It's My Son's Birthday! ...and mine...lol

Okay, so I typed this whole first part out, and THOUGHT I posted it, but I didn't, so here's yesterday's post:

I wish I was more tech savvy.  I'm not good with the internet, I'm not good with programming, and I'm REALLY not good with HTML.  I don't know anything about anything in regards to the internet.  I see so many people's blogs and they're so awesomely done that I look at my plain little blog and think, "Wow, I wish I could do something with it."  There are a couple blogs I follow that have these things that they can put the progress of their projects on a side bar and I want to be able to do that, but I don't know how.

Ah well, simple is sometimes better, even if I don't think so, right?

Two updates for Sailor Moon 30 day challenge today.

Day 14 - Favorite Sailor Moon Compact
Super Sailor Moon

I love this compact.  Every time I draw Sailor Moon, this is the one I draw.  I just created a cross stitch pattern for that compact and I finished drawing a tattoo that has that compact.  I have always loved it since I saw it for the first time.

Day 15 - Favorite Senshi Transformation

Sailor Venus

Sailor Venus' transformation is my favorite because of the detail they put into her.  Her transformation was, to me, very beautiful and it was just more fun than the rest of them.

On to actual things!  My son is turning THREE tomorrow.  Where did the time go?  He's not a baby anymore either.  He's almost fully potty trained, he's fully conversational, he's just...he's not a baby anymore!  My birthday is tomorrow as well!

My son and I are going on a "date" for our birthday.  I figure we can do it now while he's little and then when he gets older, if he doesn't want to do it anymore, I'll have the memories of celebrating together like that.  We're going out for snow cones.  Maybe ice cream.  It's really going to depend on what he wants.

My in-laws got me a gift card for Barnes and Noble for my birthday, so I think I'm going to finally buy the first Game of Thrones book and maybe something else.  I haven't decided fully yet.  Maybe I'll buy another sketch pad or something.  My husband bought me a silver locket that looks like an hardbound book.  I just got little pictures of my son and my daughter to put in it.  The locket's not even here and I already have pictures picked out!

I don't know what my mom got me, it's sitting in the other room and my husband won't let me look.  It's a big box.  My family is well off, so big gifts aren't exactly unusual from them (see previous post and my new violin).

I suppose I should update with a WIP as I've made some significant progress on Elmo.  Enough rambling, here's Elmo!

There he is in all his terrifying headless glory.  Look how creepy he is without the rest of his face!

Anyway, I'm off to go wrap my son's birthday gifts.  Happy stitching, everyone!

And today's update:

Day 16 - Favorite Senshi Attack

Dead Scream

I suppose I could have picked a better picture for this, but this is the only one I could find that wasn't the size of an icon that I liked.  Anyway, this is my favorite attack because it just sounds so creepy and powerful.  As my husband had put it, "Wow, she sounds like she'll f*** you up."  He has such a way with words...

Anyway, today is my and my son's birthday.  He got a Lightning McQueen pillow that held onto a blanket, a Cars racetrack, a gigantic Lightning McQueen poster, tons of clothes, a bathtub McQueen, and a McQueen that drives off if you shake him up and set him on the floor.  I think he's quite happy.

My boy turned 3 today and today also marks his 3rd day in a row with no accidents.  He's probably like 90% potty trained.  He gets a solid week of no accidents and then we try night time with underwear instead of a pull up.  He's doing so well, I'm so happy.

Off to go drink some coffee and hope that my headache is just a caffeine headache.  I think my headaches are from my glasses, personally.  Maybe I'll stitch a bit because I take my glasses off for it.  Happy stitching everyone, and happy third birthday to my beautiful son!

Elmo WIP

Random WIP.  I just finished his arm and hand tonight.

It doesn't look like much, but when you compare it to the last picture, it's definitely a lot.  

Nothing much going on right now.  My husband is taking leave so he'll have June 30th off (my son and I share a birthday).  Haven't decided what we're doing yet.  I figure I'll make my son a Lightning McQueen cake or something.  We'll see.

I've been sick off and on the last couple days and I think it's all from exhaustion because today was the first day in a long time that I ended up napping during the day.  I closed my eyes for what felt like a few moments and when I opened them to look at the clock, it was three hours later.  

