Phew...

It's been a long and chaotic month! The let-down following the first big test (i.e., 'oh, I have free time...what is this thing - "free time"'), the craziness of attending my first convention of 7,000 for a week while pregnant and missing my husband like crazy, and then the general nuttiness of being in my 7 month of pregnancy and learning things like 'oh, nope, tying your own shoes is no longer an option, sorry.'

Combine all this with a trip back to the East Coast (being pregnant and flying is no bueno) and a nasty, nasty cold (most likely picked up at convention) and my Christmas was pretty much spent cuddling with a box of tissues and trying to communicate with the wonderful family around me through a dripping nose.

Sigh. I could have used like three more days on the East Coast and a week back home to continue to sort through the chaos that is our house in disarray. Apparently, turning an office into a nursery is a lot more time consuming than one would think when you add in the holidays, and full time jobs, and uh, inability to do any heavy lifting.

I am thankful for many things this holiday season, but today, as I get ready for work, I'm mostly just thankful for tissue.

It's the little things.

Here's hoping your own holidays were merry, and filled with joy.
And not tissue.

3D snowflake tutorial (with cell phone pics)

With my first licensing test behind me (I passed, wohoo!), this weekend was a chance to start organizing the baby's future room, get caught up on socializing for the first time in a month and engage in some holiday fun! That meant finding our Christmas tree, an adventure laden trip to downtown's craft mecca Moskatel's for lights and decorations, and engaging in some no-crafty-skills-needed crafty activities.

This year, I've made quite a few 3D snowflakes, and after trying to describe them to friends, I realized pictures make for a better explanation.

Please excuse the crappy cell phone pics...I don't have a fancy pants iphone, and I'm far to lazy to bust out the real camera.

1) Tools needed for this project: 6 sheets of paper, clear tape and a stapler.

Note on the paper: you can use cheap computer paper, but your snowflakes will wilt after a few days, go for something with a little heft.

2) If using 8 by 12 paper, fold and cut so it's a triangle.

3) Make cuts into the paper, following the triangle shape, make three cut triangles.

4) This is what the paper should look like unfolded.

5) Begin to roll the inner triangle together, and secure with tape.

6) Flip the paper and roll the next triangle from the other side, secure with tape, continue until the all triangles have been rolled and taped.

7) One sheet of paper should now look like the pic below. This is one 'arm' of the snowflake.

8) When all six sheets of paper are rolled and taped, it should look like the pic below.

9) Staple the tips of each arm together - I do three at a time, then join both sections. Then I staple where each arm touches each other together -- this makes it more stable.

10) And voila - a finished 3D snowflake. I've hung a few from the ceiling in a corner.

Crafting for non-crafty people.

I'll attribute my recent crafting fantasies to any number of reasons right now -- pregnancy, the lure of the holidays, oh and...yeah, desire to procrastinate studying for my big test next Monday.

I have big plans to make a scarf for myself for our Christmas trip back east, and even bigger plans to save some money this year by crafting holiday gifts for other people.

As much as I wish I knew how to sew (since many, many of my crafting fantasies involve a sewing machine), my one attempt six years ago to make a purse went horribly awry (think sewn fingers and broken machine), and I'm often relegated to trolling etsy.com late at night staring wistfully at bags I know I should be able to make myself.

Masters degree and career = check.
Crafting and sewing = fail.

So of course when I stumbled across this instructional guide to make a bag (think reusable grocery store tote) using DUCT TAPE and STAPLES, I almost crapped myself.

And yes, you read that right...duct tape and staples. The crapping not so much...I'm just trying to emphasize my excitement.
Really, this is pure genius.

Except I haven't actually tried to make it yet. Regardless, I thought I'd pass along the instructions...in case you also consider sewing machines tools of the devil.

