Today was a day... not much to it.
This morning the baby opened her presents, we hung out and at some point Lorelei and I took a nap.
Then this afternoon we went to a friend's place and had dinner with them- they had been shocked to hear that we were not doing anything with family so had invited us over to spend the afternoon with their family. That was a lot of fun and Lorelei got tons of attention.
This evening consisted of another nap for Lorelei and I (she's been doing these long dozing nursing sessions that put me to sleep). leftovers for dinner and a long walk outside which put her to sleep. Usually she isn't in bed until 11 or later so .... I'm crossing my fingers that she stays asleep. She only had short naps today so with any luck she will sleep soundly tonight. Last night she was up at 2:30 am and then again at 5:30 or so. Silly baby.
So, whoever's reading this... tell me something about your Christmas. I hope it went well for everyone!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Rant- Allrecipes reviewers
Don't get me wrong... I <3 Allrecipes.com
I love that they have reviews because then I know what to expect from the recipe
Some of the reviewers are so stupid though. Some of the ones that get me going are
1. When someone says "I don't like ____ (insert main ingredient of the recipe) but I thought I'd try it anyways and ... it turns out I still don't like ______." And then give it a one star rating. Well, what did you expect? It's not because the recipe is bad, it's because you don't like that main ingredient.
2. People that make tons of substitutions and omissions from a recipe, then give it a poor rating because it didn't turn out well. If it didn't work because you didn't follow the recipe, it is YOUR FAULT.
3. When a cookie recipe says "drop on ungreased cookie sheet," Invariably there is a reviewer that gives it a 1 star review. Why? Because they put the cookie on a sheet sprayed with Pam, and then they couldn't get the cookies off the cookie sheet. Pam is a type of grease. Directions called for no grease. If it didn't work because you didn't follow the recipe, and actually did the OPPOSITE of what the recipe called for, it is YOUR FAULT.
Geeze people, get with the program ;)
I love that they have reviews because then I know what to expect from the recipe
Some of the reviewers are so stupid though. Some of the ones that get me going are
1. When someone says "I don't like ____ (insert main ingredient of the recipe) but I thought I'd try it anyways and ... it turns out I still don't like ______." And then give it a one star rating. Well, what did you expect? It's not because the recipe is bad, it's because you don't like that main ingredient.
2. People that make tons of substitutions and omissions from a recipe, then give it a poor rating because it didn't turn out well. If it didn't work because you didn't follow the recipe, it is YOUR FAULT.
3. When a cookie recipe says "drop on ungreased cookie sheet," Invariably there is a reviewer that gives it a 1 star review. Why? Because they put the cookie on a sheet sprayed with Pam, and then they couldn't get the cookies off the cookie sheet. Pam is a type of grease. Directions called for no grease. If it didn't work because you didn't follow the recipe, and actually did the OPPOSITE of what the recipe called for, it is YOUR FAULT.
Geeze people, get with the program ;)
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Christmas Cheer
My nod to Christmas.
We don't have any family here and aren't traveling so there's not much holiday cheer here. We do have a tree and are having Christmas dinner with some friends here, who were shocked to find out we were not going to be with family for the holiday.
We did go to the 37th street lights yesterday. It was a cold night and we were happy to discover that Lorelei now fits properly in the Ergo baby carrier. She does not, however, fit in her little snow suit. It makes her took much taller than she is, which is kinda adorable.
Seriously....look how long her legs look and then look how tiny her head is.
A little background.... unlike the Trail of Lights, the 37th street lights are simply lights on one block of a residential area in central Austin. It started with neighbors trying to one up each other and turned into an annual attraction. Fast forward 20+ years and of course some neighbors have moved and some houses are empty etc. Supposedly they "aren't as good" as they used to be because it's more just lights, less crazy artistic nonsense, but they are fun and free to see. Also, unlike the Trail of Lights, it doesn't require a shuttle bus to get to, which is a big selling point on a below freezing winter night when hauling a baby around.
A lot of people just drove there and there was a huge line for people waiting to drive down the block, but half the fun is the walking IMO so that's what we did.
We found parking only a block away and ambled down the block and then around the neighborhood before we got too cold and decided to go home to warm up.
A few highlights:
Gnomes being repressed
Flying Spaghetti Monster, or "Hi, How are you?"
Our group's consensus was FSM... The other one would not have come to mind except someone right behind us insisted it was the latter. After comparing both of them to the picture above I can see why someone might think it was the "Hi, How are you" but only if they had never seen the FSM.
I'm not quite sure what the message was supposed to be here.
My favorite, the Sock Monkey Nativity
And a family shot right before heading back to the car
I hope everyone has a great Christmas, and enjoys the days getting longer from here on out.
We don't have any family here and aren't traveling so there's not much holiday cheer here. We do have a tree and are having Christmas dinner with some friends here, who were shocked to find out we were not going to be with family for the holiday.
We did go to the 37th street lights yesterday. It was a cold night and we were happy to discover that Lorelei now fits properly in the Ergo baby carrier. She does not, however, fit in her little snow suit. It makes her took much taller than she is, which is kinda adorable.
Seriously....look how long her legs look and then look how tiny her head is.A little background.... unlike the Trail of Lights, the 37th street lights are simply lights on one block of a residential area in central Austin. It started with neighbors trying to one up each other and turned into an annual attraction. Fast forward 20+ years and of course some neighbors have moved and some houses are empty etc. Supposedly they "aren't as good" as they used to be because it's more just lights, less crazy artistic nonsense, but they are fun and free to see. Also, unlike the Trail of Lights, it doesn't require a shuttle bus to get to, which is a big selling point on a below freezing winter night when hauling a baby around.
A lot of people just drove there and there was a huge line for people waiting to drive down the block, but half the fun is the walking IMO so that's what we did.
We found parking only a block away and ambled down the block and then around the neighborhood before we got too cold and decided to go home to warm up.
A few highlights:
Gnomes being repressed
Flying Spaghetti Monster, or "Hi, How are you?"Our group's consensus was FSM... The other one would not have come to mind except someone right behind us insisted it was the latter. After comparing both of them to the picture above I can see why someone might think it was the "Hi, How are you" but only if they had never seen the FSM.
I'm not quite sure what the message was supposed to be here.
My favorite, the Sock Monkey Nativity
And a family shot right before heading back to the car
I hope everyone has a great Christmas, and enjoys the days getting longer from here on out.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Imperfection in photographs
I have often liked the look of an imperfection. Found vintage photographs where parts of it are out of focus, but film was expensive and the imperfect photos found purchase in people's albums just as much as the perfect ones, because they were the only pictures that existed from that time. Now with previews on digital cameras it is easy to make sure you catch the moment in focus, with your subject's eyes open. You can even delete the "bad" ones before anyone else ever sees them.
In these days of everything new mentality, with perfect replicas of items produced in huge numbers lining the shelf, where it costs more to repair an item than throw it away and get a new one, the draw to imperfection is calling to many people-- just look at the success of Etsy, where almost everything sold there is (usually obviously) handmade.
I'm still drawn occasionally to the imperfect pictures. This is one of them, and I'm not sure why I'm drawn to it.
Any thoughts? Do you have a favorite picture that is technically not "good" but you love it anyways? Do you have a favorite item that is not shiny and new, but you prefer it that way? I'd love to hear about it.
In these days of everything new mentality, with perfect replicas of items produced in huge numbers lining the shelf, where it costs more to repair an item than throw it away and get a new one, the draw to imperfection is calling to many people-- just look at the success of Etsy, where almost everything sold there is (usually obviously) handmade.
I'm still drawn occasionally to the imperfect pictures. This is one of them, and I'm not sure why I'm drawn to it.
Any thoughts? Do you have a favorite picture that is technically not "good" but you love it anyways? Do you have a favorite item that is not shiny and new, but you prefer it that way? I'd love to hear about it.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Funny conversation....
Leave it to my best friend to get me giggling when I'm at the end of my rope...
1:48:39 PM) BakioMau: hm.. I need to think of a question of the week to ask the girls in my moms group
(1:49:45 PM) c____: if you could be a bird sitting on someone's windowsill, who's windowsill would you be sitting on?
(1:49:48 PM) BakioMau: Ive been keeping it holiday themed and sorta cheesy this month The questions so far have been "what are you thankful for" "whats your favorite holiday tradition" and "whats your favorite present you have received"
(1:49:58 PM) BakioMau: LoL .. I like that one.
(1:50:04 PM) c_____: :)
(1:50:44 PM) c_____: I suppose I could let you license it from me
(1:51:26 PM) BakioMau: I'll use that one after christmas if you let me...
(1:52:31 PM) c_____: well I don't know how I'd know if I told you no but you used it anyway~
(1:52:47 PM) c_____: you could change it to "if you were a partridge in someone's pear tree..." ;)
(1:56:45 PM) BakioMau: lol
(1:57:01 PM) BakioMau: Who's pear tree would you patridge in?
(1:57:46 PM) c_____: well I guess so... but partridge is a noun?
(1:58:05 PM) BakioMau: maybe it couldbe a verb too?
(1:58:38 PM) c_____: well I guess it could... but if you were partridging, what would you be doing?
(1:58:43 PM) c_____: ooh! another good question!
1:48:39 PM) BakioMau: hm.. I need to think of a question of the week to ask the girls in my moms group
(1:49:45 PM) c____: if you could be a bird sitting on someone's windowsill, who's windowsill would you be sitting on?
