Monday, December 23, 2013

Random Hiatus

Hey, so long time no see, right?  Well not much has happened lately except the usual business that comes with celebrating Christmas.  Here's what I've done in the last couple weeks:

1.  I've forced myself to start a routine - I had become extremely lax in my housework and it really dawned on me when my daughter picked something up and was about to put it in her mouth. That something was a crunch berry. I realized how long it had been since I had vacuumed, so I made myself a list of things to do every night and so now it's habit.

2. I've forced myself to go on walks nightly - I am fat. No need for elaboration. I will work out when I'm a little more confident in myself.

3. I've been Christmas shopping.

4. I've been stitching like a mad woman.

Here are the things I've made :)






So, that's it. The first one is a James Sunderland finding the radio a la Legend of Zelda.  He's probably the smallest thing I've ever stitched. Him and the radio combined are about the height of a bobbin.  The other two are Ornaments. I couldn't remember if I'd shared Pluto before, but in case I haven't, here she is!  Sorry, I'm mobile and the app keeps crashing otherwise I'd have checked.

Anyway, I'm off to go deal with my screaming littlest one, so happy stitching, everyone!

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Go Ahead. Make My Day.

Someone got a hold of my Best Buy credit information.  This person ordered a laptop. A really, really expensive one, and had it sent to my house.

Here's how it went down, from the beginning.

I am sitting on Facebook talking to a friend and my email pops up saying, "Order Confirmation."  I thought to myself, I haven't ordered anything lately.  So, thinking it was probably a spam email, I clicked my inbox.  It was from Best Buy. So, I opened the email. It looked pretty legitimate, so instead of clicking any of the links in the email, I logged into my Best Buy account from the browser and sure enough, there's an order on my record.  So I looked to see what was ordered, thinking maybe my husband bought a movie or something.

It was a laptop.  A really expensive one.

I went to my husband and showed him the email just to double check that he hadn't ordered it. He said that he hadn't and then asked me if I really thought he would be so stupid as to spend that much money without talking to me first.  Then he also asked me if I thought he would ever own another Mac after the fiasco that was our MacBook (remember the exploding battery?).  So I told him that someone must have my information.

I called Best Buy and they said that indeed someone had ordered a laptop. Then she asked me what my address and contact information was.  When I gave it to her, she said, "It's shipping to your house." So I told my husband what she had said. He had the same reaction I did: Someone's watching our house.

So after a lengthy conversation with the customer service representative, and then the fraud department (may I just say, they were absolutely fantastic and understanding), I hung up the phone and felt violated. I went through all my credit cards, my pay pal account, all my personal email accounts and looked for any suspicious activity. Nope, nothing, just Best Buy.

The only thing I could think of is that maybe I left my email logged in at the library (which is really unlike me).

I wish this thief luck in getting to the package before me. I have the tracking number to the laptop, I have already contacted UPS and they have put a signature requirement on it, and not for nothing, but I'm home all the time. Every day.  They ordered this package so that it would show up during block leave...too bad I'm not leaving.

I think I'm more pissed off than anything else.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

It's Bigger On the Inside

I am making a TARDIS sewing kit that I found on YouTube from you tuber Paul Mason.  If you would like to check out the video, it's HERE.  It's a super easy tutorial and the finished product looks great.

That being said, the stitching part is taking forever lol.  Just a random update to say that I'm still alive :)

You know...since no one reads lol

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Dead Scream II

Well, I just finished the Sailor Pluto ornament for my sister.  Here she is!


This is the ornament that will be taped to my sister's Christmas gift. I spoiled the surprise and sent her a picture because I couldn't wait lol.  I am working next on a Sailor Saturn for my friend (along with sending her an Ayumi Hamasaki shirt).

Segue!  Segway?  Segue seems right...

Anyway, so more on my computer.  It was the battery, right?  I think I mentioned that in a previous post.  Well, it swelled so much in less than 12 hours that my track pad completely lifted out of the unibody and the whole body of the computer is swollen.  So whenever the battery finally dies, I'm going to take it somewhere to be recycled.  I think I'm just going to take it to the Apple store.  I can't remove the battery myself, so I figured that's the best way to do it.  

My husband has a computer that he got before he went to Korea and it's a little Acer PC, so I think that I'm going to wipe the hard drive and start using that one.  Uh...why wipe the hard drive?  Well, he was a man all by himself in Korea....for a year...I can only imagine the files and viruses on that computer lol.  He was the one who suggested I wipe the hard drive, so chances are, well...you know...

Anyway, I'm off to look through my colors to see if I have the ones needed for Saturn.  Happy stitching, everyone!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Random Vent

If it isn't one thing, it's another.  Seriously.  So recently I have been having an issue with my computer (yes, the one I'm currently typing this on).  It was beginning to run really slow, but I just chalked it up to the computer being old.  Then I realized this computer is barely 2 years old.  Ancient by computer standards, but not old enough to be dying like it is.

So like I said, it's been running really slow, then one night I get a "kernel panic" or whatever it's called.  Okay, so I figured that was no good.  I shut the computer down and decided I'd deal with it in the morning.

Morning comes and I start up my computer.  It starts up like nothing is wrong, but then it happens.  The Mac equivalent to the blue screen of death.  NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!  (in my best Darth Vader voice)  So I tinker with it, thinking that it might have just been a fluke, or something.  Because I'm dumb, you know?  So I shut it down, wait the obligatory 15 seconds, and then turn it back on.

Blue screen of death.

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!  Thank God all my stuff is backed up on an external hard drive.  So I disabled my OS, reinstalled it, and POOF!  It works again.  Yay for me!

But then.........

Now my track pad is going.  Well...went.  My track pad decided that the following morning was a perfect time to start sticking, which indicates a battery malfunction.  Giving up on the hardware part (because I only know software), I decided to take it in.  Just for the new track pad, because it was cracked from the battery swelling, is 95 dollars.  Plus labor.  That does NOT include the new battery, the new power button it needs, etc, etc, etc...

I guess I'm buying a USB mouse and then come tax season I'll buy a PC.  I have never owned a Mac before this, and since having it I have had nothing but problems with it constantly crashing, deleting things on its own, and randomly taking pictures and videos while it's not even in use.  I will not be owning a Mac ever again I think.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Dead Scream

*creepy echo*

Lol I'm in a pretty good mood. Watching Nip/Tuck and stitching my sister's gift.

I'm making a Sailor Pluto for her.  I bought her the Gray's Anatomy text book with illustrations and silver on the pages.  It's a hard bound book and it is gorgeous.  It has a silver ribbon bookmark attached to the binding. I'm in love with it and it's not even my thing lol

Anyway, I got off topic there for a second. I'm stitching a Sailor Pluto...ornament? Er...wall hanging? I don't know what it is.  I just didn't realize that it would be so large on 14 count. That's what I get for not measuring first lol. It's definitely too big to be an ornament.  It's looking good so far :)


Kinda creepy right now lol.  Hopefully as it goes on it looks better!  Anyway, I'm off to work on her, happy stitching, everyone!  

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

I'm a Filing Cabinet

My husband and I have this joke that I have a filing cabinet for a brain.  I tend to remember obscure facts that have no value in my every day life. Example: Elvis Presley's favorite ride at the carnival was the bumper cars.  Who needs to know that? Nobody...but now you know it too.

It's weird because I rarely retain things that I needed in school, but boy you ask me about something no one in the history of ever wanted to know and I can tell you all about it.

So this week, my MIL came to visit. I hadn't quite finished her project, so I was a jerk and stitched it right in front of her and she didn't even know it. I wrapped it and handed it to her on her last day here.  So she went home with this:


...and she doesn't even know it.

