Garage Sale Greatness....and other ramblings.

So, I love a good garage sale. In fact, my laundry pig and I go garage sale-ing almost every weekend. Who is my laundry pig? He's a hideous piggy bank that I got at a garage sale. Go figure. He lives in my detergent cabinet and when I find money in the wash, it goes in my laundry pig. We are very happy together and love each other very much. Moving on. We went out this weekend and it was FANTASTIC. If garage sales were a piece of music, this weekend would have been my opus. It was an amazing week. I'll start by telling you I only spent $8. Here's what I got:

Two sweet pairs of shoes. Both my size, both gently worn, both match outfits I have perfectly, and both are great for our beach trip. $3 for both.





Next, we hit the jewelry and accessories. I found a 1928 necklace with sapphire stones instead of garnets, but it's exactly like the garnet necklace that I got a couple of months ago, just with different stones. As for the other necklace I don't usually go for gold tones, but this was too funky to pass up. I love it. The watch is a great looking pewter cuff watch. It works, too. Jewelry $2.50 total.







Next I found some scarves for 25 cents each.





Last is my proudest purchase. I saw this skirt hanging on a rack at a nice estate sale. Then I saw something poking out of the band. Yes, it still had the tags on it. Brand spaking new. And it's beautiful and I love it. And the lady sold it to me for $2, because she is a saint.


As for my other ramblings - just some updates. Etsy store: Yes, I still plan on starting one. It's just that word of my sewing has gotten around at church and lots of people have approached me to doing sewing jobs for them and I have happily obliged. I am still working on Etsy products, but it has delayed the launch of my store. I'm hoping to have it up and running by the end of the month.

Even though I have a beautiful skirt, I am sad today. Tonight we put M to bed in her crib for the last time. Tomorrow morning the crib goes into storage and we start using the "big girl" bed. Today, someone at church told me that I don't have a baby anymore. I have a little girl. I wanted to go hide somewhere and cry. She's growing up too fast!! I can't keep up with it. I swear it was only yesterday that I was running in her room at 2am to feed her. Now she's going to sleep in a big girl bed. SAD. I am proud of her, though. She is compassionate and sweet. She is intelligent and a thinker. She loves books and art. She loves being outside. She's terrified of the water, but she's being brave as we work on learning to swim. She shares. She has real little girl hair now, instead of the baby mullet. She's good to her friends, and nice to the mean kids as well. She's happy. She's sweet. And she makes my life that much better, so I can't be too sad. I just miss my baby every once in awhile.

Lastly, did any of you ever read the Babysitter's Club books growing up? I'm curious.

LOST character of the week

I can haz mummified arm?

Vincent! Love him! He may actually be my favorite LOST character. First of all, who doesn’t love a yellow lab? Secondly, it does my heart good to see at least one survivor bouncing around like they’re in paradise, no matter what is going on to the survivors. Thirdly, I’m pretty sure that Vincent is the mastermind behind the island. He knows everything that’s going on, he’s everybody’s friend, and I think he may be the being who created and controls the island. Just because I’d love it if the series ended with a talking, vindictive dog. I’m just kidding, I would hate that with the heat of a thousand suns.

So what’s Vinny’s story? Well, Vin belonged to Brian Porter, the anal retentive stepfather of miracle-grow Walt. When Walt’s mom died, Michael took Vincent when he came to pick up Walt. Walt told his dad that it was wrong and Michael lied to his kid and told him that Brian wanted Walt to have the dog. It would have looked better if he had put one of those big bows on him, like from the Lexus Christmas commercials.

Vincent had to ride in the luggage compartment of the plane, which is probably why he doesn’t care about the survivors. They didn’t care enough to pretend he was a seeing-eye-dog and let him sit in coach where he could get some peanuts. Why should he care about them on the island? Be good to your dog. That’s all I’m going to say.

Jack wakes up after the crash to see a happy Vincent giving him a look of love before he bounces off into the jungle to chase polar bears and boars and that bird that screams Hurley’s name. Vincent spent his early days on the island running away from Walt. Walt would find him and Vincent would run away again. It was great fun for Vincent. Not so much fun for Walt. Ever seen a kid with an ulcer? I’m betting Walt has one now thanks to dog stress, being kidnapped by a boatload of banjo playing ninjas, and his stint as a dripping hologram. Locke eventually makes a dog whistle, because he’s the island MacGyver, and Vincent comes running. Locke is the man.