(1:49:48 PM) BakioMau: Ive been keeping it holiday themed and sorta cheesy this month The questions so far have been "what are you thankful for" "whats your favorite holiday tradition" and "whats your favorite present you have received"
(1:49:58 PM) BakioMau: LoL .. I like that one.
(1:50:04 PM) c_____: :)
(1:50:44 PM) c_____: I suppose I could let you license it from me
(1:51:26 PM) BakioMau: I'll use that one after christmas if you let me...
(1:52:31 PM) c_____: well I don't know how I'd know if I told you no but you used it anyway~
(1:52:47 PM) c_____: you could change it to "if you were a partridge in someone's pear tree..." ;)
(1:56:45 PM) BakioMau: lol
(1:57:01 PM) BakioMau: Who's pear tree would you patridge in?
(1:57:46 PM) c_____: well I guess so... but partridge is a noun?
(1:58:05 PM) BakioMau: maybe it couldbe a verb too?
(1:58:38 PM) c_____: well I guess it could... but if you were partridging, what would you be doing?
(1:58:43 PM) c_____: ooh! another good question!
Enough already!
When did my sweet baby girl become the fussiest little baby critter ever? She won't go to sleep.... she'll play alone for a few but then start crying, she has even been fussing in the car while on the highway, and at Target even when the cart is moving. All the fallback things are failing and ... I feel like a failure. I can't keep the one thing I'm in charge of happy. Last night, she had to cry herself to sleep because there was NO comforting her. Right now, she is in her crib crying because I have no clue what else to do. Writing this is my way of keeping from running to her right away.... it beats watching the clock for five minutes. She doesn't want to nurse. I can't take her for a walk today because I'm waiting for UPS. I play with her and it helps for a minute and then she's angry again. I've got nothing.
Monday, December 15, 2008
December photoday
The weather has been pretty weird here. There have been a few days where it has been near 80 degrees out, so me and Lorelei have taken advantage of those and gone for many walks... usually the next day it will be in the 40s or 50s. Lorelei usually babbles and sings for the first block or so and after that drifts off into a deep sleep.
This kind of temperature fluctuation means lots of wind! This is how we discovered that the siding on our shed wasn't attached too well (it is just made of beams and siding, there is no drywall or anything) It looked kinda cool though, and popped back into place easily.
Yesterday we got a Christmas tree. This is probably the only thing my boyfriend will be getting me for Christmas because he's not a big fan of the Christmas season. It's still not decorated though.... because the kitten loves it. I'm thinking I will leave it undecorated for one more day and then just be careful about what ornaments I put on it... or something.
It was another of those beautiful days out so I put Lorelei in this fancy little dress my mom bought her, set her on a quilt in the back yard and had a little photo session with her.
A note for those who wish my buy 5 1/2 month old babies fancy little dresses.... make sure that it isn't a fabric that changes color when wet. This dress was actually a good fabric to choose, though having a few less froofy layers would have possibly made it less attractive to baby noms.
It was moody day for her though, and she decided she'd had enough of it right about the time I ran out of ideas
- - well, she got angry when I stopped letting her eat my camera strap, but nothing was gewtting accomplished that way.
This kind of temperature fluctuation means lots of wind! This is how we discovered that the siding on our shed wasn't attached too well (it is just made of beams and siding, there is no drywall or anything) It looked kinda cool though, and popped back into place easily.
Yesterday we got a Christmas tree. This is probably the only thing my boyfriend will be getting me for Christmas because he's not a big fan of the Christmas season. It's still not decorated though.... because the kitten loves it. I'm thinking I will leave it undecorated for one more day and then just be careful about what ornaments I put on it... or something.
It was another of those beautiful days out so I put Lorelei in this fancy little dress my mom bought her, set her on a quilt in the back yard and had a little photo session with her.
A note for those who wish my buy 5 1/2 month old babies fancy little dresses.... make sure that it isn't a fabric that changes color when wet. This dress was actually a good fabric to choose, though having a few less froofy layers would have possibly made it less attractive to baby noms.
It was moody day for her though, and she decided she'd had enough of it right about the time I ran out of ideas
- - well, she got angry when I stopped letting her eat my camera strap, but nothing was gewtting accomplished that way.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Reunion ruminations
I've been thinking back to my 10 year high school reunion that was held about a month ago.
I went thinking "oh, I'll socialize and have a great time"
But the reality was that I sat with one friend in the back of the room and talked very little to anyone except her. She and her husband left early, and I followed suit.
Why?
Well first of all, I was exhausted due to having a really bad night the night before where I slept only a few hours. You'd think with a 4 month old baby at the time that I'd be used to it, but I'm really not. She typically sleeps all night and has since she was a month old or so.
Also, I was not exactly a social butterfly in high school. I kept to myself a fair amount (besides participating in every band class there was), wore all black a lot, sat in the back of the class and generally personified the typical socially awkward teenager. I thought when I saw people all that would drop away and I could be myself. Instead as I remembered people it just made me draw back into my shell and I couldn't imagine joining into the festivities more than to talk to a few people that broke away from the group and came to talk to me. So I was just the same outcast loser as I was in high school 10 years later at the reunion.
I'd say the weekend was a wash and a waste of money and time.... but my dad is still in the hospital from the surgery he had the day after I left. He had a bad reaction to.... something, probably the anesthesia and his mild dementia has become severe.
This weekend he became so agitated that he started cursing and pretty much attacked some people at the rehabilitation center he has been staying at. He has talked with a severe slur since the operation, cusses now (he has always hated cussing enough to tell me that he didn't approve of my mom saying sh*t, now he is calling people "bitch" left and right) He got so out of hand that it took multiple policemen, paramedics and three shots of Haldol to get him to the hospital. Now my mom isn't sure if he'll ever get to go home.
I knew something could go wrong and braced myself for the fact he might die from the surgery- it didn't occur to me that anything worse could happen. Death is indeed bad, but if he never recovers from this dementia I think that could be worse.
At least Lorelei got to meet him once before all this. Not that she will remember it. And luckily, she didn't get to witness my reunion freeze-up either.
I went thinking "oh, I'll socialize and have a great time"
But the reality was that I sat with one friend in the back of the room and talked very little to anyone except her. She and her husband left early, and I followed suit.
Why?
Well first of all, I was exhausted due to having a really bad night the night before where I slept only a few hours. You'd think with a 4 month old baby at the time that I'd be used to it, but I'm really not. She typically sleeps all night and has since she was a month old or so.
Also, I was not exactly a social butterfly in high school. I kept to myself a fair amount (besides participating in every band class there was), wore all black a lot, sat in the back of the class and generally personified the typical socially awkward teenager. I thought when I saw people all that would drop away and I could be myself. Instead as I remembered people it just made me draw back into my shell and I couldn't imagine joining into the festivities more than to talk to a few people that broke away from the group and came to talk to me. So I was just the same outcast loser as I was in high school 10 years later at the reunion.
I'd say the weekend was a wash and a waste of money and time.... but my dad is still in the hospital from the surgery he had the day after I left. He had a bad reaction to.... something, probably the anesthesia and his mild dementia has become severe.
This weekend he became so agitated that he started cursing and pretty much attacked some people at the rehabilitation center he has been staying at. He has talked with a severe slur since the operation, cusses now (he has always hated cussing enough to tell me that he didn't approve of my mom saying sh*t, now he is calling people "bitch" left and right) He got so out of hand that it took multiple policemen, paramedics and three shots of Haldol to get him to the hospital. Now my mom isn't sure if he'll ever get to go home.
I knew something could go wrong and braced myself for the fact he might die from the surgery- it didn't occur to me that anything worse could happen. Death is indeed bad, but if he never recovers from this dementia I think that could be worse.
At least Lorelei got to meet him once before all this. Not that she will remember it. And luckily, she didn't get to witness my reunion freeze-up either.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Favorite Christmas Song
Ah ahah.. I turned on XM Holly .. XM radio's Christmas channel and there was the song I was trying ot figure out the name for a few days back
Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra
And if you're not sure what song that is... here ya go...
Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra
And if you're not sure what song that is... here ya go...
The Blahs
I've been very tired recently.
No, it isn't because the baby is not sleeping... She sleeps pretty well. I'm not quite sure what it is. My boyfriend thinks it's because I don't eat right during the day and I don't get enough exercise. This may be true but is hard to remedy. To keep patient with Lorelei I try to stay low key. When she goes down for a nap it can be hard to switch gears into "do stuff" mode. Since I'm not always sure she'll stay asleep often I end up sitting her at the computer until her nap is over... out of a lack of momentum once I get started internetting.
It's a quite blah feeling, and I'm a bit worried that my depression is going to sneak back in now that it's getting cold to go along with the dark. It may be already here, but I certainly don't want it getting any worse.
Any suggestions those who stay home with their babies?... or those who don't too .... I'm open to ideas.
No, it isn't because the baby is not sleeping... She sleeps pretty well. I'm not quite sure what it is. My boyfriend thinks it's because I don't eat right during the day and I don't get enough exercise. This may be true but is hard to remedy. To keep patient with Lorelei I try to stay low key. When she goes down for a nap it can be hard to switch gears into "do stuff" mode. Since I'm not always sure she'll stay asleep often I end up sitting her at the computer until her nap is over... out of a lack of momentum once I get started internetting.
