The gerbil story and other rantings

When I was about 7 or 8, I had gerbils. Anyway, my first gerbil was a girl named Princess Leia. My best friend's mom somehow pawned my friend's gerbils on us because they were a boy and a girl and were having babies like CRAZY. I think they were Popeye and Olive Oyl, but I'm not 100% sure on that. So...my mom told me you could never EVER get the 2 female gerbils together in the same cage. She failed to mention the reason why was that they would KILL EACH OTHER. I guess she assumed I would know that, but I was a very naive 7/8 yr old who still loved unicorns and rainbows and was convinced the Tooth Fairy was real and entered our home through the garage for some reason.

One day my mom was busy doing something, not watching me obviously, and since she told me this gerbil rule I was dying of curiosity as to why in the world you couldn't get these 2 girl gerbils together. I decided she had only said I couldn't put them in the same cage....she had said nothing about holding them at the same time. I decided I was going to get each girl gerbil, holding one in each hand and slowly move them toward each other -- in hindsight, this was definitely not one of my smartest ideas.

So I got them both, one in each hand and sat down on the couch and slowly brought my hands closer and closer together. Everything seemed find and then at about 8-10 inches apart, Princess Leia goes berserk and rares up and tries to stab her giant front teeth into Olive Oyl, but her aim was slightly off and instead she sunk her teeth into my middle finger. It hurt like HELL and it bled all over the place. I was too scared to tell my mom because she would kill me, but I was afraid to even look at my finger to see if it was still attached. Eventually cleaning my finger myself trumped telling my mother about my stupidity. But I still bear the scar today almost 24 years later.

So why am I telling this story? Because my two children are apparently the equivalent of 2 female gerbils. They could not get along at all today. They could not be in the same room today without one trying to kill the other. All day long they fought and fought and fought. And Mr E is apparently going through a let's throw things across the room phase. Today was one of those parent conference days where there is no school and you go meet the teacher. Do you remember having those as a kid? I sure as heck don't. And we went to McDonald's after the conference for breakfast and the stupid playground was closed with just pissed us all off. I wished we had a bathtub that was large enough to accommodate someone over the age of 4 as I seriously needed to lock the bathroom door and have one of those Calgon moments (do they still have those commercials?). Apparently when you get your official mother card it states in fine print that you no longer can use the bathroom alone and all children and dogs in the household must be standing within 6 inches of the toilet while you are sitting on it.

And then today at swimming lessons at the Y, some clerk put my kid in the Tues/Thurs class instead of the Mon/Wed class last week when I signed up again. And blah, blah, blah, the clerk today couldn't change him without authorization because the other kid in the Tues/Thurs class would have to be canceled since 1 kid doesn't make a class. And wouldn't you know, the guy with the authorization was at a meeting somewhere across town at another Y. Sheesh!! I'm sorry that kid has a problem, but MY problem is you stupid people put my kid in the wrong class (for the 2nd time, this same idiot clerk did this in February too... I'm vowing to not allow that guy to ever sign us up for any program again). I told the guy I wanted the same Mon/Wed class at least 10 times last week when we signed up. We have been in the Mon/Wed class for 3 months now. Hello?? So the little girl clerk told me today they would "let" my son take the lesson, but that I will have to get a call from the director guy to authorize it so we can come back on Wednesday. Uh huh? Excuse me? I'm not the one who messed this crap up. And my child is in preschool on Tues/Thur, so we can't do that class...so either way that other kid in the Tues/Thurs class is getting a cancellation.

Skating / Baton Dresses For Sale

I'm starting to go through my daughter's costumes and I'm going to try selling them here first, but after a few days I'll put them on eBay.

US Priority Shipping IS INCLUDED in the price for each dress. If you would like to purchase both dresses, there will be a discount of $5.00 off each dress ($10.00 total). Paypal only will be accepted for payment. Please email me at the link to the right --->

If you would like to view my feedback, please check me feedback here at eBay.

These are both brand new dresses purchased by me. My daughter tried them on and they were too small for her. I would say both dresses run small and they are for the smaller end of these measurements. They are both gorgeous and I purchased them for twirling costumes, but are great for skating costumes as well. They are both well made and exquisite.

Pink Dress - $65.00

**This dress came to me with one slightly loose sequin at the bustline. It would not be noticeable from far way, so I wouldn't worry about it, but I just wanted to let you know.

