Sophie is just so awesome.

Today was quite a big day for her. She stayed the night at Grandma's last night and B picked her up this afternoon. She got home close to 1:30 and still had to eat lunch and take a nap. The poor thing was so tired and hungry and would get upset at the tiniest thing. We finally got her through lunch (I was quite shocked to see she devoured the quiche i had made earlier). After lunch was her nap, and when she woke up, she was just about back to normal again.

We started carving the pumpkin (we're slow, I know) and I wound up being the degooper. Sophie didn't want to have any part of touching the inside of the pumpkin. I kept trying to get her involved, and made the mistake of putting some on her tummy (I had her strip down so she wouldn't get pumpkin on her since I thought she would be the one doing the degooping). Oh my gosh, the floodgates just opened wide. I felt awful. B got her calmed down while I continued emptying the pumpkin. She designed the face and supervised while he did the carving.

After the pumpkin was a bath (no bath last night) and then dinner (pizza is the tradition we have for Halloween). Sophie was so excited about trick-or-treating she barely finished one piece of pizza.

I ordered her costume for her and decided to add a little purse to the order, since I know she loves purses and only has one of her own (the rest she has are all old purses of mine, which I think might be all of two, total). She cried and said she didn't want a purse. I can't say that was the reaction I expected. Tonight, on the other hand, she was all jazzed about the purse. Go figure.

When she first got the costume, she was all upset about it not being red (she asked for pink, even after we went through a ton of possible colors - thanks to Joe and Blue, of course). Yesterday for her costume parade at school, she decided she wanted to wear last year's costume (black and orange butterfly fairy). That was fine with me since I made last year's costume and I really loved it, but I was still a bit disappointed she didn't want to wear the new one. Today, however, was an entirely different story. She was all about the pink! She was excited about every piece of her costume, right down to the headband (which she said hurt her head the other night) and the purse.

I am so glad I ordered this costume. The tutu is a simple tutu, but the colors are fabulous and worked perfectly. The wings are the best thing about this costume. The other wings we have (two other sets, mind you... the ladybug from her first Halloween and the black and orange wings from last year) can't hold a candle to these wings. They are finished off really well and aren't just nylon tugged around wire. There is some real personality to them. They have their own motion! I really don't know how to describe them, but I would definitely buy these again.

Sophie was very excited to see there was a butterfly in the flowers on her headband. She loved that nearly as much as her wand. I think the wand was her favorite piece. The whole thing together... I just love it! Thankfully for me and my picky imagination, Janine at Queen Bee Whimsies was a joy to work with. She put up with all of my questions and crazy requests and countless emails and the results were absolutely perfect.

B took Sophie out and they went pretty far this year. She was wound up, but tired when she got home. We let her watch one show and then it was straight to bed for her. We got some great cuddle time tonight (she told me she loves cuddling with me). At one point, she picked her hat up from the sofa and put it on. She made some funny comment that I can't recall now, but I was shocked by how clever it was.

*sigh* I love that kid. I miss the baby... I miss the toddler... I hate that these days are slipping by so quickly, but I really love to watch her grow and learn and mature.

We did a little shopping yesterday. It wasn't terribly exciting.

We went to Sam's first and Sophie was angling for samples once she saw the first stand. We didn't see anything worth stopping for, but we weren't in the food section for very long. I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed by the lack of Halloween items this year. Maybe we just went too late. You would think a week before Halloween there would still be more Halloween than Christmas merchandise on the floor, but that wasn't the case. I grabbed two basic bags of candy and still have some non-candy items I picked up on clearance last year, so I'll mix it all in the bucket.

After our quick (and amazingly inexpensive) trip to Sam's, we stopped at the Container Store. B put the kibosh on my stacking laundry basket idea (he didn't like the way they felt), so now we have this huge gap to fill in the laundry room. I'm thinking perhaps a drying rack of some sort, or the ironing board, or maybe even a rack of some sort for the mops and brooms. I just don't want that room to get all dirty and gross. We did pick up a few things while at the Container Store, but mostly we picked up ideas. B is working on moving the computers to the bedroom (long story about an involved project to be a separate post at a later time) and he was being inspired by the shelving. I want to figure out a way to organize the pantry better, so I was being inspired by the various containers and shelving and drawer systems. This store is one of the more dangerous stores I patronize, so we don't go very often.