Later on, Vincent wakes everyone up with his barking. I can relate because my neighbor’s dog does this every night. Only my neighbor’s dog barks at dumb things like trees and air. Vincent was actually letting the survivors know that those pesky boars were running their own panty raid on the camp.

Michael and Walt had a fight because Michael caught Walt actually having a good time with Locke. Walt storms off into the jungle and Vincent gives his , “Yo, somethin’s not copasetic here” bark. Turns out there was a polar bear and it was licking it’s chops for some Walt. Walt hides in a tree that might be a bush. Where’s Vincent? He ran away. You would have done the same thing, admit it.

Vincent also interrupts Michael when he tries to kiss Sun, effectively preventing an affair. I told you he was a wonder dog.

Walt leaves and doesn’t want to take Vincent with him, so he leaves him with the most irresponsible person on the island, Shannon. And she promptly loses him. Is anyone surprised?

Vincent brought Hurley the key to the VW van he so desperately wanted to drive. He also brought the arm of Roger Workman, but he’s a dog. Cut him some slack. He was just trying to help, and a bone looks tasty to a dog.

After Ben moved the island, Vincent, Rose, and Bernard retired together in the jungle in the year 1974. This was the best possible ending for Vincent.

My thoughts on Vincent and the series finale: It is very possible that everyone on this island will die. Everyone except Vincent. He belongs there. No one, not even Locke, took to the island the way Vincent did. I love his character because you know he knows everything. He knows the Dharma stations. He knows the Others (more than likely). He knows all the secrets.

Sawyer Nicknames: Lassie, Marmaduke, Old Yeller

Connections: Vincent has met every main cast member at some point or another, according to Lostpedia. I think that he only met Walt and Michael off of the island, but I may be wrong.

Sources: lostpedia, a lot of episodes, my memory and brain.

Who's my next victim?

Craft stuff

So I made a new purse for a friend. She asked me to make it for her daughter and she picked out the fabric. I wasn't really crazy about the prints she picked out, but it ended up looking cute! In case you can't tell from the pictures, the brown print has green in it. That's why she picked the green trim.





I also altered the pattern again and opted for a fold over clasp instead of putting the clasp inside the purse. Mainly because of the awesome blingy button I found that matched the fabric. I had to add it to the purse somehow!

And a craft fail this week. :-(

I periodically use plaster of paris to make a cast of M's handprint. I've been doing it every few months since she was born. She hates holding her hand in the plaster for so long. I found this kit at Hobby Lobby that said it was quick dry so I bought it. It turned out that the "clay" was some unknown substance with the consistency of a marshmallow and it wouldn't hold shape at all. When I would try to push her hand into it, it would crack and crumble. So this is what I ended up with:



Meh. I think I'll just buy a real kit and redo it.

Random Musings

Sorry, no LOST character summary this week, but I'm working on a kicking one for next week, so fear not.

I've written a lot on my blog about the Hubs and how much I love him. It's true. He changed my life and showed me how a gentleman should really treat a lady. He's my Superman, my Edward, my true better half.

But I don't devote much time on this blog to M. She just gets the occasional blurb. I really felt like writing something about how motherhood has changed my life.

For starters, M is a miracle baby. For years, even before I was old enough to think about starting a family, doctors have told me that my body could be too brittle to conceive and carry a baby to term. WRONG! She was two weeks overdue, so put that in your pipe and smoke it, doctors. At 15 weeks into my pregnancy I was told that I could lose her and there was nothing I could do about it. Wrong again. Every time they did an ultrasound she was there, kicking and growing and giving attitude to the technician. That's my feisty girl.

After she was born I was AMAZED at the fierceness I felt about her; the need to protect her from everything at all costs. I always thought I would be one of those laid back moms, but there I was, squirting everyone within breathing distance with hand sanitizer. Mama Bear, that was me. It's still me. When she was born and they handed her to me her eyes were wide open, like saucers. The child has barely slept since then and she's two. She still fights sleep like crazy. It drives Hubs nuts, but I secretly enjoy our late night times. I never once complained to sit up with her all night just holding her and looking at her. I still get the chance occasionally, if she wakes up scared in the middle of the night, and I relish it. Sleep is nothing to me anymore. Just that thing I need a few hours of to make it through to the next day. I'll sleep when she starts school.

