For Auld Lang Syne

It's been awhile.  I know, I know.  Holidays tend to be a bit busy at my house.  So this should be a good and looooong post here on this chilly and overcast New Year's Eve...

Our Christmas decor is a good place to start.  I don't have the most gorgeous or fantastic decorations but I think I successfully filled our apartment homey, holiday spirit

.

Our tree fit perfectly next to the fish tank.

The patio door lights and garlands...

All lit up!

The fish tank got some garlands and lights too.

And the doorway to the dining room as well.

Our stockings hung on the wall by the tree.

I got all of this up on Sunday the 1st when Sky was at her dad's.  A couple days later we decorated the tree together:

Mommy's little helper!

Our pretty tree

We decided this year that instead of getting presents for every single person in our ever growing family that the seven adults (sans my parents) would draw names for presents.  Once for the seven adults and once for the seven children (though we drew names before Jax was even born).  I ended up drawing Matt and Ella.  I made Matt a knight hat much like this one:

I didn't feel right not giving anything at all to everybody else, so I came up with a plan.  I made some coconut and chocolate candies for my parents (and some for me too, cuz apparently we're the only ones who like coconut).  I made simple jars of oreo peanut butter, one for each family.  And then I made some cinnamon and peppermint gummy candies for each of the kids (except Jax cuz he's too little).

My gummies in their crystallization period.

The recipes I used for my delicious gifts were:
Quick and Easy Coconut Candies
Oreo Peanut Butter
Sparkly Gummy Candies
All were found on pinterest.

I decided last year when I found a little gingerbread girl photo ornament on clearance at JoAnns after Christmas that I had to start a tradition of having a special gingerbread girl ornament for Skylar every Christmas.  Early in the season this year I searched all through the decor section at Michaels and other places I shopped through trying to find a cute ginger girl for my cute ginger girl.  Well, since nothing I found could compare to something I could make and because, as usual, money is tight, I decided to make this year's ornament from scratch.  I've seen little salt dough imprints of the kid's hand or foot as the basis for other things so I thought Sky's chubby lil hand would be the perfect shape for the dress of a gingerbread girl.  This will be the only year that we can do this type of ornament since it did get quite large (8" tall).  I used the old tried and true recipe for salt dough, imprinted her hand, then freehand cut out the girl's shape.  After baking it, I painted her with several coats of craft paint.  I used ribbon and fabric paint to embellish and voila:

Skylar's gingerbread girl ornament, Christmas 2013

 

 

Well, it's taken me a good chunk of the day (off and on, of course) to get all this up here so before we rush off to our New Year's Eve celebrations I wanted to share a couple of my Christmas faves:

Our tree on Christmas morning

Z tells Sky how it is.

Sky and Sammie making pretty pictures for great grandma and grandpa

 

 

Grandma and Grandpa's tree almost got lost in all the presents!

Later, I'll post some pics of Skylar interacting with her favorite new gifts.  Also, she got an Advent calendar from my mom before December started and I have a plethora of pictures of her enjoying it that I want to make into a sweet "Story" on photobucket.  For now we're going to head out for some fun!  Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year everybody!!!

Wine sweet whine.

Well, I decided to kill that giant bottle of wine I got last night tonight.  I went halvsies between last night and tonight.  And now I'm getting like/comment happy on Facebook.  Lame, I know.  I just posted a real live comment on a sort-of ex's post.  That rarely happens.  I hope it came off cute and funny rather than as lame and trying-too-hard.  It is, after all, the person I almost had an illegitimate child with...  Lame.  I can't believe we're still "friends" on fb.  We were only together for a hot minute before I left Chi but I still get curious whenever he posts.  I got jealous at first especially after the miscarriage but I realized after my grieving period that it just wasn't supposed to happen with us.  I dunno if it's even necessary to keep the relationship alive electronically since we rarely like/comment on each other's posts.  But somehow it's a reminder of what happened and what was lost.  I know I don't ever want to forget.  I've even made a memento, just for me.  I've thought about sharing it but I feel like it would lose something.  So it sits on a shelf on my family wall in my living room.  A part of me that I'll never forget.  And a person I encountered, though briefly, who changed my life forever.