It's a quite blah feeling, and I'm a bit worried that my depression is going to sneak back in now that it's getting cold to go along with the dark. It may be already here, but I certainly don't want it getting any worse.
Any suggestions those who stay home with their babies?... or those who don't too .... I'm open to ideas.
uhmm.... WTF?
If you decide to watch it, you haveta watch it to the end for the maximum WTF effect. It's short. And weird.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
a craftless craft blog?
That seems to be what I have. Someday I will get more of a chance to craft again. For now... well, I did make a few stockings tying to work out a pattern. They were for a craft day with other moms to make baby's first stockings but for some reason all but one person has decided to change their RSVP to no or maybe- including the person who actually requested the event. *sigh* That was a bunch of work for nothing.
Here they are:
These actually aren't ones I am going to use but... well, at least I know how to make a stocking now.
I also made some sugar cookies last night that turned out wonderfully. I used this recipe. I tried to frost them with a simple powdered sugar and water glaze but I think I'll do something differently for the other half the batch. I need to do something that travels well or I'd put butter cream frosting on them. I'm going to be making them for a cookie swap though and I want them to turn out good after taking them someplace else in the car.
The icing I'm in theory going to make it going to be a royal icing like hard icing with crushed candy canes sprinkled on top before it hardens. The question is, when can I find a chance to crush candy canes into little bits while not waking the baby?
Here they are:
These actually aren't ones I am going to use but... well, at least I know how to make a stocking now.
I also made some sugar cookies last night that turned out wonderfully. I used this recipe. I tried to frost them with a simple powdered sugar and water glaze but I think I'll do something differently for the other half the batch. I need to do something that travels well or I'd put butter cream frosting on them. I'm going to be making them for a cookie swap though and I want them to turn out good after taking them someplace else in the car.
The icing I'm in theory going to make it going to be a royal icing like hard icing with crushed candy canes sprinkled on top before it hardens. The question is, when can I find a chance to crush candy canes into little bits while not waking the baby?
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Well, crap.
The baby has taken to pooping when she's laying on her tummy.... mostly when she is not wearing her diaper.
Knowing this I changed her this morning and then laid her down on her tummy on the floor on a blanket, and a strategically placed cloth diaper and went to start a load of diaper laundry. I was gone less than 5 minutes and when I came back she was turned a full 180 degrees, plus over far enough to be just barely off the blanket. Sometime in the middle of this maneuvering she had pooped. Sooo there was (is) baby poop on the blanket, the diaper, the freshly shampooed carpet and of course, the baby. The happy squirming baby that, as soon as I turned her over to clean it off of her, stuck her hands in the poo on her thighs and then tried to put her hands in her mouth. Oh the Joy.
Makes me sort of glad she's not on solids and is breastfed though- from what I've been told that is the least stinky baby poo that exists.
Time to get back to getting the poo off the carpet.
Knowing this I changed her this morning and then laid her down on her tummy on the floor on a blanket, and a strategically placed cloth diaper and went to start a load of diaper laundry. I was gone less than 5 minutes and when I came back she was turned a full 180 degrees, plus over far enough to be just barely off the blanket. Sometime in the middle of this maneuvering she had pooped. Sooo there was (is) baby poop on the blanket, the diaper, the freshly shampooed carpet and of course, the baby. The happy squirming baby that, as soon as I turned her over to clean it off of her, stuck her hands in the poo on her thighs and then tried to put her hands in her mouth. Oh the Joy.
Makes me sort of glad she's not on solids and is breastfed though- from what I've been told that is the least stinky baby poo that exists.
Time to get back to getting the poo off the carpet.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Scattergories (aka a meme of a different name)
I came across this via the lovely OhChicken who writes the blog WeAreFambly, who got it from calliope who says “it’s harder than it looks! Play here or let me know if you play on your blog. (note to those new to the game: these don’t have to be actual truths. If it helps- replace the word “you” in the questions & substitute it with “someone”.) Play on & use your imagination! Use the first letter of the answer to the first question to come up with answers for the rest.”
1 )What is the name of your favorite Holiday themed song?
Grandma got Run over by a Reindeer (not really but I can't figure out the name of my favorite one and it's driving me nuts!)
2) Something on your wish list
Giant new television, with input jacks that don't require jiggling
3) Something you plan on baking
Gingerbread cookies
4) Something you plan on giving
Gifts!
5) Something you plan on avoiding eating
Green eggs and ham
6) Something you plan on adding to the chorus of ‘12 Days of Christmas’
Grunty babies squirming?
7) Something you plan on returning/ re-gifting
Gravy mix
8 ) Something you wish was stuffed into your stocking (heh)
Grey purring fluffy kittens
9) Some place you wish you could travel to this month
Greece
10) Something you will decorate with
A green, wonderful smelling, live christmas tree... if I can convince my boyfriend that we need one.
My brain is not functioning on any semblance of normal tonight... so this turned out much less amusing than I was hoping. Also, I cannot get these italics to go away!
1 )What is the name of your favorite Holiday themed song?
Grandma got Run over by a Reindeer (not really but I can't figure out the name of my favorite one and it's driving me nuts!)
2) Something on your wish list
Giant new television, with input jacks that don't require jiggling
3) Something you plan on baking
Gingerbread cookies
4) Something you plan on giving
Gifts!
5) Something you plan on avoiding eating
Green eggs and ham
6) Something you plan on adding to the chorus of ‘12 Days of Christmas’
Grunty babies squirming?
7) Something you plan on returning/ re-gifting
Gravy mix
8 ) Something you wish was stuffed into your stocking (heh)
Grey purring fluffy kittens
9) Some place you wish you could travel to this month
Greece
10) Something you will decorate with
A green, wonderful smelling, live christmas tree... if I can convince my boyfriend that we need one.
My brain is not functioning on any semblance of normal tonight... so this turned out much less amusing than I was hoping. Also, I cannot get these italics to go away!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
dreamland
Ahh bliss.... when the fussy Lorelei finally succumbs to the jigglig of my knees and falls asleep in a limp little puddle of sweet drooley baby-ness
Friday, November 28, 2008
Buy nothing day
As I usually do I will be participating in Buy Nothing Day.... unless I need groceries and if I do that I make sure to limit the impulse purchases.
I've always thought the Black Friday rush is ridiculous and mindless, and the fact that it is used as an economic indicator even more ridiculous, so I guess I wasn't too surprised when on Facebook, a number of accusing comments were posted saying that participating in Buy Nothing Day would make the economy even worse.
Say what? It is all about MINDFUL shopping, instead of charging in and fighting over the last teapot just because it's on sale.
More to be coming in an edit after I stew about it some more :)
I've always thought the Black Friday rush is ridiculous and mindless, and the fact that it is used as an economic indicator even more ridiculous, so I guess I wasn't too surprised when on Facebook, a number of accusing comments were posted saying that participating in Buy Nothing Day would make the economy even worse.
Say what? It is all about MINDFUL shopping, instead of charging in and fighting over the last teapot just because it's on sale.
More to be coming in an edit after I stew about it some more :)
Thursday, November 27, 2008
New Hair
I got that hair cut....
This was one of my crappy attempts to take a picture of it last night. Freshly styled and all that. I didn't take a print out of that other haircut with me because my printer doesn't work.. but I think it turned out pretty good. Unfortunately it doesn't look as nice freshly washed and air dried because my hair is naturally really wavy .. and I'm pretty unlikely to actually straighten it often.*sigh*
In general I love the girl who cuts my hair.. she's nice, easy to talk to, and even if I don't manage to explain what I want quite right, I still end up with a hair cut that looks good.
Crabs
I'm in a crabby mood today. The baby has been all short attention span about nursing and so grouchy that I had to take her on a long walk to get her to nap. The boy has been playing video games and watching football all day- not so bad except his computer is now in the living room so I get to hear the constant clicking of the mouse all day. The neighbors sprinkler is going right now... which is nice because it's not waking me up at 4 am but bad because the sound that wakes me up at 4 am is going NOW so I can't go take a nap in the silence. It's also burning hot in here between roasting the duck and the boy deciding to start a fire even though it is warm out.
Not happy here.
Not happy here.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Really now with the judgements? Really?
As a stay at home mom new to the area I live in and not religious, there are limited ways to meet new people.
The thing that as been most successful is Meetup.com. While I was still pregnant I joined a pregnancy group and then got involved with a "new moms" group after Lorelei was born. One thing I have found striking is the immediate judgments I have experienced when getting to know someone new.
I meet someone at a playdate after being told by a friend that we will probably get along well, and the entire time we are spending time together I felt as if I was under a microscope. I've already got a boyfriend, I'm not looking to date who I am meeting... hello, I'm just looking for moms to hang out with so me and my little girl can have some daytime company. Two times the person I met up with has dissappeared after the playdate without so much as a "nice to meet you" after drilling me with wierd questions for an hour or so.
Now don't get me wrong, I have met some wonderful women too, but I am amazed to see people writing off others after only knowing them an hour, and the way that I have been bombarded with questions I was apparently being judged on.
Some of the people I have met that ended up being friends are people who I probably would have written off if I questioned them that way upon first meeting. For example, I think breastfeeding is super important and every mom should at least try, had a home birth and think that is the way to go if you are low risk, feel strongly about recycling, and love cats... yet I count as friends women who got the epidural at the hospital the second they could, never tried to breastfeed, don't recycle even though it is offered in their neighborhoods and ... well, no one has expressed a dislike of cats but even if they hated them I'd deal. I wish those people who felt inclined to evaluate people as soon as they met them just relaxed and enjoyed other people's company.
