Random Thoughts

Jessie came over yesterday. Hilary made a neat seafood lasagna which reminded me of the cheesy seafood sauce that I had in Brazil a long time ago. It was incredibly yummy. Jessie brought over a blender and made us frozen fruit smoothies. They were also very yummy.

We ended up playing Winds of Plunder. Since it was our first time playing too, we were all learning together and it was quite easy to figure out. Hilary ended up winning but Jessie was only three points behind and I was three points behind her.

The boys love when Jessie comes over. The first thing out of Bailey's mouth, though, was "Where's my new toys?" She spoils our kids with McDonald's toys almost every visit. I think they have the whole series of Ice Age figures. She's so good with the boys, so much so that she is going to be our back up babysitter. She's the only non-relative who I'd trust with my kids. 

Speaking of babysitting, I have my contract for next semester which is so refreshing. I'll be teaching one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We had to tweak our schedule a little but at least I'll be teaching.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, Matt came over. He and Jakob had a very nice conversation about Matt's new Corgi. However when Matt told Jakob that the Corgi didn't have tail, Jakob was a little confused and replied quizzically, "It has a B-agina?" The B sound was, of course, Jakob's attempt at making a "V" sound.

Matt came over late night to run a D&D adventure. He had our characters already rolled up and he had a hand painted metal figure of mine and Hilary's character. Unlike the other roleplaying games I've played, we had a board for many of the encounters and each special power my character had was printed on a little card. So this roleplaying experience was not much different than boardgaming and I really really enjoy that and I am looking forward to the next adventure.

The over arching plot is really cool too. Tamora, a human avenger, and Tyra Nor, a Drow warlord, have been hired to protect a city which has been built around a destructive regenerating creature that has to be killed every 30 minutes in order to the town to prosper and the people to stay alive. Tamora and Tyra  have to clean the sewers in case the blood from the creature starts creating new creatures. However, we just discovered that the goblins and bugbears believe their race was created from this creature's blood, and they are marching in to start a war with the town to rescue their "father."

And, did I mention I love my Tamora figure!?!

 

Yesterday, our Fourth of July festivities were spent at my sister's to also celebrate Brayden's first birthday with the whole family. The party/ cookout was beautiful. My sister had the whole house decorated in bright primary colors and Yo Gaba Gaba characters. The boys had little treat bags with water guns which later developed into a all-out kid vs. adult water gun fight. We all had a really great time. Jakob even got a chance to play with Grandpa and thank him for the talking Spider-Man action figure he got with the gift card my dad sent.

Brayden is such a big guy now, toddling around the house all by himself. He doesn't like to be scooped up and loved on but I tried anyway. He likes doing his own thing and having his own independence. I guess that comes from being born the day after the 4th. Noah is a big guy too. Amanda was showing us the video from her IPhone of Noah hula-hooping with two hoops, one of which lights up.

Bailey is now talking about his birthday party. He told us he wants to decorate the house with balloons, wear party hats, and have a birthday cake for his birthday party. I think we've decided on a dinosaur theme with a dinosaur shaped cake, a pinata, and dinosaur shaped crayons. 

Speaking of everyone getting bigger, I need to update my user image. Brayden isn't even in it.

Jessie came over for another game night. She brought the boys a LeapFrog CD and flashcards, a shape books, and a purple rubber ducky.  

Bailey loves the ducky so much that we did a water activity the next day. Bailey would pour water in the different size bowls with a measuring spoons and cups while the ducky floated on the water. The next time we went to Wal-mart, Bailey picked out three more ducks, a pink one, a green one, and a blue one. He wants all his ducks to be in a row next time we have a water activity.

As for the game night, Jessie, Hilary, and I played a wonderful game of Runebound. We didn't finish it. Each of us were just beginning the red adventures. But it was a great game. Jessie does very well with roleplaying type games and would probably really enjoy roleplaying.

Speaking of roleplaying, Hilary is considering a steampunk campaign which is a setting I am very interested in because well, .. . steampunk rocks and I think I could completely immerse myself in a semi-Victorian setting having studied that period of literature so thoroughly. Also, Matt is coming over soon to run a D&D campaign. He's rolled up our characters and even painting us our own figures. It would be nice for Hilary to actually a be hero in an adventure instead of the DM all the time.

Bailey "Mommy, why you pee-pee in your bed?"

Me- "I didn't Bailey. I'm just washing the sheets."

Kids are so funny.

