll expect those letters every semester (and I will!)

— 4 —

I realize this is strange, but I can’t get enough of the You Tube Honey Badger video (watch this one when the kids aren’t around). When life seems overwhelming I just tell myself that I’m a honey badger, the the honey badger don’t give a *%^&!

— 5 —

I started an online writing class on Pacing taught by Mary Buckham, and I can already tell it’s going to be awesome. It’s a month-long class, so that should keep the February doldrums at bay

— 6 —

We finally finished watching all four seasons of Mad Men on Netflix, so I can’t wait for the new season to start! How is that inspirational? Well, if you’ve seen the clothes on that show you’ll know they are a fabulous inspiration for exercise and diet – I SO want to wear all those outfits!

— 7 —

I think this may be the most random post I’ve ever written, between grades, the honey badger, and writing. Oh, well, welcome to my train of thought – it doesn’t stay on one track for long!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

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Time Passes Strangely

Angie — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:42:07 +0000

I used to have a nightmare – I had it rather frequently – in which I was running as fast as I could, really giving it my all, only to realize that I was barely moving. I would wake up from these dreams panting, adrenaline coursing through my veins while my heart raced. The dream was terrifying not because of anything I was running from or toward, but because my body seemed completely out of my control, and because time had lost its proper meaning. I haven’t had that dream in a long time, but I remembered it the other night as I lay awake, and I realized that perhaps I haven’t had the dream because now I’m actually living it.

Some things are moving so fast, blurring by at the speed of light. My eldest son, whose footie-pajama-clad feet I can still remember padding down the hardwood floor in the hallway, is in college and engaged to be married. My youngest, whose comfort blanket still lies in the cedar chest, is taller than me, with a voice deeper than my husband’s, and is often mistaken for someone old enough to drive. How did they grow up so fast?

But some things don’t change at all, no matter how hard I try, to what extremes I go to get results. Three years of constant pain. Three years. If someone had told me back then that I’d go through four surgeries and untold number of painful therapies and treatments while the pain only got worse, that I’d lose my job and put my family’s future at risk, I’d probably have prayed to die on the table during the first operation. I’m still pushing ahead, giving it my all, but I’m getting nowhere. It’s a nightmare that starts, rather than ends, when I wake every morning.

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Kerri’s Creations

Angie — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:14:39 +0000

I can’t remember how I first found Kerri’s blog, but right away I knew I’d found a treasure. She blogs about life with Myasthenia Gravis, but also about her rural lifestyle, homeschooling, writing (she completed NaNo in 2011!), spirituality, and her hobby, which happens to be jewelry-making. This beautiful necklace is from her 2012 collection.

I know it’s hard to tell with my lousy photography skills, but it’s a mixed-metal pendant on cream ribbon and cord. I love the mix of hard and soft, and how it goes with anything. It also has one of those nifty lobster clasps that let you adjust the length by a couple of inches so that it falls just where you want it to.

This isn’t a sponsored post, I just wanted to get the word out about a great blog written by someone who has been an inspiration to me, especially with what she’s been through recently. The fact that she also creates beautiful jewelry just puts her firmly in the “amazing” category. If you want to check out her other pieces go to her Facebook page, Kerri’s Creations. She’s also having a special promotion now through Friday, February third. If you buy any item $15 or over you can get a second item of equal or lesser value for 50% off! I love a good sale

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About Movies and TV and Whiskey and Paranoia

Angie — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:32:14 +0000

— 1 —

I watched Due Date with my thirteen-year-old. He’d already seen it with my twenty-year-old when he was home from college, so the damage was done – don’t judge! The whole movie was pretty hilarious in a “The Hangover” sort of way, but my favorite scene was the Birmingham-weed-Godfather scene. I was dying laughing. I could watch The Godfather every single day and still love it, so that scene had me laughing ’til I cried.

