School Daze

I so have not been motivated to stitch after that whole fiasco with the Ranma pattern and I am STILL taking stitches out. I guess it's alright for now since school started and I'm super motivated this semester. The days are long, longer than work days actually but they don't feel like it. It's probably because am having so much fun in the lab! On Tuesday I got to prepare pizza crusts for the cafeteria, made a California quiche for our lunch and prepared about 20 pie crusts. Plus, I get to watch guys cook, bake and clean in the kitchen...*swoon*

Oh yeah, we get fed on lab days!! Some of what we are working on in lab that morning gets served as lunch. Monday was tri-tip, roasted potatoes, biscuits, mushroom pizza, steamed vegetables, minestrone soup and red velvet cupcakes. Tuesday was slow cooked pork ribs, California quiche, dinner rolls, mac and cheese and steamed vegetables.

Oh, and one more thing, tomorrow I get my knives!! This is the style I went with: San Mortiz Elite. I'm glad I don't take after my mom and cut myself easily (I burn myself, lol) because I am told that these knives are so sharp when I get them they will cut me by looking at them *gulp*

So far everyone is so nice and supportive and patient. I can't wait to learn lots more and master all the kitchen tools. I am an ace in the kitchen!

ARRRRRGH!

Well, a little update on the Ranma piece. Stupid symbols looked the same so now I have to pull out most of the black on Ranma and redo it in the right color. I guess I'm a little lucky I figured it out now and didn't keep going on it and figure it would turn out anyway and then be even more disappointed. This sets me back more than a week and I was hoping to finish this before the semester started.

Argh , I say ARRRRGH!!!

Make Me Wild Like You

Among my many W.I.P, this is the one I am currently working on and am so excited to get done with it soon! I will honestly be my first non-traditional piece to finish, and the shortest I have taken to finish any cross stitch piece. I am a very slow stitcher and often end up having to redo whole sections because I missed a row or miscounted. I actually had to redo two black sections; Ranma's legs (yes both of them) and Genma's leg >.< I usually pull the thread out so I can reuse it but these were such huge areas I resorted to my seam ripper.

But, I digress, it's coming along nicely now and should be finished by the end of the week! YAY! The only problem after that is do I keep it for myself or stick to my original plan and give it to a friend as a gift...

I'm Not Dead Yet

So, I am still around and I've been doing things. Crafty things, in fact! I have (several) cross stitch WIP and some completed sewing projects! I am very proud of what I have accomplished this past month.

First a little personal update on me: I have taken a leave of absence from derby. To be more specific a maternity leave. Very unexpected and shocking but I am one that believes things happen for a reason. What the exact reason is, I'm still at a loss for, but it's going to happen.

Anywho...I made an apron, finally. I've had the fabric for almost 2 years, which is somewhat typical of me. Yes, I love to cook and bake and never had an apron...until now. I did get a little tired of my family taking pictures of flour hand prints on my butt.

My favorite part of the apron is the seams, they are flawless. I have a tendency to fudge myself through the last bits of a project just to get done but I made myself slow down and take my time.

The boy wants me to make him one, and I will, in time. He currently has two aprons that fit him so I will be waiting until he grows out of them. The fabric will always be there, and there is PLENTY of it.

Black Aida Woes

So, I have a WIP and I keep stalling on it mostly because it is on black Aida. It is so time consuming because I can't find the holes (that's what she said). I feel like it would be easier to light it from underneath or to put it on a scroll. Are there any suggestions out there to ease the troubles with working on black?

Yay April!

April seems to be an amazing month so far. It started out with getting my informative speech done and nailing it. A 192 out of 200 is not too shabby. I've been getting caught up on all my school work and it looks like I am going to make it through all 4 of my classes this semester. It's a very amazing feat for me.

Derby has been going well. My team traveled to Tulare and competed in a tournament and won! Three games and three wins in one day. I've also become so determined to bust through this plateau. I haven't lost weight in months and have totally stalled out so this week I got super focused. I was amazing on my eating this week and made sure to refuel after workouts, I even got to bed on time. All this led up to an AMAZING practice Thursday night and it's going to continue until tomorrow's game.

The only thing that's missing is crafting, video game playing and reading something other than a text book, but I know to do all I am doing now I have to give up some things or severely reduce time spent on them...but only for a short while. I'm doing well in school and I'm starting to kick serious ass at derby (at least compared to where I started) and I don't want to give those things up right now.

