I cant belive its almost here!

I can't wait! Only a couple of days now, I remember watching the very first movie, and being HOOKED! Its kinda sad to see the end of an era, but I'm super excited to see how they pull off the last part of the last book!
Heres the trailer!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mObK5XD8udk

Any other Harry Potter fans out there?

working with polymer for the first time

Yesterday I had the opportunity to work with polymer clay for the first time, and I think I'm hooked!

The doll is made out of wood but I molded the ears out of polymer, it was really easy to work with, simple instructions. It had a really nice consistency, and I think it turned out rather well :) This was also the first time I've been asked to do a custom pet doll, I really enjoyed it!

Kids...

My 7 year old: "Mommy can I have a cookie"

Me: "No, Its breakfast time! Maybe after lunch or dinner"

2 hours later...

"Mommy, now can I have a cookie?"
...
"What!? I ate lunch and dinner!!"

Sigh

A tripod can make all the difference

I had been procrastinating buying a tripod... I can take pictures without it, right?
My husband brought me home one today as a surprise :) and WOW what a difference it makes in my pictures!

BEFORE^

AFTER^

Needless to say: I LOVE it! <3

You can really see a big difference when the picture is full size.

If you're considering purchasing a tripod, I think its well worth the investment.

So now I have to decide if its worth it to go and re-photograph all the items in my shop ;)

Detour through Downtown

aka lost.

Ok, so my nearest Joann is hell and gone from my house, but theres a big sale!
So my daughter and I get in the car, and start driving.... road work! yuck... this reminds me of LA. Oh, the traffic and the smell of raw asphalt.

Everything feels surreal, like I've been here before, done this before, lived this day before, like its a dream.

Finally, we get to Joann. They're fairly busy, why? It's the middle of the day on a wednesday, oh well.

They are out of the fabrics I wanted to buy (stupid sale), I ask the lady who's cutting the rest of my fabrics if they have any behind the counter, I explain I already looked where they go, and three times she gestures to where they belong out on the shelves... ya I know... oh well. The people at Hobby Lobby are so much nicer.

I check out, I feel fuzzy and weird and out of it, yet alert at the same time.

I want to avoid the road work, but Im terrible at directions... Phoenix is pretty much a grid, so it should be easy, right? Wrong. Apparantly theres this one street that runs on a diagonal. Now, I swear I saw the street name I was looking for on the sign, but apparantly not. I ended up on the stupid diagonal street.

It doesn't look familiar, oh well, its been a while since I've been this way... It looks like San Pedro or Wilmington, down by the docks, when it should look like farms and deserty. Oh well...

Not until I see Downtown Phoenix come into view do I realize I've made a wrong turn somewhere... I don't live anywhere near downtown Phoenix and Joann is nowhere near downtown Phoenix! I'm lost!

Ok, no prob, I'll keep driving till I see a street name that looks familiar. Ding ding ding, we have a winner! Home we go! About a mile later I look at the name of the street I'm on just to make sure it's still right, they seem to be playing jokes on me today... What the heck! Wrong street! What is wrong with me! I swear I saw what I saw! I'm headed the wrong direction again! Exclamation Point!

Finally I take out the GPS, I hadn't before cause I thought I was seeing streets I knew, I thought I knew where I was, I didn't think I needed it.

The GPS takes me on a freeway, and finally to streets I know I know. It starts raining. Monsoon weather. The air feels charged.

The moral of the story, you ask? Well theres a few:

1. Don't ask me to drive, bad mistake.
2. Detours FTL
3. Phoenix is weird like that
4. Grand Sucks
5. Monsoons make me feel funny?
6. Don't always believe what you think you see.
7. Hobby Lobby > Joann

And I guess thats about it.

My Favorite Quotes

I'll probably update this from time to time ;)

Each of these mean something special to me.


