Well I think I found what I'm looking for

So my friends, I've been a loser lately in the blogging world o'fun. I've been on the gravy train of dating hell...fun, fun, fun. This weekend alone has been a rollercoaster of a ride, but I think I found someone....dimples, beautiful golden eyes, and pretty darn crazy about me...and loves to read like me. We have so much in common, it's sometimes uncanny. He stares into my eyes and tells me I'm beautiful...sigh...what more can a girl ask for?

So I'm thinking of....

starting a blog for dates from hell....you know we all have had them and what better way to warn the masses of what can be out there than reading those stories. I don't know...ok well for your reading pleasure I'll start here. One is not so much a date from hell as more like WTH is wrong with you...the other is a definite WTF? date.

First we'll dive into the what the hell is wrong with you date...So we met, he asked me out to go to a movie. We chose Twilight (on a side note - total sucky movie, I loved the book as evidence in this blog, but the movie was so boring, I fell asleep twice) Ok stop here, first of all NEVER ask a girl to go to a movie as a first date. You don't get to talk or get to know each other or anything, you just sit there watching a movie. Back to the story -- so we get there 20 minutes early. He doesn't even ask if I want a drink or anything and we head into the movie. As soon as we sit down, he pulls out his Blackberry and starts texting. WTH? So I try to start a conversation, we have 20 minutes to kill. I literally get one syllable answers from him, so I give up. And he continues to text straight through the first half of the movie - yep huge blaring bright screen, bothering everyone around us. It was great. So halfway through, he puts up his phone and starts rubbing my arm, putting his hand up my sleeve? Yeah...weird. and he does this for like 20 minutes, and I wasn't sure what to do, he had nothing to do with me since we met and suddenly this? WTH? So I smile at him and go back to watching the movie. He quits and pulls out his damn Blackberry again and starts texting away til the end of the movie, and continues as we are leaving. I say goodbye and head to my car, never to hear from him again.

And now here is the total and complete WTF date I've been on. First of all, he takes me to Target...yes the upscale version of Walmart...Target, as the date. The date!!!!! We are shopping for his young daughter who lives in another state for her birthday. She loves Hannah Montana, so he goes through the store looking for anything Hannah Montana, which is fine, but then after we go through the girl toy aisles, he has to make a detour to the boys toys and shops for himself, and he acts like he's about 5 yrs old as he picks up Hot Wheels and Nascar toys. Yeah...total fun...but it gets better, trust me. So then we make our way around the store, me basically following him, wondering how I can get out of this date...maybe a bathroom break and then jump in the car? I wasn't sure yet...but I was definitely not feeling it. So then we head to the children's clothing, he makes a beeline for the boy's dept (oh yeah he had a daughter, right?) and heads straight for the footie pajamas!! Oh yes, footie pajamas...he gets so excited cuz they have glow in the dark rockets and he finds the largest size and pulls them out for....HIMSELF!!!! Himself!! OMG, WTF, somebody save me at this point please. He says "This will sure make the women run." as he contemplates purchasing these things. I have no idea what to say, so I just smile and pray to the whole freaking world that someone could please call my cell phone...please? Anybody...wrong number, I don't care. I just gotta get out of the there. So then he starts waxing on how they dont' have sleepovers anymore and I asked him what he meant, and he said "oh you know those sleepovers you had as a kid." WTF? He's 34 yrs old...wtf? So wo head over to the girl's dept to look for his daughter, when something catches his eyes. What is it, you ask? The girl footie pajamas!! Oh yes....he finds this monkey print in the largest size and wants them too!! TOO?? Are you kidding me? Geez. I suddenly get the idea I had to be somewhere to meet my mom and tell him, so he checks out and walks me to my car and attempts to kiss me. Attempts being the operative word. He tasted awful, and he was such a bad kisser that I ran home as fast as I could and doused my lips in mouthwash and brushed about 20 million times to get that memory out of my head. It took about 24 hours to forget it....and get this...he's still texting me 2 weeks later. UGH, god that was horrible.

a good day...

So good things today...discovered cheeky panties...sort of like a thong but make your ass look unbelievable!! And amazing as it is, I like thongs and cheeky undies now...weird for me since I used to hate them...but I feel good when I wear them....and it's a nice surprise for someone getting in your pants to discover...no comment on that last statement, lol. I'm addicted to cheeky panties, they don't go up your rear and they are so damn sexy, especially lace ones.

Finally had a good first date, nice dinner, movies...it was fun.

And other good things...discovered I love those new "tuxedo ruffle" style t-shirts...Love those...and i got the cutest bra and pantie set today in pink! (yeah...my color, lol), it was my favorite plunging push-up bra style. If you haven't tried plunging push up bras...you are seriously missing out on making your boobs look awesome. I'm so addicted, I wear them exclusively now.

that's it for now, going to sleep it all off...

So...life goes on, lol

Gosh, I never realized how people played games when it comes to dating...it kinda sucks. Well I did have an interesting conversation with someone who said he believes the universe speaks to him through movies and songs...kinda weird, but I'd love to believe in something like that. I did find a wonderful friend accidentally on craigslist. We have become quite close and he is so much fun, problem is...he's married with 5 kids in bad marriage...but he is a great friend. Anyway.....so here is my new anthem...Nickelback - Gotta Be Somebody...cross your fingers for me I have some dates this weekend and hoping one of them turns into something...geez, I'm tired of first dates....can I just skip to second dates?



Off to workout and go for a run, i'm freezing and need it to warm me up, lol - great work out song - Hot n Cold - Katy Perry - love it!!

Does it ever feel like....

...the whole world is moving...and I'm standing still...

I thought I had started spinning with it again....I guess I was sadly mistaken....sigh.....

Serendipity

I love that word...and I love what it means even more....you were looking for one thing and find something completely unexpected and wonderful...a fortunate accident. And the movie...don't you love the movie Serendipity? Where they spend a mere hours together and all they can think about is each other and how to find the other one? Yeah...me the stupid hopeless romantic. Anyway Jeremy Piven plays John Cusak's best friend and this is my favorite quote from the movie, where he writes John's obituary:

Jonathan Trager, prominent television producer for ESPN, died last night from complications of losing his soul mate and his fiancee. He was 35 years old. Soft-spoken and obsessive, Trager never looked the part of a hopeless romantic. But, in the final days of his life, he revealed an unknown side of his psyche. This hidden quasi-Jungian persona surfaced during the Agatha Christie-like pursuit of his long reputed soul mate, a woman whom he only spent a few precious hours with. Sadly, the protracted search ended late Saturday night in complete and utter failure. Yet even in certain defeat, the courageous Trager secretly clung to the belief that life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences. Uh-uh. But rather, its a tapestry of events that culminate in an exquisite, sublime plan. Asked about the loss of his dear friend, Dean Kansky, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and executive editor of the New York Times, described Jonathan as a changed man in the last days of his life. "Things were clearer for him," Kansky noted. Ultimately Jonathan concluded that if we are to live life in harmony with the universe, we must all possess a powerful faith in what the ancients used to call "fatum", what we currently refer to as destiny.

Love Story - I love this song and video...I had to get it as my ringer recently:


There is no remedy for love but to love more. -- Thoreau

Some Weepies Music...

Ok well...music makes me feel better and I just love The Weepies....

The World Spins Madly On


Can't Go Back Now

Ok....so....

Pretty much life sucks, then you die. And why must I torture myself? I really think women need some kind of class in what men are thinking....cuz I have no clue apparently.

I guess the lesson of the day I learned was...if it feels too good...get scared and run away.

