Notes from Mommyland

I need to knit something!

2010-03-29T18:18:00.000-07:00

It's been over a year since my last post. My life has been hectic, to say the least.

A quick update:

1. I'm still not divorced (but trying to achieve that elusive goal). It's going about as well as can be expected.

2. I am working in DC. I have a 90 minute commute each direction. *sigh* It's killing me.

3. I'm crazy stressed all the time.

4. Emma is lovely. Kenny is great (though still in Florida).

5. I desperately need a vacation (but have no leave or money).

Crafty goodness!

2009-03-21T20:20:00.000-07:00

Well I figured I'd show some pictures of all the craftiness I've been up to lately :)

I was recently involved in a Twilight themed swap on a craft community forum. For those of you that don't know what Twilight is, you need to crawl out from under your rock, lol.

Here are a few of the things I made for my partner:

This shirt features a hand drawn / cut out mascot of a Spartan that is then stitched in place.

My partner really liked the mittens that one of the characters wore in the movie. So I taught myself how to knit!

This is a messenger bag that is based on the cover art of the third book, Eclipse. I'm pretty proud of this, actually...

Onto some non-nerdy craftiness... here is a super cute baby blanket I just finished crocheting. It's actually been done for a few weeks now, but I just added the flowers in the past few days.

So that sums up a lot of "unfinished objects" I've had laying around my house. I'm still working on two blankets and an easter bonnet for Emma ;) Always have to have a bunch of project, y'know?

Down a pants size!!

2009-03-04T17:51:00.000-08:00

Just have to brag for a moment :)

I'm back into size 8 jeans!

Let's all pretend like I'm not sucking in my gut ;)

Nihao Kailan "Easy, No Sew" Pillow

2009-02-09T07:06:00.000-08:00

First, let me say that there is no such thing as a "no sew" project when you want to give the final product to a two year old.

This weekend, I decided it would be fun to embark on a crafting adventure with my darling 2 year old. So we went onto the Nick Jr. website where they list many "easy" crafts to create with your child. Now, admittedly, this craft is geared toward a 4-year old, so I knew going into it that there would be some challenge.

After looking at a lot of different options, Emma picked the Kailan Valentine Snuggle pillow, which claimed that you didn't need to sew anything. All craft glue! How easy!

Craft glue is MESSY. Do not use it with a child. Heck, don't let a 10 year old use it. I was scraping glue off my hands the rest of the weekend. Also, it didn't really "stick". So this project has zero instant gratification.

Also, after seeing how it didn't stick, I opted to sew the pillow together rather than trust in craft glue.

Despite the fact that I will probably never embark on this project again in the manner in which the website told you to do it, the end result is pretty darn cute :)

Kailan in progress

Finished product being snuggled by Emma's best friend, Penguin.

Kailan Snuggle pillow... being snuggled by Emma.

New Craft Area!

2009-02-06T06:58:00.000-08:00

Well I'm very excited about this post. I finally was able to undertake the very large project of getting my "sewing area" all put together in my room. I'm pretty pleased with my results. I will actually be able to sew now, without it involving some sort of monumental effort!

So.... here it is :)

1. The view from the doorway of my bedroom.

2. Close up of the shelves (they're not actually crooked). I'm going to be adding an additional shelf, just to keep things from being so cluttered. So I'll be putting 4 canvas bins full of yarn on the very tippy top.

3. Closeup of my sewing table. This is actually a computer desk. The painting is on I got from Adam on my birthday :) Those large canvas bins contain fabric and such.

4. My re-employed nightstand. Now this holds all my cardstock and other art supplies and cutting implements. I'll be replacing the white 3-drawer chest on top as soon as I find something a bit more nice, but for now this holds all my sewing needs.

A quick, post holiday update

2009-01-14T07:33:00.000-08:00

Well things are finally slowed down enough for me to remember that I have a blog. The holidays went really well and I'm happy to say I got almost all of my Christmas crafting done. The only thing I didn't finish in time for Christmas was Malori's gift, but I purposely held off. I still haven't seen her because her schedule is sort of hard to catch up with.

Emma is suffering from her first ear infection :(. She had a sinus infection that got so bad, it backed up into her ears. Both of them. She's on medication now, and hopefully will be feeling better soon.

I didn't get many pictures, because I opted to take video. But I will try to do what I can to post some of Emma opening presents and such.