I'm watching The Avengers with my son, so I'm off. Happy stitching, everyone!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

VENT

I rarely use any sort of social media or blog or anything to vent or put my business out there.  For some reason though, tonight I'm feeling like I'm nothing more than a damned doormat. I had my house clean and ready to go for when my MIL came to visit. It was just my daughter and myself all day, so the house stayed clean.

My husband comes home and it's like a f***ing hurricane hit. There's garbage on the table, garbage on the floor, garbage on the couch, and pieces of something he was building on the floor. All of that in seriously less than an hour.  It took me a whole day to clean the house and it took him an hour to destroy it.

Then, when I'm getting ready for bed I tried to drop a hint by saying, "Wow, you came in like a hurricane." He said, "Sorry," and went to bed.  Must be freaking nice to just go to bed. I had to clean off the couch (which is where I'm sleeping while MIL is here, mind you) because he put garbage all over it. Then he says, while I'm cleaning, "Are you okay?"

I just wanted to smack him.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Sweets, Sweets Galore!

It seems to me that between mid October and mid January I go on a sweets bender.  It happens every year.  I don't know if it's because of the season, or if it's because all the baking stuff tends to go on sale this time of year, or what it is.  So far, in the last two days I've made tres leches cake, chocolate white-chip cookies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter fudge, and tablet.  I'm going to give my family diabetes, I think.

I watched Sailor Moon: The Promise of the Rose and in it, Lita (Makoto) says that she remembers her mother (?) cooking something on every Monday because it was the worst day of the week and it made the day better coming home and smelling whatever was baking.  I don't remember the exact context because I haven't watched it since I was like 12...which was actually 13 years ago.  Wow, maybe I should watch it.

I am in the finishing stretch of my cross stitch kit for my MIL.  Whenever it's done, I'll post a picture.  I hope she likes it, I've put a lot of work into this darned thing.  I have to REALLY clean the house tomorrow because my MIL is going to be here on Tuesday.

I have so much to do and so little time!  Well, off to finish my cookies (more chocolate white-chip) and then put the little ones to bed.  Goodnight, and happy stitching, everyone.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Tres Leches

I've been cooking a lot less the last week or so because we've been so busy, so I haven't been home.  Well, tonight I decided to make up for it by cooking home made hamburger pizza and then for dessert I made a tres leches cake.  I've never made a tres leches cake before.  In all honesty, I'd only heard of it about a month ago.  I have never seen one, tasted one, made one, nothing.  So I went into this recipe completely blind.  I have to say, if that's how tres leches is supposed to be, I will definitely be making that again.  I made a whipped cream frosting to go on it and I am in love!

My daughter is teething right now, so she's been exceptionally crabby.  She wakes up a lot at night and cries all the time.  I've done the teething tablets thing and the Tylenol thing, those didn't help.  I've been letting her chew on teething rings, frozen wash rags, and a frozen binky.  None of that stuff is helping, so she's been getting extra kisses and cuddles so she feels a little better.

I've been stitching like mad on my MIL's gift, but I definitely don't think that it will be done in time.  I'm a little over half done.  I'm hoping it will start moving along soon because I feel like I'm too slow.

Ah well, not much to update.  Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go give my daughter a bath because she spit up all over herself and me.  Happy stitching, everyone.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Damn! Gotta Be All Self Runnin' and What-not!

The title is a line that made me laugh in American Dad.  My titles really never make sense with what I write about.

First things first, I had an AWESOME day yesterday.  I went to bed feeling great and that has been kinda rare.  It's not that I go to bed unhappy, it's that I tend to go to bed feeling like the day beat me up. Yesterday though, yesterday was just great.  It started with my little ones behaving all day (rare!), then we went on a 2 mile walk with the dogs, then we went into town and ate dinner and did some shopping.

We fell into what I call the Walmart trap.  You know, you go in looking to get something like a gallon of milk and walk out with $100 worth of stuff you don't need?  Yeah, we passed the $5 movie bin and stopped to look.  Fight Club was on top, so we grabbed it and because of that, we ended up grabbing 6 movies.  So we walked away from the movie bin before we did more damage.  We ended up walking into the electronics section and a game my husband wanted was only 20, so we grabbed that and threw it in the cart.  My husband went to look for something else, so I wandered into the craft section.  I got two new cross stitch kits.  Like I needed that!  Ah well, it was a good day.

I woke up this morning and the whole house was cleaned in the middle of the night.  It appears to me that when my husband is in the throws of insomnia, he cleans out of frustration.  I appreciate it, but sometimes I just wish he would sleep!

My infant is saying, "Mama," lately.  I know she is really just making noise, but she only says it when she's crying so it breaks my heart because I feel like she's actually saying, "Mama," and crying for me.  Poor baby...  She's still not crawling.  She gets up on all fours and rocks, then she falls forward.  That's how she's been moving across the floor.  Her newest fascination is anything crinkly.  She LOVES paper.  My checkbook has suffered at the hands of a 6 month old.  It was dropped when I was carrying a bunch of stuff, so I just left it and came back.  In the minute it took me to come back, she had grabbed it and pulled several checks out.

Ah well.  Signing off.  Happy stitching, everyone.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Thanks, Mean Joe!

...Green, that is.  I'm feeling rather sick today.

I finally made it to a different color besides BROWN in the kit I'm stitching up right now.  I am on this bright lime green.

Today is more of a pointless post.  I bought my post cards for my Spritestitch pen pal.  I got the Fort Irwin tanks one.  It looks really cool (I think anyway).  I've never sent anything overseas before.  My husband was overseas for a year and I never sent him anything lol.  We always Skyped or Facebooked, so there was no need to send anything.  Care packages kept getting stolen by his COC, so he just told me not to bother.

Tonight I'm going to write and on Monday I'm going to send everything out.  I don't know if I can just bring it to the post office and they'll put the postage on for me or if I actually have to buy the postage ahead of time.  We'll find out I'm sure.

Time to heat up one of my pasties and eat dinner.  I'm hoping it is okay on my stomach.  The spices are mild enough.  Happy stitching, I'm off to watch Lilo and Stitch with my toddler.

Friday, October 18, 2013

The House on Haunted...Fort Irwin?

So we have weird things that go bump in the night.  I think it's just the house settling, or wind getting in somehow.  My friend is convinced it's a ghost and it's communicating to us by slamming doors.  No.  No.  No.

If it is a ghost, he or she needs to stop slamming doors and freaking help out around the house.  If you're going to live under my roof, you're going to effing help me.  Got it?  Huh?  Huh???  Stupid ghost...

My infant has discovered her voice.  Now all she does is talk...er...scream, really.  At least they're happy screams.

Nothing much going on, really.  My little ones and I are probably going to a petting zoo tomorrow because I think my toddler will really like it.   OH YEAH...I forgot!  I got my postcards and some envelopes and paper so that I can write to my new pen pals.  Um...for some reason I had no paper or pens in my whole house.  Weird with a toddler who colors.  I suppose I could have written in crayon and that would have given my letter a certain amount of charm (-ish?) lol

Ah well, I'm off to stitch a bit.  My son is eating his fluffer-nutter and so he's occupied enough for me to stitch for a few minutes :)  Happy stitching, everyone!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Cute as a Basket Full of Kittens

I've been working on something for my MIL for the last couple days.  She LOVES cats, like...I think if she lived on her own, she'd be a crazy cat lady.  Nowhere near as bad as MY mother, but she's up there lol  Anyway, my husband and I were at WalMart and we know that with the threat of government default, we might not be getting paid.  We saw a 5 dollar kit that screamed MIL to us, and it's a basket with two kittens in it.  It's really cute.

I stopped stitching my Pokemon for a couple weeks so I could have the kitten kit done by the time MIL gets here.  She's visiting for baby's first Halloween, did I mention that?  I can't remember...probably not.  Anyway, she's visiting for Halloween and I figured since we're probably not getting paid, it would save us the postage.  I know, it sounds cheap, but they understand because my FIL is not getting his retirement because he's ex-military.

