Profile
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| User: | sm00bs (4154267)  A Room with a sm00
a brief glimpse inside the mind... |
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| Name: | sm00bs | ||||
Message | Send sm00bs a text message on his/her cellphone/pager. | ||||
| Website: | Simple Crafting with sm00bs | ||||
| Location: | Fort Worth, Texas, United States | ||||
| Birthdate: | 1971-10-10 | ||||
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| AOL IM: |  sm00chies (Add Buddy, Send Message) | ||||
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| Bio: |  I am madly in love with my family (B, Sophie, and the family dog, Chui). Most of my spare time is spent with them, either watching movies/TV, cleaning, playing/working outside, using the computer (B and I share an office at home, where Chui has one of his two dog beds), etc. I can't imagine life without this man, and honestly don't care to even think about that. He was sneaky and made me fall in love with him, and I think he realizes now that he's stuck with me. We proclaimed our love to the world on December 10, 2005 when our closest friends and family joined us at Messiah Baptist Church for our wedding ceremony. I have lived in Michigan (20 years, mostly in Farmington Hills), Ohio (1 year in Middlefield), Minnesota (4 years in New Ulm), Wisconsin (3 months student teaching in Appleton and 3 months student teaching in Fon du Lac), Illinois (1 year in Mundelein and 1 year in Libertyville), Massachusetts (1 year, mostly in Worcester), and Texas (all in the DFW area). I have been in Texas since September of 2000 and I can't wait to move back up north. I miss the weather (there are individual seasons up there, not just hot and cold!) tremendously. I moved to marry and can't say I regret doing so (even though I'm no longer married to him), since I've met some wonderful people and held some interesting jobs while in Texas. I was married for about a year and a half before I requested a divorce, which was based on several factors, concern for my financial future being at the top of the list. It saddens me to know that even people who make an incredibly decent amount of money can have some of the worst credit ratings and not know how to save. Granted, I have an issue with saving, but I'm trying to pay down debt, and saving isn't prudent right now. When I was young, I learned to play the piano (actually taught myself some basics using my mother's electric organ). From Kindergarten or first grade until about 9th grade, I took piano lessons and hated practicing, but loved playing. I took piano lessons again while I was in college, and although this was not by choice, I still enjoyed it. I have also played the flute (not very well, only lasted a year) and the clarinet. I always wanted to learn to play the guitar but never managed to do so. When I was in high school I wanted to be in the drum line of our marching band, but that never happened either (B was in the drum line, though). I also wish I had had the opportunity to play a stringed instrument at some point such as the violin or even the cello. Since B has taken up drum classes (doumbek) again, I have been thinking it also might be pretty neat to learn to play the steel drums. My first nine years of school were spent at St. Paul's Lutheran Church and School in Livonia, MI. I graduated from Harrison High School in 1990, Oakland Community College in 1992, and Martin Luther College in 1996. By the time all was said and done, I had obtained an Associate's degree in Liberal Arts and a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary English Education. The degrees are currently only being used to show that I graduated college. I have long since determined that teaching was not the career for me. Before graduating from college, I held several positions in several fields, starting in retail. I have worked for several drugstores, none of which exists any longer, a Hallmark store, and a Perkins Restaurant. I tried my hand at office jobs, working mainly through Kelly Services. Through college, I had tutoring jobs, some through the college, and some for acquaintances outside of school. I also was a camp counselor at Killarney Lutheran Camp for several summers. I believe the summer camp was the most rewarding and fun, yet lowest paying job I had ever had. After graduating, I taught in several schools, all ages from kindergarten to adult, and nearly all subjects. I quit teaching three times, the first two times due to parents and their inability to understand their children were not perfect, their children were not idiots, or simply to be involved. The last time I quit was to move, and it saddened me. I truly enjoyed working with the boys at Valley View, no matter how challenging they were. Since the move to Texas, I have not gone back to teaching, but have joined the technical world instead. I started in basic tech support, helping end users with their scanners. Shortly after a year of working at that call center, the company decided to close its doors and send the calls to Canada. I was thankful for the experience and moved on to work in a slightly more specialized field, making considerably more money. The last job I held had me working for the hospitality division of a major POS company, and I loved it. I loved the customers, I loved my coworkers, and I felt I was actually being paid my worth. I miss it a little, but I had a very good reason to leave. B and I have made several decisions recently regarding some major life changing events. We started with the wedding and then the purchase of a beautiful home (papers were signed on March 8, 2006 and we moved in on March 18). Our most important change is the birth of Sophia Mae. She surprised us by arriving early and was born April 30, 2006 at 12:23 AM via C-Section. She weighed 8 lbs 12 oz and measured 18.75" long. She is the reason I decided to quit my job, mainly due to low milk supply issues and simply not wanting to put her into daycare. More details will be found in the blog, of course. Since Sophie occupies a large amount of my time lately, she happens to be the star of the majority of my posts. I do still blog about cooking or dieting or the latest craft or home project, but the baby posts are pretty heavy right now. I am on the crunchy side of things, I suppose, although I'm not a flaming liberal (am actually quite conservative). I believe in breastfeeding, cloth diapers, cosleeping, making my own baby food for Sophie, signing with her (I love to watch her sign!). I also believe in conserving energy whenever possible, whether it's on the road or in my home or even in the products I buy. It's very difficult to give up conveniences, but I feel I owe it to Sophie to do my part to make the world a better place for her. We use compact fluorescent lightbulbs, try to run our A/C at rather warm temperatures, conserve on gas whenever possible (B takes the motorcycle to help with that), and we're considering having a PV system and a tankless water heater installed. I love to hang my laundry on the line outside to dry and eventually I will have a garden. When I look at all the things we do to be more "green," it turns out that most of these things wind up saving us money as well. I love that! I used to be quite addicted to watching television. I still watch quite a bit while nursing Sophie, mostly because I haven't figured out how to knit while nursing. I try to limit my television intake to channels such as HGTV, FoodTV, TLC, Discovery, Animal Planet, and FOX News. I used to read and still do on occasion, although it never seems like there's enough time for me to become engrossed in a book. Most of the books I do read now are informational rather than fictional. B and I agree that television should be limited and not used as a babysitter, and that reading is extremely important, especially when the child is still young. Sophie only gets to watch a few Disney shows in the morning (mostly for songs) and her Baby Signing Time DVDs. I have so many ideas bounding through my little head for books I want to create for our baby. Our library will be filled with books, both store-bought and home-made. I've tried a little gardening, and sometimes I'm successful. I long to move back up north where the sun isn't nearly so hot since I really do think that has something to do with it. I want to have a garden just as we had when I was growing up (although maybe not so big). I have african violets and spider plants in the house, along with a Christmas cactus and aloe vera plant. The first spider plant almost died, even though it had so many babies I gave two plants I'd started away and was able to start two more plants with it after that. I think the spider plant is making a comeback, though. The african violets almost died as well since they weren't getting enough sunlight when I was living in the apartment, but they're doing very well now. Well, they typically do well until I transplant them to another pot, and then they like to die on me (or act like they're going to die). Eventually, I'd love to learn HTML/CSS and design my own website, as well as hone my Photoshop skills (and possibly