Wow...that just got super cheesy.  My moscato is talking, for sure...I should probably head to bed considering tomorrow, Saturday morning, is the last coffee at the grandparents' for the season.  They are heading south earlier this year, so we're celebrating Thanksgiving on Sunday (a week earlier than usual).  I am sad that they will be gone thru the winter as Sky gets older and is starting to develop more long term memories...I know she loves them very much.  We're both going to miss them immensely.  I guess I'll just have to take lots of pics...

Finally an update already...

I didn't realize (though I should have) that as Skylar gets older, it's becoming more and more difficult to accomplish anything during her waking hours.  This includes blogging.  I know it's been well over a month since my last post.  In my defense, I'm still relentlessly on the hunt for a new job and now that we're quickly approaching the season of gift giving, I'm busy gift making.  I'm going to share some of my current and recently completed projects in upcoming posts but this one's more of a personal update.

The Paint the Night Pink show was amazing and successful.  I, unfortunately, did not sell my new piece as hoped but it is available for sale at my website and I will still donate 15% of the sale to the Avera Cancer Institute.  My parents came to the show so my sister-in-law Terri watched Skylar.  All in all it was a pretty great night; I even got to take my wine glass home (which is pretty cool, seeing as I've been drinking my wine from tumblers for ages).

Fast forward to Skylar's 2nd Halloween.  DJ and I took her to the Zoo Boo at the Great Plains Zoo the Sunday before the holiday.  It was quite chilly, we waited in line forever, and it was pretty boring (for us, I think because we don't really converse anymore), but Sky had a good time and got some cool treats to bring home to her dad's house.  Then, on Halloween (a Thursday), after I got off work, Sky and I met up with my brother Jon and his wife Marcy at my parents house for some trick-or-treating with their two youngest, Sammie and Nicki.  Sky was a butterfly, Sammie was a lamb and Nicki a dalmation puppy.  They all looked super adorable and we ended up walking the 3 blocks over to my grandparents' house and back as our little Halloween adventure.  Sky and I also stopped at a row of highly decorated houses on our way home.  All in all, she got enough candy that she's still working on it now, over two weeks later.

So my sister Jessica was expecting her second child near the end of October.  She was due the 28th and ended up going into the hospital on Halloween.  Apparently labor stopped so she went home and waited and waited for baby to come.  She finally went in for induction on Sunday November 10th.  And, SURPRISE!  She and Matt had a boy!  Jax Matthews was born at 8:17 pm (actually during a Norwex party of mine); he was 8 lbs 11 oz and 21.5" long.  He is absolutely precious and I can't wait to hold him again!  We were all hoping for a boy all along...I can't post pictures of his sweetness as per his parents' request, same as his sister Ella.  However, we drew names for Christmas this year and I drew Matt's name so I will be painting him a portrait of Jax and that I will be posting (like Ella's).


Aside from those few things of note, life has been the same as usual.  I am hoping for a big change soon though.  I know that when I get a better paying job, no matter the work, I will not feel so desperate all the time with my financial situation.  It will also provide me the opportunity to network and expand my Norwex business.  I just have to hope that it will happen soon so that the desperation and inevitable depression don't take over.  In the meantime, I'll be positive about my baby, my art and my family.  So be prepared for awesome in the upcoming posts...

Check and Check

I finished a couple items from the to-do list.

The first, Aaron's tattoo design:

I think he's going to take it down to his favorite artist sometime very soon to get it done.


The second, my family picture wall:

It's a good start I'd say.  I got the mirror shelf from my parents the other day and the wall shelf from DJ's today.  I have a few frames I'd like to get pictures for so there's a few holes for now.  I'm glad I've got what I've got up for now.



Another little guy:

I got another little shelf from my folks that works perfectly for temporary spice storage until I get a proper rack.  I love having this counter free now that the microwave is on a stand.


I spent most of Saturday working on 2 projects.  The first: the milk crate bench seat.  I spray primed the crates and have been waiting for them to cure properly to connect them (with zip ties).  I still need to finish the cushion.

Second: hand-stitching my necktie rug, a project that's been in progress for years.  I'm not sure why I decided to bust it out this weekend but I've made some progress and will eventually post pictures.

