Rinoa Is The New Boss In Town - Blog Pole v2


Rinoa noticed it was Friday and thought I should do another blog pole. She has been supervising a lot of what's going on in the house and loves giving her input. See her getting all up in my grill about it? "What are you doing, meow? Is laundry really that important? Why don't you blog instead, meow?"

So here I am! Today's list is a bit shorter than last time because I feel like six questions is the special number today. What do you think? Was last weeks pole too long? Is six questions dumb?

*meoow!* Alright alright, Rinoa, I'll start the pole! Jeez she's been so vocal lately.

1. What's your favorite comfort food? Typically I would say almond milk and cereal, but lately it's been waffles and oj. I have turned into this almost unreasonable fiend over my desire of oj... it must be the pregnant lady in me, hehe!

2. What shoes are you wearing today? My new Toms. They are as comfy as slippers and they go with everything. I have no plans of putting my feet in anything other than these for the foreseeable future.

3. Did you ever collect stamps? No, but my Dad does. He has an impressive collection that he's been working on for the last few years. It's cute watching him with his magnifying glass and tweezers, hovering over various stamps in binders. *^_^* Love it!

4. What did you have for breakfast this morning? A bowl of Honeynut Chereeos, two waffles with butter, peanut butter, & syrup, and a cup of oj. Second breakfast consisted of a corndog w/ketchup & mustard, and a Naked Power-C Machine.

5. What’s something weird you keep in your purse? A book. Currently it's "Knit One, Kill Two" by Maggie Sefton (I mentioned it in a post the other day). While I haven't had a chance to read much of it, I look forward to my next trip to the bank when I can sneak in a page or two.

6. Hello, would you like whipped cream with your hot cocoa? Uh, yes please! :)


Last week's blog pole was a success! Thank you everyone who left responses! I love reading them. *^_^* Please continue to leave your answers in the comment section!!

"Meow-lright... I guess we can call it a day. I'm done with blogging."


The cat speaketh, so shall be done. Or something silly like that. Later all!

♪There Was An Anchor♪

My closet is starting to shrink again. The number of shirts that I feel comfortable wearing is getting smaller and I am starting to worry about stretching them out. I took some time yesterday separating what fits and what doesn't fit and was happy to see that my Baroness shirt still fit.

It has been a while since I wore it. About 6 months in fact! Look at the difference between the times:


6 months ago
Today



Time has been such a weird thing since becoming pregnant. It's so different. It seems like it passes by in foreign increments~ weeks and months instead of days and weeks. I don't know if that makes much sense but that's how it seems to me.

One thing that's really making it odd, is Baby Dean's due date. Math says it's 4/4/14 and then the ultrasound says 3/19/14. There's only a few weeks difference between the two which makes planning certain things out difficult. Well, maybe not difficult as so much now we have to make more tentative plans instead of solid plans.

Our midwife is still aiming for 4/4 so according to her time table nothing has changed. We're going by her and not the ultrasound, but there's still that little nagging in the back of ours minds... what if he comes way early!? This Saturday we have our birthing class so I figure once I have that under my belt I won't worry about when he comes. This kid is going to come whenever he wants so I'm not going stress a thing.

What about you? How is time for you? Has this year flown by too quickly? (It's basically March already!) Or is time passing by like normal for you?

BOOKS!

I go through phases with my hobbies~ for a while all I'll want to do is knit, then for a week or two all I'll do is play games or read books, then I'll spend all my time watching wrestling, then it's back to knitting or reading... Is anyone else like that?

Right now I'm in a book phase. Over the last few months I have acquired a few books and recently I've decided to plow through them.



■ Longbourn by Jo Baker
■ Austenland by Shannon Hale
■ Midnight In Austenland by Shannon Hale
■ The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
■ Cat Trick by Sofie Kelly
■ Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

I have kept that copy of The Last Unicorn in my purse to read whenever I was stuck in line at the bank or grocery store. It helps the time fly by, although it makes for some really broken up reading. When I got to a certain plot point in the book I couldn't put the book down so I spent the next two or three days straight reading it whenever I wasn't at work. It was so good. I have watched the movie countless times as a child but really wanted to know more about how the Unicorn felt during her time as a human and after that back as a unicorn. The book didn't have much to add to the movie, but one little side story and expands on what the other characters end up doing, and I'm okay with that. It was a delightful story and one I will forever treasure.

