A costume for baby

I finished another tutu! This one is for part of a costume for my new little cousin. It's bigger than it needs to be but I think it will work. They can remove a few knots of the tulle and then cut the ribbon to fit once it's tyed onto her. Then they can trim the whole skirt to fit. She is going to be the cutest Tinkerbell out there!

And it's that time again

It's time to start getting ready for Halloween!!! It's my favorite holiday mainly because I get to get my large collection of Frankensteins out of the attic and decorate our living room and kitchen. That's right I have enough creepy decor to extend into multiple rooms of my house.

Frankenstein is my favorite character to use while decorating. I don't know if it's that frightful green complexion or the resemblance to my husband in body frame but there is something about that tall green man I love.

This year is going to be an even greater Halloween because my good friend and I are hosting a Halloweenie Roast. We are having our very first adult costume party and Mark and I have the best costumes ever!

Mark and I are going as Herman and Lily Munster. We spent all day today gathering parts to Mark's costume. We found him a head piece that is the top of a Frankenstein head and a brown blazer. We found the perfect blazer at our local Goodwill. Mark was hesitant about going to a used store to find the jacket (he can be even more neurotic than I am at times) But it's a good thing we went because this jacket is perfect for $5. Of course we bought it and then he promptly drove straight to our dry cleaners, asking me on the way if I thought they would 'run it through twice.'

So now we have to find all shoes that we can screw blocks of wood into to make Mark even bigger than what he is now. Mark is 6'4 and I'm 5'3 so we feel we are the perfect couple to portray Herman and Lily.

Mark is pretty much set for the party. I know some may wonder how I talked Mark into gluing a faux-front to his forehead and painting his skin green but Mark and I are very competitive and when he sets his mind to something he goes all out. So Mark wants to make sure he has the best costume of everyone at the party and that he looks accurate. And that's how I ALMOST have him talked into painting his fingernails to go along with the theme!!!

So now I'm really excited about Oct. 31. I'm going to a costume party AND I'm going to have a real, live Frankenstein! It's going to be a good night.

My new toy

I brought my Dad's old Pentax K1000 home with me tonight. I'm super excited. I'm so excited I made Mark rush me to Wal-Mart to get batteries for it at 10 p.m. And much to his surprise they had the exact battery we needed! I haven't used a 'real' camera since my senior year in high school for a graphic arts class. I totally feel in love with it then and have no idea why I waited this long to ask my dad to use his. For some reason I thought the flash was broken on this old camera but he said the base is only cracked and he thinks it will be fine.

I've been saving up for a Canon rebel and I am still no where near ready to buy it so this 35 mm will be perfect practice for me while I wait for my fancy digital. Mark and I have been looking for a hobby that we can both get into together and I think we might have found it. All our other hobbies (quilting, scrapbooking on my part; video games on his part) just don't appeal to each other. We have been talking about taking up photography together for a few years now and I'm ready to make the jump into 'new hobby world' with him.

I guess we'll see how well the old Pentax works tomorrow. Mark has a half day and work and I'm off the whole day so we are going to go to the park and use a roll of film and see if this old thing is still in working order.

Sweet little furbaby

I thought I would talk about Mack. Over the course of time he has turned from something I wanted to return to the pound to someone I can't wait to snuggle with at night. But some days I love him and some days I still want to make him sit on the patio.

Mark and I adopted Mack the summer before we got married. We were buying a house and decided we needed a dog to go into said house. Well we went to the shelter and picked out this little, jumping, hairy thing. (I wish I had a picture of him. He looked HORRIBLE. He was so matted he had hair falling off of him. He had to be shaved and start over once we got him home.)

So after getting Mack from the shelter of course the lady we were buying the house from backed out on our deal. This left us without a house and Mack homeless again. At this time in our life, Mark worked at the car place and didn't get home until 4:30 a.m. I brought Mack home with me to my mom and dad's house. Upon meeting my family and my mom and dad's wonderful Shiz tu, Mack tried to pee on him. Yes that's right. Mack hiked his leg on my beloved little Shiz tu that I helped raise and train. He did this not just one time but EVERY time he came near our beloved Max.

Mack was banished to the garage for the night.

After crying all night long (on both mine an Mack's part) I told Mark we had to find somewhere for him to live. So Mark rented our lovely (not) duplex that we live in now and took Mack with him.

Our first cue that something was amiss should have been when we were trying to get Mack to come tous, we found him crouched under our kitchen table snarling at us. We just thought he was adjusting to the situation. NOPE.