I spent most of Sunday at my parents house working on my buckets for the yarn revamp.  I need to get hardware tomorrow, drill the buckets and attach everything together.

I've also been working intermittently on my pink project.


Update complete.

Timmy Cake

I've been super lame about posting again but this one is guaranteed to be a good one...

My sweet baby Sky turns 1 tomorrow so we're having a combination birthday party with her cousins Ella and Zidane (3rd birthdays tomorrow and next Saturday respectively).  It's this afternoon.  I decided I wanted Sky to have an awesome Timmy Time cake since that's her favorite show and he's her favorite character.  I had planned on having my friend Sara make the cake for us, but she's got relatives in town this weekend so she backed out on us a few days ago.  So I planned out the cake myself and JUST finished it a few minutes ago.  Sky is napping, but once she gets up, we'll load everything up and head to my folks' place for the party.  I think she's gonna love the cake and have a super awesome time.

So I wanted to share my Timmy cake along with a shot from the planning stage and one from the building stage:

Carseat Kiddo

Another "story" I created on photobucket documenting the lifespan of her infant seat.  We switched her into a convertible carseat around the holidays when she was really outgrowing this one.  This was actually my nephew Zidane's carseat when he was a baby, and providing they get pregnant soon (before the carseat's expiration date), Aaron and Terri will likely use it again for their next baby.

I could never resist snapping a pic of my sweet Sky in her little seat before we'd take off on an outing.  As she got older and bigger, and the garments of the season got more awkward and cumbersome, Skylar got really feisty about getting in and out of the infant seat.  She would nearly always cry for me but be fine once we got in the car.  I don't miss the seat at all since it was a pain to lug around.  I actually opted to start leaving it in the car when we were out and about for things when she was pretty young (like still bobble-heading).  I just miss how small she was in it and how cute she looked all ready to go!

Moving Day 1

Just a quick update:
I got about half of my stuff moved today with my dad's help.  I'll do the rest Thursday which is my last official day in the apartment with DJ.  He didn't help at all.  Big surprise.  His dad came for a quick visit the other morning when he was sick with the flu.  He ended up telling his dad then that I'm moving out.  After that I got a really nice message from his mom via facebook and I think all will be well.  I was really not wanting to be the one to break the news to his family so I'm glad it didn't come down to a facebook message to his mom on moving day.

We've got Chloe's birthday party in an hour and I just got Skylar to nap finally...she took a short noontime nap earlier at my folks house while dad and I were moving stuff.  I doubt even when I wake her up to go to the party that she'll be in any better of a mood.  She's been a real grumpy pants today and will hardly eat anything.  That's pretty out of character so I'm hoping she'll cheer up soon.

Banana Bread

Just pulled some banana bread out of the oven.  It's amazing smell is torturing me.  I made it for our weekly coffee gathering at my brother's tomorrow morning.  The recipe I used is here:
Banana Bread
I won't know for sure that it's as delicious as it smells until tomorrow at breakfast.  I should mention that I also added chocolate chips and peanut butter chips (about 1/3 cup each).  It's gonna be great and I'm sure I'll finally be able to get Skylar to eat it.  Ever since she had the flu last week, it's like her appetite disappeared completely.  I'm hoping a tasty dose of banana bread will perk her back up.

Miss Popular

It never ceases to amaze me how many people stop me with Skylar when we're out and about running errands.  This morning our trip to the grocery store was no different.  She wasn't feeling a hundred percent after her little flu stint yesterday so she didn't really react much to all the attention.  Nearly every employee that we passed stopped to talk to her or to me about her.  It must have been a delivery day because there were "helpful smiles" 2 and 3 to each aisle.  Even the deli man behind the counter we don't even go up to ever said hello to my beautiful girl.  And amidst all the attention Skylar didn't smile even once and several times people thought she was a boy!  It still baffles me how people can still be mistaking that.

Anyways, I'm also trying to wrap my head around the idea of Skylar not being with me every single night and morning.  As it is, one week from today will be my last morning with her sleeping in the next room and her dad sleeping next to me.  It makes me tired just thinking about it and I'm pretty sure I'll just wing it when the time comes.  So instead of thinking about that, I'm going to find something else productive to do!