The world has changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost. For none now live who remember it. -Galadriel LOTR 1

And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. -Galadriel LOTR 1

It’s the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more. -Dumbledore

It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. -Albus Dumbledore

I'm going to Hagrid's, I've got a good feeling about going to Hagrid's. -Harry Potter

Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real -Deathly Hallows

 You miss 100% of the shots you never take ~Wayne Gretzky

Tell the children the truth. -Bob Marley

Bob Marley isn't my name, I don't even know my name yet. -Bob Marley

The good times of today are the sad thoughts of tomorrow. -Bob Marley

Don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing is gonna be alright. - Bob Marley

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi

Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. Mahatma Gandhi

Be the change you want to see in the world -Gandhi

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt." Abraham Lincoln

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it. Abraham Lincoln

Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure. Abraham Lincoln

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. Abraham Lincoln

I will prepare and someday my chance will come. Abraham Lincoln

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln

Live out of your imagination, not your history. -Stephen Covey

A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble." - Mahatma Gandhi

I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me! -Dr Seuss

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. -Dr. Seuss

Be as you wish to seem. -Socrates

Beware the barrenness of a busy life. -Socrates

Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live -Socrates

The wisest men follow their own direction. - Euripides

I love humanity, its people I can’t stand. -Albert Einstein

A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy? -Albert Einstein

Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts. -Albert Einstein

Don't hate, it's too big a burden to bear. - Martin Luther King.

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. - John F. Kennedy

Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Plato

Every time I've done something that doesn't feel right, it's ended up not being right. - Mario Cuomo

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. -Ralph Waldo Emmerson

Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear. - Anthony Robbins

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world. -Archimedes

Minds are like parachutes - they only function when open. - Thomas Dewar

Unknown Funnies:

Haikus are easy.

But sometimes they don't make sense.

Refrigerator.

Does this rag smell like chloroform to you?

We are all time travelers moving at the speed of exactly 60 minutes per hour

Just about the time when you think you can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends.

I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly, and for the same reason.

The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

If God is watching us, the least we can do is be entertaining.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

If 4 out of 5 people SUFFER from diarrhea... does that mean that one enjoys it?

Some people are like Slinkies ... not really good for anything, but you can't help smiling when you see one tumble down the stairs.

The sole purpose of a child's middle name, is so he can tell when he's really in trouble.

Crowded elevators smell different to midgets.

When in doubt, mumble.

I always take life with a grain of salt, ...plus a slice of lemon, ...and a shot of tequila.

Whats your favorite quote?

Keeping a Dream Journal in May

I think this is a really weird coincidence:
I started a Dream Journal May 12, 2009, lost interest a couple of months later (looking through the dates in the book) then May 18, 2010 I picked it up again, and quickly lost interest once again.
 Now its May 10 2011 and Ive been thinking about my dream journal again. How weird is that? For the last 3 years my internal clock feels the need to record my dreams in May. This is the first year I recognized the pattern.

I haven't been dreaming any more often or about stranger things, I just have the urge to start writing them down again.  So, anyhow, this time around I intend to keep recording my dreams all year.
 Heres my dream journal, I bought a book that I really love, hoping that it would inspire me to use it more often.

When you first start recording your dreams, often it will be just a sentance or two, because you don't necessarily remember many details, but as you continue to try to write something down each morning, you, very quickly, tend to remember more and more details. I think I end up quitting writing in my dream journal when I start remembering so many details that I don't want to spend the time writing them down! But these are the really interesting dreams that I know I would enjoy going back and reading later! So maybe I'll only write the details that seem really important or relevant.

Here is an interesting article on the benefits of keeping a Dream Journal:
http://www.justhadadream.com/content/benefits-keeping-dream-journal

I wouldn't particularly keep an online dream jorurnal like this site offers, it seems a little creepy! I think our dreams really tell alot about us, and its not really something I'd paste all over the internet, but the site still has some interesting information on the subject.

and here is an E-How on how to keep a Dream Journal:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2059574_keep-dream-journal.html

a good article on how to format your entries:
http://www.dreammoods.com/dreaminformation/recallingdreams3.htm

Has anyone else had a dream come true? Yet another reason I wouldn't post my dreams on the internet, I don't want someone else benefiting from my winning lotto number or invention or such! ;)

I had a dream, once, that I was Lucy from I Love Lucy, it was night and we went out on a boat, I was thinking really hard of what I was supposed to say because there wasn't any scrpit. I kept doing that thing she does where she puts her thumbnail in her teeth and makes a "thinking" face.
 I also seem to have alot of dreams of walking around my old neighborhood, I'm sure thats probably significant in some way...

Whats your most memorable dream experience?

So now I realize, this is my second post in a row concerning the supernatural (for lack of a better word), I swear its not something I think about all the time or would consider to be a part of my daily life, I don't know, apparantly its just a May thing for me! Is that normal?

