Wow, theres so much to post since I've been here last!

Random notes:

Katie (my 10 month old) is now walking (2-4 months early), but hasn't sprouted any teeth (2-4 months late).

Watching people play Rockband while they're drunk is SOOOOO entertaining.  Truly.

It feels weird to be able to find time to sew now.  I missed it.  Alot!

501st Legion Elections start in less than a month.  OMG ugh. 

Celebration V looks so much closer now than it did in November.

My husband comes home in less than 2 months!  WOOT!  I might just survive this deployment.

Exhaustion is about to become my friend once again.  As is drama...

New Years is always more fun when spending it with friends, versus staying at home.

AAK!  Less than 2 weeks left to finish 1 sewing project and a holiday party in 11 days...

I can't wait to see my hubbys progress on p90x, and am dreading when I get to start it in March.  OW.

My psychotic ex sister in law is getting remarried.  I feel sorry for the poor schmuck.


Party Time:

Tee hee, the New Years party at Dennis and Sherry's was certainly fun.  Lots of alcohol of course, Dennis had the equivalent of an entire bar on the counter for cocktails, plus a fridge full of a lot of different types of beer.

Smokey is an amazingly patient dog and put up with a lot from the party goers--including 2 Lei's and a tiara.

Alison was razzing me about her hubby (about the fact that Id asked him to stay around until I got there so I could give Emily her present!)  LOL.  That's his fault though, I got him back later with the crack about not taking Alison to New Moon.  I had no idea she was into it!  There were several New Moon/Twilight discussions that night...funniez!

Bonfires...OH YEAH.  Dennis is a total firebug.  Mee too, I love a hot burning fire.  We were burning mesquite coal, pine needles/branches/cones, logs, and wax firestarters in the chimnea.  I have some great pix of that courtesy of Rachel.

Smores are awesome...but only with real graham crackers, not ones sized like a quarter.  Roasting marshmellows with a bunch of drunk people on New Years is even more fun.

Staying up until dawn, and then going home to sleep while mum watches the babies...NICE.



Football fun!

Chargers are 13-3 for the year, and the NFL was nice and scheduled the playoff game on the 17th, NOT the 16th.  That's awesome of them...Thank you NFL!

BOO...I can't go to the playoffs.  No $$ for the damn ticket.  BLEH.  But we're going to the superbowl, I know it.


Recent Movie Fun:

New Moon= Hilarious.  And yes...Im' admitting to my twitardness...if Rachel can, I can.

Sherlock Holmes=Very good.  I enjoyed it alot.  Who wouldn't like watching RDJ?  Jude Law did good too.

Olympic Snowball fight commercial with SH.--Funnier than heck.  I'd love to watch it again.  Wonder if I can find it on YT..

Ironman 2.  I CAN'T WAIT.  Yes...its RDJ again. 

Star Trek= I can watch that over and over just for Chris Pine.  LOLZ.

HP: HBP= I let the kids watch it.  They didn't like the Inferi scene, but when we reminded them it's "just a movie" they were fine.  I love watching Hermione get pissed at Ron.  Yay for Canaries and "Oppugno!"  I need to learn that trick...there's some trolls I could use it on.

The best things in 2009?

The surprise pregnancy and birth of my daughter Katie.  She was totally unplanned, and was really an "oops" that had my spouse both aghast and irritated at me (my body tricked me!!!).  It was a rough pregnancy this time with specialists, weekly hospital visits for 50% of the time, and one emergency hospitalization.  Her birth itself was easy, quick, and pain free--so fast it scared my obstetrician.  And she is such a healthy happy chubby baby who is now walking, babbling, and in general creating chaos as most babies do.  I wouldn't give her back for the world.

Being XO of my garrison for a second year has been good too.  No really...it has.  Yup there was drama.  That goes without saying.  But there were SOOOOO many satisfying parts to it also.  I've had a lot of fun with it.  Although, my tenure isn't over yet, elections dont finish/transfer until March, so I have lots of time left.