Happy Birthday Chloe!

My oldest niece Chloe Ashlynn turned 6 years old today.  She is a sweet 'n' sassy little girl that I love to pieces.  She's a great big sister to my little brother's other 2 girls Sammie and Nicki and her other sister Everly.  I can't believe it's already been 6 years since I heard the news I was going to be and auntie for the first time.  Chloe has always had a very special place in my heart and always will.  I look forward to her birthday gathering on Sunday.

I was still living in Chicago when Chloe was born (2007).  I didn't get to meet her until she was about 6 weeks old.  These are two of our first pictures together:

We did have a recurring theme of napping together every time that I went home for a visit or when she'd visit in Chi:

Since I've come back home, I've become an auntie again to 3 more little girls and a little boy AND I've become a mom.  Chloe has gotten so smart and so big.  A really great little girl.  Here's to another year!

The Story of Us

So, I ended up sleeping for about 11 hours last night but I've finally shaken the nausea from yesterday morning (that lingered ALL DAY).  Good deal.  Though I had planned on blogging a bit last night, I went to bed shortly after Sky...   I have yet to hear her this morning so in honor of the holiday I've decided to share a little about what happened with "Mr. Nice" as I referred to him in pre-baby posts, or DJ as I'll be referring to him going forward:

Well, going back a little before I stopped blogging, I met DJ through some mutual friends the day before my niece Sammie's birthday, June 12, 2011.  We quite obviously got pretty hot and heavy quickly considering I found out I was pregnant around August 6th.  If you recall, when DJ and I first started dating, he was living an hour away in his home town.  He worked as a welder for a large truck manufacturing company.  Once we found out I was expecting, he planned on staying put until about a month before I was due and then moving here and finding a place with me.  Unfortunately, he got himself fired from that position abruptly around early September.  While he could have found a temporary job there, he decided to move here right away instead of waiting.

===>Sky's awake now so the posting will be much slower now, but I'll finish the story eventually<===

So, without discussing it with me (or Justin for that matter), DJ started moving his stuff in with me into my small rented room in Justin's basement.  I was kind of irritated at the time, but I let it slide since we were planning on living together eventually anyways.  Historically speaking in terms of boyfriends, I have lived with several but only in 4-6 week stints.  So after about that much time in close proximity with DJ combined with my fluctuating pregnancy emotions, I started to think we were making a mistake.  But I just thought it was because we were living in such small quarters and sharing the rest of the house with 2 other people; I thought we just needed to get out into a place of our own.  In order to do that, we needed money.  I was hardly making any at my 2 part-time jobs.  DJ bounced through 4 jobs in his field before he finally found something he was willing to settle into.  That didn't happen until after New Years 2012.  Then we started looking for our own apartment.  We looked at a bunch of places that weren't happening, others we got turned away from because of poor credit and his history.  We finally found this great place that was (relatively) affordable that his dad co-signed for us to get into.  It really is a nice place, and I'll miss it after I move out.

Easter 2012

At any rate, we signed a 1 year lease on March 1st.  I was due March 30th, so we were closing in on our big arrival.  Our relationship at that time was rocky at best and I don't know why we thought that the baby would make things different for the better.  After Skylar was born April 7th, I immediately saw a loving father in DJ.  He genuinely loves her to pieces.  For the most part he does what is best for her in terms of health and care.  As far as our relationship goes, we lost all intimacy after the baby was born.  Partially because I had to heal from the trauma of childbirth of course.  But even after that, it was pretty clear to me we were growing apart romantically.
Around the end of last summer, I caught DJ up in a conversation about our future.  I told him I didn't see one if things didn't change.  I was fed up with being expected to all the housework while he feigned being too tired from work or the baby.  We worked the same number of hours, did the same amount of parenting and up until shortly after Christmas, I was still nursing...so with his logic, why shouldn't I be "too tired" to keep the house livable and clean too?  I was also disappointed in the loss of intimacy.  What kind of relationship was that for either of us?  Where's the draw?  Well he got emotional and told me he didn't want me to leave so we both decided to make more of an effort to make it work.

