Vacation

So, apparently, it takes me traveling across the country to have time to blog.  Well, really, for me to make the time to blog.  It's not like I really have a ton of time to blog, but I always feel bad when I go to bed and realize I haven't blogged.  I don't really know why...I'm not getting paid for this, but I feel like I should blog.

So I've gone back to school.  Yes, it's a little crazy to re-start my education with a 10 month old, but I have a ton of support and I can do a lot of it online and in the evenings.  So while I feel it's a little crazy, it's something that I've wanted to do for a long time and I'm super excited.

I've neglected the blog for so long, I don't remember a lot of the stuff I've told myself to blog about (with the exception of going back to school), so on to my vacation!

Two days before we were scheduled to leave, our car died.  Completely died.  Had to push it home two blocks died.  Our neighborhood has a no overnight parking policy, but you can safelist a car if you're going to have an overnight guest, so that their car won't get towed.  I tried to safelist our car so we wouldn't have to try to park it in our 1-car garage without power steering (or, you know, an engine), and was responded to by a snotty, apathetic little twit with the security company who told me that the policy was that owners were not allowed to safelist their own car under any circumstances.  Really?  I wanted to leave my car there overnight, not for a week.  We needed to get it towed the next day so that we could leave, but she couldn't use any kind of common sense or compassion and let us do it ONE TIME.  Yeah, I'm annoyed.  But we got it fixed (it was the alternator), and we were able to get on our way.

We decided to drive up to Idaho (it's where my brother and his family live, and with my bro leaving the country soon we wanted to come up and visit a bit), and yes, with a 10 month old that is also crazy.  She was a champ though.  We stopped a few times during the trip, to visit with friends and family, and it was the best thing we could have done.  Instead of being in the car for 15+ hours, we stopped the first day after 6, the second after 9, the third after 2, and the fourth after about 10.  She got a little fussy after about 8 hours, but for the most part she was really good. 

My nieces have gotten so big!  They're 7 and 4 now, and holy cow have they grown up since I saw them last.  They are so excited to see Aurora, perhaps a little too...enthusiastic at times, but for the most part they've been really good with her.  Aurora's not too sure about my brother...he's got some facial hair, and she usually isn't too keen on that.  She's starting to warm up to him slowly, but she was really freaked out by him at first.

We went down to the Wolf People store today.  There's a 50 acre reserve for wolves up near where my sister in law's parents live, and they have a shop on the highway into town where they bring a couple of the wolves to show every day.  They are very big on educating people about wolves, and they are genuinely nice people.  The wolves were beautiful.  They're like big puppies.  Yes, they're pack animals, and hunters by nature, and therefore could inflict considerable damage upon a human, but they are quite beautiful animals. 

Scott said I had to blog about my pants.  I have a couple pairs of jeans that I've had for almost 4 years, and they're little more than tatters at this point.  They've both got holes in the knees, and are falling apart, and I've lost a big of weight since buying them (well, my weight's yo-yoed quite a bit), and they're just not fitting really well anymore.  So I decided that since prices and taxes are better up here, I'd buy a new pair of jeans if I could find a pair under $10.  So we were out shopping today, and while we were in a store that was advertising their clearance stuff, Scott made a joke about my clearance rack radar.  I love clearance racks.  I hate paying a ton of money for clothes that I could make myself, and I have a store near me at which I rarely pay more than $15 for an article of clothing.  So I've really gotten cheap about clothes.  Occasionally I'll splurge for something I really love, but more often than not I'll just browse the clearance racks at Target or something. 

JCPenny's clearance racks kind of suck.  They're all just kind of interspersed throughout the rest of the store, instead of in one spot.  So while looking for clearance stuff, I found a pair of jeans that were on sale, but not clearance.  They were $16.  I really liked them.  A lot.  I decided I'd try them on, just to see how much I liked them, since they were on sale and were really cute.  I then continued searching.  Found a cute polo, $5.  And then I saw what I thought were mislabeled jeans.  The sticker said $2.98.  I didn't believe it.  I asked an employee, and he confirmed that that was the price.  I tried them on, they're a tad too big, but not so big that they'll fall down when I wear them.  Still skeptical, I took my finds up to the register and decided that I wouldn't get them if they had been mistagged

So we've still got about a week until we leave, and I will be sad to go.  I'm having such a good time, and as much as Jeremy and I give each other crap, I love him.

I Think I Like Snoop Dogg...

Scott and I don't have a television.  Instead, we have a nightly ritual which we refer to as "Lolling", where we take a look at I Can Has Cheeseburger, an ever-growing number of it's sister sites, and a couple of webcomics.  This week has been an interesting one in the blogosphere. 

First, and not worth posting because it was super creepy, was Lady Gaga's video for Alejandro.  It was filled with Nazis, clones of Moe (of the Three Stooges fame), an assault rifle bra, and general creepiness. 

This video led Katy Perry to Twitter "Using blasphemy as entertainment is as cheap as a comedian telling a fart joke", which the mods over at roflrazzi.com seemed to find funny, considering the fact that just a few days later, she released this video for California Gurls(sorry about the link, and no embeddination, youtube wouldn't allow it).  I don't want to give too much away, but it features Snoop Dogg, and he's wearing a cupcake pimp suit.  It's pretty much the most spectacular thing ever.