Pretty soon Mack had bitten most of our friends and a few relatives. I invested in a Beware of Dog sign to hang in our living room. We had a monster on our hands here. And we also realized our dog had been mistreated in his past life before us. Not only would he bite at the least notice, he was so protective Mark couldn't even touch me when I was laying on the floor or throwing up in the toilet as was the case when our duplex became filled with carbon monoxide (that's definitely another post!) Mack literally jumped on top of me and growled and snarled at Mark while I was hunched over the toliet. He has also climbed on my back while I was doing push ups on my exercise ball and Mark got a little too close. The things someone can do to a little animal just infuriates me.

The worse part was this little monster who I had to knock across the living room because he was ravaging my friend's arm would then punish himself by growling all the way to his kennel where he would stay for a while. He is always so remorseful after being bad.

It's been 3 years now since we adopted Mack. I will admit he is 20 times better than he was when we brought him into our lives. Mark can now come near me. And we can have people over again. Now he will give a warning growl before he clamps down on your hand, arm or foot. But he will also climb in your lap and try to hug you when you sit on our couch. That's right even though Mack has bitten ALL of our friends, he also loves those same friends with all his heart. Mack just wants to be your friend but he DOESN'T want you to touch the person you are sitting next to!

Now if we could just stop him from Hungry Hungry Hippoing out from under our bed with the intent of snatching our toes off our feet when he's mad.

Christmas time

I project for Fall is quilting my Christmas quilt. I'm so excited to get started on this project. I bought my backing fabric last weekend and the batting. I have have 5 yards of Christmas tree fabric to cut in half and sew together then I get to pin the sandwich together and it's time to quilt. The actual quilting is my favorite part and I'm ready to begin that just in time for Fall TV. So each night when I get off work you'll find me on the couch quilting and watching tons of random TV. YAY for Fall!

Keeping mouth shut

A recurring fight in the our house would be over laundry. I wash, dry and put away almost every load. Every now and then Mark will wash and dry his work clothes or a load of towels. He NEVER puts these away. They wait in the dryer, on top of the dryer or in a basket until I come along and find their proper spot. He will NOT touch my clothing. He MAY put them in the dryer but he will definitely never put them away. 

So imagine my surprise last night when I came home from work and found Mark had cleaned the house, including putting ALL of my clothing away. Upon further inspection I found that he didn't really put anything where it belonged. There are shorts in the shirt drawer, Pj in the shirt drawer, shirts in the Pj drawer and socks in the completely wrong place. My normal nit-picky self would loudly proclaim 'Hey you didn't put ANYTHING where it belongs' but luckily something came over me and I thanked him for putting all the clothes away and  then reordered my drawers when he went to work today. 

Am I really learning to Keep My Big Mouth Shut? Possibly but probably not I figure it was a fluke. :)

Day two or Wanna know a secret

Today was the second day of 30 Day Shred. It was much worse than day one because my arms were burning when I woke up from day one's work out. I could barely do a single push up today. It was really killer. And on a related note, I found one of my favorite pairs on jeans in the back of my closet. I really wanted to wear then today so upon finding that they were really uncomfortable when they were buttoned, I unbuttoned them and felt immediate relief. I'm now at work with the top button unbuttoned and very happy about the decision I made. Thank goodness for long tops!

Day one

I just finished Day One of my 30 Day Shred workout. OMG I think I'm going to die. It's only a 20 minute workout but it's continuous. There is no stopping to even breathe. I had to pause it to go get water. From this painfully hard level one workout I have learned that I am WAY too weak to do push ups. They were almost the worst part. My stick arms are like little toothpicks trying to hold up a bowling ball when doing push ups. Now I'm super exhausted. I should have just gone for a walk. Hopefully it gets easier and I see results. Otherwise I'm going to be an unhappy camper for the next 30 days.

Let's get shredding

Well.....I'm making a bold decision....I'm going to get into shape. 30 Day Shred should be coming to my mailbox tomorrow. Netflix has sent it. I haven't read anything about what I'm about to embark on as I feel it's best this way. All I know is some girl lost 8 pounds in a month off it and I like the sound of that.

Don't worry, I've been in shape before. I know what it entails. I know it sucks. I used to do some hard-core cardio kickboxing two nights a week. And I clearly remember that sucking.

My unhealthy lifestyle is really starting to catch up with me. I have eaten my fair share of McDonald's Happy Meals when I get off of work. It's time to let someone else keep McDonald's afloat. (especially the after midnight crowd). I've noticed this weight gain / change of former skinny self happening for a bit now.

I graduated to curvy girl jeans at The Gap and have pushed my pant size up way farther than I care to admit. And it's about to be Christmas shopping season and I really don't want to go up another size when I got to try on my traditional holiday blue jeans.