I started a blog for all my crafting stuff:  http://snipsansnails.blogspot.com/

I am still going to be on lj but I am just going to have a much more craft focused blog and I'll be able to follow all the other blogs I keep up with easier than using a folder full of 15 links.

If you'd like to keep up with my new products, handmadenews.org articles, and my crafting exploits, follow me on my blog.
 

Today at church:

Me- "Don't put the rosary on your neck."

Jakob, swinging the beads- "It's a swing for Jesus. Ring around the Rosary."

http://bit.ly/GkbV0 Here is my interview with Lori Fogg, creator of the cutest little toddler size hand puppets.

This past week was spent at the beautiful Outer Banks area. We stayed at Avon in the cutest little two story circular house right off the beach. Jakob called the house the "lighthouse house" because it sort of looked like a house and we've been telling him for months that we're going to lighthouses when we go to the beach.

And we did see lighthouses! We saw the lighthouses at Bodie Island, Hatteras, and Ocracoke Island. We also went to Kitty Hawk to see the Wright Brothers memorial and Jockey's Ridge. The boys loved the museum and memorial. I was rather impressed with all the paintings of those who made history in aviation from Amelia Earhart to Nasa to George Bush senior, the first air force pilot to become a president.

Jockey's Ridge is a huge sand dune and I was fortunate enough to go hang gliding off this huge sand dune. If anyone is considering going hang gliding, I highly recommend beginning at Jockey's Ridge at the Kitty Hawks Kites Hang Gliding School. The pilots are cool and excited about the flight and the Jockey Ridge area. On our walk up to the sand dune, I got to hear all the legends and history on the sand dunes, how it buried a miniature golf course, homes, and hotels, how the glass found on Jockey Ridge is most likely from the Speak Easies during prohibition because alcohol bottles were hid inside the dunes, and how one of the Wright Brothers' attempts to fly was actually on the Ridge.  As for the safety, the mound not enormously high and the landing was a soft, fluffy bed of sand.

After I dove off Jockey's Ridge, I walked through the Elizabethan Gardens which is a memorial for the Lost Colony and the first child born in the new colony, Virginia Dare. There is a beautiful Venus-like statue of Virginia Dare that appears to be cloaked in ship netting. My favorite statue, and the entire reason I wanted to go to the Elizabethan gardens, was the huge Queen Elizabeth I statue holding roses.

The boys loved the beach. We went on a sea shell hunt, taking home a whole bucket of treasures. Jakob liked the beach but was a little unsure about it after getting knocked down by waves. Bailey, however, loved the beach. He would throw sand back at the waves as he let the waves carry him back and forth on the edge of the shore. I had to hold on tight to the little guy because he was pretty fearless. The rip tides were pretty strong and he was running straight forward into those waves.

Both of the boys loved watching the water. It's nice watching their fascination at new things. They especially loved the ferry that took us to Ocracoke Island.

Speaking of Ocracoke, there was the niftiest little shop called The Mermaid's Folly which to my surprise actually sold David Delmare prints.

We went to see the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum where we saw remains of things found from ship wrecks, paintings of shipwrecks, and models of Ships, my favorite was the Hamlet. After we went to the museum, we went on a ship wreck hunt.

All and all, it was a beautiful trip that we didn't want to end. There are so many more things we wanted to do and see in the area. Taking a bike ride through Ocracoke Island is at the top of my list. Plus, I think I successfully talked Hilary into hang gliding. Seriously, it is no more dangerous than jumping out of a moving swing.

And on a side note, Jakob has learned to sing Jimmy Buffet songs.

"Bailey, go pick up your toys."

"No. Good-bye Mommy. You're Fired."

I couldn't help but laugh. I have no idea where he heard you're fired. But, he did pick up his toys.

Here is my second article; it's about how I made our family cookbook after being inspired by Bailey's strawberry painting.

"Ceramic Tile Painting" using bisque tiles is also really good too. It is definitely something I'm going to try with my boys.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/2009/06/pop-forum-meet-todays-featured-reader-4.html#uslPageReturn

My first article is now listed:

http://www.handmadenews.org/department/index.php?did=20

Enjoy!

This morning, I was hired by Handmadenews as a columnist for their Crafy Kids department. I'll be writing two articles a week. 

Pretty Groovy huh?

Yesterday, I finally finished designing a Wizard of Oz cross stitch pattern called, Toto By the Ear. Dorothy, hanging out the window of the cabin holding onto Toto's ear, is trapped inside the tornado. The cabin is tilted and there are sudtle lines that illustrate the winds of the tornado. The illustration came from the annotated Wizard of Oz children's book.

