Totally, Pleasantly Surprised

We all thought she was done with vampires and werewolves for the time being. Since Midnight Sun was leaked, we haven't heard much about whether or not she'd continue the series. She very well could, there's the whole Jacob-Renesmee path she could follow. That would be really cool.

So, when I got a message that she'd updated her website, I was pleasantly surprised by what I found.

Introducing the Eclipse novella: The short second life of Bree Tanner. Those of you who have read Eclipse will remember Bree Tanner. She is a very minor player, toward the end of the book. This novella is about her. It comes out the beginning of June. I'm so excited!!


And I'm glad that S.M. is back, writing about vampires. I'm sorry. I tried to read The Host, but I couldn't. I don't know if it just wasn't for me, or maybe I'm not motivated to read anything except for Jane Eyre (thank you Bronte-along) right now. This book, however, has gotten me really excited.

I know, I'm such a nerd! Two Twilight-themed posts in one day! First, the "Team Jacob" track suits and now this. I must admit, I'm a little obsessed. I watched New Moon last night, and started re-reading the book (4th time) yesterday. Yeah.

Oh, and while I'm blogging about Twilight Saga stuff, did I mention that Colton's Angels is having an ECLIPSE PARTY?! Yes! They have teamed up with Borto-Deseret Orphanage to host another FABULOUS party. They booked the midnight showing at the Orem Cinemark and we are seriously going to have the best party ever!

So, stay tuned for more details about the party. Remember, proceeds go to benefit the orphanage and Colton's Angels, who will be doing Festival of Trees again this year. For more information, please visit their blogs/websites. They both are really amazing causes, and well worth while.

If you are interested in donating items for the door prizes, or would just like some more information about Colton's Angels, Borto Deseret, or the party itself, please feel free to email Colton's Angels at coltonsangels@gmail.com We look forward to seeing everyone at the party. It's going to be awesome!


Oh, and you can read the book for free here after June 5th for 1 month! Also, some of the proceeds from the physical book sales will go to the American Red Cross. How cool is that?

My favorite new outfit(s)

I realize that this picture is a little dark, but it shows a small glimpse of my no-longer fat chin. :) No full on face/body shots yet....Have to get my hair done first!

Mike found these track suits on Amazon for $11!! We all got a pair (some of us got 2!) The Team Edward suits weren't very cute. While I am totally on Team Edward, as far as the books are concerned, I can't help but be on Team Jacob for the movie versions!

The right pant leg has paw prints! I love it!

And of course, I had to get the set in pink! I wish I had ordered the navy blue ones as well! They are really comfortable. And for $11 a set, you can't beat that!

Help me! I'm a little blogger challenged!

How do you add a link to a post? Anyone know? I'm trying to link a post from my other blog to a previous post here on this blog. I have absolutely no idea how to do it! AAHH! I am so challenged!!

(Note: It could have something to do with the 3 y.o. standing yelling in my ear: "I want my DS and my pen and my charger and my headphones! I want it I want it I want it I want it I want it!" despite my best efforts to tell him that "You can have it when mommy's done working....in a minute." Guess I'd better go find the rest of the stuff now that he's practically mangled the crap out of his headphones.)

Another March OPAM finish!

I have been working on this fun little cross stitch since 2001, when I was in high school. Yes, I know, it's pathetic that it's taken me 9 years to finish it. But, thanks to OPAM 2010, I actually had a reason to finish it!
It turned out really great. I don't really have anywhere for it yet, so I'm not going to frame it as of right now. I have a file of complete cross-stitchings, so I think it'll go in there until I'm ready for it.

It comes from Stoney Creek's Splish Splash Splendor book. It's called "Just Like Mom."

The book has a lot of fun patterns. I think I want to do the kids brushing their teeth and maybe the outhouse, someday....Perhaps when I have oodles of time to start another project!

I really like the one of the little boy sitting on the potty, too...it kind of reminds me of my little guy.

Anyway, glad I had another finish for OPAM in March. And just in time, too! I finished late last night, and would have posted, but Blogger was being dumb and wouldn't let me upload any pictures. For rude! Glad it actually cooperated with me this time!

One of these things is not like the other....

I bought a puzzle from KMart about a month and a half ago. It's really cute. It's a Charles Wysocki, and it had an antique store with a "Quilts for Sale" sign and everything. It was totally me.

Imagine my sadness when I finished the puzzle and was missing a few edge pieces! I emailed the company about it. They apologized and said they'd send me a replacement if I would provide the puzzle brand/line, name, and UPC.