ComicCon.  O Comiccon...my favorite trooping event ever.  It's months of prep and work on my end, 5 jam packed days and sleepless nights spent working, partying, drinking with friends, costuming, and talking with fans.  I would never pass it up despite how exhausted I am at the end of it.  This year was particularly satisfying as I saw dear friends win the Masquerade, two dear friends get engaged at Con, I participated in a geek wedding at con, I got the Legion's Guiness GBOWR award given to me at con (that was a special thrill!!!), I met Milo Ventimiglia (tee hee...he's cute), and also got to participate in many inductions of honorary members.  I also got work with Mary at LFL at a much higher level this year, and it was a wonderful experience.  I couldn't have asked for a better Con.  And hooray for 3 am trips to Kinko's with Edgar for DH stuff that we screwed up...I'll never forget that one.  LOLZ at us.

My mom moving in!  A lot of people would think that's weird, but I don't.  I have a special relationship with my Mom and we've been best buddies for years.  She's delighted to be with us and sharing in the daily lives of the grandbabies she loves so much, and OMG she's an awesome housekeeper/babysitter.  (I pay her for it!  LOL)  I've hardly had a chance to wash a dish or fold clothes since she moved in.  She does it cause she gets BORED.  All of a sudden I have time to sleep, sew, read, and play wii with my kids, plus start tutoring my son more intensively in reading/english.  IT's great!

The worsts of 2009?

Only one thing stands out...my husband being deployed.  We knew it was a possibility while he's assigned to this ship, but they sprung it on us with less than a months notice.  That's nowhere near enough time to prepare for a 7 month separation.  I'm used to it, he's been in the Navy 16 years now and has been gone for approximately 5 out of those 16 years if I added up all the time, maybe more.  But the kids werent ready.  His last deployment was when Stefan was 1 and Jo was 2 months old.  They don't remember him being gone, and Brie has never been separated from her dad for so long.  The first two months were just awful for her, crying for daddy at night and being a little wild during the day.  He's missing so much with Katie too.  When he left she was barely scooting.  Now she crawls like she's in Nascar, walks like a drunkard (it's hilarious!), babbles talks growls and screams, is eating not just baby food but some solids, and she's grown into 18 month size clothes.  He won't recognize her when he comes home despite pics and stuff we send.  And she won't remember him...which is painful, cause before he left, she was papa's girl, snuggling on his chest every night to sleep.

My blessings of 2009?

My family is healthy.  No major injuries or sicknesses (knock on wood), and they're happy-ish most of the time.

School goes well for my kids!

My health is good--no major injuries or sicknesses once I birthed Katie.

Despite our current unwilling separation, my marriage is strong and my husband and I talk constantly.  Thank goodness for free mobile to mobile on my ATT Iphone plan, and unlimited text.  And Skype too...OMG Skype's been awesome.

My friends.  I have 3 special friends that have kept me sane, helped me with stress, getting out when I needed to, and making me laugh when it all got to be too much.  If it werent for them, this year would have sucked @$$ in no uncertain terms.

And strangely...Facebook.  I was unwilling to try it, but now really like it and it's helped me stay connected to the outside world while I stayed home keeping the family together.

Hopes for 2010?

LOL... More Money, Less Debt, Health, and Happiness.  The basics in life.  :)

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed new year my friends.  May the gods shine light on your path.

To all my friends and loved ones:

Merry Christmas!

Okay...Celebration V announced today.

August 12-15, Orlando.

Tickets go on sale December 10, $120 per person.

Rach..you ready?

*whimper* 252+ days is not enough time...

Okay...good n bad stuffs.

YAY for Star Trek. I forgot how fricking hot Chris Pine is as Kirk until last night.

BOO for iTunes...you fail at downloading my digital copy of said Star Trek.

YAY for my ComicCon team...we're all back together for round four. Confirmed last team member today.

BOO for ComicCon selling out so fucking quick...now husband has no pass.

YAY for being able to talk to my husband last night, while he was ON the ship, out to sea. Lucky enough to get a phone signal out there.