She's getting to that age now when she's pulling away from me. I feel like a new mom all over again. This is all new territory for me. She is constantly exploring and discovering. Part of me is screaming to put her in a bubble, lock her up and protect her from the grittiness and hurt that she'll find in the world. The rational part is telling me to let her go, catch her when she falls, and hold her hand. I know that the best way for her to be a strong person is to learn from her own experiences, both good and bad. I know from my experience that life has just as much good to offer her as it has bad, but I have my parent blinders on and all I can see are the ugly things waiting on the wings. It's a constant struggle for me. It's a lesson for both of us. She's learning how to break away and I'm learning how to let go.

It hurts. It hurts to be a parent. I'm not talking about the birth part, either. That's old hat compared to watching them grow. It's a bittersweet thing. I feel like my heart's getting broken and woven back up multiple times a day. I want her to be a strong person who stands in her convictions and knows what she believes and why she believes it. I want her to have morals and standards. Part of me is afraid she won't like me once she becomes independent. "Am I doing this right?" is the question that's always on my mind.

But I wouldn't trade it for anything. Tonight I received some bad news from an old friend and after I hung up the phone I sat on the couch and cried. A few minutes later I felt a little hand patting my cheek and heard a little voice saying,"Mommy sad?" I opened my eyes and saw my child staring at me, holding out her favorite stuffed lion. Her lovey, the toy that can fix everything. Her eyes were hopeful, wanting her little offering to comfort me the way it comforts her. I realized then that I must be doing something right. She has compassion when someone is hurting. She climbed in my lap and kept patting my face and playing with my hair until I calmed myself down and then said, "Mommy happy now?"

Yeah, I'm not going to trade it. I'll take the heartbreak because the reward outweighs it by far.

Random musings

It's late. And I can't sleep. I have insomnia. When I can't sleep I write. First I want to apologize for any typos. My computer had a massive brain fart. Or processor fart. I'm not sure. It doesn't work, though, so I won't have any pretty pictures for my post today. I hope words will do.

Random things that happened to me today:

* My friends and I were at Olive Garden eating lunch (SOUP SALAD AND BREADSTICKS! YEAH BABY!). We like to act out Olive Garden commercials when we're at Olive Garden because they're so cheesy they're hilarious. Speaking of cheesy, we were acting out a commercial and the waitress laughed so hard that she flung a bunch of parmesean cheese all over me. I'm talking it was in my hair, down my shirt, everywhere. What did I do? I laughed. Cause that's some funny stuff.

* I'm on some new medication that is ROCKING my health. I'm not even kidding. I feel awesome. Anyway, one bad side effect is headaches that cause insomnia. Because I don't want to destroy my stomach and liver taking ibuprofen and Tylenol every night, I've taken to sleeping with a refrigerated ice pack on my head to dull the pain. Tonight I was getting all ready for bed and Hubs was staring at me. Not in the "interested" way, because I'm pretty sure I didn't look too sexy with my Breathe Right Strip, VapoRub, and 900 year old nightshirt. So I asked him what he was staring at. He said he wanted to know if I really needed to sleep with an ice pack or if I was just pretending I was sleeping with my head on Edward's shoulder. I guffawed. Seriously. Then I kissed him and turned off my lamp and spent about 45 minutes assuring him that I am not "in love" with Edward. Ed is just a character in a book. He's not a tangible person and therefore it's impossible to actually be in love with him and I wouldn't sleep with my head on an ice block if it wasn't medically necessary. Then I looked over and noticed that Hubs was asleep. He didn't hear a word I said.

* Speaking of loving the Hubs, I started The List today. The List is something I've done every few months since Hubs and I got married. I sit down and make a list (usually when I'm ticked off at him about something) of all the things I love about him. It usually starts with silly, mundane things and ends up with super serious soul-searching type stuff. Then I mail the list to Hubs. It's always fun to get some mail. Anyway, I'm sad to say that this is the first time I've done it since M was born. Being a mom is so time consuming, you know? But if you are a mom, I encourage you to spend some time thinking about why you love your spouse. Write it down. Send him an e-mail. Do something. Your relationship is a partnership, so don't put him on the rung below your child. He belongs higher up. Don't neglect him. When I had M, we hit hard times because I focused 100% on her and Hubs was kind of on the wayside of all of that. M and I were safe in our little Mommy/baby heaven bubble, and Hubs was on the outside looking in. Because of my PPD, I was terrified to let her out of my site, so his time with her was rough, too, because I was hanging over him like a vulture when he was with her. It took me realizing that I needed to focus on him and we needed to focus on raising our child together, not on just me being a mommy, before we really started to get better. I have to remember that he's not just my husband, he's my best friend. Half of the whole. So remember your better half. Treat him better than you would treat yourself. Remember that he's the person that you fell in love with. Your child is a pronounced product of that love. You're a team.