Deliciouscraft

So Brian went on a Minecraft kick this weekend, not playing but watching You Tube videos. While Minecraft does pique my interest, I cannot bring myself to pay $20 for that game, especially since I really don't have the time to dedicate to it and most especially since I will probably get addicted to it and fail classes.

But, I digress, this is not about my avoidance to playing it. It is about the You Tube videos. Specifically videos from Coestar. More specifically this gem titled Blighthouse Now what is so great about this video? Nothing really, I suppose, until you realize, like I did, how much it sounded like the Delicious Dish . It made me ROFL...for like 10 minutes. I got the hiccups.

*Disclaimer* I am often easily amused and usually laugh at my own jokes longer and harder than anyone else, so I will not be offended if you didn't find that revelation as hilarious as I did.

Cookie!

I've been so busy with work, school, derby and family life that I have not been stitching. So here is my favorite cookie I decorated this past Christmas, enjoy!

Dead Snow

Last month I finally watched Dead Snow, a Norwegian zombie movie, and cannot stop thinking about it. Let's just say I love this movie and there are going to be some spoilers in my totally non-professional review of it, but I will put those at the end under the all caps underlined spoiler alert.

First off, it is a zombie movie, but not just any zombies, Nazi zombies. I am not very big on horror films but zombies have a special place in my, uh, brains (as does Sam Raimi, see geek below). I think what a lot of zombie movies do now (and Dead Snow is no exception) is make you laugh and cringe at the same time. There are plenty of horror movie cliches which, for me, didn't spoil it. One might say, as my boyfriend did, that some of it was ripped off from Sam Raimi, I say I totally geeked out and got way excited at those parts, I mean who has honored Sam in that way? Brilliant, I say, extra points for that.

Hmm, what more can I say about it before I get to the spoiler goodness? Oh, yes, I did have my inevitable zombie dream and I will talk more about that under spoilers.

The two things I have nightmares about are zombie and dinosaurs, go figure...

So, watch the movie so we can discuss it!! It's on Netflix instant watch!

SPOILERS

So the total cliche was "first to have sex dies" and that part made me cringe more than all the intestines, ok, not as much as stitching your own neck, but I keep thinking about her sucking on his finger after he took a shit and...EWWW!

I LOVE the creative use of intestines, and damn there were a lot of those, kinda got used to seeing it.

At the end of the movie I was saying "I don't know if I would want to survive that and have to explain what happened to my friends."

My nightmare about it was I was part of a group investigating what happened (we knew it had to do with zombies) and I kept saying "What am I doing here? Nobody survived to tell us any of this happened!"

Random Thoughts...

As I sit here trying to do some homework my mind won't stop thinking about so many other things. Of course this always happens when I try to do homework...

I had tryouts today and a week ago I was freaking out and having a panic attack. I was defeating myself and becoming my own worst enemy, something I am very good at. Several people told me to shut up and that virtual slap in the face was all I needed to snap myself out of it. I decided I wasn't competing against anybody else, I was competing against the Sharon that tried out six months ago and failed to make an all star team. Well, if no pain, no gain is true then I gained more than I expected. I am in so much pain right now, I came home took a hot shower, took two Aleve, lay in bed for several hours and I can still feel it...everywhere, not just my bum knee. I gave it my all and left it all on the track. Whatever the outcome I am happy with who I am today and the effort I put in, I have come a long, long way.

I also keep thinking about the things I would rather be doing than homework. I have a boxes full of projects waiting to get done and I cannot stitch something while reading a textbook...ARGH! Hell, sometimes I would rather be cleaning, but if I want to get done in two years and with good grades I need to get my ass in gear. So if I get off the blasted computer and get some homework done, I can get some stitching done while watching some anime...BRILLIANT! BTW, I am watching Fruits Basket and OMG, SQUEEE!!

I Feel Accomplished!

The new year is starting out well with getting things done. I have already finished reading one book and more than half way done with another. I read Castle Roogna, a Xanth novel by Piers Anthony and it was the first one read on my Kindle. The book I am working on now (besides textbooks) is Mattimeo by Brain Jacques which is a Redwall novel (a series theme is evolving).

Another accomplishment is I FINALLY got the embroidered days of the week towels done for Brian's mom. This is an accomplishment not just because it's done but also because I have never done so much embroidery...AND finished it. I tried to use a variety of stitches to test myself and I really enjoy the stem stitch as an alternative to the back stitch. I also had to relearn how to do a French knot just about every time I attempted one, which was very frustrating. I only have pictures of six out of the seven days because I gave her one as a present to show her what was in store (eventually). I am very proud of these and hopefully my next completed project is not too far behind.