I'm not mad...just confused...communication is a good thing....there is a new invention called the phone....they ring...you answer them....try it sometime people, it's amazing because things can then be resolved and people aren't left hanging to wonder if the earth swallowed you up.

Oh my....um wow!

So I had another date today with a wonderful man, he's an aviation mechanic, but also going to school full time for electrical engineering. He's also a pilot! We went for coffee. We were supposed to do it on Tuesday, but his 3 yr old got sick, so we had to change it to today -- yep amazing as he is, he's also a single dad with no mom in the picture.

I think the only way to describe it is....WOW!!! There were sparks....huge firework sparks....but they were there when we first talked on the phone too, I was just surprised at the intensity today. I could get lost in his beautiful blue eyes, and when he smiled at me....I had to look away to stop any blushing. And then, when I finally had to go because I was late to pick up my son from preschool, he kissed me and it was magical...neither one of us wanted it to end.

And he called me a few minutes after I had left him and asked if my heart was still pounding like his was. He is amazing....sigh.

Now here is the funny thing...a few days ago, I was making a list in my head of the kind of guy I wanted....and I told myself I want the guy who notices the little things and tells me how good I smell and how beautiful I am....and I don't want someone to use the word "pretty," the man I desire is the one who says "you are beautiful."

When I got home a few hours later, I saw him online, and we chatted and one of the first things he said was how wonderful I smelled when he kissed me, and then he asked me how I got this little scar on my ear, and I jokingly asked how he noticed that and if he was memorizing me, and he said that yes he was and that he had been taking me all in for the 2 hours we talked and that I was very beautiful.....gosh, can you believe that? I'm beginning to wonder if someone took that little list in my head and created him for me, lol. Needless to say, we are seeing each other again on Saturday night. I think I've died and gone to heaven.

(and just so everyone knows....he reads my blog...so Sam, you are amazing and I can't wait to see you on Saturday.)

So I had a date!

And surprisingly I wasn't very nervous at all. I think it's cuz we talked awhile on the phone. He's very nice, a sheriff's deputy. We had a lovely dinner. He took me to Olive Garden, and I was nervous all day long so I didn't eat, so I was starving, lol. But when we finally met, I wasn't nervous anymore...weird huh? And I'm not kissing and telling....but that part was very nice too. I don't think there was any spark, but it was very nice.

Hmmm, well I spoke to soon

Ok I'm officially terrified....I have a date for Saturday. A date!! I haven't been on a date since...well the 90s. What the heck was I thinking? It's just dinner, but I'm so nervous. He's a police officer. He seems very nice. Cross your fingers for me. I will be trying to remind myself to breathe....

Like Mat Kearney? I love this song of his, Breathe In, Breathe Out...it's a little fitting...I love the original video, but the embedding is disabled, darn it, so we're going with the Grey's Anatomy version.



Well....he just called me in his patrol car! We talked til he had to go on a call...sirens blaring, lol! I think we are clicking, I'm not so nervous anymore. He's easy to talk to. Wow! Now I might just be getting excited. Wish me luck....I'll post this weekend and let ya know how it goes.

So who likes free iTunes?

This song is currently free to download on iTunes...it's good, go get it. Kinda Maroon 5-ish or The Fray, maybe....I like 'em.

Before The Worst - The Script



Shine on!

I swear...I'm making a concerted effort...

So can you believe me, Sewing Chick, actually sewed something....I know completely amazing, since I seem to loathe sewing the last few months...but if you've been following along, you'd know why.

I made Em's costume for Halloween....completely patternless. Yeah, I'm cool like that, lol. Well, it's more like patterns are the most annoying thing EVER. I hate them, lol, so I make my own as I sew something...weird I know, but that's me. So anyway, she was a devil....at some point I will get a picture of it, right now you'll just have to imagine...peasant style dress....long sleeves ripped to shreds with elastic at the elbows....and skirt also ripped to shreds. I have to tell you the ripping to shreds part was pretty darn fun. Great way to get out some pent up frustration, ripping fabric, lol. I'll put a tutorial up of how to make one....so that next year you too can be a devil or a witch or even a ghost or zombie thing. it's pretty versatile.

So i'm still...dateless, yeah the other guy, didn't work out. God I need somebody to take me out on a Saturday, lol. It's kinda lonely. I deliver the kids to Mr X Saturday mornings and have the entire day to myself....I try to stay out and about to avoid my mother at home. It has put a dent in my wallet, lol. But I seriously needed some new clothing...my body requires more form fitting things these days.

So i found this cool thing on yahoo messenger, called pingbox...so you can chat me to just chat me or if you have questions on something like my tutorials. How cool is that? I thought so. So it will be in the side bar.

Oh and blogging is not complete without a lovely youtube video, now is it? This is my favorite song right now. I listen to it about all the time.

Well....sigh....I don't know what to say

Sorry I've been ignoring. The transition to moving to my parents' has not been easy. I feel like my mother is the warden, lol. (God I hope she's quit reading my blog...lol)

Today is my first day ALONE! Mr. E started school today, and the headmistress just called. He cried a little, but now he's already written his name and is having a ball, and the firetrucks are visiting today so I think today was a great day to start school.

I'm still running my rear off, twice a day. It's my "me" time. I need more of that time, but my mother disagrees. She loves to tell me how neglectful I am of my children. Isn't that great? Yeah....so anyway, Ms. Em had her 3rd day of school today. Her first time in public school, and she loves it. I love it cuz there's no damn uniforms. I don't care what they say, uniforms are a big PITA. They do not save you money, they make you spend more cuz your kids have to have regular clothes AND uniforms, so I'm thrilled. Her teacher is lovely too.

I'm hoping by this weekend, the divorce papers will officially be filed, and we will be totally and completely divorced by the end of the year as they give you a 60 day period to back out (uh yeah right, LMAO, that ain't happening)....cross your fingers for me.

My butt is in love!!

You will never guess...my lovely pink hair? Gone...I'm so annoyed. But I had to get a "normal" color. I quit my job on wednesday. Walked off the job because they didn't care my pay calculation was off and my paycheck was almost cut in half....so now I need a new job. So I got flaming red (to hide the pink) with blonde highlights. It makes my eyes even bluer than the pink. Em says I look "sassy," whatever that means, lol. But I do love it, I just love my pink more...oh well. I'll try to snap a picture when I go back to the house and get my camera.

So....finally moved out of the house and am at my parents with the kids. I needed some retail therapy, it's been an upsetting few days. The running has really toned me up and my stuff was just getting too big and falling down, so Em and I went shopping yesterday. And oh my god, did I find THE best jeans in the world. Levi's of all things, those suckers never fit me. But oh my freaking god, these things hugged my ass like nothing else, and my thighs...oh my gosh. I did not want to take them off in the dressing room. So I loved them so much, I had to buy 2 pairs, lol.

Then I found the perfect purse, and it's pink too. I've been purse shopping for months, and nothing has been what I wanted, but I found the perfect purse and at 50% off at Macy's. Bought a few other things too, Em is starting school next week and needed clothes too.

So people....how ya been?

Yeah, I've been ignoring my sweet little readers. I've been indulging myself. You see, dammit, it was my birthday and nobody gave a flying fart about it, so I decided what the heck, I'm going shopping for fun stuff. So today, I bought sexy over the top push up bras. Perfect with just a touch of boob spillage, LOL. It was fun...I haven't done that in forever...ok, well now that everyone knows about my sucky life...I haven't had a reason to buy or wear those in forever...let's just say I'M not the reason nothing's been going on all these years.