BOO for the fricking Navy who plans to send my husband on RIMPAC all summer long, and then on 6 month Deployment next November. WTF? Yikes...I'm stuck with the single mom thing for a long time it looks like.

and dammit...where;s my weekend. Is it Friday yet? Sheesh.

WOW.  That...was FUN:

( Friends, Fun, Drinks for all!! )

Ohkay, so some of my forums need these emoties:



^ The pub crawl emotie



^ The stupid people emotie



^ For the people who don't know the search funciton and start new threads when the old one was easily found.



^ For the " Oh shit I cant believe you went there comments"



^ So many uses...For old and beaten to death topics, for old geezers in the group...



^ for the overly dramatic threads that are so entertaining that you just want to laugh at the chaos...



^^ The Yay for teamwork emotie!




^^ The PWNED emotie...oh the potential

Madam presidente...can we add to SDFF?  Dying to use em...


And for iconage:



Pissed ^^



Angry disbelief or WTF ^^



Beyond pissed and near murder ^^



^^ And what should be my own icon --Busy!

Oh Halloween.

I have a love and hate relationship with you Halloween.

You give me one more reason to costume and be creative.
You allow me to drag my family, even my youngest baby who doesn't yet know what you are, into my obsession.
You allow me to show off my sewing/crafty/beady talents.

and yet...

You also inspire me to work up to the very last minute...and I mean the last minute.

But not this year Halloween...! I'm ahead for a change.

5 costumes, 5 people:

Baby's costume done a month ago.  Cheer top and skirt, undershirt purchased, shoes, purchased, skipped pom pom (she won't use it anyway)

3 Jedi Younglings:
Pants...made by Grandma, enroute 2 day priority mail.
Boots...purchased--on clearance even.
Belts...target specials (they are for kids after all...)
Undertunics...plain white long sleeve T shirts.  That's what the younglings in the movies wore (tan/neutral)
Overtunics, all three sewn, 1 hemmed, 2 unhemmed but will take about 1 hour to finish.

Autumn night fairy:
Dress...finished, complete with hand sewn silk flower details and ruched sleeves (whee!!)
Surcoat...finished, added hand sewn bead/silk flower/ribbon closure this weekend
Shoes...purchased and broken in
Undersleeves...fingerless gloves
Crown...finished a month ago
Wand...^^ ditto
Wig...in progress.  Front/side braids done.  Now doing back braids and loopings, sewing flowers in.
Accessories---makeup items, purchased.  Nylons--purchased, but not sure if I want to wear, jewelry...finished.

Left to do:
  Small details on fairy:
      Topstitching neckline to keep gather/spacing correct so it stops twisting
      Sewing beadwork onto hems of sleeves and dress
      Beading on neckline
      Wig
      Make bracelets to wear over undersleeves
      Pull everything together for Friday  
      Get nails done
Younglings:
     Hem last two tunics
     Hand stitch interior ribbon ties? (or be lazy and use safety pins?)

I have Thursday off and plan on doing all this then.

Friday:

Survive workday
Balance budget/Pay Bills
Pickup kids
Home/Dinner
Clean kitchen
Have Jo vacuum
Empty catbox(es)
Empty Garbage
Set up Hepa Purifier

Saturday/Sunday

Fold Laundry
Work on Costumes
Sweep and Mop kitchen
Have kids clean garage playroom
Vacuum garage
Scrub out fridge
Clean Computer area
Fold/Box up fabric stash
Clean off stairs
put away my clothes
Straighten rug in Stefan's room (may need help with this have to move furniture)

Costume work:

Find belts for kids costumes (hit thrift store)
UGGS for kids costumes (fake uggs?)
Hem/sew Stefan and Jordan's tunics
Ruch sleeves on my robe--may use black braid trim...or beaded trim if I can find it.
Sew flowers onto ruching and possibly top hem?
Work on Wig (comb, style, w braids, leaves, etc)

Yikes...and I know I'm missing a bunch of stuff.  Mostly Legion stuff.

