Change is good, right?

So, I have things scheduled for the move to Germany. Movers arranged, check. Carpet cleaners and house cleaners, check. Yard guys, check. I've done this a zillion times so it should be old hat. Panic and frenzy always overtake me at some point for some reason. This time its the pets. Shipping pets overseas is quite the adventure. Scratch that, it sucks in a big way. If it were possible, I think it might be easier for me to take them over on a rowboat. The timing is a real pisser. A health certificate from the USDA is required not more than 10 days from the date of flight. Oh yeah, you have to go their office in person at some point during that time to get the official seal on the papers. Add to all this the fact that the first lady booked my cats on a nonexistent flight the first time. Thank God I called. We rescheduled a flight on two days later that I sure as hell hope exists. So, the moral here is that if you need to take pets overseas, expect a pain in the ass process of epic proportions. In the meantime, I'll be waiting for the movers to come pack the enormous amount of crap that I own.

Weekend Disconnect

It's the weekend and I'm on a mission. No cell phone, no facebook, and no tv. I'd say no internet but I don't want to stroke out. Spending the past few years glued to my smartphone has left me handicapped. If I'm not constantly checking my emails or other crap, I feel like a junkie coming off a high. That's a little too much for me. My emotional health shouldn't depend so heavily on a bundle of computer chips. So, I've decided to spend the weekend seeing how much I can do in the time I would normally waste on my phone. What can you do if you disconnect? Ready, set, GO!!!!

वही अल थे हते फॉर मोम्स?

Okay, first it was Hilary Rosen and of course, Bill Maher had to pile on. I get it, you guys think that women who stay at home and raise their kids are lazy, out of touch morons. I don't dispute that Ann Romney can't relate to the family who is hurting financially. She probably doesn't know what it means to not be able to afford the field trip or food for your family. If these two birds wanted to make that point, I could have respected their opinion. Hell, I might have even agreed with it. What I cannot agree with, however, is the notion that women who do not work outside of the home are somehow less in touch or even lazy! Let me call it like it is folks: Bullshit! I've been a working mom and a stay at home mom. Both choices have their merits, their challenges and their rewards. I've know working moms who deserve mother of the year. There organization and nuturing leaves me in awe. I've known stay at home moms who make me feel the same way. I've also seen moms in both categories who really suck as parents and frankly, as women. As a woman who has done both, I am more than qualified to put my two cents in. So, my dear Ms Rosen and my dear Mr Maher, each of you are uninformed, divisive jackasses. When I worked, I understood the pressures of childcare and worklife balance. You see, I was active duty military along with my husband. You don't want to know the delicate juggling act that entailed. I worked for some years in the civilian sector and continued to juggle. For personal reaons, my husband and I decided it would be great if I could stay home. We sat down with our budget, made some hard choices and did without so I could do that. My ability to stay home was not a luxury. For several years, I fed our family of four on not more than $360 per month. We didn't have nights out because we couldn't afford a sitter. Believe me, at times I would have welcomed a day at the office. You see, Mr Maher, moms don't get to call in sick. We have deadlines that don't disappear. I've dealt with teenage and preteen attitude that would make the nuttiest coworker seem tame. I'm glad I've been able to pursue both paths. What I am sick of is folks like you who seek to divide women in the most personal way. The value of a woman lies not in whether she chooses or is even able to stay home with her children, it lies in her character, her spirit and her heart. Attacking a woman for choosing to raise her children as a sole pursuit is so base and pathetic.

What's new in 2012

Well, 2011 has rolled on by with some changes. Hubby returned safely from yet another tour in Iraq. The kids got older. We fell in love with Colorado. 2012 brings new challenges. We are headed to Germany in the summer. Yay! Unfortunately, we lost our two hamsters (Ben & Jerry) and our precious dog Chloe to illness and old age. So, 2012 is off to a bittersweet start. I can't promise I'll be a good blogger but, hell, I'll give it a go. I need something and reviving this blog could be it. So, I'm off to supervise our movers as they pack the last of our storage items. The next post will have pics. Not great pics but pics. Later ya'll.