Thanksgiving 2012

I guess neither one of us was all that invested in making it work considering it never got better; it just slowly got worse and worse.  My grievances with him usually tend to be housekeeping related.  He is messy and careless which can be dangerous with an infant.  Apparently, he was never taught how to clean up after himself.  LAME.  I'll admit, I can be an OCD bitch about keeping things the way I think that they should be but some things are just common sense (ie not leaving garbage and choking hazards on the floor or anywhere within the baby's reach).
It's pretty clear to me that we've stayed together thus far purely for the baby.  If she weren't in the picture we'd have long since ended the relationship.  We've gotten to the point where I sit and 'uh-huh' through his boring stories about the same topic and he either interrupts me or gets up and leaves when I talk about something he's not interested in.  We had a massive fight right after Christmas which resulted in my resound decision to move out.  We are OBVIOUSLY not right for each other.  It just sucks that we're stuck living together until our lease is up at the end of February.  I've maintained for quite some time now that he's a great father but a crappy boyfriend.  So, we're planning on sharing custody.  This is fine with me as long as he can keep the apartment in a safe state of cleanliness for our little girl.

So there's the brief story of us.  And it only took 3 hours to finish!

Blue Sky's smiling at me!

I just finished some template changes here on ma blog...thanks blogger for making it easier than I remember to make it work!  I was realizing the other night as I read back over past posts how difficult it  was to read my blog with my drawing in the background.  I was not willing to lose it as my blog wallpaper but now it should be much easier on the eyes.

Anywhooo, I suppose I should get back to the updating since I've been off the blogger grid for so long...k, so I hate to say I'm one of those moms, but I'm definitely one of those moms who just can't stop talking about her kid.  She's the best, for serious...but before talking about how awesome she is, I'll give y'all a recap of her life in utero...

First Pic Inside

My pregnancy with her was probably the kind of pregnancy that every mom dreams of:  The most morning sickness I ever had was just a little nausea; although I had a tendency to gag on my toothbrush and dry-heave a bit first thing in the morn.  I only gained about 28 lbs total and lost it post-delivery within 4 weeks.  Every prenatal checkup measured normal and healthy for her and for me.
I didn't really have much for maternity clothing since I pretty much just gained baby weight; I wore a lot of long tops with leggings, and jeans 3 sizes bigger than my usual size for work at JJs (even did delivery driving up till about 7 1/2 months!).  If I'd had a full-time job at the time, I would have worked full-time all the way through.  However, I did work my 2 part-timers up until the day I went into labor...and she was born 8 days late!  I only encountered swollen feet once or twice after some pretty long work days.  My biggest complaint from my whole pregnancy was the nightly heartburn...I propped my pillows waaaay up, had a body pillow behind me and a throw pillow between my knees every single night at yet still most nights I had to take more Tums when I'd get up to pee.
My favorite part of my pregnancy was feeling her move.  The first time was pretty magical...it felt like popcorn popping in my belly when I leaned forward one night at around 18 weeks.  From then on she was almost constantly on the move.  So much so that when I started showing more, people could see her movements even through my shirt from across the room.
Her official due date was March 30, 2012 but I like to say she decided to get a little payback for Grandma Nancy for the hell I put her through.  I was nearly 18 days late, so it's only natural that she should be late too, right?  I didn't have even one contraction (not even braxton hicks!) through my entire pregnancy.  I started having labor contractions at work at 41 weeks; she finally decided to make her debut (on her own!).  My whole labor and delivery story is better suited for another post, another night, so I'll just leave it at, I did it au naturale (with minimal iv pain meds).  After nearly 19 hours of labor, Skylar Helen was born at 5:23 on Saturday morning April 7th, the day before Easter.  I was told amid all the pushing that she was a red-head...sure enough I've got the most beautiful little ginger girl ever.  She tipped the scales at 9 lbs 2 oz, and measured 20 inches long.  She wasn't as big as either myself or her dad (who was there with me the whole time; not super helpful in terms of pain management though definitely a necessary support at the time).

