It's a Beautiful Life

Happy New Year!

2012-01-12T10:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, so that's passed. So has Christmas. I've simply been too busy to post. My mother-in-law came up for a few days before Christmas, then we had Christmas, then New Years. I've finished a few dresses for one order and am working on a few others. I've got a new blog going as part of my New Year's resolution (I'll share that at the end of the month. It doesn't replace this one.)

Well, off to have breakfast and go fabric shopping!

Occupy Portland and shutting down the ports

2011-12-12T01:10:00.001-08:00

When the occupy movement started, I was in full support. In fact, I took Charlotte out there and we were in the very very front, no one in front of us. I have photos of her on the steps next to those who were speaking. I defended the protesters who did block off a couple streets in town to march since there were other routes drivers could take (it's a downtown with all parallel roads all one-way streets, very easy to navigate around a couple streets that are shut down). Protesting isn't supposed to be so convenient that everyone ignores it. It's supposed to cause just enough of a disturbance that you have to notice.

When a knife as pulled on Cody and someone tried stealing his lunch off of him, I didn't hold it against the movement. Every group is going to have its fringe lunatics. Muslins have al queda, Christians have Rick Perry, and Occupy Portland has that mugger. The mainstream doesn't condone the actions of those extremists who make them look back. They condone them. Right? Well I didn't expect to find over the last couple days that the very leaders (though it's said there are none, there really are) actually condone the actions of that mugger claiming maybe he needed the food more than Cody (who's place it is to determine that?) and that Cody deserved it if he was going to work for a big corporation (a corporation that treats its employees VERY damned well, keeps most of it's labor and all of its call centers to the US and Canada, and defends the rights of its assembly workers who are overseas).

I spent last night and part of today arguing with the leader of the Occupy Salem movement over the alleged brutalities happening during arrests at Occupy Portland (yes, those cities are both right). I've seen many videos showing arrests doing OP, and I was shocked to see not a single bit of police violence, even in the videos uploaded by occupiers. In fact, those claiming brutality happened were outnumbered by others who were present saying that no brutality happened. One of the leaders of Occupy Salem claimed he suffered brutality last Saturday and got bruises on his wrists that happened when he "freaked out" and fought the police during arrest. He admitted this on Facebook when we were arguing. I told him that it was his own fault if he was bruised while FIGHTING the cops when he chose to be arrested. Yes, people who want to be arrested can take a seat on the curb and police will arrest them peacefully, and many are choosing to do this. He claims that he is suffering PTSD, to which I replied with links to the official criteria including that symptoms must be ongoing for 30 days and interfere with daily life or regular activities. He's so traumatized that he's planning to go out tomorrow and get arrested again. Traumatized? I think not. He self-diagnosed to trump up what happened. I challenged him to see an actual psychiatrist for an official diagnosis, but not to be surprised if he was told it hasn't been long enough and that his continued involvement by choice with the police and being arrested shows his activities and ability and desire to do them hasn't been hampered. He also said that the police were wrong to shut down Occupy Portland and didn't address my question about how the movement there was so peaceful when a man was shot to death. Still I chalked this one leader up to being an idiot.

Today I was in an argument with other leaders of the Occupy Salem group who posted about the planned shut down of the docks being covered on the news and I replied to let those who have jobs actually be able to work. Well they said that there's no plan to prevent anyone from working, and I posted the link to Occupy Portland's website backing up that yes, the plan is to disrupt the workers and shut down the docks. Well, that came to an amusing end with them giving me a warning for flaming, me telling them that trying to silence me for pointing out their errors and backing up my claim is censorship, them claiming to believe in freedom of speech and then banning me when I said that censorship isn't freedom of speech and calling me a conservative republican (wow, most republicans I know call me an liberal democrat). I actually have screen caps of all that saved and posted. Good thing I kept that conversation up so I could screen cap it. My comments were deleted. The other one was deleted and I didn't screen cap, not thinking they'd delete the entire thing. All of the conversation I capped is here. I find it hypocritical to tell me to be quiet because I disagree with them while they support those occupiers disrupting other events and rallies.

On the Occupy Portland page right now is a call to figurative arms to shut down the docks tomorrow. I asked how it helps anyone to cause dock workers, fellow members of the 99%, to lose a day's wages and have to worry about how to pay their bills losing 10% of a paycheck while the rich dock owners will be nothing more than annoyed but certainly not worrying about making ends meet. Why make those workers hurt? One stupid person said, "Some people are already hurting." True, but what good will it be to make others hurt more too? You can read what's going on here. I'll be heading to bed soon, but I have the most recent comments still open in case there's a deletion by the time I wake up. It will really do no good though to cause working stiffs to lose a day's pay. That's a good way to lose more support than has already been lost.

Personally I want the protesters to just shut up and go home at this point. Defending violence and being hypocrites has turned them into pests. I'm actually more concerned with safety of passers-by who don't make themselves a part of the movement. Who cares if those who choose to be an active part get some injuries, but I sure as hell care when people who are simply walking in the area are mugged, raped, and in a few instances, even killed. I know freedom has a cost that can include injury and death, but that shouldn't mean injury and death to those who are trying to keep out of it. At this point I think they are doing nothing more than pissing off those who have the power to actually cause change and making those politicians less likely to listen. Putting them on the defensive won't do a single bit of good, but can cause harm.

Also a better way to cause loss to the rich dock owners and rich business owners, as I said in the previous link, isn't to prevent workers from doing their jobs and getting paid. It's to use their money to buy American-made products. This will both lessen demand for imported products, which, yes, would result in lost jobs, but it would create demand for American products which would create jobs in companies that make their products right here. This is what we do, buy American when at all possible, even if it means we buy fewer items overall because we're paying more per piece. We get better quality that lasts longer and are helping to create demand for workers here in the US, and even better, we also specifically seek out people who directly sell their wares, like pot holders from someone on etsy (yes, I can make them myself, but this is one of those things that, when we have some money to spend, I'd rather give to someone else to make it for me to help circulate money and help someone else get by), and even some of Charlotte's wood toys have come from etsy sellers who make the toys themselves. We cut out the rich company owners and give 100% of the cost right to someone just trying to make ends meet. Honestly, if it weren't for those willing to pay more for items from me instead of buying cheaper imported crap that will fall apart within a few months, I don't think I'd be able to stay home with Charlotte. I'd be out there working night shifts when Cody's home to make ends meet. So we do our part to help other Americans. THAT is the best way to stick it to the rich company owners who give as little as they can get away with to those who toil to make the rich richer.

If our children's playtime is a reflection of us as parents...

2011-12-10T17:04:00.000-08:00

...then I must be a good mommy. Yesterday Charlotte sat on her potty like it was a regular chair, and had her dolly in her lap. I wrapped a blanket around her shoulders, and she used it to wrap her dolly and said, "shhhh, shhhh," to her dolly while rocking her. Then she tried to feed her dolly! She is still breastfed herself (and is healthy as an ox for it), and knows it means I love her, and she did the same with her dolly, and then kissed the dolly's cheek while continuing to rock. My heart melted!

Well, Charlotte is two! And the next day Cody and I had our anniversary, and on Wednesday Cody has his birthday, and mine was Thursday! Nothing super exciting on any of them since Cody worked all of them except his birthday, and we spent part of that trying to figure out an electrical issue that managed to correct itself today. We thought either the coach batteries (that power the DC appliances) to the converter was going bad, but Cody topped the batteries off yesterday with distilled water, and saw a piece of debris that managed to get in one of them, and we drove the RV about half an hour today, and now everything's fine. Good thing for that. We were looking at spending a few hundred replacing them.

In another week Cody's mom Theola will be here for a visit. She hasn't seen Charlotte (or any of us) since August, which is tough since she and Charlotte are so close and she was even there when Charlotte was born. We'll properly celebrate birthdays then. :)

On my birthday a friend and I hug out at the mall, and Charlotte just took to LeAnne like I've never seen her take to anyone! When LeAnne had to go, Charlotte's little heart just broke. I held her until she broke free and then she ran down the mall after LeAnne crying, "Bye! Bye!" and then, "Hi? Hi?" and fell to the ground and just cried. So sad. Thankfully LeAnne took right to her too and would like to babysit, so Cody and I might actually get date nights sometimes and Charlotte will get to spend time with someone other than us and I'm sure she's so bored of us!

Last week was annoying. There's a new scam going around and I fell victim. What it is is someone claiming to need things for a wedding that's very soon, and paying with bad checks. I did get a deposit that cleared, rushed the dress, then, to be nice since her wedding was soon (somehow I doubt there is a wedding), sent the dress but she still hadn't sent the balance like she said, and then she sent a tracking number when I told her I needed one before I'd let the dress be released. I got a bad check, and the kicker is it was for 25% less than the balance. $473.30 I am out. The particular gown she ordered for the supposed wedding wouldn't be what you'd think of for a wedding. It's this one:

Stupidly, despite it being a crime in most states to pay with a bad check and not make it right, the police in my city won't treat it like a crime, leaving my option to fly all the way across the country. I've come by a few people who've either fallen victim to the same scam from someone in the same area, or who almost fell victim. I'm biting my tongue to not swear up a storm. There's speculation that it's someone or a group coming down from Canada, and I have no idea how anyone came up with that. All I know for sure isn't even her name (she's given a few of them!), but that it's birthday time times four (my brother's is also this month) plus anniversary and Christmas, and that money was really needed. It's caused me to reevaluate some of my policies and to take a closer look at first-time clients who didn't find out about me from someone I know who can vouch for that person.

Anyway I have a handful of dresses and a couple corsets to work on in the next few months, and a big wedding gown to do for next fall, among other things so, while it's annoying, the world is not collapsing.

From the 17th until the 31st we will be house/cat-sitting, and I plan to make good use of being able to spread out a bit while sewing. By being efficient with space and having Cody take the dogs and Charlotte out of here for a day and pulling out my hair-free cutting mats, I've been able to do sewing as usual, but it would be nice not having to be so efficient with space!

It's also cold enough here that we can use the basement storage in the RV as extra refrigerator room. I think we hit a high of 34 today, and it was 29 until about noon. Charlotte, our little polar bear, is in heaven and keeps ripping her coat off to run around and we're having heart attacks worried her fingers or toes will freeze off! Loving it though!

Charlotte is almost TWO years old!

2011-12-02T17:04:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my baby will be TWO tomorrow!!

Tiny Rapunzel on Halloween

2011-11-06T00:47:00.000-07:00

Charlotte loves Rapunzel, the one in Tangled. Loves. LOVES. So naturally that meant she was going to be Rapunzel for Halloween. I only had a chance to start three days before Halloween. My brother asked me a couple weeks before if I could make him a Joker (Heath Ledger) costume, and being my brother, of course I said yes. Since his needed to be shipped, his costume came first. Then I spent three days on hers.

Look at how big she's getting!! She cut her back set of molars, and as hard as I watched to get the dates, they came in and I missed them. We've had a couple minor emergencies in the last few weeks. At the hotel, she stuck her hand in the hinge-side of a door when it was closing too quickly for me to react, and her finger broke. The knuckle was smashed down to about 1/8" thin, no joke She was i pain and I was screaming at the 911 operator to get an ambulance there that second. I didn't know where the ER was and was too shaken up to drive safely even if I knew. And then I found out my iron, a pricy one, is faulty. It's supposed to turn off after eight minutes of non-use. The light blinks when it's off and is steady when on. I set it aside, it turned off (or so I thought), and I made a cake. Then Charlotte knocked it over onto her hand and pulled her hand away but didn't cry. So I didn't think anything of it, until the burns became visible a few hours later. Nerve damage, second degree burns, and now I'm getting into it with Rowenta. The safety feature of the iron failed. It didn't turn off. This iron isn't years old, and now my child has burns, pain, possible long-term nerve-damage and scarring, and we've got medical bills. If I wanted an iron that didn't turn off, I'd have bought on that didn't. Instead I paid thee figures for an iron that's supposed to turn off because I've got a child. So I'm pissed.

In non-injury news, she can count to three! It comes out, "Un, oo, we!" and she couches down slightly with each count, then runs screaming and squealing. Her daddy will count to three before tossing her in the air, and she's learned to count because of that! She's smart. Aside from just that, it's creepy what she can do, not only her insane balance, like being able to stick a leg behind her, bend her standing knee so she's close to the ground, and stand back without help, and she can stand on her rocking horse and keep her balance, but she's a problem-solver. If she want something, she can find a way to get or do it. Child-proofing doesn't work. She can open most bottles. She can get as high up as she wants. She can buckle and unbuckle her own seat belt (the first time this happened, I looked in my side mirror and thought I was seeing things when I saw her head out the window, and then she climbed over the console and tried getting into my lap - while I was on a stretch of freeway three miles from the next exit and on a stretch with such narrow holders that it was safer to NOT stop and open the door. She's also working on dressing herself and can do her own shoes.

She's 23 months old now, 23 months and 2 days to be exact, and 27 pounds, 35" tall (that's a good bit above average), has to have size 3T clothes because everything else is way too short, but everything is too loose. She's slender but healthy, and most clothes are made to the average that accounts for toddlers being chunkier for their height than a generation ago. Since children are about half their adult height by the the they're two years old, she's probably going to be very tall. I'm 67", and she's more than half my height, and as it is, I'm taller than average. She also wears a size 8 or 9 in shoes. She has some in both sizes. I repeat, she's not yet two full years old, and a size 7 is absolutely too small. Poor child, she's going to have my whoppers the Wiley feet as we say. Cody's mom wears an adult side 5. I wear a 10.

Anyway, costume! I've got this posted to Facebook here.

This is a semi-deluxe version of the gown, minus the embroidery. I'll do that by hand later.

This dress is three pieces (in the film, the gown would have been four pieces, a camisole that buttons up the back, the outer bodice that laces up the front, a lace-trimmed slip, and the skirt). I combined the camisole and bodice and made back-lacing with longer sleeves and skirt so that this dress can grow with her.

The neckline, arms, waist, and solid fabric of the skirt, have pink satin cord. The wrists, neckline, and skirt hem have white lace, and the waist has pink lace. I couldn't find suitable pink lace, so dyed some of the white. The upper sleeves have six yards of ribbon between them. That took a surprisingly long time to do.

The bodice and front skirt panel are a rose brocade, and the bodice inset, upper sleeves (under the ribbon), modesty panel, and rest of the skirt are matching solid bridal satins. The lower sleeves are doubled tulle. The bodice is entirely lined in light purple cotton except for the lower sleeves.

As I said, this dress was made to grow with her. So the back laces over a modesty panel (so no skin will show) that matches the front inset. The skirt has a waistband that, at its smallest, if her current waist measurement. I inserted a godet where a zipper would usually go, and extended one side of the waist band a few inches. On the extended tab, I placed a few buttons so that it can be buttoned on the one most comfortable. The skirt and bodice have hooks and eyes to keep the bodice and skirt from separating when a little one decides to jump around and roll on the ground!

I went to Goodwill hoping to find a small skillet of any sort, and was thrilled to find a perfectly-sized cast iron skillet. If you're wondering what on earth I'm talking about, watch the film. :)

This picture shows the colors guest to life, a least on my screen.

Let's see if this can be shorter than a novel

2011-11-05T23:32:00.000-07:00

I guess first thing first. We got an RV, a 34-foot Fleetwood Bounder and live in that. There's air conditioning, heating (of course), and it's surprisingly comfortable to ride in. I really like it. We will be pulling up the carpet and putting down laminate though very soon and we already got some of it. Easier to keep clean, I get squeamish thinking about what gets under carpet, plus multiple animal butts smooching on so little carpet is just ew. Thankfully the dogs prefer to lay in the kitchen on the linoleum. My dad always told us that by me and my brother helping renovate our house when we were 11 and 9 or so that we'd learn skills we'd use in life, ad sure enough, I've used those skills a lot. We'll also eventually paint the walls and take the curtains down and stain them. They're good heavy curtains that do a nice job keeping it from getting very drafty and keeping heat in, so I don't want to replace them. Maybe I'll just take spray paint to them. They look so 70's, and this rig is nowhere near that old.

We've been in this RV two weeks as of today, and in that time I made my brother a Joker costume (Heath Ledger version), Charlotte a Rapunzel costume (next post for pics), am nearly finished with a Lord of the Rings wedding gown, and helped with an invention that requires fabric, but to to NDA, I'm obviously not going to disclose (even Cody doesn't know).

So here's a tour of our new rig:

In the above photo, each of the compartments under the RV are storage units. There is a door going to the living room and there's one going right into the bedroom. Above all windows are awnings, and in the "passenger side" is a larger awning that makes a patio-like area. The steps can be set to stay down or to move up. When we're coming and going we leave the steps down.

On the "driver side" most of the compartments house utilities and the generator. A couple are storage, but this is the hook-ups side. It's got a really nice Onan generator.

From the back, here is the bedroom. Queen size bed, and yes, Charlotte still sleeps with us. We'll be working on getting her to sleep on the couch that turns into a bed, but slowly. She's already been through so much this year.

There is a lot of storage under the bed.

From the bedroom, you can see the rest. My hand is on the door to the bathroom. You can see one of the TVs at the front. The other is in the bedroom. We have a 47" HD LCD flat-panel TV in storage in California, and are using two small tube TVs now. :)

Bathroom? Yes, we have one, and even have a small tub! The water heater isn't very large though, so showers are quick. Across from the bathroom is a closet. I didn't get pics of that. We do need a shower curtain still (how sad that we keep forgetting to get one), and of course the one towel we have that's ratty is one that's hung up. Most of our towels are really nice and fluffy thanks to me being a towel snob once upon a time.

Next up, jus past the bathroom on the same side is the dining table. This picture was taken just past the table with the camera angled toward the back. The table drops down and becomes a bed. The seat back cushions cover the table in the center. I don't anticipate ever needing to use this as a bed. Under the seats is more storage.

On the same side as the table toward the front is the couch. This folds out into a full-size bed that is incredibly comfortable. You can also see the curtains that cover the front windows. There is more storage under the couch.

Here is my sewing area. The almost-finished coat was sewn start to finish in this RV. I have the small quilt on the seat of the chair because here are two small nickel-sized holes that Charlotte would probably try to play with. There are cabinets overheard all around the RV like you can see in this picture. They're solid oak, which is very nice.

And here is the sink and range. In this first one, you can see the stove with the cover down. In the second, with the cover up, you can see the fridge and freezer. It's wood-veneered and is of the right of the range.

It's not much, not a huge place, but it's adequate, comfortable, and ours. If we're not at an RV park, we can take this thing anywhere and not need to worry about electricity or anything. The plan right now is to stay at different parks by the week to see where we like, then to decide where to stay for a while, see how much we can save up over the next year or two, buy some land, run utilities to it, park there, get foundation laid, and start building a house. I've helped build a house before, and Cody's dad is a general contractor and Cody's helped out there. Building my own house with my own hands has been a dream of mine since I was a teenager. Of course it's unlikely to go that easily, but it's a goal at least.

2011-10-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

Depression is setting in, really bad depression.