Bodice is made of stretch velvet with a double chiffon skirt. The color of this dress is truly stunning. Dress has amazing cut outs, is exquisitely hand painted and adorned with hand sewn sequins. It is fully lined and comes with a matching hair scrunchie. You'll love this dresss, it's so beautiful and incredibly sparkly!

Un-stretched measurements are:

Chest: 29-31 Waist: 24-26 Hips: 31-33 Girth: 49-51



Red Dress - $65.00

Bodice is made of stretch velvet with a double chiffon skirt. This color is truly stunning on ice. Dress is exquisitely hand painted and adorned with sequins. It is fully lined and comes with a matching hair scrunchie. You'll love this dresss, it's so beautiful and incredibly sparkly! Pictures don't do justice.

Un-stretched measurements are:

Chest: 28-30 Waist: 24-26 Hips: 30-32 Girth: 48-50



I have 1 or 2 more skating dress style costumes that are already beaded with rhinestones, then I have several dance costumes - ballet, tap, jazz, etc. I'll try to put a few up every day.

Almost to the 200th post

I'm going to try to get a little box of crafty goodies and fabric and have a little contest by the end of the week to celebrate my 200th post. My blog has grown so much this year, and I'm so thrilled. I cannot wait to finish my school in the next 2 months so I can go back to my crafting and sewing and clean out my sewing stuff and create my tiny little craft room in my vanity. I'm hoping to get an Esty shop up and running this summer too.

I'm working on a dying tutorial but I have to wait for the finished products for pictures before I can put it up here. I love to dye fabric and clothes and it's so easy with supplies you can buy at the fabric store or Walmart, but not that yucky Rit dye stuff. It's a wonderful way to make one of a kind fabrics.

And last but not least, I watched The Mist today. This is the one based on a Stephen King novella. OMG! You have to see this if you like thought provoking scary movies. I thought this would be a typical horror movie, so I really wasn't into seeing at the theater, so I rented it. But it's not a typical horror movie, but I probably should have figured that out since it was based on something Stephen King wrote. It's very scary, like edge of your seat...I Am Legend kind of scary (sheesh wasn't I Am Legend scary? I felt stressed out after that movie). There are these horrible creatures in the mist and these people are trapped in a grocery store, and one of them is a crazy religious zealot who is quickly turning most of the people into her little cult. Just about anyone who goes out in the mist dies from these horrid creatures, they hear screams and sometimes they can see the bloody bodies. Without giving too much away, I have a very vivid imagination and what scared me so much was that you can see yourself in their situation with complete and total hopelessness with no way out of the mist.

So after my 1000th viewing of Enchanted....

it dawns on me. Have you ever noticed in the animated scene where Giselle is creating her true love from her dream, it's not Prince Edward, but Robert from the scene at the Queen's Ball? I always assumed it was Edward. I never noticed it til we watched it for the thousandth time today. Just a weird thought I guess and felt like sharing.



Wouldn't it be cool in real life if a large giant group of people out in public somewhere just came together in a broadway caliber singing and dance number? Can you tell I've been watching this movie too much? It's just soo cute...I cried in the theater at the end when you see all the happily ever afters....so sweet. My daughter things I'm crazy because I cry at movies. You should have seen me at Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. I was near sobs for most of that movie.

Sigh, I just love movies....ok enough weirdness I gotta get back to work.

Michael's Clearance Score!!

Get thee rear to Michael's for some super cool deals in their clearance corner.

So I went to Michael's for some of this moldmaking stuff. I want to make a mold of a toy of my daughter's to go along with a neat idea for a shadow box I'm making for my sewing studio.

If you want to see more, here is a neat site called The Enchanted Gallery, I found that shows what they do with this mold-n-pour stuff.

Anyway, I was there to buy that stuff, which wasn't on clearance or sale or anything, but I happened upon the clearence section on my way to the checkout, and I found Paton Classic Wool skeins for $2. They had a bunch of a burgundy color and I picked up the last 3 skeins of Rich Red - and all in the same dye lot. I'm debating on felting or crocheting or maybe both.

And my sweet little Mr E found himself a monster foam stamp, those cubed foam stamps. This one was pretty cute with monsters and a pair of monster feet, and it range up for 1 cent, originally $3. Pretty good!

So just an FYI, they had tons of scrapbooking stuff and toys and lots of other stuff too in the clearance section for cheap.

Okeydoke, I'm hungry, it is past lunch, Mr E is having naptime and I'm making a bowl of Life cereal and headed to off to spend 15 minutes watching a little bit o' Jericho. And, I just read they canceled it AGAIN. I hate CBS. So, if you want to get it back on the air AGAIN, head over to the community part and there are several posts that tell you the links to go to join the Jericho Rangers and get it back on the air again.