For dinner, we ate at Central Market, since we were going to do our shopping there anyhow. Sophie decided to be a turkey at dinner, and she didn't really mellow until we got in the car. I hate it when she does that, but I'm also pretty sure it's because we were all tired. She was fine once we got home. While at Central Market, we picked up two pie pumpkins and enough Granny Smith apples for a pie. I plan to freeze both the apple slices and the pumpkins after I puree them. We also picked up most of the flavors of the Nature's Path Toaster Pastries. They are SO much better than Pop Tarts. I can even eat these not toasted. Sophie loves them. We picked up a few other things, a spaghetti squash (will need to find a good recipe), some Revolution tea bags in a variety of flavors (great for tea at work since it's almost as good as loose leaf but not nearly as messy), some pomegranates (I'm so glad they're in season again!), and seedless red grapes (they're huge!). There were other things purchased, but who cares about the whole grocery list, really?

I'm pretty excited about being able to freeze the apples and pumpkin puree. I want a bigger freezer and about a week off work. I could get most of my holiday baking prep out of the way and make it so much easier when the time comes to actually do the baking. I haven't decided if I'm going to save the pumpkin seeds for planting or for roasting. I also haven't decided if I'm going to make whole pumpkin pies or if I'm going to make Pumpkin Pie Bites. Decisions, decisions!

This weekend, B and I did a quick home improvement project. It really took less than the entire weekend and I'm so glad it's done. I love the result!

Friday night, B's mom picked Sophie up from school and B and I both worked a bit later since we've been keeping fewer hours because of my vertigo (seems to be slowly disappearing, but I still walk like a drunkard). From work, we drove out to IKEA (complete opposite direction of home) and had dinner there before shopping. We picked up three cabinets and a handful of miscellaneous unrelated things and made the trek back home. I started putting together Baked French Toast, and he started cleaning out the laundry room.

I woke up relatively early Saturday morning (completely unintentional) and got the French toast in the oven and the coffee brewing. After a few phone calls, I dragged B out of bed for breakfast. I was surprised at how well the French toast turned out. It was definitely better this time than the first time I made it, and it was pretty good the first time around. After breakfast, we headed to the Home Depot for paint and various other supplies. It took a while to pick the perfect color, although we pretty much knew what we wanted. We went with a Behr Premium Plus Ultra Interior Paint, Eggshell Enamel. I love this paint. It's not nearly as stinky as paints I've used in the past, and it has a built in primer!

B masked off all the trim and started the painting while I did a little work from home. Because of the vertigo, we figured the painting might not be very easy for me anyhow. I cut in the trim at the bottom and around the door frames. He was anxious to get the second coat on and you can tell in spots that we didn't wait long enough, but honestly, I think it looks fine overall. I fell in love with it immediately. It makes me happy to know we were dead on with the color selection.

We got the cabinets mounted today and the washer and dryer put back into place. I was the one filling the cabinets and all the up and down on the step stool made me rather queasy, even with the Meclizine. Sadly, the cabinets are nearly full and I haven't even gone through all the cupboards and closets to gather up all the things I want to keep stored in the laundry room. The size we bought was the 30" wide by 39" tall. I love them. These cabinets are the best! They have this anti-slam device in the hinge which is one of my favorite features. The other thing I love is the fact that the hinges attach to the doors without screws. They snap in place! They're absolutely amazing, really.

Anyhow, the laundry room is done for now. We still have some baskets to purchase and possibly a piece of artwork to hang, but other than that, it's all done. B even changed out the light fixtures (pictures behind the cut). It's all clean and organized. I love it!

( Before and after pictures here... )

Sophie's room is a bit messy lately. Usually we do cleanup time together, but I haven't had time (or enough balance) to spend much time in there with her lately. I know she loves to help us with various tasks around the house, so I encourage her to help whenever possible. I'm hoping this will only work to my advantage down the road and in turn make her a better housekeeper than I am.

Sometimes we need a little more motivation than others. That's where this list comes in. Most of it is common sense stuff, really. Some of it is repeated between the links, but some of the links have great ideas in the comments as well.

• Routine cards to help kids organize their schedule


• Tips for encouraging children's chores


• Teaching Preschoolers how to clean up


• Getting kids involved in house work


• Motivating kids to clean up


• Inspire your kids to do chores


• Cleaning children's rooms


• Get that chores list done - motivate your kids to do it!


• Motivate your child to keep a clean room

If anyone has any other helpful links or tips/tricks to share, please feel free to leave a comment here.