Tools and Materials:
Scissors
Pencil or fabric marker
1 yard home-decorating or upholstery-weight fabric
Heat 'n' Bond Iron-on Vinyl (available at craft store)
Iron
2 yards of 1-inch or wider webbing (for straps)
Stapler
Duct tape in complementary color (um...try Home Depot)

What to do:
1. Cut a 20-by-36-inch piece of home-decorating or upholstery-weight fabric. Line the back of the fabric with iron-on vinyl to protect and reinforce.
2. Fold fabric in half, right sides together, to create a rectangle 20 inches wide by 18 inches tall, with the fold at the bottom.
3. Fold down and crease the top raw edge to create a 2-inch hem on the top, front, and back.
4. Mark where you would like the straps to go and staple the straps onto one side of the bag. Only staple through the strap and the folded over fabric, so that the staples do not show on what will be the front of the bag. Repeat on other side.
5. Use two strips of duct tape to cover the staples and "hem" the top of the bag. Trim the extra duct tape with scissors.
6. Fold the bag so right sides are together. Mark a seam line 1/2 inch from each edge. Staple up the sides of bag along the seam line. Cover seam with a long piece of duct tape, folded lengthwise over the raw edge. Trim the extra duct tape.
7. Create a gusset by flattening the inside-out bag with the seams together. Mark a line perpendicular to the seam, about 3 1/2 inches from the "point" at the bottom of each seam. Staple along this line. Cover the staples with duct tape and trim excess.
8. Turn bag right-side out.

And that's it, in theory...

(via Martha Stewart)

Doggies!

I've been busy being pregnant and studying, so blogging has fallen by the wayside a bit...but my dogs are cute, right?

Hey Aiden - any gophers in there?

RJ's great morning capture at the dog park.

Would you turn away Lord Byron?

RJ and I hosted some of his work buddies for poker this weekend. It was a small group, most of whom aren't the biggest fans of dogs. Slightly problematic for us given we have two enormous guys, one of which (uh, Aiden) isn't happy unless he's managed to give our guests a thorough tongue bath.



Thinking to keep our guests dry, I bought a dog gate on Saturday morning, and promptly set it in the front door to air out the house. Neither RJ and I could believe we've been in our place this long without a dog gate. It's shocking really. Think of all the guests we could have protected, and all the fresh air we've been missing.



The gate served it's purpose wonderfully, and kept the pups from jumping on arriving guests. Mid-way through the night, after the dogs had settled down, we turned them loose and set the gate in the open front door.



All was well.



Until a large black lab we'd never seen rushed the house, knocked over the gate and began frolicking with Aiden in our living room. I grabbed Emmett as RJ tried to right the gate and wrangle Aiden who'd chased the lab outside. A scarily skinny guy stood on the porch mumbling at us, and at first, we thought it was his dog. A large-ish grey haired woman with barrettes huffed up our steps apologizing. Apparently she owned the enthusiastic lab, not the skinny guy.



I redirected my focus and tried to make out what skinny guy was saying as RJ manhandled Aiden through back through the door.



He asked us..."Would you turn away Lord Byron? Would you turn away William Blake? Would you turn away John Yeats?" His voice grew louder with each question.



I was confused...until I saw the tell-tale white froth on either side of his mouth.

Oh! He's cracked out.

Our open door, laughter and music was too much of a temptation for him. He wanted IN.

That wasn't going to happen. I do my good deeds/charity at work.
Not in my home at 11:00 at night.



We shut the door.
Apparently, we are the type of people who WOULD say no to Lord Byron.



RJ gave him a few minutes to clear off, then checked outside again.



It was the flair of the crack lighter that gave our guy away. He was hanging on the steps.



RJ just said "Yo man, time to get off the porch!" and the dude bolted, clearly not expecting to hear a disembodied voice coming from behind the door.



Oh, excitement.



We realized we've had no neighborhood incidents since RJ's car was broken into over a year ago - we were about due! I guess I'll take a Silverlake crack user who is easily persuaded to leave over the Echo Park heroin junkies shooting up in front of our old house any day.

You won Aiden!