And then today, while Lolling, we came across this video:



First, I have to say, Scott and I are very big fans of True Blood (though we have gotten behind since we, you know, don't have a TV, or cable).  Snoop Dogg doing a tribute to the show is pretty freakin' awesome. 

So awesome, in fact, I felt I had to share.  And so I have.  :)

A Case Of The Mondays? Not Here, TYVM!

Have you ever had a weekend that seems to flow seamlessly from Friday to Saturday to Sunday and back around to Monday without flaw, without stress, and without that crappy well-shit-my-weekend's-over feeling?  For us, that was this past weekend.  Scott and I had some plans, but not so much that we were overbooked, we had fun with friends and family, and it was awesome to just hang out and have an easy, stress free weekend.

Saturday, we were going to go over to our friend's place to play Killer Bunnies (an awesome game that you should all play because it's fun and awesome).  They've just bought a new house, and I gotta say, I'm in love with their kitchen.  It's the size of my living room, but more than that, it's set up very well for someone who cooks a lot.  That's not to say that I'm not happy with my own kitchen.  It's also set up very well for an avid cook/baker, it's compact and everything's easy to get to and there's plenty of storage, but I did really like their kitchen.  Killer Bunnies was a good time, there was lots of bunny carnage and mayhem, and revealing the winner got down to the last two carrot cards (it very often does, for some reason...laws of statistics be damned!), and there was a big dramatic flourish to reveal the winner at the very end, which is always fun.  Aurora decided that she just wasn't going to sleep, no matter what.  She stayed up until well after 11 PM.  She didn't sit and scream or anything, just sat and played with our friend's daughter's toys, but she just didn't want to go to sleep.

Sunday, we had a barbecue with my mom and sister.  We went and cooked down by the pool so that Aurora and her Grandma could go in the water.  I don't know what this kid's issue is, but while she hates baths (screams like we're stabbing her every time we give her one), she doesn't mind the pool too much.  She has this little boat that Scott's mom found for her, and she'll sit and float in that for awhile, and she's fine.  But baths?  Not so much.  My theory is that she picked up my claustrophobia, and she just doesn't like the little baby tub that we put her in, so tonight I'm gonna try without it and see how she does.  My mom also suggested it might be the water temperature, so I'll have to play with that too.

Anyway, adding to the fun of the weekend was that I got to go craft store shopping!  I have had a love of creating things since I was little, I still have art projects dating back to when I was in Kindergarten (holy hell, that's 20 years ago now), and possibly from before then.  I love crayons, colored pencils, yarn, string, fabric, sewing machines, sketch paper, charcoal, coloring books, paint, and many other arts and crafts supplies.  You name it, I've probably used it.  Going into craft stores brings back fond memories of projects, assigned and voluntary, that I've taken up over the years.  I've scrapbooked, crocheted, knitted, loom-woven, sketched (though I was terrible at it), decorated cakes, painted, cross stitched, sewn, worked with wood, constructed dioramas, made jewelry, designed flowers...I love making things.  I love the process of watching something go from a few raw materials to a completed work of art, and being proud of what I've accomplished.  It's very much something I hope to instill in my daughter.  Recently, I've been bitten by the sewing bug.  I've had my sewing machine for several years now, I made the curtains that now hang in my home, and I've dabbled with sewing in the past.  A couple of weeks ago, however, my mom took the baby for the weekend, and I got to finish a skirt that I bought supplies for over 2 years ago and never finished, and reminded myself of how much I enjoy it.  So this weekend, I dragged Scott to a discount fabric store near us that I'd heard of but never been to, and wow did we have a good time!  I found fabric for $1.98/yard!  And patterns for $3.

What I'm really proud of, though, is our trip to our local Joann Fabric yesterday.  We went in because I had a couple of coupons, and they wound up having Simplicity patterns on sale for $1.99 each, regardless of their original price.  Their usual prices run anywhere from $10.99-$19.99.  Each.  And they were all on sale for $2.  So many of them are far beyond my skill level right now, but I plan on getting to that level soon.  Here's the stack of patterns that I picked, containing clothes for all three of us, and quite a few costume patterns (even some vintage lingerie!):

And here's the "You Saved..." part of the receipt:

I was blown away!  25 patterns for $55.14, with a savings of over $300.  Wow.

I now have some serious clothing manufacturing to do (as well as a house to clean), so I'm gonna get to it!

Procrastination...

I have stuff I need to do.  Clean up the living room, finish laundry, edit some video.  And yet I'm sitting here watching stupid YouTube clips.  Why?  I have no idea.  But they were funny.  So I share with you one that I found particularly hilarious.  I think my mom might actually drink this. 

In Which Liz Returns To The Land Of The Bloggers

I've been in a funk.  For reasons that shall remain personal, my stress level had reached critical mass and I suddenly felt like I had made some sacrifices that I wasn't comfortable making.  Enter my awesome husband, who helped me to reach a solution that he and I are both comfortable with, and the past few weeks have been much more pleasant and stress-free.