It wasn't exactly an easy task translating the illustration into a pattern. I had to completely redraw Dorothy's face and outline Toto's body and recreate his color palette. I had to mesh the different shades of brown into the cabin to make a more cohesive picture that didn't look splotchy with all the various shades of color. I like to make the patterns as easy to follow and the color changes need to impact the design. There is nothing more annoying than changing a color while stitching only to realize it didn't make a difference.

I plan to stitch the design on a pale shade of blue fabric, then frame it on a piece of particle board or using adhesive foam matting. After I've finished stitching and editing the design, I plan to market the design on Etsy because the image falls under public domain. I hope to make an entire series of Wizard of Oz children's book images.

I got a new toy, a custom hand-carver rubber stamp for my etsy store. Now I can make business cards and stamp labels on products. 

The stamp was made by sugarskull77. She does fantastic work.

Yesterday, Hilary and I caught a matinee of Star Trek. There are so many things I love about the movie, it is hard to describe.

(SPOILERS)

First of all, the actual character of Captain Kirk has the real possibility of being altered because within the first scene of the movie, Kirk's birth, begins the shift into a new alternate reality where Kirk lives his young life rebelling based primarily on the anger growing up with no father.

I am super stoked that the writers and directors found a way to permanently incorporate not only an amazing young Spock but also Leonard Nimoy's Spock who is rebuilding his Vulcan race. This is the main reason I'd like to see more movies dealing with this particular reality and crew.

Speaking of the wonderful younger Spock, he has a love interest, Lt. Nyota Uhura, a woman that Kirk is trying his damnedest to figure out her first name only to discover her first name during her loving embarrass with Spock. I love it, just as much as I loved hearing Spock decline the Science Academy because they saw his half-human self a disability.

I also love that the race of Orion slave girls were incorporated in the story line, even if it was only subtle.

The meeting between Nimoy's Spock and young Kirk made me realize that the fates of these two men, regardless of the reality, will always be intertwined. Spock and Kirk, in the snowy cave scene, expressed an almost father son type relationship which ironically, made Spock the son and the young Kirk the father figure. Spock was reverent when it came to Kirk.

I love each and every entrance of the original crew, especially Bones and Uhura. I don't believe there could have been a better Star Trek beginning movie than this one.

After getting some advice from Jessie about photography, I updated some of my pictures on Etsy. My lack of photography skills, my low-tech camera, plus the help of my scanner was just not cutting it. She suggest that I use natural light, possibly taking the pictures outside on the front steps and use a color colored non-white background.

So today, during Jakob's nap I brought out my favorite blue material (which we once used for Pirates of the Spanish Main) to take pictures on the front step. It worked out pretty well; I could easily drape the fabric across the steps and attach earrings and pins on the fabric for good upright views of all the products.

Unfortunately, the photo sessions was cut short because mid-day wasn't the best time. It was just too blasted hot. It actually made it in 80's today. And, it was so bright that I couldn't always see the pictures as I was taking them.

I've also been thumbing around the forums and Etsy articles/tips. One of the tips suggest to always use every picture space in your item listings, even if the extra space in your photo listing is to advertise for other similar products or to illustrate ways to use that product or some example of the creative process.

So here are all the new picture listings, tell me what you think of the amateur photography:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25260882
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24540482
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_2&listing_id=24543282
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25137664
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_1&listing_id=25137477
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24538002
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23142754
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=21946692

In other crafting type news, today I created the most adorable shrinky dink earrings using my stamps. I made an Alice in Wonderland "Through the Looking Glass" beaded earrings, tiny teacups, bears, Santa Claus, and dice earrings. I've always been playing with new ways to way interesting quotes. More on that to follow.

Hilary and I played a game of Manoeuvre the other night.  Mainly, because I wanted to play a wargame I really liked after getting very upset with Panzer Grenadier: Road to Berlin.

The scenario of Panzer that we played had the Germans invading Russia in winter through a mine field, which honestly, was never a good idea.  Because it was winter, my troops could only move on hex at a time. However, since there were no tank leaders, my tanks could not move closer and possibly within range of the enemy. So I spent most of my time moving my counters one hex at a time, which to me never felt like much of a game. Plus, my units got tangled up in the mine fields.

I realize that this is probably a wonderful war simulation. But I guess that is what makes me not much of a wargamer. The war simulation which gives a better understanding of the battle is mererly a bonus, I am just looking for an interesting game to play.

Thus, Manoeuvre, an easier, somewhat abstract short wargame, fit the bill more for me.