General crafting blog entry - this contains LiveJournal RSS feeds for various crafting websites, LiveJournal communities, and a few links

Fonts and font related software - There are lots of links in the original post, but there are also lots of links in the comments

Digital Scrapping Links:

• Shabby Princess - my absolute favorite


• The Shabby Shoppe - my second favorite


• Scrapbook Flair


• ScrapArtist


• A Cherry on Top


• Scrapadelic


• Oscraps


• Peppermint Creative


• Digital Scrapbook Place


• FishScraps

Knitting Links:

• Ravelry


• Knitty


• KnitPicks


• Black Sheep Bags


• Knitter's Anonymous


• Knitter's Review


• KnitNet


• Wool Works

I have sewing links somewhere, but it's been a while since I've actually visited any of them. Most of them are listed in the General crafting blog entry at the top of this post anyhow, I think.

Please feel free to share any links in comments. I'm always game for new material!

The wireless issues I'm having are starting to drive me insane. I'm not exactly sure what is causing it, but I'm guessing it's my laptop since I seem to be having more trouble than anyone else, and it's only been within the last few weeks (well after any changes have been made to any system on the network).

Sometimes the laptop will drop connection to the NAS box, and only the NAS box. I originally thought it was an issue with the NAS box because of that, but not the case (no one else has issues). I know there's a patch I've had to install in the past and I can't remember if I've installed it since reinstalling Windows, but I think I did or I wouldn't be able to connect to it at all. I also know my hosts file has the right IP address (I can connect sometimes, it just doesn't stay connected).

Whenever I lose connection to the NAS box, I also can't hit our website, but the server for that is configured on B's box, not the NAS. If I give it a little time, I can hit the website, but still not the NAS box, and if I try to hit the NAS box, the website goes down for me again.

Sometimes the laptop will drop the connection to the router. It can detect other wireless networks, but not ours. This is when I started thinking it might be an issue with the router. This doesn't happen often, but when it does, I have to reboot my computer and not the router, so I'm back to thinking it's the laptop.

Sometimes the laptop will drop all connections. It won't even find anything else in the area. This always requires a reboot as well.

I have an HP dv9410us that is about two years old. I'm currently running Windows 7 Evaluation copy, Build 7100 (with intentions to upgrade to the official version very soon... probably should have done that while I've been home from work).

B is still not entirely convinced it's not the router. We've had issues with the router in the past when it was just working as our wireless router, but now that it's the only router we're using, he thinks the issues might still be going on. This makes sense to me, especially since I don't always try to connect to the NAS and have had random issues with it off and on for a while. The thing that really bothers me most about this theory is that rebooting the router used to fix my issues. Now it doesn't matter and I have to reboot the laptop (I don't even touch the router, and previously rebooting the laptop would do nothing and all i would have to do is reboot the router).

If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to share. I'm about to hit Google, but am not feeling very optimistic about this.

I made this promise a couple months back. Because I own four necklaces she's made (including one with a bead of her own), and because I absolutely love these necklaces, I commissioned lindalee_ to make a very special bracelet for my mother. Everyone who has seen this bracelet has fallen in love with it. This turned out so much better than I originally imagined. Linda Lee is so talented!

All pictures below were taken by Linda Lee herself. I haven't even seen this bracelet up close and I'm in love with it!

I hate politics. I really, really do. I used to avoid news about politics, and almost wish I still did, because I swear it stresses me out. I don't really know what changed that makes me pay attention now. I try not to post about politics too much since I really don't care for the confrontational comments, but I do believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I will not block comments for that reason.

Before the rambling is out of control... a poll!

Poll #1421929 More Politics
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None, participants: 22

Do you follow politics or do you try to avoid politics?

How do you get your news?

Do you prefer to read only one source or do you try to find multiple sources?

Do you vote?

Does it matter to you if a politician is unfaithful to his/her spouse?

Does it matter to you if a politician lies about the infidelities?

Do you think special interest groups should be allowed to influence politicians?

One last question(s). What are your favorite sources for news? Which television stations, including commentators or news anchors do you prefer? Which magazines or newspapers do you read? which radio stations do you listen to? Which websites do you visit? What made you choose your news sources?

By the way, everyone can vote, but no one will be able to see who answered which way. Please don't hold back. If you'd like to comment anonymously, feel free.

While I wasn't at all happy with the Bush administration, I also am not at all pleased with what's been going on with the Obama administration. I am tired of the crap our government puts us through. I am tired of the games and the lies and the lack of common sense. I am just so tired of it all.

I signed a petition today, a letter written by a grandmother who is just as tired as I am. I am not asking anyone who reads this to sign the petition, but I am asking people take the time to read it with an open mind. This is not about left or right or republican or democrat. This is about America and freedom and common sense and not watching my country die a slow and painful death.

Either way, before I ramble any longer or aggravate the heartburn any further...