Then I went and spent a booty load of money on an iPod dock alarm clock. I've been wanting one forever, and well my alarm clock recently decided to be rather haphazard and aloof about alerting me to the morning...as in "eh? who cares, she doesn't need to get up and get to her appointment, I'll just let her sleep"....kind of annoyance.

And then shall gross you out beyond belief about the fun-filled abscess on my labrador? It was a freaking HUGE puncture looking wound. Grossed me out to no end. I think to myself, my god has she been shot? Has she been bitten by a dog (though that one was curious since she hates going outside....yeah a dog who hates to be outside...kinda like a man who doesn't like sex...go figure?). So I drag her to the vet, and they have to put her under sedation to clean it. Very gross, and now a few hundred dollars later, and a few days, it's almost nonexistent.

So that in a nutshell was my fun filled past few days. So in the words of the beloved Bart Simpson....smell ya later!

So...who ARE these people??

Isn't it amazing, these people who don't give you the time of day and snub their nose at you for years, suddenly are your best friend and want all the juicy details about your impending divorce? I just have to laugh. Do they really think that I think they give a rat's ass about me? It's amazing when tongues wag, how many people suddenly remember my phone number.

However, I did get my first "congratulations" today. LOL. Of course, it was from another woman who was spurned by a husband and had been divorced for 9 years. She, however, has no desire to date. She told me she doesn't want another child to care for. Sorry....that ain't me. I relishing going out on a date again. I don't think it will happen anytime soon, but I'm definitely ready for it to start, though a bit scared at the same time too, ok more like...a bit petrified at the same time too, lol. To quote from Angels & Airwaves, lol, I think this sums up what I'm hoping for in the dating world: "And watch as your heart speeds up endlessly....Just sit back and hold on, but hold on tight, Prepare for the best and the fastest ride." I so need a good time...if you know what I mean. ;)

And speaking of AVA, does anybody else think they are trying for U2'ness? I just get that feeling whenever I hear the long intros to their songs.

Oh, and guess what I did? I finally got my nerve up and made some postcards and mailed them to Post Secret yesterday. I had to just do it and mail them right away, otherwise I would have changed my mind. Now I have this paranoid feeling of the postal workers reading my secrets. I bet they love that stuff, lol. I'm crossing my fingers one might make the cut. I have a feeling if I see it up there, my stomach will drop out of my body, lol. And I'm still not sure I'll post to my blog and say "hey my secret's up there, can you guess which one," lol.

Well....I'm back

And I have some news. I had a birthday, now I'm the big 32, woo to the freakin hoo. Can you see my enthusiam? Yeah, I thought so.

So my news? Well...from my cryptic speak from a few other posts, this might make sense now. I'm getting a divorce. It's actually for the best. We're both happy with the decision. It's been bad for a long time....for years. I can't even remember why I married him and frankly, I don't want to remember. And apparently this decision has been coming to a head within me for a long while, and now that's it's finally out, I feel free. In fact, people I talk to on the phone can hear the happiness in me now.

So it's good, I'm ok, and I'm happy. I'm going back to school next semeseter, finish my nursing degree and can start life over. I'm excited about the challenge.

The KVM switch for my computers crapped out again (yeah this is like the 3rd one that's crapped out, don't ask me what I do to those things). I have 2 computers hooked to 1 monitor - one for my work and one for my fun, lol. Anyway, so as soon as I get all the wires hooked back up with the new switch again, I'll post pictures of the Disneyland vacation.

And oh, I discovered my next indie music love, Matt Duke. I love, love his music. One of my faves is Sex and Reruns, it makes me dance, lol. He has a great voice and love his lyrics. His album just recently dropped, and I picked it up on iTunes as a birthday present to myself, lol. Here is a song of his that speaks to my heart, Rabbit:

Fly

Something is wrong with me. I don't know what it is. Do you ever feel like you're on the edge of something and about to be be pushed off and you don't know if you'll either fly or fall miserably to the ground with a huge thud? I'm so ready to jump off right now that I am being absolutely miserable to everyone around me, and I can't make myself stop it. I need to jump off soon, or everyone is going to hate me. I have turned into such a b*tch for the past couple of weeks. I don't want to go on this trip to disneyland, I want a vacation alone, completely alone ,and I think that's adding to my misery. Somebody knock me out of my selfishness. Or I need to figure out how to fake it.

Adios amigos

I'm leaving in a couple of days for Disneyland, and I have procrastinated so much this time. No laundry is done, my house is a mess, and do I care? Not one damn bit...lol. I've had other things...on my mind.

I have a bigger problem, apparently, my children are vampires. They stay up all night long and it's gonna be a major pain in my rear when I have to drag them around Disneyland before noon. I cannot get these people to bed. They just won't stay there. In fact, they are literally bouncing off the walls as I type. Is this why they used to break out the whiskey in baby bottles? Of course, they also want to sleep with mommy. How is it I can have a king size bed, and still I have about 2 inches of space to lay down? I have the fun of wedging myself between 2 children and a sprawled 100+ pound labrador. Oh joy!

I'm hoping our trip will fix their circadium rhythms. I am craving a few hours alone at night to myself. I can't tell you the last time I could watch grown up TV, it's been collecting on my DVR for weeks. And dammit, I do not want to watch another episode of Grossology. Have you seen this? They have a character that collects his boogers into a giant ball, and another one that has a giant zit for a head, and then there is the episode where EVERYONE is throwing up all over the place. My kids love this show, I want to dry heave every time I see it. Somebody come put my kids to bed for me, I need to go watch some crap on televison.

Junkie

It's early morning, I just finished working all night and thought what better than to go ramble on my blog about nothing. So here I am...rambling...

I've become an exercise junkie. I have this love/hate relationship with it. I tend to either not exercise or become obsessed. For awhile now, I've been obsessed, twice a day - at least. I find myself looking over at the elliptical machine at other times of the day and have to force myself to stay away. I forget about that high you get, lol, there is nothing like it. And I can't let myself quit running until sweat is literally pouring off of me, it's amazing how the 3 minute marker is the killer for me, once I get past 3 minutes, I get this burst of energy and feel like I can run forever. I'm almost up to an hour a day.

On a positive note, I think I have to buy new shoes and a new bra, apparently the exercise is shrinking boobs and feet. I didn't realize feet would shrink, but all my shoes are now too big.

So onto the music. I have discovered the faster, the louder, the better the songs are for running, so I have a playlist on my iPod specifically for running and I turn the sound up as high as I can, lol:

I Don't Care - Fall Out Boy
Move Along - All American Rejects - this one is a really good motivator.
Say You Love Me - Velvet Code
When Did Your Heart Go Missing - Rooney
Extraorindary - Liz Phair
Thnks fr th Mmrs - Fall Out Boy
Dirty Little Secret - All American Rejects

And on a totally different note, I can't even describe this other thing, I've just gotten myself into something and I want to run screaming away, but I don't think it's possible yet. I just need to make a rule to not be nice to strangers. And if you are still reading my blog and you see this, it is definitely not you, it's something I haven't even told you, but I'll give you the story soon enough, lol. So don't worry and you'll die laughing.

Velvet Code!!!

So apparently today is music day. I recently discovered this awesome band, Velvet Code, after they were featured on Perez Hilton

They are very retro 80s/90s "new wave," very much like The Cure and maybe Depeche Mode combined? I love their stuff. My favorite is the song, More, on their myspace player.

I can't wait for their new album to drop on iTunes, I am so getting it, lol.

So they want the world to know their music, so here is a free download of their awesome song, Say You Love Me. Just click the song title.

And here is a video of them performing it.

It's good...

I think House is back this week? I just love Hugh Laurie....plus I have thing for Kal Penn.