That being said, I'm going to bed!  But first:

Sailor Moon Challenge Day 13 - Favorite Sailor Moon transformation.

The very first one.

The reason this is my favorite is definitely because it's the shortest of all of them.  I think the first season was the only season where I didn't feel that half the episode was transformation.

Alright, off to bed.  Happy stitching, everyone.

Rosin Eating Zombies From Outer Space

Day 12 - Favorite Starlight
Sailor Star Healer

Why?  Because she's adorable.

So my birthday is coming up.  My father always, always, always spends a lot of money on me for my birthday.  I think it's because of the whole divorce and then the military moved him away and then when he finally moved near us, my mom moved us away...I'm rambling.  You don't care about that.

Anyway, so this year is no exception.

I got a knock on my door and it's the UPS guy with a box that's roughly up to my hip, but kind of skinny.  I picked it up thinking it was going to be heavy, but it was maybe 5 pounds.  I bring the box into the house and my son is already trying to tear into it before I even set it down.  I open it, and realize it's quite clumsily packaged.  That's because the box was mostly just a precaution.

I opened the box to reveal...a big, white bag with something in it.  So I pull this bag out and immediately I realize it's a case.  A violin case.  I thought, "Cool!  My dad got me a new case for my violin!"  I thought it was empty.  I mean, the case was really light.

I opened the case and the first thing I noticed was the deep blue velvet that lined it.  I've never seen a blue case before.  I looked at the velvet cloth that covered where my violin is supposed to go.  Then I noticed the bow wrapped in plastic fastened to the lid.  "Wait," I thought, "this isn't empty!"  I pulled away the velvet cloth and this is what I found:

That, my friends, is an electric blue electric violin.  I am so happy!

After the excitement of my violin, I figured I should start it off right and bust out some fiddle solos.  I went looking through my sheet music and it dawned on me that I'm a bit of a sheet music hoarder.  I have my original learning book from elementary school.  I even have all my sheet music from the various concerts that I performed when I was a kid.

I haven't stitched much today as I've done a lot of cleaning again.  So I'm off to go play with my new toy and to shop for a digital pedal and amp.  Happy stitching, everyone!

Headache

Day 11 - Favorite Outer Senshi
Sailor Neptune

This one was a given, considering I posted about her being my favorite character the other day...

Anyway, on to actual stuff stuff.  I have had a headache from Hell today, so I have kind of been a lump most of the day.  My kids were well behaved, so they must have known I wasn't feeling well.  I've been watching Sesame Street all day with my little ones and then watching the show Derek when they're napping.

Well, that being said, I DO have a WIP today.  This is how far I got since yesterday:

And with that, I'm going to bed.  My head really, really hurts and I don't think stitching like I did today was much help.  Good night, happy stitching everyone.

I guess I get to wash dishes in the bath tub?

My kitchen sink is clogged.  Both sides!  And my dish washer doesn't drain.  So who knows what that's all about.  Plumber is coming tomorrow afternoon.  In the mean time, I guess I get to wash my dishes in the bath tub.

Day 10 - Favorite Inner Scout
Sailor Mars
When I was a kid, I would have said Sailor Jupiter just because she was strong.  Now that I'm older, I find a certain charm in how much of a smart ass Sailor Mars is.  Plus she's pretty gorgeous.

I started stitching the Elmo kit my mom sent me.  I'm not terribly far, but it's definitely going!  I've had plenty of time to stitch today because my kids have both been very good and my kitchen backing up like it has been has kept me from dirtying more dishes.  My living room and the play room WERE clean until about ten minutes ago.  

Anyway, here's a WIP:

What you see is his gaping mouth and one of his hands so far.  I'm roughly an 8th of the way through.  When this is done, I'll go back to stitching my peacock or if my stuff gets here for my swap partner, I'll work on that instead.

Well, I have to go clean my living room, my daughter just spilled her water on the floor.  Happy stitching, everyone!

A Little Reminiscing

Day 9 - Favorite Character
Sailor Neptune

Hold on, this one's a little nerdy.