See? Isn't it the cutest puzzle?! I LOVE IT! It's a MB puzzle, Charles Wysocki Americana line, "Peppercricket Farms" puzzle.

This is what I got in the mail: A Hasbro brand, Big Ben line, stupid boat picture. And it's UGLY! Did they get confused by the labels or something? I mean, seriously, what is up with that?! If I had wanted an ugly picture of boats, I would've bought an ugly picture of boats instead of the cute Charles Wysocki.

Seriously? Is this how all companies handle their customer service? My mom bought a puzzle from a different company (not Hasbro) once, about three years ago, and just put it together in January. It was missing a piece. She called them and they sent her out, get this: THE EXACT SAME PUZZLE. 3 years later! What are the odds? I only waited a weekend to contact Hasbro. What a novel idea to send the customer what they want, and not some ugly boat picture!

Anyone else had this happen?

How I feel

I feel like this. Glad I'm not the only one!

In need of a quilt pattern

I need help.


I have a wedding coming up this summer. Not mine, (I'm already married, remember?) but a friend's.

Anyway, I usually make a quilt for close friends and/or family who get married. This is the problem:

1) I can't tell what her colors are from her registry. The towels they registered for are stone colored, and the dishes are turquoise, red and gold. That's the only color in their whole registry.

2) I don't have a lot of time until the big day, so it can't be too complex.

3) I usually do a throw or wallhanging size quilt. Nothing too big.

SO! What do I do? I love color over neutrals, but are neutrals safer? And what's a fun, quick, and easy pattern that will look like it was hard but again, was really EASY?

Any help would be great :)

Some precious moments

I love this smiling boy so much! He is such a cheeser in front of the camera. Usually his eyes aren't open. I love that they are in this picture.

The other night Marshy was playing in his room and watching a movie. Mike called me up around 8 PM to look at what Marshy was doing. Oh, yeah, he's totally asleep.

I don't know what happened to his pants. He probably left them in the bathroom!

He was so tired I didn't even wake him up to get him into jammies. I just turned him onto his pillow and covered him up with his blankie. Sweet boy.

We've been letting him stay up later and later every night, in the hopes that he will quit waking up at 5 AM. So far it's working. He's so cute about it too. He knows he can play with toys until 8 PM and then it's bedtime. It helps that it gets darker around 8, too. That's part of the reason why we changed bedtime from 7 to 8....it was too light at 7!

Hell has frozen over!

Wednesday afternoon, around 1 PM, I went to Wal-mart to get a few things, and decided that just for the heck of it I would see if they had Toy Story and Toy Story 2 on DVD/blu-ray combo pack. After the ordeal I went through with Wal-Mart and trying to get Princess and the Frog (I eventually drove up to Orem to Toys R Us to get it, since Wal-mart only got in 12 for release day!) I was totally surprised to find a whole shelf full of both of the movies.

I called Mike and told him how surprised I was. Fortunately, I had my Toys R Us ad and my $10 off each movie coupons. SO! Instead of the $25 Wal-mart was charging, they price matched TRU to $17 each. Then I had $10 off each, so I spent a whopping $14 for both movies, both in combo packs. That means we have the DVD AND the blu-ray of both!

Marshy is so happy. He's beat the crap out of our other DVDs, so I'm glad we got the combo packs, because he can watch the movies again on his TV in his room :)

Put it in the Bank!

This morning Marshy woke up and came downstairs to say hello to me. I had fallen asleep on the couch late last night after working on the NOM tie quilt. I got another row done, just need to attach it to the other 4.

Anyway, he had found a penny on the floor. It must've fallen out of my purse or someone's pocket or something. He picked it up, climbed up on my lap and said "Mom, put it in the bank."

How he knows to put things in the bank is beyond me! Maybe it's because we keep telling him he can buy things, like moon sand, paperoni, etc, with his own money....except he doesn't have any. We do give him pennies on occasion, so maybe we should buy him a little bank he can keep his money in.

I just thought it was too cute! "Put it in the bank, Mom!"

Wootoff at Shirt.Woot = Lots of shirts

It was a 1 hour woot off! at Woot! today. Mike has been eyeing several of these shirts for a while, and snapped up some of the following because they were only $12 with free shipping.


I love Cookie Monster. Mike didn't as much, so we didn't get it, but I thought I'd share. This shirt just makes me laugh.
"Join us. Or don't. Whatever." Classic!

This is totally Mike. He loves origami. It's also totally me. I hate origami.

This is so true. I'm sure that if there were still T-rexes on the Earth, we'd have to buy one and use it to get him (or me) to exercise!

"The best thing since bread....." heh heh heh

This is the #1 favorite shirt of all time for him. It was the first one he bought.

