Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The Amazing Workbox

I'm doing this in the slim chance that I'll win this amazing crafters workbox.

http://www.theoriginalscrapbox.com/

Oh yeah. I want it. I mean look! All the organization possibilities!!
*Drool*

Thursday, September 24, 2009

You think your dreams are weird!?

You know how you sometimes have those dreams where everything seems to be going fine, and then somehow you end up on a terminal baggage claim carousel?


. . .



. . .


Apparently that is just me.

Take last night for instance: I had a dream about a girl I went to middle-school with. I met up with her at burger king, and she was crying because her husband had recently cheated on her. In her grief, she decided to run off and become a second-string power ranger. I let her know that I supported her decision--but I was still markedly worried about her four children.

In the next dream, Dani and I went vampire hunting, but got spooked by something rustling the bushes. So we decided to turn into "wild things" but had no idea where we were. Once we got our bearings we ran off to Park City to live in the forests and frighten skiers. Dani had white fur, and I had two-different color eyes--which is apparently genetically possible if you're a male "wild thing."

At this point, Dani had been trying to wake me up for some time, and she said, "if you don't get up, I'll smack you with a pillow!"
To which statement my delirious self responded, "I'll cry if you do. . ."

I woke up to Dani's laughter this morning.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The three "do nots" of Dani's pregnancy

Dani isn't one to complain--so I'll complain for her.

Pregnancy is hard. There's no way around that. Some women get too hot, or too cold. Some can hardly hold anything down, and others feel like the only viable solution to their problems is to let out frequent exasperated moans.

Dani is getting to the end of her second pregnancy, and like a good little scientist, I've tried finding correlations between the two samples that I have. Here I am to give my official report on my findings: I call them the three "don'ts" of Dani's pregnancy, and they each correspond with a trimester.

Don't 1: Eat
First trimester, Dani doesn't want to eat much of anything--particularly in the morning. She nauseous, and out of sorts in regards to digestion--so she usually passes on breakfast.

Don't 2: Stay Conscious
By the second trimester, Dani gets the happy-nappy's 24/7. The only thing she really wants to do is nap. She'll sleep anywhere from 11 to 14 hours a day during this time.

Don't 3: Move
6 months in: simple rotational motion has become less than simple, waddling is a fact of life, and if she's down, she'll stay down. I help keep her mobile as best I can, but when you have a nearly-full-grown newborn strapped onto your front, balance and agility are severely compromised.

So, there you go dear--I've complained about some of the difficulties of your pregnancy so you don't have to: just trying to be thoughtful :D.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

day dress

I made this for N about 3 weeks ago....... It's for her growth spurt that should be happening soon. She needs the clothes. I love it! I completely copied the idea from a lady on craftster.org and found a free online tutorial for the flower clip. It was my fist time trying applique and I think it turned out pretty darn cute!

N was literally fighting her way into it to wear. She was very excited. It gives me the warm-fuzzy feelings when she see's what I've made and she gets so excited!

V's Baby Quilt

note: We haven't settled on the spelling of V's name yet. We've decided to wait till she shows up and see what she looks like. How either way is suppose to look, no idea..

After a few different designs, 4 trips to Jo-Anns and almost a 5th, LOTS of seam ripping, re-cutting, needle positions creating different measurements, having Todd help me redo math and re-cut squares and triangles and messing up
the binding but making it work,
I finished V's blanket today. 100% complete!
I'm loving it too!
I was going for a shabby-chic-rose-garden. What do you think?

Here it is.

It's 49" x 49"
Up close
Back
Up close front and back
N's been "breaking it in" for V even before it was finished.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

read to me

So after including my comment on how N doesn't like me to read to her on the "N Update Post", well, now she's bringing me books to read to her! Love it, only not so much after the 5+ time...but I'll take it!

Monday, September 7, 2009

Baby V Update

I wanted to be more involved in the photo progression of my body as V grew, didn't really happen though... Maybe it's because I'm fed up with out point and shoot cameras and want something newer = nicer, and/or maybe it's because I refuse to take pictures unless I look "ready" for the day, and/or maybe having grown up in family of photographers I'm very critical = fewer pictures make it to the public eye. Anyways, I did get these pictures taken yesterday. I have some older ones but I'm trying to find them on the computer......

