I'd Say I'm Due for a Bit of Ranting...

One great thing about my blog and Girl Land is that I don't really rely on either for making a living. It's always simply been a hobby that if I happened to make money from, it's simply a bonus. That's a segue into justification for my complaint of the day...

Have any of you ever watched Cash and Cari on HGTV? For various reasons, I've never been a fan. But definitely not now. Yesterday, at my place of employment, one of her producers thought it would be a great idea to bring their TV cameras in to have a "gotcha" moment with my fellow co-worker and friend, a great guy who does his job and does it WELL. They placed their estate sale signs illegally and the signs were taken. They came in to confront my friend because they apparently thought it would make for some great TV. You know what, Cash and Cari?? Maybe follow the rules like everyone else and read the ordinances and don't try to make people look stupid who are trying to make an honest living and don't have the luxury of being on TV. ARGH.

On a nicer note, I stumbled upon the cutest site the other day when I was looking for a couple fiberglass elementary school chairs for the new house called Bianca and Family!

The site is in French, but I'm thinking I may be able to muster up enough of my 6 years of French to maneuver around at least a little because I HAVE to have this metal cotton candy jar:

And these woodland animal paperboard suitcases:

And maybe even this wallpaper (I told you-- I'm on the precipice of caving in to wallpaper for the new house)!!!!


Le sigh. Thanks for bearing with me. :) The house is coming along. Framing starts next week. Yikes.

P.S. Although I'm not a C&C fan, I LOVE LOVE LOVE HGTV. Don't get me wrong. Sarah, Candice, Antonio, etc...I could watch them all day long.

Feeling Bipolar

Hello little chickadees. Hope your Monday wasn't so bad. I'm having one of those off-weeks. Been there? Like one minute, something makes me super happy. Then the next, I'm freaking out, angsting and being a miserable all-around mom and wife. FTW. No big lemons-- just lots of little needly pricky things that annoy me and make me fixate.

I do want to gush about a great Etsy experience I had! Today, they celebrated Viv's birthday at daycare. This year, instead of buying junky crap that parents probably throw away anyway, I ended up contacting Kristin through her Etsy shop, KBExquisites. For $3.00 apiece + s/h, she whipped up and sent these SUPER CUTE reusable snack bags. They are washer/dryer safe and lined with food-safe nylon. Seriously, I placed the order on Tuesday, and I got them on FRIDAY. Talk about a lifesaver! Mom sort of kind of dropped the ball on the daycare party, and in fact, I even bought Kroger m&m cookies instead of baking. I usually at LEAST can muster up some bake & breaks!!!

She did all 10 in different prints, but these 3 of the girl fabrics were my faves:

I added the lil' tags.


Have a great rest of the week! xo

Twenty Ten

Here's a little recap of Girl Land's 2009 Flickr pics! Some of my faves, in fact.


Was today your first day back to work? Mine too. Wasn't as bad as I thought. I was more depressed on Saturday anticipating the return, but it was a'ight.

So deja vu-- I'm yet again trying to lose weight. Ugh! It's a never-ending battle, I tell you. I don't want to be complacent with where I am. I'm tired of being fat. I have tried every program under the sun-- Medical Weight Loss, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers and Nutrisystem. They all have worked, but then I lose momentum. I can't do it by myself, but I'm afraid I'm going to fail if I start back up. Horrible attitude, no? All I can do is KEEP trying, and that's what I'll do. I just hope I can keep up the motivation. Sigh.

Here's where I am now (and this isn't even as unflattering as most of my Xmas pics...shudder, shudder):


Here's where I want to be again (this pic is from about 6 years ago):


I wasn't super skinny here, but I was HAPPY. And I felt good about myself which is really what it all comes down to.