I guess what I'm trying to say is the differences are what keeps things interesting ... and having too many friends of the same opinions as you make for a narrow range of experiences and viewpoints.
The thing that as been most successful is Meetup.com. While I was still pregnant I joined a pregnancy group and then got involved with a "new moms" group after Lorelei was born. One thing I have found striking is the immediate judgments I have experienced when getting to know someone new.
I meet someone at a playdate after being told by a friend that we will probably get along well, and the entire time we are spending time together I felt as if I was under a microscope. I've already got a boyfriend, I'm not looking to date who I am meeting... hello, I'm just looking for moms to hang out with so me and my little girl can have some daytime company. Two times the person I met up with has dissappeared after the playdate without so much as a "nice to meet you" after drilling me with wierd questions for an hour or so.
Now don't get me wrong, I have met some wonderful women too, but I am amazed to see people writing off others after only knowing them an hour, and the way that I have been bombarded with questions I was apparently being judged on.
Some of the people I have met that ended up being friends are people who I probably would have written off if I questioned them that way upon first meeting. For example, I think breastfeeding is super important and every mom should at least try, had a home birth and think that is the way to go if you are low risk, feel strongly about recycling, and love cats... yet I count as friends women who got the epidural at the hospital the second they could, never tried to breastfeed, don't recycle even though it is offered in their neighborhoods and ... well, no one has expressed a dislike of cats but even if they hated them I'd deal. I wish those people who felt inclined to evaluate people as soon as they met them just relaxed and enjoyed other people's company.
I guess what I'm trying to say is the differences are what keeps things interesting ... and having too many friends of the same opinions as you make for a narrow range of experiences and viewpoints.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Sleepiness
The kiddo has stopped sleeping through the night. I really feel for those whose babies have never slept through the night because somehow I am a zombie after just a few days of this.
Also she's spitting up a ton and it usually smells really acidic, which is unusual. Used to usually just be basically like spilled milk, now it seems more like actual throw up. I don't know what's going on, but I'm not a fan.
Also she's spitting up a ton and it usually smells really acidic, which is unusual. Used to usually just be basically like spilled milk, now it seems more like actual throw up. I don't know what's going on, but I'm not a fan.
Friday, November 21, 2008
In the name of science
Will hot cocoa mix made with coffee as the liquid be tasty like a mocha... or a disaster.
Stay tuned for the answer!
(The answer- yum!)
Stay tuned for the answer!
(The answer- yum!)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Makeover time?
So my hairs grown out into a shapeless shoulder length, my glasses prescription is HORRIBLE, the baby keeps trying to eat my hair and my glasses... so I think it's time for something new.
I'm thinking contacts and shorter hair.
I like this hair style but I'm not sure what it would look like on me:
I'm thinking contacts and shorter hair.
I like this hair style but I'm not sure what it would look like on me:
Etsy fun
I finally got around to making an Etsy store for some of my... junk. right now I have a few burp clothes and some tag toys on it... but soon I'm going to list (as vintage) a bunch of little Wade miniatures I collected as a kid, some vintage buttons and bead and ... random little crafty stuff I will probably never use that my mom keeps getting at auctions and giving to me, more sewn stuff and... who knows what else. Because of the "who knows what else" part... I've named my store "Chaotic Whimsey"
Now we'll see what happens with it.
Now we'll see what happens with it.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Holding my breath
The native Virginian in me is cringing from what I just did.
I just planted a small vegetable garden. In. Mid. November.
We went to the Natural Gardner on Saturday because my boyfriend wanted to ask them about planting grass seed. I was seduced by the seedlings and the assurances of the staff who said no, the plants wouldn't need to be covered up when it frosted and yes, it was a perfectly fine time to plant.
Today when the baby finally took her long nap I went out to the back yard and used a garden fork to remove the grass by the fence.. and planted the seedlings before I could procrastinate until the poor little plants died. I didn't get too many because I still don't completely believe that I can plant a garden in mid November and actually have it survive. What was planted is: broccoli, cauliflower, 2 spinach and 3 loose leaf lettuces.
Check out the cactus selection at this place- makes me want to add some cacti to our landscaping sometime.
I just planted a small vegetable garden. In. Mid. November.
We went to the Natural Gardner on Saturday because my boyfriend wanted to ask them about planting grass seed. I was seduced by the seedlings and the assurances of the staff who said no, the plants wouldn't need to be covered up when it frosted and yes, it was a perfectly fine time to plant.
Today when the baby finally took her long nap I went out to the back yard and used a garden fork to remove the grass by the fence.. and planted the seedlings before I could procrastinate until the poor little plants died. I didn't get too many because I still don't completely believe that I can plant a garden in mid November and actually have it survive. What was planted is: broccoli, cauliflower, 2 spinach and 3 loose leaf lettuces.
Check out the cactus selection at this place- makes me want to add some cacti to our landscaping sometime.
Baklava
Yesterday a friend and I made some baklava. We followed this recipe pretty much to a T.
We used the honey sauce, which was tasty and made the whole house smell heavenly.
Some advice
Don't try to chop whole almonds. They are so hard that you really should start with slivered or slices almonds
Don't try to grind up cloves unless you have a spice grinder. Big chunks of cloves=badness
Don't.... follow this recipe to a T. It will be bottom heavy and stick to the pan pretty badly. I really recommend a few more layers of phyllo on the bottom than the recipe calls for. Also, probably more than 2 pieces between layers.
In general it is tasty- but we are going to try again with some changes.
We used the honey sauce, which was tasty and made the whole house smell heavenly.
Some advice
Don't try to chop whole almonds. They are so hard that you really should start with slivered or slices almonds
Don't try to grind up cloves unless you have a spice grinder. Big chunks of cloves=badness
Don't.... follow this recipe to a T. It will be bottom heavy and stick to the pan pretty badly. I really recommend a few more layers of phyllo on the bottom than the recipe calls for. Also, probably more than 2 pieces between layers.
In general it is tasty- but we are going to try again with some changes.
Extreme Cakemaking!
I found this on Cakewrecks and it's pretty amazing. They actually made a full sized mock up car out of entierly edible materials, mostly cake (180 eggs anyone?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwBE1l6QexU
If you want to see it more in depth, there is a "making of" video too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb3tlVlJhgY
Anyone want to help me out and tell me how to embed a video onto this blog?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwBE1l6QexU
If you want to see it more in depth, there is a "making of" video too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb3tlVlJhgY
Anyone want to help me out and tell me how to embed a video onto this blog?
Thursday, November 13, 2008
That Tongue!
Lorelei has gotten very interested in her tongue recently. She spent a good twenty minutes the other night licking her dad's shirt when her got home from work. This series of pictures makes me laugh, and I am the one of those moods where I need to post a laugh.
Whinng...
I have been sooo tired lately. Not grouchy at all though. Just exhausted, want to cuddle up with the baby and the boyfriend and rest... sleep... do nothing.
I have tons to do but the few hours a day when I can do more involved things because the baby is napping seems to also be the times when I am dragging the most.
I guess my body is putting all it's energy into healing from that surgery, and making replacement blood for what I'm losing while healing.
*le sigh*
I have tons to do but the few hours a day when I can do more involved things because the baby is napping seems to also be the times when I am dragging the most.
I guess my body is putting all it's energy into healing from that surgery, and making replacement blood for what I'm losing while healing.
*le sigh*
Monday, November 10, 2008
Composty goodness
We finally figured out where to put our compost pile on Saturday! I know this doesn't sound like a big accomplishment, but we have been off and on talking about it since April. We cleared the ground and outlined the area with some bricks the old owners left and voila! a place to dump our scraps.
It makes me happy to see that corner of the yard being used for something instead of just being a weedy mess. The pumpkin makes me laugh too. I could have broken it up to put it there, but I couldn't bring myself to smash it's smiley mug.
It makes me happy to see that corner of the yard being used for something instead of just being a weedy mess. The pumpkin makes me laugh too. I could have broken it up to put it there, but I couldn't bring myself to smash it's smiley mug.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Surgery?
First as a warning, if you consider it TMI to read about a medical procedure that I had, with a fair amount of detail- stop reading now. Come back another time and just skip this. If at any point you're thinking "I didn't want to know that" also stop reading and skip this. If you get to the end and then leave a rude comment... boo on you ;)
Friday I had a procedure done called a LEEP procedure.
It is an outpatient surgery done to remove precancerous cervical tissue. It is what they do after a pap comes back suspicious, and then after a biopsy procedure called a colposcopy comes back positive for precancerous or cancerous tissue. Personally I had a HGSIL- high grade squamous intraepitheliel lesion. The midwife who did the colposcopy described is as a pre-precancer. She told me she was pretty sure that the results of the colposcopy would come back saying I needed a LEEP procedure so she talked to me a little about it before I left. I really appreciated that because the results did indeed come back positive and when they did I had already talked to someone in person about what that meant.
So I was scheduled for an outpatient procedure at a surgery center.
I have never ever had anything that even somewhat resembles a surgery. I never had stitches until 4 1/2 months ago when I had my daughter. Just the word surgery scares me. Looking at the information I was required to fill out at the center I would start to freak out. No food or water after midnight, no jewelry, a person should be waiting to drive you home, if they were not waiting they would require contact information of the person responsible for your care... blah blah... auugh.
I was also scheduled for a pre-op appointment with the doctor that would be preforming the procedure.
So on Tuesday I went to the doctors office and talked to the wonderful Dr Sebestyen, the only ob/gyn in the area to work directly with midwives. She's warm and friendly and I felt very comfortable with her. She puts things simply so they are easily understood but also doesn't mind explaining in further detail if you want to know. We started talking about the anaesthetic and she informs me that it will make me groggy. In my opinion what's the point unless I'm going to be actually asleep? Being groggy and uncontrolled will only make it worse in my mind. Then she says I will be unable to nurse my baby for 24 hours after the anaesthetic. While I do have frozen milk stored in the fridge, I prefer not to give it to her often. The baby usually only gets one bottle occasionally when I'm gone for a moms night out.
But then the doctor offers me another option- an in office outpatient procedure. This would be done without the general anaesthetic, with only a local of lidocaine. Then I would not have to hold off on nursing the baby and it would cost me far less. Also, I wouldn't have to spend all day at a surgery facility. Dr Sebestyn told me that she used to do the procedure in office often when she was practicing in another state.
I wouldn't say I jumped at the idea, but it sounded very viable to me, so after a few minutes consideration I decided to go with the in-office procedure. I'm going to spell out how this went for me, because beforehand I looked a lot for someone else's firsthand account and only found accounts from people who had general anaesthetic during the procedure so only remember an iv and then recovery.
The Procedure
On Friday I showed up at 3:15 for the procedure. I had my boyfriend drop me off because while I thought I would be fine to drive afterwards, if I wasn't there wasn't an easy way to get to me if I had the car. The baby can't exactly ride on a motorcycle, nor be left at home while picking me up. If the truck had been running I would have driven myself and just left the car seat at home.
I get there, wait for forever as usual, chat with a lovely lady about her 6 week old baby while she asked me what it's like to have a four month old... and finally get called back. I say wait for forever, but it probably just felt like that because I was nervous.
They call me back to the nurses station and get my blood pressure taken, and am made to take a pregnancy test. Apparently they don't preform the procedure if you're pregnant. Makes sense, since the cervix is what holds a fetus in where it belongs. It was funny being asked the date of my last period. I had to think a little while about it. I think the right answer was September 2007. If I was wrong, it was close enough. At least it got the point across.
Then I was taken into the procedure room and introduced to the nurse that was the machine technician. The office doesn't own the machine that is used for the procedure, so they get it brought in and a technician is supplied to work the machine and assist the doctor.
I signed some stuff, and paid the machine technician , got undressed and then the doctor came in. She talke to me for a minute and then we got started. I explained that I'd prefer them to be as gentle as they could with the speculum (soreness left over from tearing during birth only 4 months ago) but that wasn't really an option because of the electrocautry equipment they use. More then usual during a gynecologist appointment, they need to make sure everything is well out of the way when they work on the cervix. The equipment cuts and cauterizes at the same time which cuts down on the bleeding and eliminates the need for stitches.
So the speculum was inserted, and a sticky grounding patch was placed on my leg. Then the area was swabbed with betadine. After that lidocaine was injected into the cervix to numb it. This is where it gets fun. I don't know if I react more than most people to lidocaine injections or not... but my heart started pounding, and I got very warm. For a few minutes I thought I was going to pass out. I looked up at the ceiling up the skirts of the little paper circus girls on the mobile hung above the table. I credit those little circus girls for keeping me distracted during the procedure.
When the doctor started the procedure, there was a vacuum attached to the speculum so there was no smoke or burning smell like I had heard mentioned about the procedure. I did feel a pinching feeling that freaked me out some, but that was about it for what I felt. It was over in less than five minutes.
I did see the amount of tissue they removed and it freaked me out a bit- one piece was as big as the last knuckle of my thumb. The doctor says at least some of it typically grows back. I stayed a bit lightheaded for a few hours and still 2 days later feel some light cramping. Nothing too bad in the way of cramping though. I've definitely had worse period cramps.
The doctor told me I did great and that she thought I made the right decision, and we made a follow up appointment for 2 weeks out.
I went to the zoo yesterday and did some light yard work and housework... I did make sure to take a nap though after the zoo. Healing from a surgery while nursing a baby means treating your body a little nicer than usual.
So that was my experience of a LEEP procedure done with only local anaesthetic. Did anyone reading this have a drastically different experience? Have any questions? Let me know :)
Friday I had a procedure done called a LEEP procedure.
It is an outpatient surgery done to remove precancerous cervical tissue. It is what they do after a pap comes back suspicious, and then after a biopsy procedure called a colposcopy comes back positive for precancerous or cancerous tissue. Personally I had a HGSIL- high grade squamous intraepitheliel lesion. The midwife who did the colposcopy described is as a pre-precancer. She told me she was pretty sure that the results of the colposcopy would come back saying I needed a LEEP procedure so she talked to me a little about it before I left. I really appreciated that because the results did indeed come back positive and when they did I had already talked to someone in person about what that meant.
So I was scheduled for an outpatient procedure at a surgery center.
I have never ever had anything that even somewhat resembles a surgery. I never had stitches until 4 1/2 months ago when I had my daughter. Just the word surgery scares me. Looking at the information I was required to fill out at the center I would start to freak out. No food or water after midnight, no jewelry, a person should be waiting to drive you home, if they were not waiting they would require contact information of the person responsible for your care... blah blah... auugh.
I was also scheduled for a pre-op appointment with the doctor that would be preforming the procedure.
So on Tuesday I went to the doctors office and talked to the wonderful Dr Sebestyen, the only ob/gyn in the area to work directly with midwives. She's warm and friendly and I felt very comfortable with her. She puts things simply so they are easily understood but also doesn't mind explaining in further detail if you want to know. We started talking about the anaesthetic and she informs me that it will make me groggy. In my opinion what's the point unless I'm going to be actually asleep? Being groggy and uncontrolled will only make it worse in my mind. Then she says I will be unable to nurse my baby for 24 hours after the anaesthetic. While I do have frozen milk stored in the fridge, I prefer not to give it to her often. The baby usually only gets one bottle occasionally when I'm gone for a moms night out.
But then the doctor offers me another option- an in office outpatient procedure. This would be done without the general anaesthetic, with only a local of lidocaine. Then I would not have to hold off on nursing the baby and it would cost me far less. Also, I wouldn't have to spend all day at a surgery facility. Dr Sebestyn told me that she used to do the procedure in office often when she was practicing in another state.
I wouldn't say I jumped at the idea, but it sounded very viable to me, so after a few minutes consideration I decided to go with the in-office procedure. I'm going to spell out how this went for me, because beforehand I looked a lot for someone else's firsthand account and only found accounts from people who had general anaesthetic during the procedure so only remember an iv and then recovery.
The Procedure
On Friday I showed up at 3:15 for the procedure. I had my boyfriend drop me off because while I thought I would be fine to drive afterwards, if I wasn't there wasn't an easy way to get to me if I had the car. The baby can't exactly ride on a motorcycle, nor be left at home while picking me up. If the truck had been running I would have driven myself and just left the car seat at home.
I get there, wait for forever as usual, chat with a lovely lady about her 6 week old baby while she asked me what it's like to have a four month old... and finally get called back. I say wait for forever, but it probably just felt like that because I was nervous.
They call me back to the nurses station and get my blood pressure taken, and am made to take a pregnancy test. Apparently they don't preform the procedure if you're pregnant. Makes sense, since the cervix is what holds a fetus in where it belongs. It was funny being asked the date of my last period. I had to think a little while about it. I think the right answer was September 2007. If I was wrong, it was close enough. At least it got the point across.
Then I was taken into the procedure room and introduced to the nurse that was the machine technician. The office doesn't own the machine that is used for the procedure, so they get it brought in and a technician is supplied to work the machine and assist the doctor.
I signed some stuff, and paid the machine technician , got undressed and then the doctor came in. She talke to me for a minute and then we got started. I explained that I'd prefer them to be as gentle as they could with the speculum (soreness left over from tearing during birth only 4 months ago) but that wasn't really an option because of the electrocautry equipment they use. More then usual during a gynecologist appointment, they need to make sure everything is well out of the way when they work on the cervix. The equipment cuts and cauterizes at the same time which cuts down on the bleeding and eliminates the need for stitches.
So the speculum was inserted, and a sticky grounding patch was placed on my leg. Then the area was swabbed with betadine. After that lidocaine was injected into the cervix to numb it. This is where it gets fun. I don't know if I react more than most people to lidocaine injections or not... but my heart started pounding, and I got very warm. For a few minutes I thought I was going to pass out. I looked up at the ceiling up the skirts of the little paper circus girls on the mobile hung above the table. I credit those little circus girls for keeping me distracted during the procedure.
When the doctor started the procedure, there was a vacuum attached to the speculum so there was no smoke or burning smell like I had heard mentioned about the procedure. I did feel a pinching feeling that freaked me out some, but that was about it for what I felt. It was over in less than five minutes.
I did see the amount of tissue they removed and it freaked me out a bit- one piece was as big as the last knuckle of my thumb. The doctor says at least some of it typically grows back. I stayed a bit lightheaded for a few hours and still 2 days later feel some light cramping. Nothing too bad in the way of cramping though. I've definitely had worse period cramps.
The doctor told me I did great and that she thought I made the right decision, and we made a follow up appointment for 2 weeks out.
I went to the zoo yesterday and did some light yard work and housework... I did make sure to take a nap though after the zoo. Healing from a surgery while nursing a baby means treating your body a little nicer than usual.
So that was my experience of a LEEP procedure done with only local anaesthetic. Did anyone reading this have a drastically different experience? Have any questions? Let me know :)
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Zoo time
We went to the Austin Zoo and animal sanctuary today with a big group of families. I wasn't too sure if I was going to be up for it because I had a outpatient surgery yesterday, but surprisingly I seem to be healing fast. Poor baby still doesn't get any bath time with mommy for a full month. A month is a long time for babies so I'm fairly upset about that.
But back to the point... the zoo is a little place to the west of Austin, with a beautiful view of the countryside from one side. I wish they had an overlook. It would have been a nice addition. To get this picture I had to stand on one of the many picnic tables that were scattered around.
It is filled mainly with rescued animals, many of which look a bit sad to be there. A few different cages had explanations of lifespans of various animals and information about how much upkeep the animals take to make people think twice before adopting animals they won't be able to continue to care for.
I had read online before leaving that it was a bad place for strollers... turns out I wouldn't have minded having one, but the ground was indeed rocky and there were steps here and there that would have been a pain to get around. We brought the Ergo but Lorelei didn't stay in it long before starting to fuss, so we just carried her over our shoulders most of the time.
The lions were full of piss and vinegar- one even jumped up against the cage and roared scaring a little boy to tears while the zookeepers were getting their meal ready.
All the bigger animals had empty beer kegs to play with which was pretty amusing. Tigers were out and entertaining the crowds when we first got there. One fat one was in and out of a murky looking pool of water and playing with the kegs, others were paceing and eyeing the crowd.
The big cats are always a bit difficult to get a good look at in a zoo because they hide out and sleep a lot typically. The leopards were so sacked out taking sun baths when we saw them that I didn't even bother to try to get pictures. I did get a neat picture of the panther.
One drawback I have noticed with my new camera is that it likes to autofocus on the wires of the cages, and the manual focus is very touchy and hard to use for some reason. I'll have to figure that out better sometime.
There were tons of turtles, which made me wonder who is abandoning or giving up all these turtles. Also there were a lot of monkeys scattered about as well as parrots of various types. Somehow I had never realized that monkeys made chittering sounds like small birds. Made them cuter, but I know that allowed to run free they would be hellions.
One part that seems like a big draw was the goats and other farm animals, but I am not exactly sure why they have them there, other than the fact kids like seeing and feeding them. They had a petting pen and there were a bunch of older kids running in and out of the cage having a ball. I'm sure when Lorelei is older, she'll have fun feeding the goats and deer and other tame herbivores... but I enjoy seeing the more typical and exotic zoo critters more. There were lots of both types of animals though so it was a good mix.
All in all it was a nice afternoon- and for less than the price of going to the movies. Tired out the baby though. She went down for a nap as soon as we got home and has woken up twice to nurse but is still sleeping as of 7pm. She's probably not going to sleep much tonight.
But back to the point... the zoo is a little place to the west of Austin, with a beautiful view of the countryside from one side. I wish they had an overlook. It would have been a nice addition. To get this picture I had to stand on one of the many picnic tables that were scattered around.
It is filled mainly with rescued animals, many of which look a bit sad to be there. A few different cages had explanations of lifespans of various animals and information about how much upkeep the animals take to make people think twice before adopting animals they won't be able to continue to care for.
I had read online before leaving that it was a bad place for strollers... turns out I wouldn't have minded having one, but the ground was indeed rocky and there were steps here and there that would have been a pain to get around. We brought the Ergo but Lorelei didn't stay in it long before starting to fuss, so we just carried her over our shoulders most of the time.
The lions were full of piss and vinegar- one even jumped up against the cage and roared scaring a little boy to tears while the zookeepers were getting their meal ready.
All the bigger animals had empty beer kegs to play with which was pretty amusing. Tigers were out and entertaining the crowds when we first got there. One fat one was in and out of a murky looking pool of water and playing with the kegs, others were paceing and eyeing the crowd.
The big cats are always a bit difficult to get a good look at in a zoo because they hide out and sleep a lot typically. The leopards were so sacked out taking sun baths when we saw them that I didn't even bother to try to get pictures. I did get a neat picture of the panther.
One drawback I have noticed with my new camera is that it likes to autofocus on the wires of the cages, and the manual focus is very touchy and hard to use for some reason. I'll have to figure that out better sometime.
There were tons of turtles, which made me wonder who is abandoning or giving up all these turtles. Also there were a lot of monkeys scattered about as well as parrots of various types. Somehow I had never realized that monkeys made chittering sounds like small birds. Made them cuter, but I know that allowed to run free they would be hellions.
One part that seems like a big draw was the goats and other farm animals, but I am not exactly sure why they have them there, other than the fact kids like seeing and feeding them. They had a petting pen and there were a bunch of older kids running in and out of the cage having a ball. I'm sure when Lorelei is older, she'll have fun feeding the goats and deer and other tame herbivores... but I enjoy seeing the more typical and exotic zoo critters more. There were lots of both types of animals though so it was a good mix.
All in all it was a nice afternoon- and for less than the price of going to the movies. Tired out the baby though. She went down for a nap as soon as we got home and has woken up twice to nurse but is still sleeping as of 7pm. She's probably not going to sleep much tonight.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Voting.. choosing like a toddler?
Here's my sure to be very unpopular opinion on voting after watching this video:
Voting for the general public reminds me of some parenting advice I read for getting a toddler dressed properly to go outside in the winter.
Let the kid choose which hat- the red one or the blue one, which gloves- the fuzzy ones or the smooth ones. But don't overwhelm them with choices. Their hat, gloves and clothes may not match but at least they are dressed warmly.
The system keeps the general public feeling like they have some control but really, we are being told to choose between the evils, in an embedded system that despite the hype can only change so much. You need to get out, vote, make a choice.... but only within the parameters. Sure, there are options to write in candidates, vote green party, vote libertarian; but the system is so entrenched that few people step outside their comfort zone to do that. They pick the red candidate or the blue candidate often not truly liking either of the options ... but at least they're voting, right?
Let me point out before the comments that I am not meaning this election specifically. This year many people had a strong allegiance to one side or the other. I am meaning the general process of presidential elections.
Voting for the general public reminds me of some parenting advice I read for getting a toddler dressed properly to go outside in the winter.
Let the kid choose which hat- the red one or the blue one, which gloves- the fuzzy ones or the smooth ones. But don't overwhelm them with choices. Their hat, gloves and clothes may not match but at least they are dressed warmly.
The system keeps the general public feeling like they have some control but really, we are being told to choose between the evils, in an embedded system that despite the hype can only change so much. You need to get out, vote, make a choice.... but only within the parameters. Sure, there are options to write in candidates, vote green party, vote libertarian; but the system is so entrenched that few people step outside their comfort zone to do that. They pick the red candidate or the blue candidate often not truly liking either of the options ... but at least they're voting, right?
Let me point out before the comments that I am not meaning this election specifically. This year many people had a strong allegiance to one side or the other. I am meaning the general process of presidential elections.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Holograms on TV?
I was surprised to see someone being interviewed by "hologram" earlier on the election c0verage. There were a few news articles about it by the time I got to looking including this amusing blog post. It made me laugh so I decided it was worth pointing out.
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2008/11/04/tonight-on-cnn-interview-with-a-hologram.aspx
All the articles mentioned that the hologram was made by filming the person being interviewed in a "tent" with thirty some cameras, but the part I was curious about- the projection- wasn't even hinted at.
Oh well.. maybe they will explain some other time.
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2008/11/04/tonight-on-cnn-interview-with-a-hologram.aspx
All the articles mentioned that the hologram was made by filming the person being interviewed in a "tent" with thirty some cameras, but the part I was curious about- the projection- wasn't even hinted at.
Oh well.. maybe they will explain some other time.
No luck
I tried to submit some pictures to Dreamstime yesterday with the hope of making a little bit of money selling microstock photos. Turns out my photos, while technically good, aren't enough better than their current stock for them to accept.
I can't decide whether to give up on the idea, or to just try some other sites.
I can't decide whether to give up on the idea, or to just try some other sites.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Gnomeness
This hat is one of the cutest baby things I have ever seen. Someone needs to teach me how to make one... or I need to break down and buy one. Knitschmidt on Etsy is the genius behind this particular one.I'm not usually one that finds any baby items "must have because they are soooo cute".... until this!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Rawr!
Lorelei loves this picture of herself too. Coming soon- a picture of her laughing at this picture on the computer screen. Tonight, we're off to a post-Halloween Halloween party. Which is good because we did nothing to celebrate yesterday but give away all but three pieces of our candy.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
365 Woes
The 365 project is going... interestingly. 20some days into it and I'm a bit frustrated. Some days I take a bunch of great pictures and have a lot of trouble narrowing it down to one. Other days I don't get out of the house and have no desire to mess with the camera at all.... or if I do I just take another snapshot of a cat or the baby. I've now taken 481 pictures with the new camera, but still need to learn a lot of the manual functions and other features. One month almost down, 11 to go....
Monday, October 27, 2008
Airplane Giggles
Now that I'm not completely wiped out I can actually update.