So back to my venting b*tchfest a few days, things have been resolved on all sides. My software is not as big of a pain in the ass as I thought it was. (Ok...yes it still is a pain in the ass and I hate that crap, but I can live with it...I think). And my dead rotting friend? isn't missing anymore and now I completely understand why they were missing...in fact, it breaks my heart....but we had a lovely chat, and I hope it helped. Sigh, why does the world have to screw with people who are just trying to do the right thing???

Anyway, I have so much stuff to finish up this week before I leave for Disney. I'll have some new ATCs up in a few days, I have a TON to make for a swap. Ms Em has a festival to dance at this weekend. This year's dance theme is the new movie, Mamma Mia. I think my favorite is "Does Your Mother Know?" And then her absolute favorite is her jazz dance, it's to Footlose. No one in the class has seen the movie, lol. God, I feel old....

So I have another love...sorry guys, I just love you singer songwriter guys too much. It's Joshua Radin. He has such soulful music, it can say exactly what you feel. He has such an amazing whispering voice. My current favorite is One of Those Days. It's about seeing his ex girlfriend's face everywhere and he wants to hide away from the world. When I'm having a bad day, it makes me feel better to hear this song. The rhythm of it just lulls me out of my funk. Anyway, check him out on iTunes, he's got some amazing stuff - Sky, Lovely Tonight, The Fear You Won't Fall.

And...one more

Have you heard the Plain White T's new song? It's called 1,2,3,4. So adorable, sappy sweet, but I instantly loved it. It reminds me of that song from Juno, Anyone Else But You. It gives me the same vibe.

Oh my goodness!

I have discovered my new love...move over Jason Mraz, lol....enter Matt Nathanson. I love, love, love this song, and to watch him sing it, it makes your heart leap. He loves it. It must be wonderful to do something you love that much.

The Perfect Quote

Ok so yes exercising and listening to my iPod did some wonder to my attitude. I'm in a much better mood, lol. I don't want to kill the computer anymore....don't kill the messenger kinda thing, I guess, lol.

So anyway, I forgot to post this earlier....I saw the best quote I think I've ever seen a few days ago from Frank the guy who runs Postsecret.

Anyway, the quote was:

"have the strength to be vulnerable."

I have decided this quote will be my mantra. I think I'm going to make that into some art collage or something and hang it on a wall so I can see it every day. I think it's perfect. It is so true. I find it so hard to be vulnerable, don't you? You want to protect yourself always, and it really is hard to let go of that shell.

So...that's my waxing for the day. I'm headed to the shower to drench my sweaty self in cold water.

Idiots, they're all Idiots!!!!

So?? who's ready for b*tchfest 2008? I know it's been a long year since 2007, and we all just couldn't wait for the next year, so instead of doing it on my sucky birthday, let's do it today on my nightmare from hell.

So...let's start off with my job. Oh yeah, this so much fun. They have completely changed the software platform for my work. I do medical transcription and I have had the same platform since I began working there years ago. Well this week they up and change it to something completely different. And....without training me, they let the doctors go ahead and dictate into it today. WTF?? Seriously, I just got my download of the software 5 minutes ago. I don't know how to use it, I have barely figured out how to log on, so I can't do their reports. How in the hell am I supposed to type anything into it? I hope to god they don't die tomorrow when no completed reports show up. And to make it even more hilarity, there are only so many licenses for this software to go around the company, so if there is a maximum number of people logged on, well too bad, so sad for you, you don't get to do your job. Who thought of that brilliant plan?

And then I have a very personal problem that I can't really air here. I would love to, but people I know actually read this, and I'm sure as hell not explaining it to them...strangers are fine, friends and family need to be left in the dark -- it's better that way. But let's just say, it's really really pissing me off. And confidential to the person I'm speaking of -- I don't like to be ignored, and I'm pretty sure I'm being ignored....that or you had better be dead, like seriously dead and rotting in the ground.

Ok so...that's it for now. If I think of more things to b*tch about, I'll let you know. Now I'm headed to the elliptical machine to do some major sweating so I can mellow myself before the desire to rip the freaking computer apart with my bare hands becomes overwhelming.

Disneyland

So in 2 weeks I am leaving for Disneyland. I have this obsession with it. I love Disneyland. Disneyworld? Eh, not so much. Call me lazy, I like being able to walk directly from Disneyland to California Adventure and back again instead of waiting on a stupid bus. And I'll take SoCal weather any day over Florida humidity.

So I'm taking my mother-in-law, I just finished printing out her park tickets. She is such a great lady. She's my partner in crime. She lives in Oklahoma where there are TONS of Indian casinos, and there is one in her town. So she and I will sneak out of the house around midnight and go up to the casino, when the kids are asleep. We take $20 and usually come home with about $100, and we laugh our asses off. She lives in a very small town, so at least half the people in the casino know her when we get there, lol. I have come to the conclusion that the other half live at the casion and have never met a shower. One night on the way home from the casino, I told her how I wanted my pink hair, and my MIL (who is in her 60s) confessed she really wants to smoke a marijuana cigarette. I think both of us laughed til we cried about that. Uh....how the heck did this go from Disneyland to marijuana?

More Paper Dresses

So this is for a swap over at swap-bot for paper dresses. We had to make 2 for our swapper. I'm going to try to wrap some mini metal wires and attach them, but I'm not sure if I can get it to work.

Re-Pinked!

So I just got my hair colored again with my ever popular Atomic Pink. It's looking cute, so I actually remembered to take a picture of it. My hairstylist now works out of her very small town. We went out to dinner tonight there in a tiny local restaurant where I stuck out like a sore thumb. I think the entire restaurant turned around when I walked in with my flaming hair. Usually I don't feel self conscious at all about my hair, I love it, but at that moment, I sure did. Then some crazy-eyed guy actually just sat there and stared me down through the entire meal, it was kinda creepy.

I Don't Care

Have you heard Fall Out Boy's newest single, I Don't Care? I really like it, I already know the words I'm so addicted. I need them to put it up on iTunes soon. It makes me want to dance around the room, and I have been, great workout, lol. Yep, I'm a 31-year-old mother of 2, who's addicted to Fall Out Boy, sad, lol.

I found a good version on YouTube. Make sure you turn it all the way up, it sounds better the louder it is, lol.



I haven't been updating as I should, I've been having a little too much fun lately, lol. I'll try to put up some new "crafty" stuff up in a couple days. I have a project I'm working on that I'll show then.

Longer

Cake Wrecks

I have to share the funniest blog I've come across in a long time. I've been sitting here laughing hysterically while my children think I'm nuts. It's called Cake Wrecks. And these cakes are made by professionals, people.

Okay now for your first taste of it (yes that was my lame attempt at a pun), go to this particular cake. There are no words I can say to describe it. And you absolutely must read the post that goes with it. I laughed until I cried.

Preparing to be a 45-year-old Man

This is my son at Ms Em's birthday party yesterday. We had the grandparents over for a little birthday party, and my child spent the entire day in his underwear. My mother told him all he needed was a football game and a beer gut and he could pass for a 45-year-old man, lol. I'm just glad he at least wore the underwear. You see that line of green crap on his forehead? It's a roll of spiderweb tattoo's he put on himself. It's been there for 3 days. He loves it and refuses to remove it. He looks like he rubbed a giant wad of snot across his head and it dried there. Yuck. Boys are so gross.

I had to rewrite my story, but it wasn't as good as the destroyed version. That one was like magic, the way it just flowed. I tried to remember it and recreate it, but I don't think I could. I'm going to work on it a bit longer and hope I'll get a flash of memmory.

OMG!!!!!