Well, after weeks (months) of planning to go, and waffling about it, I finally booked my tickets.

Despite the fact that I've already paid for my hotel, my badge/ticket, and for my mum's ticket here to watch my sithlings, I was STILL waffling on whether or not to go.

Especially after one of my travel partners bailed and the other isn't totally sure.

But...Screw it.  Got my plane ticket today (OUCH.  EXPENSIVE!  I waited too long....), and I'll be arriving on the 6th of November for 3 awesome days.

I hope my liver survives it.  If I spend very much of this trip sober, it'll be a waste of moolah.

Welll costume friends...
 

I need an opinion.

I'm doing a Dark Fairy for Halloween...  Its intended to be the opposite of Titiana from Shakespeare.  She's thin ethereal, white/pale, flowers in her hair etc etc.  I'm fat n chunky, still pale, but the outfit is completely the opposite, dark black and blue, with accents of autumn leaves and feathers.

One of the reference pictures shows an "undersleeve" that's more like a glove. 



Now, I don't have pictures of my dress yet, it's finished, but I don't have a way to take my own photo easily right now.

It is black, off the shoulder, and kinda looks like a chemise in the way it's made.  The sleeves are long and pointed.  It's based off a pattern from Arkivestry -- which is Simplicity's new "Goth" line of patterns.  Look at the upper right of the pattern front, and imagine that in black.  I recommend the pattern too, its SOO simple!



Then I've made a surcoat out of navy blue rippled chiffon with rolled edge lettuce leaf hems (love my serger!).  It looks like waves cause there's so many colors of blue.  But it's also very dark.

The surcoat will close with a frog just below the breast line, but otherwise float free.

Then I've made a crown, and a wand to carry, along with a red wig...I haven't styled the wig yet, so in the pic it looks a little funky.  Here's Brie wearing the crown.



Then me:  (I look awful so take this pic with a grain of salt...)



and then the wand...which I totally cheated on.  It's a metal tube with the feathers stuck down inside, wrapped in ribbon and hot glued to death.  And it's so LIGHT.



So, now you have a general idea of the look.

I'm thinking of two options:  Ruching the top of the sleeves to gather them up over the forearm and emphasise the point of the sleeve and wearing the fingerless gloves below:

http://cgi.ebay.com/23-Black-Fingerless-Satin-Wedding-Prom-Opera-Gloves_W0QQitemZ350262136468QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item518d400e94

Or leaving the sleeves alone and just adding a bit of black venice lace in a rose pattern without the gloves.

Either way I'm going to be wearing long nails in either black or deep red.

Thoughts? 

WOOT!

Finally making some damn costume progress.

I got both my dress and surcoat completely done tonight.  WHEW!  THank goodness for a serger that can do fancy narrow rolled hems on chiffon. 

I also got halfway done with my crown. 

So:

Dress: DONE
Surcoat: DONE (need to find a closure though)
Wand: Need to attach feather/leaf bunch, wrap and then done.
Shoes: Purchased
Crown: In progress
Wig: received, need to style.  Problem finding a wig head first...
Wings...YEAH...might just skip these.  Having a heck of a time, plus with all the parties I'll be wearing this outfit at...wings might not work.

Kids:

Well...I have the fabrics.  Yeah.

Also been helping Rachel with hers tonight.  She's got the skirt nearly done and we'll be able to work on the hood thingie soon.  It's fun seeing hers come together too.

I might, just might, actually get these done in time.

Thank goodness Kids Jedi Padawans are so easy.

Well--today was my day off.

Productive day.

Packed all outstanding mailouts including challenge coins and stuff.
Finished Katie's costume
Cut most of the pattern pieces for my dress
Did the dishes
emptied 1 of 2 catboxes
changed the lightbulb in the garage (tricky...even on a chair I was on tippy toes)
fixed the printer
cleaned my sewing machine (damn bobbin casing kept jamming!)
Went to the post office
went to michaels
answered *some* email (50% to go)
Swept the kitchen floor.