Images from woot.com

Food Woes

So I've been freaked out a little lately that Marshy won't eat a lot.

Like, yesterday he wanted a lemon poppyseed muffin (from Sam's), so Mike cut him half. He ate it, and I gave him the other half, but had to practically feed it to him to get him to finish. For some reason I didn't see that a muffin was much of a lunch, so I tried to get him to eat more food, which he wouldn't. I was upset and angry that he was being so "naughty" and uncooperative.


UNTIL I read the nutrition facts label on the bottom of the muffin box. Each muffin has 610 calories. 610 CALORIES I couldn't believe it! It was insane! And here I'd just force-fed him 305 of those 610 calories and tried to make him eat more!! I felt so bad. From now on I'm going to read all the labels before I force the child to eat food! Because, for a kid who's used to only having 300-400 calories per meal, 610 is A LOT!

OPAM 2010 - March Finish

So I almost didn't make it this month, but I finally have a finish for OPAM!! I've been working on this cute little easter cross stitchery since February, and I have it done just in time for Easter in a few weeks!

Sorry the picture's not that great, I'll try to get a better one once I get it framed (which is hopefully this weekend).

I'm hoping to get a couple of quilts bound by the end of the month, too, but we'll see what happens. BUT! I'm not going to get my hopes up.

Detour

I was going to sew tonight.

Instead, I decided to reorganize the kitchen cupboards.

I just redid the cupboards at Christmas-time. It amazed me how much stuff I had that was expired by like 4 years. I'm surprised I didn't throw it away the last time I redid the cupboards. But, it's in the trash now :)

I have oodles of room in my cupboards now.... sort of. I was able to clean the top of the fridge off, so now my George Foreman grill resides there, freeing up a teeny tiny bit of counterspace. YAY!

So, now that I've done 5 of my cupboards, I'm going to go sew. Hoping to finally get a finish for OPAM 2010 this month!!

I got it! I got it!

I am now the proud owner of this! I got one of the last 2 at Toys R Us today. I had them hold it for me :) YAY! I got it cheaper than Walmart was selling it, too. That's always a plus! :)

It is such a cute movie. Marshall has already watched it 1 1/2 times! He loves this movie. I love it too. It is so cute! If you haven't seen it yet, go rent it .... or buy it! :D

NOM tie quilt

I'm working on a HUGE, MASSIVE, GINORMOUS quilt for a client. If you look closely, you'll see the blocks are made up of triangles. There are 82 blocks. They measure 9 1/4 in finished, each. Each row has 8 blocks, and there are 10 rows. This is just the first 4 rows. I'm hoping to get the next 4 rows finished and added on tomorrow. There will also be a border around the outside, and then I have to quilt and bind it.

Pre School

Looking for a really great preschool to send Marshy to this fall. The one I wanted to send him to just filled up last week. I was 3 days too late! BOO!!! I am on the waiting list, but she won't know until May.

I don't want to just sit and hope and pray that someone drops out of her preschool. Because what if I wait and I don't get him in, and then everyone else is full? So, does anyone have any suggestions? I don't want to drive too far, so if you know of anyone in the Springville to Payson area (preferably Spanish Fork or Salem), then let me know, please!

THANKS!

Bronte Along

OMG! Melissa over at yummygoods is hosting a Bronte Along. I'm so excited! First up is Jane Eyre.

You know, it's funny, because I actually just downloaded the e-book onto my Droid Eris a few weeks ago, and have started reading it. I'm on Chapter 3! Hoping to actually finish the book this time around (tried reading it a year ago, made it to page 2!). It's going to be so much fun with a whole bunch of other fans.

Also, might convince Mike to let me buy the 2006 Masterpiece Theater version of the movie. IT'S AWESOME! If you haven't seen it, check it out from your library, Blockbuster/Hollywood/Netflix, watch it on YouTube, or buy it! It's worth it, trust me!

Can't wait to see who shows up to join us on the Bronte Along!!! (with a promised Austen-along afterwards! EEEK! So excited!!)

UPDATE:

MARCH 31, 2010:

So, what is the Bronte-Along? I might not have clarified when I originally posted. We read the book, watch the movie(s), make something crafty that is inspired by the particular book/movie we are currently on.

I am participating by watching the 2006 Masterpiece Theater/BBC version of the movie and reading the book. I hope to have time to make something crafty, but I'm unsure of what I want to do at the moment.

Also, make sure you check out the fabulous ladies who started the whole Bronte-Along: Melissa's blog over at Yummy Goods, Beth Dunn's blog over at An Accomplished Young Lady, and their combined project over at Eggplantia (egg-plant-ee-ah).