So now I'm going to start the process of getting my 'old' body back. I expect there will be whining and tears and complaints but I'm going to push through and really try this time.

I'll keep you posted!

 

Another year older

It's technically my birthday since it's after midnight. I'm turning 27 day. I'm trying to hold it together. Someone at work asked me the other day how old I was and I told them I was 25. Then I was like no I'm 26 (but not immediately because it didn't register) and then I had to be like 'Wait, I'll be 27 in a week. Why? Because I want to stop at 25. I know, you say 27 isn't THAT old but to me .... it's old. I'm not ready for late twenties. AT. ALL. I really enjoyed 25. I felt it signaled "Hayley is an adult." Then I turned 26 and had a breakdown. I was not working on my 'life plan' at all. Time was ticking by and I was casually lounging on the couch while it went away. So at 26 I was ready to get busy but then I work up one day and realized 'Great' now I'm practically 27. And today I turn 27 and think 'Great here we are at 27, now what?' But on a happy note, I'm still young enough for Mark to make me an awesome birthay cake!!

Potty training stinks

Our precious dog Mack came to us from the shelter. He brought with him MANY issues. One of them would be his lack of being able to tell us when he needs to go to the bathroom. If we don't take him out on a schedule he'll just go find a nice piece of carpet and turn it into his urinal. Well I guess he's been proud of himself this week because he found the ultimate urinal. Last night while Mark and I were getting ready for bed we discovered Mack found the potty and must have figured out how to use it. Most days he likes to spy on us while we are using said potty. But he must have been observing and plotting. Because last night while Mark was getting out of the shower he noticed it. Mack has been hiking his leg on our toilet!!! Yes that's right there was dried pee all over the base and the rug was definitely soaked with pee and from the looks of the mess he had done this more than once. So while I was spraying down the toilet last night it occured to me 'My gosh my dog is smart, he knows what a toilet is for!'

Likes

Likes

(These aren't necessarily in order and only a sampling of all things I life.)

1) Opening a brand new book: There is NOTHING like getting a new book and reading it for the first time. No bent pages, no crease in the spine, no food on the pages. Perfect condition. I like this condition so much that I try to keep my books as new looking as possible and even refuse to let Mark read them. I offer to go to the library and check out Harry Potter for him but there is no way I'll letting him near by beloved paperbacks. I also prefer this condition for my magazines.

2) Hippos: This actually classified as a love. They are so cute with their little wiggly ears. I refuse to believe that they are dangerous. And I also choose to believe that they are in fact purple when in the wild.

3) Knee socks: Best. Sock. Ever. I will wear my knee socks up until the last moment of cold weather. I can now not function in winter without them. If you look closely through my facebook pictures you might even notice one with me in a bathing suit and knee socks. That one wasn't supposed to make it into the public but friends are liars when it comes to posting embarrassing pictures of you on their facebooks.

4) GAP outlets: There is something about discount jeans and camis that really makes me happy. I can't leave a GAP outlet without a full bag of clothes.

5) 75 % off Christmas decorations: I love all holiday decorations but I love discount Christmasware the most. There are things that become super cute when you are only paying a quarter of the price for them. I also like to look for stuff I can use during the regular time of year. I got a great big roll of green wrapping paper that I've been wrapping all birthday gifts in this year and a bag of bows in non-Christmasy colors. Plus I shop for all my first of the year birthday gifts during this time. Seriously, my favorite shopping days of the year!

A few dislikes

I thought I would spend a few words to go over my likes and dislikes. I would just like to personally reflect for a few posts.

Dislikes

1) Holey underware: I just can't stand it. Mark seems to think that unless it's falling off of him then it's still OK to wear. I'm sorry, it's not. When I do laundry and I see holes starting to develop it's straight to the garbage can it goes. I feel that it would be a reflection upon me as a wife if he were to be in an accident and the emergency officials were to see his holey underware. I would die of embarrassment while he would be trying to fight to keep them from cutting the things off him.

2) Sledding/winter sports: I hate the cold. While I LOVE to look at the snow and LOVE to walk about in it, I HATE to sled. Sometimes I'll forget this burning hatred and think 'It would be wonderful to rid down a hill at deathsped on a small piece of plastic' Then I go and try it and remember within one pass down the hill I HATE TO SLED. This I feel boils from when as a child I was forced to sled down a hill with a 3-year-old stranger. As we were making our descent a child of around 5 stood screaming in our path. I yelled for her to move, her sibling told her to move and she continued to stand and scream. Of course there is no steering on these death mobiles so plowed into her we did. The 3-year-old had a blast and me, I was scarred for life.