We applied for a home loan and were denied for not having established credit. We did the responsible thing by never living outside our means, and it bit us in the ass.

So then we decided to see if we could finance an inexpensive motorhome with 35% down, and...we need established credit.

We can't rent because of the shit with Archstone I'm still dealing with (if I was in California, I'd sue, but I'm not, and we can't afford for me to travel, even though I can prove there were no damages, and Achstone's own website helps me prove my case).

And the RVs we can afford to pay in full for have all been crap. We're not looking for pretty, but reliable and structurally sound. But we're not finding either. The one we saw yesterday wouldn't even start.

This hotel we're in is the lowest priced in the area. Not many hotels allow starts part four weeks. We're in one where many of the people here have been here longer than we have been. It's not half bad, but expensive still, more than twice the cost of rent, plus everything we have is in storage for another $250 a month. I'm really wishing right now that I have a couple more of my dress forms with me, especially since I'm working on an order right now that's larger than the form I have with me. Can't afford to buy another right now, but I could really use my size large one (over the years, I've accumulated all sizes from child to petite adult to plus size adult and everything in between except men).

I'm angry that money's so tight that a trip to Goodwill makes me feel like there's a weight on my chest (they were woefully low on jeans in my size, like none - tall jeans are hard to find at all, even harder in smaller sizes). I'm angry that we can't spare $20 for me to buy some fabric I'm dying for to make into a warm skirt. I'm angry that my jeans are getting holes. I'm angry that we're worried about food and never have more than a few days' worth because if we buy more than two or three days' worth at a time, we go ballistic and eat a lot. I'm angry that it looks like Charlotte will be spending her birthday and Christmas cramped in a hotel. I'm angry that Cody's and my first wedding anniversary won't get to be anything special, nor will our birthdays. I'm angry that it's no longer a big deal to say that we're homeless. I'm angry that we don't have any place to call home. I'm angry that we've done it all "right" and are willing to scrimp and sacrifice, and have been doing so, and all we have to show for it is nothing at all.

We're burning through our savings just trying to meet basic expenses here, and dress orders have become vital. At this rate, we can get by for maybe another three months, and I don't know what we'll do after that.

A rally, Steve, and a busy schedule

2011-10-09T20:06:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, I took Charlotte to Occupy Portland. She's been to more protests, rallies, and demonstrations than most adults I know, and she's only 22 months old! We want her to stand up for what she believes in, and the best way to teach her that is to stand up for what we believe in and set an example.

Of course the media, controlled by big corporations, tried to make the participants seem like a bunch of masked hooligans out to cause destruction and claimed Portland residents should be on their guard and concerned about us all out there. There were a lot of pictures posted of the same small group of people who had bandanas on their faces (people afraid their bosses would recognize and fire them), and the media did a damned good job of making some of my friends fearful for Charlotte's and my safety for being out there. Media propaganda, nothing more. There has been no crime, no property damage, and it will not be tolerated.

In fact, on the news tonight the broadcasters expressed shock that for the Portland Marathon the rally participants helped set up and clean up afterward, helping to make this year's relay one of the best ever.

Well yeah, these participants aren't hoodlums. They're good people frustrated about the lack of jobs and government help for those who are disabled and unable to find work while refusing to close the loopholes enabling the top 1% to pay a much smaller percentage in income taxes as the average American (see Warren't Buffett's "Stopp coddling the rich" open letter).

It's funny how the super-rich like to say that those on the bottom-most income rung shouldn't complain because they're not paying any taxes at all. Well it's not exactly an privilege to be on that bottom rung scrimping and depriving oneself all the time just to scrape by. Almost anyone on that rung would gladly trade places with the billionaires and pay 50% in income taxes while having enough left over to never ever every have to budget for anything and to always have the best of everything. I have a family friend who usually writes a check every April for more than Cody and I make in a year, and he's said he's fortunate enough to make so much money that his tax bill is that high and that he won't complain when he knows many others would give anything to be in his shoes. And he's right.

Anyway here are a few pictures from the rally:

After this, we went to the Apple store where Cody works and where people were leaving flowers and notes to Steve. The outfit wasn't coincidental. Steve was famous for always wearing a black turtleneck and jeans. I was also wearing the same thing.

This month's sewing schedule is insane. I am finishing a Lord of the Rings gown for a wedding, I have a rush order for a Wendy Darling gown, I have Charlotte's Tangled/Rapunzel costume (she's obsessed), and a Heath Ledger Joker costume for my brother (who has even been growing his hair out for quite a while to get the right look).

We're also meeting with a lender to see if there's any chance we might qualify for a home loan and, if not, what we need to do to improve our chances of qualifying at some point in the hopefully-not-too-distant future. Paying a mortgage would cost much less than we're paying to stay in a hotel, plus we wouldn't have to deal with storage fees.

So. Busy. Busy busy busy.

I accidentally broke Charlotte's finger :(

2011-10-09T19:59:00.001-07:00

Literally. Two nights ago I was closing the bathroom door and she was behind me, and then she suddenly stuck her hand in between the door and the jam...the side with the hinges. It happened so fast I didn't have time to process her having moved. Suddenly there was a sickening crunch as the door closed and her fingers were in the door. I'm feeling nauseated remembering it. She started screaming and I opened the door, quick as a flash. She was shaking and her left ring finger knuckle was crushed only about 1/8" thick. I couldn't think if I should run to the front desk and have them call 911 or if I should grab my phone, which I though would be faster, and which I did, and called 911 and kept screaming to get an ambulance there. I didn't know where the ER was, and was scared to death that her knuckle was shattered. I don't care that an ambulance seems like an overreaction, but I didn't know where to go, and wasn't going to waste time figuring it out while shaking myself (not safe for someone freaking out to be driving), and knew she needed to see a doctor to make sure it wasn't a shattered or separated joint. In the end, it finger bone at the tip of her finger is fractured and she's going to lose the finger nail. I know accidents happen, but I felt like shit, and still do, like a very bad mommy for not making sure she was far from the door, or for not closing it slowly.

Since then, I'm terrified to close doors unless I'm holding her or she's on the other side of the room. She's able to use the finger, though it's a bit sensitive to pressure.

I'll just make this its own post so I can forget it now.

Rest in peace, Steve Jobs

2011-10-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life ... have the courage to follow your heart and intuition." - Steve Jobs

Without Steve, my husband (an Apple Genius) and I wouldn't have our daughter. This news is crushing. It's just heartbreaking. I think anything I could say would come off as insincere because I admire him so much that I'd wax on about how great he is. Was. This is just horrid news.

The official announcement on Apple's website

It's the little things!

2011-08-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was feeling bad while making lunch because Charlotte was playing alone. So I sat by her and asked, "Am I a bad mommy?" and she said, "Nooooo!" and hugged me. Then I asked, "Does Charlotte love mommy?" And she said, "Yaaaaay!" clapped. Mommy-heart go melt.

I miss Eric and Tracy

2011-08-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

Last week some friends of ours from Canada came to town and now we're sad they're gone. Eric and Tracy, we miss you and love you and can't wait until next year!

While they were here one day, they and I took Charlotte to downtown Portland, and yes, she went around looking like this, like a little princess in her full, fluffy dress (not made my me), her real pearl and crystal necklace (that I did make), and her rhinestone tiara.

She picked up that stock somewhere and walked around pointing it at people babbling like she was making commands.

She got so much attention for being so adorable!

On one of the last days they were here, we went to the Portland Rose Garden.

This is a sweet candid Eric shot of Charlotte and Cody.

We can't wait to see Eric and Tracy again. Charlotte was just enamored with Eric. It was so sweet!

While Tracy was here, I made her this spiffy halter dress. Bra straps aren't part of it! Also you can't see the pleating detail in this pick, or the button detail on the front which matches the one at the back of the neck. The belt is separate instead of attached, and it's a full circle skirt. She was thrilled!

Child Abuse Prevention

2011-08-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

Today would have been Caylee Anthony's 6th birthday. Pledge to donate $50 or more to www.preventchildabuse.org and I'll make and send a child's bracelet to the address of your choice, whether it's to a child you know or a children's shelter for a random child who needs something special to call her own. I call this bracelet the Caylee bracelet. I can make up to 25 to send out, and have several clasps to choose from. This is also posted on my personal and business Facebook pages.

For a $20-donation pledge to the same organization, I'll make the pendant of the your choice to send to the child you wish.

More info on each piece in my jewelry album.

2011-07-28T17:41:00.000-07:00

I'm stunned. I just found out that a couple friends who I thought were open-minded, are not only in favor of businesses being able to have a blanket ban on children, saying that private businesses open to the public (and receiving all the tax breaks that come with it, which will be subsidized by the general public) should also be allowed to ban women, blacks, whoever they want. Oh my god. I'm stunned. And since private businesses should be allowed to do what they want, well, don't want to hire blacks, or Mexicans, or women, or people with physical disabilities who can still do the job? Then they shouldn't have to because there should be no equal opportunity and they equate equal opportunity and anti-discrimination laws as being the same thing as communism. They both favor liberal welfare and universal health care, but not equal rights because equal rights is communism according to them. Wow.

They are both straight white men, one married with no kids (yet), and the other is divorced and has a son he bailed on years ago. I am horrified at them and ashamed to know them. "Friends" should be in quotes.

Modern Witch Hunt

2011-07-17T17:22:00.000-07:00

It's come to my attention (thanks to an anonymous comment that I won't publish) that yet another person online has been accused me being me. This is based on her being a seamstress with a husband who's been married before and having a toddler daughter. Of the millions upon millions of people in the US alone, are we all to believe that no one else sews, has a toddler daughter, and has a husband who's been divorced? Wow. People on the constant hunt for me that everyone with a toddler, an ability to sew, and a husband who has been previously married, will be accused of being me, needs to seek therapy for an unhealthy fixation. Also it's really pathetic to constantly cite drama websites as "evidence" of anything. See a therapist. Really.

So stressed

2011-07-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

I don't even know what to say. The last couple months have been some of the hardest of my life. I'll write up a post about everything later. Just suffice it to say that our landlord wanted the house back, and the cost of living is too much to save up the money needed in 30 days to get another place.$6k-$9k is typical. First month's rent, plus an additional two months' worth for the deposit. In an area where $2k is cheap for rent. So we're in limbo, and are in two different states right now just to have roofs over our heads. Cody is working his ass off with Apple, waiting for a transfer, and I'm with Charlotte spending my time divided between her, sewing (heh, I dragged along the dress form that will work for my current and next 3 orders, my main sewing machine, etc.), repairing my website (the drive it was on crashed), and looking at houses and apartments here in Oregon, dreaming about the day Cody and I get the keys to a new place so we can have our family back in tact. We don't know yet if we'll end up here in Oregon, in Washington, or where. We don't have regular addresses, yet are determines to uphold our end of our obligations. Being home-challenged makes it all so difficult, but I appreciate the distractions. The income sure helps though. And I've got some exciting orders coming up.

It's really sad to realize we're lucky. A lot of people losing houses these days lose their houses because of the primary breadwinner losing a job. For us? Landlord wanted the house back. (Turns out her son-in-law, a deadbeat with no work ethic [our lease required us to have him as the gardener, and he showed up, if we were lucky, once every six weeks when he was supposed to be there weekly, and when he did show up, he usually left before finishing], lost his job and his family was being evicted.) Cody still has a job. I still have my business. When Cody joins us up here, we'll be able to put down 3 years with Apple on rental apps instead of a month or two that a lot of other people finding new jobs would have to.

It's still a miserable situation to be in though. Cody has seen his child less the past couple months than a dad with every-other-weekend visitation. A few hours here and there. We've both been bouncing around place to place, and Charlotte and I haven't always been close enough to visit. Thank the gods for our iPhones. Facetime (that really cool video-chat shown on the commercials) has been wonderful. Like last night I Facetime'd Cody and his mom so Charlotte could see them and they could see her. She giggled and squealed up a storm!

I can't wait to have my website on the new drive fixed so I can finish updates. I have about 30 things to add, and when I'm finished with my current 9-item order...yeah, massive update. Updates feel like Christmas presents to myself, silly as that sounds. I'm proud of what I do, and putting up a new page or adding new things to one feels like a shiny new...something. Silly, I know, but still. It's true.

Also Charlotte may have some issues. I'm not going to get into that at all on this blog right now, just cross fingers, please. If you want to know, shoot me an e-mail (ariaclements at gmail dot com). Hard to swallow that our bright little girl might have some special needs. Thank goodness the problem he may have is something we've dealt with in my immediate family and is physical rather than mental, so would be easier to deal with to help ensure she has a normal life.

Now...back to putting a skirt on a black velvet regency spencer!

Some photos of my princess from this last month

2011-06-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

At the harbor in Santa Barbara on the 14th of last month:

Proudly drawing on the wall. What could I do this time but laugh and grab the camera?

Wednesday of last week, while we were having a bonfire:

When am I ever not busy?

2011-05-27T15:43:00.001-07:00

I've been too busy to update. We're moving again. Out of state. We're sick and tired of living in a state where a minor thing can make meeting rent very difficult. We're sick and tired of $4.49 being the cheap gas for our car. We're sick and tired of having no hope of ever owning in a state where the deposit alone on a small house would buy a mini-mansion somewhere else.

We're already packing. Cody's working on getting transferred. We're sick of this shit. $2k for rent plus $900 for utilities. And speaking of utilities, this property has us in the main house, someone in the studio connected to the house, and a cottage that I think was probably once a disconnected garage. The lease said we were going to get 25% of the utilities from each of them, but the landlord turned around and told the lady in the cottage a flat fee of $100, and the guy in the studio $50. So we've been getting $150 instead of 50%. We're very conservative with utilities. They aren't. And we're the ones bleeding for it. We decided not to raise cain because we didn't want to risk our lease not being renewed, which it's not anyway because the landlord claims we're running the house down and destroying it. Bull. Shit. As soon as she left, I took these pictures.

That is the area when you first walk in the house. Door's on the right side there.

She tried saying we're not allowed to have anything in this room other than laundry. Tough. She has no right to dictate where we're allowed to put things.

The family room that's more or less Charlotte's play room and where we spend non-TV family-time.

Kitchen. Duh.

This would have been the dining area. We were planning to buy a dining table, but not now.

Living room with a sleeping booger on the couch. :)

My sewing room is always a disaster because I actually use it a lot. TO be fair, I clean it back to perfect after each dress.

Bathroom. Usually the curtain's closed.

Charlotte's bedroom. She's outgrown her toddler bed, so we'd been trying to get her used to naps in her own room on that inflatable until we got her a regular bed.

The closets didn't have doors, so I bought curtains for Charlotte's room, and made a set for our room. The stickers on her door are those special stickers made to be easily removable without damage.

I was folding laundry when the landlord came over.

Destroyed the house, have we not?

Also the landlord's pissed we didn't take over yard maintenance when her daughter and son-in-law, who we are required to pay for yard-care, stopped coming over. If she's going to mandate they get $200 a month from us to do they yard, then we're not going to do it. We had been letting her know since last year that we were lucky if they came over every five or six weeks when they were supposed to be coming weekly, and when they DID come, they were only once on time and a few times not even here on the right date, and they brought their kids to let them run around the back yard and pool and sometimes they'd stand and stare in the windows if they were open. Still we put up with it because it was better than the landlords we had in Carp, the slumlords. The landlord here isn't a slumlord, she's just possibly on drugs. When she came over, her demeanor was...unusual. She was a tweaker-hippie back in the day. Her son-in-law is a current tweaker, or so the neighborhood rumor goes (walk about 20 houses down and that's where he and his wife, the landlord's daughter, live).

Also she's planning to keep our entire deposit over the microwave. It had a crack on it when we moved in, noted on the walk-through report. The bottom of the handle has since broke, and the power shorts every now and then. She claims it was a brand new microwave put in right before we moved in and was $600. Only it wasn't. It was manufactured in 2002, and hasn't been made since 2003. It retailed for $150, and the company's replacement model, the current version, retails for $180. I verified that with the company. At any rate, the damage was on the report, and the skylight beats down on the microwave for hours a day which weakens plastic.

So we're leaving in a couple weeks. We're trying to view this as the fire being lit under our asses to make the move we've been talking about for so long anyway. Yes, before moving here, we'd been talking about leaving California for along time. It's so disheartening to pay $24,000 a year in rent to live in the poor part of town when the state we're planning to move has very large houses that only cost six times that to buy outright.

We've been priced out of our native state. Sad that staying isn't a feasible long-term option, but we're looking forward to living somewhere with a decent cost-of-living.

Open Letter to Lizzie

2011-05-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

I got a comment that Lizzie still has a love of following me and accusing people of being me and told someone "I" need to "get a hobby that's not weddings."

Lizzie, get over it. I don't want anything to do with a community that runs according to your whims and is hypocritical. One post can have someone complaining that she's expected to cater to the food preferences of Aunt Tilly with the members supporting the complaints since "it's the brides's day" with you lambasting the OP for not caring about her aunt, then in the next, another member with the same complaint is insulted for not catering to preferences and you're lambasting members for not supporting the bride not wanting to cater to preferences.

It's funny to me that you saw I'm the one needing a non-wedding hobby. You're prancing around moderating a wedding community like you have anything of value to add other than your opinions on people's behavior. I think you're trapped in La-La Land, wishing you could be a pretty princess for a day, and you love getting attention for being a moderator of a wedding group.

I, on the other hand, am the one who actually makes and sells wedding gowns, making it by business. Weddings aren't a hobby for me. They're business, and business is going very well, despite your continued libelous attempts to smear me. I'm still chuckling at your accusation that my daughter is actually a doll or someone else's child that I've borrowed for pics. I chuckle about how, despite me and Charlotte being in the news, in articles and in news video, surrounded by people who know me, activists and such, you still think Charlotte isn't my daughter. I chuckle about how, despite not a single victim, you still think I don't actually make or sell anything.

I think you're jealous of me, which is why you think about me so much. When you don't like someone, and they can't effect your life in any way, you ignore them, but you think about me all the time. I think you need therapy, and I'm not being snarky. Really, for three or four years now you've been following me. You need help.

So so busy!

2011-04-30T18:55:00.001-07:00

Busy busy busy! Sewing up a storm all month. The royal wedding was just yesterday, and today I've finished this:

Basic version, non-appliqued skirt. The bodice is imported English embroidered netting with an appliqued neckline. More pictures to follow.

Also I got a new domain! ariacouture.com!! ariaaustin.com will remain active indefinitely. After this summer, it will forward to the new domain rather than vice versa.

Tooth #15

2011-04-08T22:49:00.001-07:00

Her upper left incisor. Her upper right is very close to coming through!

I can't believe this

2011-04-08T18:20:00.001-07:00

I can't believe our military is expected to work for free. When money gets tight, we American families are expected to tighten our own belts and skip buying steaks. Yet our politicians are unwilling to even have trimmed the fat from the steaks they buy...using money they receive from us. Our politicians are sleeping warm at night while so many American families have tightened belts to the point of freezing and hunger, and our politicians sleep safe because of the sacrifices of our military abroad who don't sleep safe for months on end, soldiers who won't always come home. And now they're expected to work for free? How are their families supposed to make up the financial shortfall? It's not like our soldiers can find a new job once one boss stops paying them.