— 2 —

I wanted to make my own vanilla extract like I saw on Pinterest. Please raise your hand if you’ve lost a serious amount of time to Pinterest in the past few months. ’Nuff said. So I ordered the vanilla beans on eBay, because I got a tip that was the cheapest way to get them (it was), and then calculated the amount of vodka I would need to fill the attractive bottles I’d scored at Hobby Lobby for 50% off. (Don’t get too excited – they do that like every other week.) Anyway, I needed two cups of vodka, which my helpful husband told me equaled one pint. Of course an hour elapsed between the time he told me that and the time I got to the liquor store (an hour during which I was IN CHURCH, people!) and I’d forgotten by the time I got there. So I picked up a bottle of my favorite wine from a local winery, which happens to be pretty inexpensive (sangria from Oliver Winery, if you’re interested) and then started wandering aimlessly. A nice lady had me try a shot of cherry-flavored whiskey, which we both decided would be just lovely in hot chocolate (I think it was Evan Williams or something like that, not really sure, I don’t normally drink whiskey) and then continued wandering, looking for vodka, which is not something I normally buy. A nice young man came up to help me and when I said I was looking for vodka started extolling the virtues of each brand. I cut him short by telling him I wanted two cups of vodka to make my own vanilla extract. No, nothing flavored, that would rather defeat the purpose. But in order to get out of the liquor store with my under-twenty-dollar purchase I had to converse with said young man about the BASKETBALL GAME. *sigh*

— 3 —

I don’t care about basketball. There, I said it. By the time you read this I will probably be deported from Kentucky, because in Kentucky everyone cares about basketball. As a matter of fact, I graduated from the University of Kentucky, lived in a freshman dorm overlooking Wildcat Lodge (where the basketball players live) and never attended a single game. It’s a wonder my mother hasn’t disowned me. My husband has learned to warn me: “Don’t call your mother right now, the Cats are down.” (as if I even knew the game was on)! I don’t call her for at least 24 hours after a big loss. She has to have time to pull herself together. But if you live or work here you have to be able to fake it. So when the guy at the liquor store started talking about injuries and playing freshmen who weren’t red-shirted I played along fairly well. I expressed exasperation, frustration, and optimism for the future of the team. All this without knowing who had already played that day, UK or Uof L. I’ve taken ignorance of college athletics to a whole new level

— 4 —

If you read my post Sunday about forgiveness and The Lord’s Prayer you’ll be interested to hear that supper Sunday night went quite well. Then my father-in-law called and invited me to lunch. I agreed, but maintained a low-level panic state for the next twenty-four hours wondering why, for the first time in the twenty-eight years I’ve known him, this man wanted to take me – just me – to lunch. I was in jeans and tennis shoes, figuring we were headed to Panera or somewhere similar, but he ended up taking me to a fancy white-tablecloth place where the waiter put my napkin in my lap for me. I almost giggled, because I honestly can’t remember the last time I was in a restaurant that nice – it’s been at least a decade. Anyway, the service was sloooow, which only made me more antsy, wondering what he had to ask me or tell me. Turns out there really wasn’t anything. He’d asked me when we had him over to dinner to send some emails and do a little online research for him (he refuses to use a computer) and lunch was evidently his way of saying, “Thank you”. Paranoid much?

— 5 —

I’ve had a horrible cold, and have been treating it with every over-the-counter and home remedy I can find, because it’s just flat annoying to feel like crap and not be able to breathe through my nose in addition to everything else. Michael brought home the honey-flavored version of the whiskey I’d tried a few days ago, and I think that helped more than anything else. A couple of Vitamin Cs with a shot of honey whiskey and I’m on the road to recovery.

— 6 —

I just watched the last episode of Season One of Downton Abbey on Netflix. I just want to jump right in and live there – I’ll be a kitchen maid with Daisy! Now to catch up on the current season – I think I’m only a few episodes behind, but I sure hope they’re replaying the old episodes, because I didn’t set it up to DVR them

— 7 —

I’m in the middle of reading a pretty fabulous book. It’s a genre I don’t normally read (fantasy/science fiction) but I’m really enjoying it. More on that later!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

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