My friend Mal gave me the copy of Howl's Moving Castle after I had made a comment about wanting to read it. (She's such a sweetheart!!) After finishing The Last Unicorn it was a no brainer on which book to start up next. I think it took me about a week to read it. There are many differences between the book and the movie (which I watched before reading the book) and I can honestly say I love them both. They take the same plot (a young lady who is cursed to be a 90 year old woman and talks her way into being the cleaning lady for the wizard Howl in hopes he can help her figure out how to break the spell) and run two different directions with it. Each version of the book stands on it's own as an excellent story and I highly recommend both.



Cat Trick is the latest in a series of cat murder mystery books by Sofie Kelly. The main character is a librarian who is adopted by two stray cats who have magical abilities~ one can disappear and the other can walk through walls. The three of them help solve local murders much to the chagrin of the local police department (who's lead detective is the potential love interest but keeps butting heads with the main character so they never hook up. It's a great dynamic!). These books are cute, witty, and cleverly written. Not once have I been able to figure out all the story points early on, which has made for some fun reading. If you love mystery books and cats you should totally check these books out!



Another series of murder mystery books I've been reading is by Maggie Sefton. The series starts in a small town of Colorado where the main character arrives to make arrangements for her aunt's funeral. The aunt, who is more of a mother figure to Kelly (the main character), was murdered and while the police are certain the case is closed, the main character just isn't sure. The building right next door to the crime scene is a knitting store filled with lovely ladies (and a couple dudes) who are just as willing as Kelly to get down and dirty to figure out what really happened. These books are cute and super enjoyable, although not as well written as the cat books. The only reason I say that is because I can't seem to keep all the characters straight. There's just so many ladies at the knitting store that they just run together to me. Kelly is a strong enough character that I keep wanting to read about her adventures so I get excited each time a new book comes out. Whether or not you're a knitter, if you enjoy mystery books, I think you'll like these.



The two books I'm currently reading is Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku, and Knit One, Kill Two by Meggie Sefton. I saw Michio Kaku on John Stewart's show and was instantly enthralled with the man. Next thing I knew Aaron surprised me with two of his books and now I'm hooked! I'm really into physics and the like so this book is right up my alley. Kaku talks about the reality of phasers, force fields, warp drive, and so on. It's really fascinating and he writes in such a way that anyone can enjoy it (even if they aren't into physics as much as I am). Knit One, Kill Two is the first in the series and for whatever reason was the hardest for me to find. I've read 2 and on but it wasn't until recently did I run into the first volume. Really enjoying it so far.

Well that's enough of my own novel of a blog post. Are you reading anything at the moment? What are your favorite types of books? Who's your favorite author(s)?

Blog Pole - Just For Fun

One of the blogs I've been reading a lot lately is the Makeup and Beauty Blog. Karen posts reviews of tons of different beauty products (the majority of which are way out of my price range) but between those posts, she writes about her cute cat, Tabs, and these fun poles about random things. It's a great way to talk about a variety of topics, letting her readers get to know her a bit more, and she encourages her readers to answer the pole questions in her comments section. I think it's a really great and engaging way to blog.


So I thought I would do a little blog pole of my own and see how I like it. Using her poles as an example, I wrote down many many many questions I thought would be fun to write about. Some are beauty related, others are just random life questions. Let me know what you think, and if you want to, answer the questions in the comments section~ I'd love to get to know my readers more. *^_^*'

1.) What do you like to listen to while you’re driving? Upbeat and fun music that I can sing to is my absolute favorite. If Aaron is in the car, he dj's with the ipod and it's always great music.

2.) Flip-flops or flats? Flats and more preferably Toms. I just ordered a new pair of Toms this morning because they are just so comfy and wearable. Aaron had to have an intervention with me over a pair of Toms because I wore them so much they were ratty and in pieces and really did need to go. What can I say, I really like my Toms! Hehe!

3.) What’s one of your mottos? "Tape it and go." My dad was a green beret in the Army and that was one thing we heard a lot growing up. By no means was he tough on us, because he wasn't at all, but it was something that helped us keep things in perspective and do what we needed to do. I'm sure my kids will be hearing it a lot!