In completely unrelated news, I've started knitting and I'm now attempting to make a pair of mittens for a craft swap that I'm in. We'll see how it goes :) I joined Ravelry and you can see all my current projects and their progress right there on the side bar. That's only knitting/crocheting projects though. Not the many OTHER projects I have :).

Crafting for Christmas

2008-12-03T08:04:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess there is no denying that Christmas is looming ahead. I have so much to get done too. Ugh.

So last night I went to Heather's house and we started making felt cupcakes for the kids. I was a little skeptical at first b/c my cupcakes looked kind of doofy... but I'm feeling better about it now. Besides, Emma is 2. She'll love them regardless.

I've got soooo much to get done over the next month. I was a 'swap angel' for someone on Craftster, so I had to finish that up. I have an actual swap that I am in, so I'm going to be crocheting a cowl, wrist warmers and socks for my partner (who lives in Finland). I'm also going to send her lots of peanut butter oriented goodies. Poor Europeans with their lack of peanut butter.

Not to mention, I have to finish Heathers birthday present. (Yes, her birthday was three days ago, I know). I also have a fleece blanket I'm making for my brother (thank goodness I'm already done the other brothers blanket). I also have 2 scrub tops I'm making for Malori. After I'm done all that, I need to finish making my new winter coat. At this rate, it will be spring before I'm done it.

I took pictures of the felt Chinese food Heather and I finished up for the kids, so I'll post a picture soon. Once we're done our felt food kick, we're going to make teddy bears out of the kids old clothes. I think I'm going to use Emma's 1st birthday dress to make a birthday bear for her. I also have her little party hat she wore last Sunday, so I'm hoping to use that as well.

Once I'm done all of that, I want to make a quilt out of Emma's baby clothes. I couldn't bear to part with a lot of her clothes. It was so hard for me to get it down to one giant box of stuff, lol. So then I just told myself I was putting them up in case I had another girl. But I don't think another girl (or boy for that matter) is going to happen anytime soon, so I'm just hanging onto this stuff for nothing. At least if I make a little quilt out of it, it will be going to good use :)

I need to start a project list on the side of my blog, lol.

Thanksgiving and 2nd Birthday

2008-12-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

Whew. It has been an absolutely CRAZY two weeks.

I had a busy couple of days at work since my last post. I had a big project I needed to get done, and I'm happy to say I got it done by the 25th, when it was due on Dec 1st. Of course, as soon as it was complete, I had something else huge and "number one priority" handed to me. C'est la vie.

The 27th came and went without much adieu. I got to spend the morning playing with Emma which was wonderful. We headed over to my moms at about 4:30. Dinner was very yummy (thank you for the stuffed celery mom! Yum!). My mom made me extra veggies and such b/c I didn't want to eat mashed potatoes and stuffing since I've recently started dieting. My mom pretty much insisted on keeping Emma over night, which was totally fine with little Ms. Emmanem. My parents had decorated her little playhouse with Christmas lights, a Christmas tree and a wreath on the front door, and I'm pretty sure she wasn't inclined to leave anytime soon.

After dinner, Bryan, Malori, Adam and I went out to see "The Changeling". It was pretty good, though rather depressing. I absolutely fell in love with most of Angelina Jolie's hats in the movie and I have decided that I absolutely must make one or two of them. I'll add it to the "craft to do" list.

I had off Friday. And I mean really off. The past few times I've taken a day off of work, I've ended up coming into the office. But since I had finished the above mentioned project, I got to just hang out with Emma. It was great. She was so excited for her birthday party. She kept asking "Mommy... Birthday party today?".

Sunday was her 2nd birthday and her party (and my bestie Heather's bday too!). I got up bright and early and walked into Emma's room carrying her birthday present. She said "Morning Mommy.... oooooooooooooooooh. Present!". SO cute. It was a little Dora the Explorer couch and she loved it. After making her a special birthday breakfast, and getting ready myself, I walked out to the living room and asked Emma for a birthday girl hug. She runs up to me and says "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!". Seriously. How much more cute can one little person be??

So after dropping Emma at my moms, I got the party all set up and decorated with the help of Dan's Aunt Terry and his cousin Cindy. Dan picked up the pizza and my dad and the party was in full swing by 1:00.