First Pic Outside

We picked Skylar for her first name after realizing the only names that we liked and could agree on were Skylar and Devon.  DJ decided last minute at the hospital that he didn't like Devon anymore so our alternate became Fiona but when we met her we knew she was Skylar.  I decided a long time ago that my first daughter's middle name would be Helen after my dad's mother Helen Louise.  I found out at my baby shower actually that DJ's maternal grandmother was also named Helen.  So it fits perfectly.
We took her home to our new apartment the following Monday; we had moved March 1st (that's right folks, I was 8 months prego) from Justin's house, where I'd been living when I was last posting.  I had already decided to breast feed her, which was incredibly difficult at first.  Despite all our issues, I loved our special nursing bond and I wish we could have shared it longer.  I'm sure I'll end up posting all about our nursing woes at some point.
Skylar has been the sweetest, most amazing baby; I couldn't have dreamed of having a better child.  I took her in for her 10 month checkup last week.  The doctor asked me how she sleeps at night; when I told her 'all through the night, every night since she was 6 weeks old' she told me not to tell other moms that!  I just laughed...she's just that awesome.  Currently she's tipping those scales again at a crazy 24 lbs 5 oz...98th percentile.  She's also in the 95th percentile for height at just under 30 inches.  Her daily accomplishments never cease to amaze me and I still can't believe how adorable she is.  I'll get more into her development in later posts since I'm losing steam and it's nearly bedtime for me.  So for now I'll leave you with this, my newest favorite pic of my "lil punkinhead" taken last week...

The Prodigal Blogger Returns

The other night I was thinking: I wonder why the hell I ever stopped blogging.....then I snapped back to reality where I'm a mom now!  The last time I posted was waaaaay back when I first found out I was preggers with my sweet baby love Skylar Helen.  Um, she's 10 months old now...it's time to get back to it.  Obviously my life has changed dramastically (to quote a new fav TV show, see below) and it's gonna take more than just one post to update.  However, I've been reading back over some of my previous posts from 2009-2011 and just happened upon this gem from November 19, 2010.  I figured I'd just re-answer the questions as a mini recap of my last 20 months...

Here goes:
1. What time did you get up this morning?
- 7 am (work at 9...and I actually had to wake Skylar up right before I took her to daycare; strange since she's usually up before me)
2. How do you like your steak?
- medium to medium rare
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
- Ted, when it first came out I saw it with DJ...it was one of our first times together away from baby Sky and she was almost 3 months at the time
4. What is your favorite TV show?
- it changes frequently but right now it's Raising Hope
5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
-I said Florence or Amsterdam last time I did this, which is still true but I've also got a yearning to live closer to my bestie Holly and she's back in the City of Angels with Kelly (her hubby!!! more on that later...)
6. What did you have for breakfast?
- coffee (naughty that I've fallen off the breakfast train...I gotta get back into that)
7. What is your favorite cuisine?
-still true: the all-inclusive and vague, Asian...especially sushi, Mongolian beef, crab rangoon, etc
8. What foods do you dislike?
-broccoli.  oh yea and those wafer cookies that come in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate: BARF
9. Favorite Place to Eat?
-I said Zoni Kitchen last time, which would still be true except that they closed down last summer :(  So now I would say definitely Buffalo Wild Wings as far as frequency but I LOVE LOVE LOVE me some Granite City or Braccos
10. Favorite dressing?
-balsamic vinaigrette, still
11.What kind of vehicle do you drive?
-a blue 1995 Chevy Corsica...I call it Dimples the Chevy Storm due to the hail damaged hood.  She's not pretty but she still gets me where I need to go
12. What are your favorite clothes?
-my maternity tank tops...the ruche side seams and extra length make these "wife-beaters" hella comfy
13. Where would you visit if you had the chance?
-as aforementioned, my Holly is in Cali, so to Cali I would go
14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full?
-full most of the time
15. Where would you want to retire?
-the beach
16. Favorite time of day?
-morning 
17. What is your favorite sport to watch?
-I don't like to watch sports.  And you can't make me...  The Super Bowl was last Sunday and I didn't even watch the commercials.
18-20. totally irrelevant: SKIP!
21. Bird watcher?
-sure, if I see one I like
22. Do you consider yourself attractive?
-most of the time
23. Pets?
-I'm still an avid fish owner only now I'm down to just 1 of my Chicago fish my standard koi, Nathan, who is waaaay too large for his 55 gallon home at a whopping 15 inches long.  I also have 1 betta right now named Fletcher I got last fall(I got one named Stanley at the same time but he died after just a few days)
24. Any new and exciting news that you'd like to share?
- I will be moving out of my apartment in less than 3 weeks which will mark the official "callin-it-quits" date for DJ and I...more on that subject to come
25. What did you want to be when you were little?
-an astronaut, a veterinarian, and a cake decorator...simultaneously
26. What is your best childhood memory?