Sagittarius vs Ophiuchus? Does your "sign" really describe you?

Okay, so I've never been a believer in Astrological signs, I was always told I was a sagittarius and it never fit me. About half of the traits were right on and the other half were NOTHING like me!

I know virtually nothing about astrological signs except the fact that I'm sagittarius, so I was bored today and decided to look up the traits of a few of the other signs to, maybe, get some perspective on my kids, see if they line up with their signs (I was bored, okay!). And wow! They are right on for them, I mean right on! Made me think... If these signs are so accurate on for my kids, why is mine so far off?

I remember hearing something about a "new" sign. Hm, I wonder? Lo and behold, my b-day does, in fact, fall within these "new" dates. So I looked up the traits of  Ophiuchus, (and the pronunciation!) and for the first time I identify with my sign. I feel like this is me, this explains me! While I probably won't run out to find my "daily horoscope" or check what other signs I'm compatible with, or what I should wear etc. It does lend credence to the whole astrology thing, for me.

Ophiuchus Personality Traits - Positive SignsThese should make you really happy, huh? Let's go and see what these are:

• They have a need to constantly keep trying something new and hate routines.
• This sign is considered to be a mark of very clever individuals. Those that are intellectuals and seek knowledge.
• They have a great sense of humor and like to have the element of humor in their lives.
• They do things with an unmatched passion.
• They are quite straightforward and say things as they are.
• They have a lot of creativity and their imagination powers lets them constantly come up with newer things to explore.
• They are very ethical and their sense of justice and the 'fight for the right' always comes through.
• They have great love for languages and the arts.
• They have very charismatic personalities that draws people to them.
• They don't do well with rules and have a strong sense of freedom and personal space.
• These people are usually favored by figures in high orders.
• They think with their hearts rather than their heads. So they have a passion for everything that they do.

Ophiuchus Personality Traits - Negative Signs

So there's the good and the bad in everything, right? Here are some of the bad traits that this sign portrays:

• They are very impulsive at times and therefore can take wrong decisions in life.
• They have a lot of pride in what they do and that is why they can get to be arrogant at times.
• They are considered born flirts and that is why they find it difficult to get into monogamous relationships.
• They can get very secretive and hide things from others.
• They might have trust issues because they are easily affected by jealousy.
• Their quality of being straightforward sometimes makes them have a very poison tongue which can hurt a lot of people.
• They can get very sarcastic and therefore many people tend to be put off.
• They might give in to procrastination***

Most of these are dead on, exactly me in a way I never felt about Sagittarius, except for the ones that kinda seem to contradict each other like being "straightforward" and "secretive" which is it? for me its the straightforward... which can honestly be embarassing at times, I can't help but be 100% upfront!

Apparantly theres some discrepancy... I don't care what the "experts" say about western vs. eastern signs etc. I'm no sagittarius, never was. I like Ophiuchus, it fits. Now I just gotta learn how to spell it.

*** excerpt from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ophiuchus-personality-traits.html

Coffee Cozy.... with pocket!

It's the middle of the night, and I'm blogging... I'm not sure if thats epic or fail, but I'm pretty sure it's one of the two.
So, I've been making cozies for friends and fam for a while now, and finally decided to put a few up at my shop. I LOVE this cozy! its red, its gingham, how can you go wrong with gingham! and the liner is black and white polka-dots! But thats not the best part, no! Okay, okay so it wasn't my idea... it was my husband's idea. It has a pocket! How cute is that, I love it! It's my new fav :)



To make my cozies, essentially, I took the wimpy paper one from a starbucks cup and beefed up the design some, I made it wider so more fingers can fit, sos you don't drop your cup while tryin not to burn your fingers, am I clever or what? I lined it with bamboo batting, attatched a thin hair elastic, sewed on a button and presto! Easy Peasy, as my 7 yo would say ;)

http://www.etsy.com/listing/73675068/red-gingham-coffee-cozy-with-pocket-eco

Also Happy Mom's day to all the wonderful mothers out there!

A Class Divided

If you haven't seen this program yet, I think its great!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html

I think it's amazing how quickly even adults fall into beliving the propaganda, its a real eye opener.
I think its especially enlightening how the kids tend to behave how they feel they're supposed to. When they're the "second class" citizens, they behave like it! And when they're the "smart kids" they excel!
Two thumbs up to this very smart lady!