Back to the thread of the Love Project, though. I was shocked as I wrote my list how much it has changed since M was born. I mean, the usual things were still there:

* I love how we both get "the jerks" when we're falling asleep, and end up keeping each other awake.

* I love how you eat your sandwiches in a square.

* I love how you've got that He-Man aura going on when you grill.

But there were so many new things to add to the soul searching part:

* I love the person you are when you're with M. I'm proud that she can have the kind of daddy who should be respected, but who isn't afraid to dive head first into the frog pool to make her smile (That's against the rules, by the way. It says right there on the side 'no diving.').

* I love how you go into M's room every night and pray for her while she's sleeping. You think I don't know, but I do. You don't know how important it is to know that your parents pray.

* I love how you play your guitar for her and sing songs for her. I want her to be musical, like you.


And so on and so on. My list is 7 pagers long this time, with two columns per page, front and back. It gets longer every time I write it.

It's funny that Hubs asked me about Edward today. He never knows when I'm writing the list. So it struck me as funny that he would ask today, after I had written out, sealed, and stamped his letter. Because my love for him is the way it should be. It's bigger than it was yesterday. And if I continue to focus on that, focus on the good, and focus on what's best for him (and M), and not worry about my needs so much, well, it can only get better from here.

Wow, I think I can actually sleep now. Good night and good rest, my bloggy friends.

LOST character of the week

The Island's Next Top Model

Ah, Desmond. Everyone’s favorite freak-in-the-hatch turned boyfriend. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? Once upon a time there was a very attractive man named Desmond Hume (cue harp music)...

Desmond is originally from Glasgow, Scotland (love Scotland!). He was engaged to some chick named Ruth for awhile, but he decided that he would rather join a monastery than marry her. Talk about a blow to your self esteem. A simple, “I have cold feet,” would have worked, Des. Des completes his vow of silence and is promptly beaten to a pulp by Ruth’s brother. Can’t say he didn’t deserve it. My brother probably would have done the same thing because he’s fearsome protective. Desmond solves his problem the only way people on this show know how to. He breaks into the wine cellar and drowns his sorrows. The head monk finds him and kicks him out of the order because they can’t have drunk monks stumbling around. That would just be embarrassing. While he’s leaving, though, the head monk asks him if he’ll help a lady load some wine in her car. The wino lady is Penny and it’s true love at first site, y’all!

The next time we see Des, he’s being released from military prison and being given a dishonorable discharge. A chap in a truck picks him up. It turns out to be Charles Widmore, aka everyone’s daddy. He shows Desmond a box of letters from him to Penny. Desmond calls him a bad name. Then he shows him a box full of money; a bribe to stay away from Penny. Then Widmore calls him a coward. I would like to find this man’s mom and spit in her face because she obviously didn’t hug him enough.

Cut to Desmond in a coffee shop. He orders a coffee and can’t pay for it, but it’s red-haired Libby to the rescue! She buys his coffee and listens to his desires to sail around the world in a race sponsored by Charles Widmore so he can get some of Daddy Warbuck’s money. He reveals that he didn’t take CW’s bribe to stay away from Penny but CW still managed to separate them. Libby gives him her dead husband’s boat. Desmond promises her that he will win the race “for love.”

Desmond’s running bleachers in the stadium because that’s what hardcore sailors do, yo! He has his cryptic conversation with Jack and then Penny runs up, crying and practically throwing herself at him. He pushes her away and tells her to stand back because he’s gotta do his thing. Or something like that. I stopped paying attention for a minute.

Des crashes on the beach on the island and a man in a yellow biohazard suit drags him to the hatch. Not a good sign. The man is Kelvin Inman and he teaches Desmond a riddle about a snowman. They are best buds in the making! Kelvin types in the numbers and calmly explains to Desmond that this is now his job and if he doesn’t do it, the world will explode. He shows Desmond the Orientation film. When Desmond mentions the missing parts, Kelvin says….wait for it….wait for it…..”RADSINSKI MADE SOME EDITS!” Poor man’s Paul Giamatti. Kelvin goes on to say that Radsinski used to be his partner. Zoinks!