I made these things called pasties two days ago.  Yeah, it sounds bad, but they're pronounced "PASS-tee."  If you're from Michigan (or England!), I'm sure you've at least heard of them.  I remember getting them from a gas station with my dad when I was little.  I found the recipe and decided to make them.  Holy cow, what a lot of work they are!  I made 12 so I could use them to fill the gaps in my freezer because we've got a planned 12-hour power outage tomorrow.  Yay for that...

While I was making those pasties, I cut my thumb and needed stitches.  Yeah, I'm awesome!  The next day, my stitches already fell out because when I went to let my dogs out, my GSD head butted me so hard in the hand that she popped the wound open.  Hurt like you wouldn't believe.  So I stuck a butterfly bandage (the ones used to hold skin together) on it, then some neosporin and another bandage overtop.  Now...now it looks like it's actually healing, but it still hurts like hell.

Alright, last thing that's going on with me!  I just recently joined in a pen pal project being run by sprite-stitch.  It would be cool if they did a badge or something for it :)  I am lacking in the badge department lol.  I am going to run to the PX or clothing and sales to get some postcards to mail out later today.  I am going to probably actually write letters and just send the postcards in the envelope with them.  My pen-pal that I know I have is from Australia and I'm supposed to be receiving something from a "mystery" person as well :)  So hopefully this will help me kill time and it's a great way to meet people around the world.  I've never sent anything internationally, so I'll actually have to go to the post office whenever I mail stuff out.  That's the only inconvenience because our post office suuuuuuuuuucks lol.

Well, off to play with my little ones.  My littlest is trying to learn to crawl :)  Have a good one!

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

It's the Curtains for Her!

My infant has this odd fascination with my curtains in the living room!  She can't crawl yet, but she goes out of her way to roll from wherever she's at in the room to the curtains just so she can kick them.  They must feel cool on her feet.

SEGWAY!

So I'm making this TARDIS thing with drawers and it is taking a LONG time.  I am so impatient.  The reason all my projects take forever is because I tend to do 5 or more at a time.  They all get finished, it just takes forever.  My TARDIS is taking forever, though, because I'll sit down and start sewing and I'll get like 2 stitches in and have to get up and do something else.  Usually it's that I have to get up and remove my infant from the curtains lol.

I won't post many picture updates on the TARDIS.  I'll probably post every time I finish one page of the project.  I got it from THIS video.  It's a cute sewing kit.  I was going to display it in my living room  on my coffee table.

Off to work on my TARDIS.  Happy stitching, everyone.


UPDATE:

Here's proof of my little curtain lover.


Sunday, October 6, 2013

On My Mind...

This isn't really anything to do with anything.  It's something that is really bugging me and for some reason I can't seem to get over it.  Where I live is very isolated.  I live on a military installation in the middle of nowhere, California.

These wives out here are vicious.  If you do ANYthing that someone doesn't like for any reason at all, you will be publicly shamed on Facebook for the whole military post to see.  And sometimes for the whole country, depending on what you did that so offended someone.

The thing you could have done could be as simple as being overweight, wearing a skirt that someone deems "ugly," wearing a shirt that has a cartoon character on it, or even having a bad haircut.  These women will take a picture of you, post it on Facebook, and bully you relentlessly.  They just don't care. Maybe it's just me, but I don't get it.

Why treat people like that?  What if it were your picture up there?  Why would you do that?

This has had me in tears for about an hour now because of a post that was put on a Facebook "wives' network" for this particular installation.  The post was a picture of the cork board in the laundromat that had a woman's thong pinned to it with a note that said basically, "This isn't my wife's, she's a whale, thanks for ruining my chance at sex for the next year."  That's not it exactly, but you get the idea.  The comments on the picture were horrendous.  Women were tearing the "whale" apart without having ever met her or even knowing anything about her, other than what the husband wrote.

I have struggled with my weight all my life.  At the beginning of 2012, I was 212 pounds.  I'm only 5'1.  I know it's not "pretty" to be overweight, but I've never thought myself unattractive.  Until I came here, that is.  Ever since moving to this place I'm constantly looking over my shoulder and trying my hardest to "conform" to what these women's standards are.  I was bullied in high school and I am so afraid of being bullied again just because I don't fit these women's molds.

I've lost 52 pounds and am STILL considered obese.  At 160 pounds, I'm 45 pounds overweight for my height.

The post wasn't about me, but somehow I feel like it could have been.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

In the Name of Mars, I'll Chastise You!

For real!  Anyway, so for Halloween, my daughter is going to be Sailor Mars.  I just figured since her eyes are still grey, it would be a perfect costume for her.  That and my son had a home made costume for his first Halloween as well (he was Pikachu).  His costume was considerably easier.  I hand dyed a long sleeved onesie yellow and then sewed brown stripes on the back of it, then bought a Pikachu ear headband and tail.  He was adorable.  And because he was sick, his cheeks were naturally red (poor kid).

So far, for Sailor Mars, I've ordered her onesie and started her skirt.  I found that I'm too lazy to make her onesie, and I wanted one she could wear more often than just Halloween, so I got her a printed one from Cafepress.  I am making her a tutu out of red tulle for Mars' skirt, and I am making her tiara out of gold ribbon and a red gemstone from a fish tank kit.  It's clean and never used, I promise!  And finally, her sailor collar is going to be made from a thick satin ribbon that I'm going to pin to the onesie.  I am CERTAIN to have pictures.

So that's why I haven't stitched anything lately, I'm making a costume right now :)  Though, I do have Squirtle done:


Sorry the picture's so dark.  My house has terrible lighting and any time I used flash on my phone, it would not focus and then when it would the picture was WAY too bright.

Well, that's my little update, happy stitching, everyone!

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Gotta Stitch 'em All

Well, I haven't really been doing much.  I've been budgeting and preparing for the imminent Government Shutdown.  Because I've been worried about this, I haven't been able to fund any cross stitching.

Though I have been using my scrap thread (the stuff you get in bulk packs that's like store brand, not DMC) and I've been making Pokemon magnets.  I've so far created Bulbasaur and it's evolutions and Charmander and it's evolutions.  Currently I'm working on the Squirtle family.  Here's some pictures!





Currently stitching Squirtle, so there's no picture yet.  The goal is to have all 150 (maybe I'll add Mew) eventually.  No time frame because of finances, but I stitch a different evolution every weekend, so maybe it'll help me to start getting pretty regular with my postings finally.

Anyway, my infant is starting to crawl and my toddler is starting to talk a lot more, so they are doing really well.  Alright, I'm off to go finish Squirtle, I might update later :)  Happy stitching, everyone!

Monday, August 12, 2013

Poop-poop-ee-doop

Okay, so get this (you know a story's good when it starts like that!)...

You know how there are things that you just, you'll just NEVER forget?  I experienced that yesterday.  I went to let my dogs out at 9 in the morning.

I have a German Shepherd and a Pug.  I love them both very much and I know they love me.  Every morning as soon as I wake up, I'm greeted by two dogs excited for the day and just happy I'm awake, or happy for food, I like to think they're excited about me.  I make them sit at the door and wait for me to get to the stairs, then I wave them through.  Every morning, the same thing.  I wait until they're at the bottom of the stairs and then I go down the stairs as well.  My Pug running to meet me at the top of the stairs, then down the stairs, then meeting me where I'm at again, then down the stairs, then meeting me again, then down the stairs, until I'm finally all the way at the bottom.