It's official, I am going to kill my computer with some kind of blunt force trauma. ACK!!!! I just lost my whole blankety blank blank story. The entire story!!!!! I was even saving it as I wrote it so something like this couldn't happen, and it just went crazy and killed it. It's now full of question marks instead of words. This one I was so happy with, I was going to let people read. The fates are against me, dammit.

Okay, going to back slowy away from the computer and then I'm going to go eat some chocolate before I beat it to death.

Fun Stuff

I'm leaving you with some of my favorite places to laugh when I'm pissed.

My personal favorite is Passive Aggressive Notes. After reading over there, I think people are officially crazy.

And this one I just found recently, Overheard in NYC - the things people say in public where someone else can hear you, you can't make this up it's so hilarious.

Can I just say this is one of the best headlines I've read in a while. When the Sex Coupons aren't from your wife. Do you read Dear Margo? She's Ann Lander's daughter, and she can be hilarious sometimes. But after this one, I've decided people are idiots. Why do you need to write an advice columnist and ask what to do if someone other than you gives your husband sex coupons?

Happy Birthday!!!!

Here she is my sweet little birthday girl, when she was only 3 yrs old and fell asleep in the laundry basket. I remember she went to the kitchen to get something, and when I didn't hear anything after a few minutes, I went to check on her and found this. I had to take a picture. But tomorrow, Ms Em is turning 9 yrs old. Where has the time gone? Wasn't she just this little tiny baby in my arms yesterday? I'm going to blink and she'll be a teenager. Can we please stop the time flying by?

So to celebrate, we are going to the American Girl Store in Dallas to the American Girl bistro for lunch, and then do some fun shopping in the store for her dolls. The bistro has all kinds of stuff, even heart-shaped ravioli and pink lemonade -- how cute is that? And they have little highchairs for your doll to sit in at the table with you. This part she knows about, but I have a secret present she has no idea is coming, and I think she's going to be thrilled about it.

This is her secret present. She has this weird Barbie mp3 player, it's shaped like a barbie and you can play with it online, sort of like a webkinz. But for the actual mp3 player, I have to convert anything from iTunes into a cd before I can load it with songs, such a pain in the rear. So while we were at dance clinic today, I had her dad go get a purple iPod shuffle, and then I had him fill it with songs from the loves of her life - better known as the Jonas Brothers, lol. According to Ms Em, all music is inferior to the Jonas Brothers' music. I think she's going to die when she sees it. She's been complaining about my tastes in music. Excuse me, but who doesn't love Jason Mraz and Coldplay? So I'm hoping that maybe this will help.

My Weekend

So I screwed off a little bit these past couple of days. I finished my school work, and now I only have one test left and I'll be done and totally finished. I will graduate by Labor Day if it kills me, and then I swear to you I will have a party and melt those CDs with the horrid assignments, that or I will rip them apart and create altered art pins.

So I didn't make my ATCs for my trade. They aren't due for quite a while, and I'm not really worried about finishing them. However, I've been pushing around my book idea for like a year. I finally took the plunge this week. In the past 2 days, I've already written 32 pages. I am so thrilled! And the weird thing is, it's taking on a life of it's own, and I like it. At first it kind of freaked me out because I've read about writers who say when they write it takes unexpected turns. I kept thinking, yeah right, how can you be writing something and it does its own thing. They were right. My book has its own life. I can't believe the things that are coming out of my brain into this book.

Now for my premise. This is a bit embarrassing, but it's based on series of dreams I had. You know John Mayer? I lusted after that man big time, even now I blush when I see him on television - how stupid is that, lol? But his little fling with Jessica Simpson kinda turned me off of him, but I do still like his music.

So anyway, back to the dreams. I used to have these dreams about him, and I would have these dreams all the time. We would meet in the most strangest places, and the entire dream was either him trying to get to me, or me to him. So one morning I'd woken up from an extremely wonderful dream (that I refuse to go into details about since my mother is a reader here, lol), and I got to thinking about what if 2 people could somehow have some accidental connection and fall in love in a dream and then meet in real life and they realize they've been dreaming of the other one. So I went looking to see if there was a phenomenon like that, where people were both in the same dream. I discovered it's a whole weird psychic thing called mutual dreaming, but as I kept thinking about it for days on end, I decided that would be a neat idea for a novel. I went looking for any fiction books with this type of theme, and I really couldn't find anything.

At first I was going with a more adult type of fiction, but then I felt it fit better with young adult fiction, so instead of the main character being in her 30s, she's now a teenager. She's going to have to run away on a whim to get to him, and I felt it was more feasible with a young girl than some 30-something mother of toddlers.

I'm just so excited, I have so much to weave into the story with clues on how to find each other.

I'm really trying to get my nerve up to post an excerpt on my blog, but I am the biggest chicken in the entire world, so I'm not sure when I'll get the guts up to do it.

The Waves

Thank god I finished the Twilight books. Those characters are like haunting my every thought. I am forcing myself to start reading something else right now to get them out of my head. But I thought they were great books. It was a really fast read too. I'm really not sure what people were complaining about in the last book, I thought it summed everything up just perfect, but I'm all for happy endings.

I'm working on some ATCs I'll post tomorrow hopefully. I received some in trade today that are just gorgeous. I gotta find the camera to take pictures.

So here is my current obsessive song, it's by Elisa called The Waves. She's an Italian singer, so her stuff is not really well known here, but it's just beautiful. I just love her songs, Rock Your Soul is other fave by her. But a word of caution, the video storyline is utterly stupid. The song has such a great story to it, and they did nothing with it. The video is just bizarre because it seems to have nothing to do with the song.

Twilight Obsession

I have been sick for 2 weeks with some kind of horrific bronchitis that I think is bordering on pneumonia. I just switched antibiotics at the doctor yesterday and now I'm an another one for 2 whole weeks. So...I'm exhausted and basically work and crawl into bed with books. I barely have the energy to fix my children meals and their dad is on a week long business trip in Newfoundland.

So since Sunday, when I picked up Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, I have become somewhat obsessed with this series. I read Twilight in a day and a half and I was like a drug addict - I had to read the rest of the story. Right. Now. So I forced myself to wait until Tuesday to go to Walmart of all places, and bought New Moon and Eclipse, books 2 and 3. I started New Moon last night and finished it earlier today. It was so good!! And now I can't wait to read what happens next in book 3.

So, tonight I finally found book 4, Breaking Dawn, at Target and picked it up. I am itching to get through Eclipse because I've read the spoilers online and know what's going to happen in Breaking Dawn and I can't wait!! I don't know what I'm going to do after I finish the last one. Hopefully, it will have some closure or I'm going to go nuts until November when the movie comes out.

I have never felt this way about a book or series before. I loved reading The Time Traveler's Wife, and I put it down frequently because I wanted to savor it and knew it would soon end, but this has really turned into a drug, I can't put the books down.

It's so embarassing. I think my obsession is because it is so easy to fall inside the story in just a matter of words. Don't you just love it when you fall into a story so quickly?? I don't know, I have never met anyone else who does that. Of course, I've never really met anyone who was as big of a bookworm as me either. My family looks at me like I have 3 heads when I ask them if they ever fall into a book or a movie and everything around them disappears. They have no idea what I'm talking about. Does anybody else do this or am I really that crazy?

Paper Dress

I signed up over at swap-bot for a paper dress swap. It looked like fun, but I had never made one before and was a bit worried it would end up hard to make, so I made a practice paper dress last night during a bout of insomnia to see how difficult this task would be, and it's so much fun! I even made a little wire hanger to put it on. I needed a thicker wire so it would be a bit sturdier, but all I had was 26 gauge, and its doing ok, but next time I'm using 20 or 22 gauge. This one was so much fun, I plan on making a few more and creating a little paper dress garland to hang above my corkboard to dress up my crafting studio.