I still have a couple more hours before bed in which i hope to finish cutting out my dress pieces and *maybe* do the basic seaming, or I could start working on my crown again...(blasted thing!)

But...this was my happy place today:


I made the skirt--its actually pleated but you can't tell.  I made the cheer top too, an a line sleeveless tank.  I bought the patch online, found the slippers at walmart (for $5), and she's wearing a long sleeve white onesie underneath.  The only thing left is the pompom...and that's just a slow process.  I was never a fast crocheter.

Now...to get mine rolling!

Well crap.  Halloween is in three short weeks, looks like there's NO way I'm going to get stuff done.

But then...the kids are going to be fairly easy too...I might be able to whip them out faster than I think.

Status of mine:

Crown:--started but, having issues.  Need a stronger base to hold shape.  But like the leaves I bought for it.

Wand: --found this awesome black feather plume to use, now I just need a base.  I have an idea but need to see if it will work.

Dress and surcoat: Have fabric, hope to start sewing tomorrow

Shoes: obtained

Wig: obtained, need to style.  It fits perfect, and ironically the color exactly matches my current shade!

Wings: The ones I bought are the right look but don't work for me.  Too kiddish, so I'm giving them to little Emily for her costume since she is doing the same as I am.  (this was NOT planned! Really! Emily thinks it's funny though.)
Now I'm going to have to make my own...this is more challenging, but I still have some ideas.+


I've also finished the jersey I was working on, and am 90% done with Katie's Charger girl outfit.  I just need to pick up the shoes/socks/onesie today.

So, up next are a skirt for day wear, the revisions on Katie's outfit, more work on mine, and Jedi for the kids.

Three weeks left...can I make it...?

OMG...best show evar. 

Displays in the exhibit were awesome, Anthony Daniels as narrator was HILARIOUS, and the music...

If you are any fan of the Star Wars soundtrack...this was the best.  You forgot that it was LIVE.  THey had a live Choir in addition to the orchestra, and listening to Duel of the Fates sung/played live was chilling.



In the picture from L to R are

Don T, Donna K, Caitlin S, Lawrence G, Chris R, Lesley F. Lori P, Edgar G.

There were more troopers there, but we were the die hards that suited up before and after the show.

FUN FUN FUN and definitely worth the expense and time.

Got word from the place I ordered wings today--the computer made a "mistake" and they were out of stock.

WTF?

So now, they are going to take 5 days to refund the money that got yoinked out of my account in mere minutes, and I'm on the wing hunt again.

I literally spent weeks looking for a pair that was affordable and not to terribly cheesy  (and black...big dificulty there.)

Grouchy!

Here's what they were supposed to look like: 



On the flip side, my shoes and wig arrived yesterday...

So, with a family of 4 kids, comes a heck of a lot of costumes.  Not to mention Mum and Dad!

Well, Dad's floating on a boat in Hawaii until next March, so I'm off the hook there.

Kids:

Katie (Baby) Miniature non-sexy Charger Girl costume.  Since both her father and godfather would flip if I did this one:



So instead she gets a little white sleeveless top with a chargers patch, blue/white/yellow box pleat skirt, white baby shoes, and a hand crocheted pompom. 

My three others decided they wanted to do Fairies from Tinkerbell. 

Brie wants Rosetta...which is perfect for her hair/coloring.  I found the wings for it at D23  I found the most awesome rose/purple ombre fabric for this at Joanns.  It's kinda the wrong color tone, but it will work perfectly.  And it is for a four year old after all...



Stefan, amazingly, wants Terrence:

I was kinda surprised that he'd want to do a fairy.  This looks hard to start off with, but I think I can make it easier than it looks.



Jordan's is tough! She wants Queen Clarion.  Again with her skinny built and long hair, it's a perfect choice...but.  OMG the wings!  Where am I going to find gold wings that won't cost me a fortune.  (sigh)  I did find the fabric.  Gold tissue lame.  on sale for 50% off.  Something tells me that even with a serger I'm going to hate working with it.  The crown is a little offputting, but we'll see what I can do.