-basking in the dining room patches of sun with my dog Baxter as my pillow and a good book in hand 
27. Are you a cat or dog person?
-I'd say dogs, since I'm slightly allergic to cats (though I still like em) 
28. Are you married?
-no, and won't be for the foreseeable future
29. Always wear your seat belt?
-yep 
30. Been in a car accident?
-a few actually...nothing too serious though and all when I was in high school
31. Any pet peeves?
-Everything about my current living situation EXCEPT my darling Sky
32. Favorite pizza topping?
-I'm a big fan of variety these days...I love concocting my own delicious homemade pies anymore, but when I'm out-n-about I love a good buffalo chicken pizza
33. Favorite Flower?
-irises
34. Favorite ice cream?
-anything with heath bites or chocolate covered peanut butter in it
35. Favorite fast food?
-The BK Lounge...but I love me some Culvers cheese curds
36. How many times did you fail your driver's test?
-I passed on the first try
37. From whom did you get your last email?
-the last time I checked it would have been from google help since my endeavors last night to restart blogging was hindered by the red tape of account fraud protection (I started this blog using an email addy that doesn't exist anymore and couldn't remember my password.  Also I already have a google account with my yahoo addy so I couldn't change the primary addy in the old account...with a lil smarts I got it to work, though I'm stuck with 2 google accounts now and no way to link them)
38. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?
-either Blick or Utrecht... and I know now I could definitely max out at Michaels
39. Do anything spontaneous lately?
-not especially (which sucks, I should change that!)
40. Like your job?
-definitely...though obviously retail can really suck too.  For the record, I am back with Michaels (since about the end of my 1st trimester).  I worked there and at Jimmy Johns, both part-time, thru the duration of my pregnancy.  After my ridiculously short maternity leave (12 days), I was able to go back to work at Michaels part-time for about a week before being promoted to full-time framer in early May last year.  Our department manager Linda finally made the move to Arizona as she'd been talking about for ages, opening up her position for Angela and Angela's position for me.  It's nice to finally have a full-time job with benefits (though I waited 6 months for them!)
41. What was your favorite vacation?
-still gonna be my road trip in May 2009 from LA to Chi with my Holly
42. How about who's your favorite actor/actress?
-Johnny Depp/Angelica Huston
43. Last person you went out to dinner with?
-no dinners lately but I had breakfast with my mom and baby on Saturday; oh and lunch with my sister, her kiddo and mine last Thursday
44. What are you listening to right now?
-the burbling water of the fishtank
45. What is your favorite color?
-yellow
46. How many tattoos do you have?
-still 5, but I've got idears wiggling around upstairs that will come to fruition with the onset of some extra cash
47. Coffee drinker?
-an avid one...but I have to limit myself to just a cup or 2 in the morning
48. How many children do you have?
-one, Skylar Helen is my heart.

News-full June

I know it's been a couple weeks since my last few posts...life gets crazy sometimes:

I didn't completely stop doing my food diary.  I did, however, stop being so diligent with the calorie counting.  I have every intention of returning to the habit a little more resolutely come July.  But with all that's going on and will go on by then who knows what will happen?  For the record though, the calorie counting does work...I lost 7 lbs during the month of May making my grand total since New Years 18 lbs.  Go me!  Now I've stayed the same for the past 3 weeks, which is good considering all of the occasions...I do plan on getting back into my exercising and workout plan, which has been on hold because of all the craziness.