Wish me luck!!! xo

Etsy Yummies

Been receiving some nice little packages via some beautiful Etsy sellers lately:

This super cute fabric from The Fabric Bar from which I shall make some appliques:


I had a BAD experience with an Etsy seller, however, too (who shall remain nameless, but it was a fabric store). Has anyone else noticed you now have to hit the "Pay Now" button twice via Paypal all of a sudden? What the heck is up with that???? I only hit "Pay Now" once while trying to buy a yard of fabric, Etsy showed the transaction as being paid, and I never noticed I didn't get a Paypal receipt. So apparently, it didn't go through and the seller just decided to cancel the sale altogether! The only way I ever found out was because I searched for the transaction on Etsy and never found it, but I had kept the original email notification of the sale. I convo'ed the seller and told her it was a pretty crappy way of doing business, and she basically admitted she just cancelled the sale due to non-payment-- no convo, no email, no NOTHING. Mind you, I have 100% positive feedback. I read her the riot act a bit more, and of course, no response. Grrrrrr.......

On to my delicate little Snow Melon necklace from Edor:


Alllllll these cutie tooties from Delish Beads:


These dollops of buttercream frosting will make some tasty earrings!


And I haven't received this yet, but I bought this as a cover-up over Q's black leotard for ballet class which she will be starting in the Fall. Can't wait to see Bam Design's handiwork in person. Isn't it soooo cute!?


I just realized that this week marks Q's 1 year anniversary of being potty trained!!! Yayyyyyyy! One pee-tail down, one to go!!! :)

Another Edition of Me Likey/Me No Likey

♥I am IN LOVE with the Black Apple’s pinback display and her new original. The latter needs to be placed in Vivian’s nursery tout de suite. Delia reminds me of V a bit. I'm goin' for it at her next shop update for reals. I'm not optimistic, but one can hope.-Ugh. They are RE-MAKING Let the Right One In!!! WTF??? I am so upset. I received the book and DVD from my bro and SIL for my b-day, and I made my parents watch it. They really liked it too! We agreed that the setting being in Sweden makes the film.


♥Speaking of Sweden—I wanna go to there. Like now. Denmark and Norway too. Like a Scandinavian travel bonanza. Think anyone would miss me if I just took off??? I can dream, no? I just want to tuck my sweater into my pants without persecution. Is that too much to ask?

-UGH. I hate politics. And politicians suck. I want Sarah frigging Palin to GOOOOO AWAYYYYYYYYY. Anonymous comments supporting her will promptly be deleted. If you are going to stick up for her, you must face the embarrassment of everyone knowing exactly who you are. And speaking of crappy politicians, something happened in the way of a corrupt government official in the municipality for which I work. This totally SU-HUCKS because this guy has ALWAYS been shady, and it reflects poorly on our city, which, in my opinion, is a GREAT city with some wonderful people in it. Shame what some people will do for the almighty buck.

♥On a whim, Ryan ordered the book "When You Were Small" by Sara O' Leary for Q. I didn't even know, however, I had heard about it. It's lovely. He done good. My favorite page (and Q's for that matter): "When you were small we let you sleep in one of my slippers. The left one. you used a fuzzy wash cloth for a blanket and a tea bag for a pillow."

Is It Me?

So I feel like I'm in some weird world where my rude sensor is out of whack. Am I overreacting? Help me out, please.

First incident: an international Etsy customer placed an order last week. By no means do I mind sending international, it's just more of a hassle since I have to actually go to the Post Office and stand in line rather than mail from home or use the automatic postal center. So she bought an item last Tuesday ($12.50 total) and then told me that she wasn't going to have the money for a week. I was like, "Really? You don't have $12.50?". Told her I was going to cancel her order if no money by last Friday. Today she said, nope, won't have the money until this Friday. Go ahead and cancel the order. WTF???? Which I will do, but should I leave neg feedback? She was very pleasant and all which makes me wonder if I'm overreacting? I just don't get it.

Second incident: I called to order V's bday cake today (her bday is a week from Fri) to our local Kroger store. Mind you, I had a bad incident in November when I wanted to order a photo cake for Q's bday. The bakery person was REALLY rude, and I ended up talking to the manager who was completely nice and apologetic. Told me to come in and get a free cake anytime which I never did. Frankly, I'm weird about that. I don't want free shit, I don't want ordering a freaking cake to be a huge inconvenience. FF to today-- SAME rude experience. This is how it played out:

Rudie: (inaudible apathetic greeting...something I assumed to be "Bakery Department")

Me: Hi, I'd like to place an order to pick up on Saturday, May 1

Rudie: Name?