Emma had a fantastic time and was completely spoiled by everyone. She played with her cousins and had a blast opening presents. Everything was Dora themed, of course. We even got a special suprise visit from Dora herself! Cindy's friend had a huge Dora costume, and he came over in it to wish Emma a happy birthday. Emma was pretty freaked out, lol. She did say "Bye" when Dora left, but I think the sheer size of Dora's head is enough to give any toddler nightmares.

(Ironically, Emma *did* have her first nightmare that night. Coincidence?)

It was an exhausting day for all involved, lol. Emma napped VERY soundly when we got home. I was the lucky one who got to assemble all the new toys :). I didn't mind though. It was totally worth it to get them all together and in her room. Her face just lit up when she saw her new Sleeping Beauty vanity. She loves brushing Princess Aurora's hair and putting lipstick on her cheeks.

I think all in all the party was a huge success. We only had two pizza's left over and Emma had a fantastic time. I can't wait to post pictures soon!

A bit of time travel...

2008-11-20T20:28:00.001-08:00

So I thought I'd do a few entries with some pictures of things that I never got around to posting.

September 9, 2008

A little mini-vacation I took to Virginia, compliments of Adam. He had won a free stay with a few other perks at this lovely resort and he gave the package to me to use for two nights / three days of relaxing and getting away. Everyone gave me weird looks for going away on my own, but it was such a nice time.

I don't have any pictures of the condominium that I got to stay in. I did take some... I just have no clue where they are... At any rate. It had two queen sized beds, a huge jacuzzi tub and a deck that basically looked at the face of a moutain... about two feet away. (So mostly trees/shrubbery). The living room had a fold out couch with a fire place. It also had a dining room and a kitchen.

While I was there I took a few classes at the resort. I made a stained glass window panel and did glass etching. I signed up for a canoe trip, but it was torrentially downpouring the morning of the trip. It let up about an hour later. Had I known that, I would have gone anyway, but ohh well.

I also toured Cross Keys Vineyard, which is a brand new vineyard that just opened up this year. I learned a lot about making wine (they do all their picking by hand!) and got to sample their first bottles. I brought a few home with me but they are long gone now.

When I wasn't being crafty or drinking wine, I was hiking! I have had a macro lens for some time now, but I've never played with it before. So I spent a good afternoon crawling around in the dirt and taking close up pictures of weeds, lol.

On my way home, I hit Luray Caverns and Shanendoah Caverns.

Luray was by far my favorite because the tour guide was so funny. Shannendoah was nice too, but the tour guide was sort of lame and pushy. (She didn't want to give me time to take pictures).

I took SkyLine Drive home, so it took several hours. But it was too beautiful to not do it.

I got to see the sunset, which also meant I got to see quite a few deer on my way home. And no other cars. That was really freaky, but kind of nice. It felt like I was the only person in the world for a few hours.

It was a very relaxing three days and I'm so happy that I went ahead and did it. I had a great time and can't wait to go back there when Emma gets older and can do some of the other activities. There is a water park in the summer and skiing and other activities in the winter. Plus the lodge has all kinds of classes you can take. It seems like such a cool place to take a family vacation. And it's not too far away to make in an impossible destination, but it's far away enough to definately feel like you are away from it all.

An unexpected goodbye.

2008-11-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I found out that a good friend had passed away. Tom is the reason that I got into the IT industry. He took a chance giving an art school kid a tech internship just because I was "good with computers". He took a special interest in my career and was so excited for what the future would bring for me. He hired me, out of college, following my internship, and always had the highest praise for me. He guided me away from bad career moves and always had a fatherly outlook for me.

I don't think he knows how much I truly appreciated and loved him for everything he did. He was so much like another dad. A "work dad". Even after he left Arbitron, he never forgot about me, and he always made an effort to keep in touch with me, always thought about me and my family.

Tom, I'm going to miss you so much. I don't think it has truly hit me that you are gone. I'm so, so very very sorry I wasn't able to say goodbye to you.

I love you and you will be missed, "Mr. Tom".

My first post

2008-11-12T06:46:00.000-08:00

Well, Heather has been telling me that I need to start a blog so that I put up more pictures / post more about Emma. So even though Emma has her own website (which, admittedly, I rarely update), I figured I would do a blog too.

Most of my entries will probably revolve around life with Ms. Emmanem. :) However, this way I wont feel guilty if I veer off into talking about myself or something not Emma-related.