If you haven't read any of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, you have to read it. I was skeptical over the whole vampire love story thing, especially since it was targeted for "young adult" because those kinda books usually just aren't my thing, even when I was the target age of young adult books, I had already moved to adult books, but this book is addictive, so addictive, I read 200 pages last night and forced myself to go to bed. If I didn't have children, I would have read the entire thing in one sitting, it was that good. It's a hard book to pull away from....so I plan to finish it tonight, and I already purchased the second book so I don't have to wait after finishing the first one. I am now dying to see the movie.

And I went to my jewerly making class yesterday. It was fun, and I finally learned how to do crimp beads. I made an awesome beaded bookmark and bought extra bookmarks to make even more, and I made a pretty bracelet. I'll post pictures later tonight or tomorrow after I finish my work.

Baby Kimono

So I was searching for a template to make paper dresses, and I happened upon this adorable little kimono top for babies over on Martha Stewart's site. At first I was thinking it was made out of paper, then as I looked at it, I realized it's a cute little top for your newborn baby. They are so adorable and quick to whip up for newborns. There is a pattern you print out and then tape together and the instructions have pictures included for easy sewing. I just had to share for those of you looking for free baby clothes sewing patterns. There is a mini picture of the entire pattern after you piece it together, and that you can use to make paper t-shirts or a baby kimono top for scrapbooking and altered art purposes.

Now I'm off to do some school work (almost done forever!!), then indulge in some paper dressmaking before bed. I found some adorable templates for paper dresses for scrapbooking and altered art that I'll put up when I upload pics of my paper dresses. You would not believe how hard a time I had finding these things. I thought I was going to have to competely go from scratch, which sometimes scares me. I am very visual, and I like to look at examples to get my inspirations a lot of times if I have never made something before; otherwise, I feel like I'm going into it blind and will totally screw it up.

Chinese Takeout

So I finally caved in and bought Twilight by Stephanie Meyer at Walmart today. The movie preview looks interesting, and I love to read the book before the movie (and if you haven't seen Memoirs of a Geisha - read the book first, they leave out so many things in the movie, it's annoying). Usually I wait forever to buy popular books as I don't like all the hype, but it looks good.

My newest obsession as you may have noticed is ATC swaps over at Swap-bot. I just love them. So I have several swaps in the works. I forgot to take pictures before I mailed out some bookmarks I made for a swap where you send a list of 10 favorite books some bookmarks, but I did remember to take a picture of this one.

This swap is for ATCs made out of only a Chinese restaurant menu and a fortune. My favorite chinese buffet had this beautiful design with dragons and goldfish on the front. You couldn't use anything else on your ATC, which was hard, I'm an embellisher by nature so I had to really hold myself back. One is called Lucky Goldfish and the other is called Go For It.

Now I'm off to make paper dresses for another swap.

The Butterfly Fairy

So this is the second ATC in my Fairy ATC swap. I call it Butterfly Fairy. I'm thinking it needs something in the upper right corner, but I'm not sure what. It still looks kinda naked to me, lol. I think my swapper person will like it because her username has butterfly in it....hopefully she will. This vintage picture is from a collection I bought of magician vintage posters from Lunagirl. She has all kinds of collage pictures, and great quality stuff. I get the ones that are digital downloads so they show up instantly to print, as I have no patience to wait on a CD in the mail.

I'm so excited about my jewelry class this weekend with my mom, she's so much fun to go to stuff like this with, and I never get to do it. I

Ok, gotta get back to work, today is the last day of pay period. I'll post pics of my cool new jewelry makings from my class this weekend.

Twinkie Sushi

I have an obsession with sushi made out of other things like rice krispies, felt, yarn, and now, Twinkies. I found this recipe for Twinkie sushi on the Hostess website and had to include it with my other sushi finds.

Did you know Hostess has all kinds of recipes for their products? They had some cute ones for their coconut snowballs. I don't like the snowballs as I hate coconut. The whole texture of it just doesn't do it for me.

I was at the Hostess website because I opened a package of mini choclate chip muffins and popped one in my mouth and it had hard little pieces of plastic in it that looked chewed up. So I sent them an email just now. I'm kinda grossed out over this. I don't know if I can eat a chocolate chip muffin ever again.

CraftStylish

I am so excited! I just found out I'm going to be in the CraftStylish magazine in October for their Holiday Makeover issue!! I've been having such a crappy week, this has definitely made my day!!

One Word Quiz

I got this from Emily Adam's blog and it looked like fun. You can only have a one word response to each question. Post a link in the commens if you do it too!

1. Where is your cell phone? CHARGING
2. Where is your significant other? WORK
3. Your hair? PINK
4. Your mother? QUILTING
5. Your father? WORKING
6. Your favorite thing? SLEEPING
7. Your dream last night? EYEBALLS
8. Your dream/goal? GRADUATE
9. The room you're in? FAMILY
10. Your hobby? CRAFTING
11. Your fear? WASPS
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? MOVED
13. Where were you last night? WORKING
14. What you're not? AWAKE
16. One of your wish list items? FABRIC
17. Where you grew up? DALLAS
18. The last thing you did? BLOG
19. What are you wearing? PAJAMAS
20. Your TV? OFF
21. Your pet? LABRADOR
22. Your computer? DESKTOP
24. Your mood? SICK
25. Missing someone? NO
26. Your car? MINIVAN
27. Something you're not wearing? BRA
28. Favorite store? GOTTA SCRAP
29. Your summer? HOT
30. Love someone? ALWAYS
31. Your favorite color? PINK
32. When is the last time you laughed? YESTERDAY
33. Last time you cried? SUNDAY

Fairy ATCs

So I've been swapping over on Swap-Bot and I joined my first ATC swap. If you don't know what an ATC is, it stands for Artist Trading Card. It is basically a little piece of art you create the size of a baseball trading card, and people trade and collect them. There are even yahoo groups dedicated to collecting and trading. Just do a search on google to find all kinds of sites on how to make them. When you da a swap for one, there is usually a theme, and the theme for this swap of ATCs was fairies.

I had never made one before. I have admired many, but just never tried it. Well this weekend, we went over to my mom's house and I made one. I need to make a second one for my swap since we are to send 2 before I send it, but just wanted to go ahead and post this one because I really like how it came out. My flash kinda washed out the bottom of the card, but it still looks pretty good. I'll post my second one, when I finish it later this week. I'm still deciding on what kind of fairy to use.

For this one, I used embossing powder and then stamped over it, and the part you can't see is that I sprinkled a tiny bit of embossing powder, like a dusting across the entire card, to give it a sparkly feel, and then used the heat gun to set it - that part came out just perfect, so when you tilt the card just slightly it sparkles.



And the person sending to me already sent my fairy ATCs, and they are hand drawn fairies! They are really beautiful. I really like the one up on her tiptoe, doing an arabesque, reminds me of my own ballerina.

So...boring

God, I'm so boring these past few weeks. I haven't done any crafting and I feel like there is just nothing to talk about here. I'm trying to work on my school work so I have no time for crafting or crap, even taking a break to watch TV anymore.

I have 3 sections to finish and the first one is due tomorrow and I have done about 10% of it. And you know in high school and college I prided myself on not being a procrastinator. I was that weirdo that began working on a paper the minute they were assigned and turned it in early. And now...I'm literally inches from quitting. I hate it so much...that's not entirely true, I more than hate it, I loathe it. Is loathe a stronger word than hate? I know if I quit I will feel guilty, especially being like 2 1/2 assignments from graduating, that's just stupid. But dang it, I hate this crap. I think I'm burned out and need a very long vacation. I haven't had a day off in forever.