Me: Sarah M-U-L--

Rudie: I DON'T NEED YOUR LAST NAME. What do you want?

Me: (getting pissed but pressing on), I need a cake for about 8 people. What would you suggest?

Rudie: (Silent)

Me: Ok, um, well, how many people does your round cake feed?

Rudie: *sighhhhhhh*

Me: OK, IS THERE A PROBLEM? I ASKED YOU A SIMPLE QUESTION. ARE YOU THIS RUDE TO EVERYONE???? (Yes, I LOST IT)

Rudie: I wasn't being rude, you asked how many people--

Me: I want to talk to your manager.

*is put on hold for 5 minutes* I finally hang up

I did end up calling back. Again, the manager was really nice and said she would be addressing the situation immediately. I just don't get it. I work with the public EVERY DAMN DAY. If I acted like that, I would be out of a job. I got another free cake which I DIDN'T want but the manager insisted. Ugh. I'm super scared there's going to be loogies in it or something. I'm sure you're wondering why I would go there again. I was hoping the first time was just a bad incident, and I'm really picky about my buttercream. IMO, Costco has the best cakes, but I hate going there, and I'm too cheap to get a membership for a few cakes per year. Kroger is the second best. I wish I liked Holiday Market's, but I don't.

Thanks for listening to my Tuesday rantings....

On a lighter note, so yes, Miss Viv is turning 1 next weekend. My girly girl is growing up. Can't wait to show you all the decorations, but you will see a few below courtesy of Crossroads Cottage. Her theme is vintage and pinwheels!

Me Likey

♥The invitations for Viv's bday party (and packages of 8 soon to be in my shop! Just waiting on the envelopes).



♥Iowans


♥Zac Efron dropped out of Footloose. Maybe they'll scrap it altogether. I can only hope. I say this only because I have the utmost respect for the original and I couldn't bear to see them do the same thing they did to Hairspray (sorry, guys, I know some of you loved it).


♥My kid. She was "writing notes".


This one said, "Dear God, please bring me a new toy". She amuses me immensely.




♥A Saturday with NOTHING TO DO (hurrah!).


♥Still being on track with my Skinny Girl Land mission even though I only lost .6 lbs this week and having the strength to tell myself now that I am NOT going to eat ANY Easter candy this year. I've had Cadbury Eggs before. I know what they taste like. And I'm NOT going to slide down that slippery slope *punches luscious cream-filled confection square in its nose*.


♥My hub being home from California. Wrangling the girls alone wasn't as hard as I had expected. I just missed him.


♥Our soon-to-be houseguest in the form of our 15 year old babysitter. She is staying with us for a few days while her mom is out of town. I'm looking forward to Wii'ing with her and dishing on Rob Pattinson. :) The girl is wise beyond her years.


Happy weekending all! xo

2009 Oscar Rant

This is the first year in many that I actually stayed up to watch the ENTIRE Oscars. I usually Tivo and watch later. I was a little behind because I recorded the E! Red Carpet stuff and started watching at 8, but I caught up right around Best Actress. Love DVR’ing stuff like that, so I can whiz through junk like the Jerry Lewis thing (snooooooze).

My thoughts (feel free to chime in or wholeheartedly disagree):

+I hate admitting that my favorite dress belonged to Miley Cyrus (barfaloney). I’m obviously all about teenybopper stuff (*cough* Twilight), but I don’t care for her atttttt alllllll. Her dress, however, was gorgeous. The petal things on the skirt??? That tiny little waist of hers? I loved it.



+Other dresses I loved: Heidi Klum (always perfect), the SJP (in “barely mint”), Kate Winslet (the hair!), and Natalie Portman (her dress was a beautiful raspberry sherbet but her skin had a not-so-great orange sherbet hue to it).

+I love my self-deprecating Robert Pattinson.

-Was bummed that no one looked super horrible. Well, except Mickey Rourke with his dumb dog necklace and Sophia Loren at the end. Yikes! I admire that she hasn’t had much work done—really I do. But I think they should have picked out a dress and makeup color that softened her up a bit. She’s still awesome though.