4.) What’s the first thing you did when you woke up this morning? Rolled over and curled up with Aaron. I'm such a snuggler. *^_^*

5.) What book are you reading at the moment? Howl's Moving Castle. My friend Mal is letting me borrow it~ yay for fellow bookworms! I've read over 150 pages in the last three days.

6.) What’s something you aren’t very good at but enjoy doing anyway? Singing out loud. I do it everyone in a while at the store when the right song comes on the ipod. The singing is typically paired with some dancing.

7.) Favorite comic strip? I've been reading Questionable Content for something like 8 years or something now. It's the only comic I read.

8.) What's the weather like outside right now? The wind is howling like crazy, and has been since Aaron left for work today. At least, I don't recall hearing the wind at all before he left.

9.) Ketchup or mustard? Both. 40% ketchup and 60% mustard. Mmm!

10.) How often do you curl your lashes? Never. I'm rough enough on my lashes as it is, trying to get all the mascara and eyeliner off my eyes, I couldn't add that on top. That, and I think it's kinda a silly thing to do anyways.

Red Chocolate Pancakes

Pancakes have been on my mind for the last week-ish. Munching on some thin yet fluffy pancakes while blogging or watching a movie just sounded divine. After reading Hima's blog post over at Hima Hearts about some pancakes she made recently, I knew today would be the day. Pancakes were going to be inside my belly and that was that.

While I didn't have the ingredients for Hima's pancakes I had Bisquick and some chocolate so I was able to make these incredibly delicious rounds of yummy goodness.


This is probably one of the most humble little breakfast meals I have ever made. We haven't been grocery shopping in weeks so I got creative with the ingredients-

■ 1/2 cup Bisquick
■ 1 egg
■ 1/4 cup evaporated powdered milk
■ 1/4 warm water
■ 1/4 tsp vanilla
■ small handful of red chocolate chips (I got my chocolate in the bulk section at Winco)



Mix all the ingredients but the chocolate together well. Put the chocolate pieces in a ziplock baggie and break them into small pieces. Add the pieces to the batter and then cook your pancakes like you normally would. I like to add butter on them the moment they are off the pan so it melts and covers the pancakes evenly. Today I added peanut butter and the last little bit of syrup we had just for the sake of loading up my pancakes (and it's my favorite way to eat them).


What are your favorite toppings for pancakes? Does it change depending on the type of pancakes you're eating?

Her + Him


Two days ago was me and Aaron's 147 month anniversary. That's right, we still celebrate our first date 12 years, three months and two days ago. I remember standing outside his car, in the light rain, holding hands, and him kissing me and me smiling up at him. While I don't remember where we went or what we did that night, I remember that kiss. It's the first thing that pops into my mind when I think of the 17th and wish him a happy anniversary.

The picture above is us in Tokyo two February's ago. I believe that's the night we arrived and in front of the kaminarimon, these beautiful gates that lead to the temple we stayed two blocks from. Anyways, in the spirit of our anniversary and Valentine's day which just happened, I thought I'd share some of the things that we love. Meaningful things and silly things. I got the idea from Cara who got the idea from Harley and Jane.

her: back rubs
him: back tickles

her: little spoon
him: big spoon

her: edges of brownies
him: brownies with ice cream

her: iced soy hazelnut macchiato
him: iced green tea not sweetened

her: American Apparel zip ups
him: American Apparel zip ups

her: toms
him: sneakers

her: laundry
him: vacuum

her: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
him: Two-headed Boy

her: Seattle Mariner's
him: Seattle Mariner's

her: oldest of three
him: youngest of two

her: Yui
him: Azunyan

her: black mage
him: dragoon

her: alphabetizing
him: straightening

her: cesar salad extra croutons
him: spinach no dressing

her: amber
him: IPA

her: raspberries
him: blueberries

her: Marie's Habenero
him: Dave's Insanity

her: cassette tapes
him: vinyl

RadCon - Our First Convention

Valentine's Day weekend was RadCon, the local SciFi/Fantasy convention that takes place every year, and our store Sunken Treasures Games made it's vendor debut there. Having never done a show before, we had no idea what to expect, but figured at the very least the exposure would be good. RadCon exceeded all of our expectations and plan on being a vendor there from now on.


