Reunited after 21 almost 22 years

A birth mother puts the needs of her child above the wants of her heart.
-Skye Hardwick


So in my last post I said I'd post about meeting my birth mother and let me tell you it was exciting as all heck. I was adopted when I was two weeks old after spending time in the NICU and a foster home while paper work was finalized. Generally the paperwork would have been signed after I was born, but my birth mother refused to sign it until I was out of the NICU and all better as she didn't want me to spend the first few days alone which has got to be one of the most selfless things ever because she knew at the time there was no way she was going to be able to keep me. That week was the first and last time we saw each other face to face for many years.

CAMERA!!!

So my camera arrived three days before it was scheduled to which is very, very exciting and I am so ready to take pictures and post on my blog, but go figure it arrives while I am out of town so I don't get to play until tomorrow night. Oh well, I have a camera *happy dance*.

So since there aren't going to be any pictures until tomorrow at the very least I'm going to talk about a giveaway! Lil bit of us is hosting a giveaway for a photo necklace by Sodderbug. It is such a cute idea that even if I don't win, I think I'm going to have to get one for my birth mother who I recently reunited with which will be a whole post in itself.

My baby

Tangie 

or Tangelo when she's in trouble

Tangie is a rescue from the humane society and is the purr-fect match for me. Sorry, I had to do it even if it is really cheesy. I adopted her in October and hove only been away from her overnight about 12 times and let me tell you, I missed her like crazy.

You can see the family dog in the upper left corner...

Tangie hates her but has since figured out that Rita (dog) is terrified of her and torments her every time Rita is inside.

Within the first week of having her I new that I could never have picked a better cat. Sadly (luckily for me), before I got her she had been abandoned/returned to a shelter 3 times. She was found on the streets a few counties away from mine with a littler of kittens and from what the vet at the time could tell she was not even a year old! After being in a foster home with her kittens for a while Tangie was put in the shelter for adoption and she was snatched up quickly. However not long after she was found wondering the streets where I live and when the information on her chip was read they were unable to get in contact with the previous owners. So she was put up for adoption at my local shelter where once again she was adopted quickly and then just as quickly returned, no reason given. Upon her return to the shelter she ended up with a respiratory infection and had to be put into isolation. Mind you this all occurred in under 6 months, the poor baby. 





I was getting ready to head back to school the next day when I was able to get to the shelter. The first few cats they suggested for what I (my mom) said that I wanted weren't exactly what I wanted and I went to talk to one of the staff members who suggested a cat who had been cleared for adoption literally the day before I came in. After he brought Tangelo into the visiting room (or whatever they want to call it) she walked right up to me, gave me a nose kiss and curled up in my lap purring. When I left to go get my mom Tangie stood on her back legs on the bench and looked out the window just watching me. When I got back to the room she immediately curled up in my lap purring again and that sealed the deal and she got to go home with me (after the paper work and all that fun stuff). Now she enjoys hanging out on our screened in porch, cuddling whenever she can, sitting where she shouldn't, eating both her and Rita's food if she can when Rita is inside, attacking the cat nip mice and getting underfoot quite often.

Me and a very grumpy cat

Cookies!

Living in a household with one diabetic, two vegetarians, one meat-lover, two fish eaters, one dairy free, one celiac and a variety of other fun food restrictions between three of us makes finding meals we can all enjoy interesting at times. Now, I am not a full blown celiac, but I have an intolerance to it which means avoiding it if I can. Neither my dad or I enjoy the gluten free bread as it crumbles very easily, nice when you need bread crumbs, but not for a sandwich. For me it is also a texture thing, it sounds silly, but I can't stand the texture of it and won't eat it. Same goes for some of the gluten free sweets. 