-Not awesome was Goldie Hawn's refusal to get old and her blatant love of plastic surgery.

-Poor SJP slipped and Daniel Craig did NOT offer his arm. Now Daniel, WWJBD?

-Wasn’t a big fan of Beyonce’s black and gold dress, Reese’s black and blue number (with the clear plastic straps showing), or Amy Adam’s big honkin’ necklace.


+Sean Penn’s speech was AWESOME!!! So well-put. My favorite part: “I think it is a good time for those who voted for the ban on gay marriages to sit and reflect and anticipate the shame and disgrace in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue in this way to support [the ban].” However…

-“I was bummed he didn’t thank Robin. She was blubbering in the front row, man, right there! C’mon!

+The pale skin. I thought Anne Hathaway, Amy Adams, and Evan Rachel Wood looked lovely sans the fake orange tan.

-Beyonce lip syncing. If Hugh and Anne could sing live, and they’re not even professional singers, WTF?

+I loved the way they introduced the best actress/actor nominees with the one-on-one comments from their peers. I was getting verklempt for Viola Davis and Anne Hathaway myself! What wonderful things to hear from seasoned vets.

+Ben Stiller’s version of Joaquin.

+/-I will not say anything critical about the Heath Ledger thing. I will reserve judgment until after I watch Dark Knight which has been on my Tivo for 2 months.

+The unapologetically (is that a word?) immature Pineapple Express dudes. And Janusz Kaminski hanging out with the two with his head rested lovingly on SG’s breast. I like that Kaminski guy even better this morning when I read that he was the Director of Photography for the movie Cool As Ice. Cool As Ice just happened to be my movie of choice if I had a hangover during my college years. What?? It was comforting!!!! :)

So what say you?

I Had to Post This...

I'm stealing this from Cristin. I feel very compelled to re-post. Especially after learning that my church, the Catholic Church, spent $5.5 million dollars as proponents of Proposition 8. That's money I contribute on a weekly basis going towards something I am opposed to with every fiber of my being. If you are going to take the time to watch this all the way through and actually LISTEN to what he's saying, feel free to comment. Otherwise, move on. Yeah, it's like that.



Tomorrow, back to our regularly scheduled programming with a DUCF sneak peek.

That Sounds About Right

So typical Monday. I get home, I'm tired and crabby. I feel like I live in squalor. Everything is in chaos. Quinn eats her dinner (crab quiche and grape tomatoes) and Ryan gives her a few orange segments-- she starts choking on a piece because she takes WAY too big of bites...and she pukes all over me as I'm eating my dinner. Lovely. All night long I got to hear, "Sorry I puked on your pants, Mommy."

I started making some glitter houses like last year's. Glad Amy nudged me in the right direction because my heart wasn't into it. Until tonight! I like this one, and I do think it looks better in person, but I'm wondering if it's too plain or too gaudy. I like that perfect mix, ya know? I owe the color combo to Sweet Jessie. And the little girl in the doorway came from some wrapping paper she sent me last Xmas-- I printed it on vellum. It looks cute with a little flicker LED light inside. I couldn't get a good pic of it with the lights off though. I feel like there should be something around the windows, but I don't want to overdo it. The windows are also vellum that let the light through and they do look less plain in person.

So I'll have two like this one at DUCF, two like the last year's, and one medium size that I'm not sure of the color combo yet. Maybe a red house with a white roof? Seems so crazy to be talking about Xmas since we haven't even seen Halloween yet!

Speaking of, we took the girls to Boo at the Zoo this weekend. We were hemming and hawing up until the very last second. Stopped at Pronto for some booze to warm our cockles (um, us, not the girls) and then proceeded to the zoo. Quinn decided she liked saying, "Here you go" instead of "Trick or Treat". Priceless. Vivian was just all around pissed. We had a snowsuit for her with ears on it as her costume was being altered, but she wasn't having it. So Ryan zipped her up in his jacket, poor baby.

Hope everyone survived their respective Monday. When you get puked on, the week can only improve, don't you agree?

One more thing-- I have a new term here in Girl Land bloggy world, COO (= Currently Obsessing Over). Today I'm COO the upcoming Twilight soundtrack. I thought I was too old to appreciate Paramore, but then I read the lead singer is 34 (Older than me! Yay!), and their song, Decode, is super catchy. I will be buying the soundtrack on November 4 after I cast my vote (EEK). Another nifty draw is that I read today that Robert Pattinson's voice (he sings a song on it) is like a young Jeff Buckley's. SOLD! Actually, I think the latter's songs Everybody Here Wants You or New Year's Prayer would have been lovely and fitting for the soundtrack. Or Fiona Apple's The First Taste. I told you...COO emphasis on the first O.

Politics (Did I Mention I’m Angry?)

I try to stay away from political ranting in this little corner of my life. So depending on you, you may want to refrain from reading further or clicking links. Ok, I warned you! Read ahead at your own risk.
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I feel like I’ve had my head in the sand—I’ve recently found this blog, and I feel like my eyes have been opened. Now I’m just angry at everything. Angry at the possibility of my rights being taken away. Angry at why THESE THINGS aren’t common knowledge. Angry at hypocrisy, racism, and homophobia in general. Angry that I wasn’t angry before. Angry that more people aren’t as angry as I am and that their lack of anger may cause the thing which may ease the anger to slip through our fingers.

Ok…done. Had to do it.

One more thing…please feel free to leave a comment either way…really. Crappy, yelling-at-me comments will, however, be deleted.

**Postscript: since I haven't gotten any hate mail YET, I thought I'd vent a little more about anti-semitism/hypocrisy...and did I mention hypocrisy? If not, just in case…**

Random (Non-Crafty) Tids & Bits

-When Ryan called me this morning to say he’d been in a car accident, I was going to kill him because I thought it was April Fools. It wasn’t! Luckily, he’s ok (back’s a little sore), but his poor car is not. Sounds like it was equal fault, so I’m a tad worried about our insurance going up, but at least it wasn’t more serious. I’m thanking my lucky stars, believe me.

+My dear friend, Amy, is being induced as we speak! Poor girl is a week past her due date. The suspense is killing me. She doesn’t know girl or boy. Either way, I’m going to make her one of these.

-My neighbor’s (BIG) shed is about to blow over into our yard. I want to call Code Enforcement, but he’ll know it’s me. When he moved in, I told him I used to call Code Enforcement on the previous owner all the time (he was an old, mean drunk, and let his grass grow to be 2 feet tall). And I don’t think I should have to ASK him to fix the problem. Fer cryin’ out loud!

+New Kids on the Block are going to be on the Today Show Friday at 7:00 am. Set your Tivos! My mom is convinced it’s going to be embarrassing. We shall see.

+We don’t owe a ton on our taxes (sigh of relief). I was worried because this year Ryan is a shareholder in his company, and we’d paid estimated taxes throughout the year.
Wasn’t sure I’d estimated enough. This is the first year I haven’t done Turbo Tax, and we actually hired an accountant. I love the man. Next, paying off all our credit card debt! Whoo hoo!

+Another man I love? The NPH. Nuff said.

-We saw I Am Legend this past weekend. Was so disappointed! The 1954 book was about vampires, so I thought I’d get my Dracula on. The new interpretation was a really BAD rip off of 28 Days Later (which is quite possibly my favorite movie of all time, so don’t even try to mess with it). Plus, the CGI zombies and animals were soooooo fake- looking. Gads.

+Maroon 5 & Counting Crows are coming to town in August! Battle of the Adams!

?Justin and Madonna have a new song out together called 4 Minutes. Not sure how I feel about it quite yet…

?Trying to decide when I want to be done with work. My c-section is scheduled for Thurs, May 1. Should I work up until the end? Or should I take a few days to relax and hang out with Q??? Help me out, kids!!!

Ok, sorry for the wordy (=boring) post. That’s just me in a nutshell for now. Hope you’re all having a great week! xo

The Good+, The Bad- & The Ugly!