How much more evil can our politicians get? So far only two have turned down their own pay over this. They're all so rich that they could receive not another dollar in their lives from the taxpayers, and yet will live luxuriously and die still wealthier than most of us can imagine. We and our military are expected to do without while our cruel, evil politicians continue to take and take and take. Now that there's not much left to take, they're confiscating the pay of those who are stuck.

I'm ashamed of our politicians, and I am ashamed to be an American right now if they are to be examples.

Cherry

2011-03-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

My hamster, Cherry, died last night. She was already an adult when I got her a year ago. And I had the feeling a few days ago she was reaching the end, but still, sad. :(

So sick

2011-03-25T00:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't been this sick in a long time. If I were any sicker or had intestinal pain, I'd go to the ER. Sore throat with a lot of pustules, swollen lymph nodes, aching like crazy, nausea and vomiting almost everything I eat or drink, fever topping 101 (I run a degree subnormal, sonyhis is like 102 for normal-temped people).... Woke up feeling like hell and have felt worsted as the day has gone on. :-(

Tooth #14

2011-03-22T14:48:00.000-07:00

I forgot to report! Yesterday Charlotte cut tooth #14, her lower right incisor. Not that this matters to anyone, but it sure makes it easy when I go back to update her baby book!

Phantom of the Opera Christine Daee Dressing/Mirror ensemble

2011-03-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

So it's been a few more days. Oh well. I got them up on Facebook. See my page here: Aria Couture and become a fan. I'll also update there more often. I really need to update my regular website, which takes forever.

When Cody first saw this, he though something was missing. Nope, the skirt is sheer!

Separate chemise and skirt, and corset.

The robe is meant to be left open. The original in the film didn't have a closure.

However, a ribbon lets it close beautifully without adding anything to the robe.

Long, pretty train. The entire robe is edged in sequined lace. At the neckline and down to the waist, it's gathered.

Made to bustle by request.

Sneaky peeky

2011-03-16T02:25:00.000-07:00

More tomorrow night or Thursday.

Charlotte dancing to the Family Guy theme!

2011-03-14T23:59:00.001-07:00

I watched this show on Hulu when I was in labor. I wonder if that explains her absolute love of the show. :) Her daddy took this video a couple days ago. Watch it with sound.

Three reasons I'm fine not having a car right now

2011-03-14T19:14:00.000-07:00

1) Gas is closing in on $5 a gallon here. Cripes!

2) Without being able to get around so easily, impulse-spending has had to stop.

3) Walking a mile to the grocery store twice in one day is no longer even a semi-daunting prospect, which has got to be good for our health.

That's not to say we don't want another car. We do! But we're not in any rush right now. We're looking at something like a newer Nissan Quest. Yes, a minivan, but it looks sportier than the typical 80's-style box minivans.

Snippets

2011-03-12T19:56:00.000-08:00

Our car sold this afternoon. I'm sad. I loved that car.

Cody has laryngitis. It can last a couple weeks. He's able to go to work, but one of the operators is having to make the phone calls he's usually in charge of. He literally can't talk.

The show An Idiot Abroad is one of the best ever. I don't watch it laughing at Karl for being an "idiot." He's really not. I can't stand how mean Ricky and Stephen are to him.

The corset I'm working on for that Christine/Phantom ensemble is amazing. The sequins really catch the light in a gorgeous way. It's unusual how the original closes with hooks and eyes in the front. I'll be finished in a few days. And then I am going to have to update my site. I'm not looking forward to that.

Charlotte is picking a present for you!

2011-03-12T11:48:00.000-08:00

She picked a laugh! =D

Final auction prices

2011-03-11T20:34:00.000-08:00

The Lilli bracelet (genuine pearl, Swarovski crystal, sterling silver) closed at $50. This bracelet was named after a little girl in Australia, named Lilli, who died of SIDS. Through my etsy shop, half the price of this bracelet sold will go to SIDS & Kids, an organization that is trying to find a way to end SIDS.

The Ashley set (genuine 6mm faceted emeralds, rhodium-plated silver findings) closed at $75. I haven't heard back yet from Ashley's mom in taking a set. I don't know if I will, and don't blame her. Last summer a lot of really cruel people left a lot of evil, hurtful remarks on her blog about the decisions she and her husband made for Ashley (by not just letting her die), and just general insults directed at their daughter. I wouldn't be surprised if she is generally distrustful of everyone online after the attack on her family last year. :(

The Nina set (genuine 6mm faceted sapphires, rhodium-plated silver findings) closed at $90. Nina's mom will be receiving a set. I have heard back from her. My heart is broken for her. Nina, her daughter, passed a little over a week ago, just after her birthday.

The Kate set (genuine 6mm faceted rubies for the earrings and 8mm for the pendant, rhodium-plated silver findings) closed at $200. Kate will be receiving a set. When she saw the photo, she told me she coveted it for herself, and I let her in on how I was going to send her and Nina's mom and Ashley a set, if they all wanted them, and she was excited. Kate pours all of herself, and then some, into her children, and I know she's exhausted. She deserves something nice for herself.

The gift certificate closes tomorrow and is currently at $30.

So far $445, if the gift certificate closes where it's at now. I'm going to let Kate know that, if she'd like to offer the runners-up of the bracelet and Nina set (those two got multiple bids) have sets for their bids ($85 on the Nina set, $35 for the bracelet), that she'd be welcome to. It would add another $120 and bring my donations up to $575 raised.

It's nice helping people out when I can! I may not be able to give money right now, but this is something.

A mystery!

2011-03-09T21:50:00.000-08:00

This afternoon a large package arrived for me. I wasn't expecting anything, especially a very large package large enough that USPS made a special trip here to deliver it. It could fit in a regular mail truck if the truck isn't too full. It was about 4' long.

I took it to my sewing room thinking maybe I'd ordered some sewing thing or another and forgot. I opened the box and there was no note of any sort, just three slender objects wrapped in heavy bubble wrap. It was three beautiful scepters! Two of them look very earthy and like some of the tulle is antique. One of them has a heavy glass ball on top. The third is in deeper shades, much more regal. I'd expect each of them to cost quite a bit of money.

I checked the box again, and the return address was just an address in a city I had never heard of. Cody is stumped too. We asked his mom if she knew anything. Nope. We are all completely baffled.

I got new business card today. I thought UPS would never get here. Actually they were delivered at 7:55pm, which I think might be later than they're supposed to be delivering! The gift card and address labels I ordered also arrived. Lame of me to be so excited over the little things.

Earlier today Cody and I were watching Princess and the Frog with Charlotte. She was dancing like a little nut. He said to me that, while we have our stresses and we're worried about not having a car, all in all we're pretty lucky. We have a stable roof over our heads, both of us steadily bring in income, we have plenty of food to eat, we have gas, electricity, are within walking distance of everything we need and can order anything else, we've got five great animals, each other, and a little princess booger who makes us laugh.

And he's right. So the IRS is jerking us around again, claiming to not have received his 2006 nor 2007 tax returns (2006 was the last year he and his ex-wife would have filed jointly, and she is extremely organized and they would have been done), and I clearly remember 2007's return because it was so hard getting his W2 that he had to file an extension, and then ended up owing all of $86, which was paid via bank money order. Randi is seeing if she can fine the 2006 return, though we understand that may have to wait until next month (she's getting married early next month), and I'm 99% sure we have a copy of 2007's return in one of our external drives.

Well, the IRS is holding our 2010 refund over it. But look two paragraphs up. Re-read. That's what's important.

Priorities.

It may take us longer to leave this state, but in the meantime, we still have what we need. We still have each other. We still have each other and our very dearly loved little girl.

New look!

2011-03-08T22:04:00.000-08:00

I've had the same layout since day 1 of this particular blog, way back in mid-2009. Charlotte was still a little bundle of "kick mommy's bladder"! I decided it's finally time for an updated look, and to maybe add some focus to this blog. Oh sure, there'll still be the complaining that's kinda sorta stereotypical of me, but I think it would do me some good to add positive focus. Yes, this means sharing recipes and cleaning tips. There's been so much that's dragged me down that I need to thing more about the good, and the good, for me, involves wearing aprons and making whole wheat bread with honey. So that's what I'm going to do.

For now, I'm going to make a sandwich, a peanut butter and strawberry preserves sandwich on some cheater-bread I bought at the store last night because there was no bread flour on the shelf and I didn't feel like tracking someone down to find some in the back.

Auction update

2011-03-08T20:00:00.000-08:00

I'm really please that, so far, my contributions have bids of $30, $76, $85, and $200! There is just shy of three days left on the jewelry, and just shy of four days left on the gift certificate. I'm excited to see ho high they go! Payment will be made directly to the Estes family, and I will ship the items directly to the buyers.

I found out there's a UPS in the same plaza I've been walking to do shopping. This is thrilling for me! The next nearest one I know of is just too damn far of a walk with a baby in a stroller to do it often considering most of the way home is up hill, and let me tell you, even a block uphill with a heavy baby (well, she's slim for a toddler, but 21 pounds is still 21 pounds) in a heavy stroller is exhausting! I walked that far with her once, and decided to walk another few miles to wait for the bus to take us to the stop that's half a mile from our house.

But this one is just about a mile away, and it's a level walk! Sad that I'm so excited about this. But then again, it removes the concern I've had about relying on others to get things shipped! I don't have to wait for when someone can come out and take me to the other UPS, or wait until I can stomach walking several miles with half of it pushing a stroller up hill. It's not as easy of a walk as it sound.

The next six weeks I have a schedule packed so tight that there's a lot of pressure, and it's the kid of pressure I love. Got a Phantom of the Opera "Mirror" ensemble, a "Wendy Darling" dress for a mom and a Peter Pan tunic and hat for her son, a Chumash (the local Native American tribe) wedding gown, a couple toddler night gowns, and a matching mommy and daughter Easter dress set. All by Easter. Well, the wedding gown is actually due for pick-up (local client) May 1st. Close enough to Easter.

I'm so relieved to be getting everything back on track. Also my new business cards arrive tomorrow. If it's any indication of how stressful life's been for a while, those getting here thrills me a ridiculous amount.

I do have a massively massive website update to do though. About a couple dozen dresses I still need to add. We can't find a working SATA-USB cable, and haven't made getting one a priority, primarily because that is one thing we can't get within walking distance. So I'm going to order one online and then...update of DOOM!

I'm also going to the Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1915 exhibit with one of my four favorite aunts in a couple weeks which about has me wetting myself with excitement.

And on a bittersweet note, I just say this article about a little boy obsessed with the Army who hasn't much time left to live. On his birthday, unbeknownst to him, he was going to be made an honorary member of the Army. So very sweet.

Wheels for Noah

2011-03-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

I'm totally plugging this auction: Wheels for Noah charity auction. It's for the Estes family. They're raising money to help pay for a handicapped-accessible van. Their son's wheelchair isn't the typical, easy-fold one that can fit in a car. It's one specially made for a child with a lot of medical needs, and so they need a van that can transport him in his chair. They've been working hard on making ends meet with a lot of children, as well as taking care of medical expenses for their son. I've donated a few earrings and pendant sets, as well as a bracelet, and a gift certificate. I know some people might be turned off to their blog because it's pretty religious, but they're a good family who need a bit of help. Their small business, Hands and Hearts, also sells a lot of religious items, but also a lot of secular items. I've bought several toys for Charlotte from there. So say Charlotte loves her sorter-thing is an understatement!

Okay, spam-time over. But it's a good cause. Go check it out.

Who would have thought?

2011-03-01T17:56:00.000-08:00

I let mom come back after her 5150 in the psych ward weekend before this last because I didn't want her to have nowhere to stay when she got out. She did better for a while. As in a few days. Then she started bitching at me for everything under the sun again.

If I picked up some fabric to sew, I was neglecting Charlotte, how dare I sew if Charlotte's awake. If I sew when Charlotte's napping, how dare I not spend time with her instead! And no, sewing and talking at the same time doesn't count. Then she said I was lying about having a business at all since I wouldn't take her to my store. Um, Tron is just a movie. Also I had to postpone an in-person fitting for a wedding gown because Mom was too off her rocker and argumentative. She's been trying to sabotage me because she doesn't think Cody and I really need the money I make sewing. She doesn't believe we are really as paycheck-to-paycheck as I say we are. She doesn't think paying for her meds out of pocket are really that expensive. A dozen of them ranging from heart to pancreatic to psych meds, some that are only available as namebrands are damned expensive!!

If I went to the bathroom without Charlotte, how dare I not have her in there with me! If I did, what was wrong with me for not wanting privacy? Yeah, I couldn't even go to the bathroom right. Until about midnight last night, I hadn't been able to take a shower for a full week because she bitched at me if I was in the bathroom longer than a minute. Since she stays up later than even I do, staying up late didn't help.

Yesterday she got an e-mail from social security asking for a third party to fill out a form about her abilities. I wasn't comfortable writing things like she had to be bathed and her hair washed for her, and she had to be spoon-fed. I understand she wants to sound like a complete invalid because social security really should have approved her by now, but I told her I was willing to anyway. She got mad that I wouldn't joyfully do it for her to help her "for once." So she threatened to go back to Winton, to where Cody and I dropped all to go rescue her a few weeks ago.

Get this- she is. She's going right back to her husband's place, though he's been in jail twice for domestic violence against her and the restraining order is through 2013. She also called the guy who beat her up a few weeks ago for the money. Then she got pissed at me for...I don't even know. And went for a walk, said she was going to be gone an hour, but was gone for several hours last night. So I managed to take a shower, but hurried up in case she got home and starte bitching at me.

Among other things, she banned me from checking e-mail, from Facebook, etc.. If I as much as picked up the computer in her presence, she bitched at me. I managed to sneak a few minutes online to post the wedding wrap-up I started weeks ago and she caught me and yelled at me. She also ordered me to ignore my friends because she "needed" my time more than they did. I'm several days behind in e-mails. I dread to see what I've missed, and will likely procrastinate on checking e-mail for another day or two.

Today she started in on everything from how Cody and his mom are afraid of me and think I'm a leach, and Cody wants to leave me but is afraid to tell me. Also my best friends are afraid of me but are too scared to tell me. Needless to say, those who know she's said this about them so far are livid. She also threw in my face how I still battle with having an eating disorder, still have to use a ton of willpower not to starve myself or throw up everything. She also claims that she is the one raising Charlotte and I neglect Charlotte and Charlotte should be taken away from me.

She also said that I have never helped her, ever! She said all I've ever done is take-take-take from her. Uh, what is there to take? We've been giving everything my little family has to give. Without question! From taking her clothing shopping to buying her cigarettes. No question. Just jump to do what she said is what we did. She made me so mad I started yelling at her to just shut up!! Shut up shut up shut up!! For the first time ever I threw something in anger, and that was a dictionary on the floor. There was so much yelling that Charlotte was standing inside my bedroom door, back pressed against the wall, hands over hear ears, crying.

She followed me around the house and into my room and wouldn't leave me alone and accused me of being on meth, crack, heroin (I'm so terrified of needles in skin that it's amazing I sew, I'm that scared, and even Cody had to give me the IVF shots, so the thought of me shooting heroin is laughable), PCP, etc., and said she was going to call social services on me for it, yelling at me while I was holding Charlotte, but that point so scared and confused that the grandma who was so nice to her was suddenly so evil, that she was just staring. I told her to get the fuck out, and she wouldn't. She said I'd have to call 911 and my love is conditional if I made her leave. I see it different. After a point, it's enabling, and we've given her so much already without asking for anything in return. So I called 911. Cody got home while I was on the phone and I had him take Charlotte to the back yard to get here away from what was going on.

Cops came out, including one of the cops who was here last time. Since we've let her get mail here, she's established residency, so they can't make her leave. But she called Richard, who is supposed to send her some money. The police are encouraging a restraining order, which I want to get if I can get to the courthouse. They left before she did, but told me to call back if she gets worse at all and they'd haul her in. I think they were getting angry with her double-talk too.

Anyway she took MY suitcase and packed it though wouldn't let me see what was in it. I didn't even realize until she went to the door with it and I wanted to see what she had in it to make sure she didn't pack anything of mine. She grabbed my favorite socks then yelled at Cody to call 911 on me and said I was lucky I was holding Charlotte, but then dared me to lay a finger on her and told me I'm dead to her. Fine. I don't care. She's dead to me too.

Cody and I have gone through so much for her for the last couple years. We moved her at our expense when she was being evicted, and she blew that. We've sent her money time and time again and never questioned because I felt bad she was washing with dog shampoo and not eating. We've brought her to out home several times in just the last five months. We've given her two cell phones that both ended up stolen within days at a loss of a few hundred to us each time (and she's mad I didn't get her a third one, though we literally have no money right now because we've been supporting her and getting her anything she asked for).

I feel close to a mental breakdown myself. I feel awful that I actually forced her to walk out the door with nowhere to go tonight, but you know what? She did it to me, nine years ago. I had been out of the hospital just three days, and she was made I didn't fold a basket of laundry. My family might remember that hospital stay. Six weeks comatose, blood oxygen down around 60 percent (that's brain-damage level, and yeah, my brain unfortunately can't handle as much as it used to), my leg muscles atrophied from being on my back so long, hole in my small intestine that was draining into my abdomen unchecked, severe toxemia, my heart constantly on the verge of failing.... I wasn't expected to be more than a vegetable after it was over, and somehow lived and am relatively okay. Yet three days after getting out, she kicked me out over a load of laundry, and I was homeless for a couple weeks until an ex-employer of mine found out, tracked me down, and had me move in with her. In that two weeks, I had two abscesses that resulted in ambulance rides to the ER.

So I shouldn't feel bad. Too bad I'm a better person than that. Or maybe a weaker one. At this point, I don't know. I just feel like crying and screaming and throwing stuff and starving myself and screaming some more. I've tried so fucking hard for so fucking long and am so fucking exhausted, and it was all for nothing.

The Fairy Tale

2011-02-25T18:16:00.000-08:00

Let's see. After a hectic month and having to completely re-plan the entire reception from scratch when the person in charge of service for the original reception backed out literally 13 days ahead of the wedding (which was going to be at the Carpinteria Lions Lodge), we managed to make it down the aisle! Rather than Italian food at the Lodge, we had shrimp and other yummier food at Harbor Restaurant in Santa Barbara. Cody and I had our first really nice date there, on my 27th birthday, so it was nice going back. The management and service was WONDERFUL. We had the Harbor Room, and they were very attentive.

Let me backtrack to the lead-up.

It was a lot of financial wrangling to even have a wedding with all else that happened last year (remember the house from hell and car breaking down a few times, and hospitalization and surgery, etc., etc., etc.?), but we somehow managed. We really started working on plans like crazy and in earnest in September or so. We started first with making the invitations.

Oh, the invitations! What was I thinking? We ordered the supplies for them, and tried printing the cardstock at home. Each page could have two invitation faces on them, and then I was going to cut those suckers out by hand. We got about halfway finished with the printing, and then the printer started acting up. So I went down to Kinko's at about midnight to have them printed there. They looked so much better I don't know why we didn't do that from the beginning. I cut them out, went home, and went to bed.