The baby actually did pretty good on the airplane. But the most memorable part was when we got up to get off the last leg of the flight home. She had been grouchy the whole flight because it was after her bed time, but when I put her up over my shoulder she started giggling like I had never heard her giggle before. She giggled for a good few minutes, amusing a lot of the people who had been sitting behind us. Theatrical little baby.
She also got to see both grandmoms, and her grandpa before he went into surgery (my dad just had part of his liver removed today because of cancer. He's currently recovering fine) She got completely spoiled by my mom, and we managed to go out two nights in a row because my mom was more than happy to watch her.
Now, she's spoiled because of how much attention she got. She does NOT want to be left alone for even a minute which is very frustrating.
The baby actually did pretty good on the airplane. But the most memorable part was when we got up to get off the last leg of the flight home. She had been grouchy the whole flight because it was after her bed time, but when I put her up over my shoulder she started giggling like I had never heard her giggle before. She giggled for a good few minutes, amusing a lot of the people who had been sitting behind us. Theatrical little baby.
She also got to see both grandmoms, and her grandpa before he went into surgery (my dad just had part of his liver removed today because of cancer. He's currently recovering fine) She got completely spoiled by my mom, and we managed to go out two nights in a row because my mom was more than happy to watch her.
Now, she's spoiled because of how much attention she got. She does NOT want to be left alone for even a minute which is very frustrating.
Home
I'm home after having gone to my 10 year high school reunion and spending the weekend at my parent's house. Wiped out is the best way to describe how I feel.
To remember in the future.... flying around the baby's bed time isn't a good idea.
Good night
To remember in the future.... flying around the baby's bed time isn't a good idea.
Good night
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
3 month portraits
I just got Lorelei's three month portraits back and they are beautiful! There is no way I could pick one favorite. Here are two of my favorites. If you like them you should check out the photographers website. Tiffany does great work and is wonderful with kids. 
This second one is kinda goofy.... and that's why I like it! She's not always smiling and doll like, so why would I want pictures that only show that facet of her personality?
This second one is kinda goofy.... and that's why I like it! She's not always smiling and doll like, so why would I want pictures that only show that facet of her personality?
Monster Wreath, completed!
It ended up being easy to make.. but the fur was hard to find. I found a small amount of purple fun fur, but much less than needed to do it as a group project. Only "natural" colors were easy to find. But I did end up with a purple wreath, with enough fur left over for two people to do a one side purple/one side black wreath.
Here is how mine turned out. Not a shot of it in place on a door but... you get what you get ;)
Here is how mine turned out. Not a shot of it in place on a door but... you get what you get ;)
Monday, October 20, 2008
Migranes explained!
I have for years tried to explain the "aura" part of my migraines. This morning I woke up with one and in the ensuing "how do I make this thing go away" internet search I found this. It's a neat flash animation of how a visual migraine looks. It's not quite perfect, but it shows the general idea pretty well. (it's at the bottom of the blog post, though the words are interesting too)
Friday, October 17, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Italia
I was just going through pictures on my computer and found some sketches I did when I went to Italy last summer for 15 days. When I was there I had been making plans to try to be able to go there for an entire summer or something. Now... I've got a baby. I guess that won't be happening for a while.
Here's one of my sketches...
Here's one of my sketches...
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Kitten vs. baby
When working on taking my daily picture today, the kitten kept trying for her own photo op. But then she wouldn't cooperate beyond that when i tried to include her.
Mahi Mahi
I got some Mahi Mahi last week on sale and had to figure out how to cook it. I found a tasty recipe with basil on top but .... I used a bit too much basil. Matt liked it more than I did. Looked pretty good though and I paired it with some stir fried veggies and brown rice. Tasty, healthy, and somewhat fast. I just wish I could find the recipe again because I don't remember all that was in the sauce.
Inspiration
I was reading the wonderful blog of a photographer I ran across and found this quote...
"You are not there to capture their hobbies and the same smile with changing outfits. You are there to capture the spirit of who they are and the many faces that their spirit has."
She was talking about senior portraits.... but that's also true for kids portraits. Especially kids portraits in my opinion. They change so fast.. and there are already expressions I will never forget that Lorelei has stopped doing. Her "beak face" when she was going for food and some of her "playing with her tongue" faces have stopped as she's been moving on developmentally and she's only 3.5 months old. These moments are so much more precious than the "outfit that Aunt B gave her."
"You are not there to capture their hobbies and the same smile with changing outfits. You are there to capture the spirit of who they are and the many faces that their spirit has."
She was talking about senior portraits.... but that's also true for kids portraits. Especially kids portraits in my opinion. They change so fast.. and there are already expressions I will never forget that Lorelei has stopped doing. Her "beak face" when she was going for food and some of her "playing with her tongue" faces have stopped as she's been moving on developmentally and she's only 3.5 months old. These moments are so much more precious than the "outfit that Aunt B gave her."
Friday, October 10, 2008
New camera, new blog
My camera arrived on the 6th.. just much later in the day than I thought it would. I got so excited I forgot about posting anything here. I decided to start a 365 project in celebration of the awesomeness that is a Digital SLR. A Canon Rebel isn't the end all be all of digiSLR's but to me, it's just fine! (there are a lot of different people who claim to have done the first 365 project, but it's typically all the same concept)
Hopefully I will manage to stick with it. Some days just fly by and at the end I realize I've done nothing of importance but here's my chance to work on that!
My 365 project will be here: http://cindy365.blogspot.com/
I have three days so far. day 4 I will post today... and I might post today's but I may decide to never post the picture of the day until the day is completely over. Never know when a better opportunity may come up for pictures!
Hopefully I will manage to stick with it. Some days just fly by and at the end I realize I've done nothing of importance but here's my chance to work on that!
My 365 project will be here: http://cindy365.blogspot.com/
I have three days so far. day 4 I will post today... and I might post today's but I may decide to never post the picture of the day until the day is completely over. Never know when a better opportunity may come up for pictures!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Getting antsy...
Camera still isn't here. Tracking says it went out for delivery at 5 am.
I need to run out and get some stuff from the store but I wanted to wait to make sure I don't miss the delivery. At least it gets the baby some more around the house time. She's gone out with us for three nights in a row and been up past her bedtime so she probably needs the relaxation.
Right now she's hanging out having naked time on a quilt on the floor by me. She seems to be enjoying the wiggle time.
I need to run out and get some stuff from the store but I wanted to wait to make sure I don't miss the delivery. At least it gets the baby some more around the house time. She's gone out with us for three nights in a row and been up past her bedtime so she probably needs the relaxation.
Right now she's hanging out having naked time on a quilt on the floor by me. She seems to be enjoying the wiggle time.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Halloween wreath
I think for Halloween I'm going to make one of these monster wreaths. So fun :)
If I remember I'll post a picture of the one I make.
If I remember I'll post a picture of the one I make.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Ridin'
Today I got to go on my first motorcycle ride since New Years. And no, riding to the bar to play pool when my mom was in town doesn't count as a ride. That was merely transportation.
Me, Matt and his dad rode from Austin to Llano. We took a route that took about 2 hours to get there and a shorter highway route back. I really preferred the way out because it was curvy enough that I didn't spend the whole ride fighting the wind. Matt's dad rented a nice Harley that he had for a day. Apparently you can't rent motorcycles in Virginia. Something about the liability laws makes it not feasible.... but now we're in Texas!
The ride was beautiful and we stopped at a few overlooks, but sadly I didn't bring my camera so I have no pictures of it.
In Llano we ate at Cooper's .. one of the best BBQ places I've eaten at in Texas. You stand in this line outdoors and point at the particular piece of meat you want off the grill and they hand you that piece. It's definitely not a place for vegetarians.
I got beef ribs and prime rib. It's fairly expensive for what seems like a picnic style meal- actually it seems the most similar to a North Carolina fish house- with long picnic tables where everyone sits together.
I'll have to say that for an occasional treat, it's worth it. Other people seem to agree- there were about 20 people ahead of us in line and the dining room was completely full.
We ate and then headed back to Austin... and home to the baby.
All in all a pleasant afternoon.
Me, Matt and his dad rode from Austin to Llano. We took a route that took about 2 hours to get there and a shorter highway route back. I really preferred the way out because it was curvy enough that I didn't spend the whole ride fighting the wind. Matt's dad rented a nice Harley that he had for a day. Apparently you can't rent motorcycles in Virginia. Something about the liability laws makes it not feasible.... but now we're in Texas!
The ride was beautiful and we stopped at a few overlooks, but sadly I didn't bring my camera so I have no pictures of it.
In Llano we ate at Cooper's .. one of the best BBQ places I've eaten at in Texas. You stand in this line outdoors and point at the particular piece of meat you want off the grill and they hand you that piece. It's definitely not a place for vegetarians.
I got beef ribs and prime rib. It's fairly expensive for what seems like a picnic style meal- actually it seems the most similar to a North Carolina fish house- with long picnic tables where everyone sits together.
I'll have to say that for an occasional treat, it's worth it. Other people seem to agree- there were about 20 people ahead of us in line and the dining room was completely full.
We ate and then headed back to Austin... and home to the baby.
All in all a pleasant afternoon.
Friday, October 3, 2008
RANT: the Captcha
A CAPTCHA (IPA: /ˈkæptʃə/) is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer
Argh.. and they are horrible. The ones many web sites use are hard for me to read. And apparently they are hard for others to read so you get tons of do overs on them. With the do overs.... well couldn't a computer guess that way too?