BRONTE-ALONG ARCHIVE:

You can find my other Bronte-Along related posts here:

Momentary Set Back via Designs by Laura Jo

Missing You Still

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We miss him every day. It helps to keep him close though, by talking about him almost daily. We remember him with our group: Colton's Angels. His picture is on our bookshelf, at the foot of our front stairs where we see him every day. It's hard to believe that it's been two years.

But, we find comfort in knowing that we will see him again.

We miss you Colton, and love you always!

Can I just say I'm excited?!

10 second teaser trailer....makes me want to see more.

Below: I'm not sure if this is official or not, I found it on Youtube. The real trailer isn't supposed to come out until Friday, at the start of Remember Me (Rob Pattinson's new movie). Anyway, real or not, hoping it's real as that's how it looks, it looks AWESOME!

So behind

So I've decided to start rejoining in the FlyLady system/routine. I did really good last week. My entrance was always clean (it did need to be steamed, but then it rained and snowed so I had to put my rug back down). My dining room table is actually cleared off and that corner is decluttered! I actually folded and put away ALL the laundry, instead of leaving some (or all) of it in the laundry hampers. I even swept my front porch!



This week we're supposed to be in the kitchen. The kitchen is where I spend a good chunk of time now. I make 3 different meals for dinner: 1 for Mike, 1 for Marsh (unless he's cooperative and eats what Mike's having), and then my special HCG meal. I have like seriously no counter space again. If anyone finds a really cheap (like under $50) kitchen cart, please let me know... I need to expand my kitchen desperately!

Here is my kitchen in a nutshell. It is so tiny that when the dishwasher is open, you can't open the fridge more than 2 inches. Once I managed, somehow miraculously, to get a gallon of milk out while the dishwasher was open. Once.

So, back to the kitchen. On the left side of the sink live the Kitchenaid stand mixer, the blender, and the crock pot. On the right side of the sink lives the rotating spice rack, the knife block, all of the cutting boards I own, and the George Foreman grill. On the counter between the oven and fridge lives the microwave.

I would like to note that with all of the counters there are small cupboards below and above. There are 2 small cupboards above the fridge and the stove. The cupboards on the long side of the kitchen (side with the sink) don't go to the ceiling, so I have a lot of stuff stored up on top, like the griddle, the rice cooker, the deep fryer, the other crock pot, and some oversized bowls that don't fit anywhere else.

So, back to the FlyLady thing.... we're supposed to clear our counters off COMPLETELY and wipe them down. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Unless I want to trip and kill myself by putting the stuff on the floor, this one isn't getting done anytime soon. Also, scrubbing the faucet with a toothbrush? I don't know about you, but the only non-electric toothbrush I own is the one I got from the periodontist because I can't brush with an electric one yet (still having gum issues).

So the odds of getting this week's flying done are slim to none. Plus, I don't have a lot of energy this week. I don't know why. I'm super excited about starting Phase 3 of the HCG, which means that I'll be cooking even MORE, but I can eat EGGS, and natural Peanut Butter, and CHEESE!! I'm so excited!

I'm more than willing to accept any advice/tips you might have for me on solving my kitchen problem. Did I mention that on the other side of the tall cupboard is the garbage can, then the dining room table (which is really a card table) that hides the food processor, which is still in its box because there isn't any room for it on the counter or in a cupboard? Yeah....HELP ME PLEASE!!!

And don't suggest I dejunk my electronics/appliances, because I already got rid of a SLURPEE machine, a fondue set, a waffle iron, and a broken blender. :)

Chuck E Cheese's

Yesterday Mike was watching Marshy while I worked late (huge quilt...like, seriously MASSIVE... that needed to be finished). Well, Marshy wanted a string cheese. Mike got him one, and he said "YAY! Chuck E Cheese!" Mike didn't understand. He looked at the label, and realized the cheese was a Chuck E Cheese brand. He said "Yes, it is Chuck E Cheese." Marshy smiled and said "Chuck E Cheese for my birthday?"

Ummm.....yeah, he must've seen the commercials on the TV. Unfortunately he has to wait until September, and we won't be going to Chuck E Cheese.....maybe Pirate Island though (like last year). We'll let ya'all know in September! haha

IKEA and toast

We LOVE Ikea. But, we haven't been there for a long time.

This weekend we went to Ikea. The whole drive up, Marshy kept talking about how excited he was to do things and see things there. What the?? We honestly haven't been there for about 6 months, and he remembers everything about it.