When I was around 9 or so I found out that Sailor Neptune existed.  I was young and hadn't yet known that manga was even a thing.  I just saw Sailor Moon as a cartoon.  I didn't even know what the word anime was yet.  I discovered Sailor Neptune when I was just learning about the internet.  Someone had one of those old copy and paste web pages with the midi file playing Moonlight Densetsu in the background (you know the type) and I remember looking through the pictures and there were Sailor Scouts that I'd never seen before.  I found Sailor Neptune one fine day when I was living in Montana.  I didn't know anything about her at all, so I began to delve into the Sailor Scout bios that people had written online.  She was smart, sweet, strong, and beautiful.  She was everything that appealed to me as a little girl...and she played the violin.  Just like me.

Eventually I began to read fan fiction.  I became so engrossed in fan fiction that somewhere in my house, to this day is a 3-inch binder FULL of stories and pictures that I printed off.  Sailor Neptune was my hero.  I even wrote fan fiction, none that I've saved.  All my drawings are always of Neptune.  All my fanart, everything.  I'm even making my daughter a Deep Aqua mirror for her room.

Hello, my name is Kari, I'm 25, and I am obsessed with Sailor Neptune.

WIP: Page One is Almost Done!

A WIP!  But first, because I missed yesterday, a two-fer on the Sailor Moon thing.

Day 7 - Favorite Villain
Kaorinite
Just look at her!  She's gorgeous!  No, but seriously, I thought her story was kind of sad as all she wanted to do was please Professor Tomoe.  Everything she did was for him, and he still didn't glance her way.

Day 8 - Least Favorite Villain

Mimette

Same series, different villain.  This was actually a tie between Mimette and Jadeite, but I picked Mimette because she was so annoying whereas Jadeite was just boring.  I also kinda begrudge Mimette for the way she killed Eudial.  Kinda liked Eudial.

So I stitched until midnight last night thinking I would finish my first page and I could move on to a different project for a little while.  You know, since all I'm stitching is GREEN.  It gets a tad boring.  I misjudged how fast I stitch.  That being said, I should be done with the first page today (or at least tonight).

See, I have this 4-hour window every night where I can do whatever I want.  The kids go to bed at 8 and then my infant wakes up for a night feeding at midnight every night, so from 8 to midnight I've got nothing but time.

I could do it during the three hour naptime my kids seem to enjoy, but I use that time to rush-clean my house...my children like to redecorate.

Anyway, here's the WIP:

SO MUCH GREEN.  So close...so...close...to being done.

Off to stitch and perhaps finish this.  Happy stitching, everyone!

Loot Crate June 2014

Happy Loot Crate Day!  But first:

Sailor Moon Challenge Day 6 - Dream relationship.
Seiya and Usagi

I adore these two and thought they had awesome chemistry.  When Mamoru left for America and then disappeared, all I could think was, "Huh, the show's not that bad without him."  I kinda wouldn't have minded if he'd never returned because Seiya and Usagi were so cute together.

Aaaaalright, here it is, the JUNE LOOT CRATE!  My birthday's in 10 days, so I debated not opening it...but it's Loot Crate, so I have no will power.  Here's the haul this month:

And we spread it out to reveal...

I got a sweatband, too, which is not pictured because as soon as my son saw it, he took it.  This kid and his sweatbands.

The list of things in this crate:  A Marty McPrime Shirt (why yes, yes that is a Transformers/Back to the Future mash-up), a Transformers Blind Box, a Transformers sticker, a Transformers Hex Bug (another thing my son stole as soon as the crate was open), three Warheads candies, MLG sweatband, an MLG starter kit, and of course my monthly button.

I opened my Blind Box and I got an adorable little Megatron!

Forgive the sideways picture.  I forgot to rotate the images before uploading and I'm mobile right now.

Here's a better picture of the shirt I got:

I love getting this in the mail every month.  I live in the middle of nowhere and this definitely brightens my day every time!

If you'd like your own Loot Crate, click HERE!

Day 5 Sailor Moon Challenge

Sailor Moon Challenge Day 5 - Favorite Movie
Sailor Moon Hearts in Ice

I love this movie.  I love how awesome Kaguya is.  I loved Luna's unrequited love for Kakeru.  This movie was just such a sweet story from start to finish.  When I was younger, I had a friend named Rachel and she lived in the house behind me.  She and I saw this movie together because my mom had just bought it for me and I invited her over.  I think I was 11.

Anyway.