I grab my Shepherd's tie out and attach it to her, then I attach my Pug's.  I make them sit down and then I open the back door.  I am hit with a smell...not just any smell.  A smell so foul it actually made me gag.  I turned to look outside and there it is, on my fence.  A thick, brown, vertical smear with a pile on the ground.  The coup de grace?  A sock.  A sock bunched up and with a matching brown stain.  I wave my dogs outside so that they can do their business while I try to rationalize what I've just discovered.

My neighbor used my fence to prop himself up while he took a dump on the ground, then wiped with a sock and LEFT IT THERE.  This is the caliber of people I deal with while living on a military installation.  Apparently there's trash everywhere you go.

I really expected better from the military and I really hope it only gets better from here.  I just got off the phone with the military housing office here because I will be damned if it falls on ME to clean it up.

Friday, August 9, 2013

I Just Blue Myself! There's Gotta Be a Better Way to Say That...

I wanted to dye my hair.  So I decided to take my two year old with me to pick the color out.  I was looking at blonde or a natural red.  My son comes over to me with blue and says, "Mommy, this."  I haven't had an unnatural color since I was a teenager, so I figured, why not?  I dyed my hair and when I came out of the bathroom, my son screamed in excitement and started running around me saying, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!"

I guess my blue hair makes him happy?  I went to go buy a couple more boxes so that I can keep up on it...and my son brings me purple and says, "Mommy, this."  So I have some purple on standby for whenever the blue washes out some more.

My son and daughter are my world...I can't wait for the days when I'm dying THEIR hair weird colors (if they take after me, that is).

SEGUE

I've been going through my pantry and getting rid of dry goods that are expired or getting ready to expire.  Our power went out for over 24 hours a couple weeks ago and I had to throw out all the food in my fridge and freezer, so I guess it got me inspired to clean up my pantry as well.  I found 4 boxes of white cake mix that are all going to expire in the next month.  Who needs 4 boxes of cake mix?  I guess I did.  I used one up this afternoon to make a dumpcake.  Yeah, I know you are supposed to use yellow, but white mix is just fine, too.

I found a bunch of jello that's going to go bad in a couple months as well, so whenever the dump cake is gone, I'm making "poke cake."  I am making fruit punch and lime poke cake.   SO MUCH BAKING UNDERWAY...I'm gonna be fat!

It's okay, though.  I've worked my butt off (literally!) and lost 60 pounds, so a little bit of cake is just fine :)

I haven't been stitching Bambi lately.  I made a couple magnets for my fridge.  I made Kickle Cubicle, a Shyguy, a Snifit, and Bub & Bob.  I need more canvas though.  MUST MAKE MORE MAGNETS!  Lol  Anyway, I'm off, just a random post to assure I'm still alive ;)  Happy stitching, everyone.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Kicking Myself

So there's this book called Twisted Stitches and I found it in Barnes and Noble.  I picked it up with the intent to buy it and I got distracted by my two year old and set it down and have not seen it since.  I should have held on to it.  What are the odds that someone was looking for the exact same book as me?  The last time I was at B&N, I looked for it again and couldn't find it.  I even asked the customer service rep to see if they had it in stock and they did.  I just couldn't find it.  I guess I'm going to have to buckle down and order it online.  I hate ordering things out here because they more often than not get stolen off your door step.

Anyway, Twisted Stitches is adorable.  It's a great book for those who are not into the classic flowers and birds cross stitching patterns.  I tend to stitch video game and anime things, but I KNOW I would be able to find things to do with the cute little demented patterns in that book.

This week has been hectic.  I am having a birthday party for my two year old and his one friend is allergic to a lot of things, so it gives me an excuse to really deep clean the house.  Yeah, yeah, I don't need an excuse, I should do it anyway, but with two kids, that gets hard to do lol.  I have to finish planning my menu for the day, too.

Well, off to take care of my darling daughter.  She just started crying.  Happy stitching, everyone!

Friday, July 12, 2013

It's a Small World After All

I had the biggest example of small world (haha) that I have ever had.  I decided to go on Etsy today to look for jewelry and I was scrolling through and found a hemp choker I liked.  I usually don't check out the profiles of people, but the little picture of the woman who was selling the choker looked REALLY familiar.  I couldn't shake the feeling that I knew this girl, but I didn't recognize her name.  So I typed her name in Facebook because her username looked like an actual name.  Her profile popped up and I laughed to myself.

This girl looked so familiar because she was my best friend in middle school.

SMALL WORLD.  I didn't request her because I mean...who knows, maybe she doesn't WANT to hear from me.  Maybe she doesn't remember me.  I am tempted, though.  Anyway, I thought that was crazy.  Time to go stitch a bit.  Maybe another WIP soon, who knows?  Happy stitching, everyone.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

What the...OMG IT'S A WIP

So, I've finally been getting in some stitching.  I realized that I have too many projects, so I'm whittling away at this Bambi kit so that I might start my Sailor Saturn project.  So, not much going on in my life lately except that my littlest booger is laughing, now.  Um...my toddler's birthday was June 30th and so I planned his party for the 19th of July so that ALL his friends could make it.  We plan on having fruity pebble cupcakes and I swear, this kid got some great gifts.

Anyway, not much going on, so here's the WIP:


Sorry for the poor quality picture.  I don't have a good camera on my phone.  The pearl filaments are in the very bottom stitches.  That's why it looks like there's little white holes in the stitching.  They look kind of cool in person, but in the picture it looks like I just skipped a bunch of stitching lol.  Well, I'm off to bed.  Happy stitching, everyone.

Friday, July 5, 2013

I Have the Attention Span of a Goldfish

I had a hard time waking up this morning, so I thought that I would do chores to wake up a bit.  I started the dishes and then I realized that I needed to do laundry, so I opened up the dryer, emptied out the clothing, and switched the laundry over.  I started a new pile to load the washer, but then I realized that the floor needed to be swept.  So I started sweeping the floor.  As I was sweeping I thought to myself, "Why am I doing this?  I should brush my dog first and THEN sweep because she's shedding like crazy."  So I put the broom aside and grabbed my dog's brush.  I started to brush her and then she breathed in my face and I thought, "When was the last time I brushed your teeth?" So I stopped brushing her and went into the bathroom to get her toothbrush (yes, my dogs have toothbrushes and beef flavored toothpaste lol).  While in the bathroom, I saw the sink was dirty.  I started wiping the sink with a lysol wipe and when I threw the wipe away, I noticed the garbage was full.  So I went back into the kitchen to get a bag to empty the garbage.  While in the kitchen, I realized it was my son's nap time. So I got him a cup of milk and brought him into his room, changed his diaper, and put him to bed.  I came back out into the living room and my son's movie (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) was playing, I got distracted by it and sat down on the couch.  The computer was sitting on the arm rest and so I opened it.

...now I'm here...There's the story to how I started everything, and finished nothing.

Though, in the middle of this, I got up and I DID finish loading my laundry lol

Off to run around and figure out what to do next that will only get a few seconds of my attention before I move on again!  Happy stitching, everyone lol


Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Yay, Happy Birthday to ME!!

Well, actually my birthday was 2 days ago, but it was seriously the most stressful birthday I've ever had...and I gave birth on my birthday 2 years ago.  I have one child in his terrible twos, and one child teething.  My husband was at work all day and so I was by myself with my children.  I'm usually pretty good by myself, but for some reason that day was just awful.  I think I was just high strung in the first place because my dog chewed up my friggin' cabinets over the night.


She was damn proud of herself, too!  You should have seen how she wagged her tail...until she realized I was mad at her, then she did the "I'm really guilty" face.

SEGWAY

Okay, so get this, my German Shepherd (the one who killed my cabinet) throws tantrums if I don't say goodnight to her!  She yowls all night until I come say goodnight.  Oh, Lordy, this dog is like having a kid.  Once I come say goodnight, she's good until the morning.