Dani pregnant with Vievian at 26 weeks.

I watched V yesterday trying out her body. My belly had random small bumps, as she kicked and stretched. Todd got to witness it too. I'm excited for her. For her to get a body, to come into our home, and for me to hold. I've been looking over N's baby pictures and have been baby hungry more then ever, good thing she's on the way!

Pictures of N

N playing dress-up for the first time. To say she was bouncing off the walls when she found the tutu, is an understatement.N refused to let me finish making the bed. So I made it around her...


Saturday, September 5, 2009

A monopoly done right

Alright, so monopoly is a dirty word. It has been ever since some idiots back in the early part of the 20th century used their resources to try and satisfy the insatiable demon of greed.

The term has not improved in standing much over the years, probably because of the few "monopolies" left.

Microsoft releases shoddy software that it puts a half-concerted effort towards and forces everyone in the world to pay hundreds of dollars for it. General Electric puts out ultra-sound machines that cost roughly 15x what it would to make a decent one, that has scratchy resolution and inferior parts inside of it. Telecoms do very shady things to keep it difficult to deny their services (such as disconnect fees, not allowing you to keep the same phone number, and charging you thousands of dollars a year to watch advertisements on cable television).

'Nuff said. Monopolies are bad.

Well. . .kinda. There is one company that is doing its darnedest to be the exception to the rule. Google. They have over 60% of the search engine market world wide. If you want to advertise on the internet you pretty much have to go through Google now. They have the market, they could charge out the nose for it--they could squeeze a lot of money out of John and Jane Q. Proprietor if they wanted to.

Have you ever seen how Google advertising is set up? You say how much money you have to spend on advertising, and how much money you're willing to spend for each click. Google gives you a priority based on the price per click--and takes your ad off when you reach the limit that you specify. Money is only deducted from your account if someone clicks on the link to your site. Google says, "Let's work with you. How much are you willing to spend? Okay, we won't go over that, and we won't charge you if we don't get you results."

When was the last time Microsoft said, "If Windows stops working for you--you'll get a discount?"

But, that's only one side of the equation to being a truly beneficial monopoly to mankind. The second part is how you spend it. Google spends its money developing new and better programming languages. It donates millions each year to research and development in fields not directly associated with its business model! (That is just one of a hundred possible examples)

They provide software, free of charge, that people want. Do you pay to use gmail? Did you know that it is nearly as complete in core-functionality to a Microsoft Exchange server (which costs about $800 new)? You are getting an $800 product for a comparatively low price of having 4-20% of your screen covered in advertisements, and allowing Google to collect anonymous data about you so it can better design its software and conduct research about how to better benefit you. Granted, it can sell that anonymous data about how you use the web to other companies.

Big flippin' deal! If it's that important to people, let them pay Google to improve Python, write software that can eliminate costs associated with phone usage, and donate money to help fund causes that Eric Schmidt feels is worth while. This blog is powered by Google--and it makes my family's life better to have it.

That is how a monopoly should be. If it's helping humanity, who in their right mind would want to file anti-trust litigation? This kind of attitude--going after the guys with deep pockets--is exactly what made the term monopoly taboo in the first place.

Well, to them I say, "Let Google do whatever it wants. When it stops being a boon to mankind, and starts to be a tax on them--then is the time for action."

For now, I'm happy with Google's products. I'm happy with what they do. I'm glad they are here.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Scamper

N has this short-step, tippy-toe, scamper she does and it is TOO CUTE! I love it :D

P.S. This morning Todd opened her door so when she was up and ready she could just come out, well she opened the door, smiled big and laughed as she came running out into the living room straight into my arms. It's moments like these that I hope I never forget and always treasure.

Why I'm (still) a Mormon

I don't expect much more to ever be posted on this blog, and I'm largely just posting this to share it with some particular friends....