Of course, the boys wanted to eat lunch there. I couldn't eat anything they had, so I got a water and watched them eat. Then we went to Texas Roadhouse and they watched me eat some steak and broccoli. I've had better steaks. I was really disappointed and sad. :(


Also this weekend, we discovered just how smart Marshy really is. While I was at work on Saturday, Mike was watching him. He made him a PBJ sandwich before going upstairs. A few minutes later, he heard Marshy yelling "hot bread! hot bread! Owie owie owie! hot bread!" Mike went downstairs to discover that Marshy had gotten bread out of the fridge, put it in the toaster and made toast ALL BY HIMSELF! What the?? He helped me once, the other day, make toast.

Oh yeah, and he can also print stuff off of the computer by himself after watching me do it once. He's a smarty. :)

Scared for my life

So, as far as I can remember, I have never really been scared for my life. Yes, there have been "Oh crap that was close!" moments, like when avoiding a car accident, but nothing like what happened tonight.

I'm out of my special HCG diet food. :( I needed to go to the store to get more before tomorrow. I also needed to take some garbage out to the dumpster. I put my coat on and walked out to the dumpster with the garbage bag. As I got closer, something bolted across the parking lot. Now, our parking lot has NO lights. Zero, Zip, NADA. It is pitch black out there! We have 2 dumpsters, one on the south side of the parking lot and one on the east side. The one by the east side is on the other side of a wall that separates our complex from a business parking lot, which DOES have a light. That's the dumpster I walked toward.

So, this thing bolts across the parking lot, goes past me, then stops. I didn't really know what it was other than it was HUGE. I knew it was looking at me, but I couldn't see it's eyes. Turns out it was a dog. A big dog. That was really scary in the dark.

I tried not to act like I was scared, cuz of the whole "animals can smell fear thing." I threw the garbage away and turned to walk back to my car. Then the thing barked at me. It was loud and scary and totally unexpected. I screamed. Every time I took a step forward it would bark at me and jump back a few feet.

I finally gave up, and called Mike from the middle of the parking lot, TOTALLY freaking out. The dog was sure making it hard for me to get to my car. He finally took off around the side of the building and I bolted for my car.

Then I called the SFPD and made a complaint. That was about an hour and a half ago. They said they'd send an officer out. Still haven't heard anything. Do you think they'll show up?

I think the dog belongs to our neighbors down the street. I've seen the dog in the afternoons running around loose. I really hope they catch the dog (I think he's a boxer??) and give the people a dog at large ticket, because being scared to death in the middle of a pitch black parking lot at 8:30 is SO NOT COOL.

Pre-ordered :)

Just pre-ordered this at Amazon on blu-ray, for only $21.99. That's a deal, because a few weeks ago it was closer to $30.

Also, just found out that the Eclipse trailer will premiere before Remember Me (Robert Pattinson's new movie, which I do not intend to see), which means that soon it will be up for my viewing pleasure on the internet :)

Can't wait until March 22nd when the movie comes and I can watch hot Jacob turn into a werewolf.

Jelly Roll Quilt Along

This is my first block for Moose on the Porch Quilts Jelly Roll Quilt Along. I'm so excited to see what the rest of the blocks will be! It uses some yardage and a whole jelly roll. I don't have a jelly roll, but I did have a stack of fat quarters, so I'm using those. It's Strawberry Lemonade. I love the colors: very bright, good for a baby quilt, or just for me :)

The block was really quick and easy to piece, too. I got it done in just under an hour (screwed up and had to unpick a bunch or it would've been done sooner).

I'm really looking forward to the next block in 2 weeks. For more info, click the link above, your you can click on the button in my sidebar.

National Craft Month

March is National Craft Month. This month, my goal is to spend at least 1 night a week crafting. I have so many crafts in progress (quilts, cross stitching, needlepoint, felt, beads, scrapbook, etc.) that 1 night a week this month might actually get me some stuff done!

So, I challenge all you crafters to spend only 1 night a week working on a craft (or crafts) and post your progress. Let's see how much we can get done this month!

Fun and Family

We had FHE last night at the shop. We had dinner (Sloppy Joe's) and played BINGO. Marshy decided he didn't want to finish his food.... so Sparky finished it for him! haha

We also recently purchased one of those puzzle keepers.... you know, the things that roll up your puzzle so if you don't want to leave it out you can neatly put it away without wrecking all your work. I LOVE doing puzzles (must be where Marshy gets it from) and have recently bought like 6, but couldn't ever do them because I didn't want to leave them out. Here is the puzzle that I finished last night. It's a flower shop. :) Now I'm working on one that has an antique shop and a quilt store and other fun things. I'll post a picture when I'm done :)