Moving and clumsy

Well, I'm moving to Germany in the spring. Really excited about that! I love to travel and just adore Europe so I'm already making plans for what I must see. In other news, I severely sprained my ankle in what could only be described as the worlds lamest dunk attempt on the ball court. Never known for poise and grace, my ankle is bruised all the way up my shin. Somehow, I avoided a fracture which is a huge surprise considering that I normally sustain maximum damage with minimal effort. Sigh. Oh well, nothing to do but heal. In the meantime I will continue my obsessive list making and finish some abandoned projects. More posts with pics to follow. Later!

On bullying

I was lazing around today, surfing the web and checking out the news when I came across a piece on the Phoebe Prince story. For those who don't know, she was a 15 year old girl who committed suicide after being intensely bullied by six of her peers at school. This brought up a huge wave of emotion in me. I was bullied throughout all of my school years, most intensely in grade school and junior high. I had the unfortunate circumstance of having a birthmark on my nose. I've since had it removed as an adult but it was the source of lots of grief. There were many days when I felt cursed. The name calling, people going out of their way to chase you down and taunt you. It was almost too much. I hated school. Dreaded it. So, when I hear of instances of bullying, I have no sympathy for those who are the aggressors. What kind of horrible person is so vile and hateful? Who on earth raised them? Bullying is not very different from stalking, which by the way, is illegal. I'm glad that many states have laws on the books that prevent bullying. However, there are no shortage of tales of schools who are reluctant to do anything real to prevent bullying. Schools can host seminar after seminar but until they get really tough, it will do no good. I had teachers witness instances of bullying and not step in. My dear friends' daughter was bullied and school officials simply shrugged it off. Here's the bottom line, if your child is a menacing little heathen, they should be expelled. It should be up to you, the parent, to either pay the fee for a private school or homeschool. No one should be subject to the little monster you've produced. If that sounds harsh, well, so be it. I'm sick of perpetrators having more rights than victims. No adult would tolerate such treatment in a work or personal environment without demanding action be taken to prevent it. If you harass someone at work, you're fired. If you harass someone in your neighborhood, the police will be knocking at your door. Why should our schools be any different? Our children deserve to be treated with the same basic dignity that we expect. So, to Prince's tormentors, I have to say, you should be horribly ashamed Sadly, you likely are not because the same wretched parts of your souls that allowed you to bully likely prevent you from feeling remorse. Rest assured that the higher power in the universe will be wanting answers for your behavior when you stand in front of him.

Lunar Eclipse and Winter Solstice

Last night I stayed up to watch the lunar eclipse. I've always thought eclipses were magical. It's such a reminder of how small we are in this great big universe. I'm still scheduled to fly into London so let's hope that doesn't change. In the meantime, I must pack and clean. Here's a shot of the eclipse! Yep, it's tiny and you can see better images on the internet but I'm sharing it just the same. Now, time to quite procrastinating. I have a lot to do!!!

Into the fray and other thoughts

Normally, I avoid politically charged topics but I feel the need to post today. Today, Elizabeth Edwards passed away after a long struggle with cancer. She was 61. For those of you who don't know me, my Mom passed away this year at 62 after a two year struggle with terminal brain cancer. News of Elizabeth Edwards' death is especially poignant to me since it is so close to the death of my own mother. I find myself thinking a lot about her children and how very sad they must be feeling. I've also read some of the reader comments on major new sites in response to the news of her death. Some of the comments about her estranged husband are just so incredibly inappropriate. Whatever he was and whatever their relationship was, there is a family who has lost a loved one. Right now, they just need support. So, I guess I just wanted to say that I wish the Edwards family the peace that only time can bring. Somewhere, long ago, I read that there is a Vietnamese saying that a grief takes a thousand words. This is so true. Talk about her. Remember her and share her legacy. Some days will be unbearably hard. Some days you will feel okay. I think about my Mom all the time. Sometimes it makes me smile and sometimes I sob, overcome with feelings of loss. They will likely never read this blog but I would like to extend my sympathies to the Edwards family.

Topstitching and fair isle

Here are the pics of what I'm working on. I'm making a Vogue sheath dress to wear to London for Christmas. That's the plan anyway. Hopefully it will come out looking nice enough to wear. This is the most complex sewing I've done in a long time and the pattern is rated easy!! I'm still plugging away on my Primavera wrap. This week is so busy for me schoolwise that I don't have much time for knitting. I have two papers due this week and a ton of reading. That's how it goes! I ordered a bodymedia fit armband today. I should get it Friday. It's this neat little gadget that you wear and it detects the calories you are expending. Love that. This should make it a little easier to really track my progress. Later!