This dog was adopted from someone who lived on post and based on the way she acts, she was NOT treated well.  She's super meek and any time she feels even slightly scared of someone, she pees on the floor.  She is terrified of brushes.  Absolutely terrified.  It makes grooming her VERY difficult.  I love this dog, even with her extreme submissive peeing that has ruined my tile floor lol.

Today, we went out and celebrated my and my son's birthday.  He got a Goomba backpack and a buildabear that is rainbow, smells like cupcakes, and sings happy birthday.  I got my birdcage cross stitch kit that I posted a couple days ago.  I also bought a tape measure to see how many inches I've lost because I USED to be 46-36-46, but none of my clothing fits.  I have lost a total of 62 pounds since January 2012...and I was pregnant from June 2012 until April of this year, so I had to have put weight on during that period.  I think I'm doing well.  Losing weight at my own pace :)

Anyway, I'm off to stitch some Bambi.  I might actually have a WIP update in the near future!  It's been a long time!  Happy stitching, everyone!

Sunday, June 30, 2013

I HATE PEARL FILAMENTS

So I'm stitching Bambi's First Year still and I got to a spot where I need to use pearl filaments.  They are so annoying to work with.  I will say, though, they make my cross stitching look snazzy :)  I am excited to be plugging along on this project finally.

My daughter is getting more and more interactive as time is going on.  She smiles a LOT.  I have never seen a happier baby.  Ever.  The only time she's not smiling is when she is telling me she needs to eat.  She just rolled over on her own for the first time day before yesterday.  She's super close to laughing, too.  I'm hoping she does it today because it's my birthday and that would be an awesome gift :)

Anyway, so my son and I are celebrating our birthday on the 2nd or 3rd.  He's going to Build-A-Bear, and I'm probably going to Hobby Lobby and finally getting a bunch of stuff for my stitching projects.  I'm' thinking of getting the threads for my Legend of Zelda title screen that was on Sprite Stitch and then I really want THIS kit.  I hope Hobby Lobby has it.

Speaking of Hobby Lobby, I am in LOVE with that store.  I think I could live there.  Also, I need to pick up my threads for the Epic Pokemon pattern I am going to start (also from Sprite Stitch).

Well, I'm off to go get snow cones with my son since we're not celebrating our birthday today, I figured he and I could do something together :)  Happy stitching, everyone.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Nothing Cool Ever Happens To Me

Brad Pitt is in town.  Really.

He is filming with a crew out here and in my little isolated military post, this is big news.  All the wives out here don't have their husbands (I do, he's got a 9-5 job) and so Mr. Pitt is one of few men in a sea of women and he is ALL they're talking about.  A lot of women took pictures with him.  A lot of soldiers out in the box took pictures with him.  I haven't.  I probably won't get to unless he does some sort of meet and greet.

So who's jelly?  I'm frikkin' jelly!

I'd be starstruck if I met him, more so his wife, but I'd still be a little fangirl if I met him.

If I happen to get a picture, I'll post on here, but I doubt I will because the odds of me just running into him are slim to none lol

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

P.I.N.K. Method

So, I'm trying out this diet and exercise regimen.  I saw it on Dr. Phil (yeah, laugh it up), but the program was 50 bucks total and it came with a meal plan book, 3 workout dvd's, 1 yoga dvd, a "motivational certificate," and a "motivational bracelet."  The reason I'm doing this is because I've been fat shamed in the gym before and refuse to go through that again.

The program starts with 900 calories a day to supposedly jump start your metabolism.  Now, because I'm around 50 pounds overweight, I have to follow that for two weeks without exercising.  Then, the calories jump up to between 1200 and 1500 a day while following the workout dvd's.  There's three levels to this program with one level on each dvd.

It's only been 3 days and I'm down 5 pounds.  Wish me luck.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Donut Bun!

Okay, I read through my last post and realized I kind of come off as a bitch.  I totally didn't mean to.  I don't think anyone ever means to lol.  But I do love my husband, I swear.  I just was having a bad day, I think.  So...yeah.

Anyway, I am obsessed with the donut bun hairstyle.  I have no idea why, but I think it is just the CUTEST thing.  You know, this hair style:


I'm learning how to do that.  Yeah, it seems like it should be easy, but I have super uncooperative, VERY thick hair.

It looks like it should be easy to do, right?  You'd think so, but no.  I have to fight my hair every time I want to do this to it.  Bobby pins are my friend.  Pointless post is pointless, so I'm going to go stitch some of my Bambi project since it's been a while and both my kids are sleeping at the same time for once lol  Happy stitching, everyone!

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Money Woes

So, here's the thing, my husband and I fight about money.  All...the...time.  Seriously.  The problem is his spending.  I'm trying to budget and pay things off and what is he doing?  Spending money.  Spending, spending, spending.  So what do I do?  I take away his money and leave him 50 bucks every single paycheck to keep him from spending it.

His idea, not mine.

Now...tell me how he spends that 50 and then turns around and says, "Hey, how much money do we have left after bills?"  Every time he says that, I know he's going to beg for money.  I cave and give it to him.  Every time.  You know what though?  No more.  He goes through over 150 bucks a paycheck on frivolous things that he doesn't need.

Do you know what the last thing I bought for myself was?  Pads.  Because it was that time of the month.  Do you know WHEN that was?  June of 2012.

Don't get me wrong, he buys little things for me ONCE in a while, but even on Valentine's Day, he bought video games that he wanted, not me.  So I pulled a Marge Simpson and used them.  Eventually, enjoying them, and especially enjoying how spited my husband felt because nothing says, "I love you," like a gift for yourself to someone else, right?

Sorry, I had to vent, I'm feeling like a doormat and I'm putting my foot down and not doing it anymore. I knew about his spending habit when I married him, but I didn't think he would want to strand me with nothing.  It's a fantastic \sarcasm/ feeling when you think your husband doesn't treat you how you deserve.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Scroll Frame Drama

So...I bought a brand new scroll frame.  Now, I've never used one before as I've always been a bit of a hoop enthusiast.  I loaded my fabric in, all excited about my new purchase, scrolled my fabric, and sighed in disappointment.  I, for the life of me, can not get my fabric tight.

The middle is tight.  The sides, not so much.  I really wish I could figure out what's going on.  I have posted an inquiry with the stitchers on spritestich.com, so hopefully they can help me out.

See what happens when you buy something that you know nothing about?  I gotta run, my little one is crying.  Happy stitching everyone.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Vacation, Had to Get Away!

Okay, I have been away for a long time again.  I have a great excuse, though, I'm on vacation in Florida so that I could introduce my mother to her newest grandbaby.  She had no idea we were on our way out here, but her boyfriend knew.  He had been helping me plan for a couple months.  We got here on May 7th and we are here until June 4th. 

We were supposed to leave on the 25th of May, but due to it being Memorial Day weekend, we weren't able to get on a flight.  It was oversold...but that didn't stop Southwest from sending our luggage home without us.  So my husband, two babies and I had nothing.  My husband already flew back without us because he is in the military and they tend to frown on you not coming home (you know, AWOL and what not).

So my mom is letting us stay with her until we can get a flight out of here.  I didn't mention yet that our flights are free, so that's why they were able to bump us.  They put actual paying customers on the flight.  The only reason I was angry about anything was because they weren't willing to pull our stuff back off the flight.  We have since bought new things, so we're alright now.

Ophelia is already smiling and cooing.  She will be two months old on the 11th of June, a week after we get back to California.

So, since I've been here, I've been to Busch Gardens with my family, eaten like a pig (it seems that all anyone wants to do is eat out), and taught my sister how to cross stitch.  I bet my mom never thought that would be a hobby she'd be passing to her daughters lol.  Since I'm teaching my sister to stitch, I'm stitching a Piplup.  He'll probably be done either tomorrow or the next day.  So, I will probably be a while before I update again because of being busy with my little ones, but I didn't forget about my blog, I promise!