I was supposed to have a WIP tonight, but the day kind of got away from me.  I have an inspection tomorrow, so I've been cleaning the things in my house that usually don't get touched like the tops of door frames, the tracks on my windows (they're NEVER open), the underside of my tables, the space between my baseboards and walls because my house was built by a five year old...I suspect anyway.  Do you know how many spiders I've uncovered!?

One, but that's not the point.  He was a very large one though...like leg span the size of my palm.  He was just chilling on the inside of my cabinet door when I went to open it.  Scared me half to death.  

I'm rambling again (didn't I ramble yesterday, too?).  Time for my stitching before bed.  Happy stitching, everyone!

Because I'm a Moonie

So I am a Moonie.  In other words I'm a die hard Sailor Moon fan.  So, that being said, I think I'm going to extend my Sailor Moon 30-day picture challenge to this blog.  I'm on day 4 on my Facebook, so I'm going to update up to that point.  It makes it so I have to come back here every day and update (as I've been pretty lax lately)  Ready?  Okay, here we go!

Day 1 - Favorite Episode
Kindergarten Chaos (English Dub) or Targeted Kindergarten Kids!  Venus' Great Performance (Japanese).  This is my favorite episode because the little girl is being bullied for being a moonie and I can DEFINITELY relate to that.  Sailor Venus gets her new attack that is only used once in the entire series (Crescent Beam Shower).  By the end, Sailor Venus ends up being the little girl's favorite.

Day 2 - Least Favorite Episode

Related By Destiny (English Dub) or The Bond of Destiny!  The Distant Days of Uranus (Japanese).

  This is my least favorite episode because it's so slow moving and overall the story line was boring.  I liked that they delved into the back story of Neptune and Uranus a bit, but I think they could have done a better job with it and made it much more interesting.

Day 3 - Favorite Arc

Sailor Moon S

  This is my favorite arc because it is by far the darkest story line.  Hotaru is being used by her father as a vessel for Mistress 9.  He's being controlled by the darkness, but I think because it was Hotaru's own father, it was that much creepier to me.  I loved how at the end Hotaru was able to be reborn.  It was such a perfect ending for that season.

Day 4 - Least Favorite Arc

Sailor Moon Stars

  Okay, okay, it's not that I don't like this arc.  It's just that in the order of how I like them, it happens to fall last.  I think this is partially because I had waited years to finally be able to see it and then when I did, I was upset that it was over.  I loved Stars, but in the order of likes, it goes S, R, SuperS, Sailor Moon, then Stars.

So there you have it, fellow moonies.  There's up to day 4 and I'll be coming back tomorrow to update with 5 and more than likely a WIP because my first page on my peacock is almost done.  I might have another update today depending on how much I get done.  Happy stitching, everyone, and if you'd like to get in on the 30-day Sailor Moon challenge, here's what it is:

Peacock WIP

I've finished a good third of my first page.  So...I'm 1.667% done?  Yikes, gets a bit intimidating when I look at it that way.

Anyway, here's my update!  Here's the front:

...and the back:

Doesn't appear to be much difference, but I feel like I've been stitching a LOT!  I should be done with the first page in the next couple of days.

That was all, nothing much going on in my life.  Happy stitching, everyone.

Happy Father's Day!

My son and I made this for his daddy:

That is a bouquet of bacon roses.  It's something I've seen all around the internet and decided it would be simple enough to make.  What I did was roll up some center cut bacon then bake it on the wire rack with a pan underneath.  Bake at 375 for 40 minutes.  Then I used some of my leftover flowers and tore them apart to put the bacon in place of the flower.  My son loved putting it together.  He loved stealing random roses even more.  Thank God I made extra just in case!

Not much going on today as my husband is working, so Happy Father's Day to those who have kids, those who have fur-kids, and those single mom's who are acting as both parents!

Slow going, but at least it's going.

So I decided to post a WIP of my mega kit.  You can't tell from the front that anything is done, so here's a picture of the front AND the back.

There you have it, a fraction of a fraction is done!  

Yesterday a box came in the mail for me from my mother.  Inside was an Elmo kit from the 90's.  I think I'll make it my next small project and bump my Bambi's First Year that I started over 2 years ago.  I love my Bambi kit, and I love how it looks, but I think because it's such a slow going kit that I got discouraged.  Now that I've got a few more projects under my belt, I'm going to be ready to start up on it again.