I don't know. Seriously, this is not what I want to do with my life. It makes me more marketable, that is the only reason I'm doing this course. But really, I feel like I'm wasting my brain.

Well crap, I guess this turned into a rant, sorry. I don't know what I want. Well, that's not entirely true, what I want is to go take a writing class and learn how to get the stories in my head out on paper. But in the last year, I've learned a few things. It's better to fail spectacularly than to never even try. And you have to take risks, that is how the most successful people in the world got where they are now and doing what they love. But it's so hard to just let yourself go like that.

Ok, enough ranting. We are taking the kids bowling tonight while I once again ignore my school work. Bye!

Free Day for Mommy

So today we got up early (as in before 2 in the afternoon, as we are a family of vampires), and met Gramma halfway between our homes at a cute little scrapbook store, and she took the kidlets all day to do fun stuff. They were not sure if they were going to spend the night, but decided they couldn't live without me, so we met again at 10:30 tonight for the pick up.

So first we met at this scrapbook store, Gotta Scrap. It's in Rockwall, if you are in the Dallas area. I love that store! They have such great product lines, and....they have Art Girlz stuff! I don't have to order it online anymore. And you know the adorable sock monkey fabrics from Moda? Did you know they made it in a scrapbook paper line too? I didn't, but I had to buy it. Not sure what I'm gonna do with it...But I spent mucho dinero in that store, and that didn't include the jewerly making class my mom and I are taking together in a couple of weeks. I can't wait, you make a cute little bookmark and an adorable bracelet.


Ms Em is obsessed with anything related to Ripley's Believe It or Not and Guiness Book of World Records, so Gramma took them to the Ripley's/Wax Museum. They got their own wax hands made, which I think are totally cool. Mr E chose 2 colors while Ms Em just wanted one. It was a big day, so he was already asleep before I could snap a picture.

But I had the rest of the day to myself, so I did a little clothing shopping for me. Isn't it great when you have a dressing room all to yourself and no one is there to crawl under the other stalls to scare the crap out of customers?

Then I picked up an online order of some cute postcards at Kinko's for my rustic tart recipe to send in a recipe postcard swap over at swap-bot. The front is a picture of the tart itself and the back is my recipe I'm handwriting - which I have to do 7 times which is a bit of a hand killer, writing so small, lol. Oh, and if you homeschool, get yourself a Kinko's educator savings card, I think it's a 15% discount.

Then I went home and worked a little and took a very long nap, where nobody woke me up and I could watch whatever TV show I wanted. If I hadn't been so tired, I would have worked on a new tutorial I'm slowly finishing on how to make a pattern from your favorite shirt, but I just couldn't stay awake, lol.

My Etsy Shop!!

So I finally got my act together and have put up my Etsy shop. This way instead of having a box of crafty things I've made, I can actually sell them too, lol. My store is called TipToe Fairy Designs based ever so creatively on my website name.



Over the next few days I will be adding a few things. I'll post a big ol' announcement when I'm having the official grand opening in the next week or so and will have a coupon code.

Gotta get back to work, I've been seriously screwing off for the last hour creating my store and stuff for my Etsy store.

Sitemeter can take a flying leap

So I thought there was something wrong with my computer because I couldn't edit my blog and my obsession with Perez Hilton wouldn't work either (gawd, lately he's been annoying me and I haven't been reading hardly at all). So...I switched to my other computer and it wouldn't bring up either site, it kept saying "abort - blah, blah, blah". Apparently, my counter which a TON of blogs use as well called Sitemeter updated something and it's totally farking up the internet. So I've decided Sitemeter can go to hell for all I care and I need to find a new counter and stat site.

So I have taken the Sitemeter counter off my site, and it should open just fine now for Internet Explorer users. Or...you could use the wonderful never a problem Firefox, like I've now permanently switching to.

Sorry for the delay, I just realized the problem about an hour ago. I was awarded the Bad Mommy Award in the ER tonight with my poor sweet little Mr E. He was standing in his chair at dinner and fell off and busted his chin, so now he has stitches. He was covered in blood and so was I. He had a fork in his hand and when I picked him up off the floor, I just knew I was going to see a fork stab wound in his throat. Scared the crap out of me. Thankfully he just hit the table corner and had a large but superficial gash.

I'm such a bad mommy for not telling him to sit down. In the ER, the anticipation and waiting to get the stitches was the scariest thing for him. He would just start crying and asking me how bad it would hurt. So at midnight or so when we finally were discharged, he and I were at Walmart buying lots of Batman toys and donuts to celebrate his bravery.

Uh what?

Ok, so I was reading blogs and came across this YouTube video over on Suicide Food. What. The. Hell. I laughed hysterically until tears were streaming down my face. I can't even describe it, you just have to watch it and wonder.

Fabric mail day!!

Yippee! My package from Japan arrived. Here is what I got:
Some green hedgehog print I've been dying to get my hands on, an adorable robot and rocket print, and two little red riding hood prints. I know it's kind of girlie fabric, but Mr E is obsessed with the story of Little Red Riding Hood, so I'm going to make him a pillowcase. And I got these two books. One is waldorf dolls with great pictures on how to make a wire frame body which I've always wanted to do, and the other is how to cut up gloves into dolls plus other dolls too like fairies and witches that are waldorf style.

Oh those boys are much to much....

Oh. My. God. You have to watch this commercial. It is the cutest thing EVER!! I saw it late tonight and went to find it on YouTube because it was so adorable. I just giggled myself to death. I've watched it about 10 times in a row and I still giggle.



It's from the ad council for fatherhood.gov. So cute!!

Dance Costumes on eBay

So I finally cleaned out Ms. Em's closet!! I spent all yesterday writing up these auctions and taking pictures. And they are going up on eBay during my work breaks right now. I have about 3 or 4 up so far, and quite a few more coming. It will be mostly dance and baton costumes, but I found some other things to put up there too like some cute ballerina sock monkey pjs and some Hanna Andersson clothing.

Click here to go to my listings.



Gotta get back to work.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

I found out last night that Randy Pausch died of pancreatic cancer. He left behind 3 small children and a wife. If you don't know who he is, he was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon who has been an inspiration to millions. Last night I watched the ABC news interview with him and cried through about half of it. He is/was truly an inspiration.

Watch his "The Last Lecture" and you will be inspired to live your life to the fullest and do what you want. It's truly amazing. The Last Lecture "began with one, age-old question: What would you say if you knew you were going to die and had a chance to sum up everything that was most important to you?"

You can find the actual Last Lecture at the bottom of this link at ABC news.

I think this is my favorite quote from him:
"Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people. "

Off to spend a day playing with my family and beautiful children.

Flea Market Fun

So I had my husband tell my MIL not to come this weekend as we had an awful stomach bug or food poisoning or something horrific. After swimming on Wednesday, we went to Burger King and 30 minutes after eating I was the first one hit. We all ate exactly the same thing, so I think it was food poisoning because my husband never got it. The three of us became intimately close with the bathroom. It will be a good long while before I go back to that Burger King. We finally got over it by Friday night, so we decided to go to Third Monday's in McKinney. It's a lot like Canton's First Monday, but not as HUGE and of course it's on the weekend of the third Monday.


