Santy's workshop

For the past few years I've eschewed purchasing Xmas gifts, opting instead to make or create something personal and unique. I guess I'd rather spend time getting crafty than trying to tackle the malls. Plus free time is more precious than just about anything you can buy, right? As much as I enjoy doing this sort of thing, every year I bite off more than I can chew and end up working away until the wee hours of the night, finishing a stencil or baking cookies or creating jewelry. Admittedly I procrastinate until the very last oh-crap moment. This year was no different!

Everyone got a stencil (again) this Xmas. In an effort to go green, I stenciled a couple of ecobags for Les and Jeri. I couldn't find any images online that I liked (if you can believe that!), so I went free-hand and designed my own. For Ryan's baby tee (space invader) and Steve's long-sleeve tee (the Minister of Silly Walks) I used images off the Web, American Apparel tees, and Jacquard fabric paint.

Works in progress:

(Whew! Stencils drying; Les's bag in mid-peel)


(The befores and afters)

The finished products!

It's like Xmastime or somethin'

Yay the holidays. Since it's our first year in our new condo, we were especially excited to set up a tree and decorate. So we went down to see our friends at Delancey Street, where we've gotten our Xmas tree for the past few years. As soon as we walked into the lot, I saw our tree:

"This one," I said, pointing.

The BF, a little hesitant, "Uh, it's nice, but it'll never fit."

It is 7'8" tall.

"If you can get it through the front door and haul it up the stairs, it'll be perfect."

And it is!

1. Our lonely tree in the lot; 2. Our naked tree at home.

This was a problem: a naked tree? We needed ornaments. Sure, we had some from years past, enough for a smaller tree, but they looked pretty skimpy once we put them up. We got a few boxes of new bulbs from a non-profit shop down the street. Still, we needed more. But with the recent purchase of our condo and the economy as it is, I decided it was time to get thrifty and creative. I went with some extremely simple, but festive ideas. No real explanation necessary for the candy cane ornaments. Everything came from Walgreens and probably cost me about $6 for 25 hanging canes. (Yes, I ate one!)


The next simple project involved our old clear bulbs from Target. I don't know WHY we bought these last year. They look kinda cool in the box, but completely disappear once you hang them on the tree. I mean, they're CLEAR. Duh. I needed something that was lightweight but full enough to fill up the bulbs. A smart and crafty coworker of mine suggested feathers. Thank god for smart friends! So I swung by our local Cliff's Variety and picked up a bag of red feathers (only $1.50!) and stuffed them inside the bulbs. They looked pretty cool up on the tree. At least, they were visible!

November flew by

And not a blog post to be seen. This entry is dedicated to the dearly departed November (and the end of October).

First of all, we celebrated a couple of important birthdays: Rusty's and the BF's. Whose was more important, you ask? Ohh, you're not going to catch me answering that one! But I did only manage to take photos of RUSTY's party... The piggies weren't the only party animals. We had an awesome pre-Bootie birthday party for the BF and our friend Nortie. It was also a mini-housewarming slash come-up-and-see-the-new-pad for our old friends from the Coop. Good times!

(1. The birthday boy! 2. On the menu: raw-food, vegan lettuce wraps; 3. Oliver, always dapper in fancy hat; 4. Brothers share.)

Oh yeah, and in November there was this tiny, teensy thing called the Presidential Election. Ya mighta heard about it. I have to admit that I've kinda gotten into politics lately. I mean, I used to just watch the Daily Show and thought that was enough, you know? But now I'm habitually reading the Daily Kos and Huff Post (Mainstream and popular, yes I know.) But you have to understand that before this I considered "Entertainment Tonight" and "The Insider" as NEWS. (You are witnessing a serious, applause-worthy shift in priorities, people!)

So anyway, I kept hearing/reading that because this is such an historical election, people decades from now are going to look back and share stories about where they were on Election Night 2008. It's kinda like how in the Bay Area people ask, where were you during the '89 quake? (In high school. Working on a homecoming float.) Right. So. Seeing as how my Quake-of-89 story completely blows, I really wanted my Election-08 story to kick a$$. I was gearing up for it; I plastered our new pad with Obama/Biden and No on Prop 8 signs, and I just knew there'd be massive celebrating in SF--and I was going to be there, partying and celebrating, able to tell my grandnieces and grandnephews all about how crazy Auntie got back in '08.

And what ends up happening? Dude. I end up having to work TWO all-nighter shifts at the office on Sunday and Monday night for a campaign pitch. (As in, go to work at 8pm, leave work after the sun's already up and normal people are getting IN to work.) I got home Tuesday at around 10:30am, staggered across the street to my polling station, voted, then crashed. I woke up in time to see the polls closing and the results coming in. By then, I was in my jammies and curled up on the couch. And I could hear people celebrating in the streets outside my window, honking horns, whoo-hooing. There was even a big street party a few blocks from my place, and what did I do? I slept. I was too pooped to party (!?!), and anyone who knows me at ALL knows that that never happens. Sigh. Still, I was/am elated about Obama and enjoying this feeling of hope. Way to go people! Yes, we did! And for this I am thankful, which catches us up to last Thursday. (See how I did that, all nice and tidy-like?)