Sickies!

So we are still sick here at the house o'fun. I seem to be coming down with what everyone else has had. Mr E had to go back to the doctor again to change his drugs, which are finally working - yay! So...we spent all spring break sick and I get poor Miss Em up for school -- drive 35 miles to school, and she gets so sick, she can't leave the bathroom at school. So....we drive back home and the poor things sleeps for 7 hours straight. I feel so bad...I thought she was faking.

My mom (who reads my blog too) said my blog was loading slow, so I cleaned it up a bit and now it seems to be loading faster for me.

More sewing and crafty stuff coming this week when I get over this crud...ugh. Off to take a shower and get the snot from my dear children off of me.

Strep Throat and other fun

So this week has been great! It's Spring Break and my kids have been sick as dogs with strep throat. Fun, fun fun! We had plans to go skating and Nickelrama and the science museum...instead we are stuck here at home having fights over whose Webkinz is whose. So I'm going to go crazy and since they are both on antibiotics now so we're headed to the newest $1 movie in Dallas to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. (Those of you in Dallas, did you know the Hollywood over on 635 at NW Hwy is now a $1 movie? I don't think many people know because it's dead there all the time, usually we are only 3 of the 5 people in a theater).

I'm still debating if we are going to the annual easter egg hunt at my husband's work tomorrow. Last year we all overslept and missed it.

Well I couldn't wait any longer and went ahead and ordered from One Good Bumblebee. Remember the post I made awhile ago her neat stuff - well she now has Special Edition Piles of Paper, and you get a secret envelope with your Pile of Paper that could have a gift certificate up to $100. I had to order one, lol. I'll post pics of my super cool pile o'paper when they arrive.

And I finished reading all of Phillipa Gregory's books on the Tudor life. I love them all. I think the most haunting one was The Constant Princess. It makes you wonder how different life would have been had Arthur lived and Henry VIII never became king.
Now I'm onto a new book called Midnight in the Dragon Cafe. It's really good. I'm a little more than halfway through. It's told through the eyes of Su-Jen a little girl who comes to Canada from Communist China with her mother to live with her father in the chinese restaurant he owns in the 50s and 60s. Her mother had an affair with her stepson and I think the father suspects it, but there is so much more to the story. I have a hard time putting it down, but I love books with an asian theme or element.

Doll Fairy Wings Tutorial

Fairy Wings for your Doll - Tutorial

It's ready! Now you can sew fairy wings for your dolls, very easy and in about an hour. Click the fairy wing picture below to take you to it. If you are new to this, you will need Adobe Acrobat to get PDF files. You can download it here for free.

You can design your own wings as easy or hard as you like, but I have also included the pattern I drew for this tutorial. You can find it at the very end of the tutorial. Also I have embellished these wings very little, feel free to go wild on yours with glue and glitter or paints.

With waldorf dolls, I like to use hemp silk in natural or dupioni silk in white and I dye them myself. For this tutorial, however, I used plain ol' cotton broadcloth. Any woven/quilting fabric will work just fine. Knits will end up very wonky and will stretch, so I don't advise stretch fabrics for this.



Coming in the next couple of days - The No-Sew Fairy Wings for your doll version!! For those of us who are too lazy to get out the sewing machine.

Update - Tutorial Coming Soon!

Quickie little post. I just finished up the pictures for my new fairy wing tutorial for dolls. I need to write it up and then I'll post it.

You can use this idea for any doll really. I usually make these wings for waldorf dolls I make, but...my daugther's waldorf dolls are all in storage currently, so Amy the American Girl doll was my lovely model today, so you can even make fairy wings for your American Girl doll too!

Materials needed:
2 FQ of same fabric
FQ size HeatnBond lite
FQ size of Peltex or Timtex
Ribbons for ties
Ribbons/flowers, etc. for decorating
Thread

Tutorial will be up by Friday.

I've been finding some extra time to do make stuff, I have another tutorial coming next week and it's already cut out and waiting patiently at the sewing machine.

Totally Awesome Fairy Wings Tutorial

This is a great video to make your own fairy wings from Threadbanger. I was about to write my own and decided to make sure there wasn't a great one out there already, lol. But this one is just like how I make mine, except for a couple of things. Instead of wrapping with yarn or twine to connect all the wings together I prefer duct tape. And I like to add fake flowers and some ribbons hanging down to the center back to hide the ribbons tied on. And I also like to buy glitter paints in the little tube bottles. I buy Tulip brand from Walmart and add swirlie designs to the wings.

