It's the Vog's Fault, and the Return of Owls and the Reader Appreciation Giveway!

Ugh.

I hate it when I don't keep up with my regular scheduled posts. I've had a case of the blahs lately, which I blame on the recent weather. I know most people think that Hawaii weather is a dream -- and for the most part it is -- but sometimes we have this atmospheric phenomenon called vog, and it kicks me in the butt every time. Vog (volcanic smog) occurs when gases emitted from the Kilauea volcano in the Big Island mix with air, sun, and moisture and creates a smog like haze that makes the air feel thick, heavy, and sticky hot. Normally, it doesn't affect us much in Oahu, but occasionally wind will blow it down our way. Well, we recently experienced vog a couple of days running and it really choked the life out of me. Physically and mentally. Not only is the heat and humidity so miserable, but it's also rather depressing to look out at your once beautiful, crystal clear view of Diamond Head and see an ugly, brown film.

Anyway, I blame my vog addled brain for my lazy, blah, non-blogging state. Yep, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. :)

When the air (and my head) finally cleared, I decided to make some owls. I hadn't whipped up any of those little critters in awhile. I decided to make a Thoughtful Little Owl and a pair of Scholarly Little Owls. It was fun taking a break from crocheting and getting reacquainted with my sewing machine again. I think I'm going to do even more sewing projects now.

So I'm painfully aware that I missed last month's Reader Appreciation Giveway . . . *sigh*. I feel horrible about it because I hate being willy-nilly about things, even though this blog is aptly named for such behavior. To make up for it I wanted to make June's Reader Appreciation Giveaway super special. So here it is:

My new favorite craft is origami. I find it so calming and fun, and I would love to pass on my joy of origami to someone else. For those of you unfamiliar with the art of Japanese paper folding or for those who could use some more origami supplies, I put together this mini origami crafting kit. In it there's an origami instruction book with 33 sheets of paper included, and I've tossed in two more packages of super sweet Japanese import origami paper. What fun! :) You all know the drill -- I'll be picking the winner at random from the comment pool of this post.

Thank you again for visiting my hopelessly willy-nilly, but obsessively crafty little corner of the universe! Aloha!