In the Mail

Now that they've been sent and hopefully opened, here are some of the projects I made for nieces and nephews this year:

Toddler Backpack. This was for a 2-year-old nephew. Really, he had so many other gifts that I don't even think he noticed it until the next morning when I said, "Hey, Reese, you can carry all your new cars with this!" and he proceeded to load it up and carry it around. It was cute.



Fleece Jacket with Hannah Montana accents. My niece LOVES Hannah Montana and LOVES pink. This is my standard fleece jacket pattern (Jalie 2679) that I've made many times. Works out great, but I see that Burda has one in their latest magazine. I might have to make that one to compare.


T-shirt turned backpack. One of my nephews loves Ed Hardy but I wasn't about to spend $100 on a t-shirt that I was gonna cut up. So I found a screen print kit at Joann's, a t-shirt at Saver's, and this pattern, and ended up with this:



I actually made another t-shirt backpack for another nephew. He was getting a guitar for Christmas and I found a t-shirt at Savers with a cool guitar and skull - it was perfect. And he really liked it too.

I've never ventured into doll making, but I decided to try a Wee Wonderful doll for another niece. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it'd be. Lots of hand sewing, but surprisingly, I didn't mind.


Now that all the gift sewing is done and my sewing area is cleaned, it's time to make stuff for me!

Happy Festivus for the Rest of Us

Today, December 23rd is Festivus. Let's celebrate, shall we?

Over in the corner is my aluminum pole (no tinsel or any decorations of course). Average and plain, isn't it?

Ok, be done looking at the pole.

Let's move on to "Airing of Grievances."

Oh boy, do I have some issues this year. And you people are gonna hear about them. In no particular order:
Who cares about the following:
Tiger Woods, Oprah retiring, Jon & Kate, People who do nothing yet are famous somehow.

Car seats that are safe, yet HUGE! I need a new car to fit this thing, and it's only going to get bigger. Thanks safety for making me sit so close to the steering wheel that, while my kid is safe, I'm not! Jerk.

Verizon Wireless. While you work EVERYWHERE else in the world, you don't work in my cul-de-sac. Seriously? What's that all about? Why am I paying x dollars when I can't even use my phone at home. I'd like a refund for the past YEAR, please.

Ok, now it's time for the "Feats of Strength" but I don't want to embarrass anyone, so we'll skip it this year. But, next year, just you wait. Better watch your back.

And finally, "Festivus Miracles!" A friend said she made caramels. I was going to stop by her office to get one. But she stopped by MY office and brought me one. It was a Festivus Miracle!

Goodbye TPT...

Hello TPT!

I got a new job at tpt (I LOVE that they LOVE to hire within!). When I'm done with the Minnesota Video Vault project, I will have watched about 1000 shows.

One THOUSAND shows. Actually, there will be 1100 shows, but I've had some help (Thank G!) My brain is fried, but my knowledge of Minnesota and its history is unbelievable - or I like to think.

Remember when you were a kid and it was summer time and all you wanted to do was watch tv all day? (Maybe you weren't as lazy as I was. But seriously, it was HOT in Texas during the summer, so unless you were swimming, you were watching tv.) And you wished you could get paid to watch tv all day?

Yeah, I did that. (But I did plenty of other things too!) And while the project was really awesome and ahead of the pack in terms of online archiving, sometimes, watching programs all day sucked. But, I'm proud of my work, my knowledge of Minnesota and the opportunity tpt gave me to take charge of the project.

It paid off.

So now, I'm finishing up my list of shows (1100!)and moving onto another project managing various internal websites. MANAGING, kids.

6 Months

Six months gives us at least two inches (if not more!). Rolling over in every direction in your crib. Which you now love sleeping on your face, freaking both of us out when we go in and check on you. And squealing as loud as possible just to let us know you're ready to get out.


Six months also means you've now got a little stranger anxiety. Nothing too bad, but you're not afraid to cry if someone you don't know well is holding you. But you warm up eventually. You're super smiley and generally happy and excited whenever you see one of us.