My mom wants to do craft fairs with me, so she wanted me to scope out Third Monday's to see if it was something we could do. So we got there in the afternoon and it was HOT. Crap, I forget how hot it gets here in TX summer hell as I avoid anything that doesn't include air conditioning. It was 104 according to the car temperature. So we lasted about 2 hours. But I found some lovely vintage pillowcases that were embroidered, and a little teapot cozy or toaster cozy, I'm not sure which, but it was embroidered beautifully I had to get it. This lady had a pile of all kinds of vintage linens for $2.50 all you can stuff in a bag, so I filled a bag of lovely embroidered things. I'll post pictures in a little while. Right now I'm on a cleaning break. We are about to head in Ms. Em's room to clean.

After the flea market, we headed down to the giant asian supermarket. We love that place. It is the cheapest place to buy Sesame Oil and Soy Sauce. (We eat a lot of stir fry and mongolian bbq we fix at home.) And my children loves these marble soft drinks. They are called Ramune, and there is a marble at the top that you push down when you open it and it rolls around the neck. It can't come out and you can't swallow it. Our favorites so far are Pineapple and Orange, and the Orange flavor tastes like sweettarts. I was starving since I hadn't eaten much since I've been sick, so I found right outside the grocery store there is this Japanese crepe store called Crepes for U. I've had crepes in Paris, France, but this was wonderful. They make it fresh while you watch. So I got the Romeo - it was fresh sliced strawberries, cream, and chocolate sauce and then he wraps it up in a cone and you eat it. So yummy! We are definitely going back. You can even get ice cream in your crepe.

Then across the street was one of the few 3-D movie theaters in Dallas to see Journey to the Center of the Earth. It was sold out and we luckily got some of the last good seats. It was so good, a great family movie. You have to see it in 3-D, there are some parts where we jumped out of our seats.

The Namesake

Late last night I finished The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.

It's the life of Gogol Ganguli. It begins with a Bengali family who move from India to America and they have a son. The father, Ashoke, was in a horrible train derailment as a young man, and when he is found he is clutching part of the book he was reading by by Russian author Gogol. He was saved that day and from then on he changes his life. He moves to American, has an arranged marriage and then has his first child whom he names Gogol. Most of the story is about the life of Gogol. He is very awkward, absolutely hates his name, and this is story of his life growing up an American with immigrant parents. Eventually something tragic happens that makes he go back to his parents' culture he's been trying to avoid his entire life. Reading it was like a little window to a life I would never experience.

I was very excited to see it had already been made into a film a couple years ago. I watched it today on surfingthechannel.com. It starred Kal Penn. It was really good. I was surprised because movies from books are usually terrible, but this one stayed very close to the story. The only exceptions were they changed the place he grew up and a few things that happened in this life they changed to different ages to flow better. All in all I was very impressed with the movie. It was very sweet and as usual it made cry.

Nursing Apron Top - Pictures

I put the nursing apron top onto my newest dress form to give you a better idea of how it will fit. (I just love this iron dress form, I'm going to display it on my hearth, I have a very long heart that runs along the entire wall as sort of "seating" where my fireplace is). I will add the pics into the downloadable pattern in the next few days, but for now, you can view them here.

My MIL is coming on Friday morning and I have to get my rear in gear and clean this mess. In addition to that, I have to turn my vampire children into people who sleep at night and wake up in the day, ever since they were sick about 3 weeks ago, I have had a heck of time getting them to go to sleep before 6 AM and waking up before 3 PM....it's killing me. You probably think I'm a horrible mother for this, but I come from a long line of night owls.

When my mom and I took Ms Em as a toddler to Paris, Em and I had no problems switching time zones, and the entire time we were there, almost 3 weeks I think, I loved it because she and I could wake up at 9 AM and be ready to go and we fell asleep by 9 PM every night. I belong in Europe, European time zones are my friend.

Do you hate spending money?

I hate spending money on myself. We always have other things more important than me, but I just did it. I have been lusting after some Japanese fabrics and books at Saucylouise's (gotta love that name, lol), so I finally gave in and just bought them. It was all rather expensive because I figured since it was coming from Japan I might as well as get everything I wanted to get my shipping money's worth.

Now I have buyer's remorse.....ugh. It doesn't matter if I buy myself a pack of underwear, I still feel buyer's remorse. I am so weird.

Anyway, if you want cutesy Japanese fabrics like the ever popular and hard to find hedgehogs and the fairytale prints, Saucylouise is the place to go. And she is an American who ships out of a military PO, so you get USPS shipping prices. So there is my little secret - run fast because the hedgehogs were starting to sell out since they are on sale.

I got some adorable waldorf dollmaking books too. I can't wait to get my hands on them. And Mr. E loves the story of Little Red Riding Hood, so I picked up some Japanese prints of LRR so I can make him a quilt.

Tote Bag Contest at Craftstylish

If you sew, Craftstylish.com is having a contest for tote bags. It looks like fun. I have a great idea for one if I get a chance to create it. There are different categories and a grand prize winner in each category. I'm leaning toward the Omnicrafter category as I have several things I want to throw into my tote bag.

Have you heard of swap-bot?

Up until a couple of years ago I was a regular on a couple of message boards and participated in a ton of swaps, like for years. But when I went back to work, it was hard to keep up, even if I was working from home. I spent most of my time on the computer working so I didn't want to hang out on the internet anymore than I had to, and I just couldn't keep up with what was going on the message boards, and I felt so lost, like everybody had forgotten me, lol, so I slipped away and haven't been around those sites in quite some time. But recently I've been missing those swaps. I love to do swaps.

So I found this place - Swap-bot



I just signed up tonight for my first 2 swaps. I was really hoping for a journal swap, but none of them allow "noobs" dammit. Oh well, hopefully this will be fun and I don't end up with flakers and I"ll get enough ratings to join a journal swap, lol.

Saturday Stuff

So yesterday we were headed out to the grand opening of a place called Amazing Jakes - it's a 2 story Chuck E Cheese kinda place but with an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet. They were having a special for $8 a person instead of the regular price of $20. Well, it ain't that great, and I will never pay $20/person to go to a pizza place (and that doesn't even include games! sheesh!) So if you want to go to a good one, try Incredible Pizza. They have the same kind of pizza buffet, they are a tiny bit smaller, but still HUGE and they have more games. Incredible Pizza has great service, they are so helpful and nice, and...the tables are actually clean (I am not joking when I tell you at Amazing Jakes, half the lower floor was tables and we could not find one clean table, and there were hardly any people sitting at the tables). And Incredible Pizza has specials every day of the week, Amazing Jakes does not. We like the 99 cent kids price on Tuesday and the double the money game card on Thursdays.

So on the way to the pizza place, we stopped off at my favorite antique place - Alston's Old Home Place He advertises on craig's list and I saw a few days ago he had wrought iron dress forms, so I had to go down there and picked one up. And while we were there, they were having 50% off all their knack kinda stuff, so I found these cute little mini dress forms (I have a weakness for dress forms). I don't think they are antiques, so I'm going to decoupage them into some kind of altered art look.

My husband is getting into photography and he found an old camera for $10 and when we got home, he checked it and it's worth about $75. He was very excited. Then, my dear daughter discovered these spoons. I am not sure if they are silver or just silver plated, but I've been looking for old spoons to alter for a decoration for my kitchen walls. So I was thrilled to get them.

Last night Ms Em wanted to do some crafty stuff, so we decided to decorate and decoupage those journals I picked up. Here is one I just finished. I call it "The Book of Found Things". I love to keep a journal of things I see in magazines or books, or print off the internet, just to get inspiration, and I always need a journal to quickly jot down ideas I don't have to time to make. I have this fear, I'll forget them. Ms. Em made her journal into an ode to the Jonas Brothers. I'll get a pic when it dries.