The next day I went to the gorgeous historic Santa Barbara Courthouse to take care of paying for the Mural Room, only to find out I had been told the wrong time we could have the room. Cue panic. Oh well. I reprinted as many invitations as I could with the number of sheets left, printed some cards with the change or time, and decided that would be that.

Then I cut the silver glitter sheets that would go behind the faces and on the sapphire sparkly paper. Glued the silver to the sapphire, glued the faces to the silver, and then, in a bit of added insanity, glues three crystals to each invitation. That's what the dark dots are on this picture my grandparents took:

I used my birth last name as a way to honor my dad.

Anyway, I put the correction cards in the envelopes with invitations I couldn't correct, added address labels, return address labels, stamps, and got these:

Pardon the mess on the floor.

It took me three solid days to make these damn things! I jokingly posted on Facebook that everyone had better light candles and make shrines to the invitations, and a few people obliged! I was thrilled.

In the rest of the time through the middle of November, I made the bouquets, the veil, the flower girls' and bridesmaid's dresses, boutonnières, seating cards, etc.. The plan was even to make the food, but have someone else serve.

I ordered the crystals for my gown, and they hadn't arrived 14 days before the wedding, so my mother-in-law took me to Los Angeles to a store there that had the Swarovski crystals I wanted in the quantity I needed (6,000). Wouldn't you know it, when we got back, in the mail was the ones I had ordered in early October! So I started my gown that night. Yes, 14 days in advance.

The next day we got the call that Jessica was backing out of serving for the wedding. Monday, after a night of freaking and two all-nighters working on my gown, I called Harbor and they had the room available for the wedding, and the deposit would go toward the food. So Cody went down on Tuesday to check it out, and put down the deposit.

So once again the invitations were wrong. Through Facebook and our wedding webpage we managed to make sure every single person knew.

The remainder of the days I worked like hell on my and Charlotte's gowns. I sewed 5,000 crystals to my gown, and about 600 onto hers.

Two days before, I made the top layer of our wedding cake (fruitcake!), and the day before I made the middle layers (gingerbread with cream cheese filling for the middle, and chocolate with raspberry preserves for the bottom). Yes, I made the cake myself. From scratch.

My bridesmaid and her daughters, two of my flower girls, arrived that afternoon. Eric and his girlfriend, Tracy, arrived from Canada and came over to our house for Charlotte's birthday. Simple party, red velvet cheesecake, a birthday song, some snuggling, not a big first birthday bash. Just some family, friends, and a sleepless night!

Cody was kicked out of the house, of course. His mom stayed at our house.

Next morning I slept in a bit and was woken up with coffee and toast. We rushed to pack the cars up with centerpieces, cake, etc.. Mom-in-law took my mom to get some shoes and to grab me some nylons, and we hurried as fast as we could to the restaurant to drop everything off.

Cody and Eric and Tracy were there, and I didn't want them to see me, so they were told to scram while I was taken further down the pier so he wouldn't see me. He thought we meant for him to leave! So only a the two moms were at the restaurant setting up while my bridesmaid took me to the courthouse to meet up with Carmen to start hair and makeup. Hectic.

Getting ready! Carmen, my wonderful makeup and hair lady, was married last summer at the Santa Barbara Courthouse too. I made her wedding gown too! Also all the bridesmaids' gowns!

My pretty Swarovski tiara, and my prettier daughter.
Hugging my girl.
Charlotte shoved her right hand down my corset wanting a snack.
"It puts the lotion on its skin..." Why on earth Derek had lotion, no one knows! (Ariel is on the left, then Cody, then Derek.)
My mom helping me get in my dress.
Getting zipped up.
Smoothing it all down.
I finally decided on which necklace to wear.
Talking with my mom.
We realized no one grabbed the glasses for the unity hourglass sand! Cody's groomswoman (she was in a tux, or else I'd have made her dress too) suggested using a couple of the cufflink boxes, so we did that.

Ariel saved the hourglass ceremony! She's pouring the sand into the boxes.
Derek figuring out how to put on a boutonnière.

The processional starting. My mom was rushing to her seat. We played Canon in D.

Derek was after Cody.

Bridesmaid, flowergirls, and I, were wondering when we were going to be called to go upstairs for the walk down the aisle. So we decided to go ahead and go see, and when I was on the stairs, the music was already going!! No one had told me!! We rushed up the stairs literally about two seconds before my bridesmaid was to go down the aisle.

My bridesmaid was after Derek, who was already going down the aisle when we arrived, but due to privacy concerns, there will be no pictures of her or her daughters publicly available. One of her daughters, who was supposed to go right before me, followed a couple steps behind her mom instead. She was adorable!

And then Ariel!
The other flower girl was next.

And finally me and my brother!
Cody watching me.
Hello! My auntie was caught dabbing her eyes.
Some detail of my gown.
Our friend Amanda officiated. It was very important to us to not have a stranger doing this important duty.
I love how my veil catches the sun.
My mom is center, my dad's youngest sister, my aunt Beth, is to her left, and her friend Sondra is to Beth's left.
Isn't the room gorgeous? That chandelier is one of three in the room, and is wrought iron. The murals were restored over the summer.
Derek gave a reading from the Massachusetts ruling supporting marriage equality and gay rights. This was also extremely important to us.
We were laughing because Amanda said, "Now, I ask that these friends and family stand...very good!" No one had sat down after I walked down the aisle. Every single person was still standing! The first part was scripted. It wasn't scripted for everyone to stay on their feet.Charlotte, being held by Cody's mom, slept through the entire ceremony! She was so fussy just minutes before it started since she missed her afternoon nap that I was worried about whether or not she'd be there at all, so we were glad she slept.
We were laughing because I vowed to make chili at least once a month. I jokingly told him a few months before that I would make this vow, and we had a good laugh about it, but I did it!
Cody putting my ring on me.
And signing the license.

You know how couples usually sign the license after the ceremony, so aren't married yet when walking back down the aisle? Or sign it first and are already married before starting? We didn't like either idea, so we signed it during the ceremony. None of our guests had ever seen that, and few were expecting it. But all liked it.
Me putting Cody's ring on him.
I kissed his palm. just a spur of the moment kiss. Everyone else thought it was sweet. I was thinking, "Warmth! A bit of warmth!" It was so incredibly cold!
My turn to sign!
My brother and my bridesmaid were our witnesses.
My handsome baby brother. He's only a few weeks younger than Cody. The two of them get along so very well!
I thought we had a picture of the sand ceremony, which happened right before the vows, but I can't find it if we do. Ariel was in charge of the sand and hourglass. We wanted each of our attendants to have an honor during the ceremony. We decided against "of honor" positions as they are all important to us.
Right after this, Amanda signed. I wish we had a picture of her signing.
And married!
We done got hitched!!
Hugging my brother.
This is the first time me, my brother, and my mom, had been together since my dad's memorial in November 2003.
I love this pic of us.
Awwww, forehead nuzzle!
Can you believe this is a courthouse?
L-R: my mom, me, Charlotte, Cody, his mom, his step-dad, his dad
Don't ask, no one knows!
Cody and Ariel are goofs.
So are Cody and Derek!
Some of me and Cody:

We were laughing because I had the boutonnière and he had my bouquet, so I called him my wife.
Sooooo mature!
Just us being silly.
This next picture is special. On Cody's and my first trip to the courthouse, on December 9, 2007, and took a picture exactly where we were standing in this picture. Look at how much we've changed in three years!

A private moment.
Bliss.

While we were having pictures taken, our guests headed to the restaurant. Unfortunately the rest of the evening was a bit disorganized because of the re-planning all being so last minute. The sound wasn't able to be set up how we wanted, and the restaurant didn't have permits for dancing, so there was no dancing at all. I regret that our guests were kept waiting about an hour and a half for us to get there to order their food. (Of course the bill was on us, but they still got to choose what to eat.) I didn't even think about having someone have everyone order. So, with the lack of dancing and the wait, I'm of the conviction that everyone thought the reception sucked, though at least the ceremony started exactly on time!

My mom made the centerpieces. The wreaths are all different, yet compliment each other. In the center of each is a small fishbowl with candleholders that match our glasses. We ordered the glasses and matching candleholders from a seller on etsy.
In place of a guestbook, we had guests decorate and/or sign glass Christmas balls with metallic paint and hang them on the tree. We'll decorate our tree with them each year and reminisce. So much nicer than typical guest books that people sign and then the book gets shoved in a drawer somewhere. In the basket to the left are bottles of vanilla extract we started brewing in 2008, and in the basket to the right are fruitcakes I made. These were our favors. The cookies on the platter my flower girls made and decorated the night before.
Our first dance was on the Santa Barbara pier by the Ty Warner Sea Center. Our song was the sound of the ocean.
*smooch* See how much silk duchesse satin catches light and glows from within?
One of my favorite photos.
Running away!
"Talk to the hand, Baby!"
A bit sensual.
Twirling to show off my skirt.
I was giddy to share a last name with my daughter and husband!
Our rings!
Ariel giving a speech. My bridesmaid also gave one, but that pic's not here.
Our cake! I make it! Thank goodness I know how to do supports for freakin' heave cakes.
Our dear friend Eric kindly did us the honor of MC'ing the ceremony! We had asked him a few weeks prior, but he didn't realize until the night before that we meant it! He's apparently afraid of public speaking, but you wouldn't ever have guessed. He did so well! We can't wait for him and Tracy to come back so we can take a road trip up the coast!
Toasting each other!
Our pretty hourglass.
This is why the shoulders of my dress as a bit long and droop at times. Since the fabric doesn't stretch at all, I had to make the shoulders a bit big so I could get my top down enough to still breastfeed Charlotte. Feeding her when she needs takes priority over perfectly fitting shoulders.
Ah! Cake-cutting time!
Should we use the puny little one?
Or the big one?
The innuendo in this pic was not intentional!
We used the sword to cut the cake.
I told him if he smashed cake in my face, I was divorcing him then and there! Thank goodness he didn't. At the end of the night, only the top tier, the fruitcake tier that we had immediately set aside, was left. Who says that a 14" tier and 10" tier is supposed to feed over 100 people with leftover cake to spare?! Our 55 guests (plus 7 crashers - we had more guests than yes-RSVPs!) and between us we ate ever single piece!
Holding Amanda's baby, Faerah. Charlotte had the exact same outfit when she was littler! I was going to say "when she was a baby," but she still is a baby! Faerie-Faerah was a perfect little guest!
Cody showing off his sword!
Oh no! Run, Ariel! the weight of marriage made him lose his mind!
The cufflinks I surprised Cody, Ariel, Derek, and my brother, with. Watch components with tiny rubies. (Hey, Fellas and Fella-ette, those red things are rubies!)
Charlotte at the end of the night in her new fluffy pink jacket.

Enjoy the pictures!

Tooth #13

2011-02-21T20:52:00.000-08:00

Lower right canine, last night!

I'm even more exhausted

2011-02-20T16:35:00.000-08:00

I'm even more exhausted, and am very temperamental because of it. Yesterday we went to Costco to buy a shed like our landlord is requiring if we want to be able to store anything since we can no longer use our laundry room for storage. Apparently the guy in the studio apartment connected to the house has to have access to it by law (we're not comfortable with him having access to our home, but what can we do?). We got there (thanks to my mom-in-law letting us use her truck) and not only had they marked up $150 since last week, but they were out and wouldn't sell the floor model, despite damage and us willing to pay full price, because they wanted to keep it out to advertise for when they get more in, though they're having so many people ask on a daily basis for the sheds that they're going to sell out in an hour, or so the manager told me. So we had to run all over hell's creation to find a place with one in stock and finally got one for less than four figures that's smaller than the one we wanted and not as nice.

We started putting it together when we got home, and it was so cold I lost feeling in my fingers and toes. We have yet to get the roof on, which we'll do tonight. There is literally exactly enough clearance under the alcove for it to fit. Like another 1/4" and it wouldn't fit.

The last night the same stupid neighbors we've had to call the cops on for before for blasting music so loud we could feel the base at all hours of the night were at it again. When on earth are the cops going to start fining those people? When we call dispatch and they've already got someone on the way from another complain, and this happens multiple times a month, the cops need to start issuing fines.

I've got no energy today and Charlotte is a bundle of it.

I'm also pissed today because I really want to go to my ballet classes, but without a running car, I can't go.

And I'm still trying to figure out what to do about my mom.

I'm so mentally exhausted

2011-02-18T18:37:00.001-08:00

After the cops having to come out today, followed by the mobile crisis intervention team, followed by the cops again, my mom's been taken in for an involuntary psychiatric hold and I have the option of pressing criminal charges on her (though I'm not going to). My mother-in-law is heading here now to be with us. It's been a hell of a day, and she's been coming unhinged badly this week. It was enough today that several of the neighbors were outside to see what was going on, and the neighbors across the street who I spoke to while waiting for the cops the second time said they thought someone had died.

I don't know what to do at this point. When she's released, she has no where else to go, and she will die if left to the streets, but I'm not in any way equipped to handle all of this, even with Cody's support.

Awwww, poor baby!

2011-02-16T10:47:00.000-08:00

I shall silently mutter the obscenities that describe this week. The car, someone working under my identity again and the IRS putting me on the hook for the taxes, etc.. If I didn't have Cody, I'd go jump off the nearest cliff or bridge. It's been hectic and hellish enough that I'm not even going to bother going into any detail.

Yesterday Charlotte had two accidents. She was running, and twice she fell in that way that she missed landing on her knees and hands and went right to her face. On concrete. My mom was watching her, and still feels so bad that she couldn't get to Charlotte in time. Her bottom lip ended up all swollen and her nose bled, but she's all right. She's not at all bothered. Even though her lip was swollen enough that her biggest smile didn't show her bottom teeth. Tough little bugger. Grandma was, and still is, shaken up, and Lottie cried all of a minute before wanting down to run again.

Today her lip is almost back to normal. And boy oh boy is she ever being a pill and trying to get into everything.

RIP car

2011-02-10T09:22:00.000-08:00

On the way home from ballet last night, our car went kaplooey. The power started cutting at an idle at stops as we left (Cody drove me and picked me up last night), then suddenly on the freeway there was a very loud knocking noise from the head, like a rapid misfire. We pulled over right away and there was a tiny bit of smoke. So the car was towed home. At this point, I think the engine needs to be replaced. We've had enough fixes in the last year that it doesn't make sense to keep fixing it piece by piece. So we are without a car until we get our federal refund.

At least we're just 3 miles from Cody's work, so he got a bike and will be biking. We're also 1.7 miles from the fabric store and one of the grocery stores we go to, and 1.5 miles from the other, and 1.2 miles from Trader Joe's, so, worst case, we toss Charlotte in her stroller and go for a walk. The only irritating thing is that the nearest UPS closed, and so both UPS and USPS are 8 miles away, in an area with crappy transit that takes several transfers to get to (I wish we had the transit the Bay Area does).

I am concerned with how I'm going to get to ballet since that gets out at 9:50. :( I can get a ride to UPS, but ballet gets out so late.

2011-02-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

Charlotte playing with her Hansel and Gretl dolls from McDonald's. I get the food, she gets the toy and some non-fried food. Usually. These little Madame Alexander dolls are the perfect size for her right now. A lot of the McDonald's toys are. Her dress is from the seller RabbitWhiskers on etsy. The detail on the smocking is stunning and puts to shame anything I could do. I can do basic smocking and some embroidery. That woman smocks and embroiders a whole world. This dress was $190. Steep, sure, but completely worth it. For anyone wanting something smocked with great detail and expert craftsmanship, I'm not the one to go to. Go to her!

Charlotte playing tea party in one of her made-by-mommy dresses.

Charlotte is wearing her flowergirl dress from our wedding. Silk duchess satin with pintuck silk dupioni and Swarovski crystals.

I'm ready for 2011 to be over

2011-02-07T19:40:00.000-08:00

So I as sick for a while, pretty badly too. I started to get better, then Cody got sick, followed by Charlotte, and then I got sick again. I've been sick about a month so far this year.

My mom moved back in, and that went well. She went back to her old place for one week to try getting her county medical stuff transferred. Long story short, she got a lottery ticket that won $1k, and the guy she was with (him and his mom, nothing more than platonic) wanted it. She said no, so he literally tried to kill her when he was on meth. Like he beat her with a baseball bat, a fireplace poker, and other things, taunting her with her granddaughter having to grow up without her, screaming that he was going to drag her death out. He only paused when his mom started going through mom's stuff, looking for the brand new cell phone Cody and I got her, and mom took that moment to get the hell out the front door and ran (thank you, adrenaline) to the nearest pay phone to call 9-1-1. But the fucking police there only consider it to be a "domestic disturbance" and so let the fucker walk. To add insult to injury, the police said that her possessions in that house fall under community property, so the freaks didn't have to give her anything back. Yeah, but no. Community property laws ONLY cover married couples and registered domestic partners. Co-habitating, being engaged, being roommates, and staying with someone for a week aren't covered by community property. Oh, and get this - you've got to pay for a civil stand-by there now! If you can't afford the fee, then tough luck.

Cody and I picked my mom up from the hospital. She had only the sweat pants she was wearing at the time she was being beaten, her robe that she was wearing, and a paper shirt from the hospital and a pair of those hospital socks. We went to the town of Satan and arranged for a standby that ended up being pointless. When we first drove into that town, the first this Cody saw was a man clearly methed out of his mind run into traffic in the middle of the intersection and run and jump onto the hood and then the roof of a moving car, Jackass-style, but not staged. The man rolled off the back of the car and laughed maniacally. There were quite a few people standing around on the corners drinking and smoking what wasn't cigarettes or pot, right out in the open, and a few people started moving toward that man menacingly. Poor Cody about freaked. We had Charlotte in the back seat and his introduction to that town where my mom had been living and I come from was a bunch of people drugged out of their minds acting worse than could be shown in TV and something that very well may have ended with someone dead by the end of the night. Mom and I weren't fazed. But that's that town for ya. No one bats a lash at child molestation, and who murdered a girl in 1997 in a high-profile case is an open-secret yet no one will speak. This week one of the items on our agenda is to go to the police here about that. Where the girl's body is hidden is also known. Thank the gods no one there knows what city we live in now, and the reason I won't say where it is is because I don't trust some of you reading this to not try to contact someone there, alert them to where we are, and wait for us to be killed. It's no joke. It could happen.

So basically life's been put on hold to try finding out what we can do about the police doing nothing. Thursday Cody had me take mom shopping (like he needed to tell me, but it was sweet that he brought it up to me first and more or less phrased it as an order to go buy her a bunch of clothes since she came back to us with literally a pair of pants and a robe, and he wants to take care of her). I've had very little sewing time, I haven't been to ballet in weeks, we've had next to no time to cook properly and I lose weight eating crap foods. This week it's going to be mandatory for my own sanity for me to have at least three hours a day (or evening, night, whatever) of time in my sewing room. I'm only a couple hours away from being finished with two dresses I need to get in the mail ASAP as well as a full-length petticoat (I love petticoats!), and I'm about five hours from finishing a fancy dress for Charlotte I'm hand-sewing (handsewing...oh my god I love it). I've also got a Chumash wedding dress I need to make a mock-up of for a local client before our next meeting and then get that made, and a new Phantom of the Opera gown order for the Mirror outfit. I'm thrilled with that one because I've been wanting to do it for years now. This is my next five weeks.