Here's Piplup:
 
 
I'm working from a sprite stitch pattern.  I am using 22-count white aida and I think a 3 inch hoop, but I don't know...it's whatever my mom has on hand. That's all for today, happy stitching, everyone!

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

A Little Late, but SHE'S HERE

So April 11th, 2013, I had my beautiful daughter at 4:03 in the morning.  Not that anyone cares, but here's my labor story :D

April 9th and 10th, I had been having contractions 13 minutes apart.  Constant, painful contractions that never got closer together, but never let up either.  I put a call in to L&D on the afternoon of the 10th only to be told that without progression, the hospital would turn me away.  They told me to rehydrate and maybe go for a walk to see if the contractions would speed up.

So, that night, I did just that.  I walked for 2 hours and my contractions all but stopped.  I went on Facebook to post my frustration to the world and my friend said, "Try a shot of A1."  Apparently there's an old wives' tale that downing a shot of A1 will kick start labor.  So, out of desperation, I did it.  I downed the hell out of that shot of A1.  Choking back tears and drool (hey, that stuff was hard to do!) I rinsed out my shot glass, brushed my teeth, and went to bed.

1:52 in the morning of the 11th, I woke up because something didn't feel right...or maybe it was because of the contraction that practically had me in tears.  Who knows?  Either way, I made my way to the edge of the mat I was sleeping on and started timing my contractions.  I thought to myself, "Holy s***, they're 4 minutes apart."  So I clambered to get onto my feet from the floor, walked into the living room where my husband was sleeping on the couch, and nudged him.

"Mrmmff?" he said.

"I think we need to go to the hospital," I responded.

I really don't remember what happened immediately after that, all I know is that I knocked on the bedroom door to alert my father and his girlfriend that we were going to the hospital.  Then, I was in the car and soon at the emergency room.  We walked in and told the lady at the front desk I was in labor and she put me in a wheel chair and told my husband where to go.

We got to L&D and the nurse there asked if I was the one who had called earlier.  She recognized my voice.  She hooked me up to a monitor to measure my contractions and one to measure my daughter's heartbeat.  Soon, I was having stronger contractions, but not closer together.  So after an hour, she checked me and said, "Okay, you're not changing.  You're still dilated the same and you're not effaced any more than you were at your last appointment."

Then, I moved and we lost my daughter's heartbeat.  The nurse couldn't find it again.  That was the single scariest moment in my life.  She kept moving the monitor around and around.  Making me move and roll over in spite of my contractions.  At one point she even yelled at me that I needed to move for my baby and to stop thinking of myself.  Hard to deal with when you're contracting and your daughter's heartbeat is no longer in your ears.  Finally, we heard it.  It was there.  That glorious thump-thump-thump at 135 bpm.

She checked my cervix again and said, "You're dilated 5 centimeters."  So she moved me to a delivery room.  The anesthesiologist was called and he was on his way so that I could get an epidural.  They hooked up my IV drip to keep me hydrated during delivery and soon my contractions began coming hard and fast.  The anesthesiologist came into my room and introduced himself then walked me through what he was going to do.  He started getting everything prepped and ready, the nurse held me up as he began swabbing my back with alcohol to clean it.  I had a massive contraction and then there was the feeling...it was such an odd feeling of desperation and I couldn't comprehend what it was and I yelled into the nurse's shoulder, "I feel like I need to push!"

The nurse said, "No, you're only dilated to a 5, you can't push because you could really hurt yourself."  The feeling went away with the contraction and I said, "Okay, okay, I think I'm fine."  And the anesthesiologist told me there would be pressure and that he was starting the numbing agent.  Then, another massive contraction.  This time I yelled, "I NEED TO PUSH!"  I pushed the nurse away, the anesthesiologist pulled the needle out of my back, and I swung my legs back up on the bed and I was crowning.

I yelled like a feral cat, and out she came.  There was no pain like every woman I've ever talked to described.  There was no "ring of fire" when the head and shoulders came out.  Ophelia Marie Fromknecht was waiting for no one and made the poor anesthesiologist and nurse deliver her.  The OB was walking through the door just as she was set on the foot of the bed.  I was panting from exhaustion and continually apologizing to the doctor and nurse that delivered her.

My husband sat by and was awestruck at what had just happened.  Everything went so fast!  Then, the most amazing sound in the world:  WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!  Wah-wah-waaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!  Ophelia was already crying for her mommy.  They clamped her cord and my husband, with a big grin on his face, cut it in one go.  She was here.  She was whole.  She was perfect.

They took her away to wipe her off.  They didn't wash her yet, stating that it was good for her skin and hair.  She was gunky, but it didn't matter to me.  When they put her on my chest, all I could do was smile and kiss her little head.

We are home now.  I went home 24 hours after having her.  I had the choice to stay at the hospital through the weekend (as they don't discharge on the weekends because the clinic isn't open if you need medicine), but I was NOT going to stay there longer than I had to.

At her 2 week checkup, she had already gained a whole pound and she is beautiful :)


Sunday, April 7, 2013

Still pregnant.

Yep.

Pointless blog is pointless.

Yep, still pregnant...

Still pregnant.  My due date is on the 9th and I have a doctor's appointment that day.  I figure my baby knows when she's ready.  I just know that MOMMY is ready...  My father is going to be flying in from Michigan tomorrow, so hopefully this little one comes within the next couple days because I wouldn't want for her to come after he's already left again.  That would be my family's luck though.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

You Know What They Say When You Assume...

...it makes an ASS out of U and ME.  Sorry, I had to.

Well, I had ASSUMED that I would have already gone into labor by now.  I mean, I am 39 weeks with my second child.  She must just not be ready, eh?  Ah well, what's another week or two?  She'll be just that much more ready for the world when she comes out hopefully.

I packed my stitching in my hospital bag a while ago, so I STILL haven't done anything.  So much for a stitching blog, I'm not even stitching right now.

I have gone into full blown nesting mode.  I have been cleaning so much that I've been scrubbing walls and even busted out my Lysol wipes and cleaned every single blind in my house...it was bad.  My house is super clean though, so that's great!  My father is going to be in town on the 8th because he wants to meet this little one whenever she debuts and I have a feeling that she's going to wait until he gets here, just like her brother did.

Oh well, I guess this is just a quick update to say that yes, I am indeed still pregnant lol.  Even though I haven't been doing much of it, I would like to say happy stitching to everyone.  I'm exhausted, so goodnight <3

Saturday, March 23, 2013

The Waiting Game

It's funny to me as I watch my newsfeed on Facebook, it seems that everyone is having babies.  I have 5 "due date buddies" which means they're all due around the same time as I am and they are all due a day to a week after me.  The problem is, I'm the only one left.  All 5 of them had their babies already.  I'm the last one to pop.  I guess my little girl knows what she's doing, but darn it I want to meet her!  I get this twinge of jealousy every time I see, "It's time!" on my feed.  I smile, grit my teeth, and say, "Congratulations," but in my head I'm saying, "Why not me?"

I know, I know, I'm only 38 weeks, so at least 2 more weeks until my due date, and if she so pleases, at least 2 more weeks after that.  The doctor didn't think I was going to make it to my last appointment, but lo and behold, there I was at 11:30 just like I always am.  He was surprised to see me.  He sent me on my way after my appointment, again with the notion that he doesn't think I'm going to make it to my next appointment again.  I have 6 days until then, based on how I feel, I'll be there at 11:30 just like I always am.

Don't get me wrong, I want her to stay in as long as possible to make sure she's healthy, but I'm so envious that everyone else has met their little ones already.  She knows I'm talking about her...she's punching me right now.