They seem like a waste of time, and they hurt my eyes. Down with them!
Argh.. and they are horrible. The ones many web sites use are hard for me to read. And apparently they are hard for others to read so you get tons of do overs on them. With the do overs.... well couldn't a computer guess that way too?
They seem like a waste of time, and they hurt my eyes. Down with them!
Waiting...
My new camera is sitting somewhere in Dallas.
Around 3 we have to go pick up Lorelei's grandpa from the airport.... I was hoping the camera would come before that.
I still have tons to do. Mainly putting sheets on the spare bed, scooping cat litter, cleaning out the car (poor little car will be swamped with 3 adults and a baby in it) and getting the baby ready to leave. Maybe it's better that the camera isn't here yet so I'm not rtrying to play with it instead of doing other stuff... but... new toy... *whine*
Around 3 we have to go pick up Lorelei's grandpa from the airport.... I was hoping the camera would come before that.
I still have tons to do. Mainly putting sheets on the spare bed, scooping cat litter, cleaning out the car (poor little car will be swamped with 3 adults and a baby in it) and getting the baby ready to leave. Maybe it's better that the camera isn't here yet so I'm not rtrying to play with it instead of doing other stuff... but... new toy... *whine*
Thursday, October 2, 2008
A new project
Tonight hopefully I am going to start a new project--- baby shoes!
I don't have a printer that works so I can't print out the pattern I found, but it can't be that hard can it? There are only three pattern pieces and they look pretty basic.
Once I figure out a pair of regular shoes, I am going to start on Lorelei's Halloween costume. She's going to be a black cat, so I am going to try to make a pair of minky baby booties that look like paws.
It will be an adventure at the very least!
I don't have a printer that works so I can't print out the pattern I found, but it can't be that hard can it? There are only three pattern pieces and they look pretty basic.
Once I figure out a pair of regular shoes, I am going to start on Lorelei's Halloween costume. She's going to be a black cat, so I am going to try to make a pair of minky baby booties that look like paws.
It will be an adventure at the very least!
Coffee time
My new thing... coffee with a half spoonful of brown sugar and a pinch of cardamom powder. Yum!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
New Toy!
After trying to take pictures of my baby... and some of my creations... myself, I've gotten fed up with my old camera and finally broke down and ordered this:
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=139&modelid=16303
It's supposed to get here Friday or Saturday... and with any luck there will be far more pictures once I have the better quality camera.
Huzzah!
http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=139&modelid=16303
It's supposed to get here Friday or Saturday... and with any luck there will be far more pictures once I have the better quality camera.
Huzzah!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Not so good
I made it and tasted it (the cobbler) and even though it looked kinda pretty it tasted very bland. I guessed it might but just had to try the recipe because it was so easy. Maybe next week I'll try another one.
... and it looked neat in person but not so pretty on film so I guess I won't post that picture.
... and it looked neat in person but not so pretty on film so I guess I won't post that picture.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Peach cobbler
That's what I'm trying to cook tonight. It's almost 10 pm and I have to be up early, but it was a super simple recipe I wrote down when I was still pregnant. It may just be too simple. It took me only the amount of time it took to melt a stick of butter in the stove and then pour something on top of it. Then it bakes for 45 min.
If it turns out good there may be recipe and a picture, but depending on how much it gets torn apart tonight, maybe just a recipe
I'm so glad the baby has been going to bed early (around 9pm) and sleeping all night. It gives me a chance to actually have some time to myself again. When I last peeked in on her though, she was still laying in her crib awake. At least she's not crying, but I'm not sure why she's still awake.
45 minutes and then there will be cobbler....
If it turns out good there may be recipe and a picture, but depending on how much it gets torn apart tonight, maybe just a recipe
I'm so glad the baby has been going to bed early (around 9pm) and sleeping all night. It gives me a chance to actually have some time to myself again. When I last peeked in on her though, she was still laying in her crib awake. At least she's not crying, but I'm not sure why she's still awake.
45 minutes and then there will be cobbler....
Monday, September 22, 2008
All by herself...
So much for being a co-sleeping mama...
The baby is sleeping alone in her crib these days. The past 4 days to be exact.
My original plan was to put her to sleep in the crib since she needs to go to sleep before me, but then bring her to bed with us when she woke up to be fed the first time each night. That way she could get enogh sleep without being on the bed alone and without me needing to go to bed super early.
The first night I got up a million times to check on her and brought her to bed with me at 5 because she was crying. The second night I only checked on her a few times but got her at 5 because she was cold (she fell asleep earlier than I thought she would and I didn't want to wake her up to change her into sleep clothes). She was so chilly I kept her on my chest for about 30 minutes to make sure she was warm enough, feeling like a horrible mommy. Third night... I woke up at 6 or 7 and went to check on her, she was awake but laying there quietly kicking her legs.
Last night she fell asleep an hour earlier than usual, so I again put her to bed without changing her clothes but tucked a non crocheted blanket over her so she didn't pull it off with her toes. I checked on her once, around 3 am, mostly to make sure she hadn't kicked the blanket off.
An aside here... I admit I always put my hand on her chest to make sure she is still breathing. Seems silly, I know, but with the amount they talk up crib death *shudders* I'm very rational about most things with the baby, not going overboard on protectiveness, but that whole SIDS thing terrifies me.
But back to the point... at 7:30 or 8 when M got up for work Lorelei still hadn't woken up. I told him to check on her and bring her to me if he wanted before he left. Sure enough she had been in her crib quietly awake. He brought her in, she ate (very enthusiastically) stayed awake for a bit while I showered, and now is napping again.
I thought babies were only supposed to sleep 5-6 hours even when they were "sleeping through the night," and that 13 weeks was really early for this type of sleep. I had been told it was impossible for them to feel satisfied enough to sleep through if they are being breastfed. I don't know quite what's up but I guess that's just how she is for now.
Who is this patient, sweet little baby, and what did I do to deserve her?
The baby is sleeping alone in her crib these days. The past 4 days to be exact.
My original plan was to put her to sleep in the crib since she needs to go to sleep before me, but then bring her to bed with us when she woke up to be fed the first time each night. That way she could get enogh sleep without being on the bed alone and without me needing to go to bed super early.
The first night I got up a million times to check on her and brought her to bed with me at 5 because she was crying. The second night I only checked on her a few times but got her at 5 because she was cold (she fell asleep earlier than I thought she would and I didn't want to wake her up to change her into sleep clothes). She was so chilly I kept her on my chest for about 30 minutes to make sure she was warm enough, feeling like a horrible mommy. Third night... I woke up at 6 or 7 and went to check on her, she was awake but laying there quietly kicking her legs.
Last night she fell asleep an hour earlier than usual, so I again put her to bed without changing her clothes but tucked a non crocheted blanket over her so she didn't pull it off with her toes. I checked on her once, around 3 am, mostly to make sure she hadn't kicked the blanket off.
An aside here... I admit I always put my hand on her chest to make sure she is still breathing. Seems silly, I know, but with the amount they talk up crib death *shudders* I'm very rational about most things with the baby, not going overboard on protectiveness, but that whole SIDS thing terrifies me.
But back to the point... at 7:30 or 8 when M got up for work Lorelei still hadn't woken up. I told him to check on her and bring her to me if he wanted before he left. Sure enough she had been in her crib quietly awake. He brought her in, she ate (very enthusiastically) stayed awake for a bit while I showered, and now is napping again.
I thought babies were only supposed to sleep 5-6 hours even when they were "sleeping through the night," and that 13 weeks was really early for this type of sleep. I had been told it was impossible for them to feel satisfied enough to sleep through if they are being breastfed. I don't know quite what's up but I guess that's just how she is for now.
Who is this patient, sweet little baby, and what did I do to deserve her?
Friday, September 19, 2008
They grow up fast...
Lorelei (currently 12 weeks old) slept almost all night in her crib last night. *sigh* She's already growing up! I usually have her with me in bed every night but when she fell asleep at 10 last night I put her in her crib thinking she'd wake up for her usual midnight snack. Instead she slept until 5 am. I should be happy but there's a tinge of sadness to it.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Blah...
Yep.. I made it and promptly forgot about it just like I thought I would. Maybe someday Ill take pictures of the stuff I've been making. More than likely I will forget again.
Whatever. No one is gonna read this anyways :p
Whatever. No one is gonna read this anyways :p
Thursday, April 3, 2008
an update eventually...
I keep wanting to update with all the nifty stuff I've been making... but I really need to remember to buy batteries for my camera. Without it the entries would be super boring. Where's a string to tie around my finger when I need it?
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
sewing machine woes
I'm having issues with my sewing machine. Every time I try to sew a seam the bobbin thread gets all sorts of tangled underneath the cloth. The top seems ok. I know it has happened before but I don't remember what I did to fix it before.
Introduction
Well, I'm a 27 year old pregnant chica who is pregnant with her first. I just moved to Austin, Texas recently and have been occupying my time with some nesting type activities, including some sewing of maternity clothing etc.
So far I have made a skirt, started on some maternity jeans and am working on cloth postpartum pads. Soon I'll post some pictures and information about some of the stuff I have finished as well as some that I have in the works.
So far I have made a skirt, started on some maternity jeans and am working on cloth postpartum pads. Soon I'll post some pictures and information about some of the stuff I have finished as well as some that I have in the works.
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