My mom is finding comfort in ribbons and buttons and making jewelry from my rather large stash of jewelry supplies, ribbons, and buttons. She is very creative, and this is giving her something to focus on as an outlet. She adores Charlotte, but my god that kid is getting huge and she talks a lot and runs. Know what? Time for pictures of Charlotte, then I'm going to go pin a hem one one of those dresses. Charlotte gets her own post.

2011-01-19T13:13:00.000-08:00

Cripes, I've been sick. Hating life for the last week.

Tooth-watch

2010-12-29T23:53:00.000-08:00

Just a very quick post, too busy to post a lot and too tired. Will try to catch up tomorrow.

Charlotte cut her 12th tooth! Her lower left first pre-molar. So she has all 4 first pre-molars and all eight incisors!! No wonder she can eat whole pieces of meat and raw broccoli and apples right off the core. I need to get out her baby book and look these teeth and milestones up and write them in there.

Also she LOVES to grab things to "share" with anyone whose hands she can put things in, and she is a big fan of giving kisses. I love when she gives e a hug, then plants a baby kiss on my lips. She'll pull away, smile, and clap, she's so proud of herself. Anything that results in Mommy and Daddy smiling and saying, "Thank you, Charlotte!", she loves to do and claps when she does.

For Christmas one of her gifts was a counting book with beads. I've been showing her the numbers, saying them, and moving that number of beads. She now recognizes 1 and 2. Not too shabby for a baby just over a year old!

Bedtime now. I'm so freaking tired.

Almost Christmas!

2010-12-21T14:07:00.000-08:00

Well, in the wedding rush Cody thought he paid the Internet bill, but didn't. When you've got FIOS, a day past gets it shut off. They're right, it wasn't paid as thought, so we're waiting until payday on Friday and iPhoning it until then.

Today has been semi-productive. I got a dress in the mail, actually made headway in housework thanks to Charlotte playing with the packaging for Cody's birthday present (I got him United Cutlery's Anduril, Aragon's sword as king), and now I'm relaxing for the first time in months. I've got smocking to do tonight, and not much else until after Christmas.

Back in ballet in January (also taking oceanography through the local college), then a couple more dresses for little miss Margaret, a Don Juan outfit, rainbow wedding gown, regency flannel gown, and some other stuff.

Also the post office told me that the overseas office has record of delivery on that order, signed by the client. So now she's basically threatening to drag me through mud if I don't pay her. I'll take a rep hit before caving to blackmail. So now I'm actually going to ignore a now-ex client. I hate doing it, but the other option is caving to blackmail, and I know I shouldn't.

I think we're among the only people who didn't pack under the tree with packages. It's been hard. I love shopping for people. But, until Charlotte is old enough to understand the fun in doing for others, we don't want to set her up for thinking the world is about her and buying her things. So far she does thing sharing us fun. We've turned it into a game, and she'll grab anything to give someone, and she will also share if asked, "Charlotte share?" Then she claps and smiles all proud of herself.

A few days ago we were watching the Michael Jackson documentary "This Is It," and she bounced up and down a couple times, turned in a couple circles, stuck her arms out to her sides, and gave a little yell. We were so proud. :-)

And one set of wedding pics is in the mail on the way to us! Can't wait to get them!

And we got a new cat. A grey Balinese, a large boy named Loki. More on him later with pics.

I'm tired of thumb-typing, so more later.

Tooth #11

2010-12-13T23:31:00.000-08:00

Tooth #11 has come in, her lower right, is, whatever's fourth from center, the front-most molar-type tooth.

Birthdays~

2010-12-07T19:00:00.000-08:00

Today is Cody's 28th, and tomorrow is my 30th!! Oh no! I'm about to be OLD!! Actually in a way, it feels like the start of a new book in life. The 20's saw many very hard times in my life, from loss of a parent to homelessness to near-death. Then it got very good at the end - Cody, baby, got my family and brother back, married... and those good things I am taking with me into a new decade. I can cut the rest loose and breathe.

Getting married!

2010-12-07T14:46:00.000-08:00

It is also Cody's birthday today! Happy 28th to my fia- I mean, husband! Sounds so weird still to say that!!

Fairy Tale

2010-12-06T21:07:00.001-08:00

Click HERE for the full write-up

Me and Charlotte

2010-12-06T19:42:00.000-08:00

Her dress was a miniature version of mine, but all in one piece and with no boning or train. Otherwise the exact same design and fabrics!!

My brother and Charlotte

2010-12-06T16:46:00.000-08:00

Married!!

2010-12-05T21:25:00.001-08:00

More pictures coming!

Five days

2010-11-28T21:24:00.000-08:00

I mostly finished my bodice last night, complete with the beads. Just need to attach the sleeves and closure. Oh, and get out two damned ink marks each about 6" long. Ugh. So today's agenda was to get the ink out and then more beading on my skirt. Maybe another 1,000 beads to go. Thousands of aurora borealis Swarovski crystals is stunning. I'll probably add some to my veil, which I made last night. I was also going to make the top tier of my wedding cake today. It's fruitcake because fruitcake gets better after a year, unlike other cakes that get nasty after a year, no matter how they're saved.

I didn't finish the fruitcake, but I've made some good progress on beading. With some persistence and a late night, I may be able to get most of it finished tonight, and the rest tomorrow night.

Tonight: Bead bead bead, iron hem

Monday: Finish beading, finish hem, button on waistband, sleeves, bodice closure, hooks to support skirt. Fruitcake!

Tuesday: Anything that didn't get done between Friday and Monday, eyes on Charlotte's dress, finish one of the flower girl sashes, tack Shell's sash to her dress, make a dress for Charlotte's birthday, corsages.

Wednesday: Charlotte has a dr's appt., ~~then finishing centerpieces~~, get menus and programs printed and menus cut

Thursday: Make my wedding cake (yes!!), get vanilla bottles labeled, fruitcakes ribboned, clean the house!!

Friday: Get mails done, make dinner for Charlotte's birthday, any residual work for the wedding

Saturday: Breakfast with Santa, BS around until 11:30, get my hair done, get my makeup done, head to Santa Barbara and get dressed, try not to panic!!

Six days left to prepare

2010-11-25T15:49:00.000-08:00

Well, tonight I'm making my veil, as soon as I post this. Struck off the list anyway.

~~Wednesday: Bead until I'm out of beads~~
Thursday: Beading as much as I can while at mother-in-law-to-be's house if I have any beads left (probably won't), design the menus for reception dinner and the ceremony program
Friday: Getting my hair done, marking the hem for my skirt,starting/fittingmostly making my bodice, starting skirt hem
Saturday: ~~Trip to LA for more beads~~, bead bead bead my skirt, finishing skirt hem
Sunday: Bead bead bead my bodice
Monday: ~~Hem Charlotte's dress, buttons, make my veil~~
Tuesday: Anything that didn't get done between Friday and Monday, finish one of the flower girl sashes, tack Shell's sash to her dress, make a dress for Charlotte's birthday
Wednesday: Charlotte has a dr's appt., ~~then finishing centerpieces~~, get menus and programs printed and menus cut
Thursday: Make my wedding cake (yes!!)
Friday: Get mails done, make dinner for Charlotte's birthday, any residual work for the wedding
Saturday: Breakfast with Santa, BS around until 11:30, get my hair done, get my makeup done, head to Santa Barbara and get dressed, try not to panic!!

Agenda for days remaining until the wedding

2010-11-24T18:07:00.000-08:00

It's 10 days out from the wedding. Let's just say eight. Today's almost finished, and I'm not doing prep the day of. There are eight days BETWEEN now and then, eight days left to get a lot done. I'll be getting more beads on Saturday and still have a TON of work to do in that regard. I haven't even cut out the bodice of my dress.

Planned agenda:
Tonight: Bead until I'm out of beads
Tomorrow: Beading as much as I can while at mother-in-law-to-be's house if I have any beads left (probably won't), design the menus for reception dinner and the ceremony program
Friday: Getting my hair done, making the hem for my skirt, starting/fitting/mostly making my bodice, starting skirt hem
Saturday: Trip to LA for more beads, bead bead bead my skirt, finishing skirt hem
Sunday: Bead bead bead my bodice
Monday: Hem Charlotte's dress, buttons, make my veil
Tuesday: Anything that didn't get done between Friday and Monday, finish one of the flower girl sashes, tack Shell's sash to her dress, make a dress for Charlotte's birthday
Wednesday: Charlotte has a dr's appt., then finishing centerpieces, get menus and programs printed and menus cut
Thursday: Make my wedding cake (yes!!)
Friday: Get mails done, make dinner for Charlotte's birthday, any residual work for the wedding
Saturday: Breakfast with Santa, BS around until 11:30, get my hair done, get my makeup done, head to Santa Barbara and get dressed, try not to panic!!

Cody will be helping with the non-dress stuff, so he's not off the hook!! He is off for 10 days starting Wednesday.

Decided

2010-11-24T17:49:00.000-08:00

I decided that I'm going to forge ahead with remaking the order, as the client originally agreed to (to top it off, I agreed she could keep both orders when/if the first shows up). She hasn't agreed to returning the first package if she receives a refund and then it shows up. I think I'm being fair with this. The post office hasn't yet declared the package a loss. If anyone wants to give me grief about this, I'll scan the customs receipt and tracking slip dated and stamped by the post office and direct any grief-givers to the usps.com site to see for themselves that it shipped.

Exhausted!

2010-11-24T01:48:00.001-08:00

Well, I started beading Charlotte's dress again after taking off everything I already did. I had the bodice finished, but hated it, so off with them. Well, one Lord of the Rings trilogy later, I've finished the beading on her entire dress, with a bit of time in the trilogy to spare. Very pretty and sparkly. Just need to hem it, add some sort of buttons, and maybe sew in a light petticoat.

I'm almost out of the beads I need to finish my gown. Crud. At least the bank is straightened out now, so we've got our money back.

Now for the headaches.

The power steering in the car went out. Could be the serpentine belt, could be the pump needs to be replaced. At least, of all the things that can go wrong with the car, it's this. The car is still drivable.

Bigger headache is I made an order for someone in Europe, mailed it last month, got tracking on it, but it was only scanned once - when it was accepted. The post office on my end is supposed to try tracking it down. So far I've heard no news. Since I know she didn't get it (tracking would show she did), I was going to remake after my wedding if she didn't receive it before then, and she was fine with that. But she decided that since she didn't get it yet, that it means she was ripped off and wants a refund. Despite me having proof of shipping, which the post office doesn't give for thin air. She is the first client I've ever had who didn't receive what she ordered. It's not her fault, but it's not mine either. Still, even though it's not my fault and I have proof, I offered to remake everything as a rush by pushing back a dress I was going to be making as a gift. My contract states that lost orders will be remade, with a rush if possible. I think I should hold to my contract, forge ahead and remake the order, shipping via FedEx this time.

Macy's resolved!

2010-11-22T22:09:00.000-08:00

Customer service tol me today, regarding not getting my gift cards credited back, that "that's just the risk you take when using gift cards online." This wasn't acceptable, so I went to Macy's in person, spoke with the homewares department manager, showed him the printouts from my account on macys.com and the UPS tracking showing Macy's received everything back to their warehouse in Arizona without it ever being delivered, and so he was determined to resolve this and said I'd been more than patient enough.

He called macys.com and spoke with a manager there, and was given the run-around. They agreed to issue a credit, but not until they process the return items, though they know the boxes were unopened, and that should be by the end of the week, and then they'd issue the credit, which would take 7-10 more days to process, and then a new order could be placed. The other manager told him I was welcome to place a new order, pay, and then wait to be credited. When the other manager said that, he went 110% to bat for me and straight up said I should not have to pay twice and wait around weeks more for them to fix their error when they had it in their notes that it was supposed to be redirected to me and instead was redirected back to them. But oh no, macys.com wouldn't budge.

So he spoke with the store manager to see what could be done since they don't carry the exact items I ordered in that store. The solution was definitely acceptable to me. Since it would be, in all likelihood, another month to get what I ordered online, and they didn't have the items, they offered comparable items, regardless of cost. Lee, the manager helping me, found the nicest comparable items they had. The best of the regular aluminum cookie sheets (non-stick makes sucky cookies unless you line it with parchment every time), the best roasting pan, etc.. In the end, what I got was about 3x what I originally paid, and better quality.

Lee at the Oaks Macy's, you rock, and you saved Macy's from losing a customer.

Once our bank account is credited from the second round of unauthorized Paypal transactions (this time on my debit card, which was on the account, and both are not cut and we're waiting for new cards), everything from last week that went wrong will be righted, and we're actually better off now than we would have been.

Yay, beads!

2010-11-22T05:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I decided on another bead patter, and it looks AMAZING. After an all-nighter, I'd be finished if Charlotte hadn't woken up wanting to play.

Fiasco!

2010-11-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

So the crystal beads I ordered for my gown back in October hadn't arrived. So I placed an order for some glass ones through a store in Washington, but before they could process, whoever's been in our Paypal account did it again, using my debit card that was on the account. So both our cards were cancelled and new ones ordered. Cue meltdown because first beads didn't arrive, second beads couldn't ship. Two weeks out and no beads. I went online to the garment district in LA to see what I could find, and found a place with Swarovski crystals for only about 3X what I paid for the first ones, so Theola (Cody's mom) and I went yesterday. We got back home, I checked the mail...and the crystals from October were there.

*wall, meet head*

So I stayed up late last night crystaling Charlotte's dress first, and finished the entire bodice, and...I don't like it. I'm actually pretty sure I hate it.

I'm also going to regret it if my mom's not at my wedding.

Oh geez

2010-11-17T10:55:00.000-08:00

Well. What do you know. Today our serving staff for the lodge backed out. Well, it's a good thing we found the other place. AND! And our bank account was credited today for those Paypal charges.

So now we have a new venue with better food overlooking the ocean like I originally wanted and can have alcohol without additional permits and security fees (cash and carry, we are NOT paying for a night of drinking) and all staff and everything built in. We are saving money that can go toward helping our attendants if they need is. We're actually in a better spot right now than we were. Only difference is there's no dancing at the restaurant, but that's okay because we weren't planning it to be a dancing event.

So now tomorrow we go put don a deposit on the new venue and get things started on replanning the reception.

Also our new TV arrived yesterday. It's this sucker. It's replacing our Toshiba DLP. Back in its day, in the Long Long Ago of 2005, this sucker was considered a really nice HDTV. Now? Well 780i just isn't what it used to be. Or it is, but it's now old tech. We were watching Iron Man on it and, like a dork, I kept going, "Oh my god, did you see that? It's like he's not even on the screen!" Heh. And then Toy Story 3 in HD. Technically the TV is a combination wedding/birthday gift for Cody, but, to be fair, we both benefit equally. I think I'll get a Blu Ray player. :) Well, we. :)

All right, I still need to finish my gown and Charlotte's. Still. I'm about to place another crystal order since the one I placed a month ago hasn't arrived. My veil. A few centerpieces. Not much, just not much time left. :)

Okie-dokie!

2010-11-16T10:08:00.000-08:00

So there was another attempt to withdraw money from our bank account via Paypal. Well, four of them. For over $1,000 total. I've regularly used Paypal with my bank, both to receiving and withdrawing payments, as well as for making payments, rarely for more than $500 at a time, and never for about a dozen transactions for over $2,000, and never for that much and then some past our bank account balance. So the manager at the bank is going to keep Paypal transactions frozen (fine with us!), and credit back the charges and fees today. This is a major relief!! After re-planning the reception last night, I feel like money's just been thrown at us!! We weren't planning to get it back.

And we're waiting to hear back from the events coordinator at one of our favorite ocean-viewing restaurants for the reception. If we can do that, amazing.

Now we're just dealing with Macy's still. They're still refunding to credit anything more than the $19.34 I paid by debit that was over the cost of the gift cards, and still saying I'm "welcome" to re-place the order and pay via debit at the current prices. Uh, no. I'm pissed off. That bakeware was supposed to be here yesterday. I planned tonight's dinner using one of the pans. Since it's one we don't have, I either have to refreeze a massive bird or go buy a pan locally.

Also Charlotte has poured some soy milk on the floor and is splashing around in it. She's happy, so I'm letting her. Thank goodness the floor is wood.

Well then!

2010-11-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

We have figured out that it may be more cost-efficient to move the reception entirely, basically plan the whole thing from scratch 18 days out than to keep on track with what we were doing. Few enough people can make it that keeping it where it is right now would cost us about $120 per person, and the meal would be Italian. Moving it to a restaurant we love that has a private banquet room would cost us less than a third of that, and the meal choices would include prime rib and salmon, AND we'd overlook the ocean. We're waiting for a call back tomorrow to see if there is any minimum purchase for the room, if we can designate certain meal choices (the filet mignon/lobster combo, if everyone were to order it, would break the bank, and we can't pick and choose who can), and if we can nix alcohol from our tab. If so, then we'd be looking at spending less than just the remaining outstanding balance on the lodge. And we'd have enough left over to help the bridesmaid with the two flower girls and Cody's groomsman so they could all still be there with us!

Everything is falling apart

2010-11-15T16:20:00.000-08:00

This has been a very bad day. The mildest of that Macy's screwed up an order I placed, sent it to the wrong address, promised eight times (I kept track) that it would be rerouted to me, but today it went back to the warehouse, and how they'll replace the order if I pay via debit for the full current amount. They said they're refunding what was paid via debit on the last order ($19 and change), but can't credit gift cards (another $100). Also I got everything on a Veteran's Day sale, and the price now is about $60 more.

Our Paypal account was hacked and our bank account charged down into the negative for it. If the credit union determines we couldn't have been more diligent in preventing being hacked, then we'll get some of it refunded, but if they think we could have been, we're on the hook for all of it. Worse, we do NOT have "courtesy pay" on the account, yet they allowed a couple transactions through AFTER it had gone negative. They bounces a third when in the negative, and the bounce fee is more than the "courtesy pay" fee! In the meantime, they will not do a courtesy credit and want us to deposit money to bring the account to 0 or higher. Um, no. Fuck you.

Also the wedding is falling apart. People are dropping left and right. Of the 3 bridesmaids, 1 bridesman, 2 groomsmen, 1 groomswoman, and 3 flower girls, at this point only the bridesman, groomswoman, and 1 flower girl (Charlotte!) can be there for sure. 2 bridesmaids are definitely out, the other doesn't know yet and the 2 other flower girls are hers, and both groomsmen are out (one was in a car accident today, but, thankfully, he's physically fine, though I don't think his car is). Various family members can't make it for various reasons, including very close ones. Right now we're at 36 yeses, including some of the people who've dropped out, taking our total to 30. Our venue is now way too large.