First on the list of crazy things:  I'm finally moving out of my brother and sister-in-law's basement.  I'll be moving in with Matt's cousin Justin.  He's 21, just bought his first house.  He's got money, but not a clue.  So Angela and I have taken it upon ourselves to take charge of the house before I move in to get it in order and make it a little more like a home and a little less like a dumpy bachelor pad.  We've spent a fair amount of time over there cleaning and whatnot.  We (as in Angela and me) will be picking paint (which Justin's going to buy) and painting the whole place soon.  I plan on being totally moved in there by July 1st.  Lucky for me he's pretty flexible about when I move in and when I pay rent which will be affordable as soon as I get a better job.  I've been looking for awhile now and have had a couple responses.

The main reason I don't already have a new job is because June is the month of my summer classes at the Washington Pavilion.  I had my Canvas Creations painting class last week and have my Art Explorers class next week.  Last week was insane having my class every afternoon still watching Z on three of the days and working at Michaels on two of the nights.  Also, Wednesday was my 25th birthday.  Wooty woot!  It was Terri's birthday too, and Thursday was Aaron's birthday.  We had a family cookout on Tuesday night.  Dad made ribs on the grill; Mom made homemade mashed potatoes, her tasty coleslaw salad.  We had fruit and chocolate ice cream cake and everyone was there.  On my actual b-day Matt and Angela took me out to Bracco's for half-off drinks.  We splurged on some "Jamaican-me-crazy"s, nachos and a Bob Marley-tini.  We also stopped off at Woody's for another drink.  I didn't feel that great during class the next day but I had a great time.

The birthday celebrating continued on into the weekend when Marcy went into labor on Saturday night.  Samantha Cadence Seaman, daughter of Jon and Marcella Seaman, was born Sunday at 12:34 in the afternoon; 6 lb 2 oz and 19 in long.  I was working at the time and though the new parents were accepting visitors that night, most of the family waited to go up to the hospital until yesterday before lunch.  She's beautiful and tiny.  I'm so excited to be an auntie again!  1 nephew and now 3 nieces!!!

And now, as if all of this excitement wasn't enough, something else incredible happened to me on Saturday:  I met someone.  I don't want to jinx it or anything so I'm not going to get into a lot of details (ie his name).  I'm gonna play it like Carrie on Sex in the City when she's writing her column; you don't really know Mr. Big's real name is John until the last episode.  So I'm going to call this guy Mr. Nice.  I will say that I'm really glad that I went out on Saturday night.  I had gone painting at Jon and Marcy's in the morning (completely unsuspecting that she'd be popping in less that 24 hours!), and worked the rest of the day at Michaels.  Angela called before my shift was over and said that Sara's new beau had a guy friend that I should meet and that they were going out for drinks that night.  Lucky for me I had my flip-flops and a different shirt in my car.  AND despite being unshowered, with grody failing make-up, my huge work pants and a baggy, rather unflattering top on, I'm fairly certain that Mr. Nice is genuinely into me.  I guess it's just my charming personality (haha).  I'd say that considering all I knew about him before meeting him was his name and all he knew was my name and that I'm kinda chatty, we hit it off like most people wish their fix-ups between friends would go.  I know I said I wouldn't get into much detail so I'll just say that Mr. Nice lives about an hour away from here meaning he'll be mostly available to see on the weekends when he quite frequently comes to SooFoo to hang with friends.  This is actually perfect for me the relationship-tard...It means we've got time to get to know each other without being too serious about it right away and that I'll still have time to do all the crap that I already have to do.  That's one thing about relationships that I haven't figured out since I haven't had anything even close to one in over 3 years.  How do you have time to do everything?  I guess that sounds kinda bad: it's not that I don't want to see Mr. Nice until next weekend.  However, I've been in a fantastic mood since we met and just the few sweet texts he's sent have been enough to make me all fluttery inside.  There's no need to rush the good feelings that come with something new and exciting.  I'm really looking forward to seeing him again this weekend...
Though I can't image he'll be down for coming to my parents' (6-months-early) 30th wedding anniversary Tahitian luau which is Saturday night.  It would be amazing if he did, but I hardly expect something like that from a guy I just met especially considering I've never actually introduced my folks to anyone I've dated before.  I'm pretty confident I'll be seeing him again this weekend, we'll just have to wait and see when.  At any rate...GO ME!  While for right now, financially, I'm fucked, I at least have a lot of great things in my life to keep me happy through the struggle...I'll try not to wait so long til my next post but I can't guarantee anything. ;)