Here, There, and Everywhere

I've been traveling. In 35 days, I've been home for 3. It's been fun, but at the same time, it's been exhausting!

I spent the week of Thanksgiving in Monroe, Utah at my sister's house. She had another kidlet. See the previous post on that cute kid.

I was then home for three days to do a boutique. It went well, but I think it could have gone much better. I don't think it was successfully advertised, the location wasn't the best, and it was pretty short notice. Live and learn.

I then headed to Simi Valley, California to help Kristin, Matthew, and Axton unpack their new house. I really enjoyed spending time with them and having a bit of fun, too. We made sugar cookies, caramel popcorn, went to the park (it was like Fall there all over again), played games, and we even went and had lunch on the beach in Malibu. A fab break from the coolness here.

After leaving Simi Valley, I headed to a car dealership to get my transmission fixed. My transmission range sensor to be exact. That's another story. I'll post it.

I drove through the evening hours and arrived in Gilbert, Az about 2 in the morning. I was able to spend from the 14th-27th in Gilbert and Surprise. While there, I went shopping and browsing with my mom, caught a movie, and spent time with my step-sister and her family. I even got to see her brand-spankin-new baby when he was born. Lance came down, and we were able to visit all of his kids during Christmas. It was fun, and the weather was beautiful! Even when it was raining, I thought it was a nice relief from the 75 degrees. Now that I'm back in Utah, and it's a blizzard, I'm not so sure. :)

Story Time:

Car Woes

So, there I was getting gas. As I went to drive off, my car wouldn't drive. It lurched, the engine light came on, and I may or may not have thought angry words. I tried driving forward again, and this time it worked. Not 100 percent oh-that-was-weird worked, but the this-may-get-me-to-a-shop worked.

I drove around the corner to where there just happened to be an AutoZone car parts store. I knew that they did free engine light testing at these stores. (Unfortunately I knew this from prior experience). When I got in the store, I told them why I was there. The man looked at me and was all, "Uh, we don't do that here. They passed a law in California that shops can't do that because dealerships were complaining that they were losing too much money." I said thanks, walked out the door, sat in my car, and cried. Cars make me so emotional.

So, I called the Suzuki hotline and found the nearest certified dealer, 40 minutes away. I followed my GPS there, and I couldn't find it. I looked up and down the street for the name the hotline had given me. No luck. So, I called the phone number that I had for the shop. It was one of those don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-the-entrance shops. Apparently, the shop name had been changed and it wasn't really a Suzuki shop anyway. Nonetheless, they could do repairs.

After speaking to the rep and telling him my situation, it was decided that yes, they could check the engine light, but no, they couldn't work on my car. Not until around 1:30. It was just before 11:30. He said, "See, well, it's almost our lunch, so we can't work on it until later. But there's a waiting room a few blocks down at our showroom if you want to go there." So, they did the diagnostic ($115! (no wonder shops complain about free ones) $52 in Ut.), and yadda, yadda, yadda, it's going to be a little expensive. I said to just fix it. I didn't really have a choice, seeing how I needed to get to Phoenix. I hate cars. So, I told them I was going and would be back at 3:30. That's when they said it would be done, and my phone was dead. I had no intention of sitting around for almost four hours.

I walked down the street, crying. The day had definitely not been what I'd expected. I found a store, bought a drink and some Exedrin, and got myself together. Then, I did what any girl would do. I walked into a nearby salon and got my hair cut. Hair therapy. It was totally worth it. Best money I spent in that expensive day. My long straight hair became layered and a little shorter. I kind of regret it, but it's just hair. I like my new cut, but I just have to find some new hairstyles because I have more short pieces than I'm used to.

Anyway, car seems to be running fine. I made it home safely after 2,000 miles and hours upon hours of driving. I guess that, all in all, my car has been good to me. With almost 90,000 miles in less than 5 years, I've been pretty rough on it. Still, I kind of hate cars.

I

Deal With It

So, I've been on vacation for awhile. Since the day before Thanksgiving to be exact. My car is a mess, I have bags and boxes of stuff in random places, and I've completely lost any sense of routine. I'm really ready to get home.