However a family friend who is also gluten free recently brought us a Snickerdoodle cookie mix from the Silly Yak Bakery in Wisconsin. And it made by far the best cookies gluten free or otherwise I have ever had. Seriously, I have never had any cookies this good. The mix made 2 dozen cookies about 2-3 inches across. When I was mixing the dough I was a bit worried because the it go so thick that I had to forgo the hand mixer because it wasn't doing much and use a spoonula to mix the last bit. After rolling them in the cinnamon sugar mix I popped them in the over for about 15 minutes. And I say about because I forgot to set the timer after I had them in for 12 minutes and was in the middle of eating breakfast when I remembered them again with the 'oh no!' moment. The resulting cookies were amazingly light and fluffy and they weren't attempting to crumble while you held them. 

Here is the link to the online store if anyone is interested: http://www.freshglutenfree.net/. I haven't tried any of their other products, but hope to when I have a chance (and can talk my parents into buying!).

Finally, I think I found the camera that I want and that won't break the bank unlike the digital slr cameras that I was drooling over, it's a Polaroid T1235. Hope to get it soon and show off the things I've been working on. (Edit: I went ahead and bought the camera and not the waiting begins. Oh, and my Cuttlebug is supposed to get in tomorrow so when I get the camera be prepared for a picture overload!)

Peace, love and chocolate cake!

Just a little set back

Ok, so it is a little bit more than a little set back. My camera decided that life as a not so nice camera was not the life it wanted to live and no amount of begging could make it work. Dead as a door nail...So no pictures until I get a new camera. Fingers crossed that it will be sometime soon.


I got the Spring Ruffle top done in the pink/blue floral and it looks cute, though the material is a bit stiffer than I wanted it is still going to be put into rotation in my closet. I also decided against the sleeve ruffles as I already look like a high schooler and ruffles just make me look even younger. A nice way to put it, I was cast as a five year old in a play this past year and from what everyone told me, on the stage we were working on it was very convincing. Great I look like a five year old from a distance. Since the top was one that I love, I decided to start on in the Anna Maria Horner print I have and aside from wanting a little bit of trim for it it is done! I also left this one without the ruffles and pocket, but may add a pocket later if I can find some trim for the top of it.


My brother took me to lunch on Sunday and now has more blackmail ammo also. I managed to somehow twist my ankle on a flat surface and messed it and my knee up from the way I landed. And I had done so well this past year not twisting either ankle even with 7+ hours of ballet and 3+ hours of stage movement a week, the uninjured streak has ended. *sigh*

First thoughts...

So I decided to give blogging a try mostly just to try documenting my different sewing projects or ideas. In all honesty, I'm just hoping this makes me remember to take more photographs of things that I sell or gifts that I've made since it never really seems to happen. Also hoping that my little blog will give me the push to finish all those projects that are sitting half finished in a box and to get new ones done in a timely manner.

A little about me to kick things off. I'm a recent college graduate with a degree in theatre and a focus on costume construction who is looking for a job and at this point any job that will keep me entertained be it working with costumes and sewing or working with special needs children. It seems to be a rather crummy time to be job hunting. In the mean time I get more time with my sewing machine for alterations and other such jobs, more time for my projects and also the odd babysitting jobs or working conventions at the convention center. And to be honest, if I could make a living working conventions I think I would because mostly it is being a hall monitor which involves a lot of sitting around doing whatever the heck I want in the back of the hall making sure things go OK, and it pays pretty dang well. Last convention I managed to finish a book and being working on some silk ribbon embroidery (and quite possibly taking a small nap, in my defense the lights were very, very dim and it was very, very early).

I'm also going to mention two projects that I'm currently working on. The first using Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks collection, the Pastry Line Water viole is going to be a shirred top which (unless the upcoming convention wants us in the 'dress code') I plan on wearing for work in a few weeks. I originally bought 4 yards to make a summer dress, but after rediscovering my elastic thread, decided a cute top would be not as overwhelming. The second project will be the Spring Ruffle Top from the Sew, Mama, Sew! blog in a small blue and pink floral cotton print. I prewashed both fabrics this morning and just have to iron them tomorrow morning and I should have two tops by tomorrow night. You know, unless the world ends or my cat decides that the sewing machine belongs to her again which puts a slight damper on the sewing front. Fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong!