friday dance: RAIN edition

*before you read the slobber that follows - let it be known that i am a VERY happily married woman... and to thin man, love o' my life, you know i loves you more than any (unbelievably gorgeous) preschool aged dude.... yer my main squeezage. but feel free to buy me a RAIN cd or desk calendar or t-shirt for my birthday.... hint hint wink wink knowhatimean... :)

ok... so waaaaay back in 2007, the lovely and all wise kimchi mamas posted this OUTRAGEOUS korean eye candy on their blog who answers to the name, Rain.

of course, being the relatively newly minted mom of two, my brain was completely fried. and fer crissakes, he's 10 years younger than me.... yes, i will admit he's REALLY cute, but beyond that i started to feel a little too predatory.

yeah. fast forward to 2010. i'm owning up to the whole predatory thing... MEOWRRRR.... i'm always late to parties... :)

the reason is twofold... i just finished two books recently: J.Carey's Naamah's Kiss and C. Clare's Clockwork Angel. both of which, if made into films, would have perfect parts for Rain - imho - assuming that the characters aren't whitewashed out of the films.... but i digress...

ennyhoo... right after i finished the books, i literally stumbled on my remote control and SOMEHOW, by some twist of fate (totally weird, no?) or my hips and knees, my cable on demand just started playing Rain's newest hollywood movie, Ninja Assassin. go figure, right?! just started playing. ON ITS OWN. so i couldn't NOT watch it. clearly, the universe was trying to tell me something. and when the universe talks... am i right!? ;) i'm preaching to the choir ladies, i know...

feel free to fwd to the 1:20 ish mark where the music and booty shaking begins:



and some highlights from ninja assassin made by another fan:



youtube also has some interviews and episodes from his most recent tv show the fugitive: plan b.

suffice to say, i have a problem. i'm mamazilla. i am a rainaholic. it has been two minutes since i last google stalked searched for RAIN:
i will never look at a grey cloud in the same way... evar again!!! *swoons*

happy friday!!!! and best wishes for a bright and prosperous new year!!! :)

operation gratitude

for a while now, i've been feeling a little blue... just a little... nothing too deep to overcome though. our financial situation has been pretty bleak for many months - a year even... honestly, we're fine... considering how little (financially) i had growing up - we're doing well... we're healthy (chicken pox free!), amply clothed, fed and sheltered.

recently, we heard from our former neighbors (but still very close friends) that our house was finally boarded up. we had no idea since the daily calls we receive from the bank impart no information or very late misinformation on their part...

i also really missed creating, writing and sending out our Christmas cards this year too. we just couldn't afford it. i am very surprised by my melancholy over it. i had no idea the act of correspondence (albeit one sided and slightly robotic) meant so much to me. and hence - my vivid smurfette blue pallor... :)

i'm hopeful that we'll have recovered financially and that we actually have GOOD news to share next year.

luckily, the thin man and i managed to scrape up enough to get the kids some gifts this year - ourselves, friends and family are still in negotiation... (yes, i know it's 3 days until the BIG day....) i've come to realize that getting creative with a financial budget is emotionally exhausting - i don't care how easy excel can make it - the numbers are still red! :( our families have also been very generous as always at this time. and santa's coming too, we can't forget santa! thankfully, the kids are also slowly learning to become more reflective about wants vs. needs as well as learning to be more patient.

as a child, when times were tight, and my emotions and impatience would sometimes consume me, my mother would remind me of our trips home to the philippines where the desperate poverty was never far from view. i remembered children like myself who i would see bathing in potholes full of fresh rainwater to get clean. i would stop complaining and do something... anything.... to reassure myself that "this too shall pass" and recount how much i had to be thankful for...

recently, i heard about Operation Gratitude, a non profit that sends care packages to soldiers overseas. inside the care packages, they also send knit scarves (in the winter) made by volunteers. after reading their guidelines, i knew this was something i could do easily.

i married into a family of military veterans and after hearing their stories have grown to sincerely appreciate the heartbreaking sacrifices the troops and their families make. i couldn't get beyond the feeling that this would help me lift my spirits and would help a soldier out there feel some warmth/comfort - physically, maybe even emotionallly - a mutual win-win situation... :)

i got myself acquainted with the mistake rib via crazy aunt purl. i found lion brand fisherman's wool yarn on sale at my local Michael's and got started. i finished up last week:



i know it won't get there in time for Christmas. but i know they're still accepting scarves so it will find a new owner eventually - hopefully, sooner than later. after i wrote my accompanying letter of thanks and concern to the soldier, i really felt a renewal of sorts. it never ceases to amaze me how making something and giving it to someone else always makes me feel like i received a gift instead....