ANYWAY.

So, I've been working on this quilt while I've been in Phoenix. At the beginning of 2009, I signed up to take a sewing block of the month class with my mom. It was five bucks a month, and in December you have a quilt. It all sounds good, until you actually have to make all the blocks. This isn't a beginner quilt, and I am a beginning quilter. I think it would make some intermediate quilters shed a tear or two. Well, I'm proud to say that here it is, two years later, and I'm practically almost done! I still have some hand stitching to do, and I have to get it quilted. I want to learn how to quilt it myself, but that's a discussion I'll have to have with my sane self later.

So, my mom was at work at the clinic, and I was trying to do the second piano key border around my quilt edge. It wasn't working. I texted my mom and told her I needed help. She called on her break. I said something to the fact of, "Mom, this border just isn't working. I think one side of my quilt is like 2 inches longer than the other side." She replied with, "Well, Michelle. Some women have one boob that's bigger than the other. Deal with it."

Thanks for the advice, Mom. :)

Oh, and don't worry. I dealt with it.

A Snippet of My Year

Another Holiday Baby

My sister loves having her babies around holidays. No kidding. Oct. 25 (Pretty close to Halloween), Feb. 29th (Hello Leap Year!), and this cute little guy was born on Nov. 24, and, coincidentally, his birthday will be on Thanksgiving next year and I'm sure for many more. Anyway, I took some newborn photos of him and his long skinny self. I miss his skinny legs already.

Boutique Stuff

By request, here are two things I'm selling at the boutique. Adjustable baby/toddler dresses and painted signs of all sorts. I have about 30 dresses but just chose a couple.

Shameless Advertising

Look! It's a boutique, and I'll be selling cute stuff at it. Come one, come all! If I see your smiling face, I'll probably give a discount. I'm nice like that. Plus, a portion of the proceeds go to benefit the Youth Impact Center. You can finally shop for a cause without buying something pink.

Hobby or Business?

I'm selling some of my crafty things at a boutique.

It frightens me quite a bit.

I do not know why.

I have a ton of work to do now that I've committed.

Rings, necklace pendants, hair clips/headbands, stenciled glass, coasters.

A mesh of beautiful things. At least I think they are beautiful.

Nothing on the line but my pride.

Wish me luck! :)

Winter

I love winter. I really do! But sometimes, it just seems to run up and kick me in the shins.

My Alter Ego

. . . is always crafting.

Sometimes it's crocheting up a storm, or at least several unfinished projects. Other times my sewing machine is putting out smoke. Then, for days I end up picking modge podge or epoxy out of my fingernails. It's never-ending, and I love it.

Love it!

I could do this all day and night. Literally. I've been getting to sleep kind of late these days. Here's what I've been up to:

I've also sewn several cute girlie onesies, but I'm not going to post them because surprises are fun! I sewed two outfits for the twinners in Arizona. I've made a few skirts for my niece, Zoe (like the first picture, but all different), and even refashioned a men's shirt into a girl's dress! That one gets its own post. I also made some cute coasters, painted a mirror, and am currently in the process of stenciling some designs for decorating my place. I'm so excited to show those off!

My point is that I could live in the craft store. Maybe Ben Franklin? Live there. For years. I can spend hours in there, not buy anything, and leave totally happy as if everything in the world is good again.

Except my sleep schedule. I'd rather create than sleep. As evidenced by the late hour of this post.

Oh, Alter Ego, I love you and loathe you.

Miss the Most

You know what I miss the most about being a kid on Halloween? Trading Halloween candy.

I Should've Walked Away

Today, I really wanted a truck. Or some brains. Something.

So, this morning I decided to venture down to IKEA to look at their as is section. I was hoping to find some wood to do a project (seeing as how I'm feeling super crafty lately) to decorate my living/dining area. I didn't find any. I should have left it at that and walked right out of the store. But, it was raining, so I decided to browse just a little longer.

I stumbled upon this great shoe holder or cute sideboard for my dining area.