Enjoy!



Waldorf doll (or any kind of doll really ) fairy wings tutorial coming in the next few days.

Mint + Water = YUM

Oh my goodness, have you tried this stuff? It's called Metromint and I swear it's like drinking Wrigley's spearmint gum in a bottle. I love Sweat Leaf Tea's Mint and Honey, and I love Honest Tea's Peppermint Tea, but I was looking for something with no sugar and no calories to keep me away from sodas and fruit juice and I have finally found it!! And what is so amazing it they have it at my local podunk grocery store. Usually I have to shop far and wide at Whole Foods or an organic grocery store to find good stuff like this.

Metromint is sooooo YUMMY!! I love it, it's a bit expensive at almost $2 a bottle, but it's so yummy (did I say that already??). They use organic mint and use the oil to infuse the water. They have several flavors, but I've only tried spearmint so far. They even have chocolatemint, but I haven't tasted it yet, I'm not sure I want to try chocolate water yet. They are coming out with a new one called cherrymint and that sounds kinda weird too, but you never know, lol. They have a fan club and it says if you sign up, they send you free stuff.

I Heart Roller Skating!!

So....one of my secrets is I was a roller skater....like figure skater but on roller skates?? It is stupidly called artistic roller skating, but when you tell someone that, they look at you like you have 2 heads. So, I usually say the "like figure skating but on wheels" thing, which sounds just as stupid anyway. So I competed and everything until after I got married...way back in 1996. I still have a picture from regionals or nationals, I can't remember. I'll find it and scan it to show the world.

My oh so wonderful hubby bitched and moaned about my skating so often, my practice yada yada, too much time blah blah blah, that I quit since I was tired of listening to him. You see, that was back when I wanted to do whatever he wanted me to do....now, I'm not so much into that. Now, I could give a crap. I have regreted it ever since because I was an athlete in great shape with a cute rear, now I'm totally out of shape and have a huge rear...and hate it.

So.....I still have one pair of my skates, but they aren't very comfortable now that my once muscle legs are flabby - they rub blisters on my ankles. I originally had 3 pairs before I quit, one for figures (trace circles with skates - really hard), one for dancing, and speed skates for playing around at sessions, but I got rid of 2 when I stopped. My kids love to pull out my old pair and skate around the kitchen, which is dangerous since they are figure skates and have no toe stops.

My mom talked me into getting them some skates this past weekend and tonight was our first officially skating rink session. I bought skates for me and both kidlets at Academy Sports (and if you want skates, they have several to choose from that are inexpensive) - mine and Ms Em's are like the picture - cheapie $60 skates and they do feel cheapie when you are used to $300-$500 skates, lol. Em took to it really quick but she had a year of ice skating lessons already. Mr E was holding onto the wall, but by the end of the first hour at the session, he was doing pretty good and no longer holding onto the wall. They both love it, and Mr E is going on Saturday to take lessons. He is thrilled! Ms Em wears hers 24/7, I even have to take them off her when she goes to bed at night, lol.

It took me about 30 minutes to acclimate back into skates, but by the end I was back to doing 3 turns and backward crossovers easily. I was too chicken to attempt any jumps or spins, lol, but we'll be back next week for the spring break sessions so maybe I'll get my nerve up.

I'm seriously considering going back to it simply for the great exercise. Tonight made me realize how much I miss it. And these are the skates I want!! These are the popular brand of typical artistic skates -- about $300, but now they come in custom colors and I can get wide width for my fat feet, lol. How cool is that? They can match my hair!

Reader Survey!!

So....BlogHer is doing a survey about their bloggers and if you fill one out, you are entered in a contest to win a free pass to a BlogHer event. They are who run the ads on my blog over on the left <-----. I like them because they are very picky for who they take on as advertisers. So... if you love me...wanna take it for me? Just click the picture above and it will take you to their survey. Thanks!!

I'm still obsessed

I don't know why but I am totally in love with this song - Let Go by Frou Frou. I listen to it all the time on my iPod and I even burned it from iTunes so I can listen to it in the car. I listen to it all the time and surprisingly it's not driving my children crazy, they love it too. It's this weird strange muse for me that makes my creativity explode, and ideas just start running out my head like water.