You're getting interested in food. Enough to grab at it and want to put it in your mouth. But that's where it ends. You're not sure what to do with it once it's in your mouth. Oh, the faces you make! You had a little bit of cake at a birthday party this weekend and while you really wanted it, you had no idea what to do with it.

You still sleep about 10 hours a night with about 3 hours of naps a day. But you don't do well at other people's houses when it's time for bed. You're definitely a creature of habit.



You celebrated your first major holiday, Thanksgiving, with a trip to Nebraska. Cousin Jordan just loved playing with you and wanted to help take care of you. Everyone loved playing with you and you loved the attention!


Scully is still your pal, but you really prefer me or your dad. And, while we like Scully too, we prefer you even more.

We Replaced the Swing With This

Our bundle of joy.

A Decade in Review

2000 - Was excitingly dating Justin Foell from Minnesota while I lived in a small basement apartment with 5 windows, a killer dog upstairs named "Gangster"(who once tried to bite my face off when I gave him water. Jerk) and his owner "Chris LaDoux" (Can't remember his real name. But he was hick-ish and smoked pot at 5am before working construction.) Hank Hill lived across the street. As did an old bitty who was 90 and called me "Suzie Q!" She also drank her pee. She told me.

2001 - Planned a wedding, got married, moved out of the basement apt (goodbye $300 rent, Chris, Gangster, Hank and Old Bitty!) and moved into our first house (hello mortgage payment!).

2002 - Still in school, worked at the steakhouse off and on as I liked (or didn't like - some managers were JERKS!). Had to sell the house due to layoffs, and moved in with Granny for a few months.

2003 - FINALLY found a cool apartment in downtown SLC. We were hip, until my Jeep was broken into like 3 times. Oh ya, I had a JEEP! It was AWESOME! Justin had a new job too! But it didn't last long and found another one in Vegas. I graduated and we made the move. Scully was my graduation gift. Tender!

2004 - At first, I thought our new apartment was an old folks home because we were the youngest ones there. Turns out, it wasn't an old folks home, but we were the youngest ones there. Jean, our neighbor, would drink and drive a lot. She was also on blood thinners. That's why she wobbled. Sure, Jean. I landed a sweet editing job and sold the jeep at the first sign of hot-ness (you know, 120 degrees. I not kid.)

2005 - Decided to buy another house. This time, we built one. We closed on our anniversary. Tender, again! BUT, then I lost my job. However, I landed another one by that December. I also ran a marathon, vowing to never do that again.

2006 - Started working for the same company as Justin (but we didn't work together). I had high hopes, but they quickly faded when my boss went on maternity leave the day I started. Here starts 2 years of frustrating work.

2007 - I ran a marathon, again. Actually, it was 12 miles. It could have been better. We took a cruise with my family to Central America, we traveled to Idaho for my g-granny's 90th, and we went to San Francisco for the first time.

2008 - We went to Thailand for a wedding and then spent my birthday in London. (Go ahead, be jealous.) I quit my job and we moved to Minnesota where I now work for tpt (PBS affiliate in the Twin Cities - Love it!). I got knocked up and enjoyed a symptom free first trimester.

2009 - It was cold. COOOOOLD all throughout my pregnancy. I wore sweaters one week before Jules was born. IN.JUNE. We spent the rest of the summer traveling to Nebraska, Utah, South Dakota, and Indianapolis trying to take advantage of their warm temps. We bought another house and did lots of updates before Jules arrived. We have, yet again, another old bitty who lives next door. But she's the nicest, sweetest old lady out there. We are also the proud owners of a snow blower. Because, for reals. I'm not shoveling anymore.

It's the First Wednesday of the Month...

And you know what that means...


The CREEPY siren that goes off at 1pm in downtown St. Paul. Like nuclear bomb loud. I'm surprised our windows don't break.

Did I mention it's loud? and CREEPY?