I looked it over, pulled out the drawers, walked away, came back, and then called for a second opinion. I know, I know. I'm a big girl, but I just like to talk it out. See, I don't need it, and have a hard time making large purchases (I just have to say here that yes, I needed a new computer) and justifying them. Why? Because it's just stuff. I don't need stuff. After talking to my mom and deciding that 1-I love decorating, 2-I spend a fair amount of time at my home, 3-It's okay to find some joy in life and this furniture may bring me a bit of joy, and spending probably upwards of an hour looking it over, I decided to buy it. It was a great deal! 50% off! Plus, I figured my time saved putting one together was more than enough reason to buy it already assembled. Done and done!

Pushing the cart out the door, it was pouring. A complete downpour. Cloudy with a more than a chance of meatballs downpour. I got wet just looking at the rain.

I backed my car into a loading zone space and began rearranging my seats to fit this in. No matter how hard I tried, it wouldn't fit. I didn't anticipate this. I've moved dozens of times and have always found a way. Mind you, it wouldn't fit by about 1/4" or less. A minuscule amount! After three strangers trying to help and looking at me like I was crazy, I knew I needed to do something different. Oh, and did I mention I also bought this STEAL for .99 cents! Woot! So, I had to fit that in the car somehow, too. My plan was to slide the sideboard in the back, then the door up through the back and over the sideboard. My math brain and spacial planning skills totally failed me today.

After four or five attempts to get this in the car from every direction, I decided it was time to just take it apart. Mind you, it has been pouring buckets this whole time. And people are looking at me with that sad you'll-never-get-that-in-your-car look. I had more than one person tell me that, and several tell me that I should get a truck. Anyway, so I went into IKEA and borrowed a screwdriver. I then followed my own water trail back out of the store in an attempt to disassemble the piece (which I was ticked about anyway because it wasn't that simple). I thought I would take the top off and that elusive 1/4" would find its way back to me and *poof!* It would fit.

Not so.

I couldn't get the thing apart! In all fairness, I think it's glued. :l

I walked my soaking wet self back into the store, returned the screwdriver, and asked if they had some rope. Don't ask me why I didn't think of this before. I just didn't.

I put the door in the car through the trunk as planned. Then, I threw some cardboard on the top of my car, rolled down the windows, and got about 30 feet of twine from the box on the wall. Yep, they have boxes on the wall with twine. Right there in my eyesight this whole time. Really, I think I would have thought of this sooner had it not been pouring, or if I had a roof rack, or a truck, or a man.

I took out the drawers and put them in the car and then lifted this on to my roof. I figure I've been in the 15 minute loading zone for oh, close to an hour now. In the rain. Soaking wet. Seriously, it's a good thing I had on a belt, but those flip flops this morning weren't a good choice.

It only took me about ten minutes to tie the whole thing down and get it super secure. Perfect! Then, I went to get in my car to roll the windows up . . . I'd tied my door shut. Total rookie mistake. I couldn't even get in through the window because it was only part way down. I may have looked super defeated and glanced around with the I-hope-nobody-else-is-watching-this look. Fortunately, I only had to undo the rope about three steps to fix this problem. Success!

After a total of about 2 or so hours at IKEA, I pulled out of the parking lot praying that I could make it home without furniture flying off my roof. I drove from 123rd to 33rd on surface streets, just in case. I had visions of how easy the twine was to cut at IKEA, and in my brain, I thought "What if the windows are cutting the twine right now?! Finally, as it started to pour even more, I just decided to get on the freeway and get home.

I got home, got everything up to my condo, and I'm excited to see how everything turns out. Yay! So, Ha! to all those people who told me I couldn't do it. The only casualties of the day include my soaking wet car seats, my soaking wet self, and a little bit of my pride.

All the Halloween Fun I Can Handle

Friday night Kristin, Matthew, and Axton came down for dinner, games, and a movie. We had pizza with drinks, Kristin and I did some crafting (see below), played several rounds of Guess Who? (Axton calls this his game), took turns winning and losing at Sequence and did popcorn and a movie. It was pretty fun for a Friday night.

I've been doing a few Halloween crafts to help my love of Halloween grow. For those of you who don't know, I hate Halloween. I think I just hate the costumes and such. Maybe this comes from college. It's the only day of the year that people can dress however they want--or I guess not wear anything--and get away with it. Any other day of the year, they'd be arrested. On Halloween, wear hardly anything but underwear, and it's called a costume. Creeps me out.