Wheres Waldo?

I don't know where that came from, I guess I'm still bitter...

I've been looking all day for my darned butcher paper, right? I'm stressed, I'm letting it stress me, it's only butcher paper! I try to use different paper, it just isnt working for me. Finally I collapse on my bed, defeated.

My husband walks in "uh, whats wrong with you?"
"I CAN'T FIND MY BUTCHER PAPER!" I blubber back at him.

He walks over to my bedside table.... "um honey..." and he gestures to my table about 6 inches from my face... It would have BIT me!

I don't know, he thinks its funny I can never find stuff, it's staring me right in the face! What is wrong with me!?

I can tell he's trying not to laugh, "Dont make fun of me!! I WAS ALWAYS TERRIBLE AT WHERES WALDO!!!" :(

A tale of two Irons... oh the irony.

Or was it four?
Okay okay, so you want the whole story...
I had a beautiful thing, it was a lovely shade of off-white (or maybe it was white and just old) and purple, and old as I don't know, perfectly weighted, Qual-i-ty! No joke. Now, I only came to appreciate all of this the day it finally kicked the can.
Yes, yes I'm talking about my iron.
People have been using electric irons since 1882, when a wonderful man named Howard Seeley invented the contraption.* And let me tell you, mine was perfect.

Now, I had noticed that my iron's performance hadn't been living up to what I had come to expect, but I worked around it, I ironed more with the bottom end of it to compensate that the top didn't heat properly. But on May the 3rd 2011 it finally died for good... nothin. Okay, no problem, right? Wrong.

I sent my DH off to Wal-Mart to get a new one, my instructions were very few "it doesn't really matter, just any one will do" little did I know at the time.... so he comes home with a $6 iron! Did you know they make them out of teflon now? Seriously? I guess they had to find a new area to market the stuff since everyones getting smart to the fact that its no good for cookin in, right?

I tried, really I did... I think my fabric looked better before I ironed it. So I sent DH back again, this time he comes home with a twenty some odd dollar iron. It weighs virtually nothing! It's too shiny, maybe I'm just too picky, I dont know... It has weird turney dials, I don't like it, and I don't think it likes me. Worst of all: When I open it up and look at it's too shiny surface I see my face, and a lumpy chocolatey looking smudge thing looking back at me. Now, I'm not saying for certain that it was chocolate, I sniffed it, it didn't smell like chocolate, but I sure as heck wasn't about to taste it.

At this point my poor husband has taken two trips to Wal-Mart (not including the trip to a friends house to borrow an iron first, now I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think that irons working properly at all... hard to tell) I have some aprons to make! So I wipe off the chocolate, or whatever, and get to work.

I'm ironing cotton. Why? Why does my fabric sound like theres enough static electricity in it to power a small coffee grinder in it? I try it out on a lower setting cause I'm no dummy, I gotta geta feel for this new contraption, right? I try to slide it along my fabric, but it sticks... instant dark brown scorch spot! and smoke, and sizzle and smell! YUCK!
 I lift the iron, and realize the sound is comming from it not from my fabric! Crack Snapple POP! Why me?

Did you know, many Wal-Mart locations are open 24 hours? My poor husband does. 2 am, I'm on a schedule here! I've been trading out irons all day and haven't got any good solid work done here!

The third iron was anti climactic, I didn't like it. It didn't have an owner's manual, but at least it didnt have chocolate... or whatever on it. It worked, not as well as my old one...The metal was too thin. It had water marks inside the tank, I realized, once it got heated up, which explains why the manual was missing.
 It kept beeping at me, I still don't know why, and probably never will, since I don't have the owner's manual. But it got the job done, kindof. And as I sent DH back to Wal-Mart for the- well, who's counting- time, to return the third iron, I realized: 2 out of 3 irons had been purchased previously, and returned, which means someone out there must agree with me: THEY JUST DONT MAKE 'EM LIKE THEY USED TO!!

Yes, I know it won't work with the cord cut off... at least this way my daughter gets lots of play out of it and it can stay in the family.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironing
Special thanks to @JeSuisPrettyful  for inspiring me to tell my story!

I am in LOVE with these kitchen colors!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d47638714256d9180ce2c4a/ruby-red-and-aqua

a vintage ruby aqua kitchen treasury at Etsy