To the victor goes the spoils!

One year ago today...

One year ago today, my husband and I were on our way to Hawaii to begin our honeymoon. We celebrated our one year anniversary this weekend and reminisced about all the craziness leading up to our wedding, the drama (thanks Maid of Honor) and joy (thanks everyone else) of the actual event and subsequent months.

One year plus one day after we handfasted and said our wedding vows, I find one of our readings resonates in a way I could only imagine a year ago...

"Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog" by Taylor Mali

First of all, it's a big responsibility, especially in a city like L. A.
So think long and hard before deciding on love.

On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you're walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love, ain't no one going to mess with you.
Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable.
Who knows what love could do in its own defense?

On cool winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.

Love doesn't like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.

Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.

Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose, not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know Don't you ever do that again!

Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk.
Because love loves exercise.
It runs you around the block and leaves you panting.
It pulls you in several different directions at once,
or winds around and around you until you're all wound up and can't move.

But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.

Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

In case you're not on Facebook or Flickr...

RJ and I spent a week in an amazing rented cabin up between Cambria and Big Sur the week before last. We went to Hearst Castle, saw some wild Zebra on the Hearst ranch lands, stared out off the deck at an incomprable view, rested, read and stuffed our faces. Of course, a week off means I came back to a serious shit storm at work (I guess the world DOES have a tough time functioning without me...ahem) and it feels like my vacation was just a dream.

On that note...

Dreamy.

Yup, that's a baby.

13 weeks today.

And this is why...

I can't seem to ever beat RJ at Scrabble online. Why, vowels, why?

Water police

We have a busybody neighbor. She's friendly with our out of state landlord, who did warn us this neighbor is a bit of a nosy wench.

We actually had to take a stance with our landlord at one point telling her we would no longer tolerate the neighbor's intrusions...she would come onto our property without permission -- she'd gone into our backyard several times ostensibly because she thought something was wrong with Emmett. Nope, he was just bored and howling. Kind of like what her two dogs do all day. Anyway, she'd moved stuff around back there and basically, I think it was her excuse to spy since she has a key to the house in case of emergencies...thanks to the landlord.

So nosy neighbor complained to our landlord about Emmett - of course, I think it was just to circumvent our complaining about her dogs, but irregarrdddlesss, the end result of which was Aiden.

Aiden's a nut, but I love him most days.

Every night at 11pm, I hear nosy neighbor watering her garden. And because I still resent that she came onto the property several times uninvited, I'm tempted to report her to the water police. Because that's just the kind of vindictive person I'm feeling like right now. And really, what gives her the right to water on days other than Tuesdays and Thursdays like the rest of draught stricken Southern Cali?

And just as I'm having this thought, it's like a little light bulb goes off above my head: I'm terribly middle-aged and suburban... already. That's sad.

Yay! Blip.fm

I'm sure this has been around forever. I just found it.
Fun!
http://blip.fm/invite/slanderific

It's not a Delorean, but...

I've toyed with the idea of selling my 11 (!) year old car for a a diesel converted vegetable oil car...but not only am I afraid of taking one of the last steps to fully committing to Silverlake yuppie-hood, used vegetable oil is just gross.

Surfing around for options outside of the Cash for Clunkers program, I found instructions to convert an old Honda Accord so it runs on everyday trash!! Talk about the ultimate green-machine.

Wait, why aren't more people doing this? Oh, right because it's incredibly complicated.

And way beyond my skill level.

I still think it's awesome, tho.

First blanket part

I have a co-worker who has been trying to quit smoking. The same co-worker taught me the basics of knitting this past winter, which led to several mangled attempts at making scarves.

Sadly, just as he was two weeks into his smoking cessation program, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He's now on medical leave, and to attempt in some way to bolster his spirits, let him know we're thinking about him, and thank him for teaching us to knit, several of us are knitting separate square to be crocheted together in a blanket.



Of course, given my actual limited knitting, square is a relative term.
But the thought is there.