Aurora's almost 9 months.  I can't believe that it was just a year and a half ago that she was just a tiny little blob inside me, that I didn't even know about.  She's gotten so big, and learned so much, and the more she changes the more she changes me in ways that I didn't know were possible.

My sister has enlisted in the military.  She leaves in October.  I think this is the best decision for her, and it's one that she's making herself without any outside influence (which is great), but I'm going to miss her.  As much crap as we've given each other over the years, I love her dearly and I'm going to miss her.

I recently found out that my brother's unit in the Reserves is being deployed.  I'm not thrilled.  I know that in joining the Reserves he was following the path that he felt was best for his family, but I'm still not thrilled.  Again, as much crap as we've given each other over the years, I love him dearly.  Scott and I are taking Aurora up to see him and his family before he leaves, and Mom and Sis will be up there too, so it'll be good to have everyone together before they leave.  Also, the last few times I've seen my nieces, I've been terribly sick, grumpy, and unable to do much.  My older niece even confided in Scott that she didn't think I liked her very much once, and I'm not okay with that.  As long as I don't get knocked up before we leave, I don't think it'll be a problem.

I've decided to go back to school.  It was always my plan, to go back and get my theater degree when I felt like I could handle the emotional burden, and I think I can now.  Now that I can do it on my own terms, without any kind of a time limit, and now that I have an awesome partner that I can count on to ignore my bitching and tell me that it'll be worth it.  I'm actually kind of excited...I have a math class over the summer, I'll be up at my brother's for part of it, but it's an online class so I'll be able to access the class while I'm gone.

It's now really late, and I'm pretty sleepy after Aurora's day of "I'm getting a tooth so I don't want to be any more than an inch away from you, even while I'm sleeping," so I'm gonna sign off and say goodnight.  :)

Not So Full Of Gall

The surgery was a success.  I'm feeling much better than I expected to, though I am pretty damn sore from being cut into and inflated (yep, inflated...they have to kind of blow up the abdomen so that they can see where stuff is, and residual gas can cause pain in the abdomen and shoulder).  The worst part of it is that I can't lift anything heavier than 10 pounds, so I can't pick up the baby.  Feeding her has been a challenge...I usually lay down with her to nurse, but because of the incisions I've been putting some padding between us and she's not too happy about that, and she's not a huge fan of the boppy so feeding her while sitting up is tough.  Oh well, it's just for a few days. 

My sister came over to give us a hand yesterday and today, and Scott will be home with me through Friday (he's sailing on Saturday, but my Mom's coming over to stay with me). 

I got my mystery boxes from Primabead!  There's sooo much cool stuff!  Lots of cool pendants, and glass pearls, and other awesomeness.  I am so looking forward to making some cool stuff :)

Full of Gall

In the Crappy Pregnancy Lottery, I won the uber-jackpot.  Between the hyperemesis, inability to breath, crazy weight gain, and general discomfort with being pregnant, it pretty much sucked.  I had an incredibly easy delivery, and was elated to be done with all the crappyness.  And then the spasms started.  I thought it was a hiatal hernia, since my mom and grandmother both have one as a result of pregnancies, so I told my OB about them at my 6-week checkup.  She said, to my surprise, that it sounded more like gallstones, and that it was actually a relatively common side/aftereffect of pregnancy (I don't believe it's that common, or more people would know about it, and nobody that I've told has ever heard that before).  So I had an abdominal ultrasound, and yes, it was gallstones.  My General Practitioner advised that the best option these days is removal, since the other methods of dealing with them are a little outdated and ineffective (the pill therapy takes 2-3 years to have any effect, and if you ever stop the pills they'll come back, and the ultrasound therapy will break them up but it doesn't cure the underlying problem so they come back).  I didn't think I'd be able to have the surgery until at least May, since Scott's going on a boat race in late April and we decided that if we couldn't get an appointment within a week of my consult (last Thursday), I'd have to wait until May.  So I thought I had a couple of months to mentally prepare.  At the appointment, however, the scheduling nurse said there was an appointment on Tuesday, the 16th at 7:30am, and would I like it.  Holy cow.  So that means that I'm going in for surgery tomorrow morning, have to report at the hospital at 5am, the surgery's about 2 hours, it's an outpatient procedure so I'll be home tomorrow afternoon/evening, and the recovery time is just a few days. 

So...yay.

In other news, my friends Curtis and Rene got engaged this past weekend!  It was a very elaborate plan, involved several of their friends (including us, we got to film it!), and was a genuine surprise for Rene.  I am incredibly happy for both of them, and I cannot wait to watch them unite after such a long romance.  Congratulations, guys!

One more bit of news, I'm intending on making this a more "Liz's Creations"-centered blog, mostly so that I don't have to write one more blog, but nothing will be changing except that the content will center a tiny bit more toward what I'm working on, what I'm learning, and will occasionally have exclusive offers and perhaps a contest or giveaway once in awhile.

I probably won't be able to blog again until at least Thursday, maybe not until next week.  See you then!  (Well, not really "see" persay, but you get the idea...)