Now the cool thing about this show was that the hotel it takes place at sections off an entire wing of hotel rooms that vendors can rent and use as a store front. When we first heard this I was weirded out and turned off to the idea because it sounds really creepy. But once I talked to some other local business owners who are vendors each year, told us that the hotel takes out all the beds and furniture so we can use the room however we want, and showed us pictures, we decided to do it. The biggest pro for us was that we could pick our own hours; we could open early and stay open late if we wanted, and when we were done we just closed the hotel room door and that was that. Our merchandise couldn't be more secure.

Aaron did all of the hard work putting the "store" together. We were clueless as to what merchandise would be best so we brought a little bit of everything. Here's a video I took the first morning we were open:


I should have taken the video horizontal, I know, but oh well.




It was a crazy, fun, stressful, tiring, great weekend and we are excited to participate at RadCon again next year. Now we have a better idea of what to expect and how to handle certain things. Next year will be even more fun!

Have you ever been to a "con" before? PAX? ComicCon? What is your favorite part about the vendors there? What do you think about setting up shop in a hotel room?

Etsy Sale!

C o l d. It has been so cold here! We got our first "good packing snow" snow last night and it is just COLD!

So in celebration of the snow, and to get things warmed up, I thought I'd do a sale on my Etsy shop~ TheFoxShop.


So until Monday, all the items in my shop are 20% off with the code. Use it my friends!! *^______________^*

BEING CONFIDENT

It seems like such a simple statement~ be confident. Like it's something that should come as easy to us as breathing. To some people it may be, but for most I imagine, it's more of a struggle. Maybe it's not a struggle, maybe it's not just as easy. Or maybe it's more than a struggle, it's an uphill battle. Regardless of where you feel you may fit in there, self confidence is a process, not a destination.

Let me say that again~ self confidence is a process, not a destination.

There will always be good days and bad days. There will always be people who like you and those who don't. There will always be *something* that can keep you from feeling your absolute, beautiful, lovely best. But remember there is no finish line~ there is no end of day ruling that says "ok you've filled your confidence quota, you are now free to live the rest of your life fully confident in yourself, your beauty, your abilities, etc". No, there's not. There is only you and the choices you make for yourself.

Will you choose to do what makes you happy? Will you choose to withhold happiness from yourself because of what someone else thinks or says? Will you choose to allow yourself to be ruled by what others tell you about yourself, or what you think they may think about you? Will you choose to not give those dumb people another moment of your time?

What is your answer? I know mine. Even though I have the answer that doesn't mean it's an easy one to make happen. That's why being confident is a process. It will take time to get comfortable with yourself enough to allow change to happen to become more confident. Change to allow yourself to be you, to do nothing but stay home in pj's and watch all of the silly shows, to post lots selfies, to just be still and do nothing but be yourself, to break out of whatever routines/lifestyles that are holding on to you. You can make that change!

How do you start this process? I think for everyone it's different. For me, it's being beating over the head again and again with words from ladies like Gina, Stephanie Marie, Amy Morby (who's self-love blog doesn't exist anymore, sadly), and Lucy who's video I've posted on just about every social media site I'm on today. Their words touch me in a way that pushes me forward more than just sitting here thinking and typing about it. Maybe their words can touch you too.

I hope that if you are feeling not very confident about yourself, or start to feel down on yourself, you can find inspiration from any one of these ladies to remind you you are beautiful, wonderful, perfect, and an important part of this world. At the very least, please check out this little video of Lucy's.

Dreams of Yarn

It's slow progress on the Sideways Braided Shrug... I had to unravel a few inches because I was watching a show and not paying attention to what I was knitting lol. So even though this pic was taken over a week ago, it's still about this size. I'm about to change to size 19 needles so it will start getting big quick here soon.


Speaking of size 19's! I found the most amazing yarn at Michael's the other day that is thick & chunky and p e r f e c t for the 19's. This Red Heart Vivid in Coral is going to be mine soon. It's either going to be knit into this


Lace Afghan

or


Newborn Baby Blanket

It's going to be amazing and super comfy and snuggly and perfect!