I'm so disappointed in everything right now.

And it doesn't help that the post office lost an order. A Titanic corset, the tea gown, flying gloves, boarding hat, and flying shawl. Order to France. The tracking shows it received by the post office, but from there, it's disappeared and they have no idea what happened to it. It was scanned only once, when it was received. So that's an order I'm remaking (obviously no charge to the customer), and it's not a cheap one either. Thankfully she's understanding and is still planning to place another order. It's just angering that this is the second package the post office lost this year. The first one was a loaner gown I was sending to someone, so it was my own gown.

I need a drink. I made one that my brother named Misty Mountainside. It's 1/3c vodka (I use Smirnov for this), 1/3c Kahlua, 1/3c Bailey's Irish Cream, 3 heaping tablespoons chocolate milk mix (Nesquik), and 1c milk. Yes, it's half alcohol. No, it doesn't taste like it. It tastes like a slightly warm chocolate milk. When Cody gets home, I'm having one. Maybe two. I need it. With today, I deserve it.

Ow

2010-11-11T08:03:00.001-08:00

Not even 8am, and already Charlotte has knee-dropped onto my abdomen (VERY painful for me), pulled out a handful of my hair, bit a nipple hard enough to draw blood, poked me in the eye, and jabbed a finger into my nose hard enough to make me bleed. This is going to be a long day.

Seven years

2010-11-10T09:52:00.000-08:00

Seven years ago today my dad died. It was a day that shattered many lives.

2010-11-09T01:35:00.001-08:00

Of course the rain went away and left us with "nice" weather. Ugh.

It hit me about an hour ago that we have 25 days left. Oh my god. OH MY GOD. It doesn't feel like this is really happening, yet also doesn't feel like a lot of time. I'm in a state of near shock.

Rain rain stay here now!

2010-11-07T23:40:00.000-08:00

We're finally getting a little more rain. I hope we get a ton, and that we get another thunder storm like the one we had a few weeks ago that went in non-stop for so long.

Today I got no sewing done. Instead we rearranged the laundry room, consolidated boxed and separated several for donation. Then I started organizing my sewing room at last, and moved several totes to the laundry room. It'll be nice to actually be able to sew in there. As a result of the cleaning, which I use loosely due to the disaster we made, we've got a pile 3' high of laundry in the family room. To be fair, it includes towels and blankets too. So much has been moved around today that I dread cleaning tomorrow. But at least the kitchen's done.

Charlotte is getting so big with 18mo-size clothing fitting her snuggly. She's beautiful, she's incredibly tall, and I think we may have a future-model on our hands, though this isn't what we desire. We hope to raise her to be a good, kind-hearted person rather than a model. Right now her favorite game is Share. If she's holding something, "Charlotte share?" and either take it from her or wait for her to give it. "Yay, Charlotte shared!! Mommy/Daddy share?" and give it to her. "Yay, Mommy/Daddy shared!! Charlotte share?" etc.. Usually now as soon as you start, she hands it over. She gets so excited when we go, "Yay, X shared!" and clap. Even her snacks she'll share if asked.

She also loves to take her little snacks and feed others. I can sit here with her and a few baby cheesy poofs, and she'll feed me one, so I'll feed her one. She looks so proud of herself putting food in our mouths. We think it's a good sign that she does to us the things we do to take care of her. We think it's good that she's learning to take care of others and that she is so happy for doing it. Lately she's also taken to grabbing one of our faces with her little hands and pulling it toward her, looking at us, smiling, then forehead-butting us and getting so excited she squeals. She's imitating us, only the squeal is her own. She's such a good, smart, sweet girl.

I've decided to make her flower girl dress out of the same fabric as my gown, pure silk duchesse satin and pintucked silk dupioni that I'll bead with Swarovski crystals. I'll start her gown probably Wednesday. As for mine, the corset is almost finished. Waiting for the boning, then I'll bind the bottom and add grommets, voila. After this, just hemming and beading the skirt, and the main outer bodice. I can't wait for it to be done.

Apple pi

2010-11-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

The Facebook caption:

"Oh, Mom and Dad, you're lame, using an Apple phone to take a picture of an Apple pumpkin with an Apple TV in the background that you'll upload to the internet with an Apple computer."

Wedding stuff

2010-11-03T20:13:00.000-07:00

Let's see. Two flower girl dresses are completely finished except for one sash. I still need to start Charlotte's.

One bridesmaid gown just needs to be hemmed and have the buttons put on. The other needs those but also the skirt to be cut and attached, and the sleeve bands put on.

I need to make the corset and bodice for my gown, not to mention hem and do the beading. The veil will be quick and easy. I got the pattern for the corset drafted tonight and will make it, minus the boning I need to order, tomorrow. I need to measure the channels to know the lengths to order, and then I'll make the bodice. That's lightly boned, so I may just order several lengths so I don't have to wait.

I need to start and finish one bridesmaid bouquet, the other and mine are both finished and even crystaled. I need to make a special outfit for my childhood stuffed bunny. More on that later.

I need to make three corsages, one for Cody's mom, one for my mom in case she actually shows, and an extra. The boutonnieres are finished.

These are the things I need to finish in the next 30 days. I'd say three weeks just so there's enough of a buffer for me to not go nuts. RSVPs are rolling in. It all feels surreal.

Halloween and it's history

2010-10-31T00:01:00.000-07:00

I actually wrote this post on January 23 and set it to post today. Chances are good that I've forgotten about it. It was written in response to this post and this post, both claiming Halloween is an evil Pagan holiday. I encourage you to read, or at least skim, them before continuing here.

It annoys the everloving hell out of me to see time and again people claiming that Halloween is evil, that it's a night of spells and witches flying around on broomsticks and trying to do magic with black cats. It involves none of these things, and in fact, Halloween as we currently know it...was started by a Christian society in very modern times, and even today it marks a holiday dearly held by Mexican Catholics, and the original Pagan holiday was nothing like it's been made out to be.

It annoys me how those claiming this is an evil holiday clearly have never bothered to look into the history of Halloween, why it came about, nor about the real Pagan holiday that's supposedly so evil, and these same people ignore that the celebrations of Christmas and Easter were both dated to fall over other Pagan holidays in an attempt to usurp them. The decorated tree at Christmas is a direct reappropration of the Yule tree. The halo, held so sacred, is a rip-off of the sun over the head of the sun god Helios.

Anyway here is the comment I posted, though I highly doubt it will be approved (when I see this post again when it posts, I'll go check).

Christmas trees are also Pagan in roots, part of the winter celebration of Yule, which is observed on the solstice. Jesus wasn't born in winter (there are no lambs in winter in the northern hemisphere, only in late spring and early summer), yet his birth is celebrated to overlap Yule? The time and the tradition of decorating trees were both taken from Pagans. But yet you celebrate his birth in the winter with a tree, correct?

The Pagan autumn holiday is Samhain, which has nothing to do with witches and sorcery. It's simply a day celebrating the dead as animals were traditionally slaughtered for meat through the winter. It is also a day for reflection and accepting that there are things over which we have no control, such as death. There are no black cats or people flying on broomsticks. That is purely an invention only going back to the Victorian times.

Those godly Victorians were obsessed with death for a while (notice how death-lockets and rings were immensely popular and that dark, gothic architecture was on the rise?). Samhain, or Hallow's Eve, or Day of the Dead (which is widely celebrated by Mexican Catholics as a day to remember the dead) were never macabre holidays with ghosts and goblins. Thank CHRISTIAN Victorians for this idea, and it wasn't meant to be demonic among them.

Even though death isn't supposed to be seen as a bad thing (getting to go to the heavenly father and be in his arms, right?), somehow a celebration of the lives of those who have gone is seen as wrong. What kind of a message is this? That death (and subsequently going to god) is something that should be avoided?

Even Easter overlaps Ostara, which is celebrated as the beginning of spring. It is the celebration of the return of color to the world. According to history, including the bible, Jesus died in what is now called June. So why is his death celebrated in spring if not to usurp a Pagan holiday? The holiday in June, Litha, isn't celebrated among all sects, nor even most, so nothing to usurp there. The nearest holiday otherwise, Beltane, in May, is widely avoided by Christians due to its strong free-love nature. Yes, the May Pole is indeed intended to be phallic, and the streamers and dancers represent fertility. Somehow this has never stopped the great Kings and Queens of England, defenders of the faith, from celebrating spring with a May Day complete with May Pole.

If you're going to disrespect the Pagans, please do it in a way that uses facts about their holidays and correct history rather than myths. If you want to avoid any holidays connected in any way with Paganism, then you should petition for Christmas to be moved to spring (and no more decorated trees either!) and Easter to June. Otherwise there is no way around these holidays being connected with Pagan holidays. Since the connection with Paganism seems to be your biggest gripe with Halloween (while ignoring the religious aspect of the day and celebration by Mexican Catholics), I don't see how you don't find fault with Christmas and Easter.

Teeth-watch!!

2010-10-30T16:24:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Charlotte got her upper fight first molar and today she got her upper left first molar. She's not even 11 months and has 10 teeth.

Also last night I got the skirt to my wedding gown started, and aside from the hem and crystals, it's finished, and I'm so excited!! I also got the bodices for the bridesmaids halfway finished. The flowergirls' dresses are finished, and the flower-princess's dress I still need to start. Can't share pics because family reads this blog, and only a few people get to see before the big day! 35 days away. Holy cow.

L...O...L

2010-10-27T23:03:00.000-07:00

Got a humorous text. Still obsessing, are you, sf_d? Why I'm flattered that you STILL have nothing better to do with your lives than watch mine. At this point, I think the evidence is clear that the ones who are mentally messed are you guys. You're hanging on to my every word, and I'm actually living a life independent of watching the details of others' lives.

Yup...my baby's fake...so, so fake...that we've even been in the newspaper and on televised news together. :) I posted about that earlier this year, complete with links.

Because I know you're dying to know, things are, for the most part, going very well. The exact opposite of how things were a year ago today. I have a pretty enviable life, and I love it. I promise pictures of my wedding, and hell, I might even make a sock-puppet account to post to make sure you didn't miss it, since you're so obsessed and all. Have a good night!

So very busy

2010-10-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

Wedding's in just over a month, and we're busy buys BUSY like crazy. The list of what we're (I'm) DIYing is longer than what I'm not. We got the invitations off today, and Cody did some of the layout and I cut the damned things and assembled them and got the crystals on them. Took three days.

I got the flower girl dresses made except for Charlotte's. Got the jewelry made. The rest of the fabric for my gown got here yesterday. Got most of the "flowers" done. Quotes because we're using something other than flowers. Half the centerpieces are done. For the obvious reason that I don't want my family and friends to see everything before the day, I'm not posting pictures until afterward.

When I have time for a better update, I'm going to share pics of the Dolley Madison gown I made...entirely...by...hand. Yeah, hand-sewn. Even took that sucker to Missouri with me. As soon as the wedding is over, it's back to working on orders, starting with some circle-skirt dresses for a little cherub, then some more gowns for a lady in France. I am booked solid for several months. I can fit in a few basic dresses, but nothing major. Gotta admit, I like it. Repeat-clients get priority space, but I'm having to turn down orders at this point.

For now, have some pics of Charlotte.

A couple weeks ago at the mall, I tried getting a picture of her in a dress I got her from a seller on etsy (yeah, I do sometimes buy he things made my other sellers - I like to support other artisans the way I like to be supported by others). Well, this was the best of the lot. :)

Weekend before last, her uncle, my brother, came out for a visit. First time we'd seen each other in nearly seven years. He looks exactly the same! We smack-talked like we were kids again, I whooped his ass in Street Fighter II (don't let him make you believe otherwise =D), went to DIsneyland only to find out they closed too soon after we got there for a stupid special event for it to make sense to drop the dough for a ticket, and just caught up. I hope so much he can come out for the wedding.

Charlotte took to him. She was smitten. She doesn't usually fall asleep on people who aren't me. But when we went to Apple to pick up Cody:

A couple nights after her uncle left, she fell asleep in his picture. :)

Last Sunday Cody, Charlotte, Cody's mom, and I, went to a pumpkin patch. Family pic! She was squirming to get down.

"Now look here, Mom and Dad, it's going to me MY way. First I'm going to go over there." (Oh, SHE CAN WALK!!)

"Pumpkin. Pumpkin? Pumpkin."

"Yay, pumpkin!"

Thinking to herself. Such a sweet baby.

Pretty girl!!

A couple weeks ago, I tried to get some good pics of her in a tulle tutu I made and a necklace I made. She wasn't interested.

She is such a pretty girl. I love her eyes. She literally looks like a doll sometimes.

Since her night terrors have started, we've had many long nights. This was 2:30 in the morning I think five days ago.

And now that she's asleep for tonight (maybe, hopefully) I'm going to finish my bouquet, the remaining bridemaid bouquet, some corsages, and at least get the bridesmaids' gowns cut out.

2010-10-11T23:17:00.001-07:00

My mom moved in a week ago from this past Saturday. Things went well. She was like the mom I had and loved as a kid. Helpful, funny, sane, creative, fun! She was designing the wedding centerpieces and doing a damned good job. I have ordered a deep red silk to make her a gorgeous mother-of-the-bride outfit, easy to fit in since one of my bridesmaids can't make it and so I was going to make my mom's dress in place of that one.

The this morning I woke up, she had made trail mix, was fine, then suddenly she went apeshit over the AppleTV remote being lost (we don't have cable, so that remote is the only think to control Netflix on the TV) and me eating a handful of trail mix (as she told me to) before looking for it. Tomorrow morning she is leaving back to Winton. Supposedly those people who don't even buy shampoo and won't take her to her medical appointments if I don't wire money every few days take better care of her than I do. My brother is coming out Thursday. To see her. She's not going to be here. She won't even wait a few days to see her son who she hasn't seen in seven years. She's off her Zoloft and won't get it filled (I'm willing and able to pay out of pocket for it) because she's unbalanced enough to irrationally say no. So without it, she won't get balanced. She won't get balanced because she won't get it filled. Lovely catch-22.

I was told not to. Everyone told me not to. But she's physically sick with something she couldn't have caused. And I didn't want to leave her to fend for herself physically ill to the point of disabled. So I tried, and was willing to let her stay here as long as she needed and asked nothing at all in return. And it's not enough. She's focused on what she perceives to be my shortcomings and where she thinks she's not getting enough help rather than focusing on what we have done and were going to continue doing.

The worst part for me is Charlotte adores her. She's going to walk out on the baby who prefers to go to her over me pretty often. It's going to hurt Charlotte that the grandma she is now used to seeing every day suddenly won't be around because a cockroach-infested house with people who I have to bribe to take her where she needs to go are more important. You walk out on Charlotte once, you don't get a second time. My daughter comes first.

Isn't she so sweet?

2010-10-01T23:32:00.000-07:00

Let me share this really quick. So earlier I was trying to take pictures of a necklace I made, and had Charlotte outside with me. She kept reaching for it, so I put it on her. This is how happy she was!!

And yesterday I stepped out of the living room for a moment. I'd just cleaned it. I came back two minutes later to...this. Look at her! LOL!

Overwhelmed

2010-10-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

I'm never going to have time to recap Missouri, am I?

Tomorrow my mom will get here. Hopefully we can her her disability figured out so she can get the care she needs as well as her own little apartment. Being here isn't intended as a long-term solution unless necessary. None of us want long-term. But none of us want her dead.

Busy as hell with sewing and wedding stuff.

And the IRS has decided, again, that we owe more taxes. We can't keep doing this. I'm about to scream.

Of to sew more on the Dolly Madison dress.

2010-09-27T08:41:00.001-07:00

Here is a article from this morning about Mykle.

Not good

2010-09-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

A friend of a friend of mine went missing in the mountains today. Very bad day. Unseasonably hot and miserable, even my my central-valley-girl standards. He was found, and it's not as hoped. Best thoughts tonight for the family and friends of Mykel Sargent.

Home!

2010-09-25T11:49:00.000-07:00

Long week, but a great one. I'm too tired today to type much. I got home so late on Thursday. The plane was on time, almost. 9:45 versus 9:30. But the airport was a clusterfuck. All the luggage came out the wrong baggage claim, it was so much more crowded and nuts than my aunt has ever seen it, the shuttle to the long-term lot never came by. We had to wait for one of those taxi-vans instead to get us back to the car. I think we got to the car around midnight. Got home even later.

So I'm home now, just trying to catch up on rest and school. Will type everything up later.

So there's the good.

2010-09-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I'll be leaving, with Charlotte, to see my dad's side of the family I haven't seen in years, since the day of his memorial seven years ago. My aunt Sandy, Dad's oldest, though still younger, sister, is also going out. I see Sandy every couple months now. This'll be little Charlotte's first plane ride! I'm planning to not feed her for three or four hours before the flight (yes, she'll be mad), then to give her some Benadryl and feed her once on the plane to help her sleep and pop her ears with the pressure change.

I'm not quite sure what to expect out there. One of my cousins has sent me some rather nasty messages via Facebook, and her mom has always terrified me. Let's just leave it at that. But I've always adored my grandma (we've got a lot in common), and one of my cousins has a baby six weeks younger than Charlotte. Speaking of Charlotte, lookie at how big she's getting!! Lookit that smile!

A few days ago this child dropped a dolly in favor of an ethernet cable that was on the floor. Yeah, she's ours, all right. :) She's even an apple fan. Proof!

LOL! See? I was putting groceries away and heard a rustle and looked down and she had pulled out an apple and was eating it. Yeah, she's a naked-butt-baby there. She gets nakie-time every day. It's good for the skin, and what can I say, she's never had a single case if diaper rash.

I've been working on sewing a lot, right now hand-sewing a reproduction of an original Dollie Madison gown for the woman commissioned to portray Dollie at the Dollie Madison house. 100% silk velvet (as opposed to the typical 18% silk/82% rayon usually found and passed as silk velvet), very high quality cotton muslin, the lining will even be dual-colored like the original. Last night I was sewing a sleeve to its lining and was too tired. I sewed the cap of the lining to the bottom of the silk. I realized I should stop for the night. So I did. :)

School's going well. Huh? What's that? School? Oh yeah, that. I decided to get a dance degree, an A.A.. I don't think I can justify the expense of transferring to a 4-year for a B.A. when I don't have any clear goals. I might teach ballet at some point, maybe not. I've really just getting the A.A. for me. RIght now I'm in ballet and am taking dance history. That damned dance history class takes about 12 hours a week and is just three credits. On the plus side, a lot of the work is the same as for the dance appreciation class, another required class also worth three credits, so I can just turn in the same assignments, but with the benefit of already having instructor-input. :) Yes, that's allowed. It's my work both times. I'm not really looking forward to the general ed classes, so will try to test out of those.

The instructor I've got for the ballet class now danced professionally many years, and she runs the studio more like it's a pro-class, which is awesome. Many instructors of adults don't. But she does. Nancy's a fantastic instructor. More here about her, though you have to scroll down.

I'll remain in ballet for the foreseeable future, and will add jazz, tap, and a few others.

