Heroes and Jason Mraz

Back from the dance competition. Em had fun, no solos this time, so she was relaxed. Next week is the big state competition.

I have to catch up on some work tonight, and then tomorrow I'm planning on doing some crafting and writing up a new tutorial. I can't wait!

I just love Jason Mraz's music. I can't really put into words, it's very mellow, silly, and cute, I guess. Em loves Geek in the Pink, and we've been listening to him since The Remedy off of My Rocket to Come, but I just got his new EP off iTunes a couple weeks ago, it's all live and has 4 songs. It's called We Sing. Apparently he's releasing this album in parts. The final one will be in May called We Sing We Dance We Steal Things.

This is -- I think -- my favorite song off of it. Wouldn't you love this song to be about you?


This is my 2nd fave called I'm Yours. It's the actual video for the song.


And I'm adding this video because I wanna watch it again later. I love Heroes and it's my favorite song too!

And this is super attack dog

Meet Roxy. She's my "little" shadow, follows me everywhere I go. She's the extra large version of a large black lab (as in way, way, way, way over 100 pounds of love in this puppy). She's 7 yrs old this year. She is the biggest baby when it comes to thunderstorms. She has a serious addiction to Spaghetti O's -- like will climb the walls to steal an open can out off the stove or out of the trash addiction. And she thinks she's my super attack dog. A few weeks ago, the kids and I were in the backyard playing, and a lady down the street who has a black lab (who can impressively walk down the street without a leash unlike my run away dog ) came by our house and walked over to the fence to ask me about Roxy and how old she was, etc. Well my sweet old doggie decided she wasn't going to allow that woman anywhere near me. She started growling and barking and foaming at the mouth at this lady. But she loved the lady's black lab. I'm not sure why, but she only does this me, not with my husband, not with my kids. Crazy dog, but I love her.

So I'm slowly putting up costumes on eBay from my daughter's massive collection of dance/skate costumes. So...I have some scheduled to go live late tonight. Here is the direct link - though nothing will show up til late tonight because they are scheduled to start around 10 PM CST tonight - Click Here

I'm super busy and will probably be a slacker in the coming weeks with my blog. My goal is to graduate from my at home school program by the end of May and I think I can do it if I do nothing but work, sleep and school work. Plus, Em has 2 dance competitions and recital in the next 4 weeks. So...I have a lot on my plate.

But...I'm only 2 posts away from the big #200, and I'm getting some goodies ready to giveaway for the celebration. Stay tuned next week for the big give! Yippee!!

Odds and Ends

This is a quickie little post mainly for me so I can find these tutorials again.

Very Cool Flower Pin Tutorial - I gotta come back to that later.

Binding the top of a purse Tutorial

I've got 3 projects going on at once right now. One is a new bag pattern for my pattern collection and 2 will be tutorials. Sit tight and they'll be up soon.

I finally found my camera cord so I can upload pics to this computer, so I will be putting more pics up soon. But finally Fry's called and my other computer is ready. It has been missing since January, and it has all the cool bells and whistles and the memory stick slot on it. I figured they lost it and I was going to join that woman suing Best Buy for $3 million for losing her computer, but alas, they returned it to me. Yippee!! It had all my drawings for my patterns and my artwork. I was starting to worrying I was going to have to redo them all.

And to update on my YMCA debacle with the wrong swimming class as I know everyone has been waiting on the edge of their seat. I went there after I dropped the kids off yesterday and amazingly the same clerk was working and recognized me and told me she had just called my house to let me know everything was fixed and he is now in the right class. So Yay for the YMCA!! Everybody now...."it's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A" Sigh....fun times at the skating rink in 1988 dancing to that song.

I just finished another book. It's called The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta. It's about a small town sex ed teacher who is forced to teach abstinence. Mainly it is about the bullying by a church in the community who wants to force their christian ways on everyone, and one member of the church's struggle with this and how it involves this sex ed teacher. I looked long and hard for a used copy of this book, but could never find one so I ended up paying $25 bucks for it because I wanted to read it badly. It was strangely compelling to read, but after I read it, I was disappointed and I was like "huh". The book is called The Abstinence Teacher yet she is only in about half the book. It was a good book with suspense, but in the end I was disappointed because it just didn't climax very well. It could also be because I live in the Bible Belt and hate when christians frequently force their religion on everyone and was rooting for the abstience teacher to tell them to screw off but in the end she just didn't care anymore.

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.