Bryce and Terragen skills). I'm currently running WindowsXP on my computer, although I've had a dual boot set up with Windows 2000 and RedHat. I used to have an extra computer before I gave it to my mother for Christmas recently, and while it was still here, it had RedHat on it so I could use both Windows and Linux at the same time. I love learning about computers and technology. I'm such the geek. I've always been into crafty projects, from felt and paperbag Christmas ornaments, to counted cross stitch, needlepoint, and other such things. I've done many types of crafts with kids of all ages, including Ukrainian eggs, sewing, ornament making, etc. My closet is filled with craft items (even after getting rid of a large number of items!). I've always wanted to get into stamping and scrapbooking, as well as quilting (all three seem to be rather big in my family), but simply never have. I really would like to learn to sew, since I know it would save me money, and possibly even earn me money. I think I've found my niche with the knitting, though. I love it! I love to bake and make candies and desserts. I'm so domestic sometimes I think I'm going to drive myself crazy. I love to ramble and I have a penchant for stating the obvious (I have been dubbed Mistress of the Blindingly Obvious by ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} family_recipes, top_five, green_future, and signingtime, as well as a co-moderator of anony_moms. I also own sm00_credits where I credit all my graphics makers.Please, feel free to add me as a friend (please let me know if you do), and to family and friends who read the blog but don't have LiveJournal accounts, sign up! It's free! For those of you who have MySpace, Facebook, or last.fm account, feel free to add me there as well. I am of the belief that one can never have too many friends.    Many of the following buttons were from here and can be snagged. Some of them were made by me, but I don't mind if anyone snags them.                                                                               Am-I-Dumb.com - The Dumb Test  I call shenanigans on this quiz. Also, be warned it is a great setup for spam. | ||||
| Memories: | 243 entries | ||||
| Pictures: | over 800 public | ||||
| Interests: | 150: 37, 42, 85x15 buttons, acoustic guitars, alpacas, alton brown, american sign language, animals, art, autumn, baking, beaches, beautiful south, billy bragg, blue man group, books, breastfeeding, british comedy, budget living, child development, christianity, christmas, cloth diapers, coffee, comedy, common rotation, computers, cooking, crafts, creativity, dads, dallas, decluttering, decorating, detroit, detroit redwings, dfw, divine comedy, do it yourself, domesticity, domo-kun, dream dinners, drums, energy efficiency, environmentalism, euchre, family, farmington hills, felting, firefox, flowers, food, fort worth, fox news, friends, frugal living, gadgets, games, gardening, gdiapers, giving gifts, good eats, google, grammar fascism, graphics, green living, grilling, harrison high school, harry connick jr., hgtv, hockey, holidays, home improvement, ice cream, icons, indie films, indie music, jackopierce, jeff dunham, john cusack, kevin smith, knitting, laughing, learning, linux, llamas, love, making lists, michigan, moms, monty python, motherhood, mountains, movies, mst3k, muppets, music, my daughter, my husband, natural parenting, new england, organic, organization, paying it forward, pearls before swine, peekapoos, people-watching, photography, pine trees, poetry, ralph covert, reading, real simple, recipes, recycling, restaurants, road trips, sarah mclachlan, sewing, shakespeare, shopping, sifl & olly, signing time, snow, snuggling, spinning, spring, star wars, stephen colbert, strongbadia, summer, sunshine, teaching, the 80's, the beta band, the colbert report, the divers, the housemartins, the origin, they might be giants, top five, travel, ubuntu, wahm, waterfalls, winter, writing, xtc, yarn, you don't know jack | ||||
| Schools: | Farmington Harrison High School - Farmington Hills, MI St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran School - Livonia, MI (1977 - 1986) Harrison High School - Farmington Hills, MI (1986 - 1990) Oakland Community College - Orchard Ridge Campus - Farmington Hills, MI (1990 - 1992) Martin Luther College - New Ulm, MN (1992 - 1996) | ||||
| Friends: | |||||