I know no one really reads this very often, but I will probably be updating with pictures whenever she's born.  I put my stitching in my hospital bag, so I haven't stitched for a while and I won't until I end up in the hospital.  I would rather not go through the hassle of taking it out and possibly forgetting it and having nothing to do in the hospital while she's sleeping and I'm not...television is so boring when there's nothing to do with your hands.

Well, just a vent I suppose, today.  I am getting too anxious I think :)  Can you blame me?  I was ready to meet the kid as soon as I found out I was pregnant!  Soon I'll have two minions to do my bidding haha!  My son knows something is up, he's been extra lovey lately as have my two dogs.  My one dog is even at a point where no matter where I'm at in the house, she has to know where I am at all times.  I could be sitting on the couch and get up to grab something off the coffee table and she'll jerk out of a dead sleep just to check on me.  That's what I get for being mommy, right?  My pug could care less, though.  As long as I feed him and pet him, he doesn't give a crap what's going on lol

Well, this was a little all over the place toward the end, wasn't it?  I'm going to rest a bit, the Braxton Hicks are making me light headed (I'm a tad dehydrated).  Happy stitching, everyone.  Who knows, maybe my next post will be my labor story (no one wants to read that!).

Friday, March 15, 2013

Watching Weeds and Making Patterns

Well, I set Bambi aside for a little while because I am saving it for when I'm in the hospital.  I don't sleep well and I remember being very bored with only the TV in my room and a sleeping baby.  Don't get me wrong, endless time was spent staring at my son wondering where the heck he came from and wondering how I was deserving enough to get such a sweet looking minion :)  But there came a time when I would ache and had to go sit down.  With my son sleeping, my only company was a 19 inch television with basic cable.

Did you know that TV now seems to be very boring?  I've been without cable for around 18 months and strictly been a Netflix user, but my friend has cable and we always watch something on her TV.  Nothing really catches my attention anymore.  Based on that, I wouldn't change it for the world.  Not that it matters, but I have spent many a day with my son watching Blue's Clues and I enjoy children's television.  I wonder what that says about my maturity...

I have been watching Weeds lately because they just added new episodes on Netflix and all day I'm singing, "Little boxes on the hillside..." because it's by far the catchiest theme song for any show.  I love the song.  Absolutely adore it, and any time it comes on, my son comes running from whatever room he's in just to hear it.  I assume it means he loves it too...

Speaking of my son (who seems to be a common theme of this post), he has really taken an interest in my stitching lately.  He has to sit in my lap whenever I'm stitching, which makes it really hard to do.  I'm creating a few sprite patterns to make into magnets for him.  I am thinking a cute little Legend of Zelda magnetic sprite play set would be cool.  I think I could do it.  I'm making some LoZ magnets just for me though.

His big pattern that I'm working on is the title screen from Pokemon Yellow.  I think it would look cute with a gameboy picture frame.  Also something I think I can make.  I've spent many an hour playing my classic gameboy, so I could probably do it from memory.  I won't, but I think I could.

Okay, I'm done rambling.  Happy stitching, everyone.

Friday, March 8, 2013

I knew it would happen eventually...

I have pneumonia!  Thanks to my wonderful husband.  At least I went to the doctor 2 days after symptoms...he waited like a week or so.

I put my stitching on my bookshelf and for some reason, once it's there, I forget about it until my son points at it and says, "Uh dis?"  Which is really his way of saying, "Get that for me."  He is going to be a little stitcher in training, I think.  He sits in my lap and is fascinated by it, so I just go with it :)

Anyway, I'm going to bed since I don't feel well.  Happy stitching, everyone.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Oh, my GOSH, it's a random WIP!

Well, unfortunately for me, I have the headache from hell today.  So I have been stitching for a few minutes, then putting it down.  I don't know where it came from, but I've been feeling a little under the weather all day.  Everyone in my house is sleeping right now except for me (it's almost 1500).

I figured I owed a random WIP, so here it is:

As always, forgive the quality.  It's the best I can do with my phone lol.  Well, I'm pretty exhausted and my head hurts, so this one gets to be short and sweet.  Happy stitching, everyone!

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Pressure. Lots of pressure.

Well, no new stitching today.  I have stitched, but not enough to merit a WIP.  I wouldn't want to waste precious internet space with my not very far TUSAL.

So on the first was payday!  I actually had the discipline to walk right by Hobby Lobby without stopping to spend any money!  Yay me!

We made a day of going to the mall and while we were walking around I saw a nail salon and asked my husband if I could get my nails and toes done.  I haven't done it in over a year and I figured I won't be able to do it again for about the same amount of time because I don't know how much longer this little one is going to stick around before making her grand entrance into the world.  I sat down to get my fingernails done and I could see my son and husband walking around the mall.  My nails were done and they moved me to a pedicure chair with the back massager.  I was about halfway through my pedicure when I noticed my husband walk into Kay Jewelers.

I kind of watched to see if he came out, but he didn't.  My pedicure lasted about 40 more minutes after I saw him walk in and I hadn't been paying attention for THAT long, so I didn't know if he was still in there or not.  I paid and tipped the manicurist and pedicurist and then I walked on over to the jewelry store.  There he was, sitting down at the engagement ring section talking with a manager.

Now, my wedding set is beautiful.  I love my wedding set.  The problem is, I'm allergic to gold (actually it's the nickel in the gold).  My wedding set is white gold.  So I can wear it for a few days, but then I have to take it off for about a month because it burns a ring on my finger.  It's very painful and sometimes, depending on how bad it is, very embarrassing.  My wedding set is one of these ones (looks almost exactly like it):


It's got a plain wedding band with it that's about the same width.

Anyway, my husband tells me, "Go away," hands me a credit card and tells me to go somewhere else.  So I went and got my hair trimmed and layered.  That took about 15 minutes, which I figured was enough time to wander back to the jewelry store.  My husband is still sitting there talking to the lady at Kay.  He pulls a chair out at the counter and says that I need to talk to her.  So the woman hands me two princess cut solitaires and says, "Which one do you prefer, your husband doesn't know."  Oh, my.

So I look at both of them and I picked the one that I liked and she shows it to my husband and then tells him a bunch of stuff about payments, runs his credit, etc.  Now I have a beautiful platinum, 1 carat, princess cut solitaire engagement ring that will be here by the end of the month.  I wasn't...I wasn't expecting it.  I always rag on my husband, but he knows I love him.  I was so blown away by it, I can't believe it.

Anyway, on to the title.  My little one has made it almost impossible for me to sleep because of how much pressure she puts on my hips.  I know it's early (I've about 5 weeks to go) but I am so ready to be done with this pregnancy.  I want to sleep on my belly again.  I want to crack my back.  I want CAFFEINE.  I want real sugar and not Splenda.  Lots of pressure on my body from this little one.  I suppose I have no right to complain, I've had a very easy, low risk pregnancy.  I'm excited to get back into my weight loss regimen.  Pair that with breastfeeding and the weight should come right off lol

Alright, I guess I'm going to go stitch for a bit before I have to cook dinner (after I let my pacing dogs out first).  Happy stitching, everyone.

Saturday, March 2, 2013

So much to do, so little time.

Well, I had my pregnancy really put into perspective for me the other day.  I was sitting at WIC, waiting while they took all my information because it was time for my periodic weigh in.  She sat me down on the other side of her desk and was asking me questions, then she scheduled my next appointment, and finally she said to me, "If you go into labor before your next appointment, just tell the lady at the front desk."

WHAT!?  It's really that soon, isn't it...?  Then the flood of all the things that I still haven't done yet came to mind.  I haven't bought a car seat yet!  My son is still in one!  Thank God my kid will be breast fed, so she'll likely only cost us for diapers each month lol.