The wedding is in fewer than three months and we've done almost nothing. Oops! No worries. As long as the invitations get out, nothing else is a big deal.

Oh, and on Wednesday, Cody, Charlotte, and I, are going to Disneyland. may as well get some use out of our season passes. :) It'll be Charlotte's first time, and I need a day of unwinding. Right now I'm doing little more than school, sewing the Dollie dress, and working on that French lady's big order. Well, I not know the country code for France is 33. :) I'll probably be sewing on the plane as long as Charlotte doesn't throw a fit and will sit with Sandy. I need to find a baby "sewing kit." She's fascinated with sewing stuff, and is riveted watching me sew.

The good, the bad, and the ugly. Well, the good is the next post.

2010-09-14T07:24:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a while since I've updated.

Let's see. Let's get the bad out of the way, starting with the most minor.

I sold a couple bracelets via a charity auction. The winners sent payment directly to the charity, as was supposed to happen, so I see no money at all and pay shipping and everything. This was expected. Well the winner of one of them is dragging me through the mud because her bracelet hasn't arrived yet. She's in Australia, and the post office here said the bracelets probably got caught up in customs. The addresses were formatted right, but they were declared as jewelry (the proper declaration for a business expense) rather than gifts. Gifts apparently sail right through as long as the value is declared as a small amount, and the post master said a lot of people do this, and the US postal service doesn't really care. The US postal service doesn't get any of the customs money other countries charge. But is I mis-declare as a gift, then I can't write it off a business expense. Since the pearls for the bracelets are bought with my business ID, they need to remain as part of business. Sending them as gifts makes them a personal use of business supplies.

Anyway I told the lady I'd go ahead and buy more pearls and make her a new bracelet. I ordered them as a personal expense (they're natural pearls, this wasn't cheap), and am waiting for them to arrive. They come from Japan, which takes a couple weeks. They should be here this week. Anyway she's dragging the through the mud on Facebook, which has me pissed off. Customs are beyond my control, and so is the shipping time from Japan to California.

Our ex-landlords want more than $4,000 from us. They want us, among other things, to pay for carpet replacement (remember that carpet that's over 30 years old and threadbare in a few spots?) as well as for a new driveway. Not gonna happen. Yeah, the driveway has cracks and some oil spots. It's the original driveway from when the house was built in the 50's. They are literally trying to redo the house at our expense. They said they'll sue us if we don't pay up. Time for hardball. We were considering just letting it all go until that letter. So we've filed in court first. Now they'll be the counter-filing defendants.

My mom's also doing very bad. She had a heart-attack and it's irreversibly damaged a part of her heart. This is very bad news. While she may finally get disability now*, it might be to late. The surgery to remove the tumors would require stopping her heart. This may now be too risky. They'll have to restart a damaged heart, so we don't know if it can be done yet. Her pancreas, where the tumor started, has pretty much shut down. And there's the possibility of cancer. Cancer is a cell mutation, and with what she has with that tumor, cancer can happen because of that. Well, there's the possibility of cancer. She's supposed to get a mammogram and biopsy done, which can be done in the country where she currently is on her county coverage. The tumor can't be removed there. The doctors at that two-bit hospital don't have the skills, but would be happy to try. The doctors who staff the ER have already do NOT let the surgeons on that hospital do it.

*Here's a perfect argument for universal health coverage. When this tumor was first diagnosed, the estimated cost of removal was about $20,000. Since my mom wasn't working, the hospital wouldn't do the surgery and allow payments. No income = where will payment money come from? I'm not the patient, so they wouldn't talk to me about it. It also would have been pretty easy. Now it's going to be closer to $200K, and her chance of living has gone down significantly. The judge is also considering retroactive disability payments going back to March 2008. So 31 months. At even $1,000/mo, that's still $31,000. It's based partially on how much was paid in, and my mom payed in an incredible amount. So to get out of a $20,000-surgery, the government/taxpayers may now be shelling out close to a quarter million, not including the money she'd get from this point on since she'll be out of work for a long time still.

So is not having universal really saving any money?

When I get back next week, we're going to bring my mom down here. Where she is right now isn't really any place to stay long-term. She's with a mother and her adult son right now, and the son is an asshole, but she puts up with it to not be sleeping on the street. To control her, this jerk threw away all of her possessions and clothing. She has nothing of her own anymore.

Okay, the good gets its own post.

Moved!

2010-08-24T21:09:00.000-07:00

Whew! It has been a busy couple weeks. Holy cow, we got the house just 16 days ago, and already we've moved and are half unpacked! Unfortunately this whole rotten string of events has pushed my schedule back and will force me to run right up against deadlines. I've got the Dollie Madison repro gown in 100% silk velvet, three Alice in Wonderland dresses (thankfully these will be extremely easy), and some Titanic repros, the boarding hat, corset, tea gown, and flying gloves and shawl (in varying stages of doneness), in the next several weeks. Dollie is needed in-hand in Vermont by October 2nd for a major event, the Titanic things ship by October 22nd (pending final payment for two of them, but the other three can go), and there's no set date for the Alice dresses. I had hoped to have them finished by the end of this month, but, well, all the time for sewing went to finding a new house and moving.

I've decided to slowly, as in over the rest of my life, work toward a dance degree. So right now I'm enrolled in dance history, and I'll find out tomorrow night if I can get off the waitlist for ballet fundamentals. The school required starting all dance classes with fundamentals, no matter what, and this one is required. Since I'm still recovering a bit from surgery, still can't bend back, a basic class would be beneficial anyway. The history one is a bit annoying since we're supposed to see stories in everything, but I firmly believe that sometimes dance choreography is simply about what looks pretty. A kaleidoscope doesn't tell a story, but the patterns look nice, and that's the point. So now I'm having to feign finding depth and basically talking out my ass. I feel like Harry Potter in Madame Trelawny's class, making stuff up that he knows she wants to hear.

And now. New house!! You might remember the old yard. Here is the new!

The front yard isn't huge, but it's pretty, and gardening is included. There are herbs growing in the center!

This cherub statue is what you see going to the back yard. Yay, pool!!

To the left is a small area that can be used for gardening. The white iron gate leads into the dog run from that side. It goes all the way around the pool.

The stairs there are removable so that Charlotte can't climb up them is she manages to escape from our line of sight. I just know some of you readers are sitting there hoping she falls in the pool and drowns, and you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Here is the family room.

The baby rug was a gift from one of Charlotte's great-grandma's. It's in the family room since this is where Charlotte plays more than anywhere else in the house, so it pads the tile floor in case she falls. That trunk under the window I got free up in Cupertino. Someone in the apartment complex was throwing it out. It's an authentic, century-old steamer trunk, but the hinges have rusted shut. Eventually I'm going to find some way to get it open. I think it's empty, but still I want to see.

That bookcase has a window cling I put on it when I was 15 years old. Cripes. That rocking horse was a free acquisition on Freecycle. It's a real solid oak rocking horse. I've got it sanded, and still need to stain it.

That bassinet has been used so much, and still gets used.

The view out the double-paned windows.

I also finished Charlotte's room, except for the painting of her walls.

Going into her room.

I love those curtains. A set in mauve hang in front of the window. This is much nicer and girlier than closet doors. I've never been much of a fan of doors. They always go off track. That rocking chair is another Freecycle find, and I dyed the cushions purple when that was going to be the color scheme. So now it doesn't match. Oh well.

This is a Japanese tea set from the 50's I got for her at Rose Story Farm when we went with my aunt and some of her friends.

The crib converts into a toddler- and full-size bed.

Instead of a drop-side, it's got a gate-top that requires two hands to open. There are latches on both sides, so a baby can't accidentally make it come down. She's never actually slept in this crib. She still sleeps with us.

I didn't make the bedding. This is the Daniella set by Cocalo. We've got a bunch of the other stuff too, like the lamp, though the light switch plate and a few other things we got were custom items.

That was Cody's dresser when he was younger. On top are my Titanic Rose doll and Cinderella Happily Ever After doll, both from Franklin Mint.

And the castle lamp my grandma made me when I was a little girl. The top comes off to let out more light.

Finally, this will hang on the outside of her door when I get sticky-backed hooks. This was an etsy-find.

Well, more pictures will come as we finish more rooms. Kitchen and bathroom are finished, just need pics. I should take one of my sewing room as it is now. Packed to the gills.

We're thrilled with this place. Get this - we're shelling out $300 less per month for it, AND we're so close to Cody's work that he can bike to work, and even driving every day saves us over $200/mo in gas. Hell yeah!

Housing update

2010-08-14T22:14:00.000-07:00

Well, we didn't get the house. Oh well. We found out Wednesday of last week that we make it to the final round, us versus another couple, but they got it. The landlords were worried about our stability because - get this - we're not yet married but have a baby already. Okay, and since when does being married prevent splits? And we let them know that our baby was planned and why we had her before putting money toward a wedding. Oh well though. Their loss. We're tenants who except for this month, pay our rent.

So we had time to kill, what with Cathy making us be out all the time and all. So we whipped out our iPhones and checked Craigslist and decided to check a couple houses. One ended up sucking, didn't feel homey. One is a Cape Cod style house with a pool and tile and is gorgeous and includes gardening and pool-keeping. We talked to the lady who lives in the guest house for a long time. She's rented for eight years, and we take it as a good ting if someone wants to keep with the same people. (She's going to continue living there.) We applied. Sunday we found out we got it! WOOT! So five days ago we got the house, and now we move next Wednesday.

It's even got a proper dog run, so the girls will have a safe place to go run around and play without worrying about them running out the door or anything while moving stuff in. I'm excited that we're going to have both a living room AND a family room! It's also so close to Cody's work that he can bike it. This will save us about $250/mo in gas (not to mention wear and tear on the car - we've blown the head gasket, blown the radiator, and burned though a set of brakes, all since just May going over that damned grade all the time), plus we'll be shelling out $300 less in rent. So we'll save $550 right off the bat! Oh, and a massive Joann's is a mile away rather than the 25 I have to drive now! The landlady is also taking care of some safety things regarding the pool for us so that it'll be safe for Charlotte, as in inaccessible to Charlotte. The place isn't huge. our bedroom will just fit our California king bed and one of the nightstands, and it's got one bathroom versus the two (molding, rotting, holes in the walls, tub that doesn't drain properly) bathrooms we have now, but it's got the family room, is clean, and not only are there smoke alarms, but she even has a carbon monoxide detector, which isn't required by law, as an extra safety precaution due to having a gas range. Awesome or what?

What was that? Not paying rent this month? Oh hell no. If we have had to be out more days than we've been allowed, we're putting that money toward the deposit on the new house. The landlords have given us a 3-day notice to quit, which is improper. So once they file an unlawful detainer, I'm filing either a motion to quash or a demurrer. An unlawful detainer required proper 3-day service, and non-payment of rent is a curable condition, so a 3-day must give the option to cure. However, even if she had done it right, violating the implied warrant of habitability is a legal defense for not paying rent. Landlord retaliation is as well. We've sought legal counsel from a couple landlord-tenant attorneys, and we have legal defense to a proper 3-day, and the improper 3-day is invalid anyway. We also have five separate actions against Cathy in small claims, and we're going to pursue it. Without a doubt she's going to try suing us for rent for this month and she's already told me she's going to replace the carpet in here at our expense (it's from the 70s and was horrifyingly gross when we moved in, not clean as it should have been), so filing first and being proactive will work in our favor too as it will show that our actions aren't retaliatory. We'll file Monday and include our moving expenses, basically waste no time.

We're at the point in moving right now where we're scrounging for food in the house and eating out a lot because we don't want to have dished in use. I hate this point of moving. Oh well. I've dropped down to 119 pounds from the stress. Let me clarify - I was 119 after eating an entire German chocolate cake with and entire can of coconut pecan frosting and four cups of tea this afternoon. Not good, probably explains why I have no energy. But it's hard getting the right calories when we're not cooking. This means license to pork out next weekend! And then lounge by the pool! Well, not really, I have to get my sewing room unpacked since I DO have dresses that need to be made NOW, as in should have been finished by my timeline, but are actually not needed for a couple more weeks. 3 dresses in I think it's 18 days. But I can do it. I did SEVEN bridesmaids dresses in 29 days!

Off to bed, off to bed. After a salad.

2010-08-01T15:43:00.001-07:00

A well-meaning friend asked via Facebook why on earth we moved here. When the lease was signed a few weeks prior, Cathy (I was misspelling it with a K) promised the inside-stuff would be taken care of prior to move-in and the yard within weeks. We were supposed to move in February 1st and paid for the month in full. Staying at the other place was $175 per day after the vacate-day. Understandable. They start advertising right away, and not vacating puts them behind and they can't deliver to new renters.

Well, we didn't move in the 1st, didn't get a walk-through either. Her fucking chain-smoking-in-the-house brother-in-law hadn't moved out! But she kept calling Cody's mom asking why we weren't moved in. Um, because it wasn't vacant, Bitch. Finally, on the 6th, six days late being out of our other place, we waits outside and waited for David to pack up his shit and get the hell out. That was the first time we say the "finished" inside.

I've had idiots ask here why we didn't refuse to move in. Who was going to pay for us to move somewhere else? We had paid to move here. We didn't have money to move somewhere else. We were stuck.

That first night it ended up freezing, and we found out the wall heater works for shit. I wanted to cry. It was so cold I literally had to fight to keep myself from crying. It was too cold to really sleep, and Cody worked that next day, so Charlotte and I went with him because the car has a heater and I couldn't stand how cold it was in the house and was worried Charlotte would get sick. We decide to grin and bear it and maybe things would get better, though that night did make me wonder if I'd be able to put up with a full winter here next year.

Well, I called a few times to get things fixed, like the toilet in one of the bathrooms (the one with holes in the wall) being loose from the floor, and Cathy had the gall to chew me out and tell me WE needed to take care of these things ourself. That was fixed, but it took convincing to get it done. It took a couple months to get a fan put in above the indoor grill, and it ended up being one too inadequate for the grill to be safe to use. When we tried calling about getting a new door knob put in (Cody's mom and step-dad were going to pay a professional to do it, but because it would have required a structure-change to the door due to the type and age of the existing nob latch location [who knows why the hell all the internal components were removed]), despite multiple calls, they never called us back, so we didn't have it done. That would have risked them claiming damage. I suspect they were hoping we'd do it anyway so they could both claim damage as well as have a new, functioning latch.

The first time they touched the yard was a few days after I got out of the hospital, so May 7th, and that was only because someone complained to the city. Yes, the yard looks a lot better now than it did, and those pictures I posted are the "cleaner" yard. We didn't realize before moving in that, legally, a clean yard is required of the landlord before having tenants move in. After getting the yard "clean" enough to stop the complaints, they never came back, though they told us they would be back soon to get the stuff out of there. That obviously didn't happen.

By the end of May, we decided we'd give it until the end of the lease, with is December 31st, ask for a 2-year lease renewal, and THEN press for what we had found out were our rights. We had a feeling then that if we did before the lease was renewed, that Cathy would retaliate. We really didn't want to move again. We wanted to make it work. We had Charlotte's room repainted and the wood on the walls stained a nice, even color, were planning to put in an irrigation system for the avocado trees, were even going to talk to Cathy when we paid July's rent about replacing the carpet on our own dime (that bitch messed up but *telling* me on June 26th that they were going to replace the carpet out of our deposit because "it looks old now" - well, ya think? it''s 35-fucking-years-old, it IS old, and it looks its age!).

Well, Cathy's lies to me that nearly got us in criminal trouble regarding stray cats was the final straw. If that shit is fun and games to her, we're going to play hardball. It was then that we decided we'd break our lease if she didn't straighten up. And sure enough, she retaliated, and then was stupid enough to give us proof. In writing. And then to give us more ammo by writing a 24-hour notice (the first she's ever done, despite multiple requests) for us to be out every single day this week from 9am until 5pm to take some mesh over a hole in one of the walls where mice have been coming in, switch out a dryer vent, and replace a piece of glass. For that, she wants us out a full 40 hours. She she also gave us proof of her unreasonableness.

She wants to deprive us of at least a week of the house (I say "at least" because the notice said a new notice would be served "weekly"), and, combined with the notice of non-renewal, it's a clear case of malicious retaliation. She's trying to get us to move out, and even wrote in her notice that we can move early. So she's depriving us of use of our home for a full week so far, and will continue doing so, and gave us permission to move. Easy conclusion.

So, to re-cap, inside repairs were promised before move-in, and we didn't get to do a walk-through because Cathy's brother-in-law wasn't gone, and the yard was supposed to be done within weeks of us moving in, but wasn't.

Yet the only thing that stresses me is waiting to hear about this house we really want in another city. If we don't get it, we know we have more time, but there will likely be the added stress of her trying to evict because we're not going to pay August's rent. We will not pay for time we don't get to use the house. However the law explicitly protects renters who withhold rent for purposes of housing violations needing repair. Under the circumstances, any attempt at eviction would only be seen as more proof of retaliation. We'd have to go to court sooner than we plan, but we would win. Regardless, at this point we will be suing her. The law, as written, clearly gives each plaintiff (me, Cody, and Charlotte) the right to $2,000 per retaliation attempt, in addition to other damages, and a rent abatement for property we paid for and didn't get to use. There's also no way she'll willingly give our deposit back.

Despite a bit of obvious stress, I'm actually pretty happy. If we can get that other house, it'll be $400 a month less in rent for a beautiful, clean place with hardwood floors, a yard that is currently being landscaped, a landlord who's been a landlord for 25 years, and we wouldn't have the damned freeway going through our backyard. From the living room, at the front of the house, I can look through the windows and see big rigs and cars zooming by. It's about 20 yards from the kitchen/dining area windows. Yes, that close to the house. It's loud. I am actually pretty damned happy Cathy's pulling this crap. It would have been great if she had abided by her promises regarding the repairs and clean-up here, but oh well. I'll take the money we're, far more likely than not, going to be awarded, and a nice, beautiful house in a quiet area.

Random post of randomness

2010-08-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

We saw a house yesterday and applied. I think we may get it. We found out today we're being "seriously considered," so fingers crossed!

Pictures of random stuff! And people. More people! I love what his iPhone does.

Just me in the car, fudged a bit with Camera+.

Cody at the Brewery.

Charlotte. Duh. Right before I dropped my last iPhone. Even her smiles weren't enough that day to keep me from shaking.

A Hipstamatic pic of Cody at the Brewery.

Mike.

Avery.

A Hipstamatic photo and a Camera+ photo of the flowers on the table.

The yard

2010-08-01T09:44:00.000-07:00

I have had a few comments saying that this place can't be so bad, and that if the yard's bad, we probably just neglected it. Well, take a look. This is stuff that's clearly been there for years. There's more than this too. I didn't get to what's just outside the back patio what was left on the patio, and a few other places. I think these pictures show enough though.

The camper is part of it. Yes, even a vehicle has been dumped.