Some other items I want to knit~

Marshmellow Fluff


Bold Stripes Wrap


Baby Chevron Legwarmers


Baby Fur Topped Booties


Blue Sand Cardigan


Retro Flying Helmet


Ahhh so many fun patterns to knit and just not enough time. My heart just flutters when I look at these patterns and when I think about knitting my own. *^_^*

Do you have any projects lined up to work on or any that you're dreaming of doing?

Nostalgia

I was always a very sentimental kid. All my toys and other possessions had feelings and I took special care not to hurt any of them. Garage sales always made me sad because I had to say good bye to parts of me. Even if these things were items from the frontroom or kitchen. Little me would think "I remember watching my favorite movies on that couch" or "I helped Mom make tons of cookies and cakes from that bowl". Every aspect of my life meant something to me, and my attachment to it was strong. Fast forward a few decades, I'm still pretty sentimental. Definitely not to the extent I once was, but I do have a tendency to get sad when I take things to Goodwill and get super ecstatic when I find cassette tapes or vinyls of albums I used to listen to with my parents.

Nesting has hit me and Aaron pretty hard, and we've spend the last week or so slowly going through our place and purging all completely unnecessary stuff. (I say completely unnecessary because there's plenty of things we cannot get rid of because we're so attached we can't get rid of it.) We've been able to make a lot of room for all the baby stuff we have and will be getting in the next few months which feels awesome. Aaron took some time off of work a few times this week to clean house and put together the baby baby and changing table. He even rearranged our entire bedroom by himself to make room for them. (I'm such a lucky lady to have a guy who will take off from work to vacuum, wash dishes, and get our place ready for our baby!) We still have a lot of work to do, but I'm so happy with what we have done so far~


We had a little surprise at our appointment with our midwife this week. She went over our ultrasound with us and everything was great, the only thing that stood out to her was that the hospital estimated Dean's due date was March 19th which is 16 days sooner than his original due date. Apparently guessing due dates after 20 weeks is like a shot in the dark, and since our ultrasound was at 22 weeks, our midwife isn't worried at all. She's not changing our plans, because since we're doing a natural birth, Dean will come whenever he comes so a estimated due date is just that~ estimated. This is what probably put us into high gear nesting mode. The thought of meeting our little baby two weeks sooner than we anticipated is exciting!

I'm not in a rush to get this baby out of me though, in fact, I want him to take his time, and grow, and come when he's ready. I'll suck it up if I have to because it's best for him. And let me tell you, he is g r o w i n g! Yesterday at Fred Meyers this nice grandma asked me how many days until I'm due, and my father in law accused me (jokingly) of stealing his basketballs under my jacket. I must be getting really big! I mean I totally feel big, but I must really be looking it now. It makes sense since I can feel practically every little move Dean makes, he hasn't dropped at all, and I'm eating like a hobbit. Breakfast, second breakfast, snack, lunch, dinner, supper, elevensies...

Anyways, this baby of mine is something new and exciting and I can't wait until he gets hold enough for me to share some of my favorite old things with him. Things like toys I bought him that were the same Fisher Price toys I had when I was little, hand me down blankets and stuff animals that were mine and my Dad's, and movies that watched over and over when I was young. There are quite a few movies that I connected with when I was younger and never could get rid of or have gone out of my way to find new copies of. A few examples are these:


Sure, it's going to be a few years before these will be relevant to Dean, but in the mean time this pile of movies makes me so gosh darn happy! There's a few titles I still want to get my hands on, but there's plenty of time. A few key titles that I'm excited to own are Sleeping Beauty, Newsies, 101 Dalmations, The Parent Trap, Babar the Movie, and King George and the Ducky. To be honest though, all the titles there are great and I'm sure Dean will enjoy them just as much as I did.

One of the next little bits of nostalgia I want to collect are the "Little Golden Books". Luckily a bunch of the ones I read in the past have been reprinted so not all of them ones I want to find will be super hard to find. They even made one for Disney's Frozen which I'm now determined to buy next time I go to Safeway.

Is there anything in particular about your youth that you are super nostalgic and super sentimental about?

Latest Instagrams

© KnittedFox. Design by Fearne.