2011 looks better and brighter with every passing day of 2010... :)

i hope this holiday season has brought you great joy, some peace and ample time to spend with your loved ones! as always, thanks for coming by and reading...

more sewing! & friday dance - madness edition

ok. i dunno what it's like at your house right now but at our house - it's absolute MADNESS....

unlike the serene & orderly appearance of this blog, my living room is resembling santa's workshop after a visit from a psycho with chain saw... there's glitter and boucle fuzz where glitter and boucle fuzz should just. not. be. O_o

i have waaaay too many projects going on at once for birthdays, donations, the holidays, new baby arrivals, etc... and the children are on crafting overdrive... they've turned it up to 11!!! :)

they're also still attending birthday parties... and i am still making birthday presents.... i SWEAR people are having WAY to much unprotected sex in the spring... jeez LOUISE!!!!

"mother's tired, she needs a rest...." :) ennyhooo.... here are my two latest creations:



the doll's dress is made from an alteration of simplicity 4786. i added the shoulder ruffle from simplicity 4268.

the girl's dress is an (neckline) alteration of simplicity 3510. i added the center front ruffles and sequin trim... just because. :)



the boy's shirt was made from butterick 3475. however, i didn't have the right size so, i had to grade up the pattern myself. it turned out well i think and apparently fits it's owner perfectly. hopefully, that will be true this summer. the fabric was actually a production sample i received from one of my former manufacturers when i worked for joe boxer. i wish i could remember the name of the fabric - we were so good as so many things at JB including naming colors and fabrics. :)

last but not remotely in the least... the porkchop celebrated his 5th birthday on tuesday. much love, hugging, gift wrap ripping, hilarity and cake ensued... HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my s'wonderfullest little man:



thanks for stopping by.... i hope you are having an AWESOME friday!!!! :)

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so little time, so many toys to sew...

so, first and foremost... the reason for the quiet blog? well, we've celebrated a number of birthdays which are usually preceded and followed with LOTS of sewing... however, not only did the kids bring home bags full of goodies... my dear (suffering) husband had the misfortune of bringing home the chicken pox.

thankfully, i'd already suffered thru them as a child and the kids have already been vaccinated... he had to stay away from the public for at least a week and was too sick to really do anything except stay in bed. so, i had to double up some parenting duties... honestly, i had no idea i could be this tired. so beware the birthday parties, parents... BEWARE.... :)

ennyhoo.... back to the birthday gifts... i was really proud of these three, all made for classmates in porkchop's jr. kindergarten class:



i made another bunny from martha stewart's encyclopedia of sewing and fabric crafts. i made the tote bag by copying another one we had lying around. the fabric flower was another made with the help of the wisecraft fabric flower tutorial. inside the bag, along with the bunny, i placed a lovely book perfect for ANY young girl, "my name is not isabella". the book is beautifully illustrated, educational and empowering for girls. it also gives a short bio of "women who changed the world" which includes "Mommy". :)



so, i didn't think the boys would appreciate a bunny... i've made teddy bears from the book "toys to sew". but, i felt like i needed to make something new. a little further in the book are patterns for dinosaurs, like the apatosaurus above. and this pattern (like the herbivore dinosaur) scared me the least. the patterns for the stegosaurus and the t-rex are really amazing but frankly, nightmarish. when i have more time, i'll try them.

maybe.

i put the initals of the boys' names on each bag and filled them with items purchased from our local toy store, building blocks toys, a melissa & doug paint craft, a kumon origami book, a magic drawing slate, and a dover sticker book. what can i say? i like to spread the crafty, artsy fartsy love... :)

ok. i REALLY have to return to the saltmines now... hopefully, i'll have another post up soon... thanks for coming by and reading!

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