I know, I know, I talked about the song before, but I love, love this video. It's a trailer for a japanese drama called Nodame Cantabile with the song Let Go. I used to watch it every few days when I needed a break from working, but they deleted it from YouTube for copyright violation or something, so I luckily found it somewhere else and downloaded it so I can watch it anytime I want. Weird I know, but I thought I'd share.




P.S. If you know of a good PERMANENT hot pink hair dye, let me know. I am loving my pink hair!!...But it is fading fast and I want it back to its original bright self, darn it, so I need to find a permanent dye that will last about 4-5 weeks between retouches. Is there some brand I can tell my stylist to purchase? I just brought her manic panic, but I need something better.

Lookie! Lookie!

I happened across this site called One Good Bumblebee and I definitely have to order. It looks so neat!! Check out this pile of paper. It's a collection of all kinds of ephemera and vintage paper. And I love these jars of Whimies. They are full of vintage trinkets and sewing notions, etc. I'm gonna have to order when I get my next pay check. So cute!!

Since I've had so many people email on where to find Baby Nay fabrics -- just an FYI for all you Baby Nay fabric lovers - Sewzanne's has new Baby Nay fabrics. Just check out the New Fabric section.

Free Sewing Patterns

I found this link to TONS of free sewing patterns...but they are in japanese. There is all kinds of stuff, clothing for kids and ladies and aprons and bags and even shoes. If you are a beginner seamstress, these might be a little scary, but, if you are pretty good at sewing by looking at diagram layouts and measurements, then they should be easy peasy for you.

Enjoy!!

What the Pink?

My husband thinks I'm crazy, and I wonder what they'll think at my children's private school, but...Tomorrow morning I am getting Cotton Candy pink highlights in my hair. I'm so excited!! I've been on baited breath since I made the appointment to get my hair colored pink at my last hair appointment. I don't know if I'll have the nerve to post a pic on my blog. I hate seeing pictures of myself, lol, plus that whole ex-girlfriend stalker thing of my husband's makes me hesitant to post pics and stuff anyway -- who knows where she's hiding these days. Did I tell you THAT story? Heck, I can't remember.

Ok first things first, freaky ex-girlfriend of my husband will be known as FEG in this story, which is short for -- if you couldn't figure it out, ;) -- freaky ex-girlfriend.

Ok well short version is....FEG bought something from me on eBay, sees a link on my ME page on eBay to a mom forum I used to frequent and then begins stalking me over there for several months, which was not just my opinion, others on the site found her behavior towards me very odd as well. So the crap hits the fan when FEG spends time doing detective work to find my husband's personal work number, and my husband works at a very secure defense company that specializes in secret government black programs. He can't even have a cell phone there. We can't quite figure out how FEG even determined where he worked, but she called to apologize for breaking up with him....20 freaking years ago. He didn't know about the whole stalking thing, but he got the distinct impression that she was looking for "more" than just an apology with him, if you know what I mean. Plus, FEG knew personal details about our family that she told him that just plain scared the crap out of me.

So...he told FEG to go to hell and my online friends confronted her on that site. Then, she up and disappeared. I think one of her lasts posts said something about her husband discovering what she had been up to and was not letting her on the internet anymore. Back when my husband knew her husband (she left my husband for him) my hubby said hers was a real nasty kind of guy, you know the my wife is below me and must submit kinda bullcrap.

Did I mention I was about 9 months pregnant and ready to pop with Mr. E when the whole thing went down in the end? After that, I got really concerned about putting identifying information about myself and my children out there since she disappeared, who knows if she'll ever resurface.

Back from OK

We returned in what looked like a blizzard last night from Oklahoma back home to Texas from the funeral. All the way home is snowed, but the roads were fine...so no snow day. So my kidlets played before school in the snow this morning.

I am so busy. I took yesterday off from work, to get on this morning and realize the chick who normally fills in for me did not finish all of last night's jobs, so...I have a hell of a lot of crap to do today. And my child missed school and has a stupid report due this Friday on Cuba....along with everyone having to bring a food sample for their country for International Day on Friday. I'm sorry, but I hate all these reports. Who ends up doing most of the work anyway? Why don't they just assign projects for parents instead? Sheesh. And the last basketball game is this weekend for Miss Em, and if they win, they are in the playoffs. Woohoo!!

So I have school work due on Friday. I have a costume to make by the end of the month, and Mr E is dying for some Robot pants as well as Pig pants from some cool Japanese fabrics I got in the mail the last couple of weeks....so hopefully after this fun-filled week I can put up some new fun cool projects here next week when I can breathe. I'm aiming to get my waldorf fairy thing up here asap.