An Open Letter to Our Nation's Leadership

Somehow I managed to screw up some my flist. I'm not sure what happened, but when trying to remove various feeds from my flist using the crackberry, I managed to drop people I didn't intend to drop. If you happened to receive notification from me that you have been removed from my friends list and you think it might have been done in error, please feel free to send me a private message or leave a comment here. However, if you're glad to be rid of me or don't care one way or the other, then I completely understand.

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. Work and family are consuming my time.

I know I posted something similar to this a while back, but there are a few more feeds in here, as well as a few links. I'm also adding some crafting communities. If anyone has any links, feeds, or communities they'd like to share, please feel free to leave it in a comment.



Here are some RSS feeds I have found/created that are craft related. I do not have descriptions of each written out, but all of them are at least worth a quick glance. Many of these blogs have tutorials or patterns posted from time to time. Sometimes there will be repeats. The spoonflower_fli feed is a Flickr feed from Spoonflower.

artcraftndesign	betzwhite	crafternoonblog	craftgossip
craftsonawhim	craftypod	craftzine	creativekismet
cuteablecom	etsydallas	etsykids_blog	feelingstitchy
fogandthistle	folding_trees	frenchgeneral	getmykniton
gingerbreadsnow	kenny_knits	littleida_blog	longthread
lovelydesignrss	lucykatecrafts	ninimakes	onepearlbutton
pimpstitch	plushteam	prettyinink_rss	purlbeeblog
ricracrss	rosylttlethings	scrappy_chick	sew_mad
sewmamasew	spoonflower_blo	spoonflower_fli	thornberrycraft
vintagetransfer	wisecraft

General Crafting Links:

• Cut Out + Keep | The Step-by-Step Crafty Community


• Tutorials of All Kinds at Creative Kismet


• Make Stuff


• Craftster - Crafting Community & Forums: Crafts, Patterns, Projects, & Craft Ideas


• Craft Bits: Crafts | Gift Ideas | DIY Projects

I have a ton of sewing and knitting related links, as well as links for other types of crafts, but that will take a bit of time to sort through. My knitting links are actually all Furled, and can be found here. Everything else will probably have to wait until after Christmas since there's just so much going on.

These are all the crafting communities of which I am a member. I don't read all of them, though. Some have extremely high traffic (handmade_gifts is currently a spotlight community, so it's very busy...). Some of them aren't active at all.

advanced_sewing	crafty_gifts	curvaceous_knit	dfw_crafters
fandomknit	fiber4sale	fiber_dyeing	fiber_friday
fiberholicsanon	handmade_gifts	handspinning	handspun
holidaycrafts	knit_wits	knitforchange	knitting
knitting_review	knittingpretty	middle_knitters	nightknitters
novice_knitters	practicalknit	recycledyarn	scrapbookers
takebacktheknit	trad_spinning	yarnmarket	yarnporn

If you have children or know people who have children or plan to have children, this post might interest you. Otherwise it might bore you. Fair warning. Note: The majority of the content in this post is from the Sept 2008 issue of Parent & Child. The links at the end are some I've collected over the years.

I have tagged this with motherhood since that's how I tag all of my parenting posts, but obviously this applies to fathers as well.

Friends, if any of you have links related to children/parenting you would like to share, please don't hesitate to leave a comment. Thank you!

• If you have not yet seen Sid the Science Kid on PBS, seriously, check it out. It makes for great edutainment! Wow, edutainment is an actual word... who knew?


• For those with child migraine sufferers (did I phrase that right?): The migraines could possibly be a result of interrupted sleep (I honestly never would have thought of this). Make sure the child is getting 9-10 hours of sleep each night and does not show signs of fatigue (except when appropriate, of course). Consider taking the child to a sleep clinic for testing.


• Autistic children might benefit from computer games (go figure!). One recent program is having children "practice real life" via simulated games on the computer. Another program rewards children for focusing and being more alert. Both of these programs seem to benefit the child, the parents, and the people studying them.


• Children with healthy eating habits perform better academically than those with poor eating habits. Foods high in protein and good carbs (yogurt, oatmeal, etc.) make for great morning starts. Wild salmon, spinach, other leafy greens, nuts, and blueberries are all excellent foods to give to children (be careful with nuts as they are a choking hazard - my pediatrician recommends no nuts under three, but some people recommend no nuts under SIX!). Pediatrician Bill Sears, M.D. suggests to eat twice as often, half as much, and chew twice as long (aids in healthier digestion), but also to avoid anything with high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, and anything with a number (artificial colors or flavorings). Adding exercise to the child's routine will also benefit as it is a natural mood elevator or stabilizer.


• Please teach your children to wash their hands for twenty seconds after using the restroom or before eating, etc.