I almost forgot, I also finished Soul Eater. I loved it. It was fun and the dubbing was excellent. It makes watching it faster if I can watch it in English (remember I fall asleep while reading) and I can stitch while watching it dubbed. My goal now is to cosplay as Eruka Frog from that series. I am confident I can make this costume, as long as I can get myself into shape to look decent in it. I already have her hair (minus it being white).

On a final note, I thought I would get an email when a comment was posted and I didn't, so I'm not ignoring anyone, I'm just dumb. This will change.

Busy Week

I am on my last few day of base camp and we will see how successful it was when I weigh myself in the morning. It's been a busy week (like the title says!) and didn't get much sewing done...admittedly I could have done more but I got myself hooked on Plants vs Zombies, which I will have to stop playing if I am to pass my classes this semester. I embroidered for a half hour while watching an episode of Soul Eater, and that was it. I was hoping to have those done by now, and I'd like to say I will have the last of these flour sack towels done by the end of the weekend, but I have a bout on Saturday, I have homework to start and my mom will be down for the weekend.

I cannot wait for the bout on Saturday, I felt amazing at practice tonight. I am going to skate hard, smart and strong. Watch out, Sharon is coming. Go Brass Knuckle Betties!!

I Survived!

I made it through my first workout of the New Year. It was difficult due to the fact I was still detoxing from the party. My bones felt brittle while doing the work out and it was not hard to believe that alcohol can aid in bone loss. I am very glad I hardly drink at all and New Year's was a reminder why. Here is my workout summary. Thank you Mike for making it a little easier for us recovering!

Warm Up:

3x run around court

bear crawls

frog hops

duck walks

Workout A: 20 seconds work/20 seconds rest, x3

KB 2 arm swings

rope "drumming" for lack of a better term

Jungle Gym rows

KB high pulls

Workout B: 20 seconds work/20 seconds rest, x3

mountain climbers

jumping jacks

Tomorrow I start base camp (strict 12 day diet) to get back on track. I am not looking forward to the shakes in the morning, but I am going to give it a try. I have several challenges facing me this month, the championship game and tryouts, and I have to be in my best shape to succeed.

It's That Time!

Yeah, I'm going there. I'm not going to make you read it all, but it must be put into writing. My resolutions must be stated! I will admit, I am not in a great state of mind to be posting this, I am still recovering from celebrating the new year and my boy friend's birthday. So without further ado, the list:

1. Lose Weight, Get Healthy

This is the most popular of all time and I think the only time it did not appear on my list was when I was pregnant with my son. The reason this time is different you may ask? I have some weapons in my arsenal: roller derby, kettle bells and my trainer Mike Noritake. All I have to say is "watch out because I'm coming!"

2. Save Money

Another favorite! I keep missing out on things because I didn't plan ahead for them. I have my small accordion file with labels so I can stash the money and adding a second job won't hurt, either. Things I will be getting this year? New skates (I got a good start from family and friends!), a Trophy Queen purse (not a custom one, a sale one) and hopefully a vacation or some kind of get away (there's a large list of conventions I want to go to). I also plan on not scrambling for money come birthday time for my son (in July).

3. Stay Organized

Got a great start on this this past week. I just need to make sure all my things stay this neat and organized. With going back to school, working two jobs, roller derby, training and having my family to care for I cannot afford a messy desk, kitchen, craft area...anything!

4. Read More

I would like to say my goal is a book a month, but I am a terribly slow reader and with school I don't have much time to read. I like to multi-task and cannot do that while reading, but I did get a bed-side lamp so I will be going back to reading before bed. The down side? I train myself to fall asleep to reading, hence, I don't get through much subtitled anime before falling asleep >.<

5. Be My Own Hero/ Own My Victories

I believe this is probably the most important, it is the foundation that will support and drive the others. This was one of Mike's, my trainer's, first lessons to me when I started working with him so I got a good jump start on this one. I have to remember that I am a pretty awesome person and if you don't think so, too bad for you! I am proud to be awkward and dorky and random and believe that knowledge is power (thank you Schoolhouse Rock!).

I think that does it. I will make it a point to check back on these and see how far I've come throughout the year. Happy new year and here's to a healthy, wealthy 2011!