Guess where I'm blogging from!!

An airplane!!! A friggin' Delta flight!!!! Apparently, Delta has teamed up with Google to provide free in-flight Wifi on some flights. Oh yes, I am loving this!!! I KNEW it was possible!!! Hopefully they won't screw this idea up with charging like 5 dollars per MB or some such nonsense. I recall when they tried that inflight phone business. It died out because of bad reception and sky high (hee hee!) prices. My Dad was also generous enough to buy a camera for me on this trip so I will have some images to post on Monday. In the meantime, I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. Later!!!

Dumb tv rocks!!!

Confession time: I love the World's Dumbest on Tru TV. I feel like a friggin' genius every time I watch it. So, the next time you are feel a little less than fabulous, I'd highly recommend that you watch it or something like it. On the needles, I"m finishing up my Primavera wrap from Virtual Yarns. Yep, that's by Alice Starmore. Love her! And yes, it's been on my needles for three years. I've gotten sidetracked. On the sewing machine, I just cut a Vogue pattern by Kay Unger. It's a great sheath dress that I hope will look fab when I'm done with it. Once I figure out where the heck I left my camera charger, you'll get the photo! Till then, take it easy!

Sockage!

Okay, I'm getting this blog back up and running after an email from a friend advised me it was disabled. I imagine blogger disabled it due to no posts! Eeek! So, here's the status on what's up in Aliciaville:

-formulating a business plan with my sister
-working on my MBA
-raising 2 boys, 2 cats, a dog and 2 hamsters
-whipping my body into shape via the eat clean diet
-knitting when I can

Speaking of knitting, the only thing off of my needles recently has been my firestarter socks. If I told you how long they had been on my needles, well, I would be ashamed. Let's just say I lost my notes on the first sock so the second sock looks a little, urm different. I've put in a, gasp, photo! I know! It's been awhile since I've done photos. I'm trying to rectify that!

Fitness-wise, I'll just put it out there. I entered the third annual Eat Clean Diet Challenge. Since Mom passed, I sort of let it all go and gained a lot of weight. I mean a lot. Now, it's time to engage in life again. So, I figured why not take the challenge. I have nothing to lose at all. So, I took some seriously unflattering photos of myself and posted them to the contest page. OMG! I had no idea my butt looked like that!!! It was like the scene from Psycho where Janet Lee is surprised in the shower and starts screaming! Still, nowhere to go but up so here I go. I'll keep you posted on my progress. I may even become brave enough to add the photos!
Till later, Alicia

Now that you have a drink in your hand...

When you hear that phrase, it's never gonna be good news that follows it. My husband and I decided to help out a relative with a real estate issue. The skinny of it all comes to the fact that because of a bureaucratic issue we will end up losing 10k. It's a long story and hard to explain but it's done now. Still, what can you do? That's the nature of risk and we knew it could happen. Regardless, I'm down two Irish coffees and am having a third as soon a i get done typing this post. As soon as I can find my digital camera I'll get back to posting projects with pics. Till later!

Faith restored

Sometimes, when I'm at the end of my rope, I really become convinced that there are some really not nice people in the world. It's funny, though, whenever that happens, some kind soul or souls always seem to come into my path and restore my faith. Right here, right now, I want to say thank you to those folks. I so very much appreciate all of the condolences for mom. There are no words that can express how much comfort that has brought me. Never underestimate the power of a simple smile or kind words. They heal nerves that are frazzled; comfort the grieving, and provide solace to those in need. This might sound melancholy to some but it's true. All of us have the power to be kind and compassionate. The world would be an infinitely better place if more of us exercised that power. Till later, Alicia

Bitter endings and new beginnings

Today, my Mom passed away. She had a Glioblastoma Multiforme brain tumor. This is such a little understood type of cancer. It is truly truly a horrible disease. We knew this would be our end result but somehow that brings so little solace. This part of our journey has ended and now grieving has begun. I will grieve. I will grieve and go on because that is what life is about. I must go on because nothing good can be had from marinating in one's own sorrow. I would like to take a moment to say what a wonderful woman my mother was. She was creative, caring and always encouraged us to go after our dreams. I will miss her and her wisdom.

Ugh!

Okay,
I'm needing to do an update especially since I'm a fickle blogger. So, while I try to find my digital camera to upload my most recent escapades I'll post this as a "bridge" until then. Apparently, though I earned my GI Bill, the veterans' affairs department is so overwhelmed that I'm going to experience an indefinite "delay" in getting my claim processed. That really sucks because it screws up my plans to go back to school at least for the moment. Ah well. Sooo, in the meantime, after much thought, I've decided that it might not be a bad idea to go back to work since the kids are a bit older and don't require my constant attention. I've got several ideas but I'm not completely committed to any one of them just yet. Then, there's the fact that I've not worked for quite awhile since deciding to stay home with the kids. In the current economy, I'm feeling a lot less than competitive in the job market. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful I don't HAVE to work but it would be nice to get back out there and the extra money sure wouldn't hurt. Soooo, if any news ever develops on the "Alicia would really like to be gainfully employed again" front, I'll post it. If not, I'll continue to post about what the heck ever it is that I'm currently up to. Here's a snapshot till I get the camera from the depths of whatever bag I've managed to put it in:

In my glass:
2007 Sebeka Cabernet-Pinotage

In my ears:
George Washington Biography audiobook by A&E
Tao of Healing by Dean Evanson and Li Xianting
Koyasan Reiki Healing by Deuter
Sacred River by Gandalf
Reiki Whale Dreaming by Kamal

On my needles:
Bed Jacket by Jennie Atkinson
Military Cardigan by Red Dog Knits (test knitting)
Firestarter socks by Yarnissima

Books and other stuff:
Veil of LIes by Jeri Westerson
Many paper related and screenprinting projects
Jeans pattern by Sandra Betzina

Socks and stuff

Okay, soooo I've been supah busy with back to school and all. Back to school means a new, faster paced routine. Kai is doing tackle football this year and everytime I turn around we have practice. The upside is that they have a criterium course around the practice field that tons of cyclists use to warm up for the velodrome on. Ding-light bulb moment!-Let me start bringing my bike so I can ride the course while Kai practices. Tomorrow we're apparently supposed to ride a 50 miler with our bike group. Lord I hope we stop at an Ihop for some pancakes at some point during that ride. My body is pretty sore from getting back to a more intense weight and cardio routine. So, now that all that is established let's talk crafty stuff. I've finished yet another pair of socks. These are a heavy weight cabled pair.I'll post pics this weekend along with another post. I'm been asked by a friend to host a stamping birthday party for her daughter in October so I'm really looking forward to that. In September, my buds and I are getting together to do a Halloween treat camp. Our goal is to get all of our kids' treat bags put together in one (or more) sittings so we have it done and ready to send to school with the kiddos. The plan is to do things early this year. I'll be hosting a Christmas Club in November for the same thing. Speaking of Christmas, I've made mention of a blog candy "contest" so to speak. I'll hash out those details and post on them this weekend. Later ya'll, Alicia

Sahara is done!

Well, I finished my Sahara yesterday and I'm really happy with it. I confess that I did mess up a few times due to not paying attention to the directions. Still, I enjoyed knitting it quite a bit. A new goal of mine is to knit up what I have currently residing in my house before diving through my garage for more yarn/projects. Not sure what I'll move on to next but I'll make up my mind tonight. Take care ya'll! Alicia

Mojo Monday card # 97

Okay, here is my Mojo Monday card as promised! I finally sat down this afternoon and got my creative cap on and cranked it out. Funny, I actually started out with some old buttons as inspiration but ended up going in an entirely different direction. Still, I'm pretty happy with the final product. Okay, now for the deets:

(all stuff is Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Cardstock:
Earth elements--chocolate chip (I think) textured
So saffron
razzleberry cardstock and DSP
faux croco paper I got from Michaels-don't remember who made it

Other:
square fire rhinestone brads
canvas cuts elements circle
chocolate chip classic ink pad
soft suede classic ink pad
razzleberry stampin write marker
melon mambo stampin write marker
barely banana stampin pastel
chocolate chip stampin pastel
pretty in pink stampin pastel
gold glitter glue I got from michaels
SNAIL adhesive, zyron adhesive and glue stick

Whew! That was a long list!!! Dinner is on the stove so I'll save my knitting post for tomorrow. Later ya'll!