• Likewise, please teach your children to use the elbow cough (turn the head and cough into the bend of the elbow) to keep germs away from their hands whenever possible.


• Enter the 100% Fun sweepstakes from Scholastic for a chance to win a prize pack for the family.


• Check out TerraCycle and the various products they're collecting now (it used to be just bottles that were used for gardening supplies... they've come a long way!).

Other links:

• No time for flash cards


• Childcareland - early learning activities for pre-k and kindergarten


• Kids Craft Weekly


• Surfing the Net with Kids - educational site reviews and kids games


• DLTK's Printable Crafts for Kids


• ZooKazoo - a virtual networking game for kids


• Handipoints - Print chore charts, kids allowances, fun parenting


• Lissa Explains it All - HTML help and tutorial for kids (great for parents, too!)


• Plugged in Parents - Your family resource!


• Babble - The magazine and community for a new generation of parents


• RaisingThem - Find playgroups, moms groups, kids activities, parenting tips


• The Family Groove - The hippest parent's place in cyberspace


• Kid Friendly Search - Kid and family friendly resorts, hotels, vacations, travel, restaurants, and more


• goCityKids - What's nearby?


• Brightly Beaming Resources


• High Reach Learning - Inspiring Little Learners


• Cyberkids


• FunBrain - The internet's #1 side for K-8 kids and teachers


• OLogy


• Prongo - a fun interactive and educational way for kids to learn


• StarChild - a learning center for young astronomers


• The World Almanac for Kids Online


• This is Daniel Cook


• This is Emily Yeung


• Club Penguin - Waddle around and meet new friends (Disney)


• ePals Global Community


• BookAdventure - Read, click, and win


• Starfall - teaching comprehension and phonics


• Whyville


• Discovery Education


• Child Development Institute


• TeacherXpress - The education web all in one place for busy teachers

For those of you who have been reading this journal without LiveJournal accounts, I apologize for the inconvenience, but I need to lock things down to ensure my privacy and security, as well as that of my family. Now would be the time to sign up for an account, since I'm doing well to even post here, let alone asking me to start sending out emails about the things I post as well.

For anyone interested in friending this journal, I'm cool with that as long as there is a comment left here or a message sent via LJ/email.

Have a wonderfully blessed day.

Okay, not really ALL links, but quite a few. I'm going to be posting requests like this with various topics with the hope that people will share their favorite links here. Please, don't link to social bookmarking sites or Google. Give me your favorite links and the reasons why you like the links so much.

Today's links request is for any link related to fonts and various pieces of related software. If you have any I haven't shared or if you have opinions on what I have shared, please leave a comment.

Some of my favorites:

Fonts:

• http://www.abstractfonts.com/ - Can usually find fonts here not found elsewhere, although not sure how true that still is


• http://www.1001fonts.com/ - I've been using this site for years


• http://fonts.tom7.com/ - the fonts here are different!


• http://www.fontmart.com/ - awesome retro fonts (and some clip art) - this is NOT a free font site


• http://www.typenow.net/ - some good well-known fonts not always found elsewhere


• http://www.fontspace.com/ - love the navigation here


• http://www.acidfonts.com/ - been using this one for years


• http://www.dafont.com/ - been using this one for years


• http://www.bvfonts.com/ - one of my favorites for free and paid fonts - very fun!


• http://www.blambot.com/ - great for all the budding artists in the comics world...


• http://www.fontica.com/ - another I've been using for years


• http://www.fontcraft.com - unique fonts - paid site


• http://www.fontgarden.com/ - I usually come here for handwriting fonts


• http://www.fonts.com/ - insane number of fonts... really


• http://flat-it.com/ - unique paid site


• http://www.smeltery.net - free and paid fonts


• http://www.fontpool.com/index.html - been using this one for years


• http://fonts.katgyrl.com/ - unique fonts


• http://www.linotype.com - paid site with a nifty identifier to help locate the fonts you want without knowing the names


• http://www.scrapnfonts.com/ - probably one of my all time favorite paid sites

Related Links:

• http://www.stcassociates.com/lab/fontbrowser.html - a nifty website that will allow you to browse the fonts installed on your computer


• http://www.fontlab.com - great software for editing/converting/creating but also contains links to other third party software


• http://fontexpert.com/ - great font identification software - can also identify fonts online


• http://www.proximasoftware.com/fontexpert/index.html - excellent font manager


• http://fontstruct.fontshop.com/ - build, share, download... all in your web browser, and all for free!


• http://www.blacksunsoftware.com/xfonter.html - the font browser I used for years... until it became shareware