While I was stitching Bambi, I dropped my needle and it fell between the cushion and the arm of my couch which means it fell all the way inside the couch.  I kind of used that as an excuse to quit that project for a while (at the time I had no spare needles).  I think every crafter has that one project that sits on the shelf forever.  I know my mom has one.  When I was visiting, I was allowed to dig through her cross stitching bin and I found an 8-inch hoop with a half done project.  She said she wouldn't finish it and when I asked if I could, she got kind of defensive.

I think she plans on doing it one day, she just works too much, now.

Alright, I'm rambling, time to go work on my peacock.  My son and I are watching MLP:FIM.  So, yeah, my son is a brony.  Happy stitching, everyone!

1, 2, Freddy's coming for you...

I've been on a Nightmare on Elm Street kick lately.  I sometimes forget that Johnny Depp is in that movie.  I have watched most of the movies the last few days and right now I'm watching the documentary about the series called Never Sleep Again.  The documentary is perfect for stitching.  You know, since it's almost 4 hours long.

SEGUE!

My daughter's kit came today:

I have a ways to go before I can stitch this one.  It's large, but not nearly as large as the peacock one.  I should have a WIP in the next couple days.  I'm hoping to be done with the first page of the peacock by the end of next week.

Off to finish my documentary and stitch some.  Maybe I'll make a Freddy pattern, I haven't decided yet.  Happy stitching, everyone!

Petty Gripe

My husband is playing his video games and I can't concentrate with all the gunfire noises in the background, so no stitching right now.  I wish he'd go to bed so I could have a minute to myself as I've had children dangling from me at all times today and not a single moment of silence since I woke up this morning. 

I would go to bed, but my husband is playing in the room I sleep in.  Even after asking, he says, "I've got just one more," but then 3 rounds go by.  When I ask again, it is the same thing.

So BORED!

My Swap Partner Is...

...GONNA LOVE IT!  Hopefully, anyway.  I'm already a third of the way done with what I am sending them.

You thought I was going to reveal my partner's name, didn't you?  You looky-loo, you... ;)  Off to go work on my mega peacock kit, I'm almost done with page one!

Happy stitching, everyone!

All Fear Koke!

Growing up, there was a game I used to play on the NES called Kickle Cubicle.  It was a cute little puzzle solving game that each world had a different theme (garden, desserts, etc) and I remember this game because it's the first video game I ever beat on my own.  I was probably five or six.

The first boss fight in the game is a chicken named Koke.  He is not just any chicken, he is a pirate chicken.  He lives in the clouds in a jack-o-lantern castle and his fight was insanely simple.  This little chicken...this little pirate chicken stuck with me because he is so ADORABLE.

The SpriteStitch monthly challenge was to use only three colors.  So I stitched Koke.

Look at how adorable he is!  And he's a bad guy!  This adorable chicken was stitched on 14-count plastic canvas (I can't cut him out until I buy a new exacto-knife) and he was only three colors:  DMC 310, DMC 444, and DMC 666.

I think he'll be my new dishwasher villain.  I use a villain magnet on my dishwasher to indicate when it's dirty or empty.

Alright, I'm off to bed, tonight was my anniversary and we went to a barbecue, so I'm kind of wiped out.  I'm working on some more of my big project tomorrow and might actually have a WIP soon.  Goodnight, and happy stitching, everyone.

He Wasn't Coming to Have TEA With Ya!

Three times in three years.  I'm averaging once a year.  What am I going on about?  Oh yes, I suppose I should say...

This is the third time someone's broken into my house.

I live in the middle of nowhere in a small community.  I live on a military installation, even.  Everyone knows everyone else and it's alarming that someone has broken into my house three times and no one knows who did it.  No one saw anything.  I feel violated.  I feel worried.  Most of all, I'm angry.

I have gone over in my head why someone would come into my house.  I don't have anything of value except my jewelry and it was out in the open, untouched.  My laptop was next to the couch as was my tablet and cell phone.  All out in the open.  Again, untouched.  My $300 was out in the open.  Untouched.

What was the point of breaking into my house?  I'm sleeping with one eye open.

Break into my house again.  I dare you.