Leave it to the landlords to claim that this yard had show-quality, gorgeous roses before we moved in. The growth of one of the rose bushed exhibits extreme retardation from neglect, and one year of neglect won't do it. With the yard in this condition, as we really to believe that the rose beds were show-quality? No. But the landlords blame us for the roses looking awful. Realistically it's going to take years of work to get them to look right again after years of neglect. You can see what looks like a rose with several rose buds growing out of the center (I used one in pics of some earrings made, as you may be able to tell!). That's...a rose with several rose buds growing out of the center.

Yay! We got a notice of non-renewal!!

2010-07-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

HAPPY-DANCE! We got a notice of non-renewal regarding our lease!! Why is this so happy? It's proof of landlord-retaliation regarding city code compliance!! State law says no retaliating for 180 days, and not renewing a lease is just that!! They were notified of the violations Wednesday before this one just past, came over the same day to tell us we're out, and we have a letter now!!

Disneyland!

2010-07-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

We had plans to go to Disneyland. Season passes FTW!! So we drove to Simi to pick up a friend of ours who "only" went 25 times in 2009. A friend of ours is working on setting her up with Roy Disney III (his great-uncle is Walt), since they're roommates. It's be awesome is Jenn and Roy ended up married. Anyway we got to Jenn's place, or at least the entrance to the gated community, and our car started hemorrhaging coolant and suddenly overheated. GDI. We have AAA Premium, so had it towed to Firestone, and, as I suspected, the damned radiator was blown and had to be replaced. Well, as our luck seems to have it, the day before I got a deposit on a gown of $425, $3 and change less than the cost of replacement (Cody got a discount). So we left the car and headed to Disneyland, finally getting there around 3pm, maybe 3:30. Jenn drove, and since she so rarely goes, you know, she knew right where to go and how to get the close parking.

I hadn't been to Disneyland in 17 years. It was 1993 that I went, not when I was 13, as I'd been thinking. So much has changed, but some things haven't. The emaciated dog in the Haunted Mansion is still as skeletal as I remembered. That dog scarred me as a kid, and still upsets me now. Pirates was mostly the same, with the addition of Jack, Barbosa, and Davy Jones. Our guide on the Jungle Cruise was hilarious. As one point she asked, "Who here thinks a captain should always go down with the ship?" I raised my hand first, so she asked me my name, and said, "Everyone give Aria, our new captain, a round of applause!" A big palm frond then got caught on the pole right next to me that was holding the canopy up, and it came loose when we got enough past it, then smacked me upside the face. That stung like hell, but was so funny. When we got back to the dock, she said, "Watch your step so you don't bump your head. If you bump your head, watch your language. This is Disneyland after all, and there are kids around!" and got a lot of laughs. She was really great. The Tiki Room was better than I remembered. We didn't make it on Space Mountain or Indiana Jones since we had to leave earlier than planned originally because Cody's mom was going to have to take him to work early Monday morning instead of him driving in at 11. Star Tours closed today and will re-open next year as Star Tours 2, so I video's the video of it and uploaded it to YouTube.

We're going back next Thursday. We're going to take Charlotte, and have a damned good time.

I hate our landlord so much

2010-07-27T19:08:00.000-07:00

Kathy left a note saying she'd be here Friday to work on the house, the weekend to work on the debris in the yard, and Monday at noon (the only day a time was given) to strap down the water heater. We made sure to be out of here, all of us, on Friday, so I wouldn't have to deal with Kathy in the house while I'm here. Sorry, but calling me "Areola" doesn't have me feeling comfortable. Well, she didn't show up. Saturday she didn't show up. Sunday...let's go in chronological order.

Skip to the next post on Disneyland.

Kathy didn't show up on Sunday either.

In case she showed up on Monday, since I couldn't go out of town that day because of the car (see next post), I took Charlotte, the dogs, and Star, and hung out in Cody's and my bedroom, trying to be quiet enough that hopefully Kathy wouldn't know we were there. She did, and instead of knocking on the bedroom door, she rattled the windows, paced the hallway, basically attempted to make me uncomfortable At about 1:30, my one of my to-be-dads-in-law came over and told her to leave so I could leave in peace, and she told him she was going to be there the rest of the day. I hurried and rushed to get out, and noticed she had gone through the stuff on our desk. That fucking bitch actually went through our personal paperwork. I am 100% certain of this because a very specific piece of paper I very specifically put under the computer on the desk had been moved to the speak next to the wall. By the end of the day, the ONLY thing she had done was pull a pane of glass out of a slatted frame and slip a new one in. Literally seconds to do. Yet she was in the house all day unattended. And we know she at least went through the desk.

We are moving without a fucking doubt, and suing her. We already know she intends to use our deposit to replace the carpet because it looks old (no shit, it's from the 70's and is older than I am!!), so we're going to have to sue to get our deposit back. We're also suing since we've had to live with the housing violations she didn't take care of before we moved in, as well as for her harassment of us and her attempts at retaliation over the city forcing her to repair the violations.

In trying to get away, I was shaking so much and was so angry that I dropped my brand new iPhone 4 on concrete and shattered it. The worst side to shatter, the front. Into a gazillion pieces. Well, about 150 pieces. Most of them stayed attached to the face of the phone. I was so upset over that too.

So today I went to the Apple at The Grove, where I don't know anyone, to see if they'd replace it. I didn't go to where Cody works because making an exception for something so clearly outside of warranty could have gotten Cody and/or one of our friends, whoever would approve the exception, into trouble. So better to go where no one could be accused of nepotism for this kind of exception. They are really not supposed to replace iPhones with broken glass except for exceptional cases. So I went not expecting anything but to be told it'll be $200 to replace the glass. I got there early (I forgot how much Highland Ave in Hollywood sucks - it took me 40 minutes to drive 2 miles, no exaggeration), and was really nice and polite as I usually am, and the Genius who helped me went ahead and replaced my phone. So that was good at least.

Charlotte tid-bits

2010-07-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

Charlotte cut her eighth tooth Wednesday! Her upper right incisor. She now has more teeth than months to her age!!

She and her daddy and I went to the beach on Wednesday and she played in the sand for the first time! A bunch of pics in a moment, as I'm sure you expect. She was so smiley and loved trying to pick up sand, then would watch confused as it went through her fingers. So cute!!

Yesterday she was playing with the car keys and hid them so well it took over an hour and two sets of eyes (mine and her grandma's) to find them. Well, if Cody or I ever need something hidden, we just need to give it to her!!

House update

2010-07-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

The landlord was notified by the city on Wednesday of the violations here, and the first thing she did was go to Cody's mom's work trying to find her, claiming to be an old friend and trying to find his mom. His mom's co-worker wrote a statement we'll use in court. Kathy then came here, again with no notice, to tell us we have to move. State law prevents a landlord from taking retaliatory action for 180 days. Evicting for not paying rent isn't retaliatory, but we're paid up. We want to move anyway. We're tired of this crap. Her fix for not having smoke alarms here (state law says one in each bedroom plus any walkway) was to put an old one in the kitchen without a battery. We can't rely on her doing more than making patch-fixes to hide violations.

I got a couple abusive comments that I didn't publish calling me a bad mom for moving into a place with these violations. I'd like to address this. When we signed the lease, the landlord said everything would be fixed. Her brother-in-law didn't vacate until six days AFTER we we supposed to move in. We were standing outside with the U-Haul waiting for him to finally leave so we could start moving in. We were allowed in for minutes at a time in those six days to drop off my sewing machines and a few other things, sending the message to get the hell out. Finally, with the U-Haul, he got out, leaving the house smelling of cigarettes. Those minutes weren't enough time to go through and make sure everything was done. When we realized some of the problems when we had the time, it was too late to simply not move in. Where else were we supposed to go? Our apartment was vacant, the keys turned back in, no where to put out belongings. We had no viable choice but to move in and deal with the problems afterward.

Moving doesn't necessarily imply instability. It's not like we're couch-surfing, looking for a new place to sleep every few weeks, not knowing week to week where we'll be the next. We are in the same community, Cody has the same job, stable family, stable and strong relationship. We are far more stable than most Americans, and have no doubt about a roof over our heads. Our parenting should be questioned IF we were fine living in this house with its violations and no care about getting them fixed or getting out. I'm not crying over getting out. The music the landlord played when I was initially showed the place drowned out the traffic from the damned freeway that's literally about 50 feet from where I'm sitting. I can look to my left and see the freeway out the window. So fine, we'll leave. Forking out $2,300/mo (that's the total we're giving the landlord, $2,000 for rent and an additional $300 to keep piling onto the deposit) is too much, and we're suing for every penny of deposit back, some of the rent for the areas here we haven't been able to use or access, moving expenses, and punitive. We have a strong case, I think, and their band-aid fixes show their unwillingness to properly care for the place. C'mon, a smoke alarm without a battery, and not where one is legally required to be?

Funny how wanting a clean place to raise our daughter makes me a bad mom. :)

Wedding recap

2010-07-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

So we knew it's come down to the wire on getting the gowns done. Adding seven gowns in the last month when the delivery date of the wedding gown is just a couple weeks before the wedding was going to push it. Sure enough, many nights of being up until 2:30am or later. This sort of thing is made more difficult by Charlotte being up by 6am every morning so reliably we don't always bother setting the alarm clock.

The night before the wedding, I was up until 5am making a petticoat I decided the gown needed that I'd started at 1am. I was up again at 8am finishing everything that could be, getting everything packed up to take to the courthouse, where the wedding was going to be. I was there the day before scouting out getting-ready places, and the first-floor bathroom has a bride's area. This courthouse has national historic landmark status. It's incredibly gorgeous.

I got my machine and everything set up, and realized Cody forgot to toss the power cord into the suitcase, so a run back home, then back to the courthouse, and the three bridesmaids I still needed to fit had just arrived. That's right, I didn't get to meet or fit three of the bridesmaids until just two hours before the wedding. So I had to finish them while everyone's getting ready!! I had to recruit a few of them to help sew on buttons, and they understood fully my need for help. It was an inhuman amount of work for such a short time. I had literally been running around. No time to walk. Run run run, warm day, busy, run run run. Exhausting.

I got them dressed and sashes wrapped right, then got Carmen dressed. The first time she had the entire ensemble on was that moment. As we were finishing, we were being kicked out because the courthouse was closing early for some reason. 4:45. And they would only let us go out a side door right by where all the guests were. No amount of pleading to let us go out the front would work.

So we had to hop a rail and go doing a small hill full of brush to get her somewhere where the guests wouldn't see her. Unfortunately this also meant changing the entire processional. Rather than coming through the arches toward the guests, she had to come from the back. The bridesmaids and groomsmen came from the front at planned, but the flower girl and Carmen came from behind. The minister announced that the flower girl and Carmen were coming from behind. The bride was understandably upset for a moment not knowing how to not be seen, but took it in wonderful stride. No one would have been able to tell the last-minute change.

She walked down the aisle to a harpist playing All I Ask of you from Phantom of the Opera. She looked gorgeous. Her groom looked charming. They both were so calm on the outside, clearly excited and in love. I don't know if it was the love between them or the thrill of seeing eight of my gowns up there in a row, overhearing guest whispers about how amazing the girls looked and how wonderful the gown was, not knowing their creator was right there, that gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes. Perhaps both.

Seth's father, a minister, was the primary officiant. Carmen's father is also a minister, but from Canada and not ordained for weddings in California, so he was unofficial. At the moment they were about to be pronounced, Seth's father informed the guests that Carmen's dad would pronounce them first, and then he would to make it legal, and then quipped, "Now this is what I call parental control!" Many chuckles ensued. It was a cute moment. He forgot at first to tell them to kiss, so they both turned to him expectedly. Kiss!

After the ceremony, I asked the bride's if he knew where she went so I could offer my quick congratulations before heading home, and he asked me to come to the reception. I let him know my fiance was home with our baby, and we were going to go to dinner, and he invited Cody too. So a quick rush home, hurriedly getting Cody into something nicer than jeans and a t-shirt, changing out of my sweaty clothes and into something reception-appropriate. What I had been wearing was, if it weren't sweaty.

We got to the reception venue as the bridal party was being announced, and I saw Carmen and Seth and they were excited to see us there. Cody and I went in a side door, waiting for the couple to make their way to the head table, then found seats (open seating). The first dance was sweet, and the bride-dad and groom-mom dance, simultaneous, was hilarious. Seth and his mom got so into it, all over the dance floor, resulting in many laughs, including by Carmen and her father. The parents song couldn't be found, so it was to the same song as the first dance.

The slideshow the fathers did was long, but really great. I loved getting to see pictures of their childhoods, narrated by their fathers. Carmen grew up so far north in Canada that they got place to place by snowmobile and small plane. Her father also told how, after Carmen and Seth had been together a fairly short time, a few days before Christmas Seth asked to speak with him, and he expected Seth to ask about dating Carmen. Instead he asked about marrying her! After praying on it, he felt Seth was indeed the one. And so proposal, and now married!

I'll admit to enjoying to accolades lavished upon me by their families and their friends once people knew who made all the gowns. I also enjoyed the credit given for finding the seamstress who was able to do the groomsmen's shirts on such short notice (Moonstruck Originals) as well as the ceremony location. Seth said I was responsible for the look and feel of the entire wedding. These are really very nice compliments. I hope to keep in contact with them. They are one of the sweetest couples I can recall ever meeting.

On to some of my pictures! Pro pics will be available in a few weeks.

The bridesmaids' gowns have about 60 yards of fabric between them. Between Carmen's corset, bodice, skirt, petticoat, crinoline, and veil (which I also made), about 90 yards of fabrics were used.

Tired!!

2010-07-18T23:36:00.001-07:00

So...so...so...so...tired. I didn't get to fit three of the bridesmaids until about 3 yesterday. The wedding was at 5! And the courthouse closed early for some reason, so we were rushed out the doors at 4:45. I had my sewing machine set up sewing frantically, recruited a few of the girls to help sew buttons. They graciously helped and understood the time-crunch placed on me - I was supposed to have fitted those three BEFORE yesterday, but plans changed and none of those girls could make it to my place earlier. The other four were finished. Just the final three. So I had to get those done, then help the bride get dressed. That girl is abnormally gorgeous. I swear, no one should be allowed to be as amazingly beautiful as she is. I'm jealous!! But she's also the sweetest bride I can imagine, and one of the sweetest people I've ever met. Her new husband is also a complete gem. I love both of them so much!

Anyway this last week has been spent sewing every spare moment. Since being an at-home mom of a very mobile, very curious little girl is a full-time, non-stop job (who says it's easy and stay-at-home parents get to sit on the couch eating bon-bons all day? I'm lucky to have a full minute to myself to go to the bathroom!!), I had to do all my sewing after Cody got home, after being awake since 6am. Getting to bed "early" meant 2:30am! Friday night/Saturday morning I got to bed at 5am, and did get to "sleep in" until 7am, and then was literally running around all day. Not walking, running.

So now I'm still physically exhausted, but it was so worth it. Every minute. I'm so glad I decided to go ahead and tackle those bridesmaids dresses, even though Carmen asked me four weeks ago. I hesitated, was about to say no, hemmed, hawed, then decided it would be a good challenge and a way to see what I'm capable of. Thing is, I still had some work on her gown. She was in Israel for a while, which pushed back the delivery date, which was originally a few weeks ago. But we decided to wait for her to return to decide on some elements of it, and she understood this meant the original date likely would be delayed. So finish on her gown, seven bridesmaid gowns, then her veil, a petticoat (that's gorgeous enough to be worn as a skirt by itself), and a few other minor things, in a month.

I'll recap the day, with pictures, tomorrow. The gowns are just amazing, and I think this is my greatest accomplishment. I've done fully-beaded gowns, but something about this wedding is different. I also got to stay for the wedding, and her father personally asked me to come to the reception and bring Cody, and it was quite the incredible feeling to see eight lovely ladies in my gowns!!

Now to go to bed. I'm just dead-tired.

Aww!

2010-07-12T23:55:00.000-07:00

My bride for this Saturday was here for her final fitting tonight (cutting it to the wire because of the rush orders for her bridesmaids' gowns, but she knew it would result in a lot of last-minute finishing) with her maid-of-honor, and once she got her gown on, she was so excited and happy she cried. I love that! It's a great feeling getting to be behind such happy feelings! I also made her veil, and she doesn't know yet, but it'll be a wedding gift to her.

Pictures very soon!!

Exciting Charlotte-news!

2010-07-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

After this house-update:

Still dealing with the house. Not happy. Didn't want to have to move again for a few years, and technically we don't have to, but hell if we're going to put up with landlord and husband/semi-owner who don't want to bring the house up to code and who harass the hell out of us and have quite the reputation around town for harassment. I found out Cody's mom's husband's mom (all people we know very well and see all the time) rescued an exotic bird our landlord had that she had neglected nearly to death, took the bird and said she wasn't getting back.

But if moving is what it takes to get Charlotte into a house where Mommy and Daddy don't like in constant stress because of the landlords, then we will, and we have a prospect.

Now in better news!!

Charlotte turned 7 months old on Saturday! She tried solid food for the first time. Daddy made her mashed sweet potatoes, and she didn't care for it. So she had applesauce. Nope, didn't like it. I admit to being glad. I didn't want her to decide she likes solids so much that she doesn't want mommy-milk anymore. But I needn't have worried. She fussed for me and wanted to nurse.

Nommy sweet potatoes?

No, more like stuff to squish.

No to applesauce too!

She was not amused. =D

Ah, bathtime to clean the baby!

And in the MOST exciting news, Charlotte stood by herself on Sunday! Without holding onto anything!!! She's trying to take steps, but falls. Still, standing!! And today she was hold onto the couch while I was in the kitchen, and she turned so the couch was to her left, let go, stood a second, lifted a foot, and then fell. She's trying to hard!!

Last night at her grandma's house, she ate a little rice cereal with breastmilk. She liked that a bit. Right now she's with her grandma and great-grandma (visiting from Nebraska) for a few hours so I can get in some sewing.

The wedding I'm dressing is next Saturday, the bride and her seven bridesmaids. Not done yet, but it's not expected. The bridesmaids dresses are all rush orders. This is one almost done, but not quite. Still needs to be hemmed, the buttons on the halter and neckline band, and the sash. I just took a picture using a piece of the fabric it will be made from. I'm going to knock out two more today, two or three tomorrow, finish the bride's gown Sunday, the last two bridesmaids' gowns Monday, and then the hemming for all of them and the buttons for the bridesmaids gowns on Tuesday.

And then, after this, in addition to my wedding gown and the three bridesmaids and three flowergirls for my own wedding, I've got a reproduction of a gown worn by Dollie Madison (for a lady in Vermont), a Titanic tea gown, corset, Titanic boarding hat, Titanic flying gloves and shawl (all for someone in France), two Alice in Wonderland gowns (girls in Pennsylvania), a spider costume (for Charlotte for Halloween - need I explain why a spider? =D), and a few others. BUSY!!

Also I got a makeover yesterday, the biggest in my life. More on that later. I'm still getting over shock at how much thinner I look, and, odd as this is for ME to say, it's not exactly a good thing. I look skeletal. What's awful though is I'm still convinced I need to lose weight. I hate having an eating disorder and body dysmorphia.

Okay, on to sewing!!