| Mutual Friends: | 119: 11thhouraction, _anovelconcept, a_groovy_gypsy, aellwynde, aishy, alainn_mactire, alicat4164, andtripsmakesix, angelic_22, autumnwalkr, awe_in_garden, ayoub, basketcaselady, benedorm, billzy, blondieoubre, boyzici, bppubjr, calla_flower, callas_pics, callita623, captainmolecule, catscar, chelchik, crystella74, danaewhispering, dantex, eddie_angel_emt, entropyx, euphrasie, fauxfoodie, frenchblog, gan_chan, grace_in_spades, heartcarved, holding_on, isyllt, itsdavesblog, janke, jazzistar79, jemmind, jovi_diva, kikifitz, kimberinthecity, kingdavey, ladanea, leanbysummer, lefthandpinkie, lilmommaabc, lindalee_, louenn, lucindrielle, madknits, maes, max_entr0py, mdunnbass, michigangirl, mikerm19, missjewell, mister_rant, mompack_guest, msbluerasp, munedust, munkyette, mushie, mylastsigh, neanahe, nocompromises, nppyinzer, oakenking, obverse_reverse, parlet, pensivesea, pontificator, quietwillow, r3mdh, redlinevue, redrain, refuse2bdefined, reneat, righteous_betty, rodshark, rredhead, rupestur, sberryfood6703, sberrypics6703, sewcute, shannihilation, sheilamarie, sipperphoto, sissybunny97, sm00bs, smbrach, sofija_m, spinningbee, spynotebook, starpush, starshinephoenx, stegzy, stellardreams81, steve_savicki, strawberry6703, tabla_malachi, the_fishery, thedeepgreensea, thesynergizer, thetar, thetoodz, thisplacehere, torturred_soul, tutor51, uawildcatgrl, unixmonster, violakat03, winter_in_asia, winterfantasia, writer_lilies, yakizakana, zyada | ||||
| Also Friend of: | 10: bekkah69, coffeepug, dirknlori, enieweiz, gloomybardgirl, ishii, leahmiriam, nerdboy1077, rmahorney, selinaenriquez | ||||
| Member of: | 223: 100x100_brushes, _comic_icons_, _glitter_, _green_house_, _wild_icons_, add_me_over25, addme25_and_up, addmeover30, alices_house, anony_moms, anony_moms_mods, atkins_daily, atkins_diet, atkins_recipes, attachedparents, baby_stuff4sale, babysign, balconygardener, bbquizzes, bella_sol, bentolunch, bfeedingsupport, billy_bragg, bisty_icons, blinkie_blanks, blinkiesheaven, blinkilicious, bloom_outs, bluedenimnlace, breastfeeding, caringconsumer, casualbento, cinnavanilla, clothdiapering, cooking, couplesgraphics, creamiicandy, creaticon, creativenursery, crescentfresh, curvaceous_knit, cutecute_icons, deals_r_us, dear_asshat, decoradvice, dfw_crafters, dfw_lj, dfw_mothers, dfwtx, dinner_ideas, divinesparkle, domestic_bliss, domestics, doodledust, dot_pedantic, dropsofsunshine, englishgarden, environment, eternalcreation, everyday_living, everything_lj, evilpoptarter, eviltera_iconz, family_recipes, fandomknit, fiber4sale, fiber_dyeing, fiber_friday, fiberholicsanon, fluidic_icons, food_tv, fork2fork, fox_news, freelayouts, freeplants, frostiing, frugal_dfw, frugal_mamas, frugalgreen, frugalhearth, garden_hoes, gardening, gdiapers, good_eats, grammar_whores, graphical_mask, green_future, green_power_gen, gronkfanclub, growing_indoors, handspinning, handspun, hannitized, harryconnickjr, holidaycrafts, holidayicons, homeimprovement, homemakers, homestar_runner, house_and_home, household_hints, housewives, hushfully, icon_goddess, icon_tutorial, iconaddicts, icongradients, juicy_grapes, kain_layouts, kevin_smith_fan, kevin_smithfans, khushi_icons, knit_icons, knit_wits, knitforchange, knitting, knitting_review, knittingpretty, la_petite_cafe, layouts_by_me, limeliving, living_lightly, lj_2008, lj_dev, lj_nifty, lj_policy, lj_style, ljarchive, ljdesigners, ljstyles, lookitslayouts, lowcarb, lowcarb_veggies, lowcarbeating, meet_other_moms, metrodetroit, middle_knitters, mood_mania, more_blinkies, mozilla, munedustgallery, nani_gifs, naturalfamily, naturalliving, nightknitters, nospinzone, not_anony_moms, note_to_dog, note_to_machine, note_to_so, novice_knitters, obsessiveicons, oldermoms, over30_addme, paidmembers, parent_instinct, parenting101, patio_gardens, peaces_icons, pearlswine, pink_cosmos, pixelpeach, pixelslikewhoa, potof_gold, practicalknit, premade_ljs, quiz_addicts, raptureicons, realparents, recycledyarn, road_food, ruby_jewelzz, s2_for_dummies, s2flexisquares, s2styles, sanddollar_inc, sassy_graphxs, saturnlovers, saucydwellings, save_the_earth, sayclubsandmore, scarborough_tx, scrapbookers, sifl_olly_show, signingtime, sinfest_mod, sm00_credits, smith_o_holics, spiritualfodder, starliciousx, stayathomemom, stayathomemoms, sustainability, sustainable_dev, takebacktheknit, texas_moms, the_sweet_shop, thebrenljidol, thefactor, themamacommune, themissinghat, tmbg, top_five, trad_spinning, tree_huggers, unexpectedbox, urban_flowerpot, visual_delights, wahmamas, wahp_network, wels_com, whisper_of_pink, whoafreelayouts, wholefoods, wickpixgraphics, wildcat_cred, wordoftheday, wordy_icons, xchoc_muffin, xsugarlovex, yarnmarket, yarnporn, zero_impact | ||||
| Account type: | Permanent Account | ||||