3) Green peas: I hate green peas. They remind me of mush. They just melt into a mushy mess while in your mouth. I can't deal. As a child I tried to disguise them in a roll but still the mush lived on. 

4) Driving: I was the first of my friends to get my license. It was fun at first, then they finally got theirs an I gave over the driving responsibility and never looked back. I think part of my hatred stems from getting lost EVERYWHERE I go. I seriously have gotten lost coming and going from my grandmother's house on multiple occasions and she lives in the same town I do. Plus I have horrible night vision and it makes for interesting navigation. 

5) Ewan McGregor: There is just something about him I find creepy.

Hello crayola

Mark has decided that I need to start painting my nails bright colors. He even went so far as to pick the strange shade of purple that I'm wearing right now. As I try to work all I can do is look at my fingernails like a moth would look at a light. I'm strangely attracted to them and must stare. I think he's trying to make me into that girl from He's Just No into You and Big Love, Ginnifer Goodwin. He admired her purple nails in that movie. Oh well, I'll just go with it for now.

Social commentary

Recent events in my life have led me to reflect on what is acceptable. I recently posted a news link on the pregnancy of Michelle Duggar. I feel this family has put themselves in the public eye. They allow camaras into their daily life to chronicle their growing family. I'm sure they are aware that their family is strange to some. It's definitely large by today's standards. They homeschool, which is also controversial to some. She obviously is a fan of public breast feeding as I've pointed out in previous posts.

This family isn't stupid. Jim Bob was a Congressman for goodness sake. They know their lifestyle is viewed as strange by some. I really don't think that is news to them. I give them credit for putting themselves out there and broadcasting their way of life. Most 'normal' families wouldn't welcome that kind of attention.

I feel with opening you home to TLC and allowing them to film multiple seasons of your hit TV show (which aren't they against TV?) then you should expect people to be talking about you. Some good and some bad. I think that goes with the territory.

I'm sure my Facebook wall is not the only place that this debate is going on. If people are discussing it on my Facebook wall then I can guarantee that it's being discussed on a much larger stage somewhere.

So let's get to my opinion. I think it's crazy to have 19 children! There's first the obvious. You have to go into labor with 19 children. The thought of laboring with one child terrifies the crap out of me. Seriously. When I start thinking about babies and such (as I'm about to be 27 that's only natural) I block labor and delivery from my head. I think about the 'joys' of pregnancy and planning for a baby and then I immediately jump ahead to having the baby here in our house. I don't dwell on the unknowns of labor. I keep it far from my mind. And I don't want to know of it at this point! I'm on a need to know basis with labor and delivery. Now Michelle Duggar definitely knows about labor and delivery. I just really can't imagine pushing a large item out of your vagina getting any easier with 19. I just can't.

Next on my list of opinions is the Duggars do'nt make it a secret that they pair their children up, the older ones with the younger ones. So now the older ones have the responsibility of caring for the younger ones. So who's Michelle caring for? Oh yeah the baby hanging off her boob for all photo opts, even the strange ones (like being the hood ornament for breast feeding while being filmed for your TV show and going down the main street of Pigeon Forge while on a parade float) But I'm not going to even touch the breast feeding card. I"ve already covered that in a prior post. I just think fine have kids. Have as many as you want and can care for. I think each child should receive equal treatment. I just don't think she can pay equal treatment to each child every day, breast feed the baby AND also teach her children. (What teacher could bring her young children to school and care for them and teach their class at the same time?) But that's going to be my only thought on teaching at home. I'm not looking to start a fight.

Now having made all these personal observations about the Duggars I'm left wondering is that my rite? Should I keep my big mouth shut? Or as the person implied who de-friended me from Facebook, am I not representing Christ by even typing these feelings?

I think I am in the right by commenting and I think I shouldn't keep my big mouth shut and I definitely think that even by expressing my opinion about not agreeing with the Duggar lifestyle that that doesn't reflect upon my personal relationship with God.

I feel the Duggars have God in their life, and I know that I have God in my life. Because I won't choose to raise my family in the same manner can we not both believe and support God? I think we can both of very spiritual lives full of love for God. I think this 'de-friender' took issue when I interpreted scripture in a different manner than she and her family interprets it. I think this is where the 'de-friending' came into play. Am I not allowed to have my own opinion? Can I not interpret scripture in a different manner and still have God in my life? Must everyone follow the same rules when it comes to God and following Jesus?

I think if we all followed the same rules we would be drones moving toward death at the same pace. I think as long as our goal is the same. That of loving God, honoring God and reaching Heaven when it's all said and done then why should you care that when I read a passage I get something different out of it.

I'm still left pondering and wondering.