It's so close!  I have been nesting and I recently went out and "beautified" myself.  I got my nails done, my hair done, new makeup, etc.  Gotta look good in labor I guess?  I don't know why I wanted to do it.  It's been over a year since I've done anything like that for myself, so maybe it was more of a last hurrah since I won't be able to do it again for a while lol.

No stitching WIP today.  Probably in the next couple days though.  I've been cleaning the crap out of my house lol.  I'll probably update a little more in depth about my going out yesterday when I post tomorrow.  Anyway, I hope you all have a great day!  Happy stitching, everyone!

Monday, February 25, 2013

It's Been Three Years

Well, there are no stitchings today.  I have been doing a lot of running around the last couple days.  I'll be doing a lot of running around tomorrow and the next day as well.  My dog is getting spayed, poor thing!  She goes in tomorrow for blood work and weighing in for anesthesia and then she goes in the next day for the actual surgery.  If it weren't for living on post, I would never get her fixed.  She's a purebred German Shepherd and I just...I would love for her to have at least a litter of puppies, but from my understanding it's illegal to sell puppies on post.

Off that subject, because I feel bad for my baby having to go under the knife...

So, it's been three years since I had contact lenses.  My husband had been saving money behind my back and bought me a year supply of my lenses.  I guess sometimes he really DOES think about me, right ;)  He even took my car away and got it fixed for me.  So...I guess I learned that he IS capable of saving money!  Lol, he's usually a spender and he knows I'm joking :)

Alright, this was just a quick update and then running away.  Time for dinner!  Happy stitching, everyone, and wish my GSD luck with her spaying!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Why Don't You Go To the Doctor?

I wonder how many times I have to say that to my husband?  He's been coughing up a lung for the last week or so.  Now, he's throwing up, which says that he's getting worse.  So...WHY WON'T HE GO TO THE DOCTOR?  Men are such babies when they get sick and it's very frustrating.

Anyway, not much new going on here, I have been stitching like crazy since last night but this freakin' Bambi is just so slow going for some reason.  So it looks like there's almost no progress.  I am loving this kit though.  It's looking so adorable already and I'm not even that far into it!  I didn't know there was a Thomas Kinkade Little Mermaid kit.  I might have to buy that one next.  If you're interested (not like anyone reads anyway) I bought Bambi's First year from Hobby Lobby, but all of the Disney Dreams Collection kits are HERE.  My favorite kit is the Lion King one...I have never seen it anywhere but that site, so if you want it and you happen to see it, pick it up because you never know when you'll see it again!

WIP of Bambi's First Year (it's not much, but it's random lol)



Thursday, February 21, 2013

In a Fog Today

I'm very exhausted today and I'm not sure why.  I haven't really done anything because I feel like I'm in a dream world.  I did have a doctor's appointment today and I was fine until just after that.  Maybe I am getting sick and my body hasn't realized it other than the sleepiness.  You know, that IS a possibility.  I tend to be sleepy the couple days before I get sick and my husband is sick right now, so...

I swear to God if I catch whatever he has I'm punching him.

Anyway, I am proud of myself because today I cleaned the crap out of my living room.  I even busted out the steam cleaner.  That NEVER happens.  I must be nesting.

My stitching has been going well.  I would take a picture, but my phone appears to be missing right now.  Bambi's the biggest project I've ever done and I think I'm a little intimidated by it so it's taking me a bit longer.

Time to go to bed.  I guess I better rest while I can before I end up sick like my husband.  Hopefully I don't wake up sick.  Good night and happy stitching :)

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Starting a New Project

I have recently picked up a new cross stitch kit that I'd never seen before.  I'm well behind the times, I'm sure.  I have picked up "Bambi's First Year" which is a Thomas Kinkade piece.  It's a very beautiful cross stitch kit and when I saw it at Hobby Lobby, I knew I had to pick it up and stitch it for my son's room.  I have a random WIP of this one (as I've started it about 3 or 4 days ago) so I'm going to upload it.



Forgive the poor quality, my phone has been acting strange since my toddler got a hold of it and I have no other camera.  The color is a lot off as well, for some reason---it appears very dark.

Not much else has been going on in my life.  My puppy that I got is all grown up and is now a full sized German Shepherd, my pug hates her guts, my son is getting big, and I'm about a month away from giving birth to my daughter.  My daughter's birth was the reason I needed to make sure Chibi Moon was finished.  She's to be cleaned, pressed, and framed to go above her crib.

I leave you with that random WIP and my ramblings.  Have a fantastic day :)

Monday, February 18, 2013

The Thief's Account Has Been Suspended

Yes, the title says it all!  Yesterday I posted about a woman stealing patterns from many people and now her account (the website where she sells "her" works) is suspended.  In other words, "WE'RE WINNING."  This girl had some serious balls thinking she could get away with it!  Thank God everyone else got involved, too!  Fantastic.  I love it.  Her website is suspended and it's all because everyone knew their legal rights and went through the proper channels.  Just let the DMCA take care of it :)

Anyway, I haven't been stitching the last couple days because I got into this book I'm reading and so now I keep getting kind of...torn between the two.  I'm reading The Legend of Sigmar.  My husband got me the three Omnibus Edition books from the series (The Legend of Sigmar, The Rise of Nagash, and The Sundering) for Valentine's Day.  I read a lot of fantasy and medieval war novels, and these are kind of a mix of both, I guess.  I've got a lot of reading ahead of me though because each one of those books is over a thousand pages long.

Maybe I'll alternate days.  Today I'll read, tomorrow I'll stitch.  I don't know, I'm just too happy about that woman's site being taken down lol.  Fantastic work, everyone who got involved (not like anyone reads my blog anyway!  haha).

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Thievery is a really unbecoming action

So I'm part of a forum that exchanges cross stitching patterns and we help each other out with advice and tips.  Well, some woman named Dixie Champoux decided that she would take it upon herself to make money off everyone's patterns and ideas, you know, since we weren't willing to make money on them.  She didn't ask permission, she didn't credit, and she's making at least 5 bucks off each pattern.  I only have 2 on her site, but several people have many patterns.  Our efforts to try to shut her down have deleted her facebook, her pinterest, and her etsy account.  I'm not sure what else we've dug our claws into, but as long as we can deter traffic from her site until she either gives us credit or removes our artwork, I'm happy with the progress.  One of the patterns on her site that she took from me was one that I had featured on here even!  You know, the Sailor Chibi Moon I've been working on forever?  Yeah, that one.  Every time I post to her site, "This is my artwork, please take it down," she removes it and ignores it.  It's only a matter of time, though.  I've filed copyright complaints with Google already because she has a Google+ account and she links to my artwork that she's selling illegally.

On another note (enough about thieving wieners), I finally finished Sailor Chibi Moon, but...I finished her almost a week ago lol.  I've already started my Bambi's First Year kit.  It's funny because I'm very much a novice when it comes to cross stitching and I decided, "All THAT out the window, let's do the biggest, hardest kit I can find!"  But I'm crazy like that :)  Anyway, a much awaited finished product of MY Sailor Chibi Moon pattern that SOME WIENER STOLE FROM ME AND IS SELLING WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!


And the back of it:


Well, she took forever, but she looks really good.  All I have to do is clean and press her and then frame her for my daughter's nursery :)  I'm in the middle of creating a custom Sailor Ophelia for when she's here so that she has a sailor scout that's completely original and just for her.  No one else will have her unless some WIENER STEALS MY PATTERN AGAIN!  I'm creating a watermark that I'm going to start adding to my PDF's before I post them for everyone to use.  I figure it's hard to remove a watermark from the artwork and it makes it so that if someone else uses it, it's a lot easier to identify.  With that, I'm going to bed. 

Note:  IF THE WIENER IS READING THIS, I'VE REPORTED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR PAGES, INCLUDING YOUR BUSINESS.