+My new shipping label prepared by Lisa! I am so impressed. My regular graphic design go-to gal is getting married this month (the nerve!). So I did an Alchemy request instead, and found Lisa who whipped this up really quickly…and CHEAP. I should be able to do stuff like this myself, but I really need a book or take a class for my Photoshop which ain’t happenin anytime soon.

+My mother-in-law is staying with us this week to watch Q because her daycare is closed for Spring Break. So she made chicken souvlaki last night. Tonight is tacos. Ahhhhhh. I don’t cook like ever, so it has been nice.

+I had a surprise switch in docs at my 34 wk appointment today. It was with a man OB. Thank God no pelvic exam needed today! I didn’t want more people than necessary checking out my biznass, please and thank you.

+Dexter is on Amazon Unbox just in case I miss an episode. If you have Tivo, Amazon Unbox is so cool!

-All my maternity shirts are getting too small on me, and I refuse to buy more with only 5 weeks to go. Not a pretty sight.

-My boss told me I looked like an Easter egg on Monday (I had a pink sweater on). Yesterday, he said I looked like an egg yolk (I had a yellow shirt on). I told him to get the eff out of my cube because his stripey shirt was making my astigmatism go zany. D*ck.

-My poor dear friend, Amy, is 3 days past her due date. C'mon kiddo! We're all waiting!!!

! My sausage fingers, heartburn, pregnancy congestion, and mostly my super gross CANKLES (I can’t believe I’m sharing this with you). I retained water like this when PG with Q, but it was late summer…not early spring!

! Grody Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is organizing his Legal Defense Fund. Get the fudge out of office, you scumbag!!!

Saturday's Mail

On Saturday, I received some mail that got me excited about baby stuff again. One was Pottery Barn Baby. I usually don’t like PB Kids because it seems slightly unimaginative for the price, BUT I really do like what they are doing with silhouettes and birds and dotty fabrics.

Next, my Cookie Magazine, which I always like, but I often find myself rolling my eyes at some of the articles. Case in point is this article about a boy who wanted to (and was allowed to) wear a pink embroidered sundress to preschool. Ok, wait a sec until I can climb onto my soapbox…there. Here’s where the eye rolling comes into play. I am not an uptight mother with gender roles, so that isn’t the issue. My whole thing is that kids are kids, not mini adults. I do not want to teach my child that they can do or say whatever they want whenever they want. There is a fine line between this and encouraging independent thinking. It should be also stated that I am not going to be one of those parents who let my kid wear orange pajama bottoms, a tutu, and a purple shirt out of the house. I don’t care if I have to strap them down and force them into regular clothes, tough sh*t. I’M the mom, YOU’RE the kid. Ok, off my soapbox. Hope I didn’t offend anyone.

I do love Cookie for their love of Etsy and vintagey things. Found this article on nesting. And also their Family Paris Travel Guide is loverly. Although France was stressful enough for the two of us alone, so I don’t know how people do it with kids in tow, but more power to ‘em. Loved this picture of a carousel in the courtyard of a Paris hotel. Sigh.

Birmingham Thugs!

So Ryan has worked downtown Detroit (near Woodward and Larned) for almost 10 years now. Has parked in a parking structure with pedestrian access. He's had numerous appointments downtown as well in other locations of the city. ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEM.

Last night, he had a work seminar downtown hooty tooty Birmingham. He parks at a parking structure directly across from hooty tooty Townsend Hotel adjacent to 220 Merrill. Here:

Gets out of his seminar, walks into the structure, and sees a dude smashing his driver's side window (with no luck) then back driver's side window with a crowbar! My husband then proceeds to run AFTER the man! If any of you know my husband, you will know that he is seriously the skinniest person you may ever meet. Although, he is unnaturally strong, I do not know what the HELL he thought he would do with this man if he caught up to him. I was quietly yelling at him (hard to do) on the phone telling him to get out of the frigging parking structure. Poor Q-- she looked at me like I was nuts. Although, she was watching Shrek the Halls for the 20th time, so she quickly lost interest in my tirade.

So to anyone who says Detroit is not safe, better watch out next time you go see a movie or pay $14 for a martini in the ol' B-Ham!!!!!