Anyway, so even though our night was just a regular night, here's how it became a little more reminiscent of the oh-so-creepy holiday of Halloween.

My friends Jen and Emily came over a few weeks ago, and we painted these pumpkins. They are fake and can be used year after year! I painted a swirly tree, moon, spiders, and a cat.

Scary Straws! Axton loved his scary straw. Matthew, Kristin, and I, however, mostly tried to keep soda from coming out our noses. :)

We used these coasters for our drinks. Kristin and I made them last weekend.

They make me giggle.

We made some cute everyday ones for our own houses, too!

I printed off these labels from a website. Can't recall which one, but they were fun on the drinks!

I made these a few weeks ago, one for each of my sisters, my mom, and myself. Kristin helped me paint the glitter on the frames. Kind of silly. :)

Because I Like My Toes

Oh, the joys of home ownership. Really, I've been lucky and haven't had any problems. But, as the snow started to fall, I figured I better turn on the furnace so there could be some heat around this place. Furnace on. Check! Hot air? Hello? Hot air? No hot air. Sad day.

So, I did what any single girl who has no idea about furnaces would do: Googled a repair company. There was one right down the street! He came, he looked, and he said, "Hope you don't need heat tonight."

Good thing I have that fireplace. It's much more useful than just being cozy watching movies.

Long story short--okay, it's a short story--is that I need a new part. He's going to come back and fix it tomorrow. I have no idea what it will cost, but my guesstimate is somewhere around $200. It could be a lot worse. Let's hope that it's not!

New Hobby

I'm into photography. Lately, kids and babies. Love it! Here are some pics from recent shoots. I think they are the cutest kids in the world. I could be a little prejudiced, but that's because I'm their favorite aunt. More to come, but for now I promised I wouldn't ruin any surprises, gifts, etc. I really enjoy this hobby, and I'm thinking of branching out a bit. It's two things that I love, together! Kids + Photography. I really enjoy editing the photos, playing with lighting and colors, antiquing photos, cropping shots, etc. Stay tuned for upcoming baby photography.

FAIR WARNING: If you are related to the Fifield or the Madsen families, you may want to skip this post. I only posted 3 photos out of 200+ and 6 of 400+, so take your odds. I don't want to be the spoiler of any surprises, gifts, etc., but I do want to show what I've been up to lately.

You've been warned . . .

At our last location, I said, "Show me some attitude." She replied with, "I don't have attitude," and struck this pose.

. . . which turned into this face. Can you tell someone's tired?

This girl has grown like a weed. She's beautiful.

Love those eyes. And this kid.

A walk in the park

This kid posed himself for this. I told him it was his turn, he sat, put his little leg up, looked at the camera, and this is what we got. Love it!

Little Miss Long Limbs

He said, "Wow. Look at those really tall cows."

This kid can never keep his pants up. Axton, eat more snacks!

Just taking a break (or so he thought) on the playground.

Such a thoughtful kid!

Age Old Problem Unsolved

So, I recently decided to go through my sock drawer, toss the ones filled with holes, match the wanderers, and try to make sure everyone had a mate. I did pretty well, with about five socks being loners at the end. Here's the thing that bothers me the most: they weren't white! Usually, all the socks that have lost their matches should be white, at least in my mind. This happens because over time, when I can't find a sock, I just find two that are close and put them together. For example, they might be the exact same cut and style, just a different color thread on the toe. Still good as a pair. Anyway, wearing socks like this is bound to cause mismatches. However, I started buying only colored or patterned socks a few years back because then each sock had one--and only one--match. They were easy to pair up. Now I have five mismatched socks. No pair possible. Where do these socks go? I've checked all baskets, around the washer and dryer, and just about everywhere (well, except where the match is, which apparently isn't here at my house). Looks like I'll be wearing mismatched patterned socks. I can't bring myself to throw them away. Apparently, it's the new thing. There's a website, or several, that sells ONLY mismatched socks. How cool is that!