Now mom's costume!  HEHE...I hate to say this to my kids, but Katie's costume comes first as it's her first Halloween.  Then mine cause I haven't had a new halloween costume in 4 years, just retreads of old stuff.  I'm doing what I call an "Autumn night fairy". 

These will give you some ideas of where I'm going...

This is my "hair" reference.  Long red hair, with flowers, feathers, and leaves intertwined at the tips.



And my crown reference:...I am making a full circlet with black feathers, deep red and orange leaves and berries.



Skirt/dress reference...



I am making a chemise style flared dress out of this black suedecloth that looks "distressed"  awesome stuff, and SOOO soft.  It'll be off the shoulder but with long belled/pointed sleeves.  I might do the red undersleeves made from gloves...haven't decided.  Then I'll be wearing a black surcoat made out of this really lightweight sheer organza that I'm going to put a rolled lettuce edge hem on with red or orange thread.  Then I've got these sheer black wings coming that I will put a few feather tips on as well.  The surcoat will probably have a opening in the back to allow the wings to go through so that I can wear the harness correctly.  And a pair of black sparkly espadrille sandals with ankle ties.  I'll also be wearing a red wig of almost waist long curls.  I'll be braiding parts of it, sewing in leaves and feathers at the tips.  I can't wait to see how this all comes together.

I just hope I can get this all done in time!

I'm also making some mods on a football jersey, plus a skirt to wear to a football game in just three weeks.

I know I brought this on myself, but I'm so TIRED.

UGHH....

Lets see:

Friday night--leave work early at 2 pm, go rush rush get kids, changed, etc, then go to stupid last minute corporate dinner, and rush to Dennis' house like an hour late.  (HA!  I still beat Edgar there.)

Stayed up at Dennis place drinking, laughing, watching others play Rockband/GH 5 (need GH5...seriously), and then watching Mike lose his Rocky Horror picture show virginity.  (tee hee...that was funny! --So was watching Felixx in his seat.  :-P)   Got home roughly 2 am Saturday morning.  **note to self, Sherry is awesome bartender~!**

Saturday--got up at 4 to feed baby, crashed again until 630.  Speed cleaned house, did laundry, took shower etc etc, left for FanForce meeting at 1245.  Took Katie to meeting!  Meeting was fun, I have ballots now sitting on my desk waiting to be counted tonight.  Got a chance to talk to Rach a bit, held baby Kira (she is cute!), talk football with the guys (tee hee), and have Carne Asada fries.  Katie did get passed around a bit, but was cranky and wanted mommy.  She kept trying to reach for Edgar too.  AWWWWW...  Of course, after the meeting we did the parking lot gossip thing for about 30 minutes with a bunch of us.  After Fan Force I went home for a couple hours and then went out to Barona Casino to join Dennis and Sherry for the evening.  Edgar came out with us too.  That was a lot of fun, first time to a casino for me.  Star Wars slots for the loss!  LOL...Dennis lost  $60 I lost $20, Sherry won $95.  Of course Edgar has uncommon good luck and won a bunch off another machine, and we all played Roulette.  I won $45 there.  I think I finally left the casino at about 130 am.  Man I was tired.  And for the record...Barona is in the middle of nowhere and you have to take this long twisty windy road--you can't go more than 30 miles an hour.  Good thing they don't serve alcohol there.  (that's just weird though)

Sunday morning got up at 730 after a quick 4 am wakey by the baby.  Went out to breakfast with the kids and aunt sharon at ihop--they had an NFL menu!  HAHAH.  Funny.  After breakfast we went to the beach, and then back home to watch the Chargers game.  During/after the game I worked on my helmet, robe, forcepike and stuff in preparation for Friday's troop, plus also some modifications on my throwback jersey for the Denver game and other minor sewing projects.  I'm going to hit all this stuff again on Wednesday.  I finally hit the bed about 11 pm, and then got up at 330 am to take Auntie to the airport.

Like 15 hours of sleep over the past three nights.  OUCH.