It's on!

Pajama Party!~ A Sew-Along

Okay, so I have some noodling to do here. I am thinking multipurpose utility pj's as I am notorious for painting in my PJs. So I think my J's need a built in smock. Or utility belt.

Now, where was I?

I secretly like being busy, even though spells of procrastination come over me. I really do like that feeling of success you get when you are just about to wrap something up... even though you have 10 things to do after you finish this one.

*sigh*

Working on Heather D's personal blog site for trade: Snark Bites. Coding to the Blogger template has been a little bit of a learning curve - new vocab, but same concepts. I feel like I am still stabbing around in the dark, with little nightlights every 10 paces to lead my way. Frustrating, but good in that I am learning new stuff.

My mama and papasan are coming into town next week and I am beside my self with happiness! The last they saw the bean, she was a little lump of a baby, not yet crawling. Now she is walking, falling, dancin' and saying crap to you. It's great! Her favorite toys are cell phones and toothbrushes right now. When she sees an ad in a magazine for a cell phone she gets excited and says "whazzzaaat???".

Okay, enough mama-goo and back to work...

A stay inside sort of weekend

Whew. This weekend, not so much.

But I did get some good work done on Dean's site, in a blog format. dendrapanoply.blogspot.com.

I have this grand idea to work blogging sites like a CMS tool, allowing for the blog user to have a professional looking web page, with the functionality and ease of a blog updating tool. So Dean is the first test, to see how it will work on on Blogger. His site is about 45% done, I still need to fit the content portion of the site in, build in some side widgets for graphic interest, and work on the 2nd level pages (which looks like I will need to make an entirely new blog for).

Next up is Word Press, which offers a bit more customization, not so much templating. I think I will use Steve's site for Word Press and see what I can do with the widgets there.

Yah, so that is what I did on the weekend. It really felt a lot like what I do during the week.

Peas!

Summer is quickly on its way out...

My squash are starting to get that funny white powder on the leaves, meaning that yes, Summer is on the way out.

I just saw an add in the paper for U-Pick berry farms, so all hope is not lost to do some fine canning again this season.

I want to try pickles, and would love to try canning some tomatoes. What is it about canning tomatoes that make them taste better? Olivia loves green beans, so maybe some of those?

Why does fall make me want to make soap and can stuff? Guess I am nesting down for a rainy winter.


Project!

Can a bunch of crap to give away as gifts. Make some cute cards (hellooo collage!) to go with them.

Christmas Projects. Yes. Again.

Yeah. I am as good with Christmas Projects as I am with avoiding chocolate. So sue me, I have good intentions, but not enough time.

The only projects I have so far for Christmas:

1. Olivia book for my Mom and Dad, and a DVD of the videos we have taken so far. I plan on using a printer online so I don't have to print out all of the Oli photos myself. Hopefully this will motivate me.

2. Finish up the ornaments I started last year for my Ma, a pair of cute little blue birds.

3. A little comic book for Dean. So far I have 3 pages sketched out. If I can get it done, it will be excellent, but probably not make a lick of sense to anyone other than myself. Oh well, I think Dean sees it as charming when I behave kookily.

3. I want to crochet a few little monsters for Steve and Tesa's gifts... Cuthulu to Steve and skeleton or satan for Tesa.

Lets see how this works out for me. Perhaps I can get some of these things done when we are driving to CA for Thanksgiving.

Twilight

So, after devouring the Twilight book, I stumbled across a few realizations.

But first... I am confused by this book. It irritates me on so many levels, but intrigues me on so many others. Honestly, I am put off by the fact that the lady who wrote it is mormon. I am put off by how dependent Bella becomes on Edward, and this, I think, is a direct reference to the authors religion. But at the same time, I am incredibly drawn to the fact that Bella is so intwined with Edward, and that Edward is the same.

It irritates me that Bella is obviously written to be a Mary Jane character. I easily found my self slipping into her shoes. And it absolutely drives me crazy that Bella can't express her true desire to eat Edward's face with her kisses.... Ugh. Just eat his face already, who cares if he resists and then devours you? Do it already, it's driving me fucking nuts!!

In fact, I found many parallels in this book to my own marriage. I can see a bit of Dean in Edward as well as Bella, some of my own personality in Edward. Silly, I know. But this is the only reason why I can explain why I am so drawn to the book. It is a silly love story about High School kids... but I am so... aching... to read what Edward will do next for Bella.

This is what I think.

1. Women want to be rescued. Even if they are independent, strong, viable people. Even if they pay the bills and work as the head of household, they want to be whisked to safety at a moments notice. Want to be defended in a dark alley. Women want men to stand up for them.

2. Men should be fashionable, strong and beautiful. They should have silly smiles and strong hands. And they should sometimes tell you what they think is best for you, just so you can argue it down. And they should appreciate you for your smell, your soft skin, your lovely hair, everything that makes you innately female.

3. If a guy wants to get laid, start with little touches and nuzzles around the neck and chin - pretend like you are doing everything possible to restrain yourself but you simply cant resist another touch. Growl. Guaranteed you will get some if you keep that up.


Project!

Take the concepts here and do an encaustic collage. Painfully beautiful men, strong and filled with blood lust. Yes. Just up my alley!!

Sleepy Thoughts

At 3 am this morning, I had the best idea for the baby Olivia book. A timeline made in the traditional linear style... The first dot in the line starts out:

Everyone has a story that starts somewhere. This is Olivia's story, it starts here. (This would be typeset and hand drawn/stamped - the starting dot is in between the word "story," and "it".)

Mama finds out she is pregnant! (type circles around dot)

Line starts from this dot and continues to edges of paper, where you turn the page and the line continues. 

The next few pages will be Oli's ultrasounds with little notes. (Layout? Ultrasounds backed by paper? Special cut edges? Plaques underneath? I want to keep these first pages relatively b/w only - color will pop with her birth pages.)