Kelvin tells Desmond that he can’t go outside without a biohazard suit or a shot of yellow Kool-Aid in the arm or he’ll get infected. With Danielle’s cooties. We also learn that Radsinski was the one painting the invisible map on the hatch door and Radsinski killed himself in the hatch. Desmond finds out that Kelvin is trying to escape on his sailboat. They get in a slapfight and Kelvin hits his head on some rocks and it’s lights out for him. Desmond goes back to the hatch and the place is going nuts! Hierogyphics and furniture flying everywhere! He calms the hatch back down by entering the numbers then sits down to have a pity party. He’s decided there’s nothing left to live for when he hears Locke banging on the door of the hatch.

In short, he meets the survivors, makes friends with them, and teaches Locke about the numbers. Locke is all about the number. If it were a person, he would marry it. Then the summer love vibe wears off and Locke resents the number for never taking him out on Friday nights so he decides to see what happens when he ignores the number. What happened was that the sky turned freaking purple and someone blew an extra loud dog whistle, only humans could hear it. Maybe it was a human whistle. Anyway, bad stuff happens. The kind of stuff that would make Scooby and Shaggy hide in a mummy’s tomb with a Dagwood sandwich. But it’s Des to the rescue! He climbs under the hatch and turns the failsafe key, keeping the horrible thing from continuing. Then, a treat for us, the hatch explodes and not only blows Desmond into the middle of the jungle, it blows his clothes off in the process. Bonus! After being exploded by the purple light in the hatch, Desmond realizes he can see into the future. He goes into full on Alice catatonic states where he sees horrible things happening to the island hobbit, Charlie. He devotes himself to saving Charlie, but after awhile he realizes that he can’t stop the inevitable and tells Charlie as much. They swim to the looking glass station together to contact the freighter. Desmond occupies himself with killing Mikhail while Charlie locks himself in a watery cell, complements of Mikhail. Before he dies, he writes Des a message on his hand that it is not Penny’s boat. Desmond flies to the freighter but keeps time traveling. Faraday tells him he has to find a constant and he picks Penny. Aww. Warm fuzzies all around . He and Sayid confront Michael in the engine room of the freighter and he tells him he’s about to drop the bomb on that boat. Des and Sayid jump on the chopper right before the freighter explodes and Des finds himself back in the arms of his beloved Penny. He and Penny live on a boat and have a cute little munchkin named Charlie. Later Ben shows up and shoots Des, but it doesn’t get past Des’ awesome grocery bag and Desmond beats the doo doo out of Ben and throws him in the ocean. Yay! The last we saw of Desmond, he was recovering nicely in a hospital.

Sawyer nicknames: Scottie

Off Island Connections: He met jack while running in the stadium. He spent three years in the hatch with Kelvin Inman. Kelvin was Sayid’s commanding officer. He meets Libby and she gives him her husband’s boat. He sees Charlie playing his guitar on the street in one of his time travel flashbacks.

Sources: Lostpedia, Wikipedia, lost.about.com, Season 2 and 3, my brain and memory

Letters

Dear M,

Thanks for the stomach virus, sweetie. Loves!

Dear Hubs,

I appreciate you wanting to help when I'm sick. But when I've been heaving my guts out for the past 12 hours, the last thing I need is you ordering a pizza with lots of foot cheese on it for you and M for supper. At least warn me next time so I can retreat to the back room before the pizza gets here.

Dear Phenegren,

I love you.

Dear Hobby Lobby,

I love you, too. Especially love that you had patterns on sale for 99 cents this week. Hello! You rock!

Dear Neighbor's cat,

STOP PEEING ON OUR NEWSPAPER

Dear World,

Just because I was sick to my stomach this weekend does NOT mean that I'm pregnant. I am not pregnant!

Dear Media,

Surely there is something more in the world for you to talk about than John and Kate Gosselin. Please, talk about something else. Anything else (except Heidi and Spencer).

Dear Hobby Lobby (again),

Um, in case you didn't know, it's June. June. So why are there already Christmas decorations for sale in your store? I'm confused. Am I supposed to buy my decorations now instead